The bird with the turquoise eye

I couldn't sleep very long this morning. It's all too exciting. We are in a very comfortable room, but I woke up thinking about our plans for the day, and our plans for tomorrow, the very last day of the ride.

Our first plan was not exactly exciting - unless it's exciting to visit our last laundromat for quite a while. We got directions from people at the hotel. They told us the shuttle driver could take us, but he had one more trip to make first. We started to walk there, but before long the shuttle pulled up beside us! The driver did not think we should have to walk. He's a nice guy from Brittany. He said he was pleased to have met us - now he had an interesting story to tell when he got home for dinner.

Once we had all that taken care of, we went over to the Wellesley campus. It is a beautiful school, and the weather was just right for a nice walk. We rode our bikes over. I had called the campus police; they kindly offered to house the bikes while we walked around Lake Waban. They really liked the idea of our trip.

We found lunch in the ultra-modern student center. Wellesley really has done a good job of integrating new with old. The food service is vadtly improved from our day, too. It was ok at Wellesley compared to other schools, but now there are all sorts of choices and apparently great flexibility in time.

After lunch we walked around the lake. I don't know how many times we took that walk while we were in school. It is a very good one. Not very long, maybe a couple of miles. There is now a boardwalk section that lets you look down into the reeds. The Honeywell estate still has the topiary hedges we remember so well; there is still the nice little stone bridge between the college president's house and the rest of the campus.

Naturally, I looked for birds as we walked. I was sort of surprised when Bruce noticed three double-crested cormorants resting on a fallen tree. Maybe the storm blew them in? Next time you see one of them, take a look. They are almost entirely black, with the dull yellow throat area (most of the time). Their eyes are a startling turquoise. A woman walking the other way seemed slightly interested. Then she looked through my binoculars & was amazed.

A couple of turtles, a family of swans, and we were back to pick up the bikes. The campus policewoman at the desk was busy working her way through a wave of students seeking their id cards, but not busy enough to fail to announce to the group what we had been up to. The students seemed, at first, to think she was joking. Then they began to stare and comment. So we left an admiring little crowd behind.

This evening we had dinner with Elisa & Michael. Elisa and I worked together a long time ago. Her second daughter was born very close to the time I had Elizabeth, and that probably was the thing that brought us close. We have stayed in touch ever since. She has been living in Massachusetts for several years now & we have managed to see her during Ride FAR. I feel so very lucky to have kept connected to lots of people over time. We really had fun this evening, and she found a great place for dinner, too.

So we are full and happy, and even more excited about tomorrow. It will be a shortish day, maybe 25 or 30 miles. Then, if I feel a little sad, I can remind myself that we spend tomorrow evening with Lillian and Willie. The perfect ending.

Miles today: 13
Total miles so far: 4170