Winter's last soldier

Today the predicted high temperature for the day arrived in the early afternoon. This encouraged me to believe that the actual high which usually occurs in late afternoon was going to be even higher, perhaps even in the area where a comfortable ride would be possible.

The sky was mostly blue, only a couple of clouds. I started to ride expecting the best, dressed for the worst. The sun quickly went down behind the few clouds which were hovering in the western sky.

The sun was behind the cloud, the lighting was bad for a picture. As I rode along I kept deciding on where the next photo opportunity might occur. And I kept passing the points where I intended to get a picture as the sun remained stuck behind that persistent western sky cloud. I made it all the way home before decent lighting conditions occurred.

This is the last piece of ice remaining in our domain, winter's last soldier.The temperature never went up from the early afternoon high. The wind blew from the west, an area of the state recently blasted with brand new 10 inch blanket of snow. Wind blowing over snow covered terrain? If we pause long enough to consider all of these factors we can easily predict the result.

It was cold. It was too cold. Fortunately I was dressed for the worst.