Eager Shopper

The Usual Wally World Route

Jacque mentioned she had a prescription ready for pickup at The Big Box Store here in town, and she was congenial enough to allow me to use it for an excuse to take another trike ride.
The weather had been slightly cloudy all day, and I worried I might get rained on  before I got through, but it never happened.
I also stopped at our closest lumber/hardware store to pick up some screws needed to reattach a door to one of Jacque's sewing machine cabinets.  Of course they didn't have the right ones but I found some fairly close.
People around here are a good bunch, but some are pretty nutty, maybe almost as bad as I am.  There's a fellow I see almost every time I get close to the railroad crossing, talking and gesticulating loudly.  Sometimes it seems he's bellowing at me or nobody in particular and other times it seems he's shouting into his cell phone.
Several other fellows ride around town on their electric wheelchairs and seem to be a friendly enough lot, though they give us funny looks as we pedal past on our so-far non-electric trikes.
The visit to the Big Box Pharmacy was unremarkable.  My feet were talking to me as I walked back out to the trike, and I confidently pedaled around to the south side of the building again, intending to take a few minutes of rest break in the shade.  SURPRISE!  This close to Noon meant there was NO shadow whatsoever to enjoy.  I took the break anyway, checked my blood sugar, and ate a snack.
As I journeyed back toward the house, slowly climbing the hill up Oakland St., I noticed a police car across the street - where I have seldom if ever seen a police car before.  As I got closer, I was intrigued to see that there were 3 or 4 cop cars parked adjacent to each other on both sides of the street.  There were residents standing outside on each side of  the street but no noise or mayhem going on, so I didn't find any reason for the crowded police presence.  SIGH.  I should be glad there are so few "incidents" around Our Town.

Ride Started:    3:47 PM      Ride Ended:  4:59 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage:  13.6  Ending Battery Voltage:  13.0   Lowest Voltage:  13.0

Beginning Blood Glucose:  121      Ending BG:78

Lowest Temp:  75 F    Highest Temp:  78  F

Stats from the GPS:  Total Miles: 5.82
Distance Walked: .6 mile
Overall Average Speed       Moving Avg          Max Speed
  4.3 MPH                             7.1 MPH              16.9 MPH

Total Trip Time                   Moving Time        Stopped  Time
 1 hours 21 mins                 49 minutes            32 minutes

Monday Madness

Today's Predictable Route To and From Major Retailer

We spent most of the day spending money today at all sorts of Major Retailers that May Remain Unnamed.
One that WILL be named is La-Z Boy, which facility took my recently damaged recliner chair (which offers great comfort to my sore feet even when damaged) and repaired it, free of charge, even though the chair was a week or more out of warranty.  THEN the repair guy called me, maybe 30 minutes after we dropped off the broken chair, telling me it was already repaired and ready to go.
Other stores, not so much of a good report.  And the Motor Vehicle Dept / Department of Revenue?
Surely on every state's list of bad attitudinal service.  MO has a so called online plate renewal system that is slow, confusing, and slow..... and finally nearing th insecte end of the procedure it dies and fails to issue a new license.  Poking and prodding various links on the site, we finally see we must either MAIL the appropriate stuff to Jefferson City or visit the nearest Motor Vehicle Office.  When I go to the office, I find I must have my RV "Inspected" by a certified body shop somewhere around.
Sigh.
I dragged out the trike for the short trip a few blocks to the aforementioned gov't office and sat around when I got home cooling my heels.  Jacque mentioned an item she needed from Wally World and I decided to use that for an excuse to take a longer trike ride.
Nice and sunny and warmish, but a mild to middling breeze helped, which I appreciated.
The feet were hot and talking to me when I shopped, and I took several minutes in the shade before I started the ride back to the house.

Even with both "trips" the miles didn't add up to much, but whatever.....

