Saturday, April 14, 2012

This little piggy went to market!

You know that game you played when you were little - the “Don’t Step on Hot Lava” game where you used the furniture or rocks to jump from one place to the next until you got to where you wanted to be? Well, that is how I ride a bike. I don’t like to ride on very busy streets. I will if I have to, but I’d prefer to avoid traffic. It ruins the ambiance of my ride. This is part of the reason why it took me a good month to ride to the grocery store that is, literally, just down the street. The other part is the fact that I just haven’t been grocery shopping in all that time. I don’t know exactly what we’ve been eating but it hasn’t been fresh and/or very healthy. Sigh.

I have to turn left into the store from both of the streets I use to get there via car. Not left at a light but left turns from the middle of the street which I dislike in a car and hate on a bike. I FINALLY realized that I could go around the store and approach from the back thus making a right turn into the parking lot. Genius! So that is what I did and it worked beautifully. I even remembered to take my environmentally friendly reusable bags - so super "green" grocery run. Yay me! I parked Yuba - it took up almost the entire (small)space alloted to bikes - and went inside.

Our stuff filled up the shopping cart and I was slightly worried about fitting it all into the bags. I know they are supposed to hold 6 grocery bags but I have the Trader Joe's bags which, for some reason, are like 2.5 regular bags. A little careful packing and everything fit without smashing. The whole trip took about an hour - about what it would have been in a car - and was actually quite easy.

Here are some pictures from our very first (but not last) grocery store run….

1. Groceries in Cart


2./3. Groceries in Go-Getters



4. My kids sitting over the Groceries


And no. My youngest doesn't ride on the back. He's got a seat up front but wanted to be just like big brother. :)

Until next time,

Kate

3 comments:

  1. We rode to farmers market today and picked up our grocery's and stopped for a movie at the red box on the way home. It feels good to leave the car in the garage.
    Oh and I thought of you at farmers market when I saw a tandem with a bike trailer and a bunch of other bikes turned into bike minivans in various ways so the kids could tag along!!!

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  2. Kate, for basic trips, you should try out the Google Maps bicycle directions function before you go. There is often a safer/less hilly way to the place you're trying to go, that you were unaware of. I had no idea most routes existed until I had been riding in my area for over a year, so the Google Maps really help.

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