Screech....!

Let me tell you about my day yesterday and tell you how this word applies in so many ways;

I decided to get out on a bike trail early before I left for Houston. It has rained during the week but the trails were nice and dry, not muddy as I had expected, so I was enjoying the morning. I'm sailing along nicely and came to this area I know well. A large tree fell over the trail and so they built a ramp up over it. The tree is about 3 feet high and I have seen people miss the down ramp on the other side. The boards are about 2 1/2 to 3 feet wide and I couldn't imagine how it would be that hard to fall. Well.... As I went over the top I realized that my front tire was very near the left side, and sure enough, about a foot from the end my tire went off the edge. The problem is that the momentum of my body was going very fast and downhill, so when my tire immediately dropped my body kept moving forward. I landed on my helmet and shoulder. Me and my tires made that screeching sound!

I sat there stunned for a moment. Wiped the mud off my face, arm and leg and then checked the bike. All OK; except I was just a little dazed. I got up, took this picture and then got a little pissed because it was starting to sprinkle. By the time I got off that trail and onto the area where you can go back to the parking lot or to 2 more trails it was pouring down rain! I headed back and was soaked to the skin and muddy by the time I got back to my vehicle. UGH! What a muddy mess.

I got back home, cleaned the bike and the back of my SUV and then the sun decided to come out. I showered and headed to a shop to have my vehicle looked at. During the week it had started making a weird rattling noise in the engine, I figured I had better get it looked at before I drove to Houston. Well, it wasn't something easy to fix. Something about the timing pulley and chain. They would have it fixed for me by tomorrow evening! That's when my plan to go to Houston for my friend's birthday came to a screeching halt! When they told me how much it would be to fix it I made another screech! You don't want to know....

In Dallas, where everyone has to drive to get somewhere, I felt very stranded without a vehicle. A few friends suggested I meet them out for dinner and drinks, but I have no vehicle. And am too cheap to call a cab. [Whine, whine, whine...] But by then my neck, shoulders and clavicle were getting stiff and sore from the bike wreck.

I took some muscle relaxers, put in a movie and stayed in for the evening. What else could I do? I know plans always change; change is about the only constant thing in life. I just don't like it when they come to a screeching halt like it did yesterday!

[Big sigh] Oh well.....