Trail Miles, Ruby Too

Ruby and I joined George and Miles for their semi-regular Sunday morning bike ride today. It was her first time in the trailer and she seemed to enjoy it. I towed Miles in the old trailer and George towed Ruby in the fancy new one, which supported her very well.  We were also biking with our friend Chris and his 2 boys, in one trailer. They usually do a city loop but today we took the bikes, trailers, and kids' bikes to a rail-to-trail path. The kids rode around a bit while we got bikes and trailers set up, then we loaded them in and hit the trail. It was a nice wide flat crushed stone surface, along the river. Pretty easy riding, even with the trailer. We only did about 8 miles total, as the kids got a bit bored and antsy. Shifting the boys around for the return trip helped. I towed Miles and his friend Ethan and got to listen in as they discussed the weighty matters of reading, bike-racing, movies, hotels, and siblings. As they looked at the map Ethan asked Miles if he could read books. Miles, very matter-of-factly, said, "How I read is, I get my mom and dad to read to me, and that's how I gets lots of information." And of course he gets lots of information from his constant questions--it was fun for me to listen in as Miles queried his friend on various topics. Ethan tolerated it very well and gave some good answers too.

Turnpike Miles, Ruby Too

We recently returned from yet another trip across the state. From June 1st through July 20th we've logged quite a lot of miles in PA. 

Here's the recap: June 1, Pittsburgh to Ohiopyle/Nemacolin (for George's work retreat).

June 3, Nemacolin to York, and Cabin (visited family and George worked in Biglerville).

June 7, Cabin to Pittsburgh. 

June 11, Pittsburgh to York (to visit Kris and family and celebrate Father's Day)

June 14, York to Pittsburgh (with Kris and family)

June 17, Pittsburgh to MD (George alone, for work)

June 18, MD to Pittsburgh 

July 7, Pittsburgh to Cabin (George working, we visited with Kris and family and Oma and Opa)

July 9, Cabin to Pittsburgh

July 17, both cars from Pittsburgh to Cabin (George left early to work in Biglerville, then we spent the weekend with friends)

July 20, Cabin to Pittsburgh.

This last trip (if you're still reading) was by far the longest. Maybe we pushed our luck with all those miles. We got stuck in stopped traffic after a tractor-trailer crashed and closed both east and west-bound lanes of the turnpike. We were in a long line of cars for about 2 hours. Luckily we had food, drink, entertainment, and a spacious and comfortable vehicle. Miles watched videos, we listened to the ipod, and Ruby crawled around the van. It could have been much worse. The delay did set us back quite a bit, because once traffic got moving again we (and just about every other car) stopped for a bathroom break, and we let Miles have mac-n-cheese at the rest stop. They were quite busy with the rush and it took a while to get the food. So we didn't get home until almost 11:00 on Sunday night. The kids fell asleep for the last hour of the trip and we transferred them to their beds, unloaded the car, and were quickly snoozing ourselves. We're all still catching up on sleep from our fun weekend with good friends.

Overall, those miles were well spent. We enjoyed the company of friends and family, walks in the cool woods, and refreshing dips in the lake. I am glad that we're going to be staying put for a while though!