It is not what you think. We are not riding the tandem bicycle south for the winter. This year for the first time we are taking our Honda Civic, “Little Blue,” south with us. Since I still insist on taking my trailer with my shop along, that means Judy has to drive the Honda in tandem with the coach.
Here are some of the changes:
First: we have gone retro on the tandem bicycle. The “Purple People Eater,” (our 1995 vintage Co-Motion upright tandem bicycle,) came out of a seven year hibernation to take over from the “Path the Green Dragon,” (our hand crafted recumbent tandem bicycle built in 2001.) “Path” has always been strong willed, and a handful to keep him on the straight and narrow bicycle path. Now with my P.D. I have poor balance and take the whole road to herd him along. “Purple” is much milder tempered and he only eats purple people.
Second: We have done a good job exploring areas that are bicycle friendly. Now with “Little Blue” we will be able to expand our horizons. Oh yes “Purple” will get to go along on the back bumper. I am modifying the bicycle rack to fit him. It turns out that bicycling is one of those excellent exercise regimens to help control the tremors from Parkinson’s.
Third: We plan to move less often and stay put longer. Who knows we might even find a host position that suits us for a couple months.
Driving two rigs does change the game plan a little. I lead the way with “Arcturus.” (Yes we really do give everything a name.) Judy follows with “Little Blue.” She has her paper maps and written directions in case we get separated. We have Walkie-Talkies but they are only good for two miles under ideal conditions. That means no hills or crooked gorges. The backup plan includes a cell phone for each of us and Bluetooth hands free sets. You should see us old dogs learning all this new technology. I bet I have installed the Bluetooth devices six times already, and I still don’t know why they disconnect themselves. I’ll bet I could fix them with a hammer and a wrench.
We spent the day in Redding, California. We have stopped over here at the Elks Lodge a couple times already. There is a very nice and interesting multi-use trail just behind the Lodge property. We did a twelve mile ride on “Purple” along the Sacramento River and crossed the beautiful sundial bridge. We did the same exact ride last year on “Path.” I am pleased to report that “Purple” was very well behaved and didn’t even nibble at the people we passed on the trail.
I am a little worried about Judy, however. There are a couple streaks of purple in her silvery hair. Do you suppose that “Purple” might mistake her for a true purple people?
Goodbye for now from sunny California.
Gary and Judy