Congratulations all around!

Saturday was a special day when I ventured to Hendricks county to participate in the B&O Trail ride with my mom, Thurston, & Padgett. Unlike the name suggests, this is actually a road ride around some of the land that will soon be a rail trail from the old B&O railroad. There is a great, abbreviated history on the Trail Association website.


This organized ride is well-supported with SAG stops about every 15 miles. For $20, participants can choose an 11, 24, 46, or 62 mile loop in the FLATTEST part of the state then be rewarded with BBQ sandwiches after the ride. We started together, but I (along with Padgett) quickly ditched Mom & Thurston in pursuit of 62 miles while they were going to do their longest rides of the year at 46 miles.


My enthusiasm for the flatness waned as I stared at yet another cornfield as far as the eye could see. "What's that?" Yes, I guess I actually like the hills in these here parts. Nevertheless, my riding partner proved quite able on his new steed, although there were some grumbles about the wind. Every now and then we would catch some pace line, and we held on to one with a string of 4-5 for quite a while. Padgett learned a lot about drafting and will work on maximizing the benefit by slowly getting closer to the wheel in front of him. He says he's out there for the enjoyment of it, but we all know speed is everything.


Unfortunately, I forgot my camera, but I did snap a picture with my phone of this giant cow. Quite honestly I thought of Cheryl. AHHH---NO, I DON'T THINK SHE'S A GIANT COW! Rather, she thinks cows are cute; I find this very odd b/c I think they are goofy looking creatures. Except when they are babies; everything 'baby' is cute--especially baby shoes and baby bicycles.

So, we caught up to Mom and Thurston with 13 miles to go when I found my mother WEAVING all over the road. Even after the 495029128 lectures I have given her on this unsafe practice, she continues to zig zag, so she probably ended up with 78 miles instead of 47. We rode the rest of the way with them granting them draft privileges for the last 10 miles.

CONGRATULATIONS, Mom, on your longest ride of the year! And congrats to the guys for being great sports and to their longest rides of the year!

And Congratulations to me and Jason for celebrating our 11-year wedding anniversary today. Letting me choose a special activity, I opted for viewing the train tunnel underneath Tunnel road. I've driven this road numerous times and have always wanted to take a peek. Unfortunately, getting there is more difficult than it might seem as the shortest way involves trespassing on people's land who don't want other people walking on it. We found a different route through a friend's property that wasn't too long of a hike at all. We invited some neighbors and had a grand time seeing deer, turtles (one we rescued as it was stuck between the rails!), snake skins, and geodes.

Jason shows off his balancing skills.

The little one shows off her balancing skills as well.

The tunnel under Tunnel road.