So, I was out for a rollerski...

On the way out I passed a herd of cows. One cow turned its head to look at me. Then the entire herd turned their heads to look at me. I was strangely uncomfortable with my field full of spectators as I skied along. On the way back I passed the same herd of cows. One cow bolted at the sound of my poles. Then the entire herd bolted away from me. I preferred it to having them stare at me.

Between cow encounters I ran into a mini propaganda movement against alcohol. (Hosted, I'm guessing by the concentration of signs, by the cute little church on the corner.) Cardboard signs were posted saying things in marker and spray paint like:

"HURRICANE KIDS AGAINST ALCOHOL"

"BE SMART, DON'T START"

"YOU BOOZE, YOU LOOSE" (I know, dad, there's other people out there besides me who don't know the difference between "lose" and "loose.")

"ALCOHOL IS A DRUG"

Okay, I can tell you about pear orchards or the terroir of vineyards but I don't know the first thing about tobacco. I am fairly certain that some of the "ALCOHOL IS A DRUG" signs were posted on the drive into a tobacco field. And the barns on which some of the other signs were posted had tobacco leaves hanging from the eaves to dry. Maybe I'm completely out of line here, but isn't it strange to be bashing alcohol while growing tobacco? "DON'T DRINK. SMOKE."

Labels: Kentucky

So I was out for a rollerski...

And a deer darted out from my left and sprinted across the road with a nice low start from standing to get up to speed which I admired, having been working on that myself recently. The deer, however, failed to realize that there was a fence along the right hand side of the road, plowed head first into it and its hindquarters crumpled into its head from the momentum.

So I stood there watching this deer jerk its entire body around trying to free its head from a barbed wire fence, completely at a loss over what I should be doing in such a situation. I was still trying to figure it out when the deer freed itself and bolted down the road away from me.

Right about this time I noticed that it had turned from dusk to full nighttime and I interpreted almost getting run over by a deer to be a sign that I should turn around and ski home. When a car comes at you with its brights on it's just as blinding when you're rollerskiing as when you're driving, just saying. No wonder the deer freeze in the middle of the road and get hit. I felt like a blinded deer a couple of times on the way home.

By the time I got back it was dark enough that I could hardly see the road surface. I felt like I was floating as I skied. Which is a feeling I prefer to have on snow in the dark when falling has fewer consequences.

Why I am in Kentucky is a back story for another day. I will say that the rollerskiing here is phenomenal. Imagine winding blacktop back roads along a lakeside through old southern homes. Imagine tree-lined lanes and perfect temperatures. Imagine no traffic and hills where every down smoothly transitions into another up.

Labels: Kentucky, rollerskiing