January 6, 2015. Bike to Eat.

 

 

January 6, 2015.  Bike to Eat.  Here at Gulf State Park the volunteers like to decorate the street icons.  We are staying on Gator Road.  The icon is, of course, an alligator.  When we first arrived, the gator was dressed in Christmas garb.  I noticed today that he is wearing Mardi Gras beads and a mask.  I noticed that while we were on our way to Doc's Seafood Restaurant.   Doc's is known for its shrimp and onion rings.

Doc's is about five miles from our campsite.  Four miles of that is a biking trail within the park.  The last mile is also a bike trail that is currently closed.  That means that bikers have to cross two busy streets.  Annie doesn't like crossing streets.  She says cars make her nervous.

You see where this is going don't you.  I darted across four lanes of traffic as Annie followed.  She didn't dart.  She didn't amble.  She was moving so slowly that the bike nearly failed to remain upright.  Two oncoming vehicles had to slow so she could cross the street.

But, that's not all.  We had to cross another street at an intersection in front of Doc's.  The same thing happened.  I darted across.  Annie caused two trucks to slow down to avoid hitting her.  She wasn't happy as we parked the bikes at Doc's.  Somehow, the fact that she almost got hit by oncoming traffic, became my fault.  On the way back, we stopped at traffic lights and walked the bikes across the streets.  The trip back to the campground was much less stressful . . . for both of us.

All told, we biked about 10 miles for our seafood lunch.  The food was good and the bike trip was invigorating.  The peddling allowed me to have the fried onion rings without guilt.  Of course, I have eaten a lot of stuff, guilt and all.  Guilt and I have been long-time companions.