Sunday

Good to be back on Maplecrest.  The weekend up in Minnesota was fun, but its always good to be back home.

We'll make 1.01 and 1.02 Grandchildren of the Day for entertaining the Lt. for the weekend.  Other than a couple of small "episodes", they both did well during my visit.  They weren't so keen on a departure pic, but it makes publication regardless.

 That car in the photo is one from my pal Roy's stable.  Actually, it was that car's predecessor that I drove occasionally several years ago before I bought my first Buick and the BEATER war my primary car.  If I had a trip to KC or C-town for business in those couple of years, I would borrow the Caddy from Roy as I didn't want to rely on the Taurus. 

This model is a hot rod!  Cadillac CTS-V.  A 6-speed manual transmission with a Corvette engine boosting out around 500 horsepower!  Step on the gas a be prepared to go.  Really a fun ride.  (Roy was driving it last week, just to give it some use.  I asked to let me take it for the weekend, and got the answer I knew he'd give.)  By the way, there is a down side when it comes to mileage and the grade of gasoline.  One's down and the other's up.  Let's just say that you don't drive it for the economy of it.

I did get out on a 15 mile ride on Saturday afternoon.  It was super windy and I tried to do an East-West route to minimize the southerly gale.  That took me down to the little town of Afton.  Some pretty good hills.  Then the clouds came up and I figured that a shorter ride was better than getting soaked.  As it turned out, I coulda done the additional 10 that I had scheduled as the rain held off for an hour or so...and then came in and washed out the planned bar-b-que.

My mind under-performed on the trip.  I didn't even come close to the Friday and Saturday NYT crosswords.  Sometimes you just don't get the gist of where they're headed.  This was certainly one of those times.  Very annoying.  And I left two...repeat, TWO...bags of personal belongings in the basement at 1's.  And I know I made a special, final walk-through to confirm that I left no chargers in sockets or hygiene items in the bathroom.  While I left no chargers in sockets, I incredibly managed to leave the entire bag of chargers, bike lights, iPad and assorted electronics.  Suite deal.

Also in the Sometimer's bin, I failed to pack a cycling jersey for my Minnesota riding.  So on Saturday, I was forced to put into play a dri-fit golf shirt for the ride.  How Walmart-ish!  No back pockets in that shirt.  So I had to stuff my phone in the seat bag, which meant a couple of items had to be removed.  That created a ripple in the force too.

And I almost forgot that on the way up to Minny on Friday, I had elected to go the Rochester route as I feared construction on I-35.  Well, my mind being on a walkabout, I drove North on US Route 61 to Dubuque rather than simply take the normal route of I-80 over to Waterloo, and then up to Rochester.  And Route 61 beyond Dubuque takes you through a bunch of small towns.  I eventually got to Rochester by way of LaCrosse, but it wasn't much fun.  And it definitely took an extra 30 minutes of driving time.  Attaboy, PC.

I did come back the Rochester route today, via Waterloo, and I think that that will be my primary route for the future...at least until those roads go under construction.  That route gets me past my favorite tree in West Branch.  Current photo.

The book-on-tape for the trip was a murder mystery.  I'm wondering if the author struggled with alternative endings.  What he ended up with was at least two extra tapes that left me suspicious that he got off track and couldn't find a convenient way back...and ended up with two separate, almost unconnected, murders that he tried to weave as part of the same story. Do books, when read out loud to an audience, come across differently than when people read them silently to themselves? 

(Just too hard to get this rotated a half turn to the left.  Sorry.  You'll need to do a little eye-tilt here!)

With no good lighting options, that early ride will be a little later tomorrow.

Its a busy week ahead for the fam.  Take my advice: go to a written checklist.

Thanks for reading.  Make it a good week in your neighborhood.

BCOT