Better late than never

So, does anybody have a problem with capital punishment for litterbugs? Just putting that out there before I get into it tonight.

I had every intention of rejoining the Go Outside and Play group for the Lake Storey Run this morning, but I somehow ignored my alarm. Thought perhaps it was incorrectly set for 5:15 p.m., but no, I just slept through it or something. I have no memory of it. And it’s not like I was up particularly late last night. Go figure.

 Finally I got my hiney out of bed and got motivated enough to head out on my own. About 9:30 I cycled out to the lake and hit the trail. I got off to a fun start when I noticed a tanker truck by the shelter to empty the porta-john. All I could think of was Randy Quaid in “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation”: “Shitter was full!” Stopped to snap a couple pix with my phone and on my third (close-up of the back of the tank, which reads “Political Dreams”) the guy inside stepped out, still yacking on his cellphone. Probably thought I was gonna tamper with something.

Then I was on my way. Not wise to upset a man with a tanker full of sewage.

The first 2.5 miles was uneventful. The path hosted only a couple of others bent on exercise and it is quite clean – no litter there usually. That’s so nice. But at the far end of the trail, South Lake Storey Road across from Carl Sandburg College at the southwest corner of the lake, I decided to do something a little different. Rather than reverse course and head back the way I had come, I continued east along South Lake Storey Road. 

This flatcoon can attest to the dangers of
South Lake Storey Road. Or he could if he
weren't flattened like a pancake.

Now, that road is narrow and curvy, with little shoulder to allow for a buffer between runner and automobiles. But there’s not a lot of traffic, except for the occasional spurt of students headed to the college for class time, so usually drivers can give you a berth. The up side, sort of, is that it’s shorter to follow the road around to the east boat launch where the walking/running/biking path begins – by about a mile.

But the dangers of the tight quarters along South Lake Storey Road aren’t the worst of it. I was appalled at the amount of garbage discarded on the roadside. Worse is that I found gobs of it within 20 feet of an empty garbage barrel. That’s just lazy and asinine. Now, maybe passing motorists were playing trashketball – indicating perhaps somewhat good intentions – but even if that were the case, which I doubt, they didn’t care enough to follow up with an assist to get the garbage into the basket. Chumps.

I started to pass by this wretched sight, but caught myself up short. It was too much trash, too easy to clean up such a small area, so I did it. Yeah, my hands got yucky. So what? I made sure to keep my fingers away from my face afterward. Gloves would be in order, but I forget. I picked up probably half a dozen handfuls of trash and dropped it in the barrel. I even ventured into the underbrush to gather as much as I could. The office chair I left where it lay. Had the seat not been shredded I probably would have pushed it back for salvage.

Office of the great outdoors.

As it was I picked up quite a bit of goodies. See the list below. And, please, don’t litter. If it happens accidentally, stop and pick it up. Thanks!

Today's Stats

Temp: 55 degrees F

Distance: 4 miles

Weekly Total: 6.5 miles (I didn't blog Monday's run)

Treasure: 1 woman's top (brown); 1 bath towel (white); 1 dish towel (colorful pattern); 1 shop cloth (pink); 1 pen (Carl Sandburg College Fitness Center, broken button); 35 cans.

iPod Playlist (shuffle)

Bike to lake:

Lawyers, Guns and Money (cover) - The Wallflowers

California - James Taylor and Joni Mitchell

Turn That Heartbeat Over Again - Steely Dan

Night Flight - Led Zeppelin

Run:

Levelland (live) - James McMurtry (The song that turned me onto Jimmy Mac - the greatest!)

Wild, Wild West - The Escape Club

The Spirit of Radio - Rush

Stop What You're Doing - Long John Hunter

Very Special Love - Alabama

Rock of Ages - Def Leppard

Desperados Under the Eaves (live) - Warren Zevon

Searching for a Heart (cover) - Don Henley

Woodstock - Joni Mitchell

Right Here Now - James McMurtry

Everything is Coming Down - Bo Ramsey

Station Call - Wynton Marsalis

Monkey Wash, Donkey Rinse (cover) - David Lindley and

Unwritten - Natasha Bedingfield

Bike home:

So What - Miles Davis

Oye Como Va - Santana

Other Possibilities - Rachel Portman (Chocolat soundtrack)

Jack and Diane - John Mellencamp

Take Me to the River - The Commitments