Once Again on My Bike

Back on the bike. After taking a few days off I was on the bike again this morning for a short ride. (My thighs were saying what are you doing to us. We took you up and down your stairs all yesterday. Was that not enough?)

I did not go for a very long ride. I need to do stuff in the jungle that has become my back yard. And if I did a long ride I would be too tired out to do that.

Also I had a very restless night of sleep. First off I didn't get to be until after midnight. It was a very humid day. I had fans in the windows but they really weren't cooling down the house much.
The promised front and rain cooled things down but it also got windy. Next there was a police siren. After that someone in a car playing their music so loud it vibrated the glass in my windows. Then the usual night visit of Charlie to lick my face reassuring me he still love me. I strange dream that I woke up from with this feeling I needed to do something very important immediately but had no idea what it was. Finally a truck backing up. Then I decided it was time to get up.

Tomorrow I plan on getting up early and heading out on the bike. I will be attempting to get to Belle Haven which is south of National Airport (I will wave to you Diane Hall Nees when I'm there). It's about 16 miles from my house. I will make sure I have a mask so if I'm completely spent from the ride there I can get on the Metro at National Airport and ride back home that way. Also have to figure out some sort of snack to bring.

Here are a couple of pictures of the Mall this morning.

Birthdays in the Time of the Pandemic

I saw this a couple of weeks back. I saw a woman putting up these decorations. I'm thinking that it was probably the mom who was putting them up.

I said I hope you have a good party. She thanked me.

I thought it must be hard to properly celebrate events during all of this. But especially hard to celebrate birthdays.

This week there are a couple of birthdays on my block. One of them is a kid. The plan is to do a birthday car parade for her. Also someone is making either cookies or a cake or maybe even both. Hopefully this will make the birthday seem a little more like a birthday.

One more thing that had changed in these pandemic times.

Passing the Time During the Pandemic

I’ve been watching more TV than usual. There’s not a whole lot you can do during the course of the day these days. Well there is probably lots to do but I don’t know about you but I seem not to be doing it. Or to be doing just a little of it each day.

Thus the increase in TV watching.

While surfing, I did not realize how many true crime dramas there are.

I also was surprised at the endless way people are killed: stabbed, shot, bludgeoned, strangled, thrown off buildings, thrown off cliffs, thrown off cruise ships, thrown down a hole, pushed off a building, murders that are staged as suicides, how many contract killings there are, poisoned, dismembered, suffocated, burned, drowning, etc. And let me tell you nothing will cheer you up more than watching a couple of these (not).

And if true crime doesn’t do it for you or it’s too depressing, there’s always crime drama. Hours upon hours of it. Law and Order, Law and Order SVU. Those two alone have a total of 797 episodes. Talk about your binge watching. The average episode is around 45 minutes. That works out to 35,865 minutes or 597.75 hours or 24 days. There is of course a whole host of others to choose from.

Here are some of the things that I see on the shows that really bug me. When anyone brings in coffee you tell there is nothing in the cups because of the way they move around with them. If there doing a raid there never seems to enough people for the raid thus ensuring that the bad guy will escape. There always seems to a judge that will issue a search warrant on the flimsiest like we’re looking for someone with red hair (well not really but you know what I mean). They always seem to have the most latest tech that will test for the most obscure things. They’re able to travel great distances incredibly quickly. The shows produced in Hollywood will refer to local interstates incorrectly. As in one episode of NCIS they talked about how the car took the 66. Umm no here it would be called 66. Only out west specifically in California is the added to the beginning of route numbers like the 405. One other thing is when a lawyer blocks the jury’s view of witness. That would never ever happen

If you get tired of the above two categories there are always the doctor shows but there are less of them. And I don’t like them very much. They’ve gotten way to graphic for me too much blood and lots and lots of guts. Freaks me out

But if I really want to get freaked out I turn on the news and watch the orange one. Then I turn to a true crime show and somehow dismemberment doesn’t sound all that bad.

Across the Bridge

I made it across the Memorial Bridge into Virginia this morning. I'm trying to think the last time I did that. It's been years. Probably four years maybe even longer.

I also made it back home. I'm thinking I will really be feeling it today. The next couple of days it's supposed to be lousy weather so I will be resting.

I was going to take a picture of the Memorial Bridge but it's under construction. I was pleasantly surprised when I crossed the roads needed to get to the Mt. Vernon Trail that cars actually stopped for me. I had stopped at one of the roads and was confused why cars were slowing down. I then realized it was so I could cross the road. I waved and went on my way.

I made it to Gravelly Point to watch the planes take off. The only thing is in the ten minutes I was there all of one plane took off. At that time of day 6::30am on a Wednesday there should have planes lined up on the tarmac waiting to take off. As I said there was one lone take off and no additional planes waiting to take off.



