Parety Time!... Well, Almost

Are you ready to party? No? Well, you have three months to get ready.
You’re invited to our ’50 States in 50 Weeks’ Launch Party! That’s right; from noon to three o’clock on Sunday the 29th of April, we will party at Mountain Crest Park, at Durango and Lone Mountain. Be there! You live far way? All the more reason to travel to Las Vegas. After a horrible winter of snow, rain and sleet, wouldn’t it be nice to relax in a grassy park with bright blue skies? So jump on the plane and visit us in Vegas. Say hello to the sun you’ve missed for five months.
The park features Frisbee golf (we’ll sponsor a cash prize tournament), water toys for the kids along with slides and swings, and plenty of barbeques. Don’t forget the horseshoes or basketballs too.
If you have a bike, you’re invited to travel with us to Mesquite or Cedar City as we take off, riding through a paper banner at 3 p.m.
Set aside the date, and RSVP to kparsons901@aol.com. Can’t wait to see you!

City Slickers on Bicycles

As I pedaled along the bike trail, something shot out from the left of my peripheral vision. A coyote! I don’t know. Do you pronounce it ‘ky yote ee’ or ‘ky yote’? I think cowboys call them ‘ky yotes.’ Like, “I was wranglin’ cows at the back forty an’ spotted a ky yote. Shot ‘em.” Doesn’t that sound about right? But a City Slicker would say, “We stopped at a rest area and the sign talked about ky yote ees.” Anyway, that’s what I think.
Meanwhile, it shot out and hauled after Mike, who was last in our group of three. I looked back and it seemed pretty intent on catching Mike. We were cruising at around 23 miles an hour, and the coyote seemed to be pacing Mike. It was just a glance, but the dog seemed pretty mad to me.
So is it a ‘car chasing’ type of coyote, or is it out to bite Mike? I yelled to him but as he looked back, the dog was under his field of vision. The thing must have tracked him for a quarter mile. A hill loomed ahead. I knew our speed would lag. Would the coyote catch us? Would he bite Mike? Perhaps he had friends and they would all take us down. I saw that once on the Discovery Channel, so it must be true. Could we defend ourselves against the critter with our bikes? If it bit Mike would I have to suck the rabies out of his leg and spit it on the ground to save his life? If I had to do that, I would call them ‘ky yotes,’ if you know what I mean.
One of the problems with road bike riding is the person is just about naked. That animal could have a nice chunk of calf for dinner.
Fortunately, the coyote ran out of enthusiasm before we ran out of steam. What an exciting adventure for a group of City Slickers! And the bonus? We spotted another one, not two miles later. Fortunately that one didn’t try to run us down and eat us. Seems us bike riders better start packin’, if you know what I mean, buckshot. Ain’t no ky yote givin’ us no trouble, no sir.

The Year of Jubilee

The Little Woman and I have considered the '50 States' trip different ways. It could be the Easy Rider style, "Head out on the highway, looking for adventure, whatever comes our way." Sounds pretty cool, but pointless. The movie depicted a couple loser biker trash guys doing drugs and women and getting killed in the end. Oh, sorry. Spoiled a bad movie for you.
However, another perspective is this could be our 'Year of Jubilee.' Some definitions of 'Jubilee:'
1.
a. A specially celebrated anniversary, especially a 50th anniversary.
b. The celebration of such an anniversary.
2. A season or an occasion of joyful celebration.
3. Jubilation; rejoicing.
4. often Jubilee Bible In the Hebrew Scriptures, a year of rest to be observed by the Israelites every 50th year, during which slaves were to be set free, alienated property restored to the former owners, and the lands left untilled.
That's pretty cool. We take a year and celebrate the prosperity God has bestowed on us, rest, regroup, and get back ready to tackle life once again on a day to day basis. You can read about it in Leviticus chapter 25. Go on, dust off that Bible. Or go to Bible.com, easier: http://bibleresources.bible.com/passagesearchresults.php?passage1=Leviticus+25&version1=65
Pretty interesting, as lands are restored to owners, slaves set free, and debt forgiven.
Living in Vegas, 'Jubilee' is quite different, a 'stage spectacular' that has run here for over 28 years. Not quite the same Jubilee, methinks.
So we'll consider this a year of Jubilee.
Who knows? Another 50 years and we may do it again.