Yesterday was a lot of fun. The day started out kinda shitty in that I had to cancel my attendance at the shooting range, but that was because I didn’t want to do stuff that cost money.
So that was that, and it sucked but it’s what I wanted so it didn’t really suck.
I texted M. and B. and said I was not ready and broke and stressing out and that I didn’t want to go shooting. I suggested they go shooting without me and I could link up with them afterwards.
So that’s what we did. They went shooting and apparently there’s such an ammo shortage that the gun range had a stack of ammo disappear from the time that B. and M. got there to the time that they left. They were actually cut off from continuing to shoot because the gun range ran out of ammo to sell to them!!
Strange times. Stupid times. The fear of COVY thing needs to end, and people need to be brave and break the bullshit stay at home laws that are causing such economic turmoil to our country.
My opinion is unpopular among my circles, it seems. That’s okay though. My opinions are usually unpopular. I’m not wrong I’m just different. I don’t think there is a universal, ‘correct’ opinion. Opinions are all just the imagined ideal of a personal reality. They’re as unique as fingerprints or retinas.
So I got picked up after M. and B. went to the gun range and we drove to River Front Park. There was heavy traffic on the eastbound lane of I-90 and our westbound lane was super sparce. I think it was about 4PM at that point which makes sense.
So we got to Riverfront park and found a parking spot that was labelled, “no parking except for construction workers.” We parked there anyway because it was the end of the day and the parking lot was usually a free parking zone.
We started walking around and explaining all the sights to M. We started at Huntington park where there’s a great view of Spokane Falls. We walked the whole oddly designed Huntington Park then we walked past the Skate Ribbon and over to the Carousel.
We visited the trash goat and M. didn’t seem to get a kick out of it as much as I get out of it. It’s probably a nostalgia thing for me, but I enjoy seeing the Garbage Goat.
We went to Canada island next, at which point M. was ready to be done walking. It’s a wet heat here in Spokane, and M. is used to dry desert heat. He looked pretty red in the face and he expressed the desire to rent a Lime scooter which we saw several of as other riders zipped through the park.
M. installed the Lime app and we used the map to find three scooters. It took us awhile, as the available scooters were pretty spread out. A couple of them disappeared off the map before we got to them as other riders claimed them.
B. and M. both had a scooter at one point and I just ran alongside them. I was feeling good and hydrated, and energized.
We found a third scooter and we began cruising through Riverfront park. It was then that we realized that the Scooters have a geofence based speed governor on them. Super cool tech and I’m glad that there are people out there making such cool and state of the art Internet of Things products.
It was a great experience to learn how the system works and ride them around.
I don’t feel so great about the monetary cost which I’ll explain later.
Next we rode the scooters to back to the carousel area and we saw a Black Lives Matter protest going on. We were caught off guard by the group yelling, “Martialese lives matter!” None of us expected what seemed like an arbitrary culture group to be thrown in there.
So there was a mounted police force on bicycles who was loitering some distance behind as they followed the protestors. M. and P. expressed their support for them and the police responded kindly.
They seemed to be making sure everyone was keeping the peace and M. really seemed to appreciate how they were being professional, chill, and polite. One of the offices invited us to join them in following the protest but we had other plans.
We got on the street at that point, where the speed governor let us cruise up to 13 mph. P. said he got up to 18mph at one point. The highest I saw was 15mph. I don’t know if it was the scooter or a downhill that can be attributed to those speeds, but they are definitely much more enjoyable on the road/bike lane rather than riding at the 7mph limit in the park!
So we went west, all the way to the Gateway (Hookerville) bridge. We rode up to the highest point at the bridge where M. saw the cathedral at Gonzaga. We decided to make our way over there, so we turned around and took a route I know from rollerblading.
We crossed through WSU campus and got on the Centennial trail. Speed became limited again. We crossed the river on that bridge with part metal, part wood flooring and we noticed how calm the river was. M. took photos of two canoes/kayaks(???) and then we continued through the campus all the way to Mission park at Superior. The porta potty was in use so we looked at the other restrooms which were locked, probably due to COVY.
Luckily the porta potty became free which was an unsure thing because of how sketchy that porta potty can be.
“Paying top $ 4 quality ass (females only)” along with a g-mail e-mail address.
It seemed like the entire inside of the NASTY porta potty was covered in advertisement messages such as this. Just wow.
We exited the park and got on Sharp street. We stopped at a convenience store where M. and P. got some cool drinks. I waited outside and watched the scooters, and took a sip from my own 1L water jug.
Sharp is marked off as closed, but that didn’t stop us. We continued through the freshly paved road which now seems to be optimized for bike riding. It used to be a two lane road, now it’s a one lane road with an extra large bike like. THIS is how I want to see more of the city! Spokane can become a great bike-friendly city, if we want it enough!
The speed became limited again as we entered Gonzaga campus. We rolled up to the cathedral and M. took a photo with me. Actually I think it was a different building that we had photos at, one which said it was established in the 1800s that caught M.’s eye.
