Mileage

I finally was forced to do something Saturday morning I hadn’t had to do since June 29: fill up my truck’s tank. What with all the bicycle riding I’ve been doing, I’d only logged 215 miles on four wheels. In comparison over that same period I biked 1,582.

Gas was $4.69 per gallon at the Silver Lake 76 eight days after the summer solstice. 10.66 gallons cost me $50.02. Saturday, two days before the beginning of fall it was $3.89 at the Silvr Lake Mobil and 11.37 gallons ran me $44.22.

By the way, on Friday night’s ride home from work I crossed beyond the 5,000-mile mark. It happened right here while eastbound on Sunset from Fountain heading toward the junction, with the infamous and derelict “Bates” motel off my port shoulder.

Also of note, this week will mark the fifth anniversary of the beginning of my “Biking For The Birds” ride, in which I spent eight days biking 475 miles from the Golden Gate bridge back to Los Angeles after helping to raise more than $4,000 for an organization dedicated to protecting parrot species.

Here I am on Day No. 4 between Pismo Beach and our destination that day of Lompoc. I believe this is somewhere around the town of Guadalupe (photo by Sherry Kramer a friend of mine  and fellow L.A. Zoo docent who graciously volunteered to pilot a rental car down the coast as vehicular support):

I still haven’t given up the dream of doing a ride benefiting California condor conservation efforts that goes from the state line at Oregon all the way down to the border with Mexico. Some day.