Last week, I thought this post was going to be about my first visit to Savannah, Georgia. Hurricane Matthew had other plans.
I earnestly checked weather reports every day all week and the situation looked grim. On Tuesday, Chelsea notified me a friend from yoga had been evacuated from her home on Tybee Island. By Thursday, evacuation from the area was upgraded to mandatory. Chelsea's scheduled weekend off was commandeered by work duties as a PA on "Mandatory Disaster Team A". My weekend plans were ripped away like a feather in gale force winds.
Wednesday morning, my Mom notified me that my great uncle had passed away. Though I hadn't had much of a relationship with the man since graduating high school, Uncle Inky worked with my dad everyday and was my Grampie's best friend. I felt I had to go home.
This was my first visit home to New York without Jordan in almost a year. Despite a total shut down of I-95 at the Tydings Bridge, the drive north flew by. I was excited to see my parents, their dogs, and my family. That excitement was augmented by Instagram photos showing a mosaic of fall colors and reports of peak foliage.
Andy recommended a loop ride from The Hub at Brant Lake, NY. The Hub is a bar, restaurant, and bike shop. Talk about, heaven! Had I checked their website, I would have found the various routes suggested, but instead, I used Garmin Connect to map my own route. The track can be accessed here. In the few months that I have used Garmin Connect, I have found the app to be useful, but at times finicky. When I mapped my route, the elevation profile feature of the mapping wasn't working. Which was probably for the best; I might have scared myself away from the +60-mile Hub for Foliage route. My weekly rides have been pretty few and far between and those that I have done, certainly have not had miles and miles of climbs.
Friday morning I woke up at my leisure. I packed a turkey sandwich, a couple of Clif Blocks, and Stinger Waffles. The drive to Brant Lake was a quick hour north. I was grateful to find a General Store off the exit. In my hasty efforts to get out the door and on the road, I forgot TP. With +60-miles of rural road ahead of me, riding without TP was not a risk I wanted to take.
