A Bicycle Ride to the Store

Today I woke up early to do housework. At 11 I decided I was hungry and didn’t have the food I wanted to eat, so I got on my bicycle, which is a cruiser, and rode to the store.

The nearest supermarket type store is two and a half miles away. I don’t have a car and there’s no bus way out here in the middle of nowhere (yet – I’m working on that) and so the bicycle is my best means of transportation.

I carefully backed my bike out of the apartment’s back door and paused to put on my helmet and bike gloves, then lock the door. It was a semi-sunny day out. Rain was predicted so I scanned the sky for clouds to the west. It looked clear enough and so I took off.

First I had to go up a little hill just to get out of the apartment’s parking area. Funny how when you’re in a car you don’t even notice these little uphill rises, but on a bike you struggle and put the gears down a notch at a time until you reach first gear.

When I started riding my bike last spring I was so weak, uphill riding was a total impossibility for me, but now, after months of practice, I can go up almost all of them easily enough with a bit of effort.

I cruised (remember, this is a cruiser) down the sidewalk to the hotel and turned into their parking lot. That’s my short-cut. I go behind the hotel and then out onto the street where the two truck stops are. Because this can be a busy street I stay on the sidewalk or a dirt path where the sidewalk ends. It is rural out here…. very rural.

Then I stopped at the truck route, and waited for the light. I used to walk my bike across the streets but lately I’ve just started riding again when I see the walk signal.

After that, it is off toward the big field, and then to a bike path behind a housing tract. Another block behind that, and I’m at a Walmart Super Center which is conveniently placed way out in the countryside. The wisdom of this is that it is very close to the Washington state line. They hope that people will prefer to spend their money in Idaho. Our sales tax rate is half a cent less. Not much of an incentive to cross the state line.

I did my shopping as quickly as possible using the “scan it yourself” checkout line, and then walked outside to find my upstairs neighbor at the bike rack locking his bike.

“Small world,” I said. This was the second time I’d run into him at the bike rack at Walmart.

“I’ve got an issue with a flat tire,” he said.

“Oh, do you have your tools?” I asked. I looked around and saw nothing that resembled a bike tool pack, and he didn’t reply to that. I wondered if I should offer my bike tools, which I always take with me wherever I go. Then I realized we were at Walmart and he could buy whatever he needed.

He gave me a good tip for where to find a place to air up bike tires at no cost – behind the truck stop near our apartment building. I appreciated that.

Then I rode home, going back the same way I came. I passed by a cute guy on a riding lawnmower, and thought about how nice it was that he said “hi” and acknowledged my presence. So many people in North Idaho don’t do that, so when it happens, it feels wonderful.

When I got home I tried to work for a while, and ended up taking a nap instead.

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