A day in the micro-mobile life
When transportation just feels right
There are days where it just feels like I've really nailed it when it comes to my transportation choices.
The weather is perfect. The bike lanes and multi-use trails are uncrowded and accommodating. The birds are chirping as my happy kids are riding along. It sounds like something out of a movie but it does happen to me on a fairly regular basis.
Take today for example. On a morning devoid of the typical coastal marine layer of fog, it was a great idea to accompany my daughter on a scooter ride to school. The distance is only about half a mile but anyone with a 5-year old knows that the distance can feel insurmountable when the conditions aren't ideal.
But my daughter has gotten really confident on her scooter. And I love any excuse I can get to cruise around on mine as well. She still relies on the physical kicking for propulsion while I enjoy the convenience of a push-button electric accelerator.
It's not all too different from our usual bike ride to school with her in the cargo hold of my Tern HSD, but the morning scooter ride is a great way to start the day for both of us.
After successfully arriving proudly on campus, she likes to make sure that all of her classmates are keenly aware that she arrived to school in-style, self-propelled as opposed to the bulk of them who only climbed out of the back of Mom and Dad's SUV.
After securing her scooter in the well-equipped storage area, I then set off on my own scooter to tackle the day. It's very convenient that my daughter's elementary school runs along an extremely useful multi-use trail that connects to a commercial area with a grocery store. So dad took off on his scooter to get some groceries.
The scooter got thrown into the shopping cart rather than risking any (albeit minor) threat of scooter theft. Maybe there were a few glances at the mobility device in my cart, but it made for a very easy shopping experience with a quick exit.
My grocery haul wasn't huge. It was just enough to fit in the small reusable bag that had been in my pocket. Toss the handle over my shoulder and I felt totally comfortable scooting home with all the essentials.
It was an extremely fun and efficient use of the morning school drop-off time. There was father-daughter bonding. There was fresh air and exercise (more for her than for me). And there was a very practical errand that was run quickly and efficiently.
Or at least I thought that was case. Like any distracted parent entering a grocery store, I forgot a few things that would be needed for the weekend. No worries! The convenience of fast online grocery ordering and curbside pickup or delivery have become essential for almost any modern family.
In barely two hours, my order was ready to pick up. It was a fairly large order, but nothing that I didn't think could fit within the cargo confines of the Tern HSD bike. Marking "on my way" on the grocery app, I took off down the bike path to retrieve the groceries.
About ten minutes later, I was there in the appropriate pick-up location awaiting the friendly sales associates delivery. A woman with a shopping car stared at me with a puzzled look. She saw that there was someone waiting in the curbside pickup spot. But that person wasn't driving an automobile.
I waved to her with a smile on my face as she slowly pushed the cart in my direction.
"How are you going to fit everything?" she asked staring at the bike. She claimed that she had never seen someone show up at curbside pickup on a bike. I joked that I do it on a nearly weekly basis at this very store! She said he's typically a supervisor who wouldn't be the one to greet curbside delivery recipients. Ah, mystery solved. Surely, her subordinates must have raved at least once about the lunatic who fit a dozen grocery bags on his cargo bike? No? Oh, ok then.
The groceries all made it home in one piece. I enjoyed a return trip down a peaceful trail with hardly any interaction with a car.
And when it was time to pick up my daughter from school, I opted to take the bike. The cavernous cargo area was able to fit a folded up scooter, backpack, and her with no fuss.
On the bike ride home we stopped to pick some fresh wild blackberries. They were delicious.
It was a helluva day for micromobility dads everywhere.
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