The ride to the church was pleasant, Tony gave me the updates on the Detroit Tigers standings, and analyzed what their strengths and weaknesses were. I know that he really misses his Dad during baseball season. He and his Dad could talk and talk about baseball, and how the Tigers were doing, how many games they were out of first place, and so on. As a young boy, Tony remembers sitting in the car with his Dad, listening to the game, while his Mom was in the store shopping.
Tony's Dad loved baseball, and played on many baseball and softball team through out Tony's growing up years. Tony still talks about watching his Dad play, and about what a good player his Dad was. His Dad played on a senior citizen team after he retired from GM.
Our girls grew up listening to the Tigers on the radio. The year the tigers won the pennant, Tony and the girls prayed at the beginning of each game, asking the Lord to help the Tigers win. He answered those prayers and the Tigers took first place that year. I'm not personally a big fan of the Tigers, but I try to listen and ask some questions and I print up a game schedule for Tony at the beginning of the season.
Baseball games are word pictures on the radio. The announcers give detailed explanations of the each pitch and swing. They describe the outfielders plays, tell who steals bases, and give a running commentary on each player, filled with player stats, facts and tidbits. Tony doesn't need to have vision to hear the game on the radio, yet he can see the whole thing in his mind. No wonder he enjoys it so much.
When we rode into the church parking lot there was a deer headed for the apple trees. I took a picture, but we were pretty far away. You might be able to tell it's a deer in the picture, but then again, it might be doubtful. Just to clear up any doubts...it is a a deer.
Picked up the paint I needed. Had our snack there, visited a bit with a friend that was working at the church, refilled our water bottles and headed home.
Rode past some Queen Ann's Lace, yellow wild flowers that I think were nasturtium and some bull rushes.
The countryside is so pretty this time of year. I love the scenery we ride past, the green grass, wildflowers and the crops growing in the fields. Here is the view we see as we head down 140th, the farmers fields spreading out before us, like a picnic table cloth, on a summer day.
We were about 1/4 mile from home when we had a "nearly flat tire."
Didn't want to ride on it, so we pushed the trike the rest of the way home, so I could at least change it in the garage. I don't know what the deal is with flat tires this season. Since Palm 30 , we have had several of them. Last season, we didn't have any. Guess they were saving up for this riding season.
Anyway, I ended up changing the tire 3 times.
The first time I didn't get the tire on so the tread was facing the same way as the other front tire, but of course, I didn't notice that until I had the tire already changed. I took the tire off and turned it the right way. Then we went into town to run a few errands. Decided that a small air compressor would be a handy thing to have. It would be much easier to top off the tires that way before riding, rather than using a bicycle air pump. We were headed to the store to price some, when I was distracted by a few garage sales. One had a compressor that was practically brand new. It wasn't a super big compressor, just a 3 gallon one. For what we wanted it for, it was ideal. The lady that was selling it, had loaned someone money, and had the guys air compressor as collateral. She told him that if he didn't pay her back, she was going to sell the compressor. He didn't, so the compressor was on the garage sale. I talked her down a bit in price and we came home with an air compressor, but no instruction manual. Of course we know nothing about air compressors,. I'll call the company that makes it, and see if they will send me out a manual. Pumping up tires will be easier, once we know how to use the air compressor. It has a really long hose on it too, and the compressor can be charged, then used without being plugged in.
When we came home from town, the tire I had put on the trike was flat. When I changed it, the first time, I had checked it for leaks and couldn't find any, also checked along the inside of the tire for any punctures or sharp objects, couldn't find any, I have no idea why the tire went flat. I took it off, got a new tube and changed the tire again. Hopefully that will be that last flat I change in quite awhile I inflated the tube that had gone flat, and will watch it a few days to see what happens.
After I changed the tire, I cleaned and lubed the chains, and shined the trike up. It certainly needed to be spiffed up a bit. It gets dirty form riding, but gets covered in dust when we put it on the trailer to take it anywhere. We have about 1/2 mile of gravel road, before we get to the pavement, and it can sure get dusty when it is dry.
I tried to put the new rear, blinking light we bought from Wiz Wheels on the back of the trike, but it seems that no matter how I mount it, it kind of flips down and points to the road. Not good. I'll call Wiz Wheels on Monday and see what suggestions they have for mounting. It's made to be mounted on the seat post, but there is no seat post on a recumbent trike. I'm sure there is some simple way to solve the problem, solving problems that have to do with up. down, or right are not my strong point. Wiz Wheels will have a way to do it, after all, they only sell trikes, and it is the light they recommended.
We rode 15 and 1/2 miles today. When we were at Meijers, in the parking lot, the thermometer in the car read 101 degrees, by the time we got home from town it was 94 degrees. So glad we rode early.
No comments:
Post a Comment