Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Day 344 - Riding Bikes

For the most part it was a fun day here at Hilton Head. I got up around 8 and started looking at the bikes at around 9:15. First I had to see if Adair was going to be able to ride Julia’s bike. It was just a little too big for her. She could pedal OK, but starting and stopping were just too hard for her. Then I put the pedals back on the trailer bike and hooked it up to John’s bike. I got Meleah on it as we practiced riding it around the street. I’ve never done that before, and I found it a lot harder than I expected, although I did it OK. It’s very hard to balance, especially when Meleah was pedaling. I finally got the hang of it, and we rode together all day. Then I had Lisa try out Julia’s and Biddie’s bike. Julia’s was a little too small, but Biddies was just right. So I pumped up the tires, and just after I pumped up the front tire, the tube blew out. So, I was going to have to change it out. I needed to go to the bike shop and get a bike for Adair and the pull behind cart for Anna and Julia. So I took Biddie’s bike to gat the tire fixed. I figure it was easier for them to change it than me. The problem is that I didn’t bring a tube with me, and they didn’t have the right size tubes for her bike. It didn’t matter anyway. They wouldn’t rent just the cart. You had to rent a bike with it. It had to do with insurance on the carts alone on other people’s bikes. So, We got Lisa a bike and a cart and Adair’s bike. I rode Lisa’s bike back to the house, and Adair followed me. Lisa drove the car back to the house.

You might have noticed that I didn’t say anything about Sean, Jennifer or Hernan ridding today. When Sean got her yesterday, he was very hoarse and had sore throat. During the night he started throwing up and had a high fever. So Jennifer was taking him to the urgent care center. Hernan wasn’t feeling good either, so he was staying home. I’m praying that the sickness ends here. I am declaring health over the family for the rest of the trip. So the only people who were riding today was Lisa, Anna, Julia, Adair, Meliah and myself. By the time we got it all together to ride it was about 11:30.

It was a little cool outside, but not super bad. Gloves and hats helped a lot, and I only had a shirt and a pullover. I should have worn a little more, but it worked out OK. We were gone a little over four hours. Not all that time was riding, but most of it was. We rode on the trails, on the beach in the sun, back on the trails to Harbor Town. At Harbor Town we played in the playground, walked around the docks, looking at boats and got hot chocolate at the Crazy Crab. So all in all, it was a great day. In one way it was a day of dreams coming true. One of Julia’s and my dreams was to have the Adair and Meleah with us at Hilton Head, riding bikes. Today that dream came true. Life is funny. As I was thinking about this trip with the family I was wondering whether we would have done this had Julia been alive. We had never thought about it. You see, we all get in ruts on how we do things. Our plan probably would have been to visit the Kids separately, just like we did last year. So it’s really hard to say. So I think that this trip is just an outgrowth of her dieing so soon.

Tomorrow’s going to be a little bit warmer, so we will probably ride again. Lisa started her mom’s famous coconut cake tonight. It smells good already. As I go to bed tonight I pray that everyone would be better tomorrow and that they would all be able to join us for a bike ride before the end of the week.

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