ditched

My wife's department was wiped out a few weeks ago, and she has been looking for a new job. No luck so far, but it could be worse. I think. We went to Youngs Dairy Barn yesterday to meet up with her grandma with the kids, which is about an hour away. They picked it because there were other things to do there beside just talking. We get there a few minutes ahead of them, and are waiting when they call and ask us where we are, because they are in the restaurant and can't find us. See, they didn't want to meet us as the food place at Youngs Dairy Barn, they meant the Golden Jersey Inn (at Youngs Dairy) which was a decent walk (in the rain) where we ate, then walked back to the original building, had some ice cream, and then they left. We had no money to play any games, like the large minigolf course.  Even if we had the money, we'd have to have someone occupy Enzo. And the only option there 'had to get going' because they didn't have any spare time. They made us drive an hour to meet them to ditch us at a place that would be fun for the kids if we had money, knowing my wife was no longer working, and they ditched us. Well fuck. I could handle them bringing my wife and the kids souvenirs from their trip to FL, I didn't get anything, but I am used to that crap. Ditching us after making us drive an hour? That's crossing the line.

The day wasn't a total loss, I did get in an 18 mile bike ride, I rode to Troy, then around a subdivision to look at some statues that I saw during the Troy Strawberry Festival Bike Tour this year. (I was able to finish the map with the data from yesterday's ride, hard to recreate with subdivisions, as compared to country roads) There are some really wicked wood carvings on Skylark Drive that made the trip really worth it, especially since most of the ride was during the rain. Still worth it.

I did begin to dig out one of my old bikes, a Huffy. I am thinking of getting a touring bike for next year, something a bit nicer than my Schwinn. Now, I am poor. Not to mention cheap. I thought maybe I could rebuild the huffy into a new, bionic bike. Sadly, I think it only has 20" wheels. Sure, they are the skinny ass wheels, but the body suggested that the dry-rotted tires were mere 20's. Well crap. There goes the 'cheap way' (which actually would have included buying every part except the frame, handlebars, and the fork.) If I buy a new frame and build one from scratch, it will set me back almost 200 just for the frame and fork. Well crap. And new wheels.... holy shit in can, those are expensive!  I just checked two places online, and it would be more than my current bike for the damn wheels.   I just found the sort by price button, but the difference wasn't that much help. I could buy a new Schwinn, the road bikes for 2010 start at $700. Not much of an option, I guess. Perhaps an older model year would be better, but still far out of my range. Well crap. (My current bike is actually rather nice, its a 21 speed Schwinn Voyageur 2007 model. Sure, I have gotten it to over 25mph on flat roads, and crossed 32 on a hill, and I know I can beat both those, but there is a dark part of every rider that screams for speed. The part that smiles when a car can't easily pass you because you are already at the posted speed limit. (And its twice as nice when there isn't a hill involved, and the driver of the car is just confused. I passed a car that was in the middle of the road talking to someone once while I was near 25mph, and you they were shocked. At least, they were for that part of a second I could hear them.)

Still, I know I can go faster. Perhaps if I didn't weight over 230#...... But it does help on the down hill. Perhaps when I get the older bike down to a cost per mile of under 25 cents.... perhaps never. Maybe next year will be a good year. Maybe I will have the money. Maybe pigs will fly, and the hair on my head will just grow back. Yeah, good luck with that one, eh?