The Ride

So...like I said, we had a bike ride to join in on Sunday. We couldn't have planned more perfect weather--80 degrees and sunny with blue skies. It was enough to draw a real crowd, and we had about forty people riding about twenty-five bikes of all sorts--Harleys, Hondas, Yamahas, Suzukis, and our BMW.

We all met at the Small Town high school and rumbled out of town on our way to a biker restaurant on a lake somewhere out in the country. I had never heard of the lake before, but it was lovely, about an hour and a half from our starting point. Because the place was packed and the kitchen was understaffed, the stop took twice as long as expected, but everyone had a nice sociable time, and then we rumbled on toward the next stop, a tiny town with an ice cream shop.

At this next stop, I heard the motto that seemed to sum up the day: We ride to eat, and we eat to ride. That about says it all with this bunch. We stopped for ice cream, and because of the time of year, pumpkin ice cream was on the menu, and I was so happy. I have ice cream two or three times a year, and one of those servings needs to be pumpkin for me to be completely satisfied.

Riding on the back of a bike through these tiny towns on old farm roads is always a fascinating way to see what there is to see. I saw a lot of dairy cows. I saw alpaca farms. I saw a Ben Franklin store. I saw a funeral parlor named Sweeny Dodds. I saw a home business called Lilly's Electrolysis.

All in all, it was a great day.