Day +1 ... Reintegration into Civil Society
People seem more ... on edge? It took me a while today to realize that even in Helena, laid back as it must be with respect to major population centers like Billings, people here are more keyed up than those of Lincoln County where a "free rider" is celebrated during the Ovando Gran Fondo rather than run off the course as would surely happen in Billings.
A few weeks prior to putting in a surprising number of miles on the ol' mountain bike, I was working on the concept of a campaign to do something nice for a stranger once a day. The act didn't have to be earth shattering, just something nice that the recipient would appreciate. One example might be letting someone get in line in front of you at the store. That person's life would be a bit better and hopefully they would pay it forward, kindness rippling outward around the world until it reaches North Korea where kindness is not permitted.
And that particular act of kindness, letting someone go in front of you in line, brought me back to earth today. I was in line behind, oh, let's call him "a guy". A woman with a child was in the other line and that line had suddenly come to a screeching halt because the customer at the register couldn't write legibly.
Don't ask ... I didn't.
At any rate, I asked "a guy" if he wouldn't mind letting the woman with a child go in front of us.
"No, I'm too busy!"
Hold on. Let me get this straight. Your life is so finely tuned that you couldn't afford to give another human being one precious minute of your time by allowing them to go in front of you?
Welcome to Helena ...
But the day is not lost for today I discovered ... (drumroll and trumpet fanfare, please): anti-monkey butt. I had been complaining to someone on the road (why is my brain locked up so I can't remember who I was talking to ... I'm pretty sure, though, it wasn't THE Marshal) about my "road rash" and they suggested that there was a product available at sporting goods stores to address this "problem". Well, I walked into Sportsmans Warehouse today and asked the crew there to promise not to laugh at my question.
They did NOT promise not to laugh ... they would promise in Lincoln County, I bet.
I asked if there was an anti-chaffing product. Well, not only was there such a product, they carried it AND it was available right at the check out stand! That's how popular anti-monkey butt is. It's an impulse buy!!!!
Who knew? I suspect that Clarion Brands, LLC, of Solon, OH, who is "dedicated to maximizing the performance and comfort of sports enthusiasts and people who work hard all day long." knew. They're making a living selling anti-monkey butt. Helping their stock, I bought a small container.
It's essentially high priced baby powder which I sprinkled liberally into my riding shorts before taking the car and my bike back to the airport. I'm sorry to report that it doesn't seem to help, but maybe you have to use it for an extended period of time?
People seem more ... on edge? It took me a while today to realize that even in Helena, laid back as it must be with respect to major population centers like Billings, people here are more keyed up than those of Lincoln County where a "free rider" is celebrated during the Ovando Gran Fondo rather than run off the course as would surely happen in Billings.
A few weeks prior to putting in a surprising number of miles on the ol' mountain bike, I was working on the concept of a campaign to do something nice for a stranger once a day. The act didn't have to be earth shattering, just something nice that the recipient would appreciate. One example might be letting someone get in line in front of you at the store. That person's life would be a bit better and hopefully they would pay it forward, kindness rippling outward around the world until it reaches North Korea where kindness is not permitted.
And that particular act of kindness, letting someone go in front of you in line, brought me back to earth today. I was in line behind, oh, let's call him "a guy". A woman with a child was in the other line and that line had suddenly come to a screeching halt because the customer at the register couldn't write legibly.
Don't ask ... I didn't.
At any rate, I asked "a guy" if he wouldn't mind letting the woman with a child go in front of us.
"No, I'm too busy!"
Hold on. Let me get this straight. Your life is so finely tuned that you couldn't afford to give another human being one precious minute of your time by allowing them to go in front of you?
Welcome to Helena ...
But the day is not lost for today I discovered ... (drumroll and trumpet fanfare, please): anti-monkey butt. I had been complaining to someone on the road (why is my brain locked up so I can't remember who I was talking to ... I'm pretty sure, though, it wasn't THE Marshal) about my "road rash" and they suggested that there was a product available at sporting goods stores to address this "problem". Well, I walked into Sportsmans Warehouse today and asked the crew there to promise not to laugh at my question.
