103 miles in the mud on "the Day of the Cardinal"
I saw at least 30 cardinals today. It must be mating season or something.
It was a good day riding. I got covered in mud. 103 miles. A lot happened today. The wreckage as a result of the flood was all over. I would say at least a third of the part of the Katy Trail I rode on had been under water. The flooded Cadillac from last week was still in the road even though the water had receded away from it. There were a lot of washed out sections. I have some pictures of an old railroad bridge on the trail that had had the water up and over it. It was covered in mud and there were a lot of sticks stuck in it.
Some really muddy areas. Took some effort to get through those without either going down or having to put a foot down.
A lot of animals were out and about. Cardinals as I said earlier, squirrels(including the one I killed when it suddenly reversed direction and I ran over it), about 20 buzzards, a pretty long black shake, a deer, a frog and a tortoise. With respect to the buzzard, there was a group of about 10-12 sitting on the trail and on a nearby fence post. As I approached, they all flew away except one. I passed it about 4 feet away as it eyed me. I then stopped to take a picture of it, but I think it had looked me over decided I was too bony so it then flew away.