Ride a bicycle

Becky and I have been riding our bicycles a lot more since we moved to our small town along the coast. It only takes about 10 minutes to ride a bike into the center of town and about 15 or so to ride back with a full load of groceries. I bought myself a lightweight trailer so I could take the days on-line orders to the post office and bring back groceries without having to wear a backpack (which a lot of stores don't like to you bring inside). I notice a lot of fellow bikers wave or nod at me. I like to think it is because they know what I know - that it is yet another key to freedom to be able to loosen the noose a bit...

It's still more convenient to take the car when I have to take the girls to swimming lessons or someplace where dealing with several bicycles is kind of a pain in the butt. There are only a few bicycle friendly destinations in town and only one bike shop. I still can't just get rid of the car as it is... Hopefully that will change over time. I see a day when the bicycles outnumber the cars and we fill parking lots with bicycle racks instead of SUVs. It seems a lifetime away, but I still see hope for it in our future...

It's funny how real social change comes from the bottom up. Most of the people I meet on bicycles are doing it because they are fed up with the cost of owning a car or just can't afford it anymore. Some are riding home made electric bikes and building trailers out of scrap wood and wheels off of toy wagons. The poor folks will be the ones that do the inventing and road testing. Then we all know what happens... Money is as money does (and always will).

Finally clean clothes

Yesterday we received our 4th washer/dryer unit (yes, that's right - fourth). It arrived looking better than all of the other units we had received so far... I pulled the cover off and sure enough, it had been dropped some time during shipping as well. 2 of the bolts securing the drum for transport had been broken completely out and the other 2 bolts were bent quite dramatically.

I decided that I could live with the damage if the unit actually worked this time, so we plugged it in right on the spot and tested all of the different washing and drying modes... No problems, so we had the driver make a note of the damage just in case.

It took us less time to install the washer/dryer this time. I guess installing one before helped us with our technique. Within 20 minutes we were running the test cycle and watching the drum rotate and splash soapy water all around inside. Becky and I could have cried... After all the problems and disappointments, we finally had a washing machine and dryer installed in the RV. No more laundromats!

It's installed just under the microwave in the old refrigerator cabinet. We've washed about 7 loads in it already and it does a fabulous job of getting things clean. It also gets out the smell that the laundromat washers put into the fabrics. I am just thrilled that we have a way to do laundry in the RV now.

Camping and canoeing on the Chetco

We decided to camp out for 3 days at the Loeb campground on the Chetco River. Yesterday all of the family arrived and set up camp.

Today we took off down the river in 2 canoes and a kayak. Having scouted the river in advance I knew roughly how long each leg of the journey took. When everyone said that they only wanted an hour or two at most on the river I knew just where to put in. I forgot the camera, so I don't have any pictures of us floating down the river, but I did manage to take my fishing pole and catch a very beautiful little trout.

The girls and I put together a little game where we hid my bear carvings all throughout the campsites. When the rest of the family arrived they searched around to see if they could find them all. It was a lot of fun for the kids. I took a few pictures of the bears in their hiding spots - they're easier to spot in the photos obviously...


























The girls left with my parents to go camping at Redwood Creek over the fourth of July weekend. We'll be hiking in to the river and packing them out for the return trip home. That means Becky and I get a few days to ourselves to relax and spend some time together without any children.