So much for the he-man mystique. Though I brought the bike and gear to work yesterday with the intention of riding after work through the night and day until 8pm tonight ... I just went home after work instead. Missed my wife. Working afternoons and evenings ... I don't see her enough. I was tired. Didn't want to be alone on the lonely dark roads. Wanted to be home with my honey and the dog.

Got up early this morning, out, drove the 60 miles to the country and started at 8:20am. Stopped at 6:30pm. Did 144 miles. Stopped at a country store, bought a ham and cheese sammich and brought it to the forest preserve where I park. Had a tasty pleasant lunch and took an hour nap in my truck there.

A good ride. Pushed it for quite a bit. Took my time at other times. Lots of nice folks on the road. Toodled around a few places I'd always been too much in a hurry to look at. A County Park. A country school complex.

Stopped to chat with a bunch of firemen sitting in the drive of the fire station in Burlington. I rolled up and said: "This is a stupid question to ask guys at a firehouse, but, do you have any water?" Offered me ice for my water bottles, too. Quintessential American country: "Hot enough for 'ya?"

A pickup truck with a few Mexican workers sitting in the back passed me on a long stretch of road and they and I broke out in big smiles and thumbs up and hand waves.

Can be very quiet and even lonely in the country prairie. Makes the infrequent contact with others that much more poignant.