You did what? Thursday, 5/12/22

 

Son, Matt, and his wife, Jen, flew to Cabo San Lucas early, early Wednesday morning.  Matt was to be Best Man in his friend's destination wedding, so the kids decided to make it a week of fun in the sun.  Both sets of grandparents were tapped for babysitting duty, which is no hardship for any of the four grands involved.  Jimmy and I took first stage, Tues-Sat, and Alice and Tom took the second leg, Sat-Wed.  Because Evie is enrolled in preschool, Jimmy and I did our stint in Fair Oaks at the kids' house, so we could get her to school.  Works for us -- we get to explore that area while Evie is in school.

They live close to the American River Parkway, a paved multi-use pathway that runs for 32 miles alongside the American River between Discovery Park in Old Sacramento and Folsom Lake.  On Wednesday we hiked a section -- there's always lots of wildlife to see.  Turkeys and such (above).  On Thursday morning, we stopped at Bob's Cycle Center around the corner from their house to see if we could rent E-bikes to ride the Parkway.  Nope.  Bob's Cycle Center didn't rent E-bikes.  They sell them.

Okay, so four years ago, getting rid of our bicycles seemed like "the right decision."  We sold both of them in August 2018.  We were 74 years old and pedaling was getting harder and harder.  But I really missed riding my bike.  Hiking became our main exercise, and it still is.

Bob's Cycle Center offered us the option of a test run on Giant (brand) E-bikes.  Woohoo -- we gave them an acid test run, riding down to the river and then back UP to their shop, a steep uphill that I don't even like walking.  And the bikes performed perfectly, carrying us up that hill using the electric assist, without us even breathing hard.  Wowzers!  We looked at each other.  SOLD.  We bought two!

Jimmy stands in front of a Horsechestnut tree in full flower, with purple Hairy Vetch all a-bloom below.  Very pretty!  More scenes along the way in the photos below.

On Friday, we picked up the bikes and a new bike rack, and hit the Parkway, heading toward Sacramento.  These bikes are easy to use (a necessity) and a joy to be on.  We rode approximately 12 miles, which isn't a lot, but if your heinie isn't used to sitting on those skinny unpadded seats, that's a long enough time.  We flew like the wind on brief down hills and coped nicely on the uphills.  Two items we need to purchase are helmets and padded seats!

Mama Merganser and her brood of 12 swimming down the American River.  In the upper right pic, two ducklings climbed on her back for a ride.  We dodged quite a few caterpillars on the trail, bottom right photo, which I looked up when I got home:  Pipevine Swallowtail (Blue Swallowtail).

On goes the new bike rack.

New bikes in front of Matt and Jen's house.

I didn't get any great shots of Evie this time, but here we are at Carmelita's in Fair Oaks on Friday evening.  I caught Jimmy with a mouthful of chips and Evie is saying, "cheese."  Good food, but it was too noisy.

Evie on Saturday morning, swirling a long, multicolored scarf.

One of the Iris varieties in our front flower bed.

It's gorgeous.

Well, it appears Jimmy and I are too young (wild and crazy) to give up bike riding.  We did buy helmets, and cushioned bike seats are next.  Not sure if we should thank Matt and Jen for the opportunity, but there you have it.  We'll be out riding as often as we can.  We're thrilled to be "back in the saddle again."  

Back home, here we are with our new E-bikes.  We had to clean the garage to find a clear space to park them, so we not only have new bikes, we have a clean garage!