Several years ago, in about 2018, when we lived in Franklin, I discovered the Electra Townie bike at the Moab bike shop, my favorite place to get bike parts and dream about bikes.
They had a very cool comfy-looking fun bike called the Electra Townie. Since I was oogling it, they asked me if I wanted to take it out for a spin. At the time, I was not in a place financially to spend $600 on any bike, but I was very curious what the Townie rode like. It was super-comfortable and felt amazing. It’s hard to describe what it feels like when a bike really moves me. Only a few have done this in my life, and one of them was the Electra Townie.
I determined right then that ultimately a Townie was going to end up in my bike stable.
Fast forward about six years. Last December I was searching Marketplace for Townie’s and came across a white men’s Townie in my city for $80. I met the owner in the Walgreen’s parking lot, about 4 minutes from our home. I rode it and immediately peeled off five twenties, giving him $100 for my new fun machine.
I insisted on paying him more as I would have gladly paid $200. This bike became a part of the story of my knee healing journey following my bionic titanium knee replacement. It was the first bike that I had ridden since surgery and it just made me laugh out loud with joy. I soon ordered “Speedy Miguel” stickers for it. I rode it many mornings for the pure joy. I had not enjoyed a bike this much since I got my steel Snap-On Trek in Asheville North Caroline about 14 years ago. Cruising on this bike, with a ringy-dingy bike bell, just puts a big smile on my face.
I determined, that since I was enjoying my bike so much, that I wanted for Phyllis to have a woman’s Townie. A couple of months ago I began searching for one.
A couple of weeks ago Phyllis expressed that she was really tired. I decided that I would book us an AirBnB for a getaway. It’s really hard for her to rest at home, but much easier when we are remote and there is no laundry or house cleaning calling for her attention. I chose the Florence, Alabama area based on a recommendation from our well-traveled adventure loving neighbor Tim. I ended up booking a place in Muscle Shoals ( sounds like Muscle Show) on the lake.
Last week I was still searching for a Townie for Phyllis. I set a search radius set for 20 miles.
I came across a stunning 24-inch metallic sky-blue Townie. I reached out to the lady owner and asked her what size person would that fit. She said she did not know, but that she was 5’3” and it fit her perfectly. Phyllis and I had just had the conversation that she is 5’3”.
I asked the lady for her address to see how long it would take to drive to get it. She gave us an address in Muscle Shoals, way out of my search radius… Then I thought, “Hey we are going to be there in a few days!” It turned out that the Townie in Phyllis’ favorite blue color, was 1/2 mile away from our AirBnB and on the same road! The kind lady owner agreed to hold it for us.
I asked her if I could leave a Venmo deposit. She said, “I don’t even know what that is.”
I touched base with her every couple days and assured her that I had the money for it loaded in my wallet. I thanked her for holding it for us.
There is another interesting dynamic in the lives of Mike and Phllis. She is often reticent to get new things, like grills or smokers. There are times that I sense that she will be glad that we made the purchase somewhere down the road after we have enjoyed the new thing for a while. One example is the Masterbuilt Gravity Series smoker grill. She was not in favor of that initially, but she lovingly and patiently agreed to it since I had some grill cash set aside from bike sales. And she probably did not have the heart to watch me mope around the house if we did not get it. Today neither of us could live without the gravity smoker and we are making the best steaks and “Texas good” meat with it. I suspect that the Townie bikes will be a similar experience. Given time she will not want to miss out on our Townie escapades.
I could easily imagine us riding together, like we mow the yard together with our matching Honda mowers. I could just see us riding our Townie’s all over the neighborhood together. That is imminent!
In anticipation of getting her a new bike, I sold her Specialized Hardrock that she has had ridden occasionally for about 20 years. She said, “So you sold the bike I never ride to get me a new one that I won’t ever ride…” Phyllis actually sold it to a teacher from Columbia that was super-thrilled to get it to ride to her job as a teacher. She was the only person that responded to our Marketplace add and that is all that it takes. That worked out just swell.
Our marriage life group had some good fun laughing at Phyllis’ description of what was going to happen with the new bike. That she would get a new bike that she would never ride like the old one that she never rides. That sounds funny but it’s not true.
And I sat there quietly and smugly with our close friends because I knew 100% that this was not just me getting her something that she won’t use. Because of the “coincidence” of the blue Townie owner living just 1/2 miles from our Muscle Shoals location, I know there will be so much more goodness as this works itself out. As a result, I will respond with more enthusiasm and appreciation to this opportunity. We both want to exercise more and keep adding fun activities to our lives. The Townie’s will be a part of our adventure life. I can’t imagine her not getting some serious giggles on her beautiful new bike.
We took the 90 miles road trip to Muscle Shoals yesterday and did the transaction. The 70’ish deeply tanned lady with kind brown eyes told us that it was her bike when they lived in Florida where the terrain was flat. She was selling it because it just did not work in their new neighborhood because the hills were way too big. She said that we were the only ones to respond to her Marketplace listing. I told her several other similar single responder stories about my Marketplace escapades. All it takes is one right person. A single responder is simpler and better.
Phyllis rode the metallic blue Townie around and instantly and enthusiastically proclaimed, “It’s perfect!” I took the crisp “freshly minted” cash out of my wallet and gave it to the friendly lady.
Now that marvelous and beautiful fun bike is in the trunk of our car.
We will be doing morning Mike & Phyllis rides, cruises to the mailbox and to the neighborhood pool. I am planning to put front baskets on them to carry our pool gear and to pick up groceries. I plan to load our Electra Townies in the truck to do several other fun rides in our area. Heck, the twin Townies will likely go with us on our future adventure jaunts to other Air-BnB’s and state parks. We will have some good chuckles as we sneak up on exercise. At my age it is still fun to feel the wind on my face. Bicycles have always felt like freedom.
Was it an easily explained “coincidence” that we found a beautiful metallic blue Townie that fit sweet baby “perfectly” one half mile from a place that we were staying in Alabama?
In my heart of hearts I know the answer to that and am deeply grateful to God for ordering our steps. This is another wonderful and fun chapter to add to the God book of our lives. And yes, fun does matter to God. Thank you Lord for your sweet kindness and care…