a hike and a bicycle

            So on the 29th, I went out for about 20 minutes.  No sprint or climb the stairs.  I am being very generous with my knee.  There is a small amount of pain, so I am letting it rest. 

            On the 30th, I planned to run to the American Embassy.  I started, but it was sprinkling ever so slightly.  The forecast all morning was for 0% chance of showers, but earlier, it had rained significantly. Therefore, I didn’t want to take any chances. 

I didn’t want to get stuck out there in a downpour.  So I returned to get my metro card.  I ran to the metro and rode it into town. 

            So why did I go to the Embassy?  A man from Alaska answered an ad I had placed in the Embassy’s newsletter.  I asked if anyone had a man’s bike, and two kids bikes they could let me rent for a month this summer.  This man has allowed me to borrow his bike for as long as I need it.  What a guy! I think he is probably so friendly and generous because he is half Iowan.  I mother was born and raised in eastern Iowa.  I rode it back from town.  Mr. Alaska is huge man--very tall.  His bike is made for a big person.  It feels a bit like I am riding a giraffe.  I’m still working on bikes for the boys. 

            On June 1, I went with a hikers’ group on an excursion.  About 40 people gathered at a metro station, rode an electric train for 90 minutes, and then a bus.  We simply started walking through the field and the forest.  Right away, we saw a nuclear power station that one of the other walkers said was the most powerful in the Moscow region.  He had me take pictures of him with the station in the background.  It’s a photo that would never have been allowed some years ago.

            A bit further on, we were walking through dense forest, NOT following a trail.  The leader, a middle aged woman with a dog, had a hand-held GPS that seemed to be the guidance system.  Eventually, we came to a bus stop near a lake where many of us went swimming. As the lone foreigner in the group, they felt obliged to ascertain my position on swimming without swimming suits.  I said I was not against it—Я не против.  The water was refreshingly cool, but not unbearable. I’ve experienced much, much colder—in Kazakhstan, in the Black Sea, even in Iowa, not to mention the frozen river this February.  

I don’t have a hat, so I made do with this tie-dyed bandana.  It was a big hit.  Many people complimented the bandana and wanted to know where to get something similar.