Heading Our Way

Listening to: You Keep Me Hanging On by Vanilla Fudge on WTIX-FM
Drinking: Pinot Noir left over from dinner with the neighbors
Feeling: A bit melancholy

The forecast for today was bad, and the first thing I did when I awoke was look out the window. The street was wet from a light shower, but it wasn't raining. I knew I was going to ride. Running a few minutes late I headed out the door wondering if I'd be coming home in the rain. The levee was practically deserted, but the overpowering winds of the past couple of days were gone, so I put my head down and just motored at a steady pace. It felt good to be out there alone for a change, and by the time I got back home some thirty-odd miles later I felt both satisfied and dry. To make matters even better, I had a nice tailwind all the way to work.

The rest of the day was pretty much downhill and by 5 pm I was feeling that dragged-out kind of tiredness that you get from sitting in front of a computer all day accomplishing practically nothing of value in the grand scheme of things. Maybe that three day old Central Grocery Muffuletta that I ate had something to do with it. They are days like this when I think about slapping a set of panniers on the old Pennine and disappearing into the asphalt web in the general direction of Colorado -- or the Carolinas. I can never decide.

So now there's a new Tropical Storm heading our way. Just what I need. At least it's been lively in the neighborhood around Tulane lately. Move-in day was last Saturday, so the students are all back in town and things at least feel normal again. I think I know how the ancients felt every year when it started getting colder and darker and they didn't know if summer would ever come back. We stopped in at Starbucks on Maple Street yesterday morning and it was really busy. I sat outside on their big deck in a light rain shower. Next to me were two tables with dogs waiting patiently for their humans to finish their coffee. Across from us was a mother and daughter, one of whom was obviously a college student, looking through the classifieds for an apartment. Customers were riding and walking up to the shop in the rain. These are some of the things that give me hope. As H.G. Wells put it, "When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race." I guess I kind of feel the same way about college students in general.