Crankin, I hope your DH is okay. I hate those kinds of falls!

Today we did a somewhat unusual utilitarian ride on our Bike Fridays: we took our laundry into the nearest coin laundromat from our campground and washed clothes! First time we've ever done that as we usually stop along the way in our motorhome and do laundry, or stay in campgrounds that have machines.

DH did all the "heavy lifting", meaning he had all the dirty clothes in two rear panniers plus a plastic basket strapped onto his rear rack. I had my Tailrider and just carried our extra stuff (wallets, etc.) The route was fairly hilly and along a minor highway with a moderate amount of traffic but a decent shoulder. There was no shade, and it was HOT. At least upper 80s-90 on the way back. But we got 'er done, the laundromat was very nice, and we treated ourselves to some yummy donuts at a shop right next door to the laundromat.

As a extra bonus, we stopped at a grocery store on the way back and ran into a pair of touring cyclists -- young men with full panniers doing a cross-country tour. They had come from Erie, PA and were on their way to Oregon, following the Trans-America route. They were eating stuff they'd bought in the grocery, and we had a great conversation with them about touring, etc. They were both wearing Katy Trail jerseys as they'd just ridden the Katy, and since we'd done a section of it just a few days before, we had plenty to talk about there, as well as previous tours we'd done, etc. It was so nice to talk to a couple of bike tourists, and I love how bicycles can bridge the generations, as they were probably in their 20s, yet we felt an immediate kinship with them.

On the way back, there was a long, tough hill to climb (I hit 35 mph on the way to town on it descending), so we were glad we had our Fridays with their mountain gearing.

All in all, a successful and fun ride of 22 miles with two loads of clean laundry to show for it.