Wonderful Husband and I spent today running around in pursuit of bikes. Like many people we despise the increase in fuel prices and are trying to cut back where we can. Since there is a trend nowadays toward biking to work, we've given it a thought. My commute to work is five miles; his is roughly twenty-one, both mostly flat. For most of the way, he found out, he would be able to take the Santa Ana River biking trail, which would (1) actually shorten his commute by a couple miles, and (2) expose him to far less riding in traffic. Plus there would be health benefits for both of us involved. So we've decided to give it a try and see if it'll work for us or not. Now, while I still have my bike from high school, I haven't ridden it since high school. And he didn't have a bike at all, so yesterday we went to a local bike shop to price things out. The basic bike they recommended for him was $719! However, he'd gotten a couple leads on possible second-hand bikes so we borrowed my mother's Highlander today (after trying and confirming that my bike would not fit in his Corolla) and went to a swap meet (where we found, but passed on, a bike for $100) and then drove to Redondo Beach where he purchased one from an elderly gentleman for $85. Plus the gentleman gave us a bag of lemons from his rather nice and impressive lemon tree! After getting back home, we washed off both his bike and mine before taking them over to the bike shop for tune-ups and, in my case, new tires and brake pads, as well as getting a pair of helmets. We'll probably have them back Monday, and will likely wait until next weekend to try sample commutes. Wish us luck!

Also, made salsa tonight. It kicked my ass. I even used fewer peppers than usual... guess I just got a really really good batch!