We had some time to kill after the movers took away all our belongings, so we took a brief trip up to Revere Beach in Massachusetts. I've lived here almost 7 years, really, and had never been there before. I also had this idea that it would be cool to include both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans in this journal. We are going coast to coast, after all. I was seized by an artistic whim and drew the message on the right in the sand. It seemed appropriate for this site :)

We walked along the water briefly. The water was still very cold, but I'm a madman and swam off the coast of Maine in the summer growing up when the ocean was about that temperature. It was fun. Most of other people were there to sunbathe or play in the sand, though.

Unfortunately, our journey back to the empty apartment did not go as well as we wanted. We were driving through East Boston in search of an early view of weird roadside attractions: there's a 35-foot tall Virgin Mary somewhere in that part of the city. We never did find the statue, and instead were in a minor car accident. A guy in a pickup truck pulled up to a stop sign, and went into reverse to park at the curb without looking. He backed right into our car, oblivious to our honking. There were no injuries, and only damage to the right-side headlight (the bulb still works, though!), and bends in the fender and hood. It looks like insurance will cover everything, since we were stopped behind a car at a stop sign at the time, but the process of filing an insurance claim will delay our departure from Boston by several hours Thursday morning.

Our immediate goal is Buffalo, NY and maybe Niagara Falls tomorrow, if we can make up the lost time.

Westward Ho!