Flying with a Bike

Get bike case
Loosen handlebars and turn them sideways
Remove pedals and place in ziplock bag
Remove seat and wrap in pup-tent-sized Elon University t-shirt
Remove wheels, clamp chain-organizing gadget onto rear rerailleur
Remove skewers from wheels and store in ziplock
Swathe bike frame in pipe dope (this is a kind of foam)
Secure pipe dope with cable ties
Use nylon straps to secure bike frame in case
Pad bike frame with helmet, bike jerseys, assorted other equipment
Add final layer of foam
Shut and lock case
Fly
Drive to Andrew's house
Unpack and reassemble bike
Ride it

(Yes, this has gotten neurotic. On the other hand, the friend helping me pack my bike saw the baggage handlers drop his bike case from the cargo hold of a 777. The bike was fine. Okay, now I fully appreciate the reason for the neurosis.)

Other: I got my orthotics today and am cleared to run again. How about that. Ever had your world shift suddenly and become "right" again?

I have returned

Driving back from the airport... I'm glad to be back. I want to see all my friends at once, to tell them all how much I've missed them.

The air and the light are different.... soft, wet air and hazy sunshine where I came from, clear and brilliant here-- with a pervasive sense of galvanized energy, drive, and ambition in the air. I've missed it. I stop and apply suntan lotion, hunt for sunglasses, press into service the baseball cap I find on the floor of the open jeep my friend has loaned me.

Driving down the freeway, I had the oddest sense of dislocation-- everything here is right where I left it; my friends still live here; life continues here as it did before, but I feel as though it should be different, and I see it with new eyes. I have changed radically, but that's not obvious to me until I return and find that I fit differently here.