Vacation

July 22nd

July 23rd

Today looms. Margot would have been two years old today. When I said my riding is a shelter from her loss I was generalizing. I thought a lot about her on my ride today. After the pack of chasing dogs it was a bit of a relief to have my mind occupied with looking out for the next canine threat.

But God I just miss her so much. And I wish we could eradicate certain words from our vocabulary. And I wish you all were as raw as I am still so that when you said those words you felt that sting of pain. And I wish today would finally have come and gone for one more year. And I wish this family vacation didn’t remind me so much of last year’s family vacation, when she was there.

July 24th

July 25th

Woke up a little later than usual (a little before 6:30) to the sight of a wet driveway. The temperature was below 80 and while the humidity was high, it was a miracle. I decided to head out on the wet roads and not wait another minute to see if the sun came out to dry them. In fact I was hopeful that the clouds would remain for the duration of the ride, which they did.

It was–despite being chased by dogs three or four times*–my favorite ride of the year. It reminded me of riding in Pennsylvania when I was a teenager. It’s not hard to understand how I became attracted to the sport. I’ve been riding in the city for so long now that it actually took some time for me to adjust being out on an empty road, all by myself, with no other roads in sight. It’s an introvert’s perfect activity.

I was tentatively planning on riding about 50-60 miles but after making a wrong turn and diverting from my original route by five miles I improved a loop back and ended up with just a hair over 40.

Later that day we went to the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum which was surprisingly awesome.

After that we had a traditional family dinner at Johnnie’s, then a birthday get-together for “aunt” Virginia, who is 94 and as healthy as I am at least.

* ...and even changing course once when I saw a giant loose German Shepard up the road--the road I diverted onto was the best of the ride. The best chase was a pair of terriers who never got closer than a few feet from me despite the fact I was climbing and going plenty slow. They followed me so far up that road I started to deviously wonder if I could lead them so far away they wouldn't be able to find their way home.

Here are some of Carissa's awesome photos...

Oklahoma_0495_cl

Oklahoma_0479_cl

Oklahoma_0235_cl

Oklahoma_0223_cl

Makes me want to go swimming in the pond again!

Oklahoma_0142_cl

Me encouraging Penn his first time swimming in something other than a pool. He got used to it quick. You know he just couldn’t stand by and watch very long…

Oklahoma_0131_cl

(Previously.)

Oklahoma_0106_cl

The “farmhouse”.

Previous: Lucy

Archives | RSS