October 1: A Day of Blessings

I am truly blessed! Today I celebrated the birth of my oldest son, had a delightful lunch with my younger son and his girlfriend, AND got to go on a fantastic ride through the backroads of Oregon under blue skies with the sun on my back. Does it get any better?

Before I became a biker I used to sleep in on the weekends. But with the downright balmy weather forecasted for today I decided to get an early start on my trip to Eugene for lunch with my younger son, allowing me to take backroads most of the way.

What a pleasant ride it was. As I headed south on 99E and then highway 214 through Mount Angel to Silverton, I passed through orchards, vineyards, fields, and farmlands. The landscape had an entirely different color palette than in the Spring, as the hot summer weather had turned much of the countryside into various beautiful shades of yellow, green, and brown.

From Stayton I took the Stayton-Scio Road and then highway 226 to Lebanon towards Brownsville. As I did not have plans to travel far today, I took my time enjoying the countryside and the ride itself, swooping around the corners and up and down hills as I passed animals grazing in the fields beside me. In Lebanon, I stopped to buy Kool-Aid from an enterprising child with a stand on the road and took a picture of the two of us with my bike.

Arriving in Eugene, I couldn’t resist stopping to pose in front of an old-fashioned telephone booth before stopping to get gas. From there, I called my older son to wish him a happy birthday. It was wonderful to spend a few minutes with him on the phone and hear about his fun plans for the week.

After gassing up I headed to “Hey Neighbor,” on the University of Oregon campus to meet my son and his girlfriend for a delicious lunch. Our pepperoni pizza with honey and hot chili oil hit the spot as I sat in the sun at the picnic bench sharing about our lives. What a great day on the bike!