I woke up this AM and walked the dog. It was wet. It was foggy. It was 50+ degrees in December. That is unheard of here in MN. I had planned a ride after church and after finishing some Christmas shopping up. I was really excited to get out today. At Church the message was about having a simple Christmas and to reflect on all the gifts you’ve already received as opposed to getting all caught up in it. I had planned to live simply on my bike, meditate a bit on today’s message and ride to “the rock” and make coffee today. But….when I got home I opened a package from my friend Paul in the UK (thank you Paul!) that just so happened to be something special from another friend, Rob, in California.

Inside that box was a half pound of Ocean Air’s Hoborouleur custom coffee. It was from batch #1 no less. Just another reason to get out and be thankful. So I contacted my local partner in crime John and off we went.

As I said it was 50+ outside, no snow and the trails were closed. That didn’t stop us from taking our fatbikes out on gravel and go exploring a bit. We turned down a new road that I had not been on (hard to believe really) and found ourselves a sweet spot to make coffee.

This time I went all out and brought the stove, the grinder, my drip filter, and even brought out my travel stainless steel chopsticks to hold the filter on my insulated cup. The custom roast from Rob and Ocean Air Cycles did not disappoint. So good and just right for our mid afternoon coffee stop.

And with that, I will leave you with some pictures from today. It was muddy so I didn’t take my camera out too much.

So thankful for today, riding, family, photography and good friends. Hope you all got out.