First experience with Goat Heads

Remember the bike trailer I talked about in the last post? Well it, as well as my bike, are out of commission for the time being. Aaron has been riding his bike everywhere and taking the girls with him in the bike trailer, they love it! So last Monday while Aaron was home for Memorial day I decided it was my turn to give it a try. We live about 1 1/2 miles away from the canal which has a dirt trail next to it. I walk the canal trail quite often, but have never taken my bike on it. Actually now that I think about it I don't think I have ever seen anyone ride their bike on the canal... for good reason. We made it about a mile on the trail when I started to hear a funny noise and when I looked back I realized that a tire on the bike trailer was flat! I was now about 2 1/2 to 3 miles away from home! Upon closer inspection of the tires they (2 on the trailer and 2 on the bike) were laden with goat heads. For those of you who don't know what goat heads are, they are very hard round balls with many thorns on them. Hannah had not brought shoes and it was about 90 degrees out and we were still at least a mile from the trail head. Luckily before we left I had thought to throw my phone in the trailer just in case. So I called Aaron and on the second try he answered the phone and picked us up at the trail head. We later found out that all 4 tires need to be replaced... I don't think we will be riding on the canal again.