In Which Fleet-Footed Singers Serenade

Heron wades in slough next to Cedar Lake on Aug. 31, final day of August.

Here it is, the final day of August, 2026. It got hot this afternoon, the start of a hot week here in Iowa. Well, it’s not unusual for September to feel summer warm, although a few hints of fall chill would not be amiss.

In past years, I’ve ridden my birthday on or near my Aug. 30 birthday—in one day riding the number of miles that equals the age I reach. Recently, I’ve amended that practice as I age—now, I generally give myself a weekend to reach my birthday ride. And this year, family had a hand in plans, too. I have a sister who was born on my 4th birthday, so as I turned 68 Aug. 30, she turned 64. She, her husband and another of my sisters, plus me, form “Team Joe,” which has ridden RAGBRAI in pre-pandemic years.

Anyway, the team decided to get together and share miles—if the team rode 17 miles, that would equal 68. Or if we rode 34, the cumulative miles would cover both my sister and me.

As for me, I was still thinking I’d like to ride my full birthday miles as an individual.

Aug. 28--Goldfinch eating Thistle seeds by Grant Wood Trail, seen on the first and longest of the birthday rides.

Friday Aug. 28 ride, team takes a break on bridge as we near home.

Aug. 27--I ride out to see my parents' marker at Oak Shade Cemetery. Team Joe will visit the next day.

 

Anyway, the team quickly exceeded its goal. Team Joe is—since I was given Sommer Lovin, my trike, by my wife and kids—a trike team. On Friday, we rode our 12 wheels over to see my parent’s tombstone, recently installed at Oak Shade Cemetery. Then we rode to Lowe Park, rolled across the trail there, and then headed down the Grant Wood Trail to Waldo’s Rock Park.

After a break, we continued east past the new bridge to the trailhead just beyond the end of the paved trail.

When we got there, there was a van from Cornell College in Mount Vernon. And young adults in shorts were milling about, some skipping or toe walking about. It was the cross-country team, according to many of their shirts.

The older of my two younger sisters, the one who doesn’t share my birthday, looked at the cross-country team and yelled out: “Hey Cornell. It’s Brigid’s and Joe’s birthday this weekend—how about a song?”

The young adults laughed, gathered in a cluster, and sang “Happy Birthday” to Brigid and I. It was silly, spontaneous and serene.

It was the unexpected highlight of a very fun weekend. We enjoyed the 33.97 miles, longer than we had planned, on Friday. Saturday, we intended an early ride, but rain delayed us and we didn’t start until mid-afternoon. That day, we rode down to Cedar Lake and then up to the Boyson Road trailhead on the Cedar River Trail.

 

Aug. 16--New trail that will extend Cemar Trail to meet trails in Marion is nearing completion.

With 16.33 miles on Saturday, we had reached 50 miles. The team was done, with my sister and her husband from Des Moines returning home Sunday. It rained again Sunday, so I didn’t ride that day—but my wife suggested, and I agreed, that since Monday was the final day of August, I could count miles on that day, too.

I attended (a damp due to rain) ball game Sunday afternoon, and saw a friend I usually ride with about once a week. He and I agreed to meet Monday morning for a ride.

So this morning, I got my trike out, but noticed the seat was wobbly. It has a large bolt to hold the seat to the frame, and it had come loose. I tried to tighten it, without success, but had it in place (not well secured) and rode up to meet the friend. I had removed my flags from my trike, so our first stop on the joint ride was to pick those flags up at my driveway. I had explained why I was late for the ride. My companion took a look at the trike, and figured out the bolt was not seated in the threaded part of the seat bracket. He used a hex wrench (which he had given to me on a recent previous ride because it fit the nuts holding on my front wheels) to get it snugly tight.

So my birthday rides were warm, but pleasant and filled with unexpected adventures, from spontaneous and fleet-footed college choirs to spontaneous trike maintenance work from a volunteer mechanic.

The friend and I rode today down the Cedar River Trail to view the construction site of the Connect CR project bridge. We chatted as we rode. When we got to the Bridge of Lions, I asked him if he had ever seen the clock in the tower in front of the Czech and Slovak Museum ring the hour. It plans some orchestral Czech music and doors on the tower open and figures move by the openings.

