Once Upon A Plan: Beautiful Saturday

Today was a beautiful Saturday and we took advantage of it outdoors. Clay is starting his cycling merit badge tomorrow, so he and Ron spent time working on Ron's old bike for him. Ben and I chose to take our own bikes out for a ride (Ben is still learning so he had to stay in the drive way). I rode all over our neighborhood and tried to enjoy it. However, the stretch of street in front of our house is a combination of parking lot and race track! There were SIX cars parked on BOTH sides of the street and I counted 12 cars in a five minute period up and down the street. I'm wondering if this is a common occurance in other neighborhoods or just here!?!? There is NO concern for playing children and bikes....it is as if we are a nuisance, not the speeding and the street parking. Example, a couple of months ago, Ron decided to ride his motorcylce down the street. As he was coming back up the street (the kids and I are watching and taking pictures from our front yard), a car --- that he cannot see --- sees him, speeds up and gets right up behind him. As he prepares to take a left into our driveway, the driver decides to pass him ON THE LEFT SIDE! Clay and I are screaming and the guy drives by and shrugs at us....even though he just about killed my husband in front of us! Do you get the idea of what our neighborhood is like?

I fear that there will be an accident and or an emergency and appropriate vehicles will not be able to respond in a timely manner (we have received letters from our HOA and the local fire department about the street parking problems).

Otherwise, it was fun (my legs are singing a different tune right now!) Clay will be doing his first five mile ride tomorrow and he is so excited. I'm going to make cycling on of my summer goals this year.

Oh yes, I also rode for the VERY first time today on Ron's motorcycle! I was feeling brave and made him promise to not go over 10 miles per hour and only to the top of the road. I must say it was WAY FUN!