Around Town W/O Wally World

Today's Roundabout Path Tracking 

It's been pea-soup fog and almost continual rain the last couple of days so I haven't
been in the mood to ride for some reason.
Today started out with only light fog which soon burned off to expose a lovely sunny
day.  I was working on the house until late afternoon, and almost missed the chance to "ride while the sun shined".  I had the trike out, since I had used it for the 1/3 mile run to Mountain Grove Lumber - just across the tracks - to pick up some long lag screws I needed.
About five-ish I was done remodeling for the day, and it was still sunny out, and no cold breeze.  I locked up the tools and unlimbered the trike for another run.
As usual, it was great to take a spin and stretch my legs. 
Locals seem to be getting used to my contraption, since I get more and more waves and smiles as I cruise along.
I had initially thought I would do my usual Wal-Mert run but as I rode along at this relatively late time I noticed the traffic was the usual at around 5 PM:  Quite heavy.
There's a good sized Town & Country store on my side (South) of SuperHighway 60.  I don't often shop there but since all smaller stores try to compete price-wise with Wally's World (and nowadays often sell for less), I did my $5 worth of purchases there.
The remainder of the ride around town back to the house was fun and uneventful.
I had turned on my headlamp about halfway through the trip but found it was DEAD when I got home, so I took a few minutes to replace the batteries before locking things up.  These LED light batteries last quite a while but not forever...

Ride Started: 5:11 PM Ride Ended: 6:07 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage: 13.2 Ending Battery Voltage: 13.0 Lowest Voltage: 13.0
Lowest Temp: 68 F Highest Temp: 70 F
Beginning Blood Glucose: 201    Ending BG: 67
Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 6.44
Overall Average Speed      Moving Avg       Max Speed
   5.1 MPH                             7.5 MPH            25.7 MPH
Total Trip Time                    Moving Time      Stopped Time
1 hour 15 mins                     51 minutes           24 minutes

Event-Ful Triking

 Today's Back-and-Forth Route

This effluvium relates to yesterday - Thursday Oct 15 - Hopefully I'll get another ride sometime today.
I haven't been faithfully recording all my trips, and many of them are for a mile or less and thus unmentionable.
I used a Wally World shopping trip for an excuse for a ride.  I planned on replenishing our sagging stock of diet soda, so I hitched up the B.O.B. trailer behind the recumbent trike.
All went well for the downhill leg of the trip across town until I got to the busy intersection between
McDonalds and Country Mart.
This is always a high traffic area, since it also includes on/off ramps for the busy Route 60 highway, and I had to wait several minutes to snatch an opening big enough to ride through.  As I pedaled furiously across the street and turned left to go across the overpass, I dodged around a large crack in the pavement, but wound up straddling it between my front wheels  and barely missing it with my rear wheel, BUT as the towed trailer wheel hit the crack I heard a loud CRASH and the uncomfortable sound of metal scraping on pavement.  I pedaled a bit further to get clear of the entry to McDonalds, and when I got off the trike to see what had happened I was a tad shocked to see the rear wheel of the trailer lying in the entry of the fast food burger joint and the sound of metal hitting pavement had been just that.... the rear of the trailer dragging wheel-less on the pavement.  
There was a line of cars waiting impatiently  to get out of the parking lot, as usual, but gave me enough time to retrieve my "lost wheel".  As I reattached it to the trailer frame, tightening extra tight to hopefully avoid further such incidents, I noticed the rear tail light flasher was also missing.  With trailer reassembled, I looked more closely to see if I could spot the missing hardware, and sure enough it was lying in the exit/entry, forlorn but still flashing.  Several cars drove out while I waited for an opening, and somehow they all missed it.  The next cars stopped and didn't proceed.  When I looked at the driver, she was waving at me to go ahead and retrieve my blinky tail-light.  She rolled her window down and told me she didn't want to chance running over my light.  I pranced across the entry, thanking her profusely, and blew her a kiss of appreciation as I returned safely to my contraption.  Thankfully the light wasn't broken, but snapped smartly back into it's socket, and I was again on my way.
The remaining 1/8 mile leg to Wally World was relatively uneventful.
I had a shopping list by now and spent a lot more time in the store than I usually do.  I received a text on my phone informing me that our Church's assistance truck was at the Church building ready for me to pick up an order for one of our church families.   Being on the trike might have made this a bit difficult, but since it was only about a quarter of a mile away, I was able to saddle up and trike over there to pick it up.
When I got back to the Big Box store, who should I see but the fellow for whom the order was intended, so all  I had to do was hand it over to him, saving us both any further trips.
Leaving the store, I checked my blood sugar before pedaling away, and it was low enough to require nourishment.  As I munched on my treat, a fellow walked past with his big friendly dog.  As he passed, he commented "You have a Flat Tire!"
Unwelcome news, true or false.  Finished the treat and checked all my tires.  All had air in them, but my rear trike tire was sagging quite a bit.... I had so much weight in the trailer that it was making the tire squat.  I dug around and found my CO2 tire inflator.  It took me a bit since it had been so long since I last used it, but it worked and I was soon on my way. 
I texted Jacque that I was on my way and nothing was wrong in spite of having been gone so long.
She claimed to appreciate it...
Even with all that weight, it's amazing how easy it is to pull such a load with the trailer.  It DOES require a bit more down-shifting going up hills, but even as an old geezer it didn't seem to be too difficult to get it all home.

