Friday 17 July 2020. Foggy Cottonwood and High Cross

It was 67 Degrees F at 5:40 AM with mostly clear skies and almost no wind, like 1 mph, from the east. Rode east on Main Street, the sun coming up behind the little grove of oaks across the street from the Dart plastics factory.

Stopped at Weaver Park, where there was a thin layer of mist over the prairie.

Saw lots of yellow cone flowers, compass plants,

also mountain mint,

Monarda,

and common milkweed, pods well along.

Headed to the KRT trail, at the head of which
was a lot of fog.

Loved riding on the misty KRT Trail,

Vervain and side-oats gramma grass

but today’s route was to be Cottonwood to the north

till almost Thomasboro,

then back east to High Cross and south towards Urbana.

Passed Trelease Woods where there were the beginnings of the bloom of Joe Pye weed and American bellflower.

Thought the fog had subsided,

but then it got thick again. It actually was a little spooky.

On Cottonwood north of Ford Harris, saw out of the corner of my left eye the shape of a German Shepherd or similar dog close to the road, but with no time to worry just kept going, and the dog didn’t bark or give any kind of chase. Whew!

Turned west on 2300 N, which was a perfect cycling road: smooth surface, slight roll of grade, and few farm houses (no dogs). Back south on High Cross traversed Leveret Road where it (High Cross Road) has a lovely little squiggle.

Was relieved that the fog was beginning to clear.

A particularly appropriate (in this area) form for a mailbox holder, with benign clouds above

Stopped along Brownfield Woods to see lots of Joe Pye weed

and new American bellflower,

as also noted earlier at Trelease Woods.

Was glad the High Cross bridge over I-74 was open. Cut through the Beringer subdivision and saw a few Canada geese,

Adult-looking lawn geese in the Beringer subdivision

noting that I’d not seen the goose families I’d seen many times on East Main near the ILEAS office.

A particularly large cylinder being hauled eastward on US 150

On the north side of Main near the Quaker church saw a groundhog posing patiently and obliged him or her with a photograph.

In the wildflower garden of a house across Main from the west end of Weaver Part were some lovely lead plant, still in bloom.

Saturday 4 August 2018. Intensive Nature Walk

It was 72 degrees F and clear at 6:30 this morning as I rode on Shadow to Meadowbrook Park.

Had announced the previous day at the yoga intensive that there would be a nature walk through Meadowbrook Park at 6:30 am, but, surprisingly, only one other stalwart nature-lover made it for the event. Which was fine. We parked our bikes near the organic garden plots and headed toward the unpaved path through the middle of the Art and Billie Spomer prairie.

Although had not noticed fog on the way, there was a layer of mist on the prairie that had begun to condense on the plants. Looking toward the sunrise saw dew-beaded big bluestem and tall coreopsis.

Nearby saw obedient plant,

wild senna and Monarda.

Saw mist-like switch grass (pretty sure that’s what it was) among compass plants.

There were Monarda and cup plant,

spiderweb strands strung from which looked more like the warp of a fairy’s loom than the beginning of a spider’s web.

Checked a chewed up milkweed plant for monarch caterpillars but instead found a mass of milkweed tussock moth caterpillars.

Saw purple coneflowers.

side-oats gramma grass,

not quite bloomed out.

Heading back toward the rabbit-statue bridge we checked the banks of Douglas Creek for signs of cardinal flowers, and there they were, young plants in early bloom.

Looked forward to following the progress of the bloom.

It was a delightfully typical midsummer morning on the prairie that we were privileged to sample: colorful, fresh, uplifting! We returned to the yoga studio ready to receive the gifts of the Intensive!

Sunday 17 July 2016. Lots of Big Corn and a Peek at Bondville

This morning at 6:10, after succumbing to the urge to do a little modified Surya Namaskar in the wet grass of my back yard (echoes of Yoga in the Park), rolled Rhododendron out of the garage and headed south toward Windsor Road and then westward.

The sun was up (have had few views of the disc at the horizon this summer, as compared to years past, alas), but the sky was darker than I’d expected, so turned around to look east.

Saw a bright smear of sun through filtering clouds: hoped they would not thicken and complicate the ride.

Stopped at the City of Champaign Prairie Resroration Project, which today again seemed to cry out for stewardship, though a variety of July prairie flowers were represented, if not abundant (yellow coneflower, wild bergamot, false sunflower). There was a good population of compass plant with open yellow flowers near Neil Street.

They look so good close-up.

Also, note the little frame of side-oats gramma grass.

The leadplant were all out of bloom but still not unattractive.

At first was tempted to not go far so I could sit and catch up on blog-writing. But once I cleared Duncan Road just wanted ride out into the corn.

Then did a lot of straight riding, and felt better and better the farther out I went. The route looked pretty dog-free, which was nice.

Turned north at Staley Road

which bordered a great length of expensive-looking residential real estate. Wondered what people out here did for a living.

Crossed a creek bordered by manicured lawns.

On Staley Road just south of Bradley was an old farm house with nice gingerbread trim that didn’t look long for this world.

Or maybe someone was just getting down to some renovation.

Rode a little bit farther north on Staley then decided to go west on Bradley.

Got a view of the corn from Staley south toward Bradley, where the land dipped a little.

Rode out to Barker Road (500E)

and turned south, which took me through downtown Bondville,

the first time I’d been there on bike.
It had a cute little (apparently functional!) post office.

Wondered whether people in the couple of cars that passed though when I had my iPhone out that I was looking for Pokemon.

Turned east at 1500N (eventually to become Kirby Avenue), which took me deep into the monster tassel/eared corn,

the air there permeated with that corn-water smell. Thought once again about that edge between solitude and loneliness, but just briefly.

Stopped at another creek crossing, where a monster-great mullein grew.

Disturbed a great blue heron on the other side of the bridge, which flew upstream (or north, anyway) and landed where the full-zoom of the iPhone could just barely detect it.

Then rode straight toward home on not-especially-picturesque Kirby, and my right shoulder (but not either hip or knee, thank you very much!) began to nag that it didn’t like the position I was asking it to maintain. But it was a good 20-Mike ride. And soon there was coffee and writing!