1st Ride Started:   3:31 PM      2nd Ride Ended:  6:41 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage:  13.7 
 Ending Battery Voltage:  12.7   Lowest Voltage:  12.7

Beginning Blood Glucose: 81   Ending BG: 128
Lowest Temp:  68 F    Highest Temp:    82 F

Stats from the GPS:  Total Miles:   5.63

Distance Walked: .6 mile (Dog Potty Trips)
Overall Average Speed       Moving Avg          Max Speed
  3.7 MPH                              6.3 MPH               16.8 MPH 

Total Trip Time                   Moving Time        Stopped  Time
 1 hour 32 mins                    53 minutes            39  minutes

Various Wanderings

Wednesday's Riding Route Tracking

Today's Routing, Twice Ridden

Jacque today suggested we use the trikes to deliver a shelf to a nearby friend that Jacque had cleaned up and painted for her. 
It required the use of the B.O.B. trailer but what the heck?  Even a short ride with a "cargo" is a great excuse to get out and pedal around somewhere.
After delivering this not too heavy load, we rode a tad farther across a few streets to pick up some free canning jars Jacque had spotted one of our friends giving away.  Nobody was home - so we came back home and rested our feet.
I spent a fair part of the day scrubbing mold from the outer walls of our RV.
In this humid climate, black mold loves to grow on most surfaces.... House walls, Garage walls, RV walls..... mostly on the SHADY side of a structure.  Evidently the mold doesn't prosper well on the sunny side of things.  Which still leaves a lot of surfaces that start looking pretty scruffy unless cleaned.
I've spent a couple days using our garage-sale pressure washer blasting such gunk off our house walls, and it's worked fairly well. 
I started today trying the power washer on the RV walls, and while it worked, it was very slow going with lots of washing and re-washing to get the uttermost gunk off.  I tried a pad of Scotch-Brite on it and found it did a much better job, with only hose water pressure needed to rinse it off completely.
So now the RV looks pretty spiffy... for a while.  We should take a trip in it soon enough to drive it while it still looks fairly mold-free.
This is one of the not-so-nasty areas with spots of mold, you may have to look closely below the window to spot it:

Now the same area after a bit of washing, scrubbing, and rinsing:

NO SPOTS

Resting the aching feet for a couple hours after this effort, we got a text saying our canning jar donor buddies were home, so we took off on the trikes again.
By now the sun had almost set and there was VERY pleasant riding, with the cool and shade and all, with just enough light as the sun was setting to provide very nice visibility.
After another couple hours resting our aching feet, we go to bed.  Naturally

1st Ride Started:   2:23 PM      2nd Ride Ended:  8:30 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage:  13.0 
 Ending Battery Voltage:  12.9   Lowest Voltage:  12.9

Beginning Blood Glucose: 204   Ending BG: 87
Lowest Temp:  71 F    Highest Temp:    84 F

Stats from the GPS:  Total Miles:   3.61

Distance Walked: .6 mile (Dog Potty Trips)
Overall Average Speed       Moving Avg          Max Speed
  2.4 MPH                              4.5 MPH               16.8 MPH 

Total Trip Time                   Moving Time        Stopped  Time
 1 hour 29 mins                    48 minutes            41  minutes

Tuesday Toodling

RV Route Tuesday Test Drive
Triking Route this Tuesday Evening

Tuesday I wasted much of the day without getting much of anything useful done.  Feeling guilty later on, my so called "smart phone" reminded me it was time to start and drive the RV around the block to make sure it would still start after months of sitting, run, and see if the tires were still round and not settled flat on the bottom from lack of use.  I have set the "reminder" for once every month or so but have neglected to obey such reminder for several months now.
Sure enough, it actually started and ran, and I decided to drive it around the eastern perimeter of town to put a few miles on it and warm it up.  Warm indeed it did become.  Though the engine temperature was fine and everything seemed to be fine, the AIR CONDITIONER failed to produce much in the way of cool air when I turned it on.  It was in the 90's outside and probably hotter inside the RV, and the A/C is definitely a system that needs to work.
When I got to the east end of town, about to turn back for home, I remembered I had done this exercise before:  Recharge the A/C refrigerant.  I recalled also that I usually kept a couple of bottles of R134 refrigerant and a kit to inject it in one of the storage compartments.
Finding a wide clear spot just off the roadway, I pulled over and dug out the necessary stuff and did my best to get it recharged, without much effect.   It was still blowing mostly warm air when I started up again, so I stopped at Wally World and purchased 2 more bottles in hopes I can get it working.
If not, then we gotta spend the $$$ to have someone that knows what he's doing fix it FOR us.  BAH.
Having arrived home safe and sound, we decided to take another evening trike ride together.
Jacque has always enjoyed triking but in recent months has not done that much, but nowadays she is almost always "in the mood" to go riding.   How cool is that??  - VERY Cool -
It was late enough that we still had plenty of daylight, but enjoyed lots of long shadows from the lowering sun and leafy trees shading much of the roadway.
Going around the "City Square" again, as usual, We encountered a friendly inquisitive young couple who had lots of questions and interest about the trikes.  We even offered to let them take a spin to try them out but they demurred, maybe from the horrible nasty COVID-19 hysteria that has overcome the world. (I think there have been 3 confirmed cases in our town of 4500 and all have recovered.)
Enough of that.  We resumed our enjoyable ride and looped around through neighborhoods, finally going around our non operational AM/FM radio station that looks impressive with its tall towers and antennas and location but produces no voices nor music since we moved here.
A few dozen more friendly waves and comments from passers-by and we again got home safe, sound, a bit tireder, and refreshed.

