Soak Up the Fun, Part &

Vacation: Bike Ride and Reunion
The charity ride had a variable start time, which I appreciated.  I left the starting point around 8 or 8:30 and returned around 12:30 or 1:00.  The check-in table and finish line were within a stone's throw of my aunt and uncle's house, so I stopped by after to chat with my uncle, who was cleaning his truck.

The ride itself was rather uneventful, and I thought the rest stops were rather poorly marked.

I had intended to do a ~66 mile route, but I opted for a ~38 mile route instead, due to poor training and forgetting sunscreen.  My shoulders peeled something fierce due to not reapplying on Friday.

One of the coolest things about the routes is that they toured Amish country (and I unknowingly rode my past the house that my little sister and her mom just moved into).  Which really isn't all that different from any other countryside, except that there are wheel ruts along the sides of the roads.  I tried a couple of different times to capture images of those, but they never seemed quite right.  Guess it's something you'll just have to do and see for yourself.

Being Wisconsin, I saw lots of cows.  I stopped to snap a few pictures of them.  I also stopped to capture an image of a couple of cranes crossing someone's driveway.  I won't subject you to the visually uninteresting pictures of the markers for the Revolutionary and Civil War era Surgeon's Quarters I also rode past.



I also saw this.  It wouldn't surprise me if the only reason I noticed it was because a vehicle was passing in the opposite direction, or else I might not have been looking at that side of the road.  I waited until our paths were crossed, checked back for traffic, whipped a U-turn, and went back the 50 yards or so for a photo shoot.  Hope I didn't desecrate some Amish or Native American altar.

But it's cool, right?

The reunion was in two parts.  There was a dinner at a park for the classmates with kids.  That's where I did most of my catching up.  Once upon a time, there was a kid in my class had a rattail (hairstyle) and wore a fanny pack.  Needless to say, he was not the coolest kid in school.  It was rumored that he had not a hit list, but a survivor list.  The rumor continued that asking whether you or not you were on said list was guaranteed to get you off of it, even if you had been on it before.  He and I got along well enough, and he's one of the proofs that PHS class of 2003 was one of the best ever because we cross all sorts of cliquish boundaries to associate with people.

Anyway, he brought his wife and two kids to the park.  I went over and introduced myself, and one of two things happened; I was so taken aback that I really can't remember.
1. My friend said to his wife, "This is Sally.  She's a good person to know."
2. His wife said to me, "Chris told me you're a good person to know."

It's always strange to hear what people think about you, especially so frankly, especially when you haven't seen said person in about ten years, and especially when it's good.

The second part of the reunion was to be in one of the bars in downtown Portage.  I went down there, let my cousin buy me a soda, and chatted with a few people who hadn't been at the park.  But when the DJ came over to chat with one of the girls I was standing near about which 90's hip hop she wanted him to play, I noticed that his left arm was one solid tattoo.  Like a sleeve, but not covered with designs.  It was solid ink.  I hurriedly finished my soda and went to the bar next door where more reunioners were.  (One of the gals in my class bought a half keg for folks in that bar on Friday, as sort of a pre-reunion festivity, and they hadn't finished it.)

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Another experience happened on my way out.  As I was walking towards the door, I noticed a couple of gals I hadn't greeted yet.  One was taking some time off PT school at Purdue to earn money so she wouldn't have to work or live on loans while finishing.  The other had just moved back from Kentucky, and it seemed there was a child she didn't have custody of.  (Since I can often obtain details about people's lives from between the lines, I ask for them only when necessary.)

My cousin came over and was drunkenly trying to convince me that he was going to get me drunk at his wedding.  I kept telling him that wasn't going to happen.  I don't drink.  Just because I used to (socially) doesn't mean I'm going to.

After I told him rather assuredly that I don't drink, one of the girls looked up at me and simply said, "That's a good decision."

Then she turned back to her mixed drink, and who knows how long I'll wonder what might have happened if I had said, "It's one you can make, too."