Thumbs up For Blackberries and Bikes

This Wednesday began as I expected with a kayak adventure up the bayou to pick berries. To save my thumbs as much strain as possible my paddling technique was not in proper form. I held the paddle as much as possible with only my 4 fingers.

It was a beautiful day for kayaking with no wind to slow my 8-finger paddling. A couple of osprey were doing their morning fishing. They stayed in touch with one another by chirping. The chirps sounded like the peeping of baby chicks except deeper—like baby chicks with a 2-pack-a-day cigarette habit. One of the birds flew about 100 feet off my bow with his talons out as he dipped toward the still water. His prey must have dived because the bird rose up a little and then dropped down to drag his feet across the surface for about 10 feet before lifting back up into the sky. I wished I had a long lens on him. He was close enough that I could hear the water splash as he dragged his claws in it. I think he was just enjoying himself and his freedom.

When I arrived at the mouth of the stream and started up against the flow I was disappointed to see the berry plants there were all dried up and brown—all the berries gone. I was afraid I had missed the opportunity to get any more. I continued upstream and finally began finding some ripe berries. I began filling my container. I ran into many spiders and webs while picking. This is not a place Christian would enjoy. Some of the berries were so ripe they squished when I tried to pick them and blue juice ran down my fingers. I, of course, was forced to eat these very-ripe berries. Some of the berries would drop off when touched and I ended up watching them fall into the water and sink. Some fell inside the kayak resulting in berry-stained pants when I inadvertently sat on them.

I found the best spot far up the stream. One bush had big juicy ripe berries hanging out over the water—most of them in reach. I didn’t actually measure the amount of berries I got but it is well over a quart—maybe 1 ½ quarts.

I headed out downstream picking any low hanging fruit I found. It was about 10 AM when I broke back out into the bayou. Then my cell phone rang. I knew it would be Penny—she has an uncanny way of knowing when I start home. She told me she was looking at bikes on-line and although she was looking for one for her, she found one for me on Craig’s List. So I headed back to the car to bring my bounty home and perhaps go look at a bike for me.

The bike she found is a Gary Fisher “Nirvana” hybrid bike. It’ advertised as the go anywhere, do anything bike and lists new for anywhere from $450 to $670. “It's for the rider who wants a simple, dependable bike and who appreciates better quality. It's just the thing for around-town, leisurely touring, and fitness riding.”

Both Penny and I were already getting squeamish when the price of bikes we looked at cost $200. This one was offered at $325. So we had a lot to mull over. Many of the sites we read said that you should buy as much bike as you could reasonably afford. It will pay off in the long run if you actually use it. The Nirvana for sale was in “as good as new” shape.

We went to Navarre and looked at it. I took a nice long test drive and although I need to adjust the seat and handlebars a little it rode beautifully. The bike was in such good shape that I didn’t think haggling over price was warranted. We bought it. The bike has an aluminum frame and aluminum hub wheels. It is a Shimano 24 speed and 700mm tires. The color is metallic crimson. Here is a picture from on-line.
Returning from the trip to Navarre we stopped at 2 bicycle shops in Ft Walton to look at bikes for Penny. The first shop serviced Gary Fisher bikes and I asked them to check out my bike. They said my bike looked like it had never been ridden (which confirms the seller’s story of very little use). The chain lube was the original factory lube stuff and there was no wear on the tires or breaks. The bike checked out in good shape—so it confirmed that Penny found me a great bargain. Isn’t she good? She got into her shopping “zone” and once again got a great buy. I ended up with a much better quality bike because of her work.

We didn’t find a bike for Penny yet. We are going to Pensacola tomorrow to maybe get one for her.

We are thinking tomorrow morning holds the promise of banana, blackberry, pecan pancakes.