Okay....Maybe I Do Have A Problem....

A while back a friend gently suggested that I might need an intervention in regards to my consumption of coffee. I scoffed, smiled, and likely poured myself another cup.

Don't be ridiculous

It was, once again, too warm to run dogs this morning, so I lounged in bed for a bit with Bet before getting up. I had a few tasks and, of course, dog chores to attend to today, but nothing big and pressing on the schedule, so I was thinking of different jobs that I should do (like my Tales of the Trail blogs) when I noticed.......I DID NOT HAVE ENOUGH COFFEE TO GET THROUGH THE DAY AND TOMORROW MORNING. OMGOMGOMGOMG

Now I had a pressing task to take care of. PRESSING!!!!!

Athabasca, which has the nearest grocery store is about 12 miles (20 km) away. "Maybe I should ride my bike there", I thought. It would kill two birds with one stone - the coffee crisis and my workout for the day.

There is a bit of the Trans Canada Trail that runs from Colinton to Athabasca that I've always wanted to see.....hmmmm...eventually I decided to drive over to Colinton (avoiding a stretch of shoulderless road with crazed truckers traveling it) and pedal from there to town. That way if the trail was confusing or impassable I would have some options too!

I did morning chores, packed up my bike, told Bet and Cricket to hold down the kennel and headed out.

The day was simply spectacular. The sun was out and the odd big, fluffy cloud drifted lazily across the sky. The smells on the country roads and in the woods right now is intoxicating with so much in bloom.
There was a lot of gravel road and loose, sandy trails to negotiate .... I even ended up having to walk my bike for a few short stretches....but it didn't dent the pleasure of the ride a bit!!

Country roads!!

Turn off the roads on to the 'bush' section of the TCT.

Isn't this a good way to keep trail users and ranchers happy??? No cattle in there right now, so the gate was open anyway today!

Bridge that crosses the 'mighty' Tawatinaw River, which is the 'river' that runs through our land.

When I got to Athabasca I stopped first at the local Health Food store to pick up a few things. I asked the clerk if she had any coffee, thinking they might have some 'organic' coffee, saving me another stop (plus I had forgotten my bike lock and wasn't keen on leaving my bike outside the 'Buy Low' even though it is Athabasca and likely would have been fine).

"I have this that is 'sort of' coffee", she said moving for a shelf. I laughed and assured her that 'sort of coffee' wasn't going to cut it.

"How far did you bike to get here?", she asked. "From Colinton", I replied. "Oh", she gasped putting her hand on my arm, "You are Karen, the lady with the sled dogs aren't you???" (Turns out she lives near me and we train dogs on her land in the fall).

I admitted I was. We discussed the blueberry situation for the year and she exclaimed several times how far I had ridden and asked why I would do that. I assured her it wasn't that far (actually about 10 miles or 16km, one way) and that I needed coffee.

"Great", I was thinking, "like the locals didn't think I was crazy enough already".

She graciously offered to babysit my bike while I ran the block over - in biking gear - to the grocery store.

Of course, on the way over I ran into my hairdresser, who looked at my sweat styled, helmet squished hair and kindly didn't ask too many questions. Maybe she was scared people would see me talking to her and know the woman with the horrendous hair was one of her clients!!

The ride home was equally enjoyable. I had grabbed something to drink and a banana along with my coffee, so stopped at a little creek crossing where I could sit on the bridge decking and dangle my (luckily in this case - short) legs over the edge and have 'lunch'.

I rode back to the SUV and home.

Time for a quick coffee on the deck and then back to work!!!

For the record - the Timmie's ceramic mug met an unfortunate end last Friday. I've been unable, so far, to find a new one =(

CRISIS AVERTED!!!!!