We stood on the "new usual" bridge. Our message was "more Dolly, less Donald". Lots of support from the underbridge traffic. The organizer turns out to be a Dolly Parton fan, and she had a T-shirt and a sweatshirt from Dollywood. She also brought a boombox with a Dolly Parton playlist. The first one that played was Jolene, and I started to sing along, and then I burst into tears. Apparently I had a little grief to process. I'm not exactly a fan. I could sing along with Jolene, and some of 9 to 5. I recognized some other songs, some of which I didn't know Dolly had had anything to do with, and some I just didn't know at all. I grew up with country music, so I generally like it, but mostly I listen to soft rock/pop or classic rock and so I don't actually know any current country songs (except the crossovers that get played on the pop stations.) I did not ride my bicycle there because when I went to pump up the tire, it did not in fact hold air, even though it took me 8 miles yesterday afternoon. Turned out that it was the patch not holding. When the patch was in the tire, it made a horrible squealing noise when I tried to pump it up, as the patch flapped while the air rushed out. It did not make that squealing noise when it was not inside the tire, but when I submerged it, bubbles came up rapidly. After we got home, I put in the tube that I had found in the spare parts bin, but it did not hold air either. It had 5, count them, 5, patches already. So I got a friend who has Amazon prime to order me a tube. Mostly I hate Amazon, but when I'm in a hurry, I cave. Unfortunately it's a weird size, and it's not actually stocked by Amazon, so it won't come until Tuesday. I could try putting in yet another dodgy tube (the first one with the damaged patch from the previous tire), or I could just go swimming or something instead for exercise. Today I kayaked. As well as pumping up tires, which is effort, you know? I'm sort of on track for 2000 miles for the year with 1448. I'm ahead percentagewise, but there's less riding in December so I have to be ahead now. comments