Commuting - Fires out west, wildlife, and other thoughts...

Anyone notice the colors of the setting sun? Or in my case the setting moon? You had to be up at about 1AM my time, but with all the dust and ash in the atmosphere, that white half moon took on a wonderful orange hue last night as it settled in the west. It was a pleasant spectical.
Have you noticed a rise in the wildlife on your commutes? Again it may just be me, but there sure did seem to be more racoons, and that over bearing perfume of a skunk in the air the past few nights.
Finally, my commute has taken on a different significance lately. My best friend and his wife have moved to Washington State, and have put out a standing invitation to move out there as well. I am thinking really hard on it, giving myself 3 weeks to make the decision. I've come to love the commute I have, the bike paths, the streets I ride, the extra miles I put on, and it has become one of the reasons to stay. I know Winter is just around the corner, and I'll be cursing the cold, or laughing at it from beneath my Balakava, and that is one reason to head out.
Random thoughts from a random cyclist.

Come on out west naisme! You won't regret it!

Hmmmm... you can just pick up and move just like that? Lucky.

We had a blood-red sunrise yesterday morning 'cause of all the fires up here. Gorgeous!

What part of Washington are you looking at?

I moved to Washington State in 1965 & think it was one of my smarter moves. Things are built up more now, there are a lot more people & some areas have a real traffic mess but you can still find a lot of natural beauty very close in to our major cities and the small towns are hard to beat if you can find work close by. Politically, the state has moved left somewhat but it depends on the area. Some places are still pretty conservative while others are similar to the SF Bay area in their politics. Enough variety that you can pick your local government to suit & the whole state is pretty bike friendly. Don

The smoke is beginning to set in here. There is a wildfire near Lincoln, MT SW of here. Its only around 80 acres now. And so it begins...

Naisme, you are the kind of guy that sees the beauty in everything wherever you go. "Wherever you go, there you are."

Naisme, you are the kind of guy that sees the beauty in everything wherever you go. "Wherever you go, there you are."

There is only one place that I had difficulty seeing beauty, Tucson, AZ. The heat was pretty oppresive, in the middle of February. That was the big deterent for moving there.

As for begin able to pick up and just move, there is really only one thing that is keeping me here, a job, a good job, with bennies. I can get a job somewhere, anywhere, and am looking in WA. But a trip west would include MT, there are a couple places to check out there as well.