Do Not Try This At Home...

Ellen:  Clark, Audrey's frozen from the waist down. 
Clark:  That's all part of the experience, honey. 

--National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

"I'm taking the day off today, so we can have an adventure,"  Eric declared on Friday morning. 

Scorching heat...

It is 91 degrees outside and what does Eric want to do?

     Read a book in front of the air conditioner

     Drink ice tea and go swimming

 Take the whole family on a 10K bike ride in the African bush

Freeloader

Everything was fine for the first 2 minutes.  Then Alex started complaining about how hard it was to bike... 

and Why are we doing this?... 

and Can we just go home?  

Eric told her to zip it.  

I, however, consoled her.  "Your father is completely nuts, sweetie.  Perhaps one day you will laugh.  Now keep riding so the Black Mamba doesn't get you."

After about an hour, I looked down at Alex's back tire.  It was completely flat.   

No worries.  Eric decided to tie her bike on the back of his...right behind Oliver's bike seat.  The only challenge was how to secure the 30-pound bike.  We, of course, had no cords or ropes with us.  Those were locked safely in the car.  

Eric grabbed the strap from the camera case. Then he added my Patagonia backpack.  That did the trick.

Problem solved.

Sort of.  Every time Eric hit a bump, Alex's bike would drop down onto his tire, we'd all have to stop, and fix it again.  Balance was a bit of an issue, since over 70 pounds rested on his back tire.

Needless to say, I nearly burst into tears when we reached our vehicle after the 4-hour ride.  We had survived!

On Saturday Eric left for a week-long business trip in Korea.  We are really going to miss him.  

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to refill my ice tea.