May 20, 2010- A Burley Story
Tishamingo has a burgeoning bike club. And because of it’s proximity to the Natchez Trace and the natural beauty (and new road) displayed within the lovely the Tishamingo State Park, it is no wonder that Main Street Cycles has started carrying bicycling gear and that 15-20 people have started meeting weekly for rides.
In related news, I think I sold a Burley today. At the Tishamingo Sunflower market, where we quickly picnicked before racing storms to Iuka, we met Shelly, who circled her minivan back to where we sat to ask us what we thought of the performance of our Burleys. Shelly explained that she and her fifteen year-old son had started biking recently on doctor’s order to help with his heart condition and to reduce his weight, nearly 300 pounds. Since he started biking (with fervor), he has lost thirty pounds, and is feeling better than ever. But Shelly worries about her son biking alone, and she has to hire a babysitter for her one year-old when she rides with him. She’s been researching child carriers on-line but she wasn’t sure she would be able to balance or pull a Burley. I assured her the Burley was easy to pull and holding up just as well on our cross-country trek as it does around town. She’s excited about how a Burley might give her time with her son, and the benefit it will have for his health. I’m excited about these things, too.
We raced storms to Iuka, arriving just as the rain started. We sought shelter on the porch of the local Mexican food restaurant, which was coincidentally next door to The Dollhouse Hair Salon. Three out of four Murrs were due for haircuts, so we waited out the storm and got beautiful.
We biked in the rain to the Victorian Inn where we cleaned up and drafted plans A through F for dinner plans. Fortunately, the rain stopped long enough for us to walk the 1.5 miles back to the Mexican restaurant. A friendly local picked us up and delivered us to the restaurant, but we walked the whole way back to the hotel. Jane was concerned with gathering as many different flower species as possible to create a bouquet for the next guests in our hotel room. I was mostly in awe of the cumulonimbus sunset sky, where every color I’ve ever seen must have originated. As a bonus, there was also a rainbow.
