… but slowly getting better. I'm going to try a fully-loaded ride this evening and decide whether to get on the road tomorrow or not. Today will be a good day to go over the bike, change brake pads, rotate tires, lube it, etc. In the meantime…

Road Kill Ruminations
Warning: Graphic content. Material may be unsuitable for small children, family pets, or anyone who gets queasy at the sight of a stray drop of ketchup on their sleeve.

One of the things new cyclists are faced with when they start out on longer rides is roadkill. You quickly learn that you can't keep your head down looking at the white line too long, or you may face an extremely unpleasant meeting. You need to know what's coming and whether or not and how long you may need to refrain from breathing to get past roadkill lying in wait — a sometimes trying task, especially if you are sucking wind up a long hard climb. Too often, the only way you find out about a kill lying in the grass to the side of the roadway is to pass through the stench of it's rotting flesh. Other times, you have to manuever your mount through various body parts & fluids strewn over the highway and shoulder, all the while trying to avoid becoming roadkill yourself. Splayed intestines are the most offensive, imho.

As I crossed this great nation, the roadkills varied with the landscape and climate. In the Cascades of Washington, weasels seemed to be the most prominent formerly live objects on the roadways. As I descended into the high desserts, snakes became pretty prominent (some rather large ones, too).

Idaho and Montana kept the snakes, but the weasels were replaced by squirrels.

In Wyoming, jack rabbits were the most common, but the snakes were still there, too (I only saw one very small and one medium size still alive snake waiting to eventually be smushed on the side of the roadway).

In South Dakota, things became much more varied. As I left Rapid City and the Black Hills diminished into the badlands, turtles started appearing, and rabbits were still pretty frequent. Out of the badlands and into the great plains, pheasants started appearing quite often.

In Minnesota, raccoons and foxes joined the pheasants in the mix.

Overall, I was surprised an the paucity of deer, because they were sure prominent in the western forests. However, I only saw 4 or so deer in the 1st 2000 miles. Contrast that with often seeing 4 deer on a single ride in Central PA. I'm sure that has to do with the population of both people and deer and also the traffic density in PA, but I was surprised a bit.

While nothing looks especially attractive after meeting an untimely and violent demise under the weight of a motorcar, birds appear particularly ungainly in death. Perhaps that's because in life they represent such grace and spirit in flight, that the sight of them sprawled on their backs, their scrawny feet sticking up into the air, heads flattened like pancakes, their wings tucked or splayed, makes their passing that much more tragic.

This is what happens when you have so much time to think. 😉