Grocery Shopping

Grocery shopping seems the garden variety sort of activity.  Still, for some reason I have a hard time getting out of the car when bags of vegetables and cartons of milk are involved.  I've tried over the years but I seem to get stuck going to the store once a week and returning home with a load of food and a lighter wallet.  Not that I have a problem with spending money on food!  Quite the contrary.  Going to the market is perhaps one of the only activities involving spending money I do readily (with the exception of going out for coffee).  The weekly trip to the store is a high point in the week in many ways.  I love to shop for food and simply abhor shopping for anything else.  When it comes to jeans or underwear I practically run into the store and run back out after buying whatever I need.  Ordering on line is by far a more pleasant activity in my eyes.  Either way, I kind of have to be dragged kicking and screaming to go buy most  things.  The only shopping that gets much attention besides food is whatever is required for our ongoing house remodel but that's another story.

Happy

 So, if I were to take a couple of things I like and put them together, say bicycling and grocery shopping, I would simply be at it like a moth to the flame right?  Wrong.  If I can go by myself with the trailer then it's fine.  If I can go on the bike with a backpack the it's fine.  A full weeks shopping with one of the kids and I'm sunk.  They keys get dug out of the bag for a weekly exposure to the sun and we're off.  Last week my son and I went on the bike.  It worked out great but less than ideal.  I had a lot to get and we needed cat food as well (or should I say, the cats needed it).  Between panniers and trailer I was almost sunk.  One more bag and I would have had to carry it on my back, which would have been hard considering I didn't have a pack.  I had to wedge/strap the largest bag in the empty seat along side my son.  Not the safest thing to do for sure.  Although, if it had dumped he would have been happy since the bananas were on top.  All the way home he didn't realize how close he was to monkey bliss!  All told we brought home 5 bags of groceries (two of them in panniers), a double case of cat food and a 20 lb bag of dry cat food.  It makes my knees hurt just thinking about it again!  Oh, and the diaper bag and a jacket (in case of rain).

The load

The lesson learned?  Just because it's hard doesn't mean you can't do it.  Just because you can do it doesn't mean you should.  In all reality if I had my xtracycle rebuilt and on the road again it wouldn't have been an issue.  Nothing would have had to go in the trailer.  Now, if I could just find the time to build that up on the new frame!  In retrospect I was a little uncomfortable with all the weight next to him but I was stuck with more than I had room for.  As my friend Jeff said the next day "looks like a box bike is in your future".

Being a bike enthusiast in some ways makes this kind of thing hard.  I'm always thinking of "that other bike" I could buy that would be better suited to this or that.  The reality is that it doesn't really matter.  Making the effort and being creative is a far more fruitful path than upgradeitis.  Still, there is that box bike.....