If you have read my blog for a while, you probably know quite a bit about my travel style by now. I experience most anything and everything when I go someplace, and shopping in local stores is just one more fantastic & interesting experience to round out your travels.

I came across this article and it struck a familiar chord with me. Yeah, I do love to go into new & different stores of all types when I travel. It is all part of a real & genuine travel experience – especially if you are in a foreign country – but even regional differences here in the States make a trip to the market interesting. There are those who don’t understand it I am sure, but there is more to trael than only seeing touristy places.

I have found so many interesting things while in a store looking for things like hearing aid batteries, snacks for a flight or train, or even items for a picnic-style lunch while out for the day. I feel that it is time and money much better spent than going souvenir shopping for “things”; these experiences are a much better thing to take home that lasts a lifetime. You just have to slow down and realize that you are not in an American store and ALMOST EVERYTHING is new to you.

Even when driving, at the fuel stops along the way you will find interesting and delicious things to eat, and even sometimes some incredibly good, quality food in a convenience store. I have experienced this while driving around Ireland (only country in Europe I have driven in so far). Sure, they have the typical convenience garbage food and some have “fast food”, but there are some delicious options.

**********

I got my e-bike in for service yesterday morning, and I got a messge later in the day that it was done. They had to replace a couple of things as suspected but it was reasonable. In talking to the guy at the bike shop I told him I need to do something a little different when I shift gears when in pedal assist and he gave me a pointer to help. He also said that some people leave them in one gear and mainly use the motor, but that can wear out that sprocket on the hub which has to be repaired sooner so it is not advisable. His advice makes sense and I will be giving it a try. I have to mention their name here – if you are inor near Kalispell, Montana and need bike stuff, repairs…or even a bike, be sure to go to Wheaton’s. They are an old-school shop and they had great service at a reasonable price & friendly, helpful staff.

It has rained most of the day today here (finally) so I will brave the traffic and go get it tomorrow. Seeing as how the “e” in “e-bike” means “electric”, I figure it’s a bad thing to get it wet and I have to haul it in the back of my truck. It will be good running to town for errands and save fuel. It has a small cargo rack on the back and some small saddlebags so I can haul a few things each trip.

**********

As I mentioned, we finally got some rain today for the first time in about a month or so – maybe longer – and it was so good to see. Nice, steady showers that had time to soak in and be beneficial. It was a widespread system so hopefully it brought help to the firefighters. We do have a chance the next few days for a little more so hopefully that happens. It is so horribly dry, but it was much cooler yesterday and today and the humidity levels have been higher so that also helps the firefighting efforts.

I just went for my evening walk. It is a nice, but cool & damp, evening so I had to add some sleeves; not giving up wearing shorts yet! We are hafway through August and I can sense a change in the weather. It will be in the mid-70s for the next week and the nights are in the 50s. Last night it was 57 ° F and today it only got to 66° F. I did not even open the windows today because of the cool wetness.

I could be wrong since I have not lived here before, but the other mountain areas I have lived in had the same sense of change around this time of year. It is a feeling of things “winding down” as summer draws to a close. I know in Washington state the rainy season will be approaching very soon. It stands to reason since we are nearly into September and that is usually when the rains pick back up and possiby even snow at the higher elevations. The tourism will be slowing down with families back in school. September is when the empty-nesters come out to play to wrap up the season.

**********

I am REALLY wanting to do a hike, though, and now that I have my pass, the weather is nicer and the air is clear, I am ready to go. I heard from the cardiologist yesterday and there was nothing too bad with my stress test results. I do have a wacky ventricular thing happening but it’s nothing threatening and we’ll see how they want to proceed in October. I have the cardiologist’s guidelines on what I need to be aware of so I am confident it will be fine. My phone is always with me and I turned on the “Fall Detection” on my Apple Watch Ultra.

I did this because I saw a video when I was looking at Garmins several months back and the guy said the main reason he went from Garmin’s latest & greatest back to Apple Watch Ultra because Apple watches have Fall Detection and a Garmin does not have anythig similar. He is a solo hiker and it was a lot of safety & security to have that functionality while hiking so I followed his lead. I actually leave mine on all the time so I gotta be careful on the bike.

As an aside, I recently saw an interesting video a guy posted about the Apple Watch Ultra. With the Ultra 4 likely coming out next month, he seems to wonder if Apple is at a crossroads with the Ultra. He is wondering if they are they going to make it a better outdoor watch or perhaps slide it over as a premium version of the regular Watch. I really get a lot of use out of mine so I hope they keep it as an outdoor watch.

That is it for this post. See you again soon.

Shawn