IOU Cross-country Skiing...

By, Sara Hollerich

1/22/05 – Cross-country Skiing at Saylorville Lake

I could hear the wind whistling outside my windows. I kept looking at the clock wishing I could sleep just a little longer, but the wind seemed to insist that I get up. it was time to make a decision. I called Mike and asked him if he though we should cancel or postpone our proposed cross-country skiing event. It was to be IOU’s first event and we hated to delay the kick off of our group. “Lets do it,” he said somewhat unenthusiastically. I called Stacey to make sure we were still good to go and see if she was ready. After a hasty lunch I loaded up my gear and my dog and hit the road. The weather left something to be desired. It was bitter cold and extremely windy with gusts up to 50 and 60 mph. “Oh well,” I thought, “I am a tough chick! A little cold weather never stopped me before so it isn’t going to now!”

I pulled into Mikes driveway and we loaded all our gear and two dogs into his car. Grabbed a few more supplies and went on our way. We waited at Saylorville Lake for the rest of the group to show up. There were five in all, everyone else staying home where it was warm. So we set off on our journey. It was Stacey’s first time on cross-country skies and she did very well, only losing her balance a couple of times (like when taking a picture).

I bit the dust right away. I tried to keep Brody, my dog, on his leash but he took off catching me behind the knees and pulling my legs out from under me. Good thing snow is soft! I let him off the leash and he ran around like a mad man playing with Biner, Mike’s dog. They jumped on each others head and rolled around in the snow never going very far from the group.

We skied for several miles. Up and down hills – watch out we aren’t so good at the down hill part (on cross-country skis anyway). No need to worry about the cold. That is what is so nice about cross-country skiing. You create your own little heater. In fact, we were all sweating up a storm by the time we reached the visitor center again. The wind wasn’t even much of a concern because the area we were skiing in was protected my trees so we didn’t feel much more than a slight breeze. It turned out to be a great day to ski. After completing our loop we headed back to the visitor center and broke out the hot chocolate and hot tea. What a way to end our day.