We couldn't have ordered better weather than we had today, sunny and 70 degrees. A blessing for Mother's Day. After church, a quick lunch, and we got ready to ride. Having enjoyed our roller coaster ride on 20 Mile Rd. last week, we decided to do a repeat.
As I often do, I was thinking about my Mom, who passed away 20 years ago. She was a NW Ia farm girl. Growing up, she had a bike, but never learned to ride it. As a child, I don't know which was harder for me to grasp, the fact that my mother didn't know how to ride a bike, or that as a little girl, she had a bike to look at and to walk around, but she was unable to ride it. She said she tried a few times, but eventually gave up. The irony of it all, is that her Dad, my Grandpa, is the one that taught me to ride.
I was about 6 years old, and my bike was too big for me. My Dad put wooden blocks on the pedals, so I could reach, but in order to stop, I still had to stand up on the bike. I remember wobbling back and forth wildly, trying to keep my balance, as I careened down the hill, near where we lived. My 5 foot 4 inch Grandpa, would be standing at the bottom of the hill. "Grandpa, Grandpa, I can't stop!" I would shout, and he would run out in the road and grab my bike. Often we would both end up in a heap on the ground, and he would say, "Well, your stopped, now."
After I got married, from time to time, my Mom would say, "I wish I had one of those grown up trikes., then I could ride around town." Sometimes when Tony and I are pedaling along, I mention how fun it would be to put my Mom on the back of our trike and take her for a ride, or better yet, let her be the captain, although I seriously doubt that I could have talked her into that. She would have thought it was a daring thing, to ride on the back. If I ever took her down a hill and hit 30 MPH, she would probably fall off, in a dead faint. Sometimes Tony and I laugh about it, and say, "Man, what would Mom have thought about this?" Even after all this time, I still miss her.
Most Mom's were probably enjoying a dinner someone else cooked, so even on our country roads, there were few cars. We laughed as we were going up a big hill on 20 Mile Rd, and saw a sign that said "Slow", as big as the hill was we had little choice in the matter.
The ride down the hills wasn't as fast as last time, because of a headwind, but it was still fun.
Made our usual stop in Tustin, had a snack and rode on.
We were about a mile from home when we saw a blue racer sunning itself on the road. It's flat blue scales shining, in the sunlight.
Although I am not a fan of snakes, I admired it's beauty. We rode up to it slowly, thinking it might slither off, but the warm pavement was appealing, so it stayed. This snake is active during the day and even though it can climb trees, it spends most of it's time on the ground. It's range is NW Ontario Canada, northwest OH, southeast MN, WI and MI.
It's name likely comes from it's color and method of hunting. When searching for food, it usually holds it's head up, above the ground and moves rapidly through the undergrowth, giving an appearance of racing along.
When threatened, it will usually move into the bushes or up a small tree. It can become aggressive when annoyed by people and will strike out rapidly, and bite. It is not venomous, but the bite can be painful. Makes me glad we didn't tick this one off, especially since we were within striking range. When threatened, the blue racer will vibrate it's tail rapidly, making a buzzing sound that can be mistaken for a rattlesnake. All we saw was a sleepy blue snake, and I'm happy to say, that's the way the encounter ended.
Total miles pedaled today, 22.
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