A Harbinger Of Winter

Well... On the way home today, in the mostly lovely 35F degree temperature and with the wind blowing 15 to 20 out of the northwest coming across the river, I saw the first bald eagle of the winter. This was on the Rock Island Bike Path between the Cresent Bridge and the Centennial Bridge. I normally don't expect to see them this early. I am hoping that this is merely a fluke and not a sign of the next ice age dawning.

Stupid Drivers - aka Dim Bulbs

I guess it's really spring. The folks in the cars are back being seriously stupid. I had two head shaking incidents today. Both on the way home. The first was when I was coming over the bridge by the casino boat. I'd crested the bridge and was starting to coast down to get to the red light. Dim bulb passes me to dive completely across me to get to the right turn lane. I was going straight. Couldn't wait 2 seconds until he got to the turn lane.

The other was going down a hill. I stopped at a stop sign. Dim bulb was behind me. I go straight. He follows a couple of seconds later. I'd pedaled a little, but then started coasting since I'm going to be making a left at the bottom. Dim bulb passes me, never mind the car coming up the hill toward him. At least the guy in the car going up the hill was paying attention. He brakes hard to leave enough of a gap for the dim bulb to get into his lane. Dim bulb was making a right at the bottom on the hill. I was within 5 feet of him by the time we both got to the bottom. Stupid drivers!


But... In another sign of spring. I saw the first heron of the year. I was a bit surprised to see it. They will be here until fall. The ones here are the are of the Great Blue variety. I'm not sure about the range map in the link. I don't see them in the winter.

An Interesting Ride

Well... The swapping on of the slicks didn't cause a major ice storm here... yet. Here is the promised story of yesterday's ride. I had just about reached the Government Bridge when I came up on a guy walking his bike. In his left hand was a rather large beer in a paper bag. I asked if he was having bike problems and then we got to talking...

"No... I ain't having bike problems. Just thinking about problems with my old lady. She hit me with a lamp right here (point to his head) and now she's in jail. I don't got no money to bail her out. I need like $500 to get her out. I just got out of the Scott County jail myself. (I didn't ask) That's a nice light you got you your bike. Where'd you get it?" I said it came from Europe and suggested that a light like my backup would be easy to get at a bike shop for around $20. "I got this ticket in Rock Island last year for riding my bike without a light at night. It was $75! Man... I didn't got no $75, so I did community service. I been riding my bike cause I can't afford gas. It's all that Bush's fault." I allowed that he's a bit of a problem. "Yeah... I don't like him at all. Hell, I'd vote for Hillary before I'd vote for him. I was driving my car to where I work, I work construction, so I got to get to all sorts of places. Man... I'd be buying $5 of gas to get there, then $5 worth to get home. It was costing me, like, $15 a day to drive my car." I said that I really had to be getting home. We shook hands, said our goodbyes, and I head off to home.


The other thing of note about the ride yesterday were the birds. The bald eagles have moved on to be replaced by the American Pelican. I saw about a dozen of them flying and then landing over by the lock. Man... those things are big!