What Does A Curmudgeon With A Bicycle Need For Fulfillment, An Hour?

This happened yesterday, while I was still trying to figure out how to do something with the Old Cemetery.

Setting out on the downstream trail, I got to the downtown bridge. It was there I noticed that the gu'ment's riverbed was was beginning to be dry again. Is this something that happens frequently, that I never noticed before last summer?
....Alas, The Lake, Again.......And, as you can see, the little River Park Lake is beginning to reach the mostly dry level of last year.

I crossed the trail bridge, to take the southern leg of The Trail up the free river.
....Alas, The Lake, Again, Again
I expected to follow the free river leg of the trail to where it reaches the Old Cemetery, so that I could fantasize some more on the lives of the town's pioneers.

Reaching the downtown bridge which spans the free river, I found my way BLOCKED!
....Proggers?
So, what was going on?

My wife had read in the local paper last week that there'd be a new pedestrian bridge built at the end of Rock Street.

Why?

There's a small strip of land between the rivers before the confluence, and some condos have been built on this land. Well, Willie, being the imaginative soul that he is, thought, perhaps it was to be a trail extension. Why not spend some of the City's tax money to improve the trail? A picture in the paper shows the proposed bridge to be a "stepping stone" bridge, which dams the river, with water flowing through gaps in the bridge, forming "stepping stones". But I ride a bicycle, and the trail claims to be handicapped accessible except for a very small distance near Springhouse Crossing! How will this bridge serve the people of the town? Limited service! Someone wanted something "pretty", I assume.

So, the arrow, which you can see on the barricade if you look closely or view large, points up a concrete lined drainage swale which goes up to the street. Lettering on the sign says "Crosswalk Closed, Use Other Side". Very helpful for someone wanting to know how he might detour around the heavy machinery.

I chose to go in the opposite direction from the sign's instructions (whatever they were), and take a look at the free river.
....Even The Free River Flows Lightly This Summer
I couldn't go far, of course, I simply parked my bike next to the trail, and walked a few steps down the slope to get a view of the river, which was very, very weak at the moment.
Free River Turtle
A turtle eyed me from the shoals. I'm not sure he normally sees people standing so close to his domain, because soon he was gone.
....Life In The Free River
But not too far "gone", because I saw that he was only a few feet away, in what I'm sure he assumed was a more secure location.

I thought that another day, I'd find a more favorable route to the Old Cemetery, and turned around to return home. This day, I'd get home before the heat became oppressive!
....Who?
As I prepared to cross over the trail bridge across the devastated gu'ment's river, I spied a grackle who seemed to be saying, "Who has done this to my river!"

I arrived home an hour after I left. Seven 'n' a quarter miles of green travel, and good meditation time, with photos!



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