In Which I Consider the Smell of Wood

Mid-morning commute on C Avenue, truck carting debris, utility truck at work.

 

Monday’s hot summer ride to work featured a hazy sky.

Not due to impending rain—hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico are setting up dry weather in Iowa. Much of the state is in a slowly worsening drought, and gardens, grass and the surviving remains of trees are drying out.

At least we’re not on fire—yet. California is. 2020, right? The haze high in the atmosphere is from those California fires. As dry as it is here, I worry about the piles of drying wood along our streets which sure seems like they could fuel some magnificent blazes, but hopefully all that fuel will be moved out before rapid oxidation causes more problems.

Anyway, the ride today was a lot like my weekend ride—except even hotter. I’m getting used to the odd scenery of the ride, but I will like it when the city is done carting away all the storm debris.

Central campus MMU--not open to visitors yet, but debris is gone.

As I thought, when I rode to work, the central campus looks better than the edges—all that debris on the edge came from the middle.

I am still getting used to minor changes in my route due to Prairie Drive being closed for a block, I assume by wires that are hanging low. And I had a bit of a near miss when a debris-carrying truck dropped some limbs on C Avenue during my ride home.

One impression I had of the ride is the odd smell in the air. A bit of burning smell is in the Iowa air from the California ash, and that has happened before, but the smell of this ride was more than that. Cut wood, drying leaves, an odd high-summer intense taste of autumn is in the air. That and the almost constant buzz of saws in the background. Rides are a bit different now.

But the fall bike commuting has begun. I worked from home Tuesday, but most days this week will be back in the saddle of the hybrid biking, riding to campus.

On F Avenue, American flags planted on top of the wall of storm debris.

The truck that almost did me in. Riding home on C Avenue, passed by fast-moving DOT truck carrying storm debris. Happy the government is taking the debris--not quite as happy that they don't cover their loads. You can see large branch about to tumble off truck, what you don't see is that just a second ago, a big branch barely missed CR biker as he cycled along the sidewalk. Cedar Rapids--use some tarps on your trucks!