Not Exactly How The Plan Was Supposed To Go

Yesterday was Hubby Tony's birthday. The day was rainy, and not really conducive to being outside, so we celebrated by watching St. Louis City SC (our Major League Soccer team) on television, running some errands together, and going out to dinner.

I usually prepare dinner for the priests on Monday, but when it got cancelled this week Tony asked if we could take a belated bike ride for his birthday. 

Tony planned the route. We were going to go east through Webster Groves down to the River Des Peres Greenway and then circle back for lunch at a restaurant in Webster Groves. Most of the route was nice and flat, and I had the bike's motor to help me on the parts that weren't.

Public Domain Vectors

When we left the house it was actually cool enough that I threw on a windbreaker. Nothing like a normal mid-June day.

Tony and I passed through the Old Webster and Old Orchard shopping districts, then turned right and passed over the interstate. All of a sudden my bike felt sluggish and wouldn't steer correctly. I pulled onto the sidewalk, where I discovered my tire was flat. 

I weighed the options. I didn't have an extra tube or tools to fix the problem (and even if I did, my basic bike repair class had been so long ago I wasn't confident I could do it), so I started walking my bike back the way I came. 

I told Tony to ride on ahead, and we picked out a meeting place just past the overpass.. By the time I got there he had already figured out the closest bike shop and called them to see if they could help. They said they could, and the job would take five minutes.

All I had to do was get there. It was a little over a mile to the shop. Once again Tony was going to walk with me, but I told him he should ride. We agreed to meet at the shop in a half hour. It actually took me a little bit less than that. Along the way I shed my windbreaker and stuffed it in the string bag on my back

A  technician was waiting when I walked in the door of  the bike shop. He wheeled the bike to the repair area and hoisted it onto the rack. It took him a couple of seconds to discover that my tire had an issue too-probably related to the conversion of my standard bike to an electric one. I found out the additional work would make my wait time 30 minutes. He suggested I walk around and they would call when the bike was finished.

Tony and I decided to have an early lunch. My phone rang just as we were finishing up. I found out that when the technician disassembled the bike he found there was an additional part that needed to be replaced. This one had to be ordered. All of a sudden I didn't have a way to get home.

Tony said he would ride home, feed Jackson the cat, and come back for me in the car. I told him to call when he was leaving the condo. While I was waiting I browsed through some gift shops, but nothing struck my fancy. I decided I would I started walking towards home. Why not?

The temperature was 69 degrees, and there was plenty of shade on my route. When Tony called I had already walked several blocks west.  Ultimately I walked a little over a mile before I saw Tony's car coming towards me. I glad to see him! Although the shade was still lovely, the sun was directly overhead and getting  uncomfortable.

Five years ago: Escalier