He had not seen nor heard it, and it was approaching 11 a.m., so we triked (in my case) or biked (in his case) down to the bridge and made it back to the clock in time for the hour to ring. A cluster of tourists with European sounding accents were there too. We enjoyed the ringing, then rode on a short new trail that leads to a city park next to the agricultural plant that my companion had retired from, and then headed home.

In the end, I exceeded my 18-mile Monday goal, riding 20.36 miles. For the birthday rides Friday, Saturday and Monday, I totaled 70.66 miles, so I reached 68 with more than 2 miles to spare. For the year, I’m at 2,135.1. My August miles totaled 253.98, up a bit from July. August was a good riding month and I had plenty of fun and surprises on my birthday rides.

 

Assorted nature images from August rides:

Aug. 24--Eastern Milksnake seen on Krumboltz Trail.

Aug. 23--Walnut taking on fall look along Creek Trail in Marion.

Doe not bothered by trike rider, along Lindale Trail Aug. 23.

Flowers in Prairie area at Waldo's Rock Park, Aug. 22.

Butterfly visits flower at Lowe Park Aug. 19.

Male Monarch Butterfly visits Milkweed flower at Cedar Lake Aug. 16.

Aug. 15--Swallowtail Butterfly on Thistle beside Lindale Trail.

Aug. 25--Skipper on Thistle by Boyson Trail.

In Which Iowa Bambi Just Doesn’t Care

July 13--During a warm summer trike ride on the Boyson Trail, I come across an unusual group of deer by the Frisbee golf course. Most groups of deer are either does or family groups--several does and fawns. It's not unusual to see a buck and sometimes a buck in a group of does--but this seemed to be a large gathering of mostly bucks. I have no idea why they were together.

Remember the movie Bambi? That old Disney classic helped establish one of the most important rules of character survival: Don’t be the hero’s parent in the opening scene of an animated kid’s Disney movie (I think the second rule is don’t wear a red shirt in the original Start Trek series).

The Great King of the Forest, otherwise known as Bambi’s absent deadbeat dad, solemnly warned Bambi: “It is Man. He is here again. There are many this time. We must go deep into the forest. Hurry! Follow me!”

Well, Bambi and his mom didn’t live along the Lindale Trail in Cedar Rapids. The deer there have learned that man on the trail on bicycle or tricycle means almost nothing.

July 21--Fawn in fenced area--a retention pond behind a Walgreens near the Lindale Trail. The low fence clearly is not a barrier to deer. Start of a bunch of Bambi images.

July 21--Mom eyes trike rider making images. But doesn't seem worried.

July 21--Fawn again. Not sure if it's the same--there were two fawns and two does in the enclosure.

July 19--Fawn by Lindale Trail. It's in a bit of a hurry, but note that it's not fleeing in terror, it's trotting towards the photographer. It did turn and head into the woods, but came for a closer look first.

July 12--Deer by Boyson Trail lets me get very close. I paused for a while, and she moved on. When someone walking a dog came from the other direction. Dogs are worth avoiding. Hairless apes, not so much.

Anyway, it’s late July in a very, very hot Iowa summer. The riders of RAGBRAI were lucky as last week was a respite from the recent pattern, but now a new heat dome has settled over this part of North America. The heat index Monday is slated to be well into triple digits—even though the actual temperature will “only” be in the 90s.

I’m not quite crazy enough to ride in that kind of heat. I did bike yesterday, the first of the warm days in the latest heat wave, but it wasn’t as bad then. I had volunteered at the Cedar Rapids Chain Reaction Bike Hub. It was a pleasant ride there in the morning, but a very uncomfortable, hot journey home in the afternoon. And it was mild compared to what it was today and will be Monday.

Don’t worry, Lindale Bambi. You may see a stray biker imitating a mad dog or Englishman Monday, but it won’t be this one.

July 7--Not sure why I was biking this warm summer evening in early July, but I was. Summer sun going down at Lowe Park on one of those days that was not too hot to ride.

July 19--On my trike on Lindale Trail. Short ride this day due to smoke from Canadian fires.

Anyway, my miles haven’t been all that impressive lately. No 40-mile rides in July, for example. So far this year, I peaked in March, which is not what I expected. I rode 265.91 miles in June, and as of July 26 I have rolled 212.48 this month.

I don’t aspire to break March’s 377.78 miles this month. Yet, I think being cautious about the weather is OK for a biker who will turn 68 in August. And I've rolled just over 1,868 miles so far this year on trike and bike.

