Eastern Daylight Time

Today is the end of an unconventional week. Monday looked normal enough, but Tuesday began on the treadmill in my home gym. I was determined to get my 10,000 steps early in the day, because the rest of Tuesday would be very busy. At 2:30 a.m. CDT, I pulled out of West Bend and headed for West Newton PA, my childhood home. I got there early in the afternoon and immediately embarked on a 2-hour ride on the Great Allegheny Passage, one of America’s great rail trails. The GAP stretches from Pittsburgh to Washington DC, roughly 300 miles. There’s a very nice access point in West Newton and a very well supplied bike shop at the trailhead. None of it existed when I was a kid; the railroad corridor was still active. If it had existed in the 1970s, then I would have been all over it!

After a Tuesday night hotel stay in western Pennsylvania, I arrived at my mother’s house in eastern Pennsylvania late Wednesday morning. I didn’t get on the bike that day, but I did find time for a long walk around Mom’s neighborhood. Back in the saddle on Thursday, I rescued the turtle pictured above. It was on its back after failing to get up a curb that was too high. It probably was far enough from the flow of motor vehicle traffic to avoid death by that method, but it was baking under the full sun of an 80-something-degree day. I turned the turtle over and set it on the grass. Seconds later, it waddled off to safety.

I rode again on Friday, on Saturday, and earlier today … solid, maintenance rides of the Zone 2 type. There will be many more of those over the next two weeks. This week I covered 127 miles in 8:44. That’s almost enough weekly volume for the remainder of my time away from West Bend. In July, when I’m home again, I will look for bigger numbers.