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A Rocky Start & Jim Redd Jilted by Lover



 
 
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Old July 14th 03, 10:02 PM
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Default A Rocky Start & Jim Redd Jilted by Lover

What happened to Jim Mullener? We never hear from/about him any more.


"Cycle America/Nat. Bicycle Greenway" wrote in message
...
Finally heard from Rocky Brown a little while ago. He is riding from
Boise to Portland. And when it rains it pours -- I got 5 messages from
him!! Seems he had the wrong address for me plugged into his Pocket
Mailer and when he sent mail it kept bouncing back to him every time he
picked up his new messages. I will share his first one with you before
I then turn you on to Jim Redd's incredible writing. Jim didn't make
Boise in time as his break up with the Pocket Mail Lady left him too
despondent to continue. Feeling betrayed he picked up a new girlfriend
and they headed back to Salt Lake City together. So we begin with Rocky
followed by the story of Jim's heartbreak:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Subject: Rocky's Boise return (Rocky rode to Boise from Salt Lake City
last year)

It is about 1 AM mountain time. Got the bike together good enough to
ride but will need to visit a bike shop in the morning.

A heavy set Iranian taxi driver helped me straighten the forks well
enough to get the wheel on and I missadjusted the brakes so at least I
have some. In Portland where I had switched planes, I watched them put
it in the plane and was prepared then for the worse. The rear wheel
release was showing through the box. I got the little inspection note
and they did not repack things nearly as good as I did... sign of the
times.

I put it together outside in the 80 degree heat and compacted the box
and packing material so that it fit into a large trash can.

Large bathrooms here at the airport with AC so I just wheeled the
rebuilt bike in with me as I cleaned up.

The Taxi driver and a couple of others came in and asked where I was
from and he gave me directions to a "Jewish owned bike shop" close to
the Greenway.

Getting tired been a long day.

RockB

------------------------------
Local access to PocketMail mobile
e-mail now available in Europe, North
America & Australia http://www.pocketmail.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------


Salt Lake City
July 12, 2003

Pocketmail Lady Cuts Me Off!

Dear Notepad,

Evanston, Wyoming is a Union Pacific rail town turned mining town and
now has reinvented itself as a tourist town. Itís got a three-block
Front Street along the tracks and a Main Street with shops and
galleries, but what caught my eye, on that hot afternoon after an
upwind ride across the high plains was the Bear River Brew Pub which
drew me in like a frog to a bog.

A couple of Oatmeal Stouts got me properly oriented to the town and all
seemed fine until I tried to hook up with you, Pocketmail Lady, and
discovered you had cut me off with no explanation. Was it something I
said? Was it because I had ignored you the last few days? My excuse is
that I was reflecting on lakes up in the Uintas Mountains and there are
no payphones in the National Forests and no Sprint coverage for my cell
phone either. So there, that's my excuse.

Unfazed, I made alternate arrangements: Surprise! A notepad and pencil
from Wal*Mart, so I no longer need you, P.L. No more changing your
batteries! No more searching for payphones in out-of-the-way places!
How sensible. Why hadn't I thought of it before? I relegated you to the
bottom of my right pannier along with my cell phone charger, pedal
wrench and that odd-sized crescent wrench.

But just as I was reveling in my new-found Pocketmail Liberation,
becoming familiar with my low-tech device at a table in a coffee
shop/gallery/boutique on Main Street, I noticed a man at the next table
checking his email on his 17-inch laptop. Get this, P.L.: he was
catching broadband from the wind up in the high plains of Wyoming with
an antenna card the size of a matchbox! I don't want to belabor this,
P.L., but be forewarned. Despite your digitized human-like charm, you
are flirting with obsolescence. (But will that ever be cost effective?
ed)

Jim Redd
Bike-Writer-at-Large

Salt Lake City
July 12, 2003

Jim Goes Postal Over Thirst!

Dear Notepad,

Leaving the Evanston, I took a turn down an alley of the Queen City,
behind the Jubilee Market, and passed a group of Rainbow Gatherers
turned Dumpster Foragers gathering rotten veggies. At the door, I
encountered another one with a Huffy hauling a trailer with a large dog
and flying a blue planet earth flag the size of a mainsail. Dreaded and
beaded, he asked me to watch his rig while he went inside to score some
day-old bread. When he returned, he told me he was working on a
government grant to study ethnomusicology in the Himalayas. I wished
him well and was on my way toward Woodruff, where I planned to re-water
myself before the 3,000 ft climb to Monte Cristo Campground 20 miles
west in the Wasatch Range.

Sucking air from my Camelback, imagine my surprise when I saw the faded
sign creaking in the hot wind and boarded up windows of the only store
in Woodruff. And beyond lay only Wilderness, foreboding in its lack of
services. I circled the crossroads in despair. The only other thing
blowing in the wind was an American flag, one of many I had seen on the
Patriotic weekend just passed.

But wait! Below the flag, through the sweat pooling in my eyes I could
make out the large numerals 84087. It was the most welcome zip code I
had ever seen. Inside was a counter and behind the counter sat the lone
keeper of 84087 and behind her was a water fountain! I engaged her in
small talk first, asking her jokingly, "Any mail for me?" And while she
was laughing I gestured toward the water fountain holding up my empty
water bottle. This was the decisive moment. I could only imagine what
the U.S. Postal Service Rulebook might have to say about letting
private citizens loose in the mailroom.

Never underestimate the power of humor, notepad, especially when you
are dead serious. Bottles and camelback filled to overflowing with U.S.
Government water, on my way out of town I saluted the flag for the
first time since my Navy days.

Jim Redd
Bike-Writer-at-Large



MARTIN KRIEG: "Awake Again" Author c/o BikeRoute.com
79 & 86 TransAms, nonprofit Nat. Bicycle Greenway CEO
Ever wanted anything so bad U were willing to die for it?
Really die? By moving thru clinical death and reversing
paralysis, *I saw God* when I answered that question.



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