I love my new phone! It has so many cooler features than the old one and I don't even mind the little mouse ball thing. I'm currently blogging from it while Stan and I are chilling in the tent in Gaviota, CA. And, just so I can stop listening to the gripes about my lack of attention to my facebook page, I downloaded the mobile application and I think I may have just uploaded a picture or two to it directly from the phone's camera. I must admit that, since Sara set up the facebook group Todd and Stanley's Gasoline Free Adventure, my favorite part of each day is getting the update from Caron as to how many people have joined. Earlier tonight there were 125 and one person is from Sweden. Its pretty flattering and I promise that tomorow I'll figure out how to write on this famous wall that everyone keeps talking about. I'm aiming for 1,000 people in the group, so tell your friends and family.
Onto the trip... Today was another day of 25 to 30 miles and we did it in only about 4 hours of actual biking time even though it took a lot longer because there were two beautiful state parks to hang out at, El Capitan and Refugio. It wasn't too easy a day though since Stanley had some stomach issues and rode in the trailer the whole time. The steeper inclines were tough while pulling an 80 lbs dog and I definitely could have been passed by a turtle at one point. I have a feeling that I was the butt of a lot of truck driver's jokes on the cb today. Normally I would feel bad for a sick dog, but anyone that knows Stanley, knows that he brings this on himself. No less than five times in his 19 months has he had to go to the vet to get something that he ate, but couldn't digest, pulled from his butt. Not only that, but it causes horrible diarrhea that always happens to come overnight. Today was no different as I awoke in my Motel 6 room to the most wretched smell and Stanley covered in his own crap. I went to Walgreens and grabbed a roll of paper towels and a can of carpet cleaner to clean up as best I could. I got the messy parts taken care of, but there was nothing I could do to get rid of the smell so I left $10 for the maid and got the heck out of dodge. I apologize to whoever had to deal with that! We went and got some medication from the nice people at Noah's Ark Animal Hospital and thankfully, Stan finally passed the obstruction around 7 tonight. That's 10pm eastern and 4am cest in sweden. I know that because my phone told me so.
And finally onto environmental concerns... I had a thought today about "progress" and why we rarely roll back advancements that turn out to be unhealthy for the environment and/or humans. One of the only things I can think of is asbestos and it made me wonder that, if there was no viable alternative to asbestos, would we still be using it today? How far do we go to satisfy our everyday needs and at what cost to ourselves and others? Maybe, I'll be able to answer that on tomorrow's ride.
Until my next blog...