I’m an ordinary girl who owns three bikes. A road bike, an around town bike, and a very fun to ride short cargo bike.My favorite of the three is my road bike who I named Heron. I also love riding the cargo bike, which has two names – the Green Machine and Kermit – because it’s green and who doesn’t love Kermit the Frog?
Yes, just like pets and kids, I play favorites with my bikes. At any rate, what I really want to share are the fifty-plus scenes I’ve witnessed while cycling in and around this town called Norman, OK that I’ve lived in for almost five years.
Ready? Put your helmet on and let’s go for a ride. Watch out for:
A man walking in front of a new housing development wearing nothing but his tighty-whities; a pair of roadrunners; a family of armadillos; non-native deer; animal control and police cars lining the road where the non-native deer live (a bust in action – the deer and other exotic animals were found to be kept illegally and in poor condition); turtles, smashed and alive; a wood duck; longhorn cattle; a white horse giving birth; a scissor-tailed flycatcher that flew with me for about half a mile; some deer that ran alongside me for about a quarter of a mile; cars in ditches; a boy trying to skateboard on a long, gravel driveway; downed telephone lines; coyote; fox; and fifty-three million gazillion wildflowers covering roadside ditches and entire fields.
Okay, I know that counting the wildflowers is cheating but I can’t help it. They are absolutely gorgeous. Seeing red and yellow and orange and blue and purple burst out of the earth in unison makes me so ridiculously happy.
As does watching Kermit take a spin through the flowers on my favorite bike.
To those of you who allowed fifty-three million gazillion wildflowers cover your fields and ditches, know that it made a very positive difference to this ordinary girl. To everyone, know that even though I say I favor Heron, I really do also love Kermit. He is, after all, the best muppet ever.
Aside from lovable, furry old Grover, of course.