I snapped a picture of M. in the same position after that. P. had already zipped ahead and he usually doesn’t like being photographed anyway haha.
We got back to… Ruby, is it? We took the sidewalk to the road with the (formerly) Red Lion hotel and swapped out P.’s scooter for one with a fresh battery. We crossed the street and rode through the hotel place and over to the street with the Boy Scout office and the Spokane Arena. P. and I decided to ride on the street and M. stayed on the sidewalk. P. and I zoomed at full thottle through the tunnel as car traffic drove around us. I realized the sidewalk ended and we were just on our own.
We got separated, LOL! I felt guilty for getting separated from M. who seemed uncomfortable riding on roads without a bike lane.
M. made a comment at some point about feeling like, “that douche bag biker who rides in the road.”
“Hey, I’m that d-bag biker, matey!” Is what I wanted to say. As a cyclist, I have equal rights to that road. Share the road!
Luckily I don’t think that’ll get to me as I have always had that opinion about cycling. Cars are expensive and I’m in a place where I don’t drive because of that. I don’t suddenly lose my road access privileges because I can’t afford a car.
Anyway, luckily we weren’t separated for long and M. phoned P. where we coordinated to meet back at the carousel. Also lucky for us is that the route M. took actually led back into the park. I wasn’t sure where the route M. took ended up, as I don’t think I’ve ever gone that way.
We got back to the truck where P. got some lemonade. I filled up my water jug at the drinking fountain near city hall.
We decided to go to Kendall yards, as M. seemed to be having a lot of fun and didn’t want to stop riding. We got on the Monroe street bridge and took some more photos, before heading across to the north side of the river.
We got to Kendall yards and it was refreshing to see that dining was open at Umi. P. pointed out a favorite restaurant of his.
The centennial trail was really busy at that point! Lots of other people were cruising on Lime scooters and bikes. There were lots of joggers, walkers, and people walking their dogs.
The sun was beginning to set, but M. just kept wanting to go further west. We spent some time cruising through some sketchy neighborhoods to find a scooter with a topped-up battery for M., then we determined that we should head back to the car because we were losing light fast.
We got back to the centennial trail and we took it under the Monroe street bridge and continued on towards Riverfront. There was trail construction going on, and I was rather confused about where the trail gets routed through there, but we made it all the way back to the big butterfly in Riverfront park.
I forgot to mention that at some point we checked out the new pavilion renovation. From the east side where there are ramps and no stairs, we rode up on the big observation deck which I had been really excited to go up on. It’s a great view up there! I’m surprised how high it is, but I’m really glad that such a structure was built because it really makes the pavilion special now. Before, the pavilion was just this thing that you could look at or go under. Now, it’s this beautiful architecture that you can interact with by going inside and going UP to see the surrounding city in a way that only a maintenance worker would be able to see!
We got back to the truck and that’s when we realized that we can’t end the scooter ride in that area without paying a Lime fine. Same story with city hall, which didn’t make any sense because we parked the scooters at a place designated for Lime scooters.
It was probably just a GPS geofence desync which might have cleared up if we had waited a little longer, but we just went across the street near River Park Square where we were able to find a spot on the sidewalk to park the scooters.
The ride was ended, and we had a lot of fun. Apparently we racked up a rental bill of almost $200, which I feel bad about because I can’t pay that!
That’s $200 for all three, by the way. M. kept saying during the trip that he was going to cover the bill, but I still feel bad. I had started the day with the intention of not wanting to do anything that cost money, but in order to stay with the group, I accepted M. renting a Lime scooter for me.
I am going to chip in what I can. I am going to pick up activity fees for P. and M. in the future when I can. They both have been so generous to me and all I can really do is say thank you.
Oh fuck, I don’t think I thanked M. for the rental. I was too busy feeling bad about accepting the rental that I didn’t even think about saying thank you! I will have to thank him today, and remind him that I am going to chip in what I can.
ALSO IF IT COST MONEY I DON’T WANT TO DO IT
I have to say it. I can’t simply think it.
Today we’re going to a beach in CDA or something.
on to CoDA 30q!
18. Read Chapter Three introduction, “A suggested program of recovery” on pages 25-28. What does the program of CoDA consist of? Are you keeping track of your progress on My Daily CoDA Program Journal?
It consists of 12 steps. I am no keeping track in the CoDA provided journal. Instead, I’m keeping track in my personal journal.
I’m feeling triggered by something I read on the 30q sheet. IM DONE.
I think I’m trying to avoid feeling again.
I’m talking myself into moving on to work instead of thinking about and writing my feelings
Well, fuck. I have shit to do today. It’s 10AM and I’m going to get picked up around 12. I gotta get work done so I can feel good about spending the day with friends.
I got triggered by something about giving control to god so god can take care of me. I looked ahead on accident and read that. I also got scared about having to do the steps where I make amends to other people. Fuck that.
I’m feeling tired. I wanna go back to sleep.
I’m going to list some cards on eBay, laters.
