Going Home

It has been an interesting couple of weeks. I took some time off from work a week and a half ago and traveled back to my childhood home to help take care of our ailing parents. In all honesty this has been quite a sad period in my life, and I'm hoping that I will somehow find the strength to deal with what is inevitably coming down the road.

"My Hometown"

It's generally good to get back home and visit with my parents and friends from high school who still live there. On these sojourns home I generally always have riding gravel forest roads on my mind. However, this trip was mostly filled with just sitting around the house keeping an eye on my parents. Doctor appointments for my father, discussions on home health care vs. assisted living, running errands and taking care of other business matters.

"The Supper Club"

There were times, generally in the late evening when I was able to get out and walk around the lake and then stop downtown for a glass of wine or two, before heading home and making sure all was well before it was time to retire for the night. These were fun moments because they brought back a flood of childhood memories. Going home to visit your old childhood haunts will do this and it's always fun to recall those "good ol' days" and smile and laugh. I could probably do an entire blog or write a book about what it was like growing up on the Iron Range.
So many good stories...

On Friday I did take a break for several hours to ride some gravel north of town. It had rained and snowed all night and was still raining when I hit the first stretch of gravel.

The temperature was 34(F) when I started and would not get higher than 39(F). The roads were slush cover and very wet. This coupled with the fact that there was still some frost coming out of the ground made for some pretty soft riding conditions.

After several hours of riding I was ready to call it quits. Lack of sleep, along with the cold, wet, and windy conditions left me feeling tired, chilled, and wanting to get something warm in my stomach.

On Saturday it was time for me to head back to my "other" home in the cities, see my wife Patti, get caught up on work matters, and once again get out on the local trails.

"Elm Creek Single Track"

"New Life"