Chuck

Chuck called me at 7:20am (8:20am his time) to let me know it was raining in Indy and had been raining since 2am. "I'm just letting you know so that you know what you are getting yourself into" he said. The hike around Eagle Creek was cancelled so we decided just to meet for lunch at a restaurant near his office: Max and Erma's. Seven years ago we met at the same chain restaurant at another Indy location.

It was drizzling in CP but once I was on the interstate and passed Winemac, it began to pour. Traffic tightened up as we hit a bottleneck near a construction site. It was slo-go for most of the way. Twenty miles north of town in the city of Lebanon I hit the bane of interstate travel: the ubiquitous billboards.

It was so nice to see Chuck again. In many ways he is my hero: despite his 70 years he looks and acts like a gentleman at least ten his his junior. A retired Special Forces officer, he takes no bull from anyone, yet he himself is a hard and dedicated worker. Both he and his wife love the outdoors and stay busy with family and hobbies. He built his own 2600-square-foot house in the woods outside the city. He volunteers at the Eagle Creek trail organization keeping the area clean of trash. He canoes. He jogs. He drinks beer. He still looks and act very much the army colonel I'm sure he was 35 years ago.

We were the second table to get seated as we walked in at 11am. The restaurant was packed when we left 90 minutes later. It was also raining hard again as well.

We talked about the usual: cycling around Indiana, Chuck's favorite pass-time, the youth of today and the idiocracy of some bureaucrats in the work place. I shared with him some of the fears I have about today's under-30 people. He reciprocated his same fears as well.

"Next time bring Kevin with you!" he said as we departed. I hope it won't take another seven years before we all meet again.

The rain did not relent. I turned around after a futile attempt to find the route to downtown, but when the rain came back I opted to drive back north and stop at small towns along the way. I didn't get back to CP until after 6pm, and by then it was sunny yet cool outside.