A heck of a picnic.

I was going to be going to an atlatl competition at Flint Ridge, Ohio. Since it was a three hour drive and with gas prices what they are, I wanted to maximize my day so, in addition to the event, I was also going to ride some bicycle trails I hadn't even been on before. I got up at 5:00am to get going.

At some point heading west on Route 70, I saw a wheel disconnect from a dump truck behind me. I always marvel at the huge numbers of truck wheels and tire fragments I find strewn across American highways. Don't the people driving them pay any attention at all to the condition of their vehicles? I can't imaging that these things just sponateously happen without any sort of warning. I had a flat once and changed the tire of my car. Almost immediately after moving again, I noticed an odd sound and slight shimmy, pulling over to discover that two of the bolts weren't tight enough. That was just two loose bolts. How much mist one drive, ignoring all the signs, to have a whole wheel fall off?

I first rode the 4 mile Blackhand Gorge Trail. Then, went a little further north to ride the Thomas J. Evans Trail (or at least the eastern section of it).

There is along this trail, well, the picture sort of speaks for itself:That is the largest picnic basket I have ever seen. Actually, it's not an actual basket. It is the 7-storey corporate offices of the Longaberger Basket Company. At this scale, picnickers would be over 900 feet tall. The ants would be 3 feet long.

After riding for a number of hours, it was starting to get really hot and humid so, before going back south to Flint Ridge, I drove up Route 16 to find a Wendy's I had seen from the trail. It was attached to a gas station and as I pulled in I saw that regular gas was at $2.879 a gallon. It had been $2.899 when I filled my tank in Pittsburgh so I though I might fill top off the tank for the trip home. But by the time I had obtained by chicken nugget combo with an extra large lemonade, I came out to find the price had jumped to $2.999 a gallon. A 12 cent jump in as many minutes.

My afternoon at Flint Ridge was extremely hot so I would throw a round of darts and then escape to the relative cool of the pavilion. I dined over-throw and tire myself out, nor did I over-think my rounds so I was able to put in my best personal score of 78.

There's another competition next weekend in Saegertown. I didn't remember it being on my calendar, I think because there is something else there that I have planned. I'll have to take another look at that.