An other shot of my bike--this one, a close up of my odometer.  I think I got the odometer around August of 2005.  Since then, I've biked over 1,000 miles.  There are people who bike that distance every few months.  But for someone who mainly rides around 15 miles on trips in the summer, I don't think that's too bad.

   This is my bike who I've now decided is Sir G.F. Winter.  Every week day I make the 1.6 trek into work on Sir Winter; wind, snow or shine.  Maybe it's not the best idea some days, but I figure "hey--I only have two weeks left.  Pull the stops and bike!".
   Iowa drivers are interesting.  They are usually much more polite then what I'm use to.  It throws me off sometimes when I see someone coming out of a parking lot.  I slow down to let them pass, and they stop before the sidewalk to let me by.  Not use to that.  One person was already across the side walk as I was approaching, and they backed up to let me by.  That was really thoughtful. 
   Not everyone is a fan of me when I'm on my bike.  I haven't been able to use the sidewalks in quite some time--too unpredictable.  So, I bike on the road.  The shoulders are of often covered in chunks of snow, which means I have to ride more or less in the driving lane.  Most people just go around me without issue.  Once and a while though, someone lays on the horn as they go by, as if I didn't know where I was.  It's not like I can go anywhere other then where I ride, and I have a bright flashing tail light, so it's not like I surprised them at the last second with my presents.  The likely reason for this reaction is their disapproval of where I'm riding.  Apparently they believe the road was only constructed as a place for people to drive motor vehicles.  This opinion is contraindicated by the fact I pay taxes the go to funding road maintenance.  There are also cities have laws that prohibit bikers from riding on sidewalks.  Why?  Because that is what roads are for!  So those who honk, and better yet, those who honk, slow down and hand out dirty glares are really just showing their own ignorance, not to mention arrogance.  Then again, I don't follow any traffic laws when I'm on my bike anyway.  It's too bad the roads require all that work to bike on, or else when someone honked at me, I'd wave and smile at them.

   Face.

  Chrissie.

   So in departing the Garage for Cedar Rapids, I had to move around cars in order to get out.  This is standard procedure.  But I made a mistake: I forgot the keys to a car I moved in my pocket.  Today at lunch I had to overnight those back.  Sorry Chrissy!

   All good things must come to an end... Today I departed just before 4:00pm for Iowa to finish up the contract in Cedar Rapids.  I got a lot accomplished while I was up, but I didn't update the blog at all.  I'm going to have to go back and do a lot of back-dating.

   Echo.