Wednesday Lunch Ride With The Sleepy Passenger

Rain, accompanied by a plunge in temperature, was in the forecast, so I drove today.  I should have biked.  I arrived before the rain, and it’s over and I’m still at work.

Well, I had 11 activity bags to take to campus this morning for my and my wife’s combined freshman intro class, so I suppose driving was not a crazy thing to do.

Anyway, Wednesday was the final day of our warm faux late summer.  I had been out late Tuesday night—attending a city council meeting with a writing class—and worked for 4 hours Wednesday morning, so I felt justified in meeting the grandkids for a long lunch at Noelridge Park.

After fueling my body with crackers and cheese, I put the toddler seat on the bike, and Tristan and I took off on a ride.  It was warm and humid, so warm that I wished I had taken a water supply with me.

But, I survived.  We headed south to Cedar Lake on the Cedar River Trail.  The first half of the trip was narrated in Tristan’s cute 2-year-old voice, pointing out the birds, but mostly the train tracks, which had to be pointed out because that’s were Thomas would be going chucka-chucka-choo-choo.

Trust me, the narration was even cuter in person.  He was super excited when we neared the lake, as the train tracks multiplied and several strings of cars, each a “Thomas,” came into view.

Anyway, halfway around Cedar Lake, the pleasant patter died out.  And a weight grew heavy on my right arm—a little boy’s helmet was nestling there.  As we rode along the trail, Mr. T fell asleep.

He stayed asleep as I headed north, returned to Noeldridge Park, then headed through the Rockwell Collins parking lots towards C Avenue.  He awoke 35 minutes later as we crossed Blair’s Ferry.

Missing half the ride didn’t seem to bother him a bit.  The narration took off where it had left off, his only concern was that he wasn’t sure where Thomas could go chucka-chucka-choo-choo anymore.

Well, I envied him.  I worked on some assignments later Wednesday, a lecture for class and a newspaper critique after he went home.  I also had to return to campus to get my files—and didn’t get a text from Audrey in time to learn I had to bring the minivan to load up a wheelchair for a program she was doing today.

So, I had one extra bike ride to campus on the last warm day before late fall.  I guess that makes up for today.  Now, if only I could figure out how to nap on the bike …