Obstacle Course

My friend Colt posted about how his bike ride this morning turned out to be more of an obstacle course than an easy commute. I too spent the morning on my bike dodging limbs and branches that still littered the streets after weekend storms left us (and a half-a-million other folks) without power for a couple of days.

My family had been out Friday evening next to Lake Calhoun when the storm hit. It was a sudden wall of wind and water, with flash flooding. (We were in the relative safety our car, fortunately). Visibility was low, but could see branches falling and flying and so we headed for cover. It was a bit scary to be out with babies in weather like this, worrying about getting truck by a falling tree at every turn, and my heart goes out to parents who have had to weather worse storms than this.

 

With no electricity, and Sarah away at a wedding shower for much of Saturday, we had to leave the sultry house to try to catch a breeze. Anders and Sam and I ventured out on the Burley bike to assess the damage in the neighborhood, and in just the 3 block radius of our house there were 3 large fallen blocking the road at different points. As we biked on, we found the same true for at least the 5 miles we rode.

At this age, everything is new to them and they seem to see each of these bike-rides as a new adventure. They took the sight of the trees down in the same fashion, bringing some smiles as we all dealt with the aftermath and cleanup. Kudos to the power crews that brought us back on-line Sunday afternoon.