SOMETHING NEW OUT OF SOMETHING OLD

I had a last minute appointment cancellation and, thanks to brilliant pre-planning on my part (some would say luck!), I managed to get in a commute home yesterday. Somewhere shortly after starting, I realized I didn’t want to ride the same route home as usual. Then it hit me, I can go home the same way differently!

Soooo, rather than my typical run down NC 209, I headed southeast out of town on some city surface streets, took a little jaunt across Sunnyside to Raccoon Creek Rd. and proceeded up Ratcliffe Cove Rd. crossing through Poison Cove Gap and the Clyde side of the mountain.

From there, it was the old/now new run into Clyde proper, or as proper as Clyde gets anyway, a crossing of Broad St. and the Pigeon River before heading east to Canton on Thickety Road. I was now back on my usual run to the house but had added a moderate level of climb through Poison Cove Gap plus the fun descent down to Stamey Cove Road.

The ride was pretty much the usual although today I was hoping to get an inkling of what happened to the dog that chased me into traffic four weeks ago and was run over. This was my first ride back by that house. When I reached the intersection, I stopped and surveyed the house and area looking for the dog but did not see any evidence of it. Of course, I had only seen it that one time anyway so I didn’t want to draw negative conclusions about not seeing it yesterday. My next leg of the trip took me over I-40 and to the intersection of Thickety Rd. and Champion Drive in Canton.

(Hmm, Ingles has some good old chicken breasts on sale!)

 

(Welcoming sign at Thickety Rd/Champion Dr. intersection)

This is a busy intersection and the main entrance off of I-40 to Canton and the Evergreen Packaging mill. Lots of traffic accompanied me through town. I circumnavigated the mill and headed south on NC 110 on a very pleasant evening. Upon reaching the intersection of NC 110 and US 276, I knew I wanted more mileage plus I was just enjoying the ride. I knew the Navigator wasn’t home yet so I continued my ride by adding the Love Joy Road loop.

As I turned back north on NC 215 at the end of Love Joy, I passed a small Baptist Church along the river, whose parking lot was packed with the cars of worshipers. It was then that I remembered it was Wednesday night, which is a “go to church night” throughout our community. Something clicked for me as I was riding peacefully by the church. It was a connection to the words of Kent “Mountain Turtle” Peterson in his June 30th post “What Do You Win?” 

In the post, Kent speaks of his "practiced answer” to this question on his recent Great Divide Ride and Prologue” and the truer, some would say deeper, aspects of what he “won.” As I say, his words resonated with me this date and, as I was riding by this small country Baptist Church along the rippling waters of the West Fork of the Pigeon, I recall acknowledging that the many worshippers in the sanctuary were being with God in their way and that I too, at that moment, was also in God’s sanctuary – I was on 2 wheels quietly  gliding by and being overwhelmed with God’s handiwork all around me.

May Peace Be With You and Yours…

- Zeke