Our Day Out

Having not had access to the car for a few weeks and needing to do a run to the hardware store, I decided Elena and I would go for a bike ride. The end goal: pick up a little lumber for making a base to a free, broken, sproingy horse and also to get some shellac for trying for a second time to refinish Elena's table (the beeswax, though it looked nice, hasn't held up to wear and tear -- I'm trying something with a little more of a moisture barrier. After a few hours of pumping up the tires, finding my keys, finding my wallet, finding Elena's helmet, finding the Chariot hitch, and so on, we got on our way.

Now this isn't just any bike ride, though. Our household is on the outskirts of town, up in the hills, whereas town is down in a valley. The ride to Home Depot was non-stop downhill for 5.1 miles, during which I became ever more apprehensive at the task of returning home. I became appreciative of Serena's ride to work, which does 7 miles of the same.

We got to Home Depot without incident. Elena had fallen asleep on the way there. I have no idea how kids can fall asleep with their heads dangling on their chests, going over big potholes and such. But I'm grateful.

We got in to Home Depot. I found the wood, and nothing quite so thick as I hoped, unless I wanted 2x4 quality wood, which I didn't. It was just as well, since the 1x4's I did get were the perfect size to bring back with me, and I couldn't have handled anything bigger. We asked for heat-shrink insulative plastic for the windows since it's been cooling off with it getting late in the year. They don't carry any here. Go figure. Crazy Californians.

We found the shellac, denatured alcohol (so THAT'S where you find it! I was looking for some for a pectin test in jam making) as a solvent for the shellac, should I need it. Got the wood, and some fluorescent pink mason twine for securing the wood. It turned out I needed a knife too, since I couldn't cut the twine with my keys, so I got a basic Leatherman, since it's been a while since we've seen ours.

During the 15-20 minutes during which I was hitching up the wood to the bike, one of the Home Depot electricians, out on a smoke break, came over and offered me some wire. It had to be quite a sight. I had these two boards stuck through the frame of our Chariot, one on the right and the other on the left, just inside of the wheels, hanging out a little on both the front and back side.

"I'm an electrician. We use wire to tie everything."
"Yeah, I know. I've known some electricians."
"Heck, we've even tied up people with wire."
(I raised my eyebrows at this)
"If we just drilled a hole in your board, we could loop some wire through it, and through one of the holes on the seat of your bike."
"Actually, I think I'm fine. I've got a nice rolling hitch going here in back, secured to a centeral post of the chariot, and then another rolling hitch in front. It's not likely to slip forwards or backwards. It's not hitting my bike tires or the chariot tires. It's a nice fluorescent pink, being quite visible, and it's not even sticking out much farther than my Chariot flag is anyway. I think I'm good. Thank you, though."

He still wouldn't let me leave without taking some wire, just in case I broke down.

Right before we left, Elena had to pee, so we rushed in and relieved her (YAY Elena! I love it that she's pretty well potty trained).

We went down the road a little to Subway and had lunch. We were both quite hungry. She ate about 3 inches worth of a tuna sub, plus chips and milk.

We went to the yarn store, and I picked up some circular #1 and #2 needles for a project I'm working on. Ive been working with the traditional one-sided needles, but the work is really too large for them, taking a fair bit of effort from me to keep the work from popping off the needles when I come to the end of a row.

Then we started the long, grueling climb back. Five miles, all uphill, climbing maybe a couple hundred feet in elevation. Elena sang to herself much of the way back. People walking on the sidewalk looked our way with smiles at the humming emanating from the Chariot as we just barely passed them, perhaps going 2 mph if we were lucky. I was in my lowest gear most of the way back, and it was still difficult.

We got about two thirds of the way up what now seemed like Everest, and I started walking my bike. It was faster than biking and used a different set of muscles, which I really needed at that point. It was still difficult. I was leaning into the handlebars, having worked up a glorious sweat, labouring at my climb, when along came couple bikers with white button down shirts and sidled up next to me. Mormons.

Without so much as a "Could we help you out with your burden there?" they launched into their have-you-read-the-book-of-Mormon script. Running through the prepared dialogue
seemed to be all they were interested in. Have I read the Bible? Yes, I'm an Orthodox Christian -- it's my job, I replied a little too flippantly perhaps. Had I read the Book of Mormon. Yes, some -- have you read the early Church Fathers? They didn't know who I was talking about. Was I interested in learning more about Mormonism. Not at this time, thank you. And they biked off, leaving me in their wake.

Well, I made it back. All in one piece. Tons of good exercise. Elena seemed to enjoy herself. We got the lumber and shellac, and some knitting needles. My rolling hitches held and worked beautifully. And work didn't try to contact me once during the couple hours we were gone. It was a grand success, I think.

And next time I know what to expect upon such an outing. :-)