Through the Fog, Smoothly

Today's ride felt almost like a repeat of yesterday, except that the group was missing a few of Tuesday's hammer-heads and the fog on the levee was a bit lighter. Elsewhere in the city there was again little hint of fog. In fact, at the spot where we meet to begin the ride, there was hardly any fog at all. I knew we'd hit a fog bank as we went around the big curve in the river near Ochsner Hospital, but I was fully expecting to pop out the other side into the sunshine. Not so! The fog stayed with us all the way out, and it wasn't until we were well on our way back that I finally turned off my headlight. As is typical for a Wednesday, we had a nice group of ten or twelve up on the levee today, and the pace stayed pretty steady at 22-23 mph with most people taking long even pulls at the front. I was glad to feel my legs returning to what passes for normal nowadays, although they still tended to "load up" rather quickly when I'd be at the front.

On the way home I stopped at the corner of Willow and Short streets. There were a couple of guys there digging a big hole in front of a large old home that had been badly damaged by the tornado. This big three-floor home was built around the turn of the century, I think, on typical brick piers about two feet off the ground. The tornado had pushed the entire structure a couple of feet to the left, toppling all of the piers and dropping the entire building down onto the ground. It's amazing that the thing didn't completely collapse, and looking at it from the front you can see that it is leaning a few degrees to the left, leaving only a foot or two between it and neighbor's home. (If I were the neighbor, I would be very nervous!) Anyway, the guys in front said they were disconnecting the gas line because the house was going to have to be demolished. Sad. The owners had been completely renovating the house (it had a few apartments in it) for at least five years and it had survived the hurricane with minimal damage. In fact, I think it still had it's original slate roof. That is, until the tornado ripped it off.

So we found a couple of last-minute tickets up to Moline for this weekend. That means that instead of driving, we'll be flying to Moline and renting a car for the hour's drive to Iowa City. At $550 for two round-trip tickets, I guess it is worth saving 24 hours of driving, especially considering the forcast that calls for rain and snow.