Maybe the miles will pick up in fall. It remains to be seen. But even if the rides have not been super long, I have very enjoyed my June and July rides. When it’s not violently storming nor hellishly hot, Iowa in summer is a pleasant place to roll, to see the grass and flowers, and deer.

Who just don’t care. Man is in the woods. Meh. Some non-deer images from recent rides:

July 1--Grass along Creek Trail in Marion has summer look.

June 19--Summer clouds at Cedar Lake.

June 12--Riding on Cedar Valley Nature Trail near Robins, fine summer day.

June 8--Late day summer sun at Lowe Park.

June 19--South of Cedar River on Cedar River Trail--site of new bridge near Mount Trashmore. When the weather improves, I'll have to check on this project again.

July 25--I bike down to the Chain Reaction Bike Hub, a non-profit bike shop in Cedar Rapids that recycles and fixes up bikes to provide an inexpensive option to aspiring bikers. I volunteered for a shift there--and noted this container near a tool bench. Seems like a good band name, to me.

In Which A New Bridge Opens

Aug. 12--Bike parked by new bridge near Cedar Lake.

When did the new bike trail bridge over the creek that feeds Cedar Lake open?

I don’t know for sure, but the detour on the Cedar River Trail north of the lake has changed—coming from the lake, the route now goes down a road to a new street bridge that crosses the trail. I was taking the trail north at that point (I had ridden down to the lake via H Avenue), and before crossing the new street bridge, I turned right and crossed the new bike trail bridge over the creek.

It’s very nice, a foreshadowing of the new trails near Cedar Lake that aren’t open yet but are being constructed. I crossed the bridge on one of the longer rides of summer 2025—a 17-mile ramble that took me to the Mount Mercy University campus before I continued to Cedar Lake.

A bunch of images from Aug. 12 ride. As I rest at Cedar Lake mid-ride, I watch a Stork that was fishing in the lake.

Monarch butterfly on Thistle flower near Cedar Lake.

Aster, fall flower, on Mount Mercy University campus.

Pausing on MMU campus.

Cone Flower in garden near Basile Hall on MMU campus.

For various reasons, summer 2025, the first summer of my retirement, has not featured the usual summer distances of bike riding. I didn’t, for example, participate in RAGBRAI this year. I had a heart bypass operation in January and a follow-up procedure in July.

In August, four grandchildren from Minnesota were visiting for a week. That precluded any long bike rides that week for me—but the good news is that one of my bikes has a Tag-A-Long seat, and a 7-year-old grandson was very happy to put it to use. Sadly, other events and very hot afternoons constrained those rides a bit, but nonetheless, most days that week we headed out for at least a few very pleasant miles together.

July 26--Deer on Lindale Trail are pretty socialized to bikers. Fawn lets me get pretty close to make this image.

Bike on Lindale Trail July 26. Note milky sky, it's been a wet summer but also a hazy one; sometimes the haze, from Canadian forest fires, has limited biking.

Anyway, back to my lake sojourn on Aug. 12. I missed one day riding last week due to yardwork—mowing and clearing weeds. But in the past four days of the week, I used all of my bikes.

On Aug. 12, I rode Argent, my road bike, on the longest ride—the 17-mile cycle to campus and the lake.

On Aug. 13, I rode my mountain bike, The Fancy Beast. It’s been wet lately. I planned to ride the Boyson Trail, the paved and unpaved parts, on a day that would turn too warm for this old man to ride in the afternoon. So, I went on a late morning ride, which went well, but the mountain bike trails beside the Boyson Trail looked too muddy, so I stuck to the main trail. The ride was about 8 miles, but given the heavier bike and warmer day, felt like it was as much work as the 17-mile ride the day before.

July 29--another day, another deer. I know it's farther away,but I like this image of the Lindale Trail.

Reflecting ball in Lowe Park seen on July 27 bike ride.

I skipped riding, as mentioned, for the Aug. 14 yard work day. The forecast was for hot, humid weather after this day. It was too bad to avoid riding on Aug. 14, but it was good to get the yard work done, too.

On Aug. 15, the afternoon was forecast to feel like 100 degrees, which dictated a shorter morning ride. I was going to ride part of the unpaved Boyson Trail again, but it had a bit more time to dry out and I decided that Clarence, my hybrid bike, would be a good choice. It turned out to be a 10-mile ride where I headed up behind Linn-Mar High School on the Creek Trail and road part of the Boyson Trail, too.

