As soon as they hear my tires crunching on the gravel driveway, Gilligan and Oliver hop up in the window to say good bye.
I head down the alley to Summit St.
I'm enjoying the late summer flowers along Summit St. I notice that car and bike traffic has increased quite a bit since classes started again at the U.
And then I take quick a detour towards downtown...
to pick up some lunch & fill my thermos with some coffee from the New Pioneer co-op. Lots of bikes here! 
It's great to see a trailer in action as a mom & daughter ride to Horace Mann elementary school.
I love passing by this zinnia patch on Dewey St.
Here at the Hilltop I get ready to turn onto a higher traffic road - the only one in my 3-mile commute. I plan my commute so that most of my ride takes place on quiet residential streets.
I usually see several other cyclists headed down this road.
I pass by this little guy on the final stretch of my commute. I'm a vegan for ethical reasons, but this morning I found myself thinking about the environmental impact of eating meat. Raising animals for livestock wastes a lot of energy and resources, and if more people adopted a vegetarian diet we could easily reduce our fuel use by a significant proportion. It would also make the cows happier.
And... here I am. Only a tiny bit sweaty, feeling energized and awake and more than a little sorry to be going indoors on such a beautiful day. But it was a real treat to spend 15 minutes of my morning riding. I feel grateful for it.
