January 26, 2012

• The Morning Comute

  When the weather permits, which is most of the time, and time allows, I ride my bike to work.  It's a pleasant 2.5 miles that includes a mile or so of stiff climbing.  By the time I reach the barn, I'm all warmed up and ready to work.

  Today was such a picture perfect day I thought I'd take y'all along. 

  I have to cross Highway 38, which is generally busy and there's no signal, so I just have to pick my way through traffic.  Then I have to pass the high school, which presents its own dangers if the students are on the road.  But then as I get out of town, into the orange groves, I can relax. 

  The real estate boom gave birth to several modern mansions along my route.  They sit safely sequestered behind their ornate gates, and signs that warn of security camera surveillance.  One had a motorhome bigger than my house (and probably cost twice as much), parked in the driveway.  I guess it's kind of scary to have so much that you have to sequester yourself behind locked gates.

  

  When the economy tanked, many of these houses were still under construction.  They remain unfinished.  This one has been for sale for a long time.

  

  This house sits right next door, and it too, stands empty.  It was probably purchased for the land on which it sits, to be developed into another luxury estate.

  

  There are still groves around some of the new houses, and beautiful landscaping too.

  

  These quiet, narrow, grove roads are popular with walkers, joggers, and other cyclists.

  

   

  There are some remnants of the old cut stone and clay pipe irrigation systems which have long been replaced by plastic sprinklers.  The rusting smudge pots in the background were used back in the "olden" days before oil got expensive and air quality wasn't a consideration.  I remember waking up on cold winter mornings to find the entire neighborhood shrouded in gray, sooty fog.  When one would blow one's nose, the snot was tainted black.  Ah, the good old days.

  

  The Mormon Temple gleams in the morning sun.

  

  And finally, I reach the barn, where my beautiful steeds greet me enthusiastically.

  

   

   

  • 1:08 am
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