What a ride

A bike ride to "Float Week" ~ friends of ours share family property on Ford Road and they spend a week there every summer.  All the kids are invited and it's one giant camping trip in South Madison.  Patrick, now that he's driving, has just gone for the week, only coming home after work to shower.  I decided it would be a great ride to head there yesterday morning.  Then I remembered the huge hill on Ford Road.  It's one that makes you go, "weeeeeee" in the car, straight down and straight up.  Let me be clear, it's not the up that scares me; it's the down.  That's the uncontrollable part ~ How do I know I won't crash and burn?  That would really, really HURT!  But, being me, I go anyway.  I get to that hill and there's no traffic so I set a course down the middle of the lane and go ~ and it's was roller coaster excitement.  weeeeeeee ~ Hopefully no one was around because I was grinning ear to ear and whooping out loud.  Adrenaline, wind in my face, speed on the edge of control.... Let's not talk about the way I had to walk the final push up the other side...But I couldn't wait to go home and hit that hill again!
The other adventure came as I was beginning the return trip.  The camp is way back off the road ~ there's a one lane "road" which is two tire tracks of gravel with a strip of grass growing in between.  There are woods on both sides.  My little tired bike couldn't handle the gravel, so I was riding in the strip in the middle.  I'm tooling along the grass heading back to the road when I see a little cat rooting around in the grass ahead of me.  I say, "hello, kitty" and it waddle waddle looks up at me and I realize, "oh, no, it's not a cat."  There was a skunk between me and my escape.  I, rather quickly, turn my bike around and get out of the way, visions of stink and gross running through my head.  I decide my only hope is to wait it out.  Thank Goodness after a couple of minutes that skunk waddled into the woods.  I hightailed me and my bike past that spot as fast as I could thanking my lucky stars that it worked out so well.
And on a "make myself look better" note, I made it up the other side of the hill on the way home.