In Which Tuesday Brings Some Wet Scenery

Dry Creek Tuesday morning--more like wet river.

It was a nice day for biking Tuesday, although very warm and humid during the afternoon ride home.

But it was also just a bit eerie. Days of rain have swollen the creek behind my house to modest river size. While I am grateful for the ride today, I am a bit apprehensive—the Cedar River is on the rise, as it every other waterway in this part of Iowa. While the pavement was nice and dry, the world looked like a slightly sad, damp place today.

Afternoon clouds at MMU.

And the rain is supposed to return tonight—I may have to drive in the morning.

The Linn County Mayor’s Bike Ride, which was to also be an MMU Bike Club ride, didn’t happen Monday due to a morning storm. But on Saturday, I replaced a worn tyre on my hybrid bike Clarence, and on Sunday I used it for a family ride to an apple orchard in Marion. It was in full “bus” mode, with a 2-year-old in the toddler seat and an older grandson on the Tag-A-Long.

And there was pie after that, so even in the wet season, there is some summer fun.

Here’s hoping that the open path to the Gulf of Mexico won’t stay so far ajar too much longer. This has been an odd year, with dry patches and extensive wet stretches—a year that you can believe in climate change because it’s too obvious to ignore.

Well, at least I did get to ride both Sunday and Tuesday. We’ll see what the rest of the week brings. Mt. Trashmore trails are set to open later this week—we’ll see if I can sample them, or if that even happens as most routes down there via bike may be closed by flooding.

Bike on campus Tuesday morning.