In Turkey We Trust

It's been a while since I posted. I have been busy stuffing my face. And relaxing. Not that that means I haven't ridden.

This is Thanksgiving week. Normal routines go out the window, except for bike commuting. I rode to work on Tuesday on Big Nellie. I am finally getting dialed in to my recumbent after a long time off the bike. One reason I have been off the bike so much is the fact that I crashed the bloody beast on wet pavement back in the spring and messed up my right leg.  So I have been reluctant to repeat the experience. Time heals all cliches so they say or something like that. Now everything is copacetic. So Big Nellie gets the call.

Tuesday at lunch one of my office mates decided that we should all go out to Ray's Hell Burger, about 1/2 mile from the office. I have had a heap of burgers in my life, but none match the orgasmic deliciousness of a Ray's Hell Burger. The damn thing melts in your mouth. Oh, the bovine goodness of it all.

Since I don't normally eat big lunches I spent the afternoon in a food coma.  The ride home was wicked good. It was warm-ish and my fuel tank was full.  Once at the Rootchopper ranch, I quickly showered and changed, then snarfed down some peanut butter and bread. I was out the door a little after 7 and headed to Baltimore in the Millenium Falcon, my son's Mitsubishi Lancer, a true automotive shitbox. I drove on I-95 to Cockeysville, Maryland. This involved the main line to New York plus two beltways. What fun. I-95 before Thanksgiving is automotive hell. You'll be bombing along at 60 miles per hour only to come to a dead stop before going 60 again. Polka driving (lots of accordions). I rendevoused with my son who had caught a ride from his college in the frozen north  I picked him up at a neighborhood of McMansions that was truly impressive. Suburban Baltimorons are not hurting. The ride home was eerie. There was hardly any traffic at all.  We made it home by 11:30 and after some chit chatting I headed to bed at 12:30.

Wednesday morning I went to the extra special Thanksgiving version of Friday Coffee Club at Swings Coffee in DC. I normally leave a half hour early to get to Coffee Club, but this time I actually left a little late. I was zombie after getting to bed so late. Work was work-ish. We were dismissed early and I rode home in daylight which was a treat. The next two months of riding in the cold and dark will be challenging. I could never live in the far north. I need my solar fix.


Thanksgiving means food. In order to make room for mass quantities, I did a pre-meal 16 mile ride.  It was warm out. The Mount Vernon Trail was thick with bored looking families killing time before the big gobble. That evening, we saddled up the Honda, with a trunk full of food, and headed to friends' house in North Arlington. Football, beer, and turkey. Yeah, buddy.

We interrupt this blog to give thanks for all the thank-worthy things in my life.

Thanks.

Back to the blog.

I took Friday off from work and went for a leisurely ride in Woodlawn. Woodlawn is that area south of the Mount Vernon estate. It's quiet suburbia with no traffic. The hills are not too bad and the roads have some nice curves that turn Big Nellie into a roller coaster car. I love carving turns even more than carving turkeys.

After 30 miles, I headed for home. My wife, daughter and I headed out to see Lincoln only to be thwarted by those bored families killing time by filling the movie theater. Go home bored families. Your relatives are already sick of you! We watched Life of Pi instead. It was in 3D. The 3D actually made the movie better. It was a real feast for the eyes. Somebody said it would be best to see this movie stoned.  Nobody in the theater said "DOOD!  That was AWESOME!" so I think everybody was straight for our showing.

Saturday has been given over to procrastinating. I did get some cleaning up down in the basement of doom and some caulking in my bathroom. I was supposed to research health insurance plans. Our current insurance is only good in the DC area. Since my daughter is going away to college, we need to change. We don't wanna!  I picked up the guide book my wife got from work and read the fine print.  If I understand it correctly, we can keep our current insurance until she leaves next fall. Yesss!

Insurance? Boy, did this blog get boring. See what happens when I take a day off my bike?  I do believe Big Nellie will be fixin' for a ride tomorrow. So will I.