Saftey (for Safety)

For safety's sake, bicycle riders are often encouraged (and, in some cases, required by law) to wear helmets for protection. Some folks even suggest you don special shoes, shorts, gloves, and so on when going out for a spin. But in one vacation package designed with the sentimental cyclist in mind, such modern-day contrivances are frankly frowned upon in favor of more old-fashioned fare. (If you bring a "rain cape," which it seems you should, "make sure it smells of musty canvas.") The Lake Pepin Tour is described as an "All-English and Lyra-Free Event." Essentially, it's a leisurely "time travel" back to Victorian England whilst cruising the countryside of rural Minnesota, the "Land of Ten Thousand Lakes." (Lake Pepin is where Laura Ingalls Wilder visited with her family in the book Little House in the Big Woods. The lake also lays claim to a "monster" named Pepie.) The stated goal of said bike tour is: "Reviving the heart and soul of fine English cycling, one pastry at a time." We turned up 63 cases of the typo Saftey in the OhioLINK database and 510 in WorldCat. It's probably safe to say you'll find some along the way today in your own travels as well.

(A c.1890 Humber Safety bicycle, now in the collections of the London Science Museum, from Wikimedia Commons.)

Carol Reid