Same ride, this time with TOPWLH

Labor Day.

Lots of pictures today.

I was up early. Here is something which by her own testimony has never been witnessed by TOPWLH. I refer to it as our House Stonehenge. Near the equinoxes the rising sun comes above Bob's house and lines up with our above the tub bathroom window to cast direct sunlight into an area of the house where BB claims no sun ever shines.The weather today was much like yesterday, same wind direction, same temperatures, although quite a bit more wind velocity. I took pretty much the same ride as yesterday but this time TOPWLH rode with me.

We got downtown to Rice Park at about 10am which was in plenty of time to see about one-third of the policemen in the modern world with their police toys and riot gear getting set up for the parade which was set to begin at 11am. They were even a bit more strict than yesterday about enforcing the no vehicle including no bicycle ban around Rice Park. I saw a Sheriff's Deputy from Will County. There is no Will County in Minnesota. I saw US Capital Police. I saw guys wearing Secret Service vests. It was an impressive turnout by the boys in blue.We decided to get out of town ahead of the planned festivities on the off chance that something untoward would happen. The only reasonable way out of town was back up past the Capital. It was still only about 10:15 but it looks to me like if they were going to have 100,000 it was going to be a very late arriving 100,000. Plus protests just are not what they were in the good old days. That tent in front of the Capital is a concession tent selling Coke products. Buy your Diet Coke here, you can't tell your anarchists from your revolutionary Maoists without a Diet Coke in your hand.We were just getting ready to leave when the Saint Paul Bicycle Police arrived in force. BB counted them and reports that there were 12 officers on mountain bikes.Mind you, I am not advocating this but I think this is one of the few times in my life where outrunning the police might have been a reasonable option for me had it become a necessary course of action. Certainly I had the equipment. Furthermore, I looked at those guys and although a few of them had decent legs mostly they looked like occasional bicycle riders, the kind I can drop if I really want to.

Not content with a 26 miles bicycle ride, we walked to the State Fair this afternoon. I had not been to the Fair for several years, perhaps as many as 8 years. But I had prepared for this year's Fair. On a ride through the Fairgrounds a couple of months ago I took a picture which I have been saving, waiting for just this moment to post. There were a couple of fairly distinctive gouges in the pavement next to my bike when I took the picture and I was pretty sure I could find the same spot again for another picture.

Fairgrounds in early summer.Fairgrounds on Labor Day, the last day of the Minnesota State Fair.And finally, what for me was a real highlight. We came across a political booth where Priscilla Lord Faris was making her pitch for votes for Democratic nomination for US Senate in the upcoming primary. She is the candidate against the endorsed candidate, the much more celebrated satirist Al Franken. She had her 88 year old father out campaigning. Her father is a personal hero of mine and of many Minnesotans. He is former federal judge Miles Lord. I was very pleased to meet him and he was kind enough to consent to a photograph.I greeted him appropriately I am glad to say, addressing him as "Your Honor". His response indicated to me that he didn't expect anyone to address him as such. But we touched briefly on why he is famous and some of the continuing ramifications of one of his most famous cases. He did request that we vote for his daughter and after a brief discussion with her both TOPWLH and myself are very pleased to count ourselves among her supporters. She says the right things, she promised that she would be the right kind of US Senator and she responded appropriately and correctly when TOPWLH asked her if she is smart.