Well, it's only taken me 13 days and multiple failed attempts at logging in, but the stars must be in alignment today and I was able to log in to this. Now I ought to post something.

I'm doing the Whoa Car Challenge, driving only once a week. I love it. I've so far saved my car trips for going out to the farm, and for a work appointment to deliver a slipcover. The weather has been perfect and cooperative, the kids sometimes cooperative.

My dad died 10 days ago. I've found riding a good way to quiet some of the angst and anxiety that has been plaguing me. I've got this deep well of sadness as I move through my days. I can either sit around and do nothing, and let it stop me in my tracks, or I can move my body and it seems to quiet and soothe my hurt. Riding is good for your head.

Dad used to ride his bike to work a lot when I was a kid. Bikes ( and unicycles) were a big thing for us. When we were kids we all got our own brand new bike for our 13th birthday, and until that time we had to share and ride the crappy one speed bike that was passed down from kid to kid to kid (there were 6 of us). Dad had pretty specific ideas of what kind of bike we could get when we turned 13. I had very different ideas about what passed for cool and what would mark you as a Total Dork. Needless to say, his idea won the day, and I was marked as a total dork on my green Schwinn 3 speed. No banana seat. No fancy handlebars. Nope, not for me. For me, the dork bike. I was mortified. Dad had no conception of cool, never did. That dorky bike got me to school and back for years (we had no school buses, and no parent willing to chauffeur us to school daily, no way). So fast forward to 33 years later, when my daughter was ready for a new bike. We went over to see what the guys at Klunk had available. I knew she could find a good bike there. Imagine my shock and surprise when she chose, no, nothing from the cool selection of mountain bikes, but a blue Schwinn from the 1960's that looked just like my old dorky green one! I couldn't believe she was serious! I stopped myself from saying, "that dorky thing???!!!" She got a blue one speed Schwinn Hollywood. She was the happiest girl ever on that day. Too funny.