thousands of catfish

Weird title I know. Last week when I was on the Katy I passed the Cedar Creek Bridge and happened to look down. Actually a turtle swimming down the river caught my eye. Since I was on my way back from mile 150 I stopped to rest my tired butt and while I was watching the turtle I noticed the thousands, yes thousands of catfish swimming under the bridge to feed on the debree that had collected from the flood. They were so thick I could have walked on them! What a sight. When I got back to the trailhead I met a nice couple from Illinois just starting out on their ride and I told them to make sure to look for the catfish at Cedar Creek. I have been back at least twice since then but haven't seen any catfish like I did that day.

more pics from the KATY

The trail was rough and dusty. My butt was not used to my new gel seat and that was uncomfortable. Other than that, it was a great 14 mile ride.

bike lane

 Construction has started on a new bike lane crossing the bridge to the KATY. It's been very controversial here in River City as many people think it's a big waste of money and the bikers do not need or deserve it. MY feelings? How narrow-minded can some people be!!

Butterfly Story

Because I feel that good teachers should be storytellers, I always tried, at least every other day, to tell a story to my students. This is one they enjoyed and asked many questions about. I updated it to make it sound like it happened over the week-end so I could start out by saying "Hey guys, guess what happened to me on Saturday." I love to ride on the KATY and I was on my way back past the river cruising as fast as I could past the cornfields. Because it was late summer the grasshoppers were huge and flying everywhere. Big and brown and rude, I just hate them on a bike, anyway my side vision caught something flying beside me. I knew it wasn't a grasshopper, but I was surprised to see a butterfly, shoulder-level to me. He was quite beautiful, dark blue and outlined in gold. Instinctively, I could sense that this butterfly was racing with me. As I increased my speed, he flew faster. When I slowed down, he did the same. Gosh, I'm racing with a butterfly, I'll remember this forever. After a bit, he was gone. When I got home I looked him up in my Butterfly book and I found out that he was a Mourningcloak. They exhibit territoriality; meaning they will literally chase any invaders away. That's what he was trying to do. "Hey you human, get out of my space!!"