A Bike Crunch

On the first day of the grandparent's visit, Casey had to work

so my mother, Orin, and I drove to Eugene

to pick up my mom's new Bike Friday.

A Bike Friday is a strange-looking foldable bike

that is ideal for people on the go, because it can easily be

collapsed into a small suitcase in a matter of minutes.

During the time that Casey and I lived in Andover,

my mother bought her first "Bike Friday."

Here it is:

Now that she has returned from her bike ride across the country,

my mother's little pink travel bike is no longer tough enough

(picture Vin Diesel on a pogo-stick)

and an upgrade was in order.

Orin loved the bike store.

While he wasn't flirting with the employees,

he was climbing up and down their single stair

over and over and over and over and over again.

After getting the new bike,

we went out for a quick bite to eat at a burrito place

that, we were assured, had dinosaurs.

We were not let down.

The next day, my mother was eager to test out her new bike,

so she and Dean rode to the Portland Saturday Market,

where Orin and I met up with them.

Orin was insistent on showing his grandparents around the city.

Or at least showing them how to walk up and down the stairs,

over and over and over and over again.

After a tour of the market, we decided to head to Powell's books

the largest new and used bookstore in the country.

As we neared the bookstore, we started looking for parking,

but the streets were pretty crowded.

That's when we saw a sign for a $2 parking garage.

We did not, however, see the sign

that warned us of the roof height in the parking garage.

This would not have been important,

except for the fact that the bikes were on top of the car.

There was a large grinding noise.

By the time we jumped out of the car,

my entire roof rack and both bikes had been ripped off.

Luckily nothing was damaged.

The roof rack had not been installed tightly enough, and

had given way just in time to spare the bikes.

A quick trip to Rack Attach to get the whole thing

re-situated and we were back in business.

All in a good day's troublemaking.