The Bike Gang

I live in a sleepy little town. It's a laid-back farming community evoking images of Norman Rockwell paintings at times- kids playing baseball at the park, families gathering for holidays, fireplaces crackling in the winter. Small-time and cozy.



I love that I can drive down any street in town and wave at the neighbors and they wave back. Sometimes I don't know which way to look or wave because I know the people living on both sides of the street. In the summer, we also like to ride bikes around and wave or stop and chat with people.



Now for the shocking part: we have a bike gang. It has just formed with in the last 8 years or so. They've been friends for a long time. They travel mostly in pairs back and forth, patrolling the streets. Sometimes you'll see four of them riding together and you wonder what they're up to. Where they are headed and what will they do once they get there. Usually there is no real destination in mind- they just cruise slowly from one end of the street to the other. Occasionally, you'll notice that several of them are meeting at one of their homes.



Speaking of their homes, they keep them veeery neat and tidy. Manicured lawns, weedless gardens and landscaping, swept front porches, crisp laundry hanging on clotheslines- not at all what you'd expect from a bike gang.



They can be pretty sneaky, too. Sometimes you won't even notice they are approaching until they're right in your path. Like a cat waiting to pounce, they appear out of nowhere.



'Hell's Angels'? Nope.



'Charlie's Angels'? Nah.



I would say they are more like the 'AARP Angels'. LOL! Okay, I may have over-dramatized them a teensy weensy bit because they are really just Mike's parents and their friends on their bicycles. I tease them about being the town's bike gang because they all tool around town socializing, exercising and frankly, I can't help but think they are checking up on everyone to see what's new at times.