Bicycle commute

I don't think I've mentioned, but I ride my bike to work. Three miles each way and I love it. I ride from our house on Philip along the river wall road, in between the railroad tracks and the Mississippi. I follow the road under the bridge which leads to the east bank until I reach Canal Street. Canal is a major historic downtown New Orleans street.

Each morning, along the river I pass a huge warehouse where Mardi Gras floats are built and housed, followed by a huge port that isn't really used much anymore, and the convention center until I reach an area called River Walk, which is a really pretty pedestrian/ bike path (unfortunately, it begins at Canal, which is where I turn off). There aren't many people along that portion of the bike ride, so it's pretty quiet. Every now and then I'll see a security guard or a train will pass and lots of whistle-blowing and waving ensues.

Canal is totally different, I pass Harrah's Casino, where there are always people milling about and loud, happy music playing. The morning is pretty low key - I ride down the center of the street in between the two street car lines. School is back in, so I see lots of tidy students in a variety of uniforms waiting to ride the car to class. I pass many hotels and restaurants and shopping places and Lucky Dog vendors (read Confederacy of Dunces for details) trudging off to work.

Sometimes it rains and I get a little wet, but I can usually time it pretty well. Today was nice - it is hot and sunny, so I left at 7:30 to get to work by 8:00 before it gets too terribly hot.