Ride Started: 10:31 AM           Ride Ended: 1:00 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage: 13.0 Ending Battery Voltage:  12.7
Lowest Temp: 57 F Highest Temp: 61 F
Beginning Blood Glucose: 125    Ending BG: 82
Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 6.31
Overall Average Speed      Moving Avg       Max Speed
4.3 MPH                              6.4 MPH            16.9 MPH
Total Trip Time                    Moving Time      Stopped Time
2 hours 28 mins                   59 minutes         1 hour 29 mins

Pulling a LOAD

My GPS tracker setup is days out of date, so I can't provide a decent track for this ride.
I will power it all down and reset it in hopes of up-to-date data capture.

As usual, I grab shopping or store needs for excuses to ride the trike to stretch my legs.

My slightly-over-three-foot B.O.B. trailer allows all sorts of loads, if I can only get it strapped on or in with sufficient bungee cords.  I've hauled small loads of 2 X 4's, pipe, and such over the years.
Here's a shot of small logs loaded up:

(I think I remember this was a load of small logs removed from a friend's yard up the street)
Anyway, this time we were out of necessary health nourishment:  Diet Soda.
Naturally, pulling the empty trailer TO the marketplace was no big deal, since it rolls freely with very little drag.

When I got to Wally World I also picked up a bag of slightly healthier stuff:  Apples.
Now, the trip HOME with 4 12-packs of soda and the 2 pounds of apples.... was a little bit more difficult.
Huffing and Puffing is supposed to be good for the cardio system, so I can't complain.
After all, it adds a bit more effort to the relatively low mileage accomplished with my normal rides.

Update from Downtown MO

 Monday's GPS Tracking

I have all this STUFF waiting for me to get caught up on, and it unfortunately goes VERY slow.
The climate here in Mountain Grove causes ALL vegetation to GROW at exponential rates.  
I have to continually:
- Pick up Black Walnuts cluttering the yard
- Mow the Grass almost every week
- Clip Shrubs all over the yard
- Pick up Fallen Branches
- Cut WEEDS
- Every few days it seems I have to cut big limbs or even a TREE:

Which cuts into my available time to Fix and Remodel the house and garage.  Poor  Me.  Sob.
Such stuff also exhausts me and cuts into available energy and time for fun things like riding the trike 
leisurely around town.
Yesterday, Monday, I had the good usual excuse for a ride:  Jacque had a prescription filling at 
Wally World and a couple other items to buy.  
So I dragged out the trike and hooked up the B.O.B. Trailer and took off.
The weather has been cooling lately so I wore a yellow cycling Tee Shirt and a light jacket over my
existing shirt, with long pants instead of shorts.  I assumed I would have to peel some outside layers 
somewhere along the way, but it didn't happen.  It was finally warm enough to unzip the jacket a little 
on the way home, but all layers remained in place.
Being a Ham Radio Former Fanatick, I always listen to the onboard Ham Radio while riding, and 
occasionally am able to talk to some local hams when not blocked by too much hill or vegetation.
I had the radio scanning che channels and was surprised to hear an Aeronautical Mobile (Airplane pilot in the Air) talking.  I looked to see what channel he was on.  I was surprised to find he was on a simplex channel, 146.52.  This is the FIRST time I've heard anyone on this frequency since moving to MO.
He wan't very strong, but when he transmitted that he was listening for more stations, I gave it a try.
Surprisingly enough, he heard me, and chatted with me for a couple of go-rounds, then went on to talk with others calling him.  Fun Stuff.

Ride Started: 10:18 AM           Ride Ended: 12:21 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage: 13.4 Ending Battery Voltage:  12.9
Lowest Temp: 47 F Highest Temp: 67 F
Beginning Blood Glucose: 175    Ending BG: 48
Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 5.17
Overall Average Speed      Moving Avg       Max Speed
2.7 MPH                              5.8 MPH            23.2 MPH
Total Trip Time                    Moving Time      Stopped Time
1 hour 55 mins                     53 minutes         1 hour 2 mins