Hot Air Balloons Part 2: The Long Bike Ride

We’ve been waiting all summer long for the last stretch of lakewalk to be completed, so that we could ride bikes all the way from the rocky beach down to the lift bridge.  The lakewalk opened a few weeks ago, but we hadn’t gotten a change to use it yet.  In fact, despite my good intentions, we never managed to get down to ride bikes at the lakewalk all summer long!  A big component regarding that not happening has been the fact that Mr. TOF was not a pedal bike rider, our old bike trailer is somewhat broken and we would have no way of transporting it down there, so any bike ride needed to happen during a time when Dr. Peds was able to watch Mr. TOF and the rest of us were free.  Finding a time like that is not actually that easy.

I was all set to try a lakewalk bike riding adventure  week ago, but for numerous reasons, it didn’t happen.  Dr. Peds suggested we try on Saturday afternoon.  The weather was perfect.  I was ready to go.  However I couldn’t find the bar that allows my bike to attach to the bike rack and had to wait several hours for my husband to wake up from his nap.  Even though I searched everywhere, he knew just where it was.  Maddening!  We got a late start, and by the time we loaded up the bikes and got to the beach, it was already 6:00.  I decided that a trip down to the bridge would be too far so late in the day, so I planned on riding until the sun dipped below the horizon, figuring I could make it back to the beach before darkness set in.

We had a great time riding!  The kidlets were so great.  The Banana and YaYa were great rule followers, and what Mr. SP lacked in rule following he made up for with zeal.  I was thankful that the lakewalk was not crowded and we had no collisions with pedestrians or other bikes.

We rode through Lakeside and Congdon (about four and a half miles, I think), and the sun dipped down below the hill when we were about two miles from the bridge.  We stopped for a teensy rest and I told the kidlets we probably should turn around so we got back before dark.  They would have nothing of the sort.  They begged and pleaded to keep going all the way to the bridge so they could say they had ridden the whole way.  I talked with them about how they were going to have to ride back in the dark (not as dangerous as it sounds since we were able to be on the lakewalk the whole way).  They didn’t care about the dark.  I gave in and away we went.

We got all the way to the bridge.  In fact we were standing underneath the bridge and I said, “Time to turn around!” when YaYa looked up and around the corner and all the hot air balloons were standing up!  All the kidlets gasped in delight and insisted on going to see them up close.  I couldn’t say no, so we kept going!  When we got close to the festival we had to walk our bikes because there were lots of people, but it was definitely worth it.  The balloons were just starting to come down by the time we got there, but a few were still lifting up to give tethered rides.  It was magical, and we were so blessed to end up seeing them, since that was the only time they stood up during the whole festival due to tricky breezy conditions.

After a short time I steered us back toward the bridge and up the shore.  By then it was totally dark, and while there are stretches of lakewalk that are very well lit, especially in the areas between the bridge and Leif Erickson Park, I knew there would be long stretches going through the forest that were not!  It all worked out though, and we rode fast and hard all the way back. We could always just see enough to stay on the path.   The kidlets were so amazing!  No whining!  No complaining!  We had so much fun together, and while we were pedaling furiously next to the lake, we saw the most phenomenal harvest moonrise ever.  The lakewalk was definitely not crowded on our ride back!

Thirteen or fourteen miles after we started we arrived back at the van, with sore bottoms and tired legs, but happy adventurous souls.  Everyone was hungry, so we loaded the bikes back up and headed for home to tell Dr. Peds all about our experience.