...across the room to Carson City and Starbucks...

This picture was taken at the beginning of our trip. Our second day, actually. We decided to stay the night in Fernie and the next morning as we were packing up our bikes we struck up a conversation with another biker couple who almost instantly became our photographer, posing us this way and that way (I thought she might run off with my camera. She couldn't stop herself from taking pictures!).

Tonight we're in Carson City, Nevada after a 500km trek on "The Loneliest Road in America". After settling into the Gold Dust West Casino Hotel (I'm not sure there are any hotels in Nevada that are not Casino hotels!) we went for an early dinner and a walk which wonder of wonders ended at a rather lonely Starbucks (not too many coffee drinkers in Carson City I guess)! We settled in on their outdoor patio, just the two of us, to enjoy our refreshments and watch our fellow bikers ride by, looking for hotels or places to eat I suppose. As usual, our conversation drifted from one topic to the next until we settled on "what constitutes a date within the marriage relationship" (thanks in part to our son-in-law's blog!) I have to say I enjoy nothing more than going out for lunch with my husband and I think he feels the same way. We would just as soon cook our own dinner at night and enjoy the comforts of home in the evening but there's something very special about having lunch together during the week when he has a day off and these lunches often turn into two hour "dates"! We are both rather spontaneous people and I have to say that the enjoyment of these spur of the moment decisions to do something together far surpasses any planned date we've ever had. One of my friends and I often talk about how our expectations can spoil or ruin things for us. Spontaneous dates are free of expectation and usually end up being full of surprise! For me, a date is enjoying being together even if it's something as simple as going for a late evening stroll, coffee on the deck after the kids or grandkids are in bed, or cooking a meal together at home. And THAT dear friends, is a rather abbreviated version of our coffee date tonight!