I don’t understand why everyone is naked in this video… But I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride my biiiiike 🙂

It seems like everyone here in New Orleans owns a bike. It makes sense really. The area isn’t as congested as New York City, but parking is still atrociously expensive. I learned this after parking for 4 hours in the French Quarter and it cost me $30. It’s also very difficult during Carnival to get anywhere in a car. For example; today I tried to go to the park for a lovely run since the weather was gorgeous. EVERY STREET I TRIED TO TURN DOWN WAS BLOCKED OFF. Thanks weekend parades…. So I angerly turned back home and did a very short workout at the gym.

So anyway, back to bicycles. Everybody has one. They’re these cute little cruiser bikes too, not the heavy duty, serious bikes you see on the bike trails at home. These are beachy bikes. And I wanted one.

I was doing a little research on the internet, a trait I’m still trying to learn from my dad, and found some on Walmart’s website.

One small catch, they’re sold out online and you can’t even order one. So I walked over to see if they had any in stock, long shot.

Look how cute!!! This was a different model, but I wanted to test it out, was it comfortable, was it too big or too small, etc. So I rode it around a a couple aisles and thought “yes. I like this bike very much”. Only issue was, there was no price tag on it, and I hadn’t seen it online. So I looked around and saw there were 3 left and decided I’d come back the next day after I check the website. Well, it was on super sale. Seriously, $89 bucks. Done. Sold. Mine.

I went back the next day and they were ALL GONE. ALL OF THEM. I was way more upset than I should have been…. It was a bike, that I wasn’t even going to use as my primary mode of transportation for work. Seriously, I had to stop myself.

It was the saddest/ most frustrated walk back home I think I’ve ever had. All over a damn bicycle. I was acting like a child. It was bad. I sucked up my attitude problem and went back online to actually order one. OK, I hadn’t left the store yet and I already had one in my online cart. It was a different one, and more expensive, but whatever.

Then I went into the most frustrating week of work so far. I had someone ELSE come into town to work with me who hadn’t ever experienced New Orleans during Carnival…. I’m getting the hang of it, although I’m still new, and let me tell you, the traffic to get back to my apartment is no fun. The parades shut roads down. You can’t get anywhere, and I live in the box where that happens. So to have the biggest tourist influx of the year, at the same time someone wants to come into town to work with you (whom you’ve never met), when you’re heading on vacation after Mardi Gras (which the ENTIRE city shuts down for)…. It makes hitting your quota for sales calls a tad stressful. But of course I pushed through and had a great present waiting for me when I got home Friday.

You have no idea how happy that made me at the end of my week. Yes, I had them ship it to me, because I knew that size box would never fit in my car, and there was no way I could carry it back to my apartment myself. Neighbor Granny also asked me 3 times already (once at midnight last night….) If I got my “big box”. She’s now also offered to bring in any of my packages so they’re not sitting at my door. sweet. Now I just need some friends my own age.

I couldn’t help myself, I went straight to work putting it together.

After a little bit of time…. and re-reading the instructions (yes, I did read them) I finally got it to resemble a bike.

I’m still looking for a great basket to hang on the handlebars. But I was able to find a small air pump and a decent (looking) locking mechanism.

Since it was such a nice day, I really wanted to get outside to test out the new wheels. But I had to get through some work first. I finally peeled myself away from the computer long enough to take the bike out to my storage unit… which… surprise surprise is closed this weekend. Oh well. I got to see how they actually clean the streets after a parade. A giant street sweeper looking truck spurting water and lots of men with rakes trying to get up all the beads. It’s quite the operation.

I still have to work out some of the kinks with the bike, some of the bolts I can’t quite tighten enough. and the front fender was rattling/scraping the tire when I tested it so I took it off… Maybe I’ll find a smaller screw to hold it on later. Anyway, I’m super excited to have another mode of transportation so I don’t have to endure another 12 mile walking weekend.

#AdventureYear