An Afternoon Bike Ride

    One thing that I have wanted to do for the past several weeks is go on a bike ride. It's the beginning of July and I had not even once been out on my bike. Normally C and I would have been out at least a couple of times by now.
  Part of the problem is that many of the bike trails we like are currently flooded. The rain that had been keeping my sump pump busy has also been washing over the bike trails. The other challenge that that I seem to be slowly losing the amount of free time I have. I'm not sure why.
  Yesterday I had to work, but only until one in the afternoon. I decided that it would be a good day to go out on the bike. I told anyone who asked me that C and I would be peddling away someplace. I asked C to find a trail that was not underwater.
  C picked me up from work and I quickly changed clothes. He had spent all morning checking over the bikes, putting air in the tires and putting them on the bike rack. We wanted to be able to leave as soon as possible. We were out of the house in 15 minutes.
  He decided that we would ride around Lake Calhoun, Lake Harriet and Lake of the Isles. I was a little nervous because these places tend to get crowded on nice days. We drove towards Minneapolis.
  When we got there we looked for a place to park. For some reason C never has trouble with this. He found us a fairly close spot and it didn't take too much time. It was busy, but not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. C took the bikes off the rack and we headed for the trails.
  I always enjoy the trails around these lakes. They are well kept and the other riders tend to be respectful of each other. This is once of the best places to go if you like to see things. There are people sailing in boats, paddling canoes and kayaks and standing on something that looks like a surfboard moving themselves around with a long paddle. There are people peddling paddleboats.
  The lakes were higher than I had ever seen them. Some of the walking trails were covered with water so the walkers and bikes had to share the trail. Ducks were swimming in small ponds created by the rains. The place that rents kayaks and other types of small watercraft was right on the edge of the water. Some of the plantings around one of the lakeside snack stands were covered.
  We stopped to get smoothies since we had both missed lunch. While we sipped we watched small birds bathe themselves in the pools of water around the plants. Other birds were carrying off bits of food left on the ground by other diners.
  This area is one of the best places to people watch. There are all kinds of people down by the lake. People of all colours, shapes and sizes had come down to enjoy the weather. There were teenage girls in two piece swimsuits and Muslim women wearing headscarves and long dresses. There were elderly people in motorized carts and families on bicycles.
   Small groups of people had staked out a piece of ground by the lake for the afternoon. Many of them had brought small grills and picnic baskets. Beanbag games were set up. A couple of groups had stretched a flat wide cord between two trees and were trying to walk on the cord like a tight rope. A couple of people had strung up hammocks to lounge in. I saw people laying out in the sun even though it was cloudy. There were families playing in the water at the beaches. There were two young women laying on their stomachs reading. One was reading a book, the other was reading off a tablet. Groups of young adults were sipping on sodas, eating chips and talking.
   It made me feel good to see this. I see so much on the news about people shooting each other and beating each other up. Today it looked like everyone was getting along. I didn't hear any arguments. What I heard was a group of adults and a few children drumming in a bandshell. There were a few people seated listening to the music they were making. I saw couples holding hands. I saw families cooking sausages and hamburgers on their grills. I saw people all enjoying the day.
   Days like this give me hope. When I hear about how this group hates that group, I think of days like yesterday. A day when everyone respected their neighbors. A day when everyone got along. A day when no one was trying to hurt anyone else.
   This is what America is all about.