Love from the Cheese state

hello all,

I just spent about 45 minutes wriitng this and the stupid library computer erased it-so imagine you are reading the most amazing and poetic post of your life while you read what I have left in me to give.

I can't believe I'm in Wisconsin already. The time just keeps rolling by. I get to see my dad tomorrow on his birthday and some other family members-and I have a day off, which is something my soul and body crave.

We woke up at 4:30 am yesterday so we would have time to peruse Chicage when we got there. We had true Chicago pizza, which put my friends and I into a food coma that made the last half of the day miserable until we met an angel dressed as a Marathon gas station attendent. He refused to let us pay for our slurpees and bade us off with free lemonade.

In my previous post (that is lost forever), I was trying to describe how it felt on the bike.

...

Some days are more poetic than others. Some rides are kind of Zen-like. I get real familiar with that white line on the road for miles, and I don't realize what's surrounding me until the fields have changed into rolling hills with houses in them. Other days I'm looking up and taking in everything-the gray cat playing in the corn fields, the orange butterfly playing in the grass, the gardeners up early to water the grass.

The smallest thing can change my mood. Today was open sky, golden fields and corn. There were these pavender-periwinkle wildflowers sprinkled along the side of the road. The overcast light made them dull but just bright enough to stick out over everything else and make me smile.

And these days, I have never been so happy to see a church.

I fell of fmy bike for the first time the other day, but I'm fine. A big semi came speeding from the opposite way and blew up a bunch of dust and gravel. It brought my friend to a stop and me slamming into her. Luckily she jumped off her bike and was fine, although her bike met a different fate-my handlebars were stuck in her spokes and her back wheel had to be retired. It all worked out though, because when we got to the bike store they gave her a $400 wheel for $35 since it was a wheel they used for demos. A possible tragedy turned good.

While in Ft. Wayne we saw a drag show-the worst one looked a lot like Howard Stern and the best shouldn't have been performing in a little bar in Indiana. The next night we enjoyed Pirates of the Caribbean II at a drive-in. Sleeping bags, light bugs and M&Ms, mmm.

My body aches, but I'm learning to listen to it and strech it the right way.

Love from a woman wearing spandex in a library in Jainesville, WI,