Relative Something

This morning is the first day of this year’s bike trip, the 36th annual Jaunt With Jim –a product of Jim Kobuchar’s Adventures– and my 12th or 13th with the group. Even though the riding starts today, the overall adventure really starts the night before. On the afternoon of the Friday before each Jaunt, the participants begin to arrive in whatever small town Jim has selected, to camp together and park cars for the week. It is an interesting combination of excitement and anxiety that we experience, for a number of reasons. As folks begin arriving en masse, we discover each other again –for many, this is the only time we see each other all year– and learn who has come back and who won’t make it. Our numbers tend to approach 150 of late, a little under half as many as made it in the peak years, well over a decade ago. The energy builds as we reconnect and feed off each other’s excitement to be together in this shared adventure. At the same time, this is the point where we make final decisions about what we take with for the week and lock up the sanctuary of our cars to be left with only a tent for shelter for the next 7 days.

We’ll rise in the pre-dawn hours to pack our tents. Then determine what we will carry with us on the bike and what we stuff in the duffel to be shuttled by truck to the coming evening’s destination. Breakfast is served around 6 a.m. and then we receive advice on route details from the conductor himself. Rain or shine, it will be time to hop on the saddle and off we’ll ride into the first leg of whatever is awaiting to surprise us.

This year we will be in Chatfield to start, just south of Rochester in the southeast corner of Minnesota. The whole week is ahead of us. Excitement, and anxiety. Sounds like an adventure to me!