California regulates almost every aspect of our lives, but the rules controlling the escape of Volatile Organic Compounds (the odors that get you high off oil-based paint) actually do help reduce smog. They also have resulted in crappy paints that fade quickly. I thought about this when I saw this old CalTrans truck by the curb. It was at least a dozen (faded) shades of orange.
Some of our street signs are so faded out you can't read the names on them, which seems like poetic justice - a guy in a faded truck replacing washed-out signs and we (taxpayers) are paying for everything. And with clean air, we can now see clearly the financial costs of these regulations ...
At least it has been a beautiful sunny day. I spent half of the sunny morning on the roof of my house, running a plumbing snake up and down the sewer vent pipes. My arms are very tired. So I thought perhaps a nice level bike ride would suit me.
This street has a stripe that hints at being a bike lane. And for a few moments there were no cars. And it's a slight downhill. That gave me time to take the obligatory
Mike on the Bike photo for today.
Notice how the shadows of the spokes are curved? I'm sure there is an answer to
Why? that includes speed of rotation, camera exposure time, etc. But the traffic picked up and I was fearing for my life, so I forgot to think about why the spoke shadows are curving... and about the faded orange paint.
My attention was drawn away when I spotted this extremely nifty Chevy SportVan Travel Cruiser. I'd never seen that badging before. With a little searching (about 10 milliseconds on Google) I located the owner, Scotty. He has posted a long series of stories about van's restoration. If you want to see the report,
click here! But don't forget to come back.
I like wacky utility vehicles, having been the owner of this beautiful Corvair Rampside Pickup for about a decade. And I still have a few more oddball vehicles around my garage.
Finally I rode back to my own neighborhood. Remember the steep flight of steps I showed a couple weeks ago on the
cloudy grey Marine Layer day? This is the view DOWN.
Here's how the stairs appear looking UP from the bottom. I might have fainted a few times, what with the bike over my shoulder, but I think I counted 75 steps plus three steep ramp sections. I wished I had parked a camper van at the top of the climb, so I could take an immediate nap. But no, I had to ride another mile home.
I am too hot and exhausted to write the blog in the house, so this is coming to you from my front porch. Just before I fall asleep.
