In Which a Butterfly Fails at a Heist

I thought I saw a monarch, but now I think it's a viceroy. Stripe on back wing and smaller size.

Hot times in Iowa! Today, Monday, June 29, I was too tied up for biking, which I regret because the sun was shining, but I was out with a grandchild at several parks in the late morning—and my regret is a bit muted, because—yuck!

Hot, almost 90, and sticky, oppressively humid—I saw that my hardy sister did a tour of Marion today, and more power to her, but I was indoors today.

I hope to get more miles in this week, but we are finishing some home projects. Monday was a biking fail and Tuesday looks iffy. Maybe I will be lucky and get a few evening miles in.

Sunday was also hot and humid, but not quite as bad as today. And I did get miles in. Around noon, I rode my hybrid bike to a nearby school. My 4-year-old grandson had been desperate to get a toy he had left at our house, and rode a small bike (his mom walked with him) to retrieve it, and after that his mom and I accompanied him to a nearby school playground.

Grandson on his bike rides to playground.

The plan was for me to then leave on a longer bike ride, but then I heard from the bike shop that I could pick up my road bike that afternoon.

So anyway, I went to the school with the boy, played for a few minutes, and then left for a quick ride of the Boyson-Lindale trails in Marion.

And that’s where the heist was attempted.

Last week, while riding with the grandson, we had spied what we thought was a monarch butterfly on clovers on a sunny hillside on that trail. I didn’t have my good camera and didn’t capture images of it. On this hot Sunday afternoon, I turned from the Boyson Trial to head up the hill on the Lindale Trail, and I idly wondered if I might spot said butterfly again.

Above and below--I shot images of a bee while hunting an elusive butterfly in the clover.

I neared the top of the hill and was getting past the clover patch, and I was sure luck was passing me by. Suddenly, something small and orange flitted out of the underbrush and buzzed my bike.

Well, I have seen a few monarchs this summer, but not many, and I had the good camera with me on this ride, so I stopped. The butterfly darted off, of course. I decided to walk over to the clover and just watch for a while, in case it returned.

It was hiding in the grass. I almost stepped on it, it rose up, and then it flitted to a flower to have its image made.

Butterfly (above and below) on clover.

And then the little scamp headed over to my parked bike and landed on the handlebar. I think of it as an attempted bike abduction with only the physics of such a tiny creature being unable to move the weight of my bike as my saving grace. I did get some cool butterfly on a bike images, though.

Brazen butterfly bandito attempts bike heist. Fortunately, it's too small to ride off on the bike. Same shady character in the sunshine below.

At the time I wondered a bit--it looked like a monarch, but seemed a little small. And a closer look at the images shows the characteristic back wing stripe of the viceroy, a butterfly that closely mimics the monarch in appearance, but is a different species. It's still a pretty butterfly, and the smaller size of the viceroy means it has even more chutzpah to try to ride off on my hybrid bike.

Later in the afternoon, I picked up the road bike from a shop in NewBo. It was still hot, and I thought I would just ride home rather than getting in more miles. I tried to get there via the Cedar River Trial, but near the federal courthouse, the Cedar River was not beside the trial as it usually is, but was across the trail.

Road bike by flooded trail. Turned back and rode streets through downtown.

Well, I rode an alternate route through downtown, and headed north on the trail where there were no flooding rivers.

It was good to be on the road bike again, and despite the heat, I decided to ride the quick ride up to Lafayette before heading home. They have a brand new and pretty cool bottle filling station at the Hiawatha trailhead, by the way.

I’m glad to have the road bike back and hope to get more miles on it, since it will probably be the main bike for faux RAGBRAI. The mountain bike is still in the shop, and I may explore the grassy part of the Grant Wood Trail after I get it back later this week.

One final biking note—my wife and I spoke with our son who lives in San Francisco Sunday via video call. He showed me his new, second bike—a black mountain bike that he’s planning to put a seat on so he can take his baby son for rides when the baby gets more confident sitting up. It was cool to see, and I thought of the bike that’s in the shop. It’s a mountain bike, too—black. And it originally belonged to the said son. Not sure how it can happen, but maybe someday we can take the young grandson for a ride on a trail riding our black mountain bikes.

That would be cool. Even more cool than a hot day attempt by a butterfly at a bike heist.

Summaries of Sunday rides--why Element and Map my Ride don't quite agree, I don't know: