Weeks on vacation, days on the trail, and sunlight that stretches into the middle of evening. It’s my favorite time of year.  WZPL’s has posted Smiley’s Summer Guide.   All of us on the show had to come up with three things we like about the season.  It’s a pretty interesting mix.  Here’s my portion:

1-We spend a lot of time biking in the summer.  There’s a top secret route we’ve devised that gets us into Zionsville, where Eagle Creek Coffee Company serves a delicious drink they call a mocha frappe, but pretty much tastes like a chocolate milkshake to me.  A really good chocolate milkshake.  We also bike up and down the Monon from Carmel to the Rip, and will sometimes stop and eat at Bazbeaux, or Bub’s, or Three Sisters, or La Piedad, or just get an ice tea at the Monon Coffee Company.

2-Summer always meant a some kind of vacation/trip when I was kid, and it’s still a tradition with us.  We just got back from Niagara Falls, and Canada, where my comedy-loving youngest son joined us in taking in a live performance on the Toronto stage of the famous Second City.  Over the years we’ve taken our kids to the Grand Canyon, the mountains of Colorado a couple of times, (via a narrow gauge railroad train last year) a cabin in Montana, the Atlantic Ocean, Disney World, King’s Island, the whole nine yards.  Many summers ago me and Mrs. Poteet hiked up Pikes Peak, and we also have some great Summer memories of white water rafting and horseback riding while on our getaways.

3-State parks are always a good cheap Summer date.  We really liked the hotel at the Clifty Falls State Park near Madison down by the Ohio River.  Brown County has plenty of trails, and of course nearby Nashville where we usually go at least once a year.  There’s a really cool place in Montgomery County called the Pine Hills Nature Preserve.  It’s got rugged hills and deep gorges carved by two streams.  The pathway over “Devil’s Backbone” is 6 feet wide, with a sheer drop-off on either side.  Good times.  Also:  we finally made it the Indiana Dunes earlier this Summer when I was in the South Bend running a race.  We should have gone earlier.  Beautiful beach, the biggest bunch of fresh water you’re going to see in these parts, and a distant view of Chicago, across Lake Michigan.  We’ll be back.

P.S.–Anything in Summer can be a good thing. I HATE WINTER!

My latest blowout was less dramatic.  Me and Mrs. P. were within a couple blocks of returning home on the bikes yesterday, and the rear wheel started thumping.  No puncture involved, just wear and tear.  So thanks to “The Bike Line” I’m sporting a new tire.  And some new grease.  “There was a lot of squeaking.”  Hmm.  I thought it was just me. 

I’ve gone hundreds and hundreds of miles on that thing, so I’m not surprised it wore out.  (Uh, I’m talking about the tire again.) 

Oh, and the worst work-related blowout?  Just pick every other job I had in the 80’s.  I was, after all, fired four different times.  And, I might add, for good reason a couple of those times. 

One of my many sins is Pride.  I take some perverse pride in pointing out to you the reader that every place where I was “blown out” eventually asked me back.  And one of the places, WTPI radio, was “fired” by a new format called 107.9 The Track just a couple of years ago. 

P.S.:  I fill in at that “new” 107.9 from time to time.  I hope to outlast that new bike tire, too.

Paul Poteet Good Morning Indiana meteorologist/”Off the Cuff” star-I’m a Van Halen fan, and when I hear “Dance The Night Away” from the summer of ‘79 it still brings back happy memories of very long days and very few places I really had to be. (That spells trouble.)

More recently? I eventually got tired of “Hey There Delilah,” but that spells last summer to me on the radio. The CD I listened to most last summer was “Traffic & Weather Together.” No, really. It’s by a band called Fountains Of Wayne. I’ve been a fan for several years. I’m a sucker for power pop with harmonies and clever lyrics and noisy guitars and all that stuff.

Just remember: “Baby we belong together. Like Traffic and Weather. Like Traffic and Weather.” Go on Limewire and look it up if you don’t believe me.

(POST STRETCH UPDATE)
Here’s the Indianapolis Indians video feed of this crucial moment in baseball history:

1. Re-live the initial shock.
2. Shave it for a rainy day. 
3. The viewers/streamers speak.

I got a newsletter in the pile of vacation mail from the Lutheran Service Club.   They’ve invited me to speak to their (largely) south-side Indianapolis group before, but they also do good things for the community.  (That’s a joke.  Is this blog on?)  They found a way to help that involved donating un–used food from another event they were producing.  (A pitch-in!) (Or do you say potluck?)

The weather may be unpredictable, but the reaction isn’t.  I was happy and not at all surprised to login while on vacation and find that both my Indy radio and tv homes were doing telethons/radiothons for those affected by the flooding.   That’s so baseball, hot dogs, apple pies…American.  Niagara Falls and Toronto were fun, but it’s good to be home.

UPDATE:  I’ve been emailed about the all day fundraising event being sponsored by my flagship family of Indianapolis radio stations.  I’m outta town this week, and not nearly as plugged in as usual.  So, I stand (lounge) corrected, and by all means visit the websites of WZPL, NewsTalk 1430, and 107.9 The Track for more info.  Thanks again!

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