But not today – maybe a few drips here & there, a little drizzle
and some wet patches of bike trail where you could tell it had “just” rained!
But I trudged onwards… perhaps due to my own clouded judgment.

And it turned out to be worthwhile.
Okay, so there was no “real” sunrise to speak of… but the clouds were really cool.
both early on when I was still questioning if I was going to get poured upon…
as well as towards the end of my ride when the clouds were making my stop
at the beach a very serene moment.

So we hopped into our rented kayaks and started off. Last Monday we headed south
and went around the closest island. Today we decided to go north up to the
Botanic Garden and back. About 6 miles. With map in hand… we paddled off.

It was a beautiful afternoon with some dramatic clouds rolling through. There were
a few moments of “dark clouds” as we questioned if we were going to rained upon.
Luckily, we didn’t – the clouds blew over and the sky cleared up. With more beautiful
clouds to contrast against the beautiful blue skies.

As the sun started to go down, the water lilies had already closed for the evening.
I can’t wait to paddle again a little earlier in the day to see the blossoms wide open.

As we paddled through the lagoons, Chris and I got to see a lot of waterfowl and trees.
We were surprised by the number of Great Blue Herons we saw flying all around us.
Up close & personal, swooping & squawking, flying from tree to tree. Dozens of them!
Along the way, we also had to get out of our kayaks and portage across three small
embankments. And for the novice… let’s just say, neither of us looked all to graceful as
we tried to maneuver our way out of the boat, and then back in without flipping it over.
Let’s just say, the opening in the kayak isn’t as large as I would like it to be… to get my
legs, thighs & butt wedged in there! Like threading a needle… while still afloat?!

And then we turned another corner, around the river bend… and we spotted this incredible
tree full of waterfowl. How spectacular is this? The “tree” was in constant movement as
the birds flew in, and flew out, and interacted with each other. On a side note?…
let’s just say that the green bushes below this tree were a lot “whiter” than they should be!
Sadly… I don’t know my birds well enough to identify this tree-perched grouping?!

EDITOR’S NOTE: After this initial posting, I was informed by my birding-friend
& fellow potter Karen Avery that these flocking water birds are actually called
Double-Crested Cormorants. Who knew?! – - – - – - – - okay, well I guess she did?!!!

Now these waterfowl I can identify… a row of female mallard ducks sunning themselves.

As we came around the final bend, and paddled towards the shore to finish our journey,
one last glimpse back and there was a wonderful sunset in the making! A perfect end
to a perfect afternoon… and a nice “alternative” to pedaling up to the gardens!
Close, but not quite the same… paddling, instead of pedaling!

Well, today was the Bike Psychos Century which started in Coal City in central
Illinois down by Kankakee. The ride started out pretty nice – good weather, cool breeze
and a relaxing rest stop early on for “breakfast.” Chris and I stopped off for a quick bite
and to refill our water bottles… unbeknownst of what lies ahead…

As the ride progressed, it got a lot windier… and a lot hotter! I would venture to say that
it easily went over a hundred degrees in the heat of the day! And the humidity was a killer.
Sweat was running down my face, okay, my whole body! I had to stop a couple times just to
wipe the sweat out of my eyes! And to make it even tougher, the wind as whipping across
the country farm fields. It felt like a headwind the entire time… exhausting! At the halfway
point, our rest stop was at Matthiessen State Park (very near Starved Rock State park).
It’s a beautiful park with a beautiful river gorge  & rock formations. I hate to say it… but
we were just too hot, sweaty & exhausted to even walk down to see it. Instead we were
focused on drinking one bottle after another of water & Gatorade. It seemed impossible to
keep the fluids in… as I was sweating them out faster than I could swallow!!! Still…
another wonderful ride, albeit a little more exhausting than most Century rides!!!

As we pedaled north, we saw plenty of deer early on… usually we see more on the way back.
We also saw a bit of roadkill, or should I saw “bike-kill”?… skunk killed by bike… really?!
We’ve never seen that before. Plus we saw a dead raccoon on the road… seen that one.
But as we went further north, we saw two Forest Preserve Sheriffs kind of “hanging out”
on the bridge overpass at Caldwell. Looking around, but doing a bunch of nothing. Again…
never seen that before.

We made it to the Botanic Garden which was beautiful as always. And as we sat back to relax
for a brief moment before turning around and heading back, I was once again struck by the
beauty of the silvery Aspen leaves against the deep blue sky.

And then we started pedaling back. When he got just south of New Trier High School, the
bike trail was blocked off by three, yes count them three, Forest Preserve police cars.
Flashing lights and all… one “cop” in each. They wouldn’t let us pass and continue on the
bike trail. We were pleasant, but pretended “we weren’t from these parts” and didn’t know
how to take the roads back to our cars and therefore had to continue on the trail. They didn’t
buy it. But they did say that would only be about 10 minutes. What?… how can you tell?!
If something is “going on” inside the woods, how do they know it will be done in 10 minutes?!
So we decided to go up to Winnetka Road and try another smaller bike trail entrance that
connects to the main trail pretty quickly. That entrance to the path wasn’t blocked off -
so were pretty pleased with ourselves. But shortly, down the path, and around another curve,
we saw this… something else we have never seen before…

One of the “cops” at this blockade was one of the original two who we passed earlier at
the Caldwell overpass. As well as being one of the three original cars in the first blockade.
He made us stop again… but then told us we could go through if we walked around the cars.
What?… why block the trail if it’s okay for us to continue on? And what happened to that
10 minutes they talked about?! On the other side of the cars, we ran into a group of bikers
& joggers who had been stopped. They were confused as to why they had been stopped -
and how we got through. As we were talking with them, we heard a shot in the woods.
Yep, another thing we’ve never experienced before on this ride. A shot? Or at least a loud
“clap” sound that shocked everyone. I joked about needing to wear my “blaze orange”
bike jersey next time. And then we pedaled on as WE had been “cleared” by the cop.

While riding, we kept trying to analyze what all of that was about. But to no avail.
And then when we were waiting to cross Glenview Road – a Glenview ambulance turned
the corner with siren blaring towards the direction of “the incident.” Coincidence?!

We still have no idea what was going on… but it sure was something!
We saw a lot of deer again today, but honestly… this was a lot more exciting!