more normal than not

If I lived out West, the thought of the hantavirus would be a total freakout.

A      T…O….T…A…L…F…R….E…A….K….O….U…..T.

Period.

But….we live out in the green and moist “East”….so the thought of the deadly, rodent-born virus is only a partial freakout.

What I don’t understand makes me stronger.

Ignorance makes me bulletproof.

We’re cleaning out the old barn on the property we bought….trying to get over the disconcertion of seeing decades worth of crap….literally and figuratively….that’s piled in and around the old place.

How does that happen?

How do people live like that?

Maybe it’s just that it’s hard to get to a landfill.

Maybe it’s just that, when you live on a bunch of land, anything that’s not right next to the house is your own private landfill?

What could be better? “Your own private landfill”?!!

The thing about it that’s disappointing is that most of the crap is just crummy crap.

I’m a crap connoisseur….I know my stuff….I like cool old crap….but this stuff is just old crap.

It’s not so cool.

Maybe it’s been cherry picked over the years….all the good stuff is gone already.

That’s why it’s exciting to dig down through all the layers of detritus and mouse poop to see what nobody else was willing to risk excavating?

Did I say “exciting”? I meant something else.

Jenny said that she thought she saw a rat scurry across the top part of the barn yesterday.

That’s the more benign of the possibilities.

My imagination could conjure much worse options.

Maybe the rat isn’t so benign if he messes up our respiratory systems with his diseased poop vapors?

There’s always something to worry about, I suppose….but it’s a pain to have to worry about all the bad things that can happen from stirring up the dust in the old barn.

It’s nasty enough to just clean it up without worrying about dying because of some fermented feces.

And….don’t even get me started on all the junk down in the creek bed….the one down the steep bank….the one that’s hard to get to.

I think that junk is the junk that hides the snakes.

But….but….but….you know? In its way….it’s all beautiful.

The trash is nasty.

Nasty, nasty, nasty.

But it’s really pretty out there if you hold your head right….pretty if you don’t look at the trash pile.

Maybe a better way to say that would be to say that it’s really pretty if you don’t hold your head wrong? It’s all so pretty…beautiful….if you don’t get your head in the wrong place. Maybe…..

What a victory it will be to clean it up and NOT GET THE HANTAVIRUS!!!

I can’t make any promises about that….only the one where I say that I’m going to do my best to keep my family out of the rat poop.

I can’t really understand what I can’t see, anyway.  Bacteria eludes me.

I do know that I’m going to make my kids wash their hands…. a lot.

I’m going to pack that dumpster out and get my money’s worth out of my rental, too.

We’re going to beat this rap….come out the other side….smiling.

Stupid hantavirus….making me worry about even more than I usually do.

“the mystery” Idaho

 

Here’s a place up in Asheville that I’ve driven by for years and never had the chance to go into.

Never went in.

Never.

But….it looks as cool as I expected it looked inside.

I don’t need another bike….but this is a cool thing that these folks are doing….fixing up bikes that might go to the landfill….making sure that they don’t just die in somebody’s garage….fixing….repairing….making whole again….getting bikes into the hands of folks who might have a hard time buying an expensive one “brand new”…..getting bikes into the hands of folks who might find more pleasure in rescuing something good that isn’t as “shiny” anymore.

Recycling….

We have the bins to fill with cans and bottles….that part makes sense….turn in your waste paper to be recycled….but we don’t talk as much about keeping the bicycles on the road….keeping the cars going….fixing up the old houses before they rot into the ground.

That makes good environmental sense.

That makes good economic sense.

I’m going to have to go into this place sometime soon….maybe stop in at the French Broad Co-op when I’m done looking at the bikes.

The Asheville Recyclery…. a pretty cool operation.

 

 

I can’t imagine that the little flag keeps anyone really all that safe.

But, you know? What totem really keeps any of us safe?

It’s what we think keeps us safe that only ever buys us any peace of mind…..

It’s only what we think…..

I’m still trying to figure out this “cycle touring thing”.

I’m not going off somewhere by myself, either….so what I’m really working at figuring out right now is how to do it all with children.

What parent hasn’t had to figure out how to “do it all with children” before?

It’s an age-old quest.

I read a blog post recently in my searches for information where the guy writing it had the attitude that you needed to “just get on the bike”…..and, you know…..he was right.

