Bike Ride 13, almost 13 kilometers, on a very Sad Day

My best friend's dad, Louie, died early this morning.  I heard about it when my friend emailed me at 10 AM.  She was in San Francisco, getting her daughter settled in her new dorm, but she had to cut her stay short and head back to get here in time for the funeral, which is supposed to be on Monday.  It's a 4 day drive so hopefully she'll make it home safely, and in time. I'm so glad her husband and dog are with her for the drive so she won't be alone.

Louie was a wonderful man, funny, big hearted, and he almost always had a smile on his face.  Then he got cancer, twice in two years, and the second bout was too much for his body to fight.  He's not suffering any more, and for that we are grateful, but it still seems so shocking that he is gone.

My heart goes out to Laurie and her Mom and brothers.  I can't even imagine, don't want to imagine, losing my Dad. Laurie had a chance to say goodbye, thank God.  She came to see him before they left for California, and he was awake and alert and they spoke.  Shortly after she left, he slipped into a coma, from the morphine, I think.

I felt icky all day, tired and lethargic and unable to move or do much, but then evening came and I had a deep desire to get on my bike and pedal along the waterfront.  So I drove to the mall, parked, hopped on my bike, and took off on a lovely long ride.  I started riding at 7:45 and finished my ride at 10:25...so close to 3 hours. I stopped a LOT to take photos, but only stopped to rest on benches twice, and didn't sit for long. Once was to cool down, and once to eat a granola bar.

Here are some photos I took this evening.

My route tonight

Above, you can see the route I took, there and back.  It's the longest I've ridden so far.

sculpture

The first set of photos were taken at the Waterfront, along the hub trail that runs along side the boardwalk.

boardwalk

Bondar pavillion

Norgoma

Norgoma and my bike

Near Bushplane Museum

The trail goes down past the City Hall, Art Gallery, and Library, and then goes back to Bay St near the Old Stone House.

Old stone house.

Bush Plane

The path follows Bay St. until the turn for the Bushplane Museum, and then it follows the waterfront again.

Weird freighter

Behind old hospitals.

It goes along behind the old hospital,s and then comes out on Queen.  I followed the bike path, now on the street, until the intersection near my old house, Pine and Queen Streets.

My old house, second from corner.

My old house is the second from the corner.  I turned right onto Pine and followed it down to the Marina.

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The Marina was lovely at sunset.

I love watching the geese take wing.

The sun set, and the moon rose; almost a full moon.  It was beautiful.

I followed the path from the marina to Belleview Park.  Mac, Ben, and I used to walk here almost every night when we lived at the old place. We did this for years.

Belleview Park

Then I cycled through Belleview Park, past the duck pond and around the grave of the guy who used to live there.

Pond at Belleview Park

Bridge over Pond

Sunset over International Bridge

It was starting to get dark but I decided to bike around Topsail Island, the leash free zone.  I used to take Annie and Sandy and Mac, and Benji here, until Mac became too upset around other dogs.

Topsail Island

It got quite dark on Topsail Island once the sun set because there are no lights on the Island.

I quickly rode back to the Marina.

This cute little Chipmunk was sitting on the fence at the top of the hill on Pine, just before Queen.

I rode back down Queen and hopped back onto the bike path at the turn to the old hospitals.

Then I followed the path back behind the old hospitals to the bushplane museum.  The Yankcanuck looks like a ghost ship at night.

The fountain near the art gallery was all lit up again, and so was the bridge, in the background.

Time I got back to truck.

I was very tired when I got back to the truck and could barely lift my bike up to put it inside.  It just barely fits in my blazer.  I was very happy to come home, wash up, change, and settle into my recliner with a big Mr. Freeze.