DAY RIDE 11/16/2013
  
 

In Need Of A Ride

  
 
November 16, 2013
  
 
 
  Sometimes the things of this old world just seem to crowd in on a body. The events of the last few months have weighed a bit heavy on my heart. I've got things I should do, but I need some time to just to let things rattle around in head for a while. The weather is supposed be decent today and I just put new tires on Frost last night, so that is as good an excuse to ride as I need. I tend to a few necessary chores then suit up and head out. Bowser comes out of his house to give me his usual send off.  
 
  As I head west I pass by our church, I am reminded of what a source of encourage and sweet fellowship it is for me. It is here that I can always find shelter from the world and get refocused on what really matters. It is things eternal that should occupy our focus more than the things that are temporal.
 
  I decide that given the overcast day, the Trace will be a good bet for a relatively quiet ride. So head down one of my favorite routes. I always swing wide and test my horn when I come to this get through. Sometimes the folks coming from the other side are more engaged in phone conversations than paying attention.
   
  I can't help but remember when this was just an old farm, with a few cows and a neat little white house with a tin roof. Now folks are jammed so close together in their McManors that they would stick their finger in their neighbor's eye if they were to stretch too far.  
 
  The Trace is like old friend to me - predictable, comfortable, and something I can count on. I set my cruise to a 'safe' speed and begin pondering.
 
  Though I've done it several times, I still amazed that I am able to ride forty plus miles down it and never touch my brakes or let off my cruise control. Since there's no commercial traffic allowed and limited access on this section, I can just relax and dodge the few bicyclists that are out this afternoon. I decide I'll get off at Highway 50 and head east for a while. I am so blessed to live where I live, surrounded by great roads in most directions. And not only are they nice and twisty, the pavement is usually top notch.
 
  I just keep headed east with no particular route in mind, just wanting to get a little wind in my face and in my head. Sometimes the fresh air does a soul and body good, as it blows away a lot of those mental cobwebs cluttering our heads.
 
  I meander my way down through Spring Hill, once a very small whistle stop. And once again I can remember when this too was a place of peacefully grazing cattle and beautiful forests. I guess you could call it progress of some sort.
 
  Soon I'm out of the booming metropolis and back to the better parts of highway 247.
 
  When I come to road I've passed by many times, I figure today is the day I'll take it instead. I've got no place I have to be or go, so I'll just see where it ends up. It turns into a really nice road that gets filed away in the 'collection'. It's getting about lunch time, so I decide I'll loop back around and stop at a little store in Bethesda. I see the cutoff to Pull Tight Hill and take it. It gets it name, so they say, from the fact that the wagoneers had to tighten up the traces of their mules and horses to get them up this hill.
 
  It's a fun run down it that takes me through CrossKeys and into Bethesda.
 
  It;s time for gas and grub anyway, and this place has both. It's a great local market with a pretty good kitchen inside. So it works well for me and for Frost.
 
  It appears that the weather weenies have missed the time that the rain is coming in, since it has already landed. I decide I'll bag it for the day and start back toward the Holler. But not in a straight line, mind you.  
   
  I just pick and chose some nice roads to bring me back. It's nice to have a great 'catalog' of roads stashed in the 'wetware' for days such as these.  
   
  It's only been a hundred miles or so, but I've got some stuff sorted that needed to be sorted out in my head. This ride reminds of why I ride - the peace and the solitude that you find on two wheels away from all of the static coming in over the mental transom.  
 
THE END