Life at a Slower Pace

I remember a trip to a family reunion when I was a kid that my grandmother went to with us. This was her side of the family so we were going back to the area of her childhood home. And it was in the opposite end of the state we lived in so it was pretty much an all day ride in the car. And except for that last 50 or so miles the whole trip was freeway. This was a trip she'd made numerous times in her life, she was very familiar with the trip. This was in the late 60’s when we made the trip in several hours. At one point in the trip she lamented how the freeway had changed the trip so much, you no longer really got to see much of the ride because the freeway took you around all the interesting little towns whereas before the freeway had been built you went through each little town and got to see what each town was like and what was going on there. And even before that, back when she was younger and would make the trip by horse and buggy, the trip was much, much slower - then you really got a good look at each town and all the scenery, at a slow, easy pace so you could really get a good look at everything all along the way. She then proceeded to name each and every community along the way, tiny towns and big cities; she named them all without missing any. I was pretty impressed.

Anyway, I was thinking earlier that riding my bike around town was in some ways a similar situation. My bike riding takes me around at a slower pace than when I'm in a car and it takes me to places in town that I would never see in a car, some you can't really get to by car. So the experience is significantly different from traveling by car. 

I often find myself, as I'm driving around town, thinking, “I've been here with my bike!” or “I ought to come here on my bike.” Or I'll find myself pouring over maps of my community and its trails, thinking about where to go next on my bike.

 This year we had a couple weeks of halcyon days early on where I was able to get out and get several rides in but then the weather turned cold and wet again as winter struggled to hang on. I'm looking forward to the weather getting better, more bike friendly again so I can get back out on my bike.

Its nice to be out and about.