While whining about the hotter-than-usual summer, I've been trying to keep my chin up and look forward to fall. Since folks have been talking about school beginning soon and football, I suppose fall might happen after all. If that's true, it's time to prepare for it.
Over the summer, fitness has been eroding at an alarming rate. It's time to push things a bit. Instead of sleeping late, or driving to play disc golf, like the last few Saturdays, it was high time for getting out on the bicycle. And it was a joy.
Fuzzy's Taco Shop, Sanger, Texas
Today's outing was basically a breakfast run. We have a "just opened" Fuzzy's Taco Shop in Sanger now (yeah, who woulda thought?), and a breakfast taco seemed like just the excuse for a bicycle outing. For you non-locals, Fuzzy's is known 'round here for their excellent fish tacos.
Jayber's Place?
After breakfast, and cruising through town, I saw the above building and it made a powerful impression on me. Have you ever read a book, and used your imagination to form a perfectly clear image of something being described in the book...as if you were seeing it with your eyes? Then, did you actually see the thing in real life? This building is one of those things for me.
One of my favorite novels is, "Jayber Crow", by Wendell Berry. The title character is a bachelor barber who lives much of his life in a two-story building that is described like this. The downstairs is his barber shop, and he lives upstairs, accessing his abode via outdoor staircase. In my mind, as I read the book, it looks just like this. Just seeing it on a quiet summer morning carried me back to 1940's Port William, Kentucky. Mind games. If you yearn to escape to a simpler time, when community mattered, when people were self-reliant, when neighbors were neighbors, and the economy was local, you will probably enjoy this book (as well as many other things Wendell Berry has authored).
Dry (but not usually) Creek
The trip back home carried me away from my temporary mental escape back to reality. The blazing sun was climbing and doing what it has been doing for almost 90 days now. It was heating up quickly, climbing to another high temperature record (yawn), and I was remembering why I've been too much off the bike lately. But the hands are still spinning around the clock, and the season will change. So it was good getting out. There were probably no significant fitness gains this morning, but it was a step in the right direction.
Perhaps it is time to contemplate a pre-dawn group ramble.
ReplyDeleteA pre-dawn ramble sounds interesting.
ReplyDeleteThe bacon, egg, and cheese breakfast taco's at Fuzzy's are pretty good. I had a couple of them myself yesterday.
I'm going to check out Wendell Berry's books. Thanks for the tip.
Night riding?
ReplyDeleteWendell is from Port Royal in Henry Co., about 45 or 50min from here. One of my best friends grew up in the county there and knows the family. I'm sure Port William is modelled on Port Royal, down on the Kentucky River.
ReplyDeleteAnd fish tacos, yum!!
Glad you got out! Fish tacos, especially breakfast tacos, are almost unheard of around here. I wish that weren't the case!
ReplyDeleteI share your aversion to hot weather cycling, and I live in Tucson!
ReplyDeleteI've done a little cycling after sunset (with some lights on my bike, of course). It's not my preference, however, maybe a little more dangerous than I'd like.
Can't wait for some cooler temperatures, although I think you folks in Texas have actually been hotter than in Tucson this summer!
A pre-dawn group ramble would be just the thing to give me the incentive to get out of my lazy haze. If there are knuckleheads out there who'd show up insanely early in the morning, or perhaps the night before, for a 6am start, I'll be happy to host. On the other hand, if you boys want to organize a city-ramble, I'd do what I can to make that also.
ReplyDeleteDavid, night riding is certainly better than the afternoon, but it is often still in the upper 90's around 10pm.
Glad you got to ride a bit! Please keep me in the loop reg. any upcoming rides!
ReplyDeleteI need to ride some place other than just to work.
Peace :)
I have a Wendell Berry book of poetry and really love it. And I'm not a poetry kind of guy. Never have tried his fiction writing. I'm going to give it a try. Thanks for the tip.
ReplyDeleteI just finished Jayber Crow and a book of Berry's short stories. Good stuff. Thanks for mentioning it.
ReplyDeleteI am pleased to hear you enjoyed Berry's work. Compared to my sometimes hurried and stressful shortcut lifestyle, I find his direct, work-valuing, perspective refreshing.
ReplyDelete