Lunch

We were at Usery Park a few weeks ago for one of Ranger B's "brown bag lunch" talks. After the talk he announced that it was time to feed the snakes. The visitor center has several desert critters in cages including a western diamondback rattlesnake. They feed it dead mice that they get from a supplier (how would you like to be in that business?) Since snakes only like to eat live prey Ranger B dangled the dead mouse in front of the it using a long stick. The snake slowly approached the mouse and then struck it. It was interesting that the snake waited several minutes before starting to eat the mouse. I'm guessing that it was waiting for the prey to "die." In the wild it would be risky to try eating something before it was dead. Ranger B agreed with my theory thereby earning me junior ranger status for the day.

News Item

Mesa, AZ: Ronald McDonald, longtime spokesman and public figure for the McDonald's restaurants, has become a victim of too many burgers, fries and shakes. As this photograph shows he is now too big to even fit inside the building anymore.

Folding Bike Advantage

Another advantage of a folding bike is that I don't have to worry about it getting stolen. I just fold it up and bring it in with me wherever I go. Here it is next to our table in a McDonald's we stopped at for lunch on today's bike ride.

Why All The Different Bikes?

Once upon a time we used to have just one bike each. Like most normal people. But as we started riding more it became apparent that certain situations called for different tools. We first got the folding bikes because we usually go away for the summer to get out of the heat. Traveling and living in our small travel trailer with "normal" bikes was a real pain! Ross had designed and built a small rack that allowed us to carry our comfort bikes in the back of our Xterra. We couldn't use a bike rack because the receiver was occupied with the trailer hitch. Getting the bikes into the Xterra and secured took at least 30 minutes and a lot of grunts, groans and a few choice words. And when we were at a campsite we'd have to store the bikes outside if we wanted to actually use them. The folding bikes solve that problem. They both fold up small enough that we can fit them in the back of the Xterra out of sight under the luggage cover. It only takes a few seconds to fold or unfold them. It was an ideal solution. And an added benefit was that they're really fun to ride!

The electric bikes were a purchase of economy. As regular readers (all 3 of them) of our blog know we like to hike. The nearest hiking trails are a 25 mile drive round trip. Ever the geek Ross created a spreadsheet and figured that the electric bikes would pay for themselves in well less than a year. Now that we've had the electric bikes for a few weeks we discovered an unexpected benefit; pedaling them, which we do about half the time, is REALLY GOOD exercise because they weigh 56 pounds each! That's about twice as much as a regular bike. Even when pedaling it's nice having the motor available. Not too long ago we were out on the electric bikes on a hot day. After pedaling them for 15 miles we were worn out and tired in the heat so we just turned on the motors and rode home under power.

More, including pictures, on both type of bikes later.

New Bikes

Coinciding with Ross's weight loss we've stepped up our hiking and biking. As part of that we've acquired a new fleet of bikes. We sold our Raleigh comfort bikes and now have the following:

E-Tour Glide electric bike (Ross)
E-Tour Quest electric bike (Karen)
Brompton M6L folding bike (Ross)
Dahon Mariner folding bike (Karen)
Giant Escape 1 hybrid bike (Ross)
Giant Cypress W comfort bike (Karen)

Wow, you may say, that's a lot of bikes! But remember what a very wise person once said: "You can never have too many bikes." I'll let you know when I find out who that person was... OK, it was Ross.

We'll post more about the bikes soon.

Weight Loss

I'm pleased to announce that I (Ross) have now lost over 100 pounds! I've been working on it for a while now. I still have a lot of weight to lose, at least 50 more pounds and maybe as much as 100 more pounds. I'll know better as I get down there.

How did I do it? Diet and exercise. It's simple! But not easy.

More updates to come.