Friday, March 21, 2014

2014 Errandonnee, Day 3

Day 3 of the Errandonnee, and that means it's time to get busy! I'm lucky that I don't have to cram all my errands in by midnight tonight due to the snow day, but I still have a lot to do.

I started by counting my ride from work to home during the middle of the day as a lunch trip. This was a one-way ride since Zoomie and I get a free hop to work in my coworker's truck in the wee hours of a dark weekday  morning. I COULD stay at work, but the whole point of coming home in the middle is to get more exercise, see my hubby if he's home, spend time with my beagle Grunt, get chores done, or relax with any other activity I feel like. This opposed to sitting all day at the office trying not to be bored and hoping they need me to cover a midday run.

I had chicken noodles swimming in butter and topped with yummy cheese, here is the proof:
Nobody Likes me, everybody hates me, guess I'll go eat worms!
Big fat juicy ones, long thin skinny ones, oh how they wiggle and squirm!

My observation for this errand is that these noodles are amazing. Also, I remembered why I took the cushion that I made OFF the rear rack. The thing is adorable (and still bright! not faded by sunshine) but it rattles and the noise drives me bonkers. It promptly came back off of Zoomie.

Atfer lunch, I left the house early to do errands before work. A new bike shop recently opened up very close to where we used to live (of course!). Touted as a combination bike shop and cantina, I've been wanting to see it ever since it opened, but I never had a reason to go on that side of town before. Thank you Mary for the excuse!

I got lucky in that the greenway is actually open from the main road near me, all the way over to the airport area where I used to live. This section of the path meanders between a few ponds, but it is mostly further from the river and slightly more upland than the rest of the path, which has been destroyed and won't be fixed for a while.

My kestrel was just off to the left. 
I neglected to check and see if he still exists, or if all the pebbles making him were washed away :( 
I should make another trip!


I miss this.

This is the first time I've been here since the flood. I'm surprised how bleak it looks. My official observation for the errand to a bike shop is this devastation of the landscape.

The awesome waterfall has become a cascade, really, and a trickly one at that.

I would love to go play in the new "cave", though!


After a wonderful scenic ride, I found Cyclhops. I feel like an idiot for reading it before now as cycle-hops, when its obviously supposed to be cyclops, as in a one-eyed giant. People who meet us might notice that it's my husband who might still make a claim that I'm smart, not I.

Proof that Zoomie and I were really here:

Ok, I have to say: this place is AWESOME! I would love to come eat here, although I didn't look at the menu at all. My husband came home tonight and told me about a giant sign he just made for them, and I got to share the news about my visit! Look how cool it is in here, and I purposely did not get a picture of the main decoration- a giant mural painted on the wall!

When you first walk in this skeleton cyclist is in front and above you, this really cool light is to your left where the tiny Reeb bike shop cubby is. The hostess stands behind a bench table to your right ready to seat you.

All around the window fronts to the right are tables and booths for dining, and a long bar runs through the middle of the room. The whole place feels open and airy with lots of natural light. The painted mural is to the left along that long main wall, and there is a nifty secluded room hidden behind it.

The bar and other flat surfaces are a neat gray marbly stuff, but look what is embedded in it! Chains squiggle all over and there are gears and chain links galore. I love it!

I WANT THIS.
This gorgeous light is the very first thing I saw in the hidden room. It's fantastic. It throws nifty shadows. It's shiny. What's not to love? The light is from one of those clear bulbs that looks like it is made of a rainbow.

Along one wall are cutout alcoves with art displayed in them.

On the wall opposite the hole-in-the-wall art displays. 
A big table dominates the center of the room.

Looking back at how you got into this nifty place. Not shown are three circular bench-cubbies on the other side of that hallway where you could sit and have coffee or maybe fiddle with a laptop in semi-privacy. Very coffee-shoppish. I'm a BIG fan of the green back-lighting behind the peek-a-boo outdoor block tiles here.

A painting above the coffee hall cubby seats. I have no idea what it says, but I like the goofy colorful way it's painted.

Any restaurant worth going to has amazing restrooms, and Cyclhops is no exception. 
Look at this awesome sink in the women's bathroom!

A decorative guitar on the separator wall for the tiny bike shop section.

I'm so glad I decided to go to Cyclhops, and maybe I'll get to come back here soon for dinner and tasty adult beverages :)

After Cyclhops, I decided to go to work. I really spent too much time ogling all the wonderful limey-greenness and decorations, so I took the previous short way to work, along the roadside. I'm glad I did, because I decided to visit another place that always catches my fancy when I see it, and so I just HAD to stop in. The Flower Bin. This errand will count as any store that is not a grocery store.

I thought I got a photo of the really nifty entrance gate with the name on it, but I didn't. You'll have to settle for all these frogs inside as proof of the visit:

This photo is my observation. Although I know you can't read it, one of these perfect bikey frogs is $179.99. My observation is that that's freaking expensive!! I plan to one day have a garden, and I'd like for it to be a pretty place as well as functional, but I will never pay that much for a piece of lawn art. I'll make my own first! 
That being said, I still really wanted one of these guys :(
Oh well.

Other froggies:












Not a frog, but I like it a lot anyway.

Flamingoes, because I'm a Florida girl and we're moving back this summer.

FISHIES! 



Then I went to work. Being so worried about getting there on time, I actually arrived early. So, instead of getting off and going to sit inside to wait for the minute hand to advance, I decided to ride around in circles around the parking lot and then the whole school district complex singing lyrics to the happy songs I was listening to as loud as I could. My observation: people give you strange looks when you do this. If not the first time around, then definitely when you pass them for the third or fourth time. This also happened to be a great way to add some miles in for the day.

Here is Zoomie parked at the bike rack again:

Did I mention I have passengers along for the ride now? 
(Oh and for those who don't know, I have a Brooks saddle now!! <3)

Ok, so these two photos are actually from the 20th when I added these little stuffed froggies on the equinox, but that trip to work didn't count as an errand, and I forgot to get a photo actually AT work this day. So I figure froggy photos count. 

After work, I went home, and that was the end of my biking around for day 3 of the Errandonnee!

View from the front porch.

Holy cow! I went a total of 15 miles exactly today. That makes my total up to 26.2 miles for the Errandonnee, and I only have 3.8 left to go! I have 5 errands left to do, and I'm fairly certain it would be impossible to go to 5 different places tomorrow and NOT cover 4 miles. Hooray! 

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