LlamaLand

Date: July 12
Mileage: 13
Ride type: Barrio Bike Jog, with kiddies
Bike: Redline mtnbike/CC
Temp: 75, humid and damp
July mileage: 117
Year to date: 855

for such short mileage, i had quite the interesting time of wheels today. it poured most of the day, encarcerating the boys until their sheer force of insane will made it such that i had to take action. so...i took them on a bike ride. we will occassionally take these, but with L being now just 7, they're not overly-taxing affairs. this time, to burn off more energy, we need a destination, something to take the edge off and make them freakin' not bounce off the walls. i decided on a spot pretty close to the house, but one with an element not found regularly in the middle of the city, in this case...Llamas.



There's a spot abt 2 miles from the house, along a "creek", or at least what was a creek 50 years ago before channelization (is that a word) creating actual drainage ditches out of original creeks, in this case Beargrass creek, one that plays quite the part in various parts of the city. i've mentioned previously on this blog that i'd run into the llamas. i decided to take the boys over to see them. this would be L's first "adventure" ride, and his newfound age and strength (sorry to be so epic) would be beneficial.

The FIRST surprise was the L almost got run over on a medium busy road. we had a plan- the 3 kids (one a friend) were to cross half the road to a yellow-painted median island. from there, we could cross the 2nd half, the pause necessitated by southerly traffic down a somewhat blind hill. we started across and L threw himself whole-heartedly into the task, not stopping in the 'island', but rather continuing even though there was TRAFFIC coming down the hill. by the grace of good fortune, the cars stopped and let us by. if it were a meth-addled teenie or a soccer mom on her cell, L may have not made it past the first week of his 7th year. it wasn't close, but it wasn't fun either.

we then arrive at the general area of LlamaLand. let me explain. to the left of this pic, one may be able to see the 'creek, nee ditch'. straight ahead is a "path", and to the right the remnants of a fence. i've ridden and jogged along the "path", one that i'm quite sure is a MSD (Metro Sewer District) right-of-way. Mr. LlamaLand has now gated this off, something he had done of the far end of his portion of the "path". last time, i just came through the gate. so, this time i came through the gate, letting Z, L and friend H through. we road further a bit, maybe 20 yds when up ahead we noticed some stirring in the brush. a Llama...in the path! what followed were 2 other llamas. it seems that Mr. Llama farmer has taken the MSD r-o-w and created some extra pasture, and WE were in it! and the 3 llamas start jogging towards us! i wish someone had been there to film our screeches, laughs, squeals etc. as we sprinted back towards the gate, with the llamas trailing in hot pursuit. frankly, they never got within, say, 15 yds of us, but when you are in an enclosure with 1 adult, 2 10-yr.olds and a 7 yr-old, you want to exit asap. we opened the gate and escaped, breathing a sigh of relief the the llamas had stopped "charging" us at a good distance. WOW!!, never been chased by a llama on a bike ride before. i took these pics later, so no llamas in site. i will have some at some point. here's part of the LlamaLand hotel, otherwise known as a natty barn.



we then segued to the next portion of our adventure, finding this is out path. hmm..., a paved path, a "multi-use path". we followed this a short bit, at a length of maybe .1 mile. at the end a bit further, the path extended down the opposite side of the 'creek/ditch'. my camera batteries were dead at this point. i asked a family i'd seen on the path about said structure. seems our local congressional representative, Anne Northrup, has brought yet more pork home to Luavull. i have exactly 0% love for this woman. she's as conservative as they come, voting lockinstep with Shrub II at all times. she wins every election by something like a 51%/49% margin, but then acts as though she'd won a mandate of 95%. And she's the queen of pork; she is very much rewarded for her loyalty. this project is, and will be, a paved path along this 'creek/ditch', which is property that abutts (?) the Louisville Zoo. at first i was quite pleased, a multiuse path along a natural setting, a perfect place for families and kids. but i got thinking further, realizing that this damn path goes NOWHERE. it's pointless. it's hard to find. the starting point will be found on the edge of a busy road that is dangerous for even the heartiest cyclists. the terminus is found in a small subdivision hemmed in by the busy road previously mentioned at the beginning of this (interminable) entry. it will serve very few citizens and has very little purpose, but it is one of those one of those projects that will be held up by Queenie Pork herself as a "Great Leap Forward". this city is so backwards sometimes. it's why Indy and Nashville have beat our asses economically in the last 30 yrs.

oh, and here's a pic of a turtle the ya dicha familia had found in their yard. they were doing a nice thing and returning it to its natural habitat in the 'creek/ditch'.



i got the boys home, went back and took the pics, and then ran some errands on the CrossCheck.

and while i've been loading my pics, i've been playing around with Trento Bike Pages, a clearinghouse for bike tour diaries. check out these sick pics of switzerland. just sick!

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