It's Monday, a new week and what a great first ride with Elizabeth! The weather forecast was for thunderstorms all day so we were not sure how much we would ride. We rode for about an hour before it started raining but we never had thunder or lightning so were able to ride 39 miles. We were quite soggy by the end but it felt good. The first part of the ride was on some gravel roads so although slower riding, it was very picturesque and we enjoyed catching up, riding side-by-side. We had one nerve-wracking moment when a loud German Shepherd came bounding out to let us know that we were passing his house and ran right into the main road, but a car pulled up at that moment and created a honking barrier while we sped on by. She and a couple other cars gave us big thumbs up as they passed us, and the few other dogs we saw were a bit easier to handle. We then biked through some denser traffic in Gainesville, Texas and went by the local zoo. I actually never really mind riding through the downtowns as the traffic is slower and people are aware of our presence. The third part of the ride, 21 miles, was on a better surfaced road with very little traffic. It was also very picturesque, full of rolling hills and lovely to ride. We continued to see lots of cows, Texas Longhorns. They were often lined up at the fence to say hello. Elizabeth, like her brother, mooed at the cows which makes me laugh. Their grandfather, my father, always made us laugh with his expert "moo". Today we saw our first wind farm. Marie looked it up and there were 52 windmills spread out over 16,000 acres. It was quite beautiful in the light fog/rain with cows grazing around them. We were close enough to some of them that we could hear the noise, It sounded like a small plane. Elizabeth also pointed out a cowboy trotting along the fence line of one of his fields. We speculate that he was checking the fencing as it was not a beautiful day to just go out for a ride. He had on his cowboy hat and rain slicker. I wish we had gotten a picture. Marie picked us up and before we got into the truck Elizabeth had me video her wringing out her gloves. Water poured out. After a warm lunch of fried chicken, Elizabeth and I each took a long hot shower to close out a great first day riding together.