I'm starting my fourth year with the Blue Truck/Xtracycle. It's become such a normal thing for me to run errands on it, I don't even think twice about it anymore.

Susan and I keep a very strict household budget. Something we started back in 1999 when we first started planning our Appalachian Trail Thru-hike for 2001. The budget allowed us to plan for seven months off work and not go into debt in the process. What I'm getting at is that our food budget is always very tight. We end each month just scraping by to keep from overspending on food. That means the first few days of each month we do some grocery shopping to stock up on things. That's what I did today. I stayed out until 8:00 making several stops along the way.

I have to say though, shopping by bicycle on a pleasant June evening when the temps are still cool and the sun is staying up late is absolutely delightful. I can't imagine myself doing it with a car and missing out on the bicycle ride.