Dear Friends,

We got a bike ride in today. Doug, Sharon, Mary, and I rode 12.4 miles on a bike route called Tuttle Lake Trek. The route was on little used country roads. At the end we found that Doug’s front brake was dragging, which explains somewhat why he seemed to have a hard time keeping up. It was a nice ride around a wildlife area and included some nice hills. Some were a little hard to climb, but had great downhill coasting on the other side.

After our ride we went over to the Mennonite store to get some things. I got lots of jam, popcorn, and grains for making granola. I also got some great candy! As we were checking out, I told the cashier that we were with our neighbors who were visiting their daughter and son-in-law. As Doug and Sharon were checking out, the cashier, who was trying to figure out who was who, looked and Mary and I and asked if Sharon was our daughter! That made Sharon’s day! I keep calling her ‘daughter’ now.

This evening, Mary and I drove over to have a visit with my cousin, Mary Ann Bays and her husband, Jim. Jim is a busy farmer and we were very pleased that he took some time to visit with us before he had to get to milking the 135 cows they milk every day on. Earlier on the trip, Mary and I had discussed the size of the Bay’s farm. Mary thought it was a small farm, but I guessed that they owned about 400 acres and farmed over 1000 acres. Mary Ann said they owned about 480 acres and farmed over 1200 acres, confirming my guess as to the size.

After our visit with the Bays, we stopped in Adams and got a bite to eat before we went to Oxford for a shot visit with Aunt Dorothy and Evan and Carol. It was good to see them again. While there we confirmed that Calvin was the oldest boy. Somehow both Mary and I had thought that Evan was the oldest. We did not get back to the trailer until about 9:00.

We are planning to ride the Elroy-Sparta Trail tomorrow, so I had better close and get some sleep.

Jared