Riding Bikes On My Day Off, A Sort Of Family Day

My son was out of school Thursday and Friday for Fall Break. I know, it's a foreign concept to me as well, time that I never got off when I was in school but hey, it's a new era. A kindler, gentler one. While we still have some nice weather I decided to take Thursday off and spend it with the family. That notion got a little lost though as I found out when I got up to an empty house. Turns out my wife had class that day when I could have sworn she said she didn't. I was wrong. So very wrong. She took our son to his friends house where he was hanging out with them.

My not so carefully laid plans for the day were now scrapped. Once my wife came home and we realized how crossed our wires had been (in my defense I did try calling and texting her multiple times to find out what was going on) we called and told them we were coming to pick our son up. An early dinner at Goldie's was the next thing to take care of and once our perfectly edible food was consumed we headed over to Riverside Drive to get some exercise riding bikes.

My son has a bike but my wife and I don't, at least not right now. Instead we utilize this thing called Tulsa Townies which has free bike rentals at three locations, two of which are there on Riverside where there are bike and running trails, a kids play area park and other things. The bikes are basic, bare bones, nothing special and are a bright pink color but I can't really complain about that since it doesn't cost me anything to use them. All you have to do is use a credit card for the rental to guarantee that the bike is returned and then return it in a timely manner. The only thing that can limit you is if there are any bikes at the location you go to and if any of them fit you.

This time around there were five bikes to choose from and for once luck was with me as one was perfect for my height. Usually they're a little bit too short which makes the peddling much harder on these long legs. Just like that we were off, a family riding together by the river, reveling in the sun and the fresh air. Just being outside feeling the breeze on me was invigorating. My son is a new rider having gained his confidence only this summer and he wants to stop far too often for my taste. I'm trying to get him to understand that to improve his stamina you have to keep going, even when you're tired. You try explaining that to an eight year old.

We were able to get him to go farther than we have before simply because we didn't stop every time he wanted to, a major accomplishment achieved. On our way back at a certain point my wife told me to go on ahead, that she would stay with him and go slower as she was a bit tired. That's all I needed to hear. I poured on the speed and pushed it as hard as I could. As a matter of fact I ended up reaching the rental area breathing heavily thirteen minutes ahead of them. Even though I'm old and out of shape my mind still tells me to push it as hard as I can and I try and act the same as I did when I was twenty. I don't know if that's a good way to do things but it's what I've got.

Once they straggled in we returned the bikes and then rewarded ourselves with a movie at Eton Square Cinemas, my favorite place in Tulsa. At home things didn't end as I would have liked but they didn't start that way either so it is what it is. Another day gone, one well worth missing work for. How many more of these am I going to get with the family? Not enough, not enough by a longshot.

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.by the t

Not So Bad Weather

Whoever gets paid to make the decisions on whether school should be closed due to inclement weather in Tulsa needs to give part of their salary back. Once again he or she reacted to reports of impending snow and ice on Tuesday night and elected to close schools for Monday. It was supposed to get bad so there was no taking chances. The only problem that I could see once I had rolled out of bed at eleven-ish was that there was very little snow or ice.

Sure there was a small amount of snow but not even enough to call it a dusting. As I looked out the window I could tell that there might be some ice as well. Emphasis on the word might. The weather in Oklahoma does have a nasty habit of changing and often during any given day but still, by the time I left for work at three in the afternoon it still wasn't what it had been built up to. The only change I made from my normal speedy driving was to give a little bit of extra time and space for braking so that I wouldn't have any sudden stops.

As the night went on the snow did come but not the three inches or more that was predicted. The side roads were icy but the main streets not so much. Of course school is cancelled for Thursday. It's laughable to me that the schools are cancelled on the more suggestion that it might snow. Try being someplace where it actually does snow often, where they get feet not inches and people still have to go to work or school. They must look at rubes like us and shake their heads in disbelief.

One thing the Army did instill in me was that you have to be at your appointed place of duty, no excuses. So even in a blizzard we knew to get up early to clean the car off and make our way into work (whether we were supposed to is a different thought). Once you get used to doing that what we experience now seems slight in comparison.  For me the Army was just a job with occasional adventures but every once in a while I wish I could slack off and call in from work. But we all know that won't happen, don't we?

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

Learning To Ride

Since it was such an unusually nice day today my wife thought it was time that we taught our soon to be eight year old son how to ride a bicycle sans training wheels. He had won a one hundred dollar gift card in a anti-smoking contest last year so at Christmas we bought him a brand new bike and helmet. Off we drove to the park closest to the house where I unloaded the bike and imparted upon him my considerable bike-related wisdom.



 

The problem was that he didn't listen to my instructions because he was very afraid of falling and when he doesn't listen I tend to get frustrated. I managed to calm down enough to let him know that even when I let go for a second or two that I was still going to hold on again and not let him fall. He was slightly better than when we began but is still far away from going solo. He's having difficulty understanding how to keep himself from leaning over.

 

The plan is that if the weather is nice again next weekend we'll go over to Riverside Park where I'll be able to rent a bicycle and let him see the old man in action and perhaps by observing he'll learn something. If I had the money I'd go out and buy a bike for me right now so that we could ride all the time. Of course I haven't ridden one in about twenty years so it's possible that when I write next week it'll be about my new bruises and abrasions. It is possible that it all could come back to me nicely but I'm not counting on it.

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

Grass Fires In Oklahoma

While at work last night my sister Teresa left me voicemail on my work phone as well as my cell phone due to the fact that my niece Megan was worried about us. It seems that Oklahoma had been declared in a state of emergency due to grass fires mainly in the Oklahoma City area. This was news to me since I work in the dungeon and we don't get cellphone reception and generally don't see many people down there. I tried reaching my sister but, par for the course, she didn't answer her phone, so I left a voicemail letting her know that we were okay. Afterwards I broke out my laptop and posted pretty much the same message on Facebook just to let anyone who was interested know that we were okay.

The strange thing is that when I left work and stepped into the parking garage the smell of smoke was extremely strong. Oklahoma is known for it's strong winds and even though most of these fires are about an hour and a half's drive away the odor still is very pungent and would almost make me think that a fire was close by if I didn't know any better. That's the thing about living in Oklahoma, the weather shifts constantly and often has major changes all in one day and the wind gets stronger than any other place I've ever lived before. I guess it keeps things interesting, though I'm not so sure if that's a good thing or not.

Published by Don Leach