Spring Has Sprung

Thursday I picked "The Boy" up from school. I had a surprise waiting for him. He came out of the building, and his eyes got real big when he saw the bikes in the back of my truck. "Cool", he shouted, "Were going biking". I had promised him that when the weather was warmer an the weather nice, I would take him to the nearby bike trail. It was sunny & 68. Our bike trail used to be railroad tracks. It is nestled between rolling hills and a small river.

Although it looks barren in these pictures, there was proof of Spring all around us.

Here is a picture of "The Boy" at a bridge that was about 1 1/2 miles up the trail.

From this vantage point, you could see how high the flood waters were earlier this year. We were under flood warnings quite a bit. If you can look closely at the next picture, you will see leaves, grass & other vegetation in the upper parts of the trees on the banks of the river below us. From my estimation, the water was only about 5 feet below the bottom of the bridge. It's about 20-25 feet from the bottom of the bridge and the water currently.

Looking at this picture, I would estimate that the water was near the top block in the center support beam. That's a lot of water.

We rode up the trail for about 2 1/4 miles and "The Boy wanted to go even further. He wanted to venture to the next town, which is a college town about another 4 1/2 miles up. I looked at my watch and told him we need to get back because it was near 5 o'clock and supper would be soon. He sighed and reluctantly headed back down the trail for the truck.

I can count the number of times I have ridden on a bike in the last five years on both hands. 4 1/2 miles did a number on my seat. What added insult to injury was Friday at work, the job I did required me to sit 6 1/2 hours.