15 Destinations

Today's errands added up to 15 different places on two sides of town. Most of them I could bike to, a couple I could not. Since I had to drive to one location on both sides, I planned our route to include the errands that are along the way or minimally off the path. We had to be at Ritter Park at 9:30am, which would be something we usually bike to, and I did consider it. The next place we needed to be was the Huntington Museum of Art and this is not a family bikeable road, nor was there a bus line going up there.

Sounds like If you Give a Mouse a Cookie...
Since we were going to the museum, stopping to pick up London's bike was a matter of a few more blocks. It was raining steadily at this point and I was thankful for being in the van. I think because of the rain, the bike was not setting out like we had arranged and I will have to call later to see about going back. Since we were picking up the bike and it was close to Pets and Things on 1st St., I let London drop in for crickets. (She has as scheme to trap blue tailed skinks and keep them for pets.) If we took a road a bit further north to come home then we could swing into the bank on 6th Ave for a quick deposit, pick up our CSA, also on 6th Ave and conveniently drop off our glass and cardboard at the recycling box I found in the same parking lot where we pick up produce. So far so good.

London with her crickets from Pets and Things on 1st.

Meals in the cooler bag, recycling to go out and room for the bike and CSA.

London hauling three bags of produce.

Continuing east, we were two blocks shy of Huntington Sport and Cycle where London's other bike was being serviced, so we parked out front and loaded up the bike and headed home. The bike and produce made it in the door and we were off to the other side of town.

The western side of Hal Greer is relatively flat. We could have had a jolly time biking all those places, but couldn't have hauled all those things.  Maybe next time we could do some of the traveling by bike.

The next set of errands was on the eastern side of Hal Greer and that region is all hills. While I have biked up those hills, I think they just about killed me. I got to the top and couldn't breath for about twenty minutes and I was beet red for hours. Hauling 70lbs of child and the trailer was not happening today folks. It is a challenge I hope to overcome with time and practice.

Our eastern errands included dropping off an extra bag of produce at a friend's home. We had three bags of our own to keep and that would be more than enough to eat from and preserve for later. Four blocks from their house is the children's school. We needed to sign forms, which they couldn't find, pick up a scrip gift card for my sister, and inquire about used uniform parts.

Every part of the journey was planned because of another portion. Being this far out on Norway made it in close proximity to another friend with whom I wanted to share my homemade sauerkraut. We headed down the road, another one that is cursed against being family bike friendly. There is a bus line that goes by her house, but it doesn't start near us and would require a hike or bike ride to catch. I hear the buses have bike racks, but I doubt they can accommodate a trailer. I will have to check this out tonight on our very first bus ride.

We managed to get her the kraut and stop at two other friends for small drop offs of misc. items and then head home for naps and lunch. I am still very nervous about the TTA experience about to happen. My expectations are low, so I guess I will have good things to report shortly.