Monday Sept 13

Day 1
Monday September 13
This is the first day of the trip and I am eger to start.
We started driving Sunday morning. In Chicago the traffic was stop and go because of the Bears game . Of course the traffic is always bad in Chicago. I believe the traffic is the reason there are only two type of people living in Chicago, crazy people and people who are becoming crazy due to the traffic. (Of course Jenny and Maggie are exempt from this classification system) In the city we had a good lunch with Jenny and caught up on all the news. Those two grils someday may save the world someday, but for sure they are making a corner better. We them finished driving to St Paul where we decided to sleep for the night. Having had a huge breakfast with the family and big lunch with Jenny and Maggie we did not even have a dinner. This is where Dave and I made our tatical error we left the keys with Angle and unfortunatel the wiskey in the car. This resulted in my good side saying OH Al you drink too much and going without will be good for you. The bad side kicked the good side of Al till unconsous and bad side the fell asleep of exhaustion, then both sides had a good night sleep.
After arriving at the park David and I took the bikes for a short ride to test things out.
Here is a picture of the two of us at the head waters.

Thankful for Today

I have always had to admitt that having a family and loved ones is a blessing. But today I with the adventure adhead of Dave and Me I should really be most thankful for my Wife and Sister. My wife understands me well enough and loves me enough to let me do these crazy trips, providing me with the oppertunities and space to do them. Donna has been gracious enough to let me borrow Dave for a couple months to accompany me on the trip. It is wonderful luck of having caring people like this around me that has always made being alive a blessing enabling the joy of life and sharing of the happiness of this short journey possible.