Don’t overthink all this stuff….just work at getting on the bike…as often as you can….just….like Nike said….and what’s become a saying we can’t use anymore without being connected to Nike somehow…..just “do it”.

Nothing all that hard.

Of course, it’s better somehow if you know what you’re doing….if you have the right equipment…if your bikes are cleaned and in good repair….but lacking any of that…..the breeze is going to feel good on your cheek inbetween breakdowns and minor disasters.

Jenny helped me do some automotive repair last night.

She’s a little more clear-headed than I am, sometimes.

Most times, actually.

I get low blood sugar or something….start running around like a headless chicken….crashing through the china shop…..figuring out how to do things the most frenetic and willy-nilly way I can…..causing a commotion where there doesn’t need to be any conflict….and then she reaches out and takes the part and puts it where it needs to be and says, “You need to calm down. You need to go eat something….”

She told me that if we’re going to do any of this cycle camping that we needed to be sure that we worked together at it.

Dang.

I better learn how to do that better.

I better not get so frantic…..chill out some.

If I’m going to be out on the road with a small tool kit and some bicycles and some little kids….I better get better at holding it all together when things hit the fan.

I better learn to not squeal like a stuck pig when I have to roll with what I think are solid punches.

This bicycle touring thing could be so good if I can figure it out.

At any rate, even if I can’t figure out how to do it, it’s a fantastic excuse to buy some more gear.

Buying stuff….I’m good at that.

That part I can handle.

 

 

“old pine” Ben Howard

Jenny asked me again if I was going to take off with my slow-moving vehicle….by myself.

Too many blogs about “making a break for it” worry her.

If you read any books about how to disappear in this world ….and, of course, I never have….you might find that riding a bicycle isn’t one of the prescribed methods.

I’m not going anywhere without my family.

But if you write enough blogs about how hard you think it might be to live a life of adventure with little kids, soon people are going to wonder if you don’t have some weird alternative in mind.

Maybe that’s why so many fathers spend so much time on the golf course?

Maybe that’s some weird way of getting out of the house to spend some quality time with yourself or your buddies? Golf?

Some sanctioned and selfish way of saying, “DADDY’S BUSY!!! CAN’T YOU SEE I’M WALKING ON THE GRASS HITTING BALLS WITH MY STICKS?!!”

I don’t play golf.

Maybe the point isn’t trying to figure out how to run away…..maybe it’s figuring out how to live a big life that’s inclusive….trying to figure out how to have the “big adventure” with everybody along?

Running away is easy.

I don’t want to go anywhere all by myself…..

Sitting on the porch with everybody is a lot more satisfying than sailing the seven seas “all by myself”.

“Sitting on the porch”…..I thought it might be funny to write a reassuring blog about the comforts of home….get off this two-wheeled adventure track I’ve been on for the last week and get back to the simple joys of life….just to put her mind at ease….and I found this video while I was looking for videos about porches.

I have too much time on my hands if I can look up videos about “porches”.

There are so many wild videos on YouTube.

Anyway….whether you’re sitting on a porch swing or on the seat of a bicycle….you better be doing it with your family.

You better figure out a way to do it all with the little guys along, too.

That’s a good part of the whole deal.

 

Oh….what the heck? I can’t resist….check out these guys….doing some more touring….look at those loaded packs!!! I bet there’s a little kid in one of those bags!!! Maybe that’s how they do it?!!

Maybe I can bring the computer out onto the porch….and we can all watch a video about touring some exotic location?

Nahhhhhhhhhhh……that’s no good.

“Just watching” is no good.

Here’s a documentary….or “part of” a documentary (the full film is a Crowdfunding project that hasn’t been completed yet)….about how to carry loads efficiently on a bicycle.

This shouldn’t be something that feels exotic.

I shouldn’t be surprised to see any of this stuff.

We should all have cool bikes that can carry big loads…..after all, this is the 21st CENTURY!!! Why don’t we have flying cars….and bikes that can carry big loads….yet?

I remember having huge metal mesh baskets on my single-speed Murray banana seat bike.

I had a newspaper route when I was 11….and even though it seems like I only had about 25 customers, the bike baskets handled my load just fine.

Except on Sunday.

Sundays were heavy and hard.

These cargo bikes make it look easier than carrying everything in metal baskets.

Riding a bike….so good.