My biking goals have become modest in 2025. I’m accepting, for now, of shorter rides, although I’m hoping the 17-mile ride, accomplished with no problems, is a sign of longer sojourns coming as soon as the weather improves. However, I’ve already decided it’s OK to take several days to ride my birthday later this month.

I turn 67 later this month. Maybe by next year, 68 miles in a day would be a doable goal. For now, I’ll just be happy to roll 67 miles over several days and be satisfied that I can keep rolling.

As of Aug. 19, I have 851.02 miles for the year. I’ve ridden 85.46 miles in August. July’s miles totaled 112.16.

Aug. 15--I have some Goldenrod planted in my garden--it's a great late-season flower that feeds pollinators as fall is setting in. This is not in my garden, however--Goldenrod by Boyson Trail seen during bike ride.

In Which I Contemplate No Alt RAGBRAI

June 23--Early morning ride on very hot summer day, bike near C Avenue on Lindale Trail.

The last time I didn’t ride RAGBRAI, my family team and I made up for it with alternative, non-RAGBRAI miles. Not so, this year--some are riding some of RAGBRAI while I am sidelined.

As of today, I have biked 711.87 miles in 2025—a pretty low figure for this point in recent years. My riding has been constrained by serious health issues—I had heart bypass surgery in January and was subsequently knocked off two wheels for a while.

I was back to riding in a couple of months, but a lingering heart flutter kept me from longer rides—and now I’m off the bike again due to yet another heart treatment. I developed a heart flutter following my bypass surgery, and the flutter required what’s called a cardiac ablation. On Tuesday of this week, they put me to sleep and snaked a needle through my veins to my heart, where some tissue was frozen to end the errant nerve signals causing the flutter and to put my heart back into normal rhythm.

And now I have to take a week off from most activities, including biking, in order to recover from that procedure. We’ve had some beautiful days this week which I have been watching from a recliner in my living room. Not to complain too much—the procedure was apparently successful and the recovery is far less onerous and lengthy than the one that followed the surgery.

July 10--Above and below--Black Swallowtail Butterfly seen at Hanna Park garden in Marion during bike ride.

Still, no RAGBRAI riding for me this year. Good luck those of you that are setting out Sunday, crossing the state the west to east, I’ll be thinking of you and hoping you have a good ride.

In the meantime, if all goes well (and the first two days of recovery have gone well), I should be back on a bike by the end of next week.

June 13--Pretty day, late afternoon ride, bike at north end of Creek Trail near Tower Terrace Road.

June 14--Two rides totaling more than 14 miles. Evening ride, final one before heart procedure, is to see grandson play baseball in Marion. On the ride, I encounter one of those indifferent deer on the Lindale Trail--it's such a heavily used trail with woods that deer love that they become too used to humans.

I rode over 14 miles on July 14 and had my heart procedure July 15. I expected my miles in June to exceed my May miles. That did not happen—I rode 228.9 miles in May but 228.78 miles in June. So, I was not off much, but weather got more complicated at the end of June and my heart flutter was getting to me, a bit, making my rides shorter.

We’ll see what tomorrow brings. Tomorrow as in the vague future that starts in the second half of next week when I can start riding again. It’s been an interesting summer in Iowa, some very hot weather, but no extreme heat, and the June wet period has lasted into July, when a dry time usually starts.

Recent rides may have been a bit short, but have also been pleasant and pretty. I’m looking forward to rolling across my corner of Iowa again soon—I hope to see some of you out there on the trails next week!

In Which Summer Rides Bring Mixed Surprises

Surprise! We'll put in a major bike trail all the way through our town and then tell you that you can't ride on part of it! Wacky fun. My bike on trail across the street from Marion's new Central Plaza.

Well, biker pals, May was my final month as a professor at Mount Mercy University, as I retired from my professional career. In May, I was biking to work more consistently then before, so I had more time on the bike and rode more miles in May—but, what with the end of my career and the busyness associated with a new life phase, I had less time to devote to posting on this blog.

The past few weeks of bicycling have been an interesting time. I still have a follow-up heart procedure scheduled in July due to a lingering flutter in the old pump, and my miles are thus somewhat limited this biking season because I tire quickly and, also, how carefully (read slowly) I have to move on a bicycle to avoid any injury. Falling off a bicycle while you’re taking blood thinners, my doctors and my wife often remind me, is not a good life choice.

