Today was a lot like yesterday, near déjà vu all over again, but not quite. I did my body awareness lessons, and we both rode bicycles and horses. The one difference was that today, bicycling and horse aficionados were involved. First, we were out on the trail and we ran into Christine on her big fat tire(d)! bicycle. We talked briefly about the conditions of the trails because she had a long ride ahead of her. I noticed that she had what our friend Vicki Talbot’s husband Mike called the items on Pete’s red truck, “geeky market after shit.” From what I could tell, she had a thermometer – she told me it was 22 degrees out. I had my geeky market after shit on my wrist, my GPS watch. It does not give the temperature, but it does give my heartbeat, which was 97 bpm at that time.

Later, as we were saddling up the horses for a ride (Hrimmi and Raudi) our neighbor Karen Hoppe rode up into the driveway on her big fat tire(d)! bicycle. Readers of this dispatch may recall that three years prior, I was at her house when she unloaded her new big fat tire(d)! bicycle from her truck. I was very envious.

I don’t see Karen often because she skis and bicycles. She once had a horse and we used to ride, but her horse died and she gave up riding. She and I jumped up and down and she owwed and awed about

Karen Hoppe and Pete, bicyclist.

Raudi meets Hestar

Hestar fra Squalor Holler. Then she, Pete, and I talked bicycles and trails for some time. They both know the trails around here really well, and I don’t, so I was peripheral to this conversation. I was then thinking – I just want to get out and ride in the Moose Range.

I should mention here that it was very overcast and blustery out. Warm, but the wind was really blowing. I thought, isn’t this like us all, to be hanging out talking in a windstorm?

As we were all talking, our friend Dan and his daughter Kensey pulled up on the far side of the road with their trailer. They then unloaded Kensey’s horse Tink and Dan’s horse Rowdy. Karen left and we finished saddling up the horses. Interesting, the conversation shifted to the very same subject when we joined Kensey and Dan. It was a smooth transition.

It would have been a historic moment if Karen had stuck around and we all talked bicycles and trails and horses. Perhaps this will happen in the future. What is momentous is that Pete and I appeared, albeit briefly, to be a part of two recreational user groups. Admittedly, I was resistant to this for a long, long time – now I realize that it was counter-productive. My thinking is now that if we all converge on our area trails, and by “all” I mean silent sport users – bicyclists, horseback riders, and hikers, that we might drive the motorized out of our area – this, just by having sheer numbers. This way, all non-motorized recreational users who frequent this area will be able to live the dream.

Next: 14. 1/14/18 Tossing Your Hat in the Ring