Cross Country Skier

The garage door opened that Sunday morning to reveal a trace of ice laying on the frozen ground. The cold air required a little longer for our car to get warmed up, but soon we were pulling out of our driveway to head to church. The church was several miles away and would take us at least twenty minutes in this weather. Tulsa had seen a storm come through town that would later that night cripple the city. Because of the ice bringing tree limbs down all over town, almost every home in the million person city would be without power.
But now we were off to church and driving down Riverside Drive looking for the interstate. I noticed a few brave souls exercising on the river trail that ran for miles along the Arkansas River. All of these runners wore long tights, long sleeve shirts, gloves, and hats. Their breath could clearly be seen in the crisp mid-morning air as they slowly worked their way down the trail.
As I approached the interstate, the trail took a sharp turn to come much closer to the street. As the curve of the trail almost met the road, I looked ahead to the few people exercising to see a man in the grass. The man was methodically using what appeared to be two hiking poles to make his way down Riverside. I have seen these kind of poles used before while hiking in British Columbia, and of course skiing in Colorado. The poles are obviously related to ski poles. They just give the hiker a better sense of balance and endurance. However, I have never seen anyone with two poles in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In addition to this being Tulsa, this is the part of town that is obviously formed out of the flood plane of the Arkanasas, which at one point was a mighty river. Now, due to urban development, The Arkansas is little more that a vast valley of sand dunes and a few trickles of water. After a heavy rain, the Arkansas again reclaims her former glory and water fills the vast expanse of the river bottom. But never have I seen or even though that someone might need hiking poles in this part of Tulsa.
As I looked closer I thought I saw his legs not moving up and down as a walker would do, but instead more in a fluid motion of front to back with a slight up and down. I saw that his heel would raise slightly and then rest again while his body followed on that fluid plane. As my car came speeding by I finally saw what had eluded me- cross country skis!
This man had seen a small amount of ice fall and thought it was good cross country weather, and now he was trekking along in the tall grass working out his cross country skis. I couldn't believe my eyes.
Only two things would make someone think that a trace amount of ice would lend itself to cross country skiing. Either this man was from up north like Minnesota's and desperately missed the cold weather and the snow, so he decided it was time to climb up into the attic to drag out the old skis. Or this man was from Texas and had never experienced cold weather and somehow thought this was cross country weather. Since I have never lived in Minnesota to witness their reaction to weather, I will have to side with the Texas theory. I have lived in North Texas and have personally seen five million people stay home at the treat of wintry weather.