Friday, August 31, 2007

Snapshot Essay: Jen's Commute 8/31/07

As soon as they hear my tires crunching on the gravel driveway, Gilligan and Oliver hop up in the window to say good bye.

I head down the alley to Summit St.

I'm enjoying the late summer flowers along Summit St. I notice that car and bike traffic has increased quite a bit since classes started again at the U.

And then I take quick a detour towards downtown...

to pick up some lunch & fill my thermos with some coffee from the New Pioneer co-op. Lots of bikes here!

It's great to see a trailer in action as a mom & daughter ride to Horace Mann elementary school.

I love passing by this zinnia patch on Dewey St.

Here at the Hilltop I get ready to turn onto a higher traffic road - the only one in my 3-mile commute. I plan my commute so that most of my ride takes place on quiet residential streets.

I usually see several other cyclists headed down this road.

I pass by this little guy on the final stretch of my commute. I'm a vegan for ethical reasons, but this morning I found myself thinking about the environmental impact of eating meat. Raising animals for livestock wastes a lot of energy and resources, and if more people adopted a vegetarian diet we could easily reduce our fuel use by a significant proportion. It would also make the cows happier.


And... here I am. Only a tiny bit sweaty, feeling energized and awake and more than a little sorry to be going indoors on such a beautiful day. But it was a real treat to spend 15 minutes of my morning riding. I feel grateful for it.

6 comments:

flossie said...

Awesome photo essay! Oliver and Gilligan are so cute.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for posting the pics! They're great!

Brian

Jen B. said...

Thanks! I'm hoping more people will post about their commutes (hint, hint).

Scott said...

Hey, is that guy riding an orange fixie on N. Dodge? I think it's me on my way to Pearson. :) If you enlarge the picture you can see another biker in front of me. That's Sam, one of my co-workers.

I commute from Coralville to Pearson almost every day. I'll post my route here sometime.

Jen B. said...

That's you? Awesome! I was so excited to be able to capture other cyclists on the road. Post your route sometime when you get a chance. I think it would be great to have a bunch of 'em up here.

Sam Beran said...

Cool essay! I'm the guy in front, Sam, also on my way to Pearson. That was a really nice day! Scott eventually caught up with me, as he usually does :)