Gerry

Yesterday Gerry wanted to go for a ride since he had missed his ride on Friday and Monday. Rain was predicted for late afternoon. He left home about 10 or so after of course, checking Accuweather. It was overcast a little.

Well, about 1 pm or so I noticed that it was getting darker outside and sometime before 2 pm I thought the wind is picking up and it sounds like its raining. I looked outside and sure enough it was raining buckets. According to Accuweather it wasn't suppose to rain until 4pm. A little after 2pm Gerry calls wanting to know if it was raining here at home. He was on his way home and had stopped at American River College which is about 3 or 4 miles from home. He said he was standing in a dry spot. Well, it was obvious the rain was not going to stop any time soon, so he said he was going to make a mad dash for home. I got him a towel ready to dry off and when he came in, he was drenched. So much for Accuweather's predicting when the rain is going to start. One of his shoes was filled with water. He went in and took a hot shower right away. Lord willing he won't be getting sick.

Last evening he was meeting a group of bicycle riders from a club in San Luis Obispo. They were coming to Sacramento to ride the American River Bike Trail. Gerry and another guy from the Bikehikers were going to lead the group. They were meeting at LaQuinta Hotel close to Discovery Park where they were going to start their ride this morning so they could get acquainted. Gerry wanted me to go with him so I tagged along. I think there were about 18 riders. Gerry was going to lead the short ride and Joe Perfecto was leading the long ride. There was much discussion about the rain today and whether they'd ride in the rain. They were meeting at 8:30 this morning.

The short ride was going to Bella Bru on Arden Way and Fair Oaks Blvd for lunch, about 14 miles from the start at Discovery Park. The long ride was going to Karen's in Folsom for lunch which is about 20 or so miles. Joe is one of the fast riders in the Bikehikers. He asked how fast did they ride and they told him 12 to 13 mph. They also wanted him to be in front so they could follow and not get lost. In the Bikehikers the leader of the ride rides in the back so a sweep can be made, making sure no one gets left behind. In the San Luis Obispo club, the leader rides in front and they regroup every so often. I was teasing Joe later about having to ride so slow and he said he was going to have to tighten down the brakes to hold him back. LOL!! He's a nice guy, a little strange.

The group that came seemed like a nice bunch of people, all about our age and older (60 to 80). They were going to Tower Cafe downtown for dinner. Several asked if we were going and we said no. It was a little after 6 by then and it was pouring buckets. Hopefully, they all found their way and didn't get turned around downtown. One of the couples wanted to go to a Mexican restaurant next door to the LaQuinta and asked us to go with them. They had all been drinking wine and driving around in the rain didn't sound like a good thing to do.

After Gerry and I left there we drove over to a Japanese restaurant on J Street, downtown, across from the Spaghetti Factory for dinner. A couple of years ago or so, this restaurant had a fire and was closed for a long time. We tried to go another time after they had reopened and couldn't find parking close by. It is very nice inside and looks like maybe run by Koreans. Gerry and I both had donburi, oyakadon for him and guydon for me. His was chicken and onion mixed together in an egg omelet over rice. Mine was beef, onion and green onions mixed together over rice. We also ordered a Philadelphia roll which is smoked salmon and cream cheese. The dinner was very good and we were stuffed. It is not a very big space so the tables are pretty close together. The table set up's were pretty interesting, they had upholstered love seats like against the wall for each table and then upholstered chairs on the aisle side for each table. They were very comfortable.

Well, I hope the ride goes well for the SLO club today. So far there's been no rain and that's a good thing for them.