Back in Nashville as of noon today...

Weekend in Abilene was good. Mostly uneventful. Emma is doing well and should have a good home and life down there for a while. We visited a couple Mexican Restaurants I used to frequent (Alfredo's (home of the world-famous chile relleno burrito) and Farolito's for those in the know). Also had a couple of New Belgium Brewery's Mothership Wits (me, not Emma). I guess it is a seasonal or special release from New Belgium that is made from Organic wheat and other herbs and spices. I couldn't find anything about it on the New Belgium site. So I suspect it is either very limited or it is very new. Whichever is the case, it is very good. Though it also made me very sleepy.

Also managed to stop in at one of my old stomping grounds, Biketown. I worked there for two different segments of time. Jim, the owner up there, is the one who taught me to wrench. That was before either of us had any kids. I started wrenching there in the summer of 1997, which was the first summer the shop was open. Jim's business loans were such that he couldn't hire anyone at the time, so I worked for parts. I was riding my beloved white kona back then, and that summer is the first time it transitioned from its original setup. So I watched Biketown grow for several years, but this weekend was the first time I had been back in over 3 years. The place looks really good, and Jim's personal bike (a sweet maverick, by the way) actually looks like it has experienced some use, which is a good change from the old ways. In a town that seems so locked into a decades-old time period, it is good to see Biketown has progressed with the riding times and is doing well. I can't say I saw any steel long haul trucker bikes, though. I guess no bike shop can have it all.