For many of you this might not sound like much, but here in auto-dominant land of Pinellas County I accomplished quite a bit yesterday. I had accumulated a lot of clothes that did not fit or needed to be returned for whatever reason to places like REI so I boxed them up. In addition, needed to run past of few local places for returns that my wife needed to accomplish. Did it all with the Salsa Vaya, (Lone Peak P99) panniers, and my BOB trailer.

The load fit the available space perfectly and at each stop almost everyone who walked by commented on "the cool setup" or the "nice rig you got there." This is the point about being in auto-dominant Pinellas County, I'll bet they have never seen someone ride and run errands this way. I have been here 26 years and haven't. I think it will change, given time - and maybe a little exposure like they got yesterday.

What a perfect way to spend the morning. The only thing slightly out of plan was that I left the house so early that I was 1/2 to 1 hour early for most of the destination opening times. So, it went like this (a Saturday by the way):

- leave at 6:45 with all packages labelled and ready to go, and all returns with their receipts handy (except that flourescent bulb from Lowes that I thought would last at least a few years and died after 2 months);
- UPS - bummer - not open until 8:30, come back later;
- Breakfast at McDonalds - they open early, otherwise I usually eat at one of the local places downtown;
- Fed Ex (these guys are open early right?) not open until 9 (it's 8:30)
- Autozone for the wife's burned out tail light;
- Kmart (not open yet)
- Lowes to drop the bum light bulb (with no receipt and no packaging, but the guy let me get one off the shelf for ID and then he looked the previous purchase up on my CC - bingo - bought less than 3 months ago - full credit)
- across the super road (US19) to Tuesday Morning, but they ain't open until 10 - so much for the "morning" part of that name;
- head over to the mall for a return at Dillards - again too early as they open at 10, but this is where the utility rig is really out of place - in and auto-dominated area this is their haven.
- Looped back around to Kmart - now open;
- Looped back towards Tuesdays (past Lowes again) and stopped to reset my timing at Starbucks for 40 minutes or so (got a few nice comments about the rig there);
- Back to Tuesday's just as they were unlocking the front door.
- Back to Dillards for the return and had to lay the bike over BOB style (jackknifed) because there was no place to even lean it by the entrance;
- Back across US 19 to Fed Ex to drop most of the packages;
- UPS again for the one prepaid package;
- Stop by the accupuncturist to pick up some paperwork; and
- Pop on home (where I pick up one of my kids and we ride downtown for lunch, me forgetting my wallet and having to go back home again); another and;
- Over to the Dunedin House of Beers (my kid(s) went off with friends) to relax a minute over a good brew and in walks between 50 and 75 people all dressed for Halloween. They were riding their bicycles (most dressed for the occasion as well) from local pub to pub (starting at Skips in Dunedin, Rosies, House of Beer, Eddies, a mexican place up the road I can't remember the name of, Cricketeers, and then loop back to Besa Del Sol. All these are offshoots from the Pinellas Trail (a MUP). What was cool about this is to see so many interested in riding (or maybe just drinking and not getting in too much trouble on the bike as opposed to a car) and the change of energy in the HOB - before they came in, during, and then again after.

Ride home from there and put the Vaya away (already ditched the BOB with no further use - there is still a bit of a geek factor that I have to be cognizant of you know).

Lessons learned - check opening times before leaving and a good cargo net/bungee system is priceless (as is good coffee in the morning whilst out running errands by bicycle).

It can be done here, but a lot of pre-thought to the rig and the route.

All told probably only 20 miles, but loads of time out of the car (which more and more I do not like - driving that is).