Diane and I had talked about riding the tandem out to Duncan Memorial Chapel on Saturday, even before her car was stolen. We’re getting married there, and needed to finalize the booking for the right date.
We left later than intended, as usual, Saturday afternoon. A quick trip to the store and we remembered something at home. The 20% chance of rain seemed to materialize while we were shopping. A quick ride home in light rain to grab the forgotten item, and we headed back out.
We hadn’t had lunch. It was starting to rain. Stopping early to eat seemed like it could solve both problems. A quick trip to Four Pegs (while the rain petered out) was quite pleasant.
The rain quickly returned and became a brief storm. Only one lightning strike that I noticed, but a little wind, a lot of rain, and small hail. I was worried Diane would call off the trip. She didn’t.
The skies cleared, and most of the trip was pretty pleasant. The first 18 miles were pretty urban. It takes a while to “get out there”. Even at the 21-mile mark, where the chapel is, had exurb traffic. Bleh. It made for narrow winding roads and numerous pickup trucks.
After finishing the business at the chapel, we continued on along Mt Zion Rd, which I’ve ridden quite a few times. I remember complaining about the unending rolling hills. Diane and I do not make a good climbing team on the tandem. Diane gets scared of high-speed descents. This stretch was a bit taxing for both of us.
We eventually arrived at Diane’s brother’s house. He wasn’t home, but we’d already talked to him about this. We set up camp around his fire pit in the back yard.
The back yard / campsite is a sprawling thing ending at a line of trees, a pond, and a valley. It’s quite pretty with the fall colors.
The fire pit already had chairs around it. There was ample aged firewood in place. This would be nice.
I had a decent fire going before long. We brought snacks, drinks, and sausages to cook over the fire. It was quite pleasant to sit and watch the fire.
The homeowners weren’t due back until late, and when that time rolled around, they still weren’t home.
Diane finally gave up and climbed in the tent. I sat watching the fire a while before joining her. I was able to get comfortable and warm pretty quickly and I fell asleep.
I woke up cold and stiff. I had been asleep for possibly 90 minutes. I realized the cellphones had woken me up. Our hosts were home and inviting us to sleep in the spare bedroom. We were cold. The fire was dead. We happily agreed.
Ten minutes later I was in a warm bed and sleeping soundly.
Sunday’s events will be posted in part 2.
The route below is mostly what we rode. I edited out the camp location and our goofy riding around before finally leaving town.
Great to see things going well for you! You have me considering a tandem…
My uncle got married there when I was a young.
You guys are both such troopers! Biking in the rain and camping in the cold. I’m impressed!
Pondero,
Rent, borrow, steal, or buy a cheap tandem and give it a shop. Just don’t buy a nice one to begin with.
Barturtle,
It’s a neat chapel, even if I’m not religious, I understand the symbolism everywhere. Diane grew up Catholic. I’m glad she got over that. 🙂
Elizabeth,
I’m used to rain and cold. Diane is the trooper. She’s handled the “weird cyclist shit” wonderfully.
The longer Diane sticks around, the better she gets. She really does seem like a keeper 🙂