Mission of Leisure

With the aid of Google Maps, I have constructed a graphical representation of today's biking adventure.

The mission: To practice the art of leisure. With nowhere specific I needed to be all day, I was able to take my time (or go fast when I felt like it), stop at any point of interest, take detours, or do whatever else crossed my mind.

Luckily this time, I remembered to bring my bottle with me. I refilled it several times during the ~7 hour journey. I also brought my Dime Store Magic book, and a notebook in case I felt like writing.

I decided to make my first stop at the bike store on Holdredge and N Cotner. Serenity's chain has been getting increasingly squeaky to the point it annoys me. I bought some chain oil from the same man I talked to a couple weeks ago about tire patching. Kinda pricey, but it was worth it. No more squeaks, and the pedal movement felt smoother too!

I proceeded westward, making a stop in Peter Pan Park to read a couple chapters out of my book, until my allergies and the flies became too annoying. I refilled my water, and continued riding.

Downtown, I made another stop into A Novel Idea. Different clerk today. I inquired about Anne Bishop books, but they had none at the moment. Since I wasn't terribly eager to buy anything else right now (my reading queue is sufficiently full), I went on my way.

I scouted for possible Food Not Bombs serving locations. Centennial Mall seemed like a good candidate. Somewhere between P and R, either by the fountains, or across the street from them. Advantages: It's near downtown, has lots of open space for pedestrian traffic, there's some shade (for rainy days), and the steps would be suitable to sit on.

Near the capitol building, I sighted a number of State Trooper cars, and as I rode across the street, I passed a guy who looked exactly like an agent (not Smith, but definitely one of his associates). Creepy suit, dark glasses, and facial expression all matched. While in his vicinity, I tried to draw as little attention as possible, then got out of the area in a hurry.

Down at the corner of 16th and South Street, I successfully located the Open Harvest food store. Linknoid mentioned its superior selection and quality, but what he didn't mention is that it's also run as a co-op! Yay.

They had a nice selection of produce (all organic) as well as some very decent bulk stuff. The first thing I grabbed was a bundle of spinach for immediate consumption, and also got some black beans and short-grain brown rice (for use in a stew later), peanuts (needed something besides spinach for lunch), and an apple. This used up the remaining cash in my wallet. I went outside and ate by the bike rack.

I read the brochure about the benefits of becoming a member of the co-op, and an idea hatched. If I'm serious about bootstrapping a Food Not Bombs for Lincoln (I'm not yet certain on this), it might be useful to become a volunteer member, and work there 2 or 3 hours a week. In addition to the food discount, if I could get to know some of the people on the inside, the task of enlisting the co-op as a FNB supplier might be significantly easier. Something to ponder, anyway.

Serenity and I resumed our journey as I continued to munch on the remaining spinach. I didn't really have any other particular destination in mind, but I wasn't ready to go home.

So I continued South, found some more neat bike trails near Highway 2, and took them to see how far they would go. I found myself meandering through some upscale neighborhoods, and eventually hit what seemed like the very southern tip of Lincoln.

I looped around, and headed back north, roughing it over construction dirt and grass where necessary.

I stopped at a few places familiar from the olden days. Holmes Lake was most pleasant in the late afternoon breeze. My journey was nearing an end.

Before it was over, I couldn't resist just a little dumpster diving. (Wouldn't want to let my Certification lapse now, would I?) The dumpsters offered me poundcakes, so I took two.

Back at Herbert Park, I tasted a few bites from one of them, looked at the ingredients, and decided I didn't really want them after all. So I offered them as a gift to the birds by placing them in the open trashcans where the birds had been congregating before I arrived. Hopefully, I didn't give the little tweeters heart disease.

A few minutes later, I arrived back at the house, physically drained but feeling good. I took a shower and slept for a little while.

I'm stoked that Lincoln has a food co-op. Now I just need to find the local equivilant of Left Hand Books, and I'll be set. (A Novel Idea seems good for general reading, but I doubt they've got as much good political liturature, and they definitely don't have the bumper stickers. But just for fun, maybe next time I see the cute anti-Patriot Act librarian clerk, I'll quiz her on their selection of Noam Chomsky and Howard Zinn books. Have I mentioned that she's cute?)

This was my day of adventuring. Tomorrow I suspect I'll be sticking around the house more, although I may pop out to grab another ingredient or two for my stew from the closer (but not nearly as neat) Akin's store. Or I may just make do with what I already have.

Tonight, Anya had made a yummy potato soup, and we watched some more Babylon 5 in Yanthor's absence. (She suspected he would rather miss that than Farscape.)

Now, I'm thinking about sleep again. So, peace and goodnight.

P.S. I almost forgot. While I was riding along in the dirt, I found an abandoned cd lying on the ground. Dashboard Confessional -- The Places You Have Come to Fear The Most. Not music I'm familiar with, but I decided to pocket it on the off chance it might work in one of my players. And it does! I'm playing it right now. Free music laying by the side of the road. Go figure.