daily slice-of-life blog of a 53-year-old
A cold front arrived in Texas recently, and I’ve been enjoying the wispy clouds. For tonight’s photo, I hopped on my bicycle and rode down the street a bit to get a better vantage point. This image was stitched together from several separate images.
This evening I rested the running shoes and hopped on a bike for today’s exercise. But instead of going out with the intention of burning calories, I decided that I wanted to go for a leisurely ride. My friends and I used to “ride bikes” a lot when we were kids, and I wanted to recapture that feeling of not having a destination, and just enjoy the magic of balancing on two wheels.
So with that mindset, I was riding up on the sidewalk, hopping off curbs, and generally acting like a kid. It was so fun! I live in the suburbs and there isn’t much traffic on the neighborhood streets so I don’t have to follow the “rules of the road” so strictly.
That being said, I didn’t go full 10-year-old hooligan and slide out in the gutters or skid down people’s driveways. 😆
I hope you had a nice day! またね～
I originally intended to just ride my bicycle down to my sunset spot for a photo and then back home, but it was such a pleasant evening that I rode on past my house and kept going towards the library, and what would have been a 2 km ride turned into an 11 km evening cruise around the neighborhood.
My first stop was at my go-to sunset location (see top photo), where I chatted with a man who was settled in to try to see the Mercury-Venus Conjunction. The clouds were not cooperating, but at least he got to enjoy the cool evening and brilliant colors of the sunset.
After that I cruised around by our city library area and took a few more sunset photos and then on one bit of trail, I noticed there were fireflies blinking all around. It was so cool! I tried to video the fireflies with my phone, but it really doesn’t capture the magic.
I’m so glad I decided to go for the longer ride this evening. There were lots of neat things to see. ☺
Today I am in the middle of a road trip from our home in Texas to my parents’ house in California. The trip will take two days of driving, but instead of staying at a hotel, I decided to save money and either find a free campsite or stay at a Walmart parking lot (yes, this is a thing!). The rest stop just east of Deming, New Mexico popped up in the map and the reviews were pretty good. I figured I’d check it out and, sure enough, it was pretty nice! I parked by one of the picnic tables and made it my home for the evening.
I think there were about 4 other groups doing the same thing, either in their RVs or passenger cars, and I felt very safe. I’m used to camping so this was pretty similar, although I just laid out my sleeping pad and sleeping bag in the back of my car instead of pitching my tent.
I’d say that this is not for everyone, but I’m simply on a long drive to get from point A to point B and not sightseeing. I honestly just wanted to get some sleep before continuing the drive. That being said, I did get to catch a wonderful sunset, and I was able to have dinner (a sandwich I made at home) while video chatting with family. So, it was a pretty good night. 😄
I glanced out the window and noticed the sun was making a late appearance after hiding behind an overcast sky all day. I started taking photos from my backyard, but thought I might get a better image from a wide-open area that’s not far from the house, so I hopped on my bike and headed over. I was not disappointed!
It seems like a long time since I’ve seen a nice sunset…
Here’s the short ride over to take the photo.
I hope you had a good day! またね～