Basically, about 20 miles is my current ride limit, with most rides being around 10 miles. 2025 is therefore, for me, the year of short rides. I don’t resent that, because January and February where months of zero rides as I had and then recovered from major surgery, so I’ll enjoy the slower, shorter rides I experience now and keep on rolling with a smile on my face.

My bicycle parked on Creek Trail the runs behind Linn-Mar High School, on May 29 bike ride.

Another surprise, a "greetings, bikers, we're happy to have you" sign in the woods at the north end of the Creek Trail in Marion. OK, a landowner is free to put up such signs, but I can't imagine many bikers were trying to roll through the walnut grove there. Whatever, life is full of surprises, one of many signs posted in this area seen on May 29 bike ride.

We are in a June summer heatwave now, with the heat index topping 100 degrees this afternoon. That hasn't generally been the case lately, and on May 9, a cool but not cold morning, I noticed sun dogs in the sky during my morning bike ride (sun dogs are usually seen on the coldest mornings of winter, little rainbows created by sunlight refracted by ice crystals high in the atmosphere. It must have been much colder way up there).

And, although we are starting a heatwave today, the weather has mostly cooperated with biking. Although there have also been some unexpected challenges.

One is mechanical. On a commute to work in May, I broke a spoke on the rear wheel of Clarence, my hybrid bike. That wheel has had a previous broken spoke, so it was time to replace the whole wheel rather than just the snapped spoke. At the bike shop, they also noted the drive train was very worn and the bike was long overdue for a thorough tune-up.

So, that broken spoke cost me several weeks of riding that bike, plus more than $300. Oh well. After I retrieved that bicycle, it has been notably more pleasant to ride, which is a bonus—it has cleaner shifting and better rolling speed.

May 4--A nasty surprise at work. A broken spoke, and not the first on the back wheel of my hybrid bike Clarence.

Here and below, some damaged trees were cut down after the 2020 derecho, and someone had then carved into bird statues. Corner of Albernett and  Boyson roads. Another pleasant surprise seen on ride May 31.

In the meantime, my road bike Argent in late May developed a weird wobble on its front wheel. Was it another snapped spoke? I couldn’t find one, and I concluded it was a flaw in the front tyre. But I took the wheel into the shop to have more experienced eyes confirm my opinion—and the mechanic could see the problem right away. The wheel is mechanically sound, but the inner fabric of the front tyre had failed, leading to a bulge.

At least that was a much cheaper and quicker problem to fix—and I could have just replaced the tyre myself but the labor charge at Goldfinch Cyclery to do that was only $15, and I was happy, with my wife’s encouragement, to save 30 minutes of my life at that price.

Well, those minor blips didn’t prevent me from biking in recent weeks. I rolled just over 228 miles in May, compared to 159 miles in April. My miles are slowly building, and I hope that they will jump substantially after I recover from my second heart procedure that takes place in July. We’ll see.

The Fancy Beast, my mountain bike, on freshly mowed mountain bike trail in Marion. A nice surprise.

Life can bring you unexpected challenges and unexpected pleasures, too. For example, on a recent ride June 11, I rode my mountain bike, intending to use the mountain bike trails that split off from the Boyson Road Trail near my home.

Those mountain trails can be a bit challenging—they don’t have any dramatic features, so I don’t mean they are a challenged because they are designed with challenges as some mountain bike trails are—but the trails are not mowed very often and the encroaching plant life in the woods can make a ride a bit difficult. That was pleasantly not true on this day—the good surprise is that the trails had obviously just been mowed and were wide open and fun to ride.

June 16 bike ride down to Prairie Park Fishery--suprise! My usual route is closed, as short trail by the river is not open due to construction of a new biking bridge over the Cedar River. Well, OK, a major new biking attraction is coming. I'll live with riding a different route.

Yet, surprise, there is so much utility work going on in the Boyson Road area that I have not been able to repeat that ride due to difficulty accessing those trails. Mow ’em and then close ’em—bah, humbug.

What Marion gives, it also takes. Another recent example: Our neighbor city to the east has established, in recent years, a major bike trail that leads from my neighborhood all the way through Marion to the countryside east of town. The Grant Wood Trail, not long ago, was just a grassy stretch in the county rideable only on a mountain bike. In recent years, the county has paved several miles and added a grand new bridge. The city of Marion, in the meantime, has constructed a connecting trail and extended the Lindale Trail with two new fancy bridges.

