Watching the West from the Mid-North

Flood, wind, rain! The funny thing is, I know what it's like to be there. But if you watch the news and you don't live there [Bay Area] anymore, it looks pretty bad. I remember how every winter (6 weeks in the SF area, give or take), Mike and I would wait for a break in the down-pour before venturing out for a ride. Inevitably, you'd get rained on, but if you leave the house with fenders and with no rain falling at the time, you can still get a couple of hours in, and once you're out there---you kinda don't care about the rain anymore. Plus you have something to complain about for a change. (Doesn't this rain bite? I can't believe how cold, windy it is! yeah, right!)

Many a winter ride, I'd entertain myself by spotting other known die-hard riders on the rainy roads. You always get your racer die-hards...but perhaps, Queen of the "I ride everyday in this rain for many hours no matter what" was Lenno-Prion herself! I remember days I'd be out there riding and wouldn't see anybody (except my husband), but sure enough, I'd see Kathy---soaked, smiling and pedaling away on her Ritchey Road bike---oblivious to the rain.

And the smell of the green, wet air is just heaven---even if you can't see a thing in your fogged up clear glasses. So, while I can appreciate the inconvenience of the rain out there...I also know first hand, that while it is pretty bad---the "news" is comprised of major drama. And perhaps the fact that today is considered mild here, by Minnesota standards, it's supposed to be "30 degrees feels like 19, cloudy, with northwest winds @ 20-30 MPH", with a bunch of snow and slick, icy roads. Sigh.

And here's the kicker. I was consoling myself by "your crummy west coast storms". Seriously. I'd give a good "Ha!" everytime I saw all the miserable weather. And then a day or so later we'd get the remnants. Serves me right huh? The Pacific storms that come our way are warmer---so it rains and sleets instead of snows and the roads are indeed more treacherous with ice, because the air temps never get much above 30. Anyway, I am stopping my childish behavior and not saying "ha!" to your rain anymore.

I have too many days off... (working on it, but this is not the Silicon Valley/plethora of opportunity of interesting work options)