Ride Started:   7:39 PM      Ride Ended:  8:33 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage:  13.0 
 Ending Battery Voltage:  12.8   Lowest Voltage:  12.7

Beginning Blood Glucose: 133 Ending BG: 128
Lowest Temp:  70 F    Highest Temp:    78 F

Stats from the GPS:  Total Miles:   3.52

Distance Walked: .6 mile (Dog Potty Trips)
Overall Average Speed       Moving Avg          Max Speed
  4.1 MPH                              5.2 MPH               17.6 MPH 

Total Trip Time                   Moving Time        Stopped  Time
  51  minutes                      40 minutes            11  minutes

Sunday Cruisin'

Today's Route as Tracked via APRS and Ham Radio

Today was another beautiful Missouri day, with high temperatures and low humidity... at least lower humidity than usual at 60 or so percent.
We had our usual at-home worship service this morning and after spending most of the rest of the day reading, watching son Chris win his road race via the internet at Road America in Wisconsin, and generally loafing on my part.
We both apparently thought it a great idea to take a leisurely trike ride since we spoke up about it at almost the same time.
I get tired of Jacque getting all the glory since she usually takes both the dawgs in her baskets on the back of her trike, so for today I hooked up my B.O.B. trailer and hauled Tinkerbell behind me, and Lilly riding with "Mama".
It definitely was lovely weather, although a tad too warm.  We stopped several times for breaks along the way in the shade of various tree lined yards, and the last lovely rest break was at the Montain Grove School Alumni Memorial Park.
A lovely spot indeed.  We have ridden past it many times in the past but this was our first stop there, and it is well equipped, with many benches and dozens of lovely shade trees, a wishing well, food dispensing building, water fountains, and restrooms (locked, of course).

We spent 15 or 20 minutes resting our legs and feet and I checked my blood glucose and ate a couple of cookies to relieve the lowness thereof.
Lots of waves from the friendly bystanders and motorists, and we again returned home with improved attitudes about the world in general.

Ride Started:   2:15 PM      Ride Ended:  4:18 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage:  13.0 
 Ending Battery Voltage:  12.8   Lowest Voltage:  12.8

Beginning Blood Glucose: 170 Ending BG: 91
Lowest Temp:  78 F    Highest Temp:    82 F

Stats from the GPS:  Total Miles:   4.12

Distance Walked: .6 mile (Dog Potty Trips)
Overall Average Speed       Moving Avg          Max Speed
  3.4 MPH                              5.4 MPH               17.8 MPH 

Total Trip Time                   Moving Time        Stopped  Time
  1 hour 11  mins                  47 minutes           26  minutes

