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!