66.6 Day

We early Baby Boomers now have the opportunity to the day when we turn 66.6 years old.  Those of us born after April 11, 1947, at least.  I guess everyone who reaches 66 has always had (and will always have) that opportunity but the concept occurred to me only recently.  Not everyone may find this an appealing opportunity.  I'll definitely go with it.

Found on Veterans Day

A friend's facebook greetings to his fellow veterans on November 11 brought up this video in the comments. 



It was posted by the composer who wrote and performed the sound track.  The veteran who offered the greetings was the soldier who took the photos.  He served in Bravo Company of my battalion when I was in Vietnam.  I did not know him at the time but we met in Phoenix and discovered our shared history a few years before I moved to Window Rock and began spending my time in Gallup, New Mexico where he has lived a very long time.  I showed my Vietnam art along with my friend's paintings and read my Vietnam poems at the premier.

Finding this evoked very mixed emotions.  I remembered how fucking brutal that jungle was and how brutal we were to it.  Seeing Firebases Silver, Mace and Fontaine again brought back memories of living in the dirt.  The more pleasant memories include the fact that I survived that shit somehow.  Even better was recalling my years in Window Rock and Gallup where I made some very good friends and found an amazing community of artists. 

Armistice Day 2013

After all of the fine patriotic speeches, a reality check:

Deep Fall Velo News

This space has been quiet the past few weeks for a variety of reasons that go under the general term life and some amount of procrastination.  I was happy to see the Democrats mostly sweep the Virginia elections but any expectations I have results are mixed.  Nothing to shout about, really.  Just a sigh of relief at a bullet dodged, knowing full well that it won't be the last. 

Better news is fall cycling here in Olympia.  Yesterday, my odometer clicked over 8000.  Shortly after that, it reached 900 miles for the year.  All in a 15 mile loop just ahead of incoming showers.  I felt a few drops now and then but not enough to cut my route short.  A wetter day would have been less fun. Those will come soon enough.  Olympia had some nice fall weather before finally shifting into the wet, damp and cold that is normal fall here.  The weather is something I've come to live with but the damp and cold always recall the feel of infantry training at nearby Fort Lewis in October-November 1970.

Back in the immediate past, my route passed through the Capitol Campus which was filled with activity on a Saturday afternoon.  The Legislature is in special session and several busloads of Asian tourists were walking throughout the campus.  Combined with the filled parking due to the special session, navigating the campus was trickier than normal.  The tourists were young and older adults, I saw more young than older, all seemingly photographing themselves with phones and tablets.  A few had actual cameras.

The rest of the ride was Olympia streets, Chehalis Western and Olympia-Woodland Trails.  Nothing hard.  Pleasant.  In before the rain.

Not cycle news but worth mentioning is a my Skyline Trail day hike in Mount Rainier NP.  You can read about it at my Speed of Foot blog.