Day 25 of 30: Traditionally Untraditional

I kept up with my "long way home on Fridays" tradition yesterday afternoon, and early on I noticed something peculiar:

If you've been following me along my way, that scene may look nearly identical to a photo I posted two weeks ago:

Those are tank cars labeled for liquid petroleum, and they haven't moved in weeks. That's a pretty clear indicator of how business is operating in this country lately. People just aren't using their cars as much of late, and to put it bluntly, that's fine with me. But anyway...

I wasn't sure I'd have a good opportunity to take a nice long ride after work, as the day began looking rather gloomy:

But by mid-day, the skies had turned beautiful in time for my afternoon commute:

Days like today are why I own several pairs of zip off pants, which can become shorts with ease:

It made the ride home much more pleasant than that angry ride I took a few days ago. I was also blessed with a tailwind for once, and dare I say, it was perfect. Once again, I'm glad I decided to ride to work in the morning...

Somewhat surprisingly, I didn't see many people out on the trails. I did see more stagnant train cars:

I did run into a couple guys who were out for a pleasure ride. One asked me if I was on my way home from work because he saw my pannier. When I said yes, he asked where I was headed. When I said Grove City, he said, "Wow. That's pretty crazy." Yea, maybe it is, but if you know me, you know I'm a little crazy. Dare I say, untraditional:

You might think this would tire me out, but I actually felt invigorated afterward. I had enough energy in the tank to sneak in a quick ride to downtown Grove City after dinner, but I also had enough energy to do some fun activities with the family OFF the bicycle. We ventured to Scioto Grove to forage for wild edibles, dandelions in particular:

We spent the remainder of our evening prepping them to eventually be turned into dandelion wine:

It'll go great with the violet jelly Rae made the day before. I may have to start a new blog on these sorts of adventures once 30 Days of Biking is over. One thing at a time, though.

Speaking of, we already have less than a week to go in April. I know time is feeling irrelevant to some of you out there, but it's still going, and this month always seems to pass by so quickly. I've done my best to make the most of it, as truly "nice" days have seemingly been few and far between.

With that, it's time to enjoy some beautiful Saturday weather before it's gone. I hope you enjoy your weekend. Stay safe, stay healthy.

30DoB Mileage Counter: 269.9