Sunday

I took my first bike ride from my house today. No car involved. Just got on the bike trail directly behind the apartment, and rode 5 miles along the river to the Sunday morning Farmer's Market. It's a popular destination in the city. This is my 3rd week going. I bought my usual homemade Tamales wrapped in corn husks with spicy green sauce on the side; and then I noticed the clouds rolling in. I'm happy to say that Tucson has had a very wet winter, with a good snow pack in the mountains and well above average rainfall in the valley. That is a good thing for the environment here. Yet when the clouds come, the storm is fast behind. I've noticed that in Florida, too. But in Arizona, when it rains the roads fill so quickly with water and the washes (dips in the road to direct the overflow) are dangerous to pass through because the water is so deep. We've encountered some water in washes during bike rides even days after it has rained. They say that in the summer during the extreme weather of the Monsoon season, the storms are fierce and lightening comes down in sheets, not simply a single bolt of lightening. That must be a sight to behold. So today, I biked home and almost made it, but I got my first flat tire a half mile from home. Walked it in. I'm actually surprised I didn't get a flat sooner. Tucson is very biker friendly with bike lanes painted on all the roads and very courteous drivers, but there is a lot of debris, cracks and potholes. And Arizona does not have the money to maintain the roads.