D minus 13 - P.E.T.

I woke up around 7:30 to find TLE had been up for a while.....this is an occurrence like worlds colliding, pigs flying, rainwater becoming beer......it happens so rarely that when it does happen I think something must be terribly wrong.....maybe the phone rang with bad news.  Nothing was wrong.....it was just a rare reversal of roles.

We planned to utilize our bike rack for the first time on the VW by hauling our single Cannondales up to the Pacific Electric Trail in Rancho Cucamonga.  This is a "Rails to Trails" project that follows the old Pacific Electric Right of Way for 21 miles from Claremont to Rialto.  Presently there are over 13,000 miles of these kind of bike paths in 48 states.  TLE hasn't ridden her single Cannondale in a long time, so we decided to ride a 7 mile segment starting at East Ave. in Rancho Cucamonga east to the current trails end at Maple Ave. on the Rialto Border.....the round trip ride would make it an even 14 mile ride.

Segment in Fontana

Starting out in Rancho Cucamonga

Before putting the bike rack on the car I used the opportunity of a rare rain shower during the preceding night to wipe down the VW.  There has rarely been a dew overnight as it has been so dry....I think the last time it rained was in late November.  As I was finishing up that task I was approached by a few of our neighbors, one at a time, asking questions about the Newell, our lifestyle, being a camp host, etc.  I never turn down an opportunity to talk about the Newell, but those three conversations delayed our departure by at least an hour.

Finally the bike rack, and the two bikes were mounted, and we headed off to the bike trail arriving just before Noon.  Unbeknownst to me TLE had done some research and located a Subway shop just off the bike path where it crosses Cherry Ave. in Fontana, and, of course,  we would stop there on our way back to the trailhead.  

The ride went smoothly, and we pretty much had the trail to ourselves for long stretches on this Monday morning.  There was a slight breeze pushing us as we rode eastward....so slight we didn't really notice it until we made the turn around at Maple and felt it in our faces for the first time.  While we averaged about 14-15 mph on our way east, the wind slowed us to 9-10 mph on the way back.  Nevertheless, the ride was very pleasant, and it was great to ride this trail once again.  Before we left on our fulltime, nomadic journey we rode this trail from end to end on many occasions.  It is a great resource for the local communities along its route.

We stopped at the Subway on the way back.....TLE ordered the Veggie Salad......you know what I ordered....and we took a break and ate there.....then it was only another 1.5 miles back to the car.

While we were in Rancho Cucamonga we decided to head over to my son's office to pick up a couple of Amazon Prime items that had been delivered on Saturday.  One of the items was a new key fob for the VW.....the one that came with the car had no way to attach a key ring for other essential keys like a house key, etc.  The original owner had cut off the ring, so I ordered a replacement on Amazon for $7!  What a killer deal.....it came with its own tiny phillips screw driver for removing the single screw that holds the two parts of the key fob together, plus a replacement VW badge.  The arrival of the new key fob was very timely as the battery had just died in the old one, so after transferring the chip and key from the old fob to the new fob I just installed a new 2032 battery....and NO it didn't take me twice as long as it should have, although I am surprised it didn't.

Not much else to report on for Monday......Tuesday is our second to last early Tuesday at the Kiosk, so we were in bed early.  I am beginning to look forward with anticipation no longer having to get up early any day if I do not wish to do so.

Thanks for stopping by!