Christmas is a special day for Joanne and me. In addition to the usual activities, we like to get out for a bicycle ride sometime during the day. This year, as Joanne’s son was celebrating at his in-laws, we had the day to ourselves. We woke up to a steady, light rain and after opening our presents to each other, we dressed for the rain (Joanne in her new Shower Pass bicycle rain jacket) and climbed onto our rain bikes to enjoy our annual Christmas Day Bicycle Ride.

We headed north thinking we might reach the small town of St. Paul. As soon as we exited our neighborhood, we saw a runner who wished us a “Merry Christmas!”. The rain was falling, but it was light and our rain gear was doing a good job of keeping us dry and warm. We decided to ride down to the Wheatland Ferry which is closed just two days of the year – Christmas and Thanksgiving. We the found river very high, high enough to close the ferry even if it was not Christmas Day. The ferry was ‘parked’ against the far river bank. The river itself was nearly up the the gate where I leaned by bicycle.

Leaving the ferry behind, we continued north where we came upon a large Nutria. It was slowly crossing the road and was not afraid of us. We told it that it should get off of the road before we run over it but it continued it’s slow waddle.

The rain continued on and off for the entire day, never heavy, but never quite completely stopped. Once we reached Mahoney Rd, we decided that we have had enough and turned away from St. Paul and back toward home. My coach wanted me to do a three hour ride, so I look a long cut doing the Windsor Island Loop. On the look, I got to surprise a large white cat and a bright red chicken but not at the same time.