Who gets paid to hang out outside on nice days and talk to people riding their bikes?? I do. Sometimes. That was the case yesterday (Wednesday) anyway when I hosted an “energizer station” on the Appleway Trail at University Road to thank people for riding their bicycles rather than driving alone to work or school or wherever they were headed. I had treats to hand out but more people stopped to chat than to eat, surprisingly. So here are some of my observations from that section of the trail for a Wednesday morning in May:
- I probably saw as many people (all male) skateboarding as riding bicycles. The fellow in this picture took a banana, said his name is Chris, that he manages the Ron’s Drive-Inn restaurant on Sprague and that he rides his skateboard to work everyday. And more importantly, he invited us to come down for some food when we wrapped up the energizer station.
- There are a lot of students using that section of trail. Which makes sense because it is directly across University from the transit center and just behind Spokane Valley Tech (SVT) school. There were also a lot of school-aged-looking people heading east on the trail, past SVT, so I’m not sure where they were going.
- EVERYONE who uses a trail is apparently required to wear earbuds. Of all the people I encountered- from probably age 14 to senior citizens- probably only two or three weren’t wearing headphones or earbuds. This made starting conversations a little difficult, which may or may not be what’s wrong with society today. Beyond that though, it could be dangerous when riding or walking as the trail crosses busy University Road.
- People on the trail were happy! Sometimes when I’m out in public trying to talk to people about transportation issues they’re not happy to see me and I’ve been growled at a couple times. Even the people who declined to stop for food or to talk all told me to have a good day.