Grind, grind, grind your road...

(To the tune of "Row, row, row...")

"Pavement reclamation" is, I believe, the technical term. Not that we had much pavement left, but there you are. One large growling thumping machine chewing its way along the road, leaving the organic (and otherwise) products of digestion strewn in its wake. This to be followed, in due time, by grading, compacting, and PAVING. Maybe.

And then they come back and do the curbs, and driveway aprons, and sidewalks, and cut in the catch basins and manholes and such. And spread loam and seed and hay on the disturbed landscape around this scene of death and destruction. Next year. Maybe in Jerusalem?

Wednesday roadkill report

One messy raccoon out by the junkyard.

Looked at the weather forecast and decided to snatch another ride today, because, well, I could. Windier than I'd like, temperature in the low 50s F again (11 C for you metric types) but probably better than what we'll have the next few days.

GPS recorded 15.6 miles as opposed to the 15.75 for the bike odometer. I pondered trigonometry for a while and decided that the unit will probably under-count most moving paths. The odometer measures actual pavement covered, while the GPS computes straight-line distance between waypoint "fixes." This means that turns and corners will be cut by tangents between the waypoints. Straight-road sections will do fine, twisty turny Maine back roads and city walks with lots of turns less so. Maze of twisty little passages all alike? Fuggedit. Leave your GPS behind when you enter Zork.

Meanwhile, back in the Caribbean, Wilma looks like a real bitch. I hope our friends in Florida miss out on all the fun the forecasters are currently predicting. Although I remain amused that the TV folks chatter on about Florida and the US Gulf Coast, totally ignoring the little matters of Cuba and Yucatan Mexico that likely will see the storm at its worst....