CONTINUING RIDING CLOSE TO HOME (2)

Weather for us continues to be golden with temps in the 70s and 80s for the day. As long as we have this weather and no smoke issues from wildfires, I will ride as often as I can ;’-).

This guy was happily retrieving the ball thrown by his owner, and looks so happy in the field of  yellow flowers.

You never know what you will find when you ride down a “dead end” road. I found this…

Maybe not my kind of bike, but the very first car I saw was my Dad’s Oldsmobile 88! My sister and her husband bought one too but in blue rather than the salmon color. I am not sure of the year, but somewhere around 1956 would be a fair guess.

Riding through the Boeing plant I pass many views of different stages of airplane assembly and do not always feel “right” about taking photos. This day however had no one around and I am sure, if there are security cameras aimed at me, anyone could see I was not taking photos of schematics or anything so I got a couple that show what the internal organs of an airplane wing look like.

It is not possible to get a better angle of this, but a long wing or two are here.

Imagine having to (correctly) connect those wires and cables to whatever they connect to.



Next day — I was rolling my bike out of he garage and it felt “funny”. LO! A flat on my rear tire. I don’t recall when I had my last flat, but I was happy to have this before starting on my ride. And happier because Susan volunteered to fix I it ;’-). She said she felt it was a good trade off for the birthday breakfast I fixed for her this morning. Oh goody.

This of course, made for a later start for my ride which I had already decided would be somewhat short so I would spend much of Susan’s birthday with her. I did do a ride by at the stump. I am not sure if this is the start of the exhibit, or the finished product. I will be returning to check on it.

One of the monthly online “challenges” I am participating in is to find “faces”. I thought I was done with finding them but this one definitely caught my eye.

On this next ride, I was able to finally join Cindy’s (almost) weekly club ride. She led us on one of my, and many others’, favorites. We started at Legion Park in Everett and road along the farmlands and ranches of the outskirts of Snohomish that would take us to the Bakery for our lunch stop.

Here we are with the Baker Woman.

And here is a close look at the iconic Baker Woman ;’-). What you cannot see is the rolling pin that moves back and forth with the push and pull of her arms.

Though I did do rides every day after this one, I really have not photos to share. Same routes sometimes lead to fewer things new to share.

I got to join Cindy’s ride again this time it was a meander around Mill Creek. We stopped at a park on the return part of the ride, and since we always keep our eyes out for this…we made a stop.

Imagine —- FRESH SQUEEZED! We may have been their windfall of the day as Kathy treated all five of us to a lemonade and a couple of us purchased a cookie as well. 

This stop was why we got to hear some music. Right behind the lemonade stand was this happening…

Mike knows violin player who was an active and avid BIKES club member years ago. He and his wife played Finnish Waltz music as we stood and swayed to the rhythm.

Lunch at the end of the ride was at Central Market which has been remodeled and has more tables in more areas for outside eating. This has been a regular stop for BIKES rides for a long time but recently that has not be happening for a variety of reasons (Covid, remodel, different ride routes). One of the staff members came to the table to say “Welcome Back”. I guess they have missed us.

I had only a couple more days to ride around home before we would be gearing up and preparing for our next adventure. That would mean just a few more solo rides this week. Nothing too exciting but lovely rides in the sun and warm weather as I enjoy the final weeks of summer around home. When we return from our RVing trip it will be very close to September and more fall like weather will arrive.

My leisurely ride on this day brought me into a bit of north Everett where someone offered a cheery hello with flowers. Maybe this sign means ‘stop and smell the “roses’”.

I passed by the walls of ivy.

And as I neared the half way point of this day’s route, I stopped for a tea and ‘crumpet’ at Milkhouse Coffee shop. There was minimal outdoor seating but business was light and I was able to snag one of the two chair side tables. The raspberry scone was …. delicious. The English Breakfast tea was really good and I may have bought some to bring home, but the $20 price tag for a very small jar seemed like a bit of gouging so I passed on it.

We will be leaving in just under an hour (today is Sunday) to head to Lake Easton for our SOTF outing. I am hopeful to do some bike riding, but Susan had a mishap and will not be riding with me for a while. Without going into detail, she was standing still, straddling her bike as she was exploring a blackberry bush. As she reached for her handle bar and step back with her right foot, her foot got hung up in her pedal somehow and she fell straight backward landing on her butt. Though she says it is the most padded part of her, she landed so hard that her spine was terribly sore. She went to the doc the following morning and X-rays show a compression fracture in her lower back. 8-10 weeks of healing by not doing a lot more than being sedentary. That was a mere three days ago! We are still going on the trip, but Susan will be hanging around at our camp for much of the time, with a few mild walks to keep her sane. I doubt I will ride far, but I will at least get in some riding.

This post will end my ramblings about riding close to home for now, so I will post this happy photo from this morning’s short ride around the neighborhood.

Will be back here soon ;’-)