Originally Posted by
memnoch_proxy
One unexpected downside I've found is the politeness drag when you meet other enthusiasts. I found I'm so late whenever there's anyone interested about the XC, I end up evangelizing and being late...boring the children to death...late to meet my wife etc... Either I need to change the topic quicker, be ruder, or leave earlier.
Oh, I remember this well! I used to tow my two daughters in the kiddie trailer. This was from 1990 through about 1996. I guess they were fairly new in NJ, though I'm sure they were more common in California by then. Lots of folks stopped me on the road to ask about it. It made me feel nice the first hundred times, but it got boring. I was polite, though, because it wasn't their fault that their old-for-me questions were new for them.
Nowadays I don't get stopped. I tow cargo in a kiddie trailer. I don't believe this is evident to drivers. They probably think I have a kid in there most of the time. No one stops me to talk to me. It's possible that my new town explains the difference, but I doubt it. I used to live in a less sophisticated town. I'm not really sure, though.