Short Cruises

Saturday's trips, very local and short

Jacque is getting to the point that she gets me out and on the trike more than I do.
Today she "wondered" if we could ride our trikes the few short blocks to the "Square' and visit the Saturday's Farmers Market.  How could anyone refuse such an idea??
That ride was enjoyable and short.
The trikes stayed in the yard the rest of the day, with me thinking I would go for a longer ride later sometime in the day.
Naturally, I got distracted and forgot all about a long ride.
Jacque, however, suggested an early evening trike ride since the daylight lasts so long nowadays.
She had heard some loud voices and music coming from somewhere in the near neighborhood, so we rode toward the noise expecting to find a campout, yard party, or RV gathering.
The ruckus turned out to be coming from the baseball park, several blocks distant.
We passed a huge , dead, armadillo - lying in the gutter. I wanted to post a picture of the spectacle but it's probably better that I failed to do so.
When we realized the source of the noise, we turned back and took a turn around our favorite city square again, where there WAS a gathering looking like a group barbecue, but a quiet one with no music or loud noises.
Such rides are indeed short but sweet, proving a little stretching and exercise, as well as the "cyclist high" that results while pedaling around with the breeze in your face....

1st Ride Started:   10:01 AM    Ride Ended:  10:34 AM
Beginning Battery Voltage:  13.0  Ending Battery Voltage:  12.9   Lowest Voltage:  12.9

Beginning Blood Glucose: 188   Ending BG: 68 

Lowest Temp:  71 F    Highest Temp:    87 F

Stats from the GPS:  Total Miles:   2.25

Distance Walked: .6 mile (Dog Potty Trips)
Overall Average Speed       Moving Avg          Max Speed
  0.6 (!)  MPH                           4.2 MPH              17.1 MPH 

Total Trip Time                   Moving Time        Stopped  Time
  3 hours 37 mins                   32 minutes         3 hours 5 minutes

Dinner Dating

Tonight's Short and Sweet Route Path Track

I got good and tired again today, which often happens whether I get anything useful done or not.
We had a few walnut and oak tree giants cut down months ago to avoid crushing our house when the weather rocked their massive limbs too much, and it has been quite the chore for me and other outside volunteers to get them cut up into firewood lengths and packed off to someone who needs wonderful firewood.  I had spent an hour or more a few weeks ago chain-sawing the largest log into sections, and the weight of the monster prevented me from rolling it over so as to completely cut the chunks without damaging the chain saw by digging into the dirt it was lying on,
Today I struck on the ingenious idear of attaching one of my steel chains to the huge log and pulling it over using a motorized vehicle:  Our Ford Exploder.   It worked, meaning I had to get to work again, and I spent another tiring hour finishing the cutting of the sections.  My feet being pained with diabetic and stupidic neuropathy meant I was in agony by the time I finalized the cutting, leaving the log chunks arrayed in the yard for more work in the future splitting it with my 20-pound steel wedge head manually operated log splitter.

These range from 14" to 24" OAK

I retired to the easy chair to rest my feet and let the dogs lick them, which is a wonderful calming treatment fot the burning sensations in the feets.
We often use Friday for a date night, which in our case usually means Jacque doesn't have to cook dinner.  This afternoon this sweetheart suggested riding our trikes to the local Cozumel Mexican Restaurant , which is only a few blocks distant from our casita.
The dogs wonderful treatment for my feet had calmed them wonderfully, so all was good for such an outing.
The weather again was perfect for any outing, and especially for a short pleasant ride like this.
There was a small group at the windows watching us ride up, and one of the waiters came out and admired our rides as we loaded up afterward to leave.
After a short detour to the nearby Richards Market, we arrived home safe sound and happy with only mild complaints from the feet.

Ride Started:   6:11 PM      Ride Ended:  7:14 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage:  13.0  Ending Battery Voltage:  13.0   Lowest Voltage:  13.0

Beginning Blood Glucose: 156   Ending BG: 59 

Lowest Temp:  78 F    Highest Temp:    82 F

Stats from the GPS:  Total Miles:   1.87

Distance Walked: .6 mile (Dog Potty Trips)
Overall Average Speed       Moving Avg          Max Speed
  1.8 (!)  MPH                           3.8 MPH              16.0 MPH 

Total Trip Time                   Moving Time        Stopped  Time
  1 hour 2 mins                     30 minutes         32 minutes

