In Which a Ride To Vietnam Takes 18 Miles

Two views of Cedar Lake on the way to the downtown library. Goose family, above, walks by lake near park where I got more water. One gosling walked right up to Francis, but backed away quickly as I approached with my camera. I got hissed at a bit, but nothing more. Below, goose in flight over lake. Look how cool the sky looks. Later, the clouds would get organized and have a rain party.

I’m starting my summer reading, and the theme this year is “Vietnam” because I’m coordinating a fall series about the legacy of the Vietnam War at Mount Mercy University.

So, in the afternoon break between rains, I rode to the Cedar Rapids Public Library and checked out some books. One is a fat general history of the war. I also got a fiction book that we plan to have a discussion group about, a book about war protests and a memoir of a soldier. That all seemed like a nice balance to start my summer research about Vietnam.

The ride was windy, with interesting skies that mixed thick clouds and patches of blue sky. On the way home, it started first to sprinkle and then to rain more seriously—but luckily the books stayed dry in bags, and I didn’t get super wet. I was home before the heaviest rain hit.

I rode 10 miles there, but was in a hurry to get home and took a slightly different route, so the total ride was 18. I sped, to the best of my abilities, on the final 8 miles. No RAGBRAI hill practice today—I had planned to ride up the neighborhood hill after I got back into the area, but instead stopped at home due to the rain.

Well, I’m going to campus again tomorrow to do more end-of-year stuff and continue series work. The weather should be better for biking them—we’ll see if I can get more than 18 miles in and a few more hills, too!

Francis at the library. I'm thinking the bike might get parked there a lot this summer!

A Quick Commute Along the Third Avenue Lane

View near the end of my quick ride downtown--the river seen near the new federal courthouse.  It was that kind of day.

I had an internship conference today at the Catherine McAuley Center,  so I biked downtown.

The trip there as uneventful, but the center is up near 10^th Street—too far away from the trail for me to take my preferred route downtown, so instead I was biking on streets.  After the meeting, I had time before noon, so instead of heading directly back to MMU, I rode downtown and took a short jaunt on the trail, stopping by the new Federal Courthouse to adjust a strap on my new helmet.

On the way back, I tested out the new bike lane on Third Avenue.  It feels a bit odd to ride on it—car lanes are on both sides of you, and indeed, I saw many four-wheeled vehicles trespassing on my two-wheeled turf.  Still, it’s very nice to have a bike lane.  More, please.

The bike lane on Third Avenue.

Anyway, as I passed the Gazette, it said the temperature was 47 degrees.  It was sunny, a bit breezy, brisk in the shade—in short, an ideal day for biking.

I had an odd feeling of elation—maybe because it felt a bit like I was playing hooky.  The new library is taking shape, the new Federal Courthouse has started to grow on me a bit—it’s not just a big brick with windows—and I had a bike lane to ride on during a gorgeous morning.

I got back my noon.  I’m reviewing the Biden-Ryan show via the CBS web site.  I might have some thoughts to share on my other blog, but we’ll see.

For now, back to work—but this afternoon is just prelude to the ride home.  Which, given the cool temperatures during this beautiful fall, will be gorgeous.  On Wednesday, even a train that stopped me for a while looked nice:

Wednesday--I have to wait on J Street.  Blame Canada.

Train hurry up, bring my trail back.

Sunset as train goes by.  A cool, pretty ride home, and truly, I did not have to wait very long.