Remember that gopher I saw being released Monday morning on my bike ride to work? I saw him sticking his head up out of the ground behind the Quad City Botanical Center Monday evening on my way home. I swear I heard Kenny Loggins singing "I'm Alright," but I could be wrong.
I was reunited with Chuck Rodent (and a couple more of his kind) on the ride back from work in downtown Moline to my home in Rock Island -- 5.46 miles, according to my GPS. The ride took me about 31 minutes -- longer than I wanted, but what the heck.
Once home, I took a shower, caught KWQC-TV's report they'd done on me for the 6 p.m. newscast (PDQ review from my son: "You don't look too dorky.") and then walked up to Rock Island High School and back for my younger son's band concert.
Today I'll bike and bus to get around town. I'll bike to work in the morning (which is downhill), then on the return trip I'll catch the bus outside my office, put the bike on the rack in front of the bus and ride to the stop nearest my house.
In the middle of the day, I have a doctor's appointment, so I'll just hop on the bus in downtown Moline, ride to the doctor's office in Rock Island, then hop back on the bus for the return trip to work.
Because of my appointment I'll have to miss the Great Commuter Race beginning at 10:45 a.m. at the Waterfront Convention Center in Bettendorf. One participant will bike, one will ride a bus and one will drive a car from the center to the Figge Art Museum in Davenport -- to show that alternative forms of transportation are as viable as the car to get to a destination.
My bus rides today will be the first for me in quite a number of years. I'm a bit concerned I'll have flashbacks to my parochial school days, when I rode a bus to and from grade school, trapped inside the yellow Blue Bird with bullies and an ever-present odor of oranges and adolescent B.O.
But thanks to Metro, I am confident that today I will catch the right bus at the right time at the right place and make all the right connections. Hopefully there will be no bullies.
Total mileage biked and walked on Days 1-3: 28.6
Total mileage via car, Days 1-3: 0
I'm 45 and raised in the Quad cities and never have had a drivers liscense. I used to walk to work 3 quarters of a mile at 230 in the morning every day. And walk home at 230 in the afternoon, after stopping at the vfw on 9th street, not all the time though. I lost 30 pounds, walking and drinking water.
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