full circle bike ride

I'm sure I'll remember this bike ride without writing it down, but it still seems noteworthy to me...

So I got home from work yesterday, sleepy and feeling the laziness of the past week without rugby making its daily afternoon appearance. Luckily Amelia suggested that I take a bike ride, I listened and got on my tennis shoes and helmet and got out the door. Riding a bike is similar to the thrill of a roller coaster. It's neat to me that physical movement can still make me smile and feel good. I feel like a kid a lot of times when I'm on my bike, pedaling fast down hill or going around curves like I'm racing.

I had a nice ride, went down to the Greenway and took it till it came out on Lassiter Mill. North Hills is right up Lassiter Mill and I just found out yesterday that they have a farmer's market on Saturdays. Hopefully I'll remember this the next time I'm in town over the weekend.

I passed a couple bunnies on the ride. They always surprise me and seem out of place, especially in Raleigh. I don't know if it's because of stories like the Velveteen Rabbit or Watership Down, but it always seems like I'm glimpsing into some foreign or magical world when I see a bunny. Like I'm not really supposed to see it, like a leprechaun or something.

So on my way back, through one of the lower neighborhoods of 5 Points, a woman driving towards me slowed down and waved for me to stop. I did and she leaned out the window to ask if I knew of anyone who was missing a Bassett Hound. I told her No, but that I owned a Bassett and she asked me to at least come take a look. It wasn't Bailey, but looked like an older male. I didn't know what to tell her, but she said he was really sweet and thanked me for stopping. I pedaled on and a minute or so later passed a house with a wooden Bassett Hound mailbox out front. The dog shaped mailbox was painted the same color as the dog in the woman's car, so I figured maybe they could be a match. Not many people own Bassetts and those who do might have a particular knack for them - might be the kind of people who would have a wooden shaped dog with long ears for a mailbox. So I took my next left and circled back around on an extra loop that if it didn't run me back into this woman, would still be an enjoyable ride. I passed a park with a big picnic and then came across the lady again, this time she was out of her car, hanging some simple fliers for the lost dog.

I told her about the house with the mailbox and explained where it was. And then before I left, she handed me a flier to hold on to in case I came across the dog's owner. I'm pretty sure the dog, meanwhile, was enjoying himself just fine. He had that same nature that I see in Bailey - enjoying going off and almost getting a kick out of worrying their owners.

So I rode off with the flier and then remembered a time a couple years ago when Brad and I had just gotten Bailey. We had been living in a different area of 5 Points then and Brad was working on a house on Scales St. near my current apartment. Bailey was a puppy and I took her on a walk down to see Brad. On Scales a woman pulled over in her car and was all excited to see Bailey and asked how old she was, etc. She pointed to where she lived and said that she had an old Bassett and just loved them. I've seen her house since then and often wondered if she was still there. I hadn't seen a Bassett there since I moved back to 5 Points. But I decided to ride down Scales and just look at the house, since it was one of the many ways to get back home from where I was.

I passed the house slowly and only stopped when I saw the little wrought iron Welcome sign in the yard. It had a little silhouette of a Bassett (or Dachsund?) on it, so I decided it may be worth it. I turned around, put down my bike and walked up to the front door, feeling kind of like a dork in my helmet. When someone came to the door, I just said, Do you own a Bassett Hound?... The guy said, Yeahhh? and I said, Um, is he missing? And the guy said, Yeahhh?? I pulled out the flier and told him about the woman that was driving around with one and that she was looking for him. And then I felt weird and told him that I had stopped because I saw the welcome sign in his yard. And I kind of wish I'd told him that I had a Bassett myself and we lived right around the corner, but I was ready to just get out of there and let him call the woman with his dog. It made me smile the whole way home. It's weird how things work out like that. If that woman hadn't stopped over a year ago to say Hi and look at Bailey, I wouldn't have ever known of that house. And if that other house hadn't had that wooden Bassett Hound mailbox, I wouldn't have taken that route and found that lady again. And the woman may have very well found the owner herself. And the dog may have very very well found his way back home on his own. But any way it would have worked out, it was nice connecting with those strangers briefly and working together to get that damn dog home.

Later last night after I went to the grocery store, I drove by the house on Scales on my way home and that dog was just sitting there, the same way Bailey does, with his ears perched as much as a Bassett's can be. He was cute. Maybe Bailey and I will really get to meet him some day.

Anyway, I just appreciate the pace and way of life that seems to go hand in hand with biking. It's a different world than one from a car.