Trip to St. George

I had a great time in St. George this weekend! Saturday I rode around in warm sunshine (see previous post). On Sunday, I took off for a ride from my brother's house to see my grandparents. It was only about a mile and a half, but by the time I got there I had pretty much decided it wasn't worth it to ride in such brutal wind. When I left my grandparent's place I had planned just to go back to my brother's house and get ready to drive back home. But once I got on the road, I had changed my mind (I'm always changing my mind). I had a fantastic tailwind pushing me along. It felt so good that even though I knew it would be super hard on the way back, I just kept riding. But, those winds were relentless. There were several times I was sure I was going to be knocked over. It was so bad that on one descent, where normally I would have gotten going 35+ mph, I was pushing against the wind at 10 mph! I almost got killed by a giant tumbleweed, too! I rode out to Bloomington to see my mom's old house, then headed back to my brother's house. Sure enough, just as I expected, it was hard and slow going back. I had to keep telling myself what great training this was.

Total mileage for the weekend = 54 miles
Total time spent on the bike = 4 hours

Here are some of the sights I enjoyed while riding around:
Such pretty scenery!







Windmills


Yard Art


Staying at my brother's house is always an adventure. I got to have some almost Redneck type experiences: sleeping on camouflage sheets, eating venison, and watching the teenagers load the 4-wheeler into the bed of the truck to drive around and impress their friends. My littlest niece was so cute... she just wanted to hang out with me all day. She told me she was going with me on my bike ride. So she went and got her helmet. I decided I would take her for a quick round-the-block trip. Then I found out that she didn't know how to ride a bike yet. So we got out the scooter and off we went. Here's some of the conversation I got on that 20 minute ride around the block: "My scooter feels funny." (She gets off and starts walking.) "Oh, look a rolly-polly!" (We stop and pick it up. She puts it in her pocket.) "Wait for me!" (I stop...and wait...) "Ha, ha, I'm beating you!" (Thought I'd let her get ahead so I could ride faster than 2 mph catching back up.) "Stop, I've gotta rest." (Aaaa! Am I ever going to get out for a real ride!) Anyway, you get the point. She was a hoot the whole weekend. Here's some pictures of her living it up.