Where Have I been?

I obviously have not been blogging! Here I sit in my "office" second bedroom at home watching snow flurries, listening to nice soft jazz vocals on Pandora, working on our Christmas card list, drinking tea, and as usual, finding many diversions.

Fall Biking

Today my ride on the Prairie Path was delightful. There were few other bikes, a good. number of runners, and a few walkers. No one was being crazy. There were fallen leaves on the path and the smells were of fall. The weather was cool but not cold and the sky was clear and sunny. This was all much nicer than most rides in the summer where bikers are riding as fast as they can, and groups walk or ride three or four abreast, not sharing the path. I really enjoyed this ride, though because it has been almost three weeks since I've ridden, my 11 mile circuit was about all I could handle!

Collaboration Not Competition

This is my lesson from driving to Davenport last weekend and Minneapolis this week. Driving requires collaboration and cooperation. We are not and should not be in competition with each other on the road.

Home

My GPS reports 5,296.6 miles on this trip. Glen Ellyn Illinois, Estes Park Colorado, Boulder Colorado, Moab Utah, Redmond Oregon, Boulder Colorado, Glen Ellyn Illinois. elevation from 575 feet to 12,600 feet. 89:30 moving time with a moving average of 59 miles/hour.

Places and Things I Dislike...and Like

The entire corridor from Provo to Salt Lake City. Omaha at rush hour. Boulder/Denver at rush hour.

The Interstate Highway system is really awesome. Thanks Ike. We couldn't do it today. Eastern Oregon along Route 20 is beautiful. Southwestern Idaho and Southwestern Wyoming are great to drive through and take in.

Being on the way home is nice, but as the traffic picks up the number of rude drivers does too.

Biking in Boulder is wonderful. And, my new bike is too.

 

Redmond

This week I have been spending time with my grand kids Avery and Anika. This is the week before school starts and their normal summer daytime activity of Boys and Girls Club is closed this week and therefore they get me! I can't say that we have really accomplished anything except hang out, shop for groceries and other items, fix dinner, go to the park, read in the sun, have lunch, lay low, go to the park, and watch a couple of movies. Today we are really laying low. This morning we went to the park and tossed a frisbee and talked, but this afternoon it is just to darn hot. The house is still cool from last night and we've got all of the shades drawn and it is comfortable. I tried to play the ukulele outside but after about 30 minutes I was done. Anika and I are now watching Matilda - her favorite movie. We dropped Avery off at school where he is doing some leadership training and ran a few errands but now we are inside and quite.

Avery Selfie

Another Avery Selfie

Shy Anika

iPad mini looking into iPad

 

Road Trip Observations

Visitors to National Parks are easily distracted. They often forget the purpose of yellow lines in the road, the usefulness of turn signals, and that there are other people on the road behind them. We saw in Rocky Mountain National Park that animals are an amazing draw that make folks do incredibly stupid things like drive off the road to park, or stop in the road, or worst stand with their kids close to large, wild animals. In Rocky Mountain National Park the attraction was elk. Why would you stand with your kids anywhere close to an elk herd? They are not pets. They are wild. The same behavior is multiplied in Yellowstone with buffalo.
Interstates. They get you there but they sure are uninteresting. Maybe it is not just the interstates, but perhaps the country they go through. Some of the worst are through the Midwest and west. Iowa, Nebraska, eastern Wyoming and Colorado and don't forget southern Idaho!