Now, one can ride a road bike all the way from Council Street in Cedar Rapids out to Waldos Rock Park in Marion and beyond on nicely paved trail (well, one short leg on a quiet county road, but still, it’s an easy, paved ride).

I was aware that Marion has worked on a fancy upgrade to their City Square Plaza, which is directly across the street from the new Grant Wood Trail route, so I decided to ride there last week just to see what the plaza is like. It’s very nice. Marion’s treatment of the bike trail, however, has gotten a little weird.

Climbing play area seen at newly renovated Central Plaza in Marion (above and below).

Right across the street from the fancy new plaza, two blocks of the recently created bike trail have been designated as pedestrian-only zones. Well, I can sort of understand. I always thought the downtown stretch of the new Grant Wood Trail was a little awkward, taking bike traffic on a sidewalk directly in front of both the public library and City Hall.

Riding there always made me feel a little weird. You do have the alternative, once you near the Westside Diner, to go south one block and ride down that street until you get past downtown, a route I use whenever I think pedestrian traffic might be heavy, but that alternative route is neither marked nor designated for bikes.

On the one hand, I think the pedestrian zone downtown makes sense. On the other, I think Marion should mark and sign and declare a “bike boulevard” for the alternative route one block south (and on the connecting streets that they want bikers to use). I think the need for the alternative route is obvious, and I’m a little miffed city planners who created the bike trail in the first place didn’t anticipate the need for another route before putting up “dismount bikers” signs.

If the Grant Wood Trail shoots all the way through Marion, as it now does, then let bikers ride it and mark where they should ride. If the city does not want them riding on the walkway downtown—fair enough, I understand. However, create and show me the alternate route. Otherwise, you made a new, nice, fancy long trail and chose to knock a hole right in the middle of it.

Harrumph.

Honestly, I can’t get too mad at the city of Marion. Like Cedar Rapids, the city has invested a lot in recent years to become more bicycle friendly, and I appreciate that. This just seems like an obvious, foreseeable flaw in that overall nice pattern.

Well, back to summer rides. Despite the current heat. which is keeping me off my wheels this weekend, my bike rides have been very enjoyable. We’ve had some rain, but most days, even the wet ones, have not been rainy all day long, and we’ve had a fair amount of warm, but not hot, sunny weather, too.

Iowa is in its most beautiful month. For bikers, June is busting out all over. Catalpa have bloomed and faded. Orange Tiger Lilies are growling (or trumpeting). Common Milkweed is moving into its pink, perfumed firework phase. The world in Iowa is a very good place for those of us who choose to roll on two wheels across this planet.

A few images from mostly May bike rides but also this one from April 29. Daffodils in bloom near my hybrid bike parked in rack behind Warde Hall, were my office what when I had an office. Retired now.

Bike parked at Lafayette during May 3 ride. That ride was a bit more than 20 miles and I was pretty spent the next day, leading to a warning from my wife to watch the miles. She's an RN and I generally find her medical advice worth listening to.

Phlox in bloom on trail north of Robins during my one ride up to Lafayette May 3.

May 4--I always lock my bike, even on campus. You never know who or what will be interested in it. As far as I can tell, the tree rat did no damage.

May 31--Peony in bloom near bathroom building and playground at Lowe Park.

Even if some of us must limit our rolling, a bit. Still, I have ridden 179.72 miles in the first 21 days of June, which probably means I will likely top the 228.9 miles I rode in May. I was hoping retirement meant more miles on the bike, and that is a path I seem to be on.

This year, the path I am on does not mean RAGBRAI miles, because I can’t currently roll 50 or 60 miles in a morning, at least until the ticker gets straightened out. Still, how has biking been in Iowa these past six weeks?

Filled with surprises, good and not so good, but overall, quite glorious.

Cone Flower in bloom at Prairie Park Fishery on June 16. Here, above and below, some images of things I saw during June bike rides.

Deer seen munching on a tree leaf near Boyson Trail June 11.

Cone Flower in bloom at Hanna Park, see on June 10 bike ride.

Ride down to Cedar Lake via CEMAR Trail, stopping by Mount Calvary Cemetery to say hello to Sisters of Mercy there.

June 2 bike ride down to Cedar Lake.