No Speeding Today

The Usual Route, Slightly Shortened

Well, I hadn't been pedaling for the last 10 days or so, and I have missed it.
I've been busy with various chores such as applying new EPDM coating to the RV roof.
Evidently such activity has been at least  as effective for burning carbs, since my Blood Glucose has been fairly low each day, and I've often had to back down the basal insulin rate on my pump when I go to bed at night.  I had an evaluation appointment with my endocrinologist in  Springfield on Tuesday, and he claimed I was taking pretty good care of myself.  A surprise to me, what with the ups and downs of high and low blood sugar all the time.   The life of diabetics... BAH
Today was a wonderfully sunny but not overheated day and after the nasty chore of burning my brush and weed pile out in the yard, I decided I should take a trike ride instead of finding another  chore to do, which involves a rather large list.
I took off later than I normally do, but I knew I had plenty of daylight even starting out at seven-ish, since sundown is a little after 8:30 nowadays as we approach the solar maximum day for the year.
No incidents occurred this time, except for the yard full of super cute neighborhood kids across te street from our house hollering "HI !!!" at me as I rode away.
The only other comment I heard was passing a house about a block from home on  the way back:
A young Mom shooing her kiddo indoors and waving at me and saying "I want one of those...."
I didn't want to discourage her by mentioning how much they cost, even though they are worth every penny.  I think I paid $750 for my Catrike Road - used - and Jacque paid in the neighborhood of $2500 for her Catrike Pocket new from Two-Wheel Drive in Albuquerque.  Like I said, pricey, but again worth every penny for enjoyment and health benefits.

Ride Started:   7:18 PM      Ride Ended:  7:51 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage:  13.5  Ending Battery Voltage:  13.0   Lowest Voltage:  13.0

Beginning Blood Glucose: 90   Ending BG: 76 

Lowest Temp:  71 F    Highest Temp:    78 F

Stats from the GPS:  Total Miles:   4.43

Distance Walked: .6 mile (Dog Potty Trips)
Overall Average Speed       Moving Avg          Max Speed
  7.9 MPH                              8.8 MPH               24.8 MPH 

Total Trip Time                   Moving Time        Stopped  Time
  33 minutes                          30 minutes         3 minutes

Oh Boy, a Trip to Wally World

Today's Thrilling Routing

Jacque got a call from the pharmacy today - and that sassy gal decided to ride her
Catrike Pocket across town to pick it up.  She had the gall to ask me if I wanted to come along, and for some reason I said "Sure."
So out came the trikes and we went.  Again, Jacque had both doggies on board her ride, since I had volunteered to babysit them while she went inside the store.
For some odd reason the weather has been warm and sunny and WONDERFUL these last several days, including this one.  Not hot enough to be over-heated, and there was a breeze to help out.
About a week ago I called the Fire Department and got permission to burn our brush pile on the edge of our yard, a gigantic pile of limbs and brush and leaves from the "trimming" of 36" diameter limbs overhanging and endangering our house.
Liberally pouring gasoline on the pile to get it going good, I lit the mess and jumped back.... to watch the gasoline burn out quickly with literally no effect on the junk it was poured upon.  It was literally waterlogged from weeks of intermittent and occasionally heavy rain, and despite a couple more efforts to ignite it, nothing worked.
Now that we've had almost a week of NO rain and sunshine, I need to try again.  I imagine the Fire Dept. guys were laughing down their sleeves when I called earlier.  Certainly they realized there was little danger of fire spreading anywhere.
Back to today's ride.  No time for playing with matches.
Jacque led the way and even found a previously unknown linkage between streets.

On the way home, we passed a friendly fellow sitting in the shade of his open garage.  He called out to us:  "I'm gonna call the Police on you guys for SPEEDING!"  Good Stuff.

Ride Started:   1:30 PM      Ride Ended:  3:15 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage:  13.7  Ending Battery Voltage:  13.0   Lowest Voltage:  13.0

Beginning Blood Glucose: 181   Ending BG: 96 

Lowest Temp:  75 F    Highest Temp:    84 F

Stats from the GPS:  Total Miles:   6.15

Distance Walked: .6 mile (Dog Potty Trips)
Overall Average Speed       Moving Avg          Max Speed
  3.7 MPH                              5.5 MPH               17.2 MPH 

Total Trip Time                   Moving Time        Stopped  Time
  1 hour 39 min                   1 hour 7 mins         32 minutes