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:

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.

In Which We Get Ready To Ride

Sign that welcomed our team to its camp site.

We all gathered in Rock Valley today. Susan put some devices on her bike, I lubed my chain and we all painted the shirts that Eldon brought. Amanda, thank you, the shirts are awsome.

Before Eldon and Brigid arrived, Cate, Susan and I dined nicely in a Mexican restaurant downtown. It was a pretty authentic place. Later, all of us visted the bike expo and got our route maps. Susan picked up passed for the two guest riders who will be with us for part of the week.

Our hosts, Tammy and Mark,  have been very  nice, provided us with drinks and snacks. So far, camping in someone's yard seems to beat the main campground by far.

The town of Rock Valley is recovering from a devastating flood that almost canceled their RAGBRAI plans. I'm glad that it didn't. It's a small town, and seems to have gone all out to welcome RAGBRAI. They are doing this stop very well.

I'm official. And I have a flood recovery bracelet, too.

And our camp yard is being shared by a cool team from Muscatine that is raising funds for a homeless shelter there—shout out to Team MCSA.

Let the biking begin!

Painted shirts.

Lunch With Bill and Builders

Bill in Ellis Park.

Monday’s bike ride was almost pure pleasure.  Almost.  There was a bit of a poignant note to it, too.

I rode to the north end of the Cedar River Trail beyond Hiawatha and Robins, and there was a sight to behold—actual construction/paving trucks on the actual trail.  The trail about 3 miles north of Robins has been closed all summer—not convenient for RAGBRAI training—for paving a few miles north to Central City.  It’s been frustrating seeing the serious-looking barriers and nothing else, and today was the first sight at the south end of the construction zone of actual work taking place.  My hope, of course, is that they started at the north end and are finishing the south end, but I suspect it will be some time before the trail is opened.

The last update on linncountrytrail.org was from May and said the project was ahead of schedule due to good weather, and the trail “could be opened before the end of summer.”

Well, I don’t want to sound whiney.  Along with, I’m sure, most Cedar Rapids bikers, I’m thrilled that more of the trail will be paved.  The ride south to Ely is nice, and it will be great to be able to head north, so a few months of inconvenience now are totally worth it.

A sight for sore eyes--the north end construction site.

And it was great to see the truck.  Construction is underway!  In fact, construction, for one reason or another, became the theme of this Monday ride.  I saw work going on to replace lights at the railroad crossing on 42^nd Street NE in Cedar Rapids, continued exterior work at the new federal courthouse, some construction barriers at Veteran’s Memorial Auditorium adjacent to the newly opened City Hall, and, of course, work at the Five Seasons Center or whatever it’s called now.

I had my trusty new Canon with me and present some building photos—not bothering to show all the sights, by the way.  There was more work going on than I bothered to edit and post.

Never noticed before, but the big company downtown
is not Quaker Oats, but "Quaker Oars." Do they
mold paddles from grain-based plastics?

Cranes seem to be a part of the Cedar Rapids skyscape these days.  My personal favorite is the new central library.  If I do RAGBRAI again in the future, I’ll still find time to relax in the library.  A big new library right adjacent to the bike trail—well, blog fans, how could it get better than that?

Anyway, when I turned south, I decided that Ellis Park would be my lunch spot for an early afternoon stop.  The odd thing about the ride to Ellis Park is that much of it is on an under-used west side river walkway, disconnected from a nearby under-used bike path, and then a slightly iffy jaunt down Ellis Boulevard before you get to the park.  I kind of wish the city would simply sign and paint the river walk for bike use, and there could easily be a nice, continuous bike trail linking the east side downtown trail at Sokol Park to a west side river trail that goes all the way to Ellis Park.

The poignant part of the ride?  If you’re biking to Ellis Park, then when you get onto the nice, new, levee-topping east side bike trail, what’s on your left is a partial wasteland of flood devastation.  There are a few houses, but mostly block after block that was swept away by the Cedar River.  Two years after the mighty flood, there is a lot of good that has been done in Cedar Rapids (see the library and courthouse), but a lot of scars, too.

New federal courthouse being finished, conveniently on the bike trail.
If I commit a federal crime, I'll be able to bike to my trial on the trail.

Bicycle parking at new federal courthouse, more convenient than car parking, I'd wager.

Voters have twice rejected funding for west-side protection.  I don’t know why.  Lack of trust, I suppose, but I voted “yes” both times.  Tax me and protect my city, please.

Well, enough of politics and back to our tale.

I arrived at Ellis Park on a gorgeous, warm but not hot, summer afternoon and ate lunch with Bill.  William Shakespeare.

There is a “Shakespeare Garden” in the park, a bit of faux historic kitsch.  It’s not quite as impressive as the tree museum in Storm Lake, Iowa, which is an idea maybe Cedar Rapids should repeat—only can we make it the historic moss or fungus museum?  I’m kidding, let’s stick with trees.

Work on RR lights at 42nd Street.

In Storm Lake, Iowa, they have trees in a park along the lake that come from seeds or shoots of trees that are somehow associated with historic figures or events.  It’s both weird and cool at the same time.  Like a Shakespeare Garden for no particular reason in Cedar Rapids.  How about a Vonnegut garden?  Let’s do it before Iowa City wakes up.

Anyway, the literary park within the park is a nice, a quit alcove for a biker’s brown-bag (actually, green lunch box) meal.  And, as I looked across the Cedar River, of course, there was a utility vehicle doing something along the power lines that follow a railroad right-of-way there.

I headed back, crossed the river on one of the one-ways north, re-linked to the trail, then turned around at Sokol Park and headed north on the east side trail.

A new furnace is being installed at my house Tuesday, so if I take a ride, it will have to be an early evening jaunt—so it might be a while before the bard and I break bread together again.  But Monday’s ride was beautiful.  And I’m getting excited just thinking about it.

They’re paving the trail!

Convention Center downtown, being rebuilt.