Just after dark last night, winter weather began catching up with us here in the RGV as high winds brought in our second cold front of the season, dropping temperatures into the low 50s—not what we signed up for, but it beats what is happening at home.  I checked the internet for power outages at home and was relieved to see that North Arkansas Electric Cooperative had none in our service area, though Kay and I were still prepared for the worst, i.e. my returning home. 

As Kay left for exercise “class” at the Activities Center, I put on all the warm clothes I had in the motorhome (looking like a swelled-up frog) and Van and I departed for our now regular “every other day” bicycle ride with temperatures in the low 50s and wind howling at up to 30 miles per hour.  At the southern terminus of the Roadrunner Trail, about 2 miles from the RV resort, I received a call from Wayne letting us know our area of Arkansas had escaped much of the freezing rain that had been forecast, that it was still snowing, and that there were no power outages—great news for us, and I breathed a long sigh of relief.  Regrettably, he had come down with what appeared to be a really nasty upper respiratory problem.  With that good news, Van and I continued our bike ride to Anzulduas Park and return, some 17 miles, with high winds at our backs on the way, and into our faces returning, and temperatures dropping from the low 50s to the high 40s.  About two-thirds of the way back to the resort, Van saw that my rear bike wheel was wobbling; a check showed another broken spoke.  We “limped” back to the resort. 

Kay and I had lunch, loaded the bike on the rack, and drove to BikeMasters for repair.  They called about 4 PM saying that the bike was ready to be picked up.  I asked what could be causing the problem, and their response was pothole, bumps, etc.  The only things similar to these that we travel on are the dried mud clumps on the trail left by the Border Patrol trucks seeking out illegals.  There is about a 1-mile long stretch on the Roadrunner trail with lots of these “mud bumps”.  If the problem persists, I’ll seek warranty coverage since the bike is only a few weeks old.  After her exercise “class”, Kay made a large pot of chicken noodle soup, and we enjoyed a bowl (or two in my case) for dinner, and watched a new-to-us series on Netflix, Bomb Girls. Bomb Girls is a Canadian series set in a bomb-making plant during World War II.  We watched the first 3 episodes, and really enjoyed the series.