travel by bike

remember our derby wall?

i got up the courage and erased it last night

it was so pretty, it hurt a bit

but it was time for something new

i haven't really put anything else up

but i did write up this quote from ernest hemingway

it is by riding a bicycle

that you learn the contours of a country best,

since you have to sweat

up the hills

and coast down them -

thus

you remember them as they actually are

i'm hoping to get bill to draw me a bicycle with an overflowing basket full of flowers


and incorporate the quote somehow since

it really stirred something up inside me

as bill and i have been trying to find more reasons to bike lately

this past weekend we rode from the waterfront out to shawnee park

i've never been to the west end of louisville

seriously - never.

i've been to a thrift store in portland, but that was it

and as we rode along the river and then up through portland and into the west end

it was gorgeous.

the news makes the west end sound like the south end of chicago

but there were tree lined walks

the most unique old homes lining the wide parkway

this is where people call home

and it felt more personal and vulnerable to travel by bike than to pass through in a car

i saw neighbors congratulating each other on a new car (a 97 impala - but man, he was proud), kids walking to the park, a guy listening to some jazz music on a sunday afternoon

it's hard to explain how much fun it is traveling slowly on our cruiser bikes - barely averaging 9 minutes per mile

but it lights this fire in me  - to want to tour and commute by bike

side by side with bill

sometimes one leading the other to our destination

stopping for water

catching an unexpected festival or food truck

and truly getting to know our neighbors and hills.