A foggy Saturday morning finally gave way to a sunny afternoon, so Jodie and I geared up, got Ella in her doggles, and took our first true around-town family trip together. The destination? Eugene’s Candelight Park, an off-leash dog park in west Eugene.

We’d ridden around the neighborhood a little, but this was the first time all 3 of us had ridden around town together. I couldn’t be happier with how it went. Ella was completely relaxed — she didn’t even mind her doggles too much. We also got in some WWID (What Would Ivan Do?) thinking, when it came to our helmets.

First off was a systems check:

• Oil: Level fine.
• Tire Pressure: Pumped up all the tires, as they’d been getting a bit low. Filled tires to manual specs: 32 psi in the front tire, 30 psi in the sidecar tire, and 40 psi in the rear tire.
• Brake Lights and Turn Signals: All operational.

After a trip to the gas station, we rode off to the dog park.

Getting used to Doggles

Ella is still getting used to wearing her Doggles. After we got her in the sidecar and she nuzzled down in the tub, the first couple of miles were iffy Doggles-wise. On the way to the gas station, Ella nudged off her Doggles. On the next leg of the ride though, she kept them on and did fine — we’re guessing she realized they made a difference in the wind hitting her in the face.

WWID: Rigging up a helmet lock

Since we were going to be walking around a park with Ella, we didn’t want to have to worry about our helmets. We haven’t snagged up helmet locks yet, but while at home in the garage we realized we might not need to. A bicycle’s locking cable and U-lock later, and we rigged up a helmet lock that secured both helmets to the sidecar windshield’s grab bar. It’s perhaps not a perfect system, but it works well for now.

Comfort level

Before leaving the house, I felt pretty nervous about this ride. It was a perfect day weather-wise, but it was also 1) the farthest afield I’d gone on the rig, and 2) the first time driving around with both Jodie and Ella. These were just early jitters though — a couple of minutes in the saddle, and I felt fine. More importantly, Jodie felt fine too, and she told me later that she felt perfectly safe with my driving. That was great to hear, and it shows I’m really getting the hang of my Ural Patrol.

This was a great ride around town. We had a good destination. Going to the dog park, something Ella really enjoys, also helped further reinforce an association that the sidecar and even the Doggles are positive things — they mean she gets to go to cool places that she loves.

And as for us humans, we had a great time. Driving around Jodie and Ella — and all the waves, smiles and thumbs-up that go with it — is exactly the fun experience I had hoped and knew it would be.