They did NOT promise not to laugh ... they would promise in Lincoln County, I bet.
I asked if there was an anti-chaffing product. Well, not only was there such a product, they carried it AND it was available right at the check out stand! That's how popular anti-monkey butt is. It's an impulse buy!!!!
Who knew? I suspect that Clarion Brands, LLC, of Solon, OH, who is "dedicated to maximizing the performance and comfort of sports enthusiasts and people who work hard all day long." knew. They're making a living selling anti-monkey butt. Helping their stock, I bought a small container.
It's essentially high priced baby powder which I sprinkled liberally into my riding shorts before taking the car and my bike back to the airport. I'm sorry to report that it doesn't seem to help, but maybe you have to use it for an extended period of time?
Helena Regional Airport, located just down the block from the capitol dome of the Great State of Montana, has a whopping 6 commercial flights in and out each day: 6 landings, 6 departures. The entire flight schedule is displayed on an old 27" CRT monitor ...
Look out, Billings!
One of those pairs is the United flight to/from Denver: gets in the night before, 12 hours later (I guess the jets have to cool; thus, the phrase "cool your jets" ... hooboy, I have already lost it) they fly back to Denver in a seemingly infinite loop, back and forth between the Queen City (Denver) and The Queen City of the Rockies (Helena).
Which naturally brings the topic back to me, John F Denver (F stands for "from"): what are my plans for getting back to Thornton which doesn't have an unofficial nickname (I intend on starting a nickname contest. Winner gets a 1 week pass at the rec center!)? Well, the exciting news is tomorrow I'm going to rendezvous with Barbara Nye, proprietor of THE cabin and cornerstone member of the Lincoln County Book Club which I attended a few scant days ago (seems like forever ...)! We are Going Back to Butte (I really have to start writing country music tunes) where Barbara will visit with her mother and help her run errands. I'm hoping to visit with Darryl (remember? He's the Montana employee who was monitoring pollution at the Berkley Pit? We ate at the L&D all you can eat Chinese buffet a while back?) at the Berkley Pit, perhaps get a taste of that contaminated water and have a blood test. I'm also hoping to nostalgically visit one of my worst campsites along the roaring I-15 at the KOA "Journey" campground.
Ah, sweet memories of that orange security light blasting into my tent all night!
So, visiting with Barbara precludes my taking the one and only Friday 7:48 AM United flight to Denver. The Saturday numbers are bad last I checked: -1. Sunday +11, but here's the thing: If I stay another day to get the Sunday flight ($65 at the highfalutin HoJo) I'll also have to pay $60 to a bike shop to pack my bike into a sturdy box so I can check it (it will not fit in the overhead compartment, even with BOTH wheels removed). For that kind of dough, I could drive back to Denver in a superior Avis rental car (last night I had a practically brand new Forester ... it will be funny if I get the same car to drive to Denver) AND, assuming no collisions with reckless deer who simply refuse to look both ways before they cross the highway, I'd be home Saturday night ... exhausted but happy to be in the bearless confines of the cul-de-sac. And we United pass riders know that a +11 flight, two days before departure means nothing. I could show up Sunday morning with my luggage and box of bicycle and not get on the plane ... I'd have to spend another night in Helena, burning through my monetary reserves like there's no tomorrow.
So, I'm planning on driving back to Denver Saturday morning. I'll ride my bike to the airport to be there when Avis opens at 9 AM (route goes right by Panda Express and Costco, neither of which will be open at that ungodly hour), drive the car back to the highfalutin HoJo to get my gear then 287 to I-90 to I-25 to 136th to York to Signal Creek Blvd to E 131st Place to East 131st Avenue to Home in Thorton. Got that?
Completing this rather mundane update (well, come on, the anti-monkey butt thing was ... different), I'm currently at the Helena Library, having ridden my bike over here after riding back to the HoJo from the Helena Regional Airport. I think I've put in a whopping 6 miles today and will probably top out around 10 miles for the day. My bike seems so light without all the gear mounted to the rack ...
I'm hoping for another bearless night ...
JK
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