Awhile back I wrote about getting interested in cargo bikes and other ways to carry things by bike (instead of on your back). Since then I’ve used Maurice’s B.O.B. trailer quite a few times, particularly on Mondays, which is the day that the local farmer’s market is located on my way home. It’s getting to be harvest season now, the market is bursting with good stuff, and it’s fabulous not to have to budget bag space when choosing which just-picked, perfectly ripe produce to take home. Of course money is still a concern, but heck, when corn is $2 for a half-dozen, not much of one.

So a few weeks ago I was happily shopping, putting more and more things into the B.O.B. bag. Getting ready to go home, I carefully arranged all my treasures, and put the most fragile things (the eggs) in my messenger bag. The trailer seemed pretty sluggish and tough to get moving, but once rolling it wasn’t a bother. My handlebars did seem a bit creaky though. It was only when I got home, unhitched the trailer in the backyard, and attempted to hoist the bag to carry it up the stairs to my apartment that I realized just what a haul I had made—I couldn’t lift the bag!

I made a list of all the stuff I bought:

– 1 small watermelon (football-size)
– 6 big ears of corn
– 1 small cabbage (bigger than a softball, smaller than a kickball)
– a pint of beets
– a pint of green beans
– a pint of peaches
– a dozen apples
– 1 cantaloupe (oh, I dunno, normal cantaloupe size?)
– a bulb of garlic
– a dozen eggs
– a raspberry-chocolate pie

The pie, sadly, didn’t look so good by the time I got home. I didn’t realize it had an unstable layer of icing-like stuff underneath the chocolate. It still tasted just fine, though.