I've had a darn good day

I hope you have, too.

Went to St. Francis this morning for the 11:00 service and met Julie and Ryan there. I have been going pretty regularly since last February, starting just after Father Dan left to become the bishop of Nevada. Go, Father Dan! The interim priest, Cate, is a wonderful preacher. Her sermons are always interesting and I have discovered that I really missed the pageantry and the rhythm of the Episcopal Eucharist. It's good to be back. If you're interested in St. Francis (what sort of church could lead me back to the fold, you wonder), go here: http://www.stfrancismacon.com/

After church I drove to Julie's and John met us there with the big honkin' truck. Craig came, too, and we loaded all the bikes in the truck (mine, John's, Craig's, Julie's, and Ryan's) and went to Dauset. Originally I had hoped to ride horses today, but life was fairly uncertain and I reluctantly canceled those plans. Did the next best thing: rode my Klein at Dauset and did about 10 miles. My foot, the left one with all the stitches, hurts some, but not enough to keep me from biking. In fact, the bike shoes are the most comfortable I've got as they open up very wide so I can slide my foot in and the bandage, which wraps around my foot and between my toes, doesn't get pulled like it does in my J-41s or my Sauconys. If I'm sitting to pedal, not much pressure on the wound, but standing on the pedals does hurt. You stand more than sit in mountain biking; it's the opposite for road. I'd rather mountain bike than road ride anyday. No idiot drivers on the trails. We did keep it fairly mellow (only John did Huff'n Puff), but I did ride up that nasty, wicked hill that is the exit from the Brownlee Loop. It's steep, eroded, and you have to know your line. I don't think I've gone up it in over a year because we usually do the Huff 'n Puff extension, which ends at the top of that nasty climb and then I go down it, but they've got the extension closed. Understandable, for even as dry as it's been the last two weeks, that trail holds water and can be a mess of mud. It probably needs some reroutes and certainly some grooming where the ruts have dried into tire-catching canyons.

Ryan, who is 7, did so well on the Pine Mountain Trail's steep, rocky climb (but not as steep as the Brownlee exit climb) that we thought he was ready to try the H'nP extension. He was excited to hear that it's got log pyramids he could ride, and disappointed when it was closed. He tried the Brownlee Climb and didn't get very far, but he tried it. When you pick up his Diamondback bike, it must weigh close to 40 lbs. Pretty impressive pedaling by a string bean 7 year old.

On the Sandy Creek trail I found the top half of a turtle shell. No other parts of the turtle in sight. We wondered what did in the poor turtle.

We met John back at the trail head a few minutes before 5 and piled back in the big, honkin' truck to ride back to Julie's. Once there, bikes were unloaded (except for ours) and discussion turned towards supper. Within minutes we all decided to go to Buffalo's on Zebulon. There was a horrible singer on the patio, but we sat there anyway. Nice dinner and now I"m home. Horses and dogs have been fed and I'm going to finish the latest Rita Mae Brown mystery. Maybe watch the last ep of S2's Farscape, or maybe I'll wait until tomorrow.

Oh, and no stitches popped in my foot, despite feeling stretched. I can't wait for these things to come out. I want my foot back. I want to get it wet. I want to quit washing my hair in the kitchen sink. ;p

I want to do Sunday all over again on Monday. Damn this working for a living.