The Perfect Morning

A cool, sunny spring day following a few days of rain.

I did not like the rainy days, riding to work in a minivan, but today wasa nice reward. Greens are never more vibrant than in May when the ground is wet but the sky is dry.

I had a few extra chores to take care of, so I got a late start this morning--didn't arrive on campus until almost 10 a.m. Commuting just a little late was wonderful--little traffic, many birds, day just staring to warm up.

The lights along my commuting route are a bit of a crap shoot, particulrly the corner of F Avenue and Collins Road. Like many modern traffic signals, this one seems to be controled by senors in the pavement, which is why, I assume, there are all those odd looking rectangles carved into the road surface near corners (and if you're ever stuck at a light for too long, it may mean you ahve to back up or pull forward a little to hit that sensor).

In my experience, the sensors don't usually respond to a biker, even a very heavy biker. There is just too much difference between a 1-ton car and a 1/8 ton biker.

This morning, a city bus was approaching the corner of F and Collins and I stopped behind it. A bus is plenty to trigger a sensor.

Even where F meets Old Marion Road (another bottleneck at times), a well-timed car set off the light for me. There was noone at stop signs along the way.

Perfect weather, perfect timing at lights, light traffic, chirping birds--why was anybody in Cedar Rapids using a car today?