Bike Ride to Town

An earlier purchase of a bike rack that attaches to the hitch on our van allowed us for the first time ever to bring bikes to my parents’ house.  Actually, this trip  was the first time I had used the bike rack, and after a brief learning curve, I’m pretty excited about the possibilities it is opening up.  Bringing the bikes to North Dakota was a big deal because there are such big, open spaces for riding  with little traffic.  Although you might run into a hill or two, the hills are slow and gradual, versus the crazy steep hills where we live that can’t be conquered with kid bikes that don’t have gears.  We don’t do all that much bike riding as a family right now because Mr. TOF isn’t big enough to go on his own bike or the pull behind bike, and our bike trailer is in bad shape, not to mention nearly impossible for me to pull with our topography.  The prospect of having a grandparent or two around to watch Mr. TOF while the rest of us went on a bike ride was golden.

I was happy to ride my bike into town with my biggest three kidlets.  It’s a route I obviously know well, and it was fun to ride my bike on that road again!  There were so many memories that it brought back of my preteen and teenage years.  Also, it was a great place for my kids to learn about highway bike riding and the concept of staying on the side of the road.  Main Street in town was slow the evening we rode in.  There was just one car parked, and sure enough, Mr. Sneaky Pants happened to be looking over at the grocery store and ran right into the ONE car on the whole street.  Luckily he was going slow.  I was laughing so hard I forgot to check for damages, which I later worried about.  YaYa, however, told me parts of the car were actually held together with duct tape, so hopefully no one is upset.  I really doubt that he did any major damage, since he was really not going fast at all, just coasting along and looking around when he should have been looking forward.

We headed to our main attraction, the city park in the center of town.  It looked so beautiful and well taken care of!  The kidlets twirled on the hanging bar and tried out both swing sets.  When I was about eleven, a civic organization (I can’t remember which one:  Lions?  Community Board?  Firefighters?  I just don’t know) purchased a new swing set for the park.  I’m not sure who was in charge, but for years, whenever I go to the park, I contemplate what a great job they did picking out such an awesome swing set.  Most importantly, it’s tall, which means you can really get to swinging.  The seats are not those rubber belt things that hold you on the swing but are terribly uncomfortable.  Instead, they are wide and big, large enough for grown ups to swing comfortably.  They are covered with a nonslip grippy material that assures you won’t go flying off your ride unexpectedly.  The swingset is just durable and stable, and still looks brand new even though it’s been up for 20 some years.  YaYa got going so high on the swing that she was screaming, and ended up feeling nauseated.  She loved it, and so did Mr. SP and The Banana.

After a bit, YaYa asked to ride up to my Great Grandma Zana’s old house, so we looked at that, and then I showed them my old school and told them all about how I used to walk from Grandma Zana’s house to the school yard and the things I liked to do at recess outside the school.  There were a few pieces of playground equipment still up, and one of them was a teeter totter.

My kidlets had never been on a teeter totter, at least that they can remember, and they were entranced.  They LOVED it.  It actually took a surprisingly large amount of direction on my part to show them how to get on it, how to bump the other person at the other side, how to balance in the middle.  Admittedly, there were a few minor injuries even though I was standing right there, which is probably why there are no teeter totters in parks anymore.  Despite a few scrapes and the fact that this poor, well loved teeter totter is probably sadly on it’s last leg, since the board is starting to rot because it hasn’t been painted or cared for, the kidlets had the most wonderful time.  They laughed so much (when they weren’t crying from the injuries) and begged to come back the next day, which unfortunately did not work out for us.  I know they will ask to bring bikes and visit the seesaw again on our next journey to Pettibone.

I could write a whole different post about how the rotting condition of the teeter totter made me a little bit sad, and about how just looking at my old school,  closed for years, brings me so many wonderful memories. I feel like I know that building inside and out, and every inch of it has something important woven into it.  Instead, I’m going to dwell on the simple fact that my children LOVE old school playground equipment.  It’s not only because it’s something new to them, something they don’t often get to experience.  I’ve written before about the ONE merry go round at a park in our city and how special it is.  Old school playground equipment is simple and better, leaving more to the imagination and engaging kids longer.  I love that my kids appreciate that.

Eventually we needed to head back down the highway to the farm.  The light was beautiful, my favorite time of evening, and the time of day I always went for a bike ride when I was living at home.  I enjoyed every bit of the ride home, even stopping at one of my favorite prairie trails on the way.

Even though we didn’t manage to go for a second family bike ride, the kidlets had a great time riding on the driveway, up and down the hill by the silage pile, and even across the highway on the prairie trail I spent hours and hours on as a kid, before I was actually allowed on the highway.  They really loved exploring the prairie trail, (they sadly hadn’t known what a prairie trail was before our trip)  and it was something they could do on their own or together, but not with me and Mr. TOF, and I think they loved that independence most of all.