Tuesday, April 03, 2007

My New Commute

My cue sheet worked for me, even in the early morning darkness.

I enjoy the new route. It reminds me of all the things I took for granted about my old, very scenic route. The new route is busy, lots of traffic lights, stop signs, cars, and pedestrians. My route takes me along Cedar Avenue to the West Bank area of Minneapolis. That's where part of the University of Minnesota is located.

The thoughtlessness of the pedestrians is only exceeded by the cab drivers.

I go north out of the U of M area via the 10th Avenue bridge. Somewhere along the line, it turns into 19th Avenue as it crosses the Mississippi River. I'll learn to accept the silly road name thing as soon as I have the ride directions ingrained in my brain so thoroughly that I don't think about them.

I then go east on Como Avenue. Before this route, I thought Como Avenue only existed in St. Paul. Then I zig zag across a few roads (29th Avenue, Larpenteur) and get on Industrial Blvd. It's not as scenic as West Mississippi River Road, but it looks better than my next road, Terminal Road. I got honked at while I was riding in the middle of the lane avoiding giant potholes on Terminal Road. It's located in an industrial park. I'm sure it's difficult to maintain a road that mainly carries semi trucks. I hope there's nothing prophetic about the name Terminal Road.

There's always a tasty smell in the air at the industrial park.


The new building I work in has a shower. The old place did not. I thought it would be difficult to give up the wash-cloth baths, I mean they are so personal. Well, the warm water coming from the shower head is pretty nice too. No photos of this part of the route.

I took the long way home last night and found the ice forming on a little tree. The tree is located on the east shore of Lake Calhoun. My toes felt the same.


6 comments:

Eclectchick said...

Wishing you many happy commutes.

LOVE the ice pics. What a great find!

Anonymous said...

I'm telling you, the sidewalk between the golf course and Terminal road was made just for you to avoid those potholes. Of course, this route ends in a steep gravel road that might not be so appealing to you

Doug said...

It was named Terminal Road because Roseville used to be jam packed with trucking companies and their shipping terminals. Terminal Road used to be lined with trucking companies. The reason I ended up in Minnesota, back in 1986, was becaused I was transfered here from Chicago by a trucking company. I worked at two different trucking terminals, the first one was over on County Road C, and the second one was on West Cleveland Service Dr. I don't think the terminals I worked at still exist.

rigtenzin said...

Doug: I've seen a few of those abandoned terminals. The one that sticks out is Indianhead Trucking. The grounds look like a fun photo opportunity -- deserted and lonely.

Tim: I rode that and it's a nice, steep climb and then it turns into a sidewalk along a golf course. I wonder if it's a public sidewalk. When it gets warmer I'll find out.

Snakebite said...

Glad you didn't post the shower part of the route in picture form.

Doug said...

Funny you mention the Indianhead Terminal. We rented 6 of the 12 dock doors of a small loading dock on the grounds for the first 6 months in 1986. We quickly outgrew it and moved to a terminal across I 35.

Blog Archive