30 days of biking: April 11th: Twice to school then to piano

Why did the duck cross the road?

I have no idea but while riding up in the afternoon to pick up the kids, I noticed that this duck was crossing the street, in front of a bunch of cars who dutifully stopped. And yes, the duck crossed in the crosswalk. You know how you can go hiking and then come across a game trail and follow it? Perhaps this duck sees all the people crossing there and sees it as some sort of "game" trail. Remember, they eat off of us. We humans provide.

Now, I would like to draw some contrast to the day before. I was on the same road, riding southbound just north of this intersection and four kids between the ages of 6 and 11 were attempting to cross the road and had been on a long straight as long as I was on it. Numerous cars just drove past as the kids tried in vain to signal that that they were trying to cross. When I came up, I pulled out of the bike lane and stopped traffic, pointing to the kids. Oncoming traffic didn't stop. The SUV behind me got pissed and passed me in the bike lane just as the kids started to step into the lane. Needless to say, the driver kept on driving.

Seattle is a place where drivers stop for ducks but don't stop for kids. Remember that.

Now back to the day of riding. The kids chose the trailer and they were extremely prescient in that because it rained super hard on the way from SAGA to piano lessons. This was also a new route that includes the Aurora bridge which is much, much nicer than the Ballard bridge. It's wider, more protected and has a superior view. The only problem is figuring out what to do at the south end of the bridge on the west side. The sidewalk is ridiculous that leads to the 5 way intersection at 4th N.

The kids loved it, I had a great ride, and I discovered the joys of dropping the trailer at preschool and enjoying some seriously fast riding in the middle. It was a good biking day and I'm glad that at least the duck is safe.