A small section from the first chapter of the beginning of our C&O Towpath biking adventure!

One of the things we love about traveling is meeting new people. We find great joy in just saying hi to everyone we pass, so simple. Today is no exception. I even think we are still in the “Good Morning” time of day. And remember we are going the wrong way, so we have more bikers coming towards us than passing us. A solo biker is approaching, and I become so intent on wishing him a good day, I don’t see the mud puddle in front of me. This mud puddle is the first one on the trail and completely avoidable, but unexpected, and before I even know what is happening, I am riding right through it. The puddle is surprisingly deep, propelling me through the air, launching me to the other side, flying to a hard crash landing ahead in the bushes on the left. How ironic that I fell right after The Great Falls. Coincidence?

After Joy makes sure I am okay, she must take the obligatory pics to remember this by. She is taking her photography job seriously and I’ll be forever grateful for all our preserved memories. Looking back at the pictures you can see how far I land from the puddle. Epic. My left upper arm is scraped and stinging. My left knee is bleeding. And I have a deep, large painful lump growing in my left thigh. Overall, I am great, my right side is untouched. Nothing seems broken and not too much bleeding.

My bike is astonishingly unharmed also. I may have used up one of my nine lives, but it does give me the inspiration for my bike’s name. There’s always a bright side. After that stunt, how can it not be Evil Knievel? We call him Knievel for short. Now that mine has a name, Joy needs one for her bike. We start brainstorming once we are biking again. Some names are thrown around, but after a name like Knievel it needs to be just as good. And then it hits me. 

“Remember that song you started singing when you lived in Hyder when your son changed your name to it?” I ask.

Hyder, the ghost town she lived in the prior nine months in Alaska. It’s on the tip of my tongue. I have Gloria in my head for some reason. Knowing that isn’t right. But I do love you, Patti Smith.

“Ruby…wait, oh my gosh, it’s Tuesday. As in, it really is Tuesday!” I gush all my jumbled words at her. July 6 to be exact. And hello, red bikes.

That’s how Ruby Tuesday is born. Thank you, Rolling Stones. The things we talk about on bikes as we roll along. The serious to the silly and everything in between.