Lift Up Your Hearts!

Before I write about today's bike ride, I have to clear the backlog and tell you about last weekend's.

The Cross Seminole Trail is not yet complete, and voters defeated the minuscule property tax increase that would have paid to purchase environmentally sensitive lands and built recreational trails, so we're not waiting for its completion to do what we can.

We parked at the Black Hammock Trailhead near 417 in Winter Springs, and headed east towards Oviedo.  The map shows the completed trail ending in the center of town, but the trail maps are often out of date and we were hoping more had been finished.  In that we were disappointed, as the trail ended without so much as a "Trail's End" sign.  After casting about for a continuation, we turned back, passed our starting point, and took the trail westward.

The trail has a couple of incomplete places in that direction, but thanks to our recent off-road adventure, we were not intimidated but plowed right through them.  Note that this was a mere week after we had unanimously determined to stick to paved bike paths....  But at least these were relatively short interludes with most of the trail paved.

The trail ends at Layer Elementary School (I thought I knew all the elementary schools in Seminole County; this must be new).  Before reaching the end, however, we passed through Central Winds Park and took time to park our bikes and enjoy the nature trail.  I can't pass a playground these days without thinking how much the grandkids woud enjoy it.

It was another good 18-mile ride, even though I discovered that either my body or my bike had not yet fully recovered from the previous week's exhaustion.  Riding, even on the flat, was a lot harder than it had been.  Maybe there's sand in the works....

I think I would have been fine if I'd just gone home and rested.  But there was a lot to do to prepare for having Memorial Day guests.  The worst was a long shopping trip that turned out to be a bit longer than planned.  After buying some plants at Home Depot, I decided to take them home before going to the grocery store, so they wouldn't bake in the hot car for so long.  (If it's not safe for kids and pets, it can't be good for plants, either.)

Click.

Click.

Yes, the car is in park.

Click, click, click. 

We just got a new battery in December!

Click.

Call Porter.

Oops.  He's outside pressure-washing the pool area and can't hear the phone.  Call his cell phone.  Intelligent man that he is, he doesn't wear his phone when near the pool and spraying high-velocity water around.  Call a neighbor, hoping she will yell over the fence and get his attention.  Not surprising, she's not home on a Saturday afternoon.

I could call AAA, but they usually take forever to arrive.  I'm only about a half hour's walk from home, so that's what I do.  It's a nice walk.

Porter sets aside the pressure washer long enough to come with me to Home Depot.  Yes, we have jumper cables.  Yes, we know how to use them.  Yes, our other car has its battery so deeply buried in the engine you can't attach jumper cables to it!

We go home, taking the suffering little plants with us.  Our neighbors have returned!  He has a truck wtih an accessible battery.  We all head back to Home Depot and the car jumps easily.

Drive to Batteries Plus, where they replace the battery for free, since they were the ones who sold it to us just five months ago.

Then, at last, I'm on my way to the part of the shopping.  Did I mention that I find shopping nearly as exhausting as off-road biking?  :)