Out for a ride

So I thought that I would go for a bike ride tonight. I actually decided this mid-way through the afternoon... let me back up.

So after church this morning...let me back up again.

So Kevin is back preaching as of this Sunday after many weeks of struggle with back issues. It was good to hear him speak again, and to here how going through this has changed him and the way that he sees the world. I twas rather heavy some of it, but if your interested I can send you a link to the audio from the service. After church I went over to Jaime's for lunch, as I was planning on last week, but time constraints negated that possibility. So we grilled chicken and chatted for most of the afternoon. Three hours of conversation and a batch of cookies later, I was on my way by 1630, but with a beautiful day like today I wasn't about to let it go to waste. So I decided that I should go for a bike ride.

After I got home, I watched a baseball game with my Dad for a while, but eventually, he decided that he wanted to get some work out of me since I'd been away for most of the weekend. I put Mom's bike seat back and threw some apples over the fence before Dad got outside. And once he was out, he had to finish his wine before he was going to start working again, so I finished throwing the rest of the apples over the fence after today's wind and then we went to feel the sheep. While we were down at the lower pasture, Amanda's Mom called me to see if I had heard from her yet today (which I hadn't) and in the process of the conversation, so overheard that I was with the sheep, and thought that was quite funny. Dad and I filled up the bike tires that were low around home and then picked a few peppers and cucumbers from the garden before I decided to head off.

I packed up my red backpack (as I usually do when I'm going somewhere fun) and headed off for the trail. I decided that I should finally get around to checking my cache to see that the last log was legitimate. Indeed it was, to my surprise, so I packed up again and headed on my way. I biked to PI at a pretty good pace with the wind at my back and biked around town a little bit to cool off. I decided that I would make a stop at Kwik Trip and found Gatorade on sale, so I bought two 24 ounce bottles. While I was outside putting one into my water bottle that I've had clipped to my bag all summer, I got to thinking about how many interesting people must pass through here every day. and As I sipped/chugged on my other bottle, walking back to my bike, I noticed this middle-aged or more woman peering oddly in my general direction. I was rather confused and decided that if I just ignored her it would have the least amount of awkwardness. Well she then walked more than halfway across the parking lot but now obviously gazing past me, as she calls my attention to the clouds in the eastern sky, glowing orange from the sunset. I turned to see the nice view and we started to chit-chat about why you get these great colors at sunset. She then proceeded to tell me about how she was an art major and had studied in England for a year and the different highlights of here experiences there. We touched briefly on rainbows and she asked me about all the things that you see biking and I gave a response that could be imagined that I just biked from place to place an, but I figured that there was no harm in that. None of what I said was false, I just chose my words carefully. She then declared that she was here to buy cat food, we exchanged fare-wills and I started getting strapped back in for my ride home. Just before I took off, she came back out, and asked me if I knew of a trail that went between Hy-Vee and PI. I was quite certain that there was no such trail, so I started to say that I didn't think so, but then I realized that she said IBM no Hy-Vee ( there was traffic- give me a break). She then shared that she was here taking her parents to appointments today and I assumed that meant that she wasn't from around here. At least I would guess that with the lack of knowledge relating to the trail. But I t was all rather odd, considering that just a few moments before, I was thinking about all the interesting people you could meet working at a C-store. The ride home was unremarkable, aside from he nice sunset, but I really didn't have much of a view.

When I got home, I watched some of National Treasure with Dad, while I had something to eat (cake and milk and a chocolate chip bar- supper of champions). Later I found that I'd gotten an e-mail from Amanda saying that she3 was safe and sound in the mountains and that she would be getting the communications issues figured out soon.; But how can I complain, I got and e=mail. :o)

So this is the start. I think I'll have to start carrying a camera more so that I've got more than text to share, but we'll see what I can come up with. Time for bed now, as I'm falling asleep in my computer chair.