Change of Plans

This weekend, we were going to be heading to Waterloo, Iowa, along with my sister, to visit my mother. Her birthday was last Monday, and we were going to visit to help celebrate her birthday. Unfortunately since the weather was bad Saturday morning, we had to cancel our trip. I really wish we would have been able to make it. My mother will be visiting next month so she can attend my sister's orchestra concert, so we will be seeing her in a few weeks. Well, we won't all be seeing her as Mel is going to visit her friend Penny in Cedar Rapids that weekend. Mel and Penny, as well as a few others, are going to the Quad Cities to see Nickelback. I was invited to come along as well, but although I do enjoy some of Nickelback's music, I didn't think I would enjoy the concert enough to justify the cost of a ticket for me. I am sure they will all have fun despite my not going along.

Since we weren't able to go to Iowa, I used the time I had available in the afternoon to complete our tax returns. Things actually turned out pretty good for us, although I was not too happy about the cost for e-filing the state tax returns, $19.95 per state. Oh, I know I could have mailed the state tax returns in, but by e-filing we will get our refunds faster, and there is less chance of error in the processing of the return. Fortunately we should only have one state tax return to file next year.

Today with the taxes done, and knowing how much we would be getting in refunds, we went bike shopping for Mel. She has ridden with me on RAGBRAI the past two years, but she has problems with riding a road bike for extended periods. Since last summer she has been wanting to buy a recumbent bike. We looked at a few recumbents at the Erik's Bike Shop in Woodbury. There was one there that was alright, but she wanted one with larger wheels, but it had to be special ordered, so she ordered herself a new bike. It should arrive in a week or so. Once she gets used to this new bike, she should be able to ride much more comfortably which will be quite a benefit the next time she goes on RAGBRAI.

This evening I finally got around to completing my online registration for this summer's RAGBRAI. I found out on Wednesday last week that my project manager at work was able to make the necessary adjustments to the project schedule to free up my week for RAGBRAI. I am glad that it worked out as this summer will be my tenth time riding my bike across Iowa on RAGBRAI. I am a bit concerned though as only two people besides myself have signed up with my RAGBRAI team so far. I do believe we have a backup plan though in case our current plans fall through.