Along the River Trails on the south bank I spotted what was left of this wooded area. There were a couple of excavators around, having gotten this much done. This wooded area had hosted homeless people for many years. I have no idea whether that was the cause of the destruction or if there’s a plan to build something here. There are plenty of other homeless camps that no one bothers, but this particular one had been exceedingly trashy.
This is section of the River Trail that has been seeded with wildflowers. These two were the first to sprout this year. Soon, this whole patch will be filled with a dozen different varieties.
This caught my eye (below) because the foreground has been mowed regularly for years. In the background is 100% natural and native. What you don’t see is a shallow pond that hosts thousands of weeping willow trees. That’s the only thing around here that grows in high water. Just about every other tree drowns after a year or two. This swamp is kept full by a simple high water table.
On the return portion of today’s ride, I passed this very well maintained stock pond (below) along NE 10th. I recall it being somewhere close to Triple-X Road.
Today was a very long and very tough ride. Due to very unusual weather patterns, the entire Heartland is being flooded with hot air from the south, so we have already broken a couple of high heat records. The biggest problem for me was not having quite enough water, but then I stopped and bought some more at a convenience store. The other thing was the sunburn. Okay, I admit that the route was quite hilly most of the way, and it kicked my butt; distance was 42 miles.
Take care of that sunburn! 🙂
Rode my bike to the bus stop today, first time in a while. A whopping 2.9 miles.
I had to look up the reason behind the Triple X road name. I found one article about it but it’s behind a paywall.
All I can tell you is that XXX is a symbol for whiskey, used back in the days when literacy was limited. It was stenciled on wooden barrels of whiskey or similar beverages. I assume there is some historical association with whiskey somewhere along that north-south axis.