I rode during afternoon rush hour today. In my neighborhood, that means from only 3 to 5 o'clock, as all the early-rising military personnel leave their bases and head home.
In keeping with this theme, I cut through the newish military housing area near us. I spotted this very nicely- and mildly-customized '60 Chevy. No door handles, less chrome, mag wheels, 2-tone paint. I love this shape. What a great greenhouse (as we call it in the car biz). Today's cars look like tanks with tiny gun slits for windows. This car exudes confidence, like the Jetsons, not paranoia like Mad Max.
I left the military housing and headed towards the seamier side of the tracks. Here's a clever homeless person's encampment. It's tucked into an intersection of two major roads. Highways even! He has cleverly put pallets on end, and covered them with grey blankets that look pretty close to the color of the concrete behind him. Hanging from the edge of the pallets are a dozen flowerpots! Why? Civic pride or a green thumb? He's close to our local nursery; perhaps an experiment in urban horticulture?
Here's a look from another angle. You can see that there won't be many stray dogs or children wandering into this campsite. The best thing is that it's not far from stores, post office and recycling center. A bicycle is the best vehicle to get to the spot, as you can hop off the road onto the island or hoist it up the wall. When safely hidden behind the pallets, it's as good as you can get on the street.
To gather these photos, I did something I rarely do - rode on the sidewalk. I wanted to get a closer look and didn't want to stop in the midst of the evening flow of cars and trucks.
Then I turned around and cruised along the main drag, stopping to check out the dune buggy / sand rail which I saw for sale in front of the smog shop. For only $12,000 this could be yours, with a supercharged VW engine, paddle tires included. Let me know if you want it.
I also took the time to get a
Proof of Riding photo - as you can see, I'm on the Paramount today. I was going slightly uphill so couldn't stop pedaling, thus it took about 10 shots to get my foot into the frame. My camera is a bit slow at focusing on moving objects.
The on-shore flow can be quite strong in the afternoons, and I was beat when I finally reached home, riding uphill and into the wind.
