Amagansett, NY -> Philadelphia, PA

A cafe racer is a type of motorbike popularized in Europe in the 1960s. Young people would take their motorbikes and strip them down, removing everything that was not needed to get them from point A to point B as quickly as possible. Seats were cut down, bars were lowered to give a racier position, excess lighting and bodywork was removed. These people would blast through their cities, pounding the pavement from cafe to cafe as quickly as possible. Ergo the name. This is a style of bike that persists even today all over the world.

Today, I ate breakfast at a small cafe in East Hampton. After finishing my croissant and tea (they put a teabag in an infuser basket, that confused me) I phoned back to Avery who was still asleep when I left the house for breakfast. It's her birthday, I can't allow her to starve. The order was simple, a croissant and iced coffee. You ever carry iced coffee on a motorbike? Cafe racer. Luckily I was planning to wash all of my gear that day anyway so I popped the to go cup into my jacket pocket and set off on my way. No spillage of the precious cold liquid.

I went through the gear washing process. Clean the helmet visor, hand wash the liners in the lid, pull the armor out of the jacket and pants, pop them in the wash, secure a line-drying space. I got a phone call later to inform me that the jacket had become so incredibly stinky that one wash was not going to cut it. Incredible.

Matt's sister gave me a ride to the local train station. I have some unfinished business in Philly and a need to bleed off some time. Long Island Rail Road from Amagansett (one stop from the end of the line) to Jamaica (not the fun one with good weather). I spent half of the train chatting with a man who sells insurance to large corporate clients. He had just moved from Jersey City to Long Island and at the same time his house needed work, his father needs care, and his job takes a lot of his time. Stress seems to be the local landscape here. A transfer from Jamaica direct to Penn Station and I met my friend Timothy. He was gracious enough to bring me lunch, I had neglected to bring snacks on the train and was fading quickly. We grabbed a bite to eat and sat while my next train came in.

午餐

Amtrak from Penn Station to Philly's 30th Street Station. For this run I was seated next to a native Hong Konger who moved to Denmark in her late teens and now splits her time between New York City and Baltimore. She works in a hospital and has had a rough year but is enjoying the thaw we are all in. A transfer from 30th Street Amtrak to 30th Street Subway and I was where I needed to be. A beer with Ethan at Barcade (a bar/arcade combo) and my day was done. A lil more time in Philly.