On the way home I decided I would take the 14th Street Bridge to get back into DC. As soon as I got on it I remembered why I never used to take the Bridge to get back into DC. Your riding across a vehicle bridge so you are in a confined area. There is a fence on either side of you and of course cars on the bridge. So there's all that nice clean air your breathing. Also there's a little more wind partially from the cars but also because you're completely out in the open. Note to self don't use the bridge again.

I'm very proud that I made it. I'm also rather surprised how well I'm holding up since this is the most consecutive days I've been on a bike in years.

Final Pictures

Just a few more pictures.

At the Lincoln Memorial

I am so glad to be able to say this is my home. What a great way to wake up in the morning.

The Lincoln Memorial

Here are a few pictures of the Memorial itself. Also some great shots of the view you get as the sun rises.

Later in the year the sun will move over enough that it will land directly on the statue.

More from the Morning Ride

Under heading of strange things that people do. There was a guy at the Lincoln Memorial who had a rubber ball and a hockey stick. He was hitting the ball with the stick against the steps and the walls of the memorial.

Just a little strange but then again it is DC.

Sunrise on the Mall

Today the sun came up. Well of course the sun comes up everyday but today there were no clouds so you could actually see it.

The weather could not have been more perfect.

The sunrise was spectacular.

Again at the Lincoln Memorial were graduates taking their pictures. The first group looked like they were from Auburn because one of the women had something on that looked like that logo. There were two of them. As I was leaving another group was arriving there were four of them. Not sure where they were from but they looked like college students.

To the Lincoln Memorial

I made to the Lincoln Memorial this morning. I was up and on the bike close 6 am. Another chilly overcast day. I'm still hoping one of these days hopefully soon there will be a sunrise with no clouds so I can actually ah see the sun rise. It will be a spectacular shot.

Not many people out. But there were people graduation pictures. The women looked a little order than your average college graduate. So I’m thinking this was for her masters or something like that.

Also saw a couple getting engagement photos.

Here are a couple pictures looking out from the Memorial to the rest of the Mall.

Socially Responsible Barbecue

Last year over the summer into early fall in my block we started doing hotdog Fridays. As the name implies each Friday we would have a cook out at someone's house which would include hot dogs. The person hosting would do the cooking duties and people would bring other things to eat.

Each week it would be at some else's house so no one person would be responsible for it each week. I partnered with my next door neighbor since I don't have a grill. Ana cooked the dogs. I made lasagna and a cake. We also provided chips and drinks. Any extra food or drink would be passed on to the next hosts. As the weeks passed there was less and less the hosts would have to buy. In part of course because of the extra items but also because people would chip in more.

We had one the majority of the summer. There was sign up sheet that people would use. There were a couple of weeks that no one hosted. We got lucky with the weather. We never had a cancellation due to bad weather.

Of course things being the way they are, it really wasn't possible to do this. So instead last night we had a socially responsible barbecue. People came out onto their front porches or lawns and cooked dinner. Yes it was not on a Friday and I had pizza instead of a hot dog. But otherwise it was the same.

There was some food shared. Someone made cookies (oatmeal chocolate chip) and put them on a table and people would come along and get a cookie. There were some other treats as well.

No word yet on when the next one will be.

Morning Monument Ride

Look where I rode to this morning! I made it to the Washington Monument!

I got up early not as early as I wanted to. I'd hope for a 6am start. My mind said yes but my body said no efing way. I did finally get up and then had to do a couple of little things. Those little things kept coming until I decided enough get your butt on the bike and ride.
I headed out at 6:45. The weather was the typical weather that DC has been having for what seems like forever. It was cloudy cool and my favorite weather phenomenon windy.

Wind my great nemesis. Wind something in the 35 plus years of riding in DC I have never mastered. Wind that thing that zaps my strength faster than anything. Wind, which no matter direction I ride in, is always directly in my face. I know this should not be possible but there it is. Always in my face. (When I was doing training for AIDS rids one of my friends was one of the leaders of them. One year almost without fail every training ride we went on it rained. And my friend really did not like riding in the rain. One time we had rain and wind. I said to him I'm not going on any more training rides with you. He said neither am I! It was windy and rainy for most of the ride out. As I recall it was one of our longer rides around 70 miles or so. But on the way back the rain stopped the sky gradually got brighter. The sun finally came out and the wind died down. We were glad that's how the ride went as opposed to be the opposite.

There were very few people out, which is why I went so early. It was a nice ride even with the wind. I stopped on the grounds of the Monument to take a few pictures then headed back home.

In all I was on the bike for about an hour. Tomorrow I hope to be better prepared and make it to the Lincoln Memorial, my favorite memorial in DC. Also hoping for a little better weather so I can get a picture of the sun rising over the city.

Also one neat thing I noticed this morning along the Metropolitan Branch Trail is this little bike repair station with a pump.