The
winds are blowing now at 20 mile per hour from the south by southwest on this warm,
Monday night. They carry with it memories
of a week and a half ago. It was a weekend
of bustling about. I’ll take a break now
from correcting school work, to put together a collection of pictures and
videos from that weekend. I’ll do that for
no other reason than to remember it when the winds shift out of the north, and
bury us in a blanket of snow a few months from now. As if we should be so lucky!
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| Sunrise from a bypass over I-90 |
The unofficial weekend
started on a Friday that was a “School Improvement Planning Day.” Having a day like this without classes meant
that I could take time to enjoy the sunrise, and then spend it with colleagues
that supported each other with positive attributes in an activity designed
especially for our staff. We needed that
with the winds of change that we’ve had as of late.
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| Heading South on Highway #2 |
On Saturday, October 8th
I got up early, took Jodi to meet the cross-country bus, and then went for a
short run in our neighborhood. Cindy
gathered her things, and then headed out to coach the junior high volleyball tournament that
our conference has for the end of the season.
When I got a text from Jodi that said she was going to run one of the
earlier races down in Sterling, I took off as soon as I got cleaned up and ready. It was a beautiful drive south along
Highway#2. I made it to the course about
2 minutes before the 10:00 start, let her know I was there, and then set off on
a sprint so that I could cheer her on as many times as possible. Over the years I’ve found that if I “Put the
Hammer Down”, and cut along the hypotenuse between each corner, I can see my
kids about 11 times along that course. I’m
whipped afterwards, but the kids have always appreciated it, and I secretly
enjoy it. Jodi ran an excellent race,
and cut about 30 seconds off her previous time from a race a few weeks prior.
In the meantime, I got a
text from Cindy that said her team of 6th and 7th grade
girls had won their first two games, and advanced to the championship (a great
run for the #3 seed). I said goodbye to
Jodi, and headed back north along the Rock River; hoping I could maybe make the
final couple of points, but it was not to be.
I was greatly disappointed that I couldn’t be in both places at once to
see her and her team as well as Jodi run.
Apparently Cindy's girls had played well, but they fell to a good team, and so took 2nd
place. I shook it off as best I could,
and went home to mow the yard. Soon
afterwards, I got another text from Cindy that informed me that the varsity
team had also advanced to the tournament championship. I went and picked up Jodi from the high
school, and we headed down to watch the 7th and 8th grade
girls, coached by one of my fellow 5th grade teachers, Jacqui. It was a great run, as they came back from a
loss in the first game, to win the next two and capture 1st
place. It was pretty exciting, and Jodi
enjoyed seeing them play. It reminded her
of her 7th grade year where they too had won the volleyball championship
on that same gym floor. We came home,
and they cleaned up while I finished mowing, before we all went out to get
something to eat. It had been quite a
day.
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| Jacqui and Cindy |
On Sunday, October 9th
I got up and ran 7 miles with some friends, before heading to church. It was a great sermon from a guest speaker on
having freedom in Christ. Our pastor was
spending his Sunday morning down cheering on his own daughter in the Chicago
Marathon. I sent them a few texts for
motivation.
Once home I gathered my
fishing stuff together and then met my Dad.
We planned on heading into Wisconsin for one of the last trout
fishing outings of the year. To show
just how fickle the whole process can be, we went to the same creek that I had
visited two weeks beforehand. Yes, the
one where I had caught 30 fish in one day (See "Documenting the Story"). Dad and I enjoyed a nice day on the water,
and saw a few fish here and there, but we literally caught absolutely zero
trout. It was unbelievable really, but
it was a beautiful day to be together and talk, so for that reason it was well
worth the travel and energy spent. My
Dad did catch one thing, a small piece of barbed wire with a loop on the
end. One of the barbs on his spinner
snagged it. Afterwards we sent a text to
my uncle who had caught a perfectly smooth rock while salmon fishing a week or
so before. Similarly a barb on his
spinner had caught the one little dimple on its surface. We told him we’d match him and raise him one.
When I returned home, I
put away my gear, and then headed for the store to buy the supplies I would
need for our traditional “Columbus Day Outing” with the Gulo Adventure
Clan. (See "C.F.A." ) Due to some other
commitments by a few of our members, there would be five of us riding the
currents of the river the following morning.
I stayed up and prepared the food and equipment, and then collapsed into
bed.
The following morning
was cool and brisk, but it was beautiful, and promised to be a remarkable day. We met, did our traditional portaging of
vehicles to drop off our kayaks and canoe, and headed down the river by
9:00. The water was high, and covered
all of our usual sandbars that we get out on to cook or stretch our legs.
We finally found a bank we could skid up onto,
and enjoyed a great meal cooked on the good ole fifteen inch skillet. It’s quickly becoming a classic, and worth its
weight in what it takes to haul it along.
The iron got so hot though, that it burned right through the brand new
hot pad that my Mom had recently bought me.
I hated telling her that the nicely decorated hot pad, with the nature
scene, now had a large melted spot through the silvery backside. She was glad it at least wasn’t my hand. It just shows how hot that skillet can get
though. Let’s just say that I’m really
moving fast with the spatula and spoon as the food nears being finished.
We completed the trip in two and half hours
on the faster currents, and all of us agreed that it was a great trip. I tried to foil the outcome by accidentally
leaving my keys in the vehicle back at the put in site, but after flagging down
a passer-by with my hitchhikers thumb and a wooden paddle, we sent one of the “rookies”
back with the stranger to retrieve his truck (and my keys) so that we could
load it all up. In reality, no time was
lost in the process, but we did have to break down and use a little ingenuity
to solve the problem. It was all in a
day’s work. Speaking of work, we had to
work that day too as we neared the finish of our paddle, and bucked the wind
coming out of the south.
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| Doug, Ted, Tyler, Louie, and I on the Sugar River |
I better post this entry;
it’s going to be good sleeping while listening to that wind blowing through the trees
tonight.
See you along The Way…
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