Biker Chick

The Des Moines Bike Collective is Changing Greater Des Moines 2 wheels at a time!
Their Website

That's their motto. It's a non-profit, made up of a bunch of great people who care about bikes and the earth. When I heard about the place, I knew that would be a good option to get Chiya, my Little Sis, a bike, as biking is an activity we'd like to do together. Our new home is right on a bike trail - and there are many miles of trails all around Des Moines.

The first time I looked it up on the Net, the Bike Collective Store was in downtown DSM. Then my co-worker Scott told me they were moving to the East Village near my office. Yay. A couple weeks ago I walked down during lunch and checked the place out - it was still in progress. But the guy behind the counter gave me some good news. If I could get a letter from the Big Sis program people, Chiya could get a bike at no charge!

I spoke to Chiya's grandma Valerie first, before talking to her about a bike. I wanted to make sure Valerie was okay with Chiya having one. She was good with it! So C and I talked about it the weekend before, when we went out for pizza. She seemed enthused about the idea.

Chiya was at a "sleepover" Friday night, so I didn't pick her until 1 p.m. Saturday - when she told me she hadn't gone to sleep until 6 a.m. I'd forgotten about those. We called them slumber parties in my day. The key themes - little sleep, and the first to sleep gets "pranked". Chiya said they threw hot dog chunks on the unlucky gal. We did mean things like put toothpaste on them. Some things don't change...

Despite the party, Chiya seemed pretty alert when we got to the Bike Collective. It was a busy place too - we weren't the only ones with the bike idea, even though it was chilly out. A nice guy helped us pick out a refurbished bike and directed us to a parking lot so C could test ride it. I thought she should check out at least one more bike, but the first one was her fave. Then, because we had the magic letter from Big Sis, they presented Chiya with a helmet, bike chain, head/tail lights and a trail map - all at no charge. What a nice thing for this organization to do for kids!

She was pretty excited, but is hiding it well. The two gentlemen in the background helped us - nice guys!

  To celebrate, we decided to go to Zombie Burger down the street for a shake. First we loaded the bike and other stuff in my car. I had a Smores shake and C had chocolate cake.

She doesn't look too worried that the zombie is going to get her

We were lucky Chiya's grandaddy was in the yard when we got back to her house - he helped us unload the bike. Chiya wanted to know when we were going to go ride our bikes. Guess Paul needs to get that bike rack put on his car! I'm looking forward to hitting the trails soon with her.

Sunday, unfortunately, I must have opened up that crack in my tooth again because hot food gave me a "zing!" I first did it last summer before we went to Cannon Beach and Dr. Dave Buck fixed me up before we left for our vaca. I should have known that he told me to chew on the other side for a reason. I searched our church bulletin for dentists and called one first thing this a.m. I fear there is a root canal and a crown in store for me...

Scenes from lunch today - taken with my new phone camera.


Buffalo fountain on the west steps of the State Capitol

West side of State Capitol

Hangin' with my Sis

With Chiya 3/24/13

I picked up Chiya, my Little Sis, at 1 p.m. Sunday. Yep...right during the ISU/OSU basketball game. I had set the time up with her on Friday, before we knew the game time, and I didn't want to change it once I knew. So I listened to the radio on the way there - we were falling behind. 

In the car on the way to our place - we had plans to come here and meet Odie and Paul, bake cookies (the easy out of the package kind) and check out Jordan Creek Mall - we chatted. We got home in time to watch ISU lose a close one. Again - sigh. It's our lot in life. Not surprisingly, having Chiya here allowed me to be a much better sport about the whole thing. See - she's making me a better person already! I have a feeling that's the way it's going to be. It's typical of anytime I volunteer or donate my time - I garner much more than I give...

Father George talked about giving at Mass yesterday evening. We celebrated Palm Sunday, though it was Friday afternoon. In one of the readings, a man asks another for his unridden donkey (a real prize in those days) for Jesus to ride. That was something very big to give up said Father George - who knows of what he speaks. George is from Kenya, where they use donkeys for transportation, shopping and farming even today. He asked us each to think of what donkeys we could give in the coming days and months. But he didn't mention - giving away your donkey can get you better stuff in return.

When people aren't used to giving their time in volunteer activities, they don't have the experience to know volunteering can be enjoyable. That's why I like service learning programs in schools today. Creston's FFA program always did a fantastic job of providing volunteer opportunities for kids. Okay they were mandatory, but they had fun because they were with their pals. Our kids had to do so many volunteer hours for confirmation in 8th grade. I was kinda sad when it was over! I hope these types of programs teach young people that volunteering is good, not a burden. It should be something given from your heart though. I'm finally at a place in my life that I can volunteer like I want to.

Chiya is a quiet young person, a so grown up for a 12 year old. At that age I was a lot younger! When we walked in our door, she met Paul and shook his hand. I don't think she knew what to think of Ms. Odie - who wasn't sure what to think of her, until she decided she'd like to lick her. Chiya politely agreed to pose for the fireplace photo. We (mostly me) baked a batch of ready to bake cookies. Chiya helped me eat some of the ugly ones.

We headed to Jordan Creek to walk around a bit. Since they moved to town in the fall Chiya and her grandma have been to the other malls but hadn't checked out this one. We went into a couple stores I hadn't shopped before - young girl stuff. I even got her to pose for one more photo. She's a pretty girl - her grandma said her father's background is Trinidad. We laughed at the high heels in Dillards - 6 inchers. Then it was time to drop her off at home.

I have to hold myself back from trying to tell her too much all at one....you know - "and another thing Little Sis - you must go college." That kind of stuff. There's time to let the friendship come to us. I don't need to force it. It's hard though...I have so much wisdom and knowledge you know. haha

As I said - this is a great experience for me. It's been 15 years since I hung out with a 12 year old girl. Chiya is a cool kid - she's gonna teach me a lot! One get-together at a time.