First big trip (for us)!

We made it....to Monmouth and back. It was a 30 mile round trip - longer than I have been going at any one time. In fact, one way is 15 miles which is still longer than I have tried yet this summer.

The day looked perfect. the computer said 5 mile an hour wind and temps no higher than 70. So we took off on the back roads to Monmouth. Because we take the back roads instead of the 4-lane, it is about two miles further (because you have to get to the backroads - DUH! The first 2 miles wer great. Then we headed north. I swear the wind increased proportionately to the distance we traveled. It just kept blowing harder and harder. I usually ride in the highest 3-4 gears. ON this trip I just kept shifting down. By the time we got to Monmouth I was in the low middle and on hills once I even pushed into the low gears. So...we went from going an easy 12 miles an hour down to about 6-7 miles an hour (and even slower on the hills!) It took us almost two hours!

As long as I remembered that I was there for fun and to enjoy the day, I was OK. I just rode slow and didn't worry what Jan thought or how it bothered him to go slow. It's a time when we can talk about a lot of stuff - anything - and we do. But when I began to worry about keeping up with him, or him slowing down to keep up with me, I began to not enjoy the day. We also looked forward to the return trip when the wind would blow us home!

Hardee's was great, as usual. I used my Titan card which is the same as drink and fries free! And I did talk myself into a salad instead of the fries! When we left Hardee's we decided to go visit Susan and Greg even though we didn't smell very good. Hadn't seen them in awhile so it was good to just chat about kids and grandkids! As soon as we left we both decided we should have used their bathroom, so we just HAD to stop at DQ for a bathroom stop and of course we needed icecream since we were there! Then we were off to home.

Guess what...the wind had almost died down to nothing, so no help there. Actually there was still a little. Going down one hill I got to 25 miles an hour...a record, I think! And we got home in a little over an hour. WHEW! was I tired. But it felt good. Don't know if I have enough muscle strength to go out again today. Maybe later....we'll see!