Bike Commute 2011 - Day 57

IN -

I went for speed.

I got it, getting to work faster than any other time this week, and at great cost since there was an appreciable headwind..

Ok, it wasn't that impressive, but I was really pushing it, and I was somewhat successful.

It was about ten degrees warmer than any other day this week.  I wore only a short sleeve shirt instead of a long sleeve tee shirt under a short sleeve one.

This was the four day of taking my bike in a four day week.

HOME -

I had decided that today I was going to treat myself.  I have passed a store called Dairy Dream (I play on Dairy Queen, and a very similar store) every day.  It is the kind of store that closes in the cold months so I wanted to stop there before the season ended.

Dairy Dream has a sign facing the bike trail that says Drive Thru, which is very funny since they do not have a drive through and the sign only faces the bike trail and not a pathway that allows any motor vehicles.

Being Friday I also treated myself to a bit of the delightful Des Plaines River Trail.  I took Atkinson straight to St. Mary’s Road and then down to Oak Springs and over to the river.

As I went along Atkinson there were entire fields full of daisies.  I didn’t stop to take any pictures because I couldn’t get close to them.  I decided to stop if I saw any along the river trail.

Unfortunately I was enjoying the trees and the trail so much that when I did pass some daisies I was past them before I realized and I didn’t get the picture.

I turned onto the North Shore trail and headed toward my date with ice cream.  I pulled into Dairy Dream and was staggered.

They have 28 different flavors of ice cream and at least a half dozen flavors of dips.

I got just a child sized vanilla dipped in sweet chocolate.

I asked them and they said that they will be closing in late October.  I think that another Friday I’m going to stop and get one of their burgers.

After I got on the North Shore trail again, I passed a bush I’ve noticed several times earlier.  It only bloomed in late August.

What is this pretty bush?

I’ve been wanting to take a picture of it and since I figured that I had missed my chance with the daisies I would get these (whatever they are).

Before I got to Carmel High School I cut out into the park that goes behind the school.  I try not to take that route unless it’s cool and cloudy because it’s all exposed.  It was both on Friday.

Sure enough, on the twisty turny path there I passed some daisies.  They seemed to have felt snubbed and refused to face me.  Oh well, they looked nice.

Snubbed daisies

 It took me about an hour to get home, but it was a nice trip.