Taking a Bike to a Car Show

Now, since I'm under a pretty tight budget just now, if I'm going somewhere that's not for work I bike instead of using my car. I've actually used my bike more in these past two weeks than I have since my mission.

Which works out just fine in Boise; this town is super bike friendly. In addition to the Greenbelt, a long walking/biking trail that stretches along both sides of the Boise river, there are bike lanes and bike racks everywhere. You always see people riding bikes wherever you go, and my interactions with these other bikers have been decidedly pleasant. There are even these little "bike fix-it stands" all over the place which have bike tools and a pump attached.
Of course, when I tried to actually use said pump to inflate the front tire on my bike, I had some trouble getting it to work. A toothless older gentleman who may or may not have been homeless noticed my struggling and loaned me a hand pump. A few minutes later, seeing that I was still struggling, he walked back over and said, "You're doing it wrong. It's a girl thing. Don't worry, I have sisters and they can't do it either."
Since he said this while inflating my wheel for me, I decided not to take offense. He then told me to go to Walmart and get myself a pump if I was going to live in Boise and use a bicycle. "Save money, live better. Guess where I work?"

On June 18th, I heard about a Car Show over in Garden City and thought that would be a good free activity for a Saturday afternoon. After all, I have a weakness for vintage cars. According to Google Maps, it was about a half hour bike ride to the location--a bit long for me, but not so terrible on a beautiful sunny day, and I didn't want to waste any gas. (Seriously, I go through a tank a week and I'm still only working half time. I've got clients who live out as far as Caldwell so I try to save gas wherever I can) So I took off. Again, my budget permitted me the generous sum of $2, all of which was in spare change, but I figured I could get myself a snow cone or something from a vendor. So I hopped on my bike and off I went.


The Boise Greenbelt is incredible. The river is lovely, and there are so many trees. The whole trail has a smell of green growing things, and during this time of year, the air is full of bits of cottonwood fluff that dance in the sunshine like magical fairy snow.

I tried in vain to get photos of the cottonwood fluff in the air; it's just too small and fast for my camera on my cell phone. But here's a shot of just how thick it can pile up in places--it really does look like snow.

The first part of my trek, following the Greenbelt, was very pleasant. Even though, when the wind started to kick up, I discovered that the cottonwood fluff was a little less "magical" when the wind kept blowing it into my eyes and up my nostrils.

Then I needed to leave the Greenbelt to follow some more urban areas to reach the park grounds. The wind was continuing to pick up, and my path (which was not entirely paved) kept taking me past big dirt fields. Soon the wind was blowing painful grit and sand into my eyes. I had to bike with my eyes closed, just taking occasional peeks to make sure I was still not crashing into anything. (I rode on the sidewalks instead of on the road at this point because I at least have the intelligence to not bike blind where I might be hit by cars) Although the area was flat, fighting against the wind made it feel like I was going up a steep hill. Apparently this trip was going to be harder than I thought. I was hardly going to give up two-thirds of the way there just because I was a little uncomfortable, though, so I kept going, buoyed on by a split-second glimpses of a  distant sign reading "Idaho Expo Center".

As I neared the location, however, I noticed that this wasn't a park, it was a fenced in fairgrounds area. And it occurs to me, "I will be really annoyed if it turns out you have to pay for admission."

Guess what? You have to pay for admission. And it was $10, so my little coin purse was not going to cut it.

As close as I got to the Boise Car Show

I'm not great at selfies, as I've said before, but it turns out they're even harder when the wind is blowing dirt in your eyes.

Apparently a lot of the proceeds were going to charity, so I couldn't even be that annoyed at them. Still, I was all the way out here and felt like I needed something to show for it before I turned around and went home. So I consulted my GPS and figured out that it was only a mile and a half to the nearest Sonic.

I was there an hour before happy hour, but I was still able to pay for a medium Blackberry Slush with exact change. I felt a bit sorry for whoever had to count all the pennies, though.

Half a slushie still in hand, I began the long trek back to my apartment. Except, I noticed a branch off from the sidewalk leading into the trees, and I couldn't resist following. (Much to the dismay of the GPS voice coming from the phone in my back pocket, which kept announcing to me that I needed to make a U turn. I turned it off.)

Rather to my delight, I discovered a nature trail curving around some reservoirs and a section of the river. The sign said that riding bikes was not permitted on the dirt trail, so I'd have to walk my bike or leave it behind. But the map indicated that the far end of the trail would lead me back to the Greenbelt, and I really wasn't in any hurry, so I walked my bike and enjoyed the trail.

I ended up getting a lot of photos since I was going slowly enough that I could stop and pull my phone out. And this area was pretty enough to be worth it, too:

The breeze died down so I was really able to enjoy being out in the sunshine with nothing blowing into my face

I had to use my kickstand to get my hands free to take photos since I was still carrying the slushie cup around until I found a garbage can

A bunch of houses are next to the trail. Mostly I didn't pay much attention to them, but the statue of an alligator in this backyard startled me when I caught a glimpse out of the corner of my eye

A family of geese

At the end of the nature trail, I found myself in a confusing network of bike trails that make up the Garden City portion of the Greenbelt. With less wind and after my walking break, it made for very pleasant biking. I got lost a few times--but, on the other hand, I also took a few deliberate wrong turns just to see what was on the other side of intriguing bridges. My surroundings continued to delight me even if I didn't stop quite so often to take pictures.

Ugh, I look stoned. I really am terrible at selfies. Maybe I should stick to glamour shots of my bicycle instead.

There we go

I enjoyed exploring, but after a while, I found myself attempting to mountain bike up some unpaved trails and realized that I was well and truly lost. Not to mention, the wind was picking up again and some threatening-looking clouds were rolling in, and I was getting worn out and dehydrated. I tried to use GPS to find my way back but GPS just led me into an area closed off for some construction project. Finally I ended up having to bike back out into urban areas in order to get my bearings before I finally made it back to the spot where I had left the greenbelt just a few hours ago. So, just twenty more minutes of biking to go! ...yay...

By the time I got back to my apartment, I was exhausted, saddle sore, sunburnt, dehydrated, and my eyes were redshot from having yet more dust and fluff blown into them. According to my phone, I walked two miles and biked twenty. And I didn't end up getting to oggle a single vintage car.

That being said, I'm really glad things happened the way they did. I had a wonderful time exploring the bike trails around the Boise River-- I probably had much more fun than I would have if things had gone according to plan.

That evening, though, if I knew of a place that delivered ice cream I would have ordered some, budget be darned. As it was I had hot chocolate and spent the rest of the day sitting down.