Backroads Between Davie and Hollywood

When I attended Broward Community College (in Davie, Florida) during the mid-1970s, I would often commute between home and classes (about five miles apart) by riding my bicycle through backroads. In spite of it being South Florida (a pretty urban community), the route I took definitely had a country feel to it, especially the further north (into Davie) I got. Between Griffin and Stirling Road, there are a series of parallel roads connecting the two. I always avoided the busiest, Davie Road, and usually went down the second road to the east. Making this trip did a lot to instill a peace of mind within me, both before and after school. It was also good physical exercise, although at this time I was also running quite a bit (between three and six miles per day). The land was so flat that I used a simple one-speed bicycle with coaster brakes, something that I quickly changed upon moving to Gainesville (with its hills and slopes) a few years later! I had begun this “tradition” of eschewing motor transportation during my senior year of high school, when one morning I just got up and decided to walk the five miles to school (which was next to Broward Community College). Now looking back, I wish I had begun my bike-to-school habit back in high school!

One late afternoon in 1974, while bicycling homeward out in the semi-country between Griffin and Stirling Roads, I came across a tiny baby bird sitting by itself in the middle of the then-deserted road. I got off my bicycle and looked around for traffic and the bird’s mother. Seeing nothing, I carefully picked up the pitiful little creature, which seemed unhurt except for the fact that it was unable to fly (or walk, for that matter). I walked over a few yards off the side of the road and carefully placed it in the shadows of a tree. I realized then that the little wild bird probably wouldn’t survive its plight, but I didn’t think there was much I could have done. And I went on my way.

In like manner, sometimes I feel that we here in America feel toward others as if we have to “fix” everything in the world, and if we don’t, then we’re somehow being negligent. But there is a limit to how much we can help, and sometimes what we do with good intentions can backfire and actually be counterproductive. Sometimes, with some places, its better to just leave and let things be. To admit that there are some areas that we as a nation are necessarily limited in implies neither weakness, moral deficiency, nor lack of patriotism (are you reading this, President Bush?).

My pleasant habit of bicycling back and forth to school continued into the mid-nineties, when I would often bicycle back and forth to work (nine miles from home, with several hills). I’d like to get back into bicycling, albeit not on the same scale as before. I want to buy one of those mileage devices you can attach to the bike that lets you measure off distances. I'd like to develop my own off-the-road running courses, and using my bicycle to measure how long a course is seems to be a pretty good idea.