Sunday November 26, 2006 was the last day of our long holiday weekend.  It would be a good way to end the long weekend with one more bike ride.  The really cold weather was holding off making bike riding still attractive for this late in the year.  

On this ride it was just me and Pete.  We decided to start out early and do breakfast at the Greek Island.  I rode over and picked up Pete at his house.  We took our regular route to the Greek Island.  I was really hungry since I didn’t eat anything before I left my house.  Luckily it is a short quick ride to the Greek Island.  We covered the approximate 2.5 miles from Pete’s house to the restaurant in about 15 minutes.  We didn’t bother to lock our bikes, we leaned them against the wooden slatted rail opposite the walk way along the window of the building.  We usually sit in one of the booths right next to this window, that way we can keep an eye on our bikes. 

Big surprise, we each ordered the breakfast special.  If I had a nickel for every time I wrote we ordered the breakfast special, I would have a lot of nickels.  I wonder why that expression uses nickels instead of another denomination coin.  Maybe it is just me that uses nickels and everyone else uses dimes or quarters.  I guess I really don’t know, I will have to pay attention in the future when people use that phrase to get a feel if nickel is the most common or not.  For some reason I am partial to the nickel.   

After taking our time enjoying our meal and having a nice conversation it was time for Pete and me to get back on our bikes and get in a few more miles before heading home.  Neither one of us had big plans for the rest of the day so we each agreed to get together later at my house and work on the Jubilee pinball game we had recently picked up.  See the previous story on November 24 for the details of how we came about the Jubilee game. 

We headed south and ended up at the shopping center on Rochester Road just north of Auburn.  We tried to go in the Best Buy store, but they weren’t open yet.  Instead we rode across Auburn and went to the Meijer store.  We wandered around Meijers for a little while just looking at stuff.  I don’t think either one of us bought anything.  We weren’t in the store long before we decided to leave and head for home.  I think we were both getting anxious to work on the pinball game.  I tend to go in streaks when it comes to working on pinball games.  Sometimes it is really fun and then other times I just don’t feel in the mode.  Working on Tony’s Old Chicago recently was a lot of fun and I think both Pete and I enjoy working on games together.  It is always more fun to do stuff with someone else, especially working on pinball games.  It takes away the solitude and monotonous nature that comes with working by yourself. 

After Meijers we rode pretty much straight home.  It was a relatively pleasant ride home without anything too significant to report.  When we got to the area where Pete and I typically split off, we did just that, Pete went to his house and I rode to mine.  Pete would drive over in his car shortly there after and we would indeed spend a few hours working on the Jubilee.  

Following are the statistics from this ride, 18.6 miles total, 21.5 max, and 1 hour and 40 minutes of ride time with an average speed of 11.0 mph.
David Lindquist