more normal than not

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.

If you weren’t into bicycles, this would be horribly boring to watch.

If you were into bicycles, this might be….kind of boring to you, too.

This is a great video, though.

I can’t remember the exact quote….but at the beginning of this video the guy doing it says something about seeing the sport of bicycling move from a fitness based activity to an equipment based activity.

The rest of the video, he talks about how you don’t need to spend a lot of money on a really high-end bike….especially if you’re what he calls a “recreational cyclist”….and describes all the characteristics of the very expensive and the “high value” bikes that’s he’s had experience with.

If your bike is maintained and fits your frame, you don’t need to spend thousands of dollars to get a high-end bike that won’t really improve your biking performance all that much.

Right now, we all have thrift store bikes that we’ve picked up as we find good deals.

You don’t have a lot of help from the sales floor when you buy a thrift store bike.

You don’t have one of the cashiers come back to make sure the frame and components are set up to suit your body and riding style.

Thrift stores, from what I’ve noticed, are pretty far from being a full-service bike shop.

And….thrift stores don’t smell as good as a bike shop, either.

You can buy some good bikes “cheap” if you keep your eyes open, though.

I appreciate videos like this.

This guy lays it all out…real expense….real value.

YouTube….what can’t I learn watching YouTube?

Pretty cool.

My Jeep is still in the shop.

Mannnnnnnn.

When you don’t have something, you realize how much it means to you.

It’s easy driving the Jeep.

It’s hard driving the old truck….with its left hand drive and its fogged up camper cover windows.

It’s the little things….like not having to stretch across a bench seat to reach the steering wheel and being able to see what’s outside the car and hurtling towards you….that can make or break your day.

I’ll be glad when if I ever get my Mail Jeep back.

I’ll be ecstatic if I get it back and it works.

I’ll be happy if the “pig in a poke”, used transmission I bought really shifts and helps me get down the road.

That will be cool.

You know, though? I’m lucky we have the little truck.

I hate eating up all my vacation days waiting on “the parts” or “the rusted bolts” or “the wiring harness” or anything else that’s delayed the repair job….so it was good to have another vehicle to run the route in.

I’m glad that I didn’t do this repair job out in the gravel.

If it was this hard to do it up on a lift, imagine me laying on my back….stuck under a heavy transmission or transfer case.

I don’t even want to think about it.

It’s taking a while to finish the job….but I’m glad someone else is doing it.

My job is good.

It’s good to go into work, get my mail ready, and then get out on the road by myself to bring it to the folks that need it most.

It’s good to do something that, for the most part, is appreciated.

Of course, it’s easier when it’s not pouring down rain….but even then, it’s pretty good.

I don’t have anybody with a clipboard wandering down the line to see if I torqued my bolt to the right specs.

I don’t have any supervisor staring over my shoulder.

That’s good.

Sometimes though, I wonder if this job isn’t one of those “good enough to stay” situations.

Sometimes I wonder what’s out there in the world….what grand purpose….what exciting adventure.

I guess that everybody wonders about things like that.

It’s kind of a luxury to be able to sit back in comfort and wonder about things like that, too.

If I didn’t have a job, I wouldn’t be so cavalier and thinking that something better might be just around the corner.

If I didn’t have a job, my current job, the one I take for granted….sometimes, might be the “something better just around the corner”.

Everybody wants something a little bit different.

Maybe dissatisfaction spins the world?

Nah….it moves on its own.

Maybe I just need to take a good road trip somewhere….get out and gas up and go….see something flat and dry….something different?

Maybe that’s what I need?

One thing that I’ve noticed, though….I’m always glad to put my key in my door when I finally get home.

No matter where I go….I’m always glad to get back home.

I should remember that better.

 

“what will” Jose Gonzalez

I knew a couple of seconds after I stepped on it that it wasn’t a misplaced pile of chewed gummi bears.

STUPID STUPID STUPID STUPID STUPID FREAKING STUPID CAT!!!!!!

Jenny told me last night….when my blog disappeared….”DON’T SWEAR!!!”

I’m trying.

I’m the first one up most mornings….not counting Sparrow, who is sporadically up all night….so I’m the first one to go downstairs.

Lilly, the cat, hears me on the squeaky top step and jumps up to grab the lip of the door and peer in….yowling….looking at me through the glass in the door….waiting for the food I give her every morning.

This morning, I checked to make sure there wasn’t any fresh meat to step on when I went out on the porch (she leaves mice parts….bird chunks…other things that I’m not sure of….on the mat I have to cross to get to her food….so I try to be careful in my bare feet not to step on anything).

It was dark and I didn’t think that I needed to worry about surprises this morning.

I realized by the time I gave her the can of cat food that there was something stuck to the bottom of my foot….something soft and wet.

That is probably the creepiest way to fully wake up that I know of.

No amount of coffee will take away the sting of waking up to a mouse head stuck to your bare foot.

But….enough about me.

Check this guy out….cycling up in the frozen North.

I have adventures….just not solitary ones like riding a fully loaded bicycle through a blizzard.

I don’t know how I’d explain that to my family.

It wouldn’t be good to have to say, “Take it easy!! Dad’s going to be gone for a couple of months.”

Which is not to say that I don’t make my own sort of adventures.

I introduced Sparrow to an old acquaintance yesterday, and he said, “How old are you going to be when the last one is out of the house?”

I thought for a second and told him, “75….I guess I better stay healthy.”

That’s an adventure….to have little ones late.

That’s quite the adventure.

And….it’s an adventure that doesn’t leave you saddle sore.

That’s my spin on a wheel-less adventure this morning.

Did I tell you about that thing that stuck to my foot?

I wonder what that was?

You can find more about the fellow who made these videos, Iohan Gueorguiev , at his website…..www.bikewanderer.com