March 25--CICLOVIA

March 25, 2017 Pensacola's first CICLOVIA event

I'd been waiting for this day for a long time since I first found it on Facebook over three months ago. Pensacola had the first 'open streets' downtown festival, taking after other countries around the world like Chile and Columbia.  These cities close down major arteries to vehicle traffic in order to get people outside to do activities--ride bikes, walk, jog, skate, skateboard whatever your passion, you could do it on open roads downtown over about a 3 square mile section of downtown, for about five hours, without worrying about getring creamed by a car.  

Build it and they will come--people were everywhere.  The sight almost brought a tear to my eye. It was truly a beautiful day--enhanced somewhat by being under the threat of rain for most of the week at 80%.  Luckily when the rain came that day, it was much later in the day, long after the festivities had ended.  We rode our bikes wherever we wanted.  From Garden St, to the bay, along Bayfront parkway without fear of vehicles.  Truly an amazing 12 mile ride day.  I really hope Pensacola makes this a bi-annual event--once in March, and once in October--perfect weather and plenty of things to do!  I got me a nice massage before the lines got long, and 'won' a foot massager.  Also got our fill of crawfish and had a couple of cold snacks at Seville to culminate a perfect day.  The historical society even broke out the very cool 1870's bike, complete with chaperone seat--don't get too frisky there, kids!

Yes, these are treadmill bikes

Interesting controls, but figured it out quick, battery lasts approx 4 hours, and it can go 18 mph. 

City center was a little busy--I'd recommend WALKING TRAFFIC only on Palafox St during the busy times (11am-1pm)

Joe and his $2000 fat tire Mukluk Salsa dreams

open streets--what this whole thing is about. 

asked to be 'extras' while news interviewed

Palafox St

rest stop/statue

The magnificent no-car Bayfront Parkway

Mudbug feastin

I liked this burglar alarm with door and texture and color of the older brick
It is the oldest city in america, ya know.

Courtyard scenes, Seville End of the Alley bar

OLLLLLLD bike--note the chaperone seat!
Pensacola Historical society Museum of transportation

I pretty much had this face ALL DAY!

To make the day even better, I'd been looking for an Olympus cult favorite (the 35mm f.28 mjuii, also known as the Stylus Epic in America) for about a month.  I saw an ad on Letgo with a box--the model number was on the side, and the caption read Olympus stylus gamers-what the heck was it?  Was it the grail camera I'd been searching for over the past two months at thrift shops and garage sales and my main purpose in photography finds as of late? Research on the model number showed me it was-better yet, the ad stated it was brand new, still in cellophane, in the original box!  The problem was that the ad was nine months old!  I figured/was sure that it was already sold, but sent a quick e-mail, hoping for a response.  The problem with Letgo is ads can stay up forEVER, and people don't take them down alot when things are sold. 

This is usually the case, but not this time.  The guy emailed me back stating his acct wasn't working correctly and it was still for sale.  I jumped at the chance, grabbed my $25 from my camera fund, and hastily sped down to the sale site.  It was as beautiful as I could have imagined-brand.spanking.new! Manuals with it, inside the cloth, just pristine.  As soon as I got home, right in with the BNW film roll. 

I hear these cameras have problems with the dx codes on the film, but luckily I was using 100 film, which is what the camera defaults to when it cant' find the code. Film loaded, I was ready to start my adventure to see what this camera was all about.