From 0 to 30....... in four hours

I enjoyed this weekend's adventures and we all had a good time laughing at it afterward. As if the latest Cancun vacation was not enough proof of my reckless nature... here is more.

I can't remember the last time I really road a bike. I mean, really road a bike, as in over 1 mile in one go. On my mission I used a bike for a day because the Elders needed our car, that's about it. However living in D.C. there are a lot of bike trails that I wanted to take advantage of so I recently shopped around on Craig's list and found a nice one for my very own. This weekend a group of my friends were headed up to Amish Country to go biking. As is my response to most spur of the moment adventurous decisions I said SURE!

When we arrived in Lancaster, PA I thought the choices were between a 15, 40 and 60 mile route. I of course was going to choose the 15. Then I was informed that there was only a choice of a 20, 30, 40 and 60 miler. I was soon convinced that 30 miles was not far so, I said.... SURE! This is where the laughing comes in. I biked 30 miles after not being on a bike for who knows how long, with a 3/4 full bottle of water and a pack of fruit snacks to my name. THAT is planning for you. (I will now say thank you to my friends who gave me 1/2 a power bar, some tissues and cough drops. Lest you think I was completely ill prepared, I did delve out some of my clothes to keep others warm, ha!)

But guess what? I survived and I'm not even sore! It took a bit longer to bike because oh... my roommate Lisa and I got lost for 2 miles without a map. Yeah for happy endings when we ran into some of the group that started later than ours as we tried to back track. Then as luck would have it, we soon ran into 2 of our straggling friends--the ones we had originally been waiting for to bridge the gap between their straggling behinds and the rest of the group-- as they stopped to take another photo. It was a beautiful day, the leaves were changing to a brilliant red and I was in an east coast heaven.

As we peddled deeper into our route and lost civilization I enjoyed watching the Amish on their farms, seeing their simple way of life and how beautiful they make it. Someone commented on how immaculate their yards are, and I thought of course they are immaculate. They don't waste. spend all of their time in front of TVs or ipods, on gchat or facebook. They have a dependency on the land that they RECOGNIZE more easily than we do and they put their effort into things that will sustain them whether it's physically, mentally or spiritually. Now, don't get the wrong idea there is no way in any world you'd get me to wear those caps and wind dried-in cow or chicken manure air-dresses... but there are lessons to take away, right?

I loved the covered bridges, the chance to stretch my legs for a day... and then head to Hershey Park where i wasted any amount of energy i had left on the FANTASTIC roller coasters. Now that is what I call a perfect day!

1.Post man chatting with the farmer (seriously) 2. chickens that made the air gagable 3. sign in English and "dutch" ie. German 4. Playing time
5. 1st covered bridge crossing 6. i think i can... 7. yum! 8. end of the ride hang out 9. Chantel, Catherine and I at Hershey Park