Winding Down

Since it is bike to work month and week, I decided to get at least a couple more commutes under my belt before retirement.  The morning rain had ended, the streets were still damp and the humidity was rising which made for a quietly erie bike.  

The park n' bike lot is right off busy rt140 in Taunton Ma.  The first part of the commute is along the secondary roads and over the railroad tracks.  Three miles into the commute is the high school that lies just outside of the center of town.  Riding through the center and the rotary can get tricky. Another half mile brings me again to the quiet secondary roads. Traffic has calmed considerably and from here its an up gradual grade.

A private road takes me though the aslyum that is still being used for youth detention, thirty day observation and those that occasionally have to be institutionalized short term. 

A short spin more brings me to the Paul A Dever School, an old institution for the mentally "retarded" as they were called at the time.

The buildings have a cold, institutional feel to them, typical of 1950's era architecture, and have a monotonous, "efficient" design... all the dormitories seem to have been built exactly the same

This is my sixth and last year commuting to work.  When I think about those things I will miss about the job, the only thing that constantly pops up is the bike ride. I can remember vividly the stress of planning and thinking about my first commute, and like touring, all that worrying and other negative thoughts were gone within the first mile.

I'll do a few more rides to work before June 4th and on that last day I will surely ride toward sunset.