I've been thinking about...: ...an addition to my "stable"

Friday, October 15, 2010

...an addition to my "stable"

I say "stable" and laugh at myself, as though I'm a serious cyclist like some people who really DO have a stable of bicycles. For years I had one bike at a time--usually a fat-tired hybrid that I rode around town and took along on camping trips. Three years ago I bought a road bike, but kept my fat-tired bike. See? The beginnings of a stable. This past weekend I aquired a third bike, and it has me grinning from ear to ear.

In 1940 or 1942 when my Dad was either 8 or 10 (Mom is looking for the picture taken at the time that will verify the date) his grandfather rode the train out to Oregon from Minneapolis. He brought with him a gift for my Dad--a brand new Elgin bicycle, complete with shiny chrome fenders. The bike was so big and heavy that Dad couldn't even ride it at first, but he soon got the hang of it. Dad said he put a lot of miles on that bike, and when he left home at 17 to join the Navy, his baby brother put it to use. When we moved back to Dad's hometown in the 70s, Grandma was riding that bike out to the Grange and back almost every day. It was looking pretty rough by then, but still a good, solid machine.

Every now and then I'd remember the old bike and wonder what had become of it. Grandma sold, gave away, and tossed a lot of things before she had to go into a nursing home because of Altzheimers, so I figured the Elgin was long gone. I asked Dad about it this past summer and he said it was still out in the chicken house at Grandma's (now my youngest brother's) place. When I asked Dave about it he grinned and said yup, it was still there, but he had plans for it. So I shrugged, said I was glad to hear it, and left it at that. That was in July.

This past weekend Dave called and asked if I would be stopping in Cove on my way home from Boise. I hadn't planned on it, but he said he had something to give me. What else could it be? Of course I would stop by!