Notes from Steve

I was talking to a Facebook friend that I really didn’t know the other day at a party in Des Moines.  She’s a bike rider as well, and I started the conversation just talking about biking.  Turns out she’s a big-time gravel bike rider -- which is dirty and grimy and the potential to fall over and break your hip is strong.  She doesn’t look like someone who’d be a gravel rider.  I was massively impressed - she tried to talk me into it, as if I would enjoy it … but I know me and the dirt/hip thing probably won’t change. 

Yesterday, I stopped at the Hy-Vee in Ankeny* to get stuff for Thanksgiving.  I usually only shop for groceries in Wright County - because it’s convenient and close.  Dang.  It was an experience; of course, I couldn’t find anything, so I was asking the HyVee team for help a lot -- they were the nicest people ever.  The place was packed, and I told one guy (Hy-Vee team member who was showing me where they kept the anchovy paste) that I thought a Sunday morning would not be busy - he said, “So did everyone else.”  

The world is different outside of Clarion.  People pushing the envelope riding bicycles for “fun” on gravel roads and cramming the roads and stores -- running fast and loose with all sorts of big city things.  It’s a lot.  I love the slow pace in my little town … even if the local stores don’t sell anchovy paste. Living here is a blessing that I take for granted.  

*The Hy-Vee on Court downtown doesn’t have the same vibe.  They’d rather you go somewhere else.  I 100% believe this.