Yesterday was entirely consumed by the drive from Iowa City back to New Orleans. This time we definitely set a record -- for the longest trip time. We started out around 7:30 a.m. in below-freezing temperatures with ice on the shoulders of the interstate and speeds substantially lower than normal. Then, just to ensure that we'd clinch the record, we took a wrong turn around Moline and spent an extra half hour or so making an unnecessary loop around the quad cities before getting back on track. Once we were headed south, the rain started. I suppose the windshield wipers were running for a good eight or ten hours straight as we worked our way through the weather in Illinois, Missouri and Tennessee. In a way, we were lucky, because we never really had to deal with anything really slippery and also avoided any long-duration downpours. Still, we didn't arrive back home until 11:30 p.m. It wasn't the easiest long drive I've ever done, that's for sure, but anyway we arrived safe and sound after going through ten CDs and two books with a new appreciation for automatic windshield wipers and defoggers. When we got back it was somewhere around 70 degrees!
After sleeping late, I finally rolled out of bed and onto the bike around 8:30 for a brief ride to get my legs reaquainted with the bike. The weather was positively Spring-like. It was well over 70F, with a light breeze. Everybody was out enjoying the Spring weather today, probably because they knew that the wet and cold weather that we had driven through the day before was finally going to get to New Orleans some time during the night. I was happy to run into Young Dan up on the levee so I wouldn't have to ride alone the whole time. Unfortunately, the forecast is looking bleak for the next couple of days and, considering the time of year, I may be forced to break out the dreaded wind trainer down in the basement. After a full week off of the bike, I am feeling really anxious to get back on the road.
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