In Which I Wonder About Chemicals and My Brain

Francis, Wednesday morning, parked between Regina Hall and the library.

I've got something I’ll call ’Nam brain.

I thought it was because I’m approaching the biggest public event in the Mount Mercy University Fall Faculty Series “The Stories We Tell: Legacies of the Vietnam War.” I coordinate that series, and this will be The Week, when The Wall (a traveling replica of the National Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial) arrives on campus.

So maybe being sleep-deprived (the first newspaper was this week, too) is just normal. But I’m on edge, like a kid before Christmas. I want tomorrow to come. But the anticipation is part of the pleasure, so I don’t want tomorrow to come.

What has all this got to do with biking? Well, for the first time ever, it’s possible my wife and I might bike to work together this week on Friday. We’ll see, but that would be Earth-shattering biking news. Parking will be messed up for a few days, but on Friday the campus bike racks will still be open.

Or maybe I’ve been exposed to dangerous plant-killing chemicals. It was nothing serious like Agent Orange, but I was delivering the newspaper bundles on campus this morning and I drove my old pickup truck of a bike and locked it up at the bike rack nearest the library. (Media grammar students—count the clauses in that sentence.)

That bike rack came complete with a dire warning:

Not the most comforting sign when you have parked your bike and you're wearing sandals.

Well, I don’t always wear closed shoes for biking. If bad things have been sprayed in the grass, I may be vulnerable. On the other hand, crabgrass was looking a bit brown, to me, in this sprayed area, and lawn chemicals don’t work instantly. Chances are the flags have been up for a while and the chemicals are all dry, and I’m OK. Which means the forgetfulness, anxiety and lack of sleep are all normal. It’s just another case of ’Nam brain.

Anyway, y’all come down to Mount Mercy. Bike if you can—it will be a heck of a lot easier than driving. The Wall will be here Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday—it opens officially on Thursday (tomorrow! yikes!) at 4:30 p.m. in the lawn of Warde Hall. A veteran’s panel shares stories that night at 7 in Flaherty Community Room, and information about the Wall will be presented at an open house Saturday.

And the wife and I are volunteering to staff the Wall early Saturday and Sunday at 6 a.m. Will we bike to campus then? Probably not, it’s dark that early—but we’ll see about Thursday. There may be some epic biking saga yet to come.

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!

In Which There’s A Bike I Don’t Want, But Is Fun To Watch

A Swiss architectural company has created this odd bicycle, a very large, but very impractical bike, about as tall as a one-story house, and, according to a description I read, with seven different “tiers” or layers that one could sit on.

Hmm. Some odd bikes I want. Not this one, really. It would be a bit hard to ride to MMU, and I bet it would not do well on the hill climb.

And it’s a bit weird to have this Swiss German voice singing about a bike that exists in Hanoi, Vietnam. But also fun, I think.