Day 80: Mission Accomplished! (Day Off; No Pictures)

I wake up around 10am, and notice that the deck is wet with rain. The rain had sufficiently held off until I was indoors. I love it when a plan comes together.

I ate breakfast with Rob and Beth and then did some laundry; my first full load since Devil's Lake, ND. Rob's building a barn, and needs some help running the Ogger (sp?) outside, so I offer to help. It's basically a tractor with giant drill on the back that drills large holes into the ground. I am in charge of the raising and the lowering of the drill. It's actually kind of fun. One hole is completely surrounded by rock and breaks the 'shear-pin?'... Sort of like in Armageddon when they are drilling on the Asteroid? ...but not quite, because the actual drill-bit was fine.

After finishing all of these holes, we head out to Sun Mountain to do some mountain biking. I get a little psyched out on the way up the mountain. My goal is simply not to embarrass myself, which means that I have to go at a decent pace, and not scream like a girl on the way down. We get to the top and it's a lot steeper than I had first imagined; it's also narrower. The thing you have to understand is that on my touring bike, the slightest patch of gravel or small rock can cause the bike to lose balance and go tumbling over Well here I am at the top of a steep grade looking at THOUSANDS of these little rocks, and in fact there are also Large Rocks, and Tree Roots, and Ruts, and Tree Branches. It looks like I have about 5 feet of uninterrupted fun before I will go flying face first into something big. The path is called 'Pete's Dragon' and I remark to Rob that 'they could have named it something a little less intimidating'; maybe Pete's Pet Cat Milo?

I start down the hill with my hands clenched on the brakes, trying to remember what Rob said about not slamming on the front brake, lest you go flying face first into something big. It's funny, I spent so much time irrationally worried about bears, and saying aloud 'Fitter, Happier, More Productive' etc... that I think it's become my default response to fear now. I find myself thinking this ('Fitter, happier...') for the first 2 minutes downhill. Miraculously the bike stays upright. The rocks, ruts, tree roots none of that stuff affect my balance as much I had assumed it would. Holy Cow... the road snakes in between these narrow passes between trees, sides of hills, etc. This is amazing. I can't believe I'm not falling over. Once I get used to the idea that I am not going to fall over, I let go of the brake a little more and catch up with Rob a little bit. This is maybe the most fun thing in the entire world. Immediately I start thinking about which friends of mine back East I could get to do this with me; and where we could possibly go mountain biking. Yeah... I have to do a lot more of this.

On our way down the mountain, we ride along 'side hills' carved into cliffs that drop 20-30 feet into a lake. I wonder what would happen if I fell there? It must have happened at some point, I wonder what happened to that person. Well... To make a long story short... I made it down the hill without embarrassing myself too much; at a decent pace and without any screaming. Mission Accomplished!

After we get back, I borrow Rob's truck and head into town to use the Wifi at the library. I had shown a ridiculous amount of self restraint and had held off on downloading In Rainbows until this afternoon. I wanted to wait until I had plenty of uninterrupted alone time to listen to it. I download it at the library, check my email and update my blog. While at the library, I hear one woman rave about 'Off the Map' to another woman. She starts talking about what an amazing movie it is, and I interrupt her, telling her that the company I work for made that film. She seems slightly impressed, but quickly turns her attention back away from me.

I leave the library. Do I listen to the album now? Or wait until this evening? I already know all of the songs pretty much, so it's not a HUGE surprise, so do I really need to wait? Track 3 is possibly my favorite Radiohead song of all time, and I'm really excited to see what the recorded version sounds like, because the live version is so unbelievably good. Maybe I'll just listen to that, and then the rest tonight? NO! I will wait and listen to it in order. OK...

Another amazing dinner by Beth. Steak, Potatoes, Broccoli, Gravy etc. We hang out after dinner, and I drink a lot of Diet Coke. Once I leave Seattle, I am going to make a concerted effort to drink less Diet Coke. I wake up every morning with a strange aftertaste and a slight burning in my throat. Seems like a warning sign of some sort.

So after Rob and Beth go to bed, I sit outside by a gas operated camp fire. Night sky, sound of the river, cool mountain air all too perfect, and I listen to In Rainbows. Then I listen to it again inside, then I watch some TV, and listen to it again as I go to sleep.