Dedication

Meriden sits under full-bladder skies on a cool, gray Memorial Day weekend.

Visit #1138, Sunday 27 May 18, 7:40-10:00AM, 3.9 miles.
Temps in the 60's, cloudy, breezy, with intermittent light sprinkles.

I was clearly dedicated to my duties this weekend.

Despite the threat of rain, I headed out to the trails anyway. I had ridden my mountain bike through Hubbard Park earlier this week and spotted a couple posters someone thoughtlessly placed. I removed one of them then, and my route this Sunday would take me by the second poster, and beyond.

Enroute to Hubbard Park, I experienced a flat tire on my car, adjacent to Westfield Meriden.  So dedicated to my duties was I, that I installed my spare tire on the side of I-691 and continued on my way. You can see the drops of rain on my car. Lesser mortals would have turned around and returned home to watch cartoons. Not me!

Arriving at Hubbard Park, I left the parking lot and walked to the south end of Merimere Reservoir, then up to the Halfway House, where I ran into a large group of trail runners taking a break. After resting, they were running up to Castle Craig, the along the ridgeline high above the reservoir, exiting at the north end of Merimere Reservoir. Below is just a small portion of the larger group, heading to the steep trail up to Castle Craig.

I reached the poster and removed it. The poster advertises a "fit camp" to be held on the Meriden Green. Read the poster and you'll notice they have the date/day of the week wrong.

I reached Castle Craig just as the trail runners were leaving. I cleaned up the parking lot then followed the road back to the park. Enroute I spied a tree fallen across an adjacent trail, which I'll probably remove next week.

Crossing the north end of Merimere Resevoir, I found someone else dedicated to their task, in this case, to their young.

I arrived at the gate just as the park custodian arrived in his golf cart to unlock the gate, 10AM. He kindly offered to take my bag of litter.

Better weather is forecast for Memorial Day. Seek out a parade or memorial service and pay your respects.