Happy Independence Day! Up at 6:00, I was determined to carry out *THE PLAN*. It was a beautiful morning for what I had in mind--cloudy, cool (48 degrees) with no wind to speak of. Believe me, if there had been wind, I would speak of it. I LOVE wind. As some--many?--who know me understand, I love any kind of weather. As long as it's doing something out there. Severe clear is reprehensible. And heat, in case you were wondering, is NOT weather. It is torture. Everyone knows HEAT is what makes Heaven's antithesis so completely and utterly deplorable. Well, that and the absence of God, but that is a topic for another time.
Figuring *THE PLAN* could take around 3 hours to complete, I quickly squeezed into my bike pants, layered on 2 shirts with the most brightly colored one on the outside, Velcroed my bike gloves around my wrists and secured my somewhat elderly bike helmet with a click of the strap. I know helmets are supposed to be replaced every 5 years or so, but c'mon, no crashes or cracks, so I'm good. I don't have toe clips on my trusty steed (an aging Trek 820 Mountain Bike) so there is no need for cleated bike shoes which is a good thing, because I don't have any. That fact has always made me feel somewhat inadequate, but I do have some really cool black and lime green Technica TRS shoes with Technigrip and green laces. I'm not just saying they're cool, I know they are. My grandsons, Jonathan and Luke, said so when I got them a few years back. The Technigrip feature, while intended for running shoes, works perfectly to keep my feet gripping the pedals. I call them my Mountain Bike shoes, and if all I ever wear them for is biking, that's what they are! Carefully I lined my panniers with plastic grocery bags, checked the air pressure in my tires, grabbed a water bottle, tightened my helmet and by 7:00 I'm off!
*THE PLAN*
One of the rides I've mapped out since moving to Belgrade is the Goldfinch Ct. to Powers Blvd. to Penwell Bridge Road to Springhill Rd to Airport Road to Tubb to W. Baseline and back to Powers. It's a 12-mile route that usually takes me an hour. OK--so I'm not ready for the Tour de Whatever. Every time I take this route, or any time I ride anywhere, it pains me to pass up can after can languishing by the roadside with no hope of ever being rescued. But today, July 4, 2016, would be different. It was *THE PLAN* to stop and pick up every can I spotted along this route. Gloriously, there was no traffic on Penwell Bridge. None. Zippo. Not too many people frequent that stretch of road anyway, because I rode for a quarter mile without finding anything. The closer I got to Springhill and non-farm civilization, the more cans started popping up. You never see this zipping by in a car or truck, so I'll enlighten you: some are crushed, some flattened by passing cars, some are shot in pieces and some are perfectly whole presumably indicating a more recent flight from a passing vehicle to the weeds by the side of the road.
My modus operandi was to bike along quickly looking for suspects, assess the subject and brake if it was a can. No bottles today--just cans. For sure no boxes, straps, foam pieces, tires, shoes, blankets, rope or twine. Those items are for another day and a bigger bag. I tried to stop before passing a can, but didn't or couldn't in many cases. That necessitated circling back. Good thing there was almost no traffic--even on Springhill. *THE PLAN* is not recommended on a non-holiday day. I tried to stuff each can in my pannier without getting off my bike, but was not always successful. Oh well. More exercise. I did make 2 exceptions to the "just cans" rule. There was a red Power Service Diesel Lubrication quart bottle right in front of Amaltheia Organic Dairy on Penwell Bridge Road. I like that dairy and always look forward to watching the goats play King of the Hill as I bike past. The diesel lubrication bottle just didn't look very organic, so into the pannier it went. The other exception was a white bottle with the lid still on that I have passed by for months. It reminded me of a Milk of Magnesia bottle, so I never was too excited to stop and pick it up. The bottle was lying close to the road on a curve, so anyone frequently traveling west on Airport at that location has to have seen that bottle a million zillion times. Today was July 4th. Emancipation Day for what turned out to be a Dupont Escort XP herbicide bottle. Half used. It felt so good picking it up.
I told my trainer, Jack, *THE PLAN* would take anywhere from an hour and a half to that 3 hours previously mentioned. It was nearing the 1-1/2 hour mark, so I tried to get a move on. I was about to turn onto Tubb, a road that I really do try to keep cleaned up, so I thought not many cans would be lurking. Wrong. On previous days, the planes landing and taking off at Yellowstone International Airport must have grabbed my attention, because there were a number of cans to be cornered in that last mile before home when I really focused my attention on the weeds. I pray for everybody on every flight incoming and outgoing, so if you're on a plane that I see, consider yourself prayed for.
Now back to *THE PLAN*
Total time: 1 hour 35 minutes
Total cans set free: 30
Breakdown of cans:
Bud Light 6
Miller Lite 2
Ice House 1
Bud 1
Monster Energy Drink 2
Not Your Father's Root Beer (I'll bet) 1
Sanpellegrino Clementina 1
Twisted Tea 2
Pabst Blue Ribbon 2
Mountain Dew 2
Smirnoff Ice Spiked Screwdriver 1
Coors 1
Rainier Mountain Fresh Beer 1
Mikes Harder Cherry Lime Punch 1
Mikes Harder Strawberry Lemonade 1
Tecate 1
Blue Moon Belgian White Ale 1
Michelob Extra Light Beer 1
Sierra Nevada Torpedo IPA 1 (India Pale Ale if you are still reading)
Coors Light Silver Bullet 1 (definitely the coolest can)
Draw your own conclusions on the ratio between pop cans and beer cans.
So now *THE PLAN* is complete. Thirty cans freed from the desolation and humiliation of being cast to the weeds at the side of the road. Thirty cans on their way to the recycling factory. Did you know that most recycled aluminum is used to make new cans? From the time a can arrives in a recycling facility, it takes just 60 days to melt it down, turn it into a new can, fill it with a new beverage and place it back on store shelves. From there someone can buy it, drink it, pitch it out their truck window where it will lie helpless in the weeds until I or some fellow trash picker comes up with a plan. So drink up my fellow Patriots! Fly your flag, love your country, celebrate Freedom and please recycle.
Always,
Winter
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