Ahead of the Race

Visit #1188, Sunday 14 April 19, 6:00-8:45AM, 5.4 miles, 28.4lbs. of trash.

Daffodil Festival activities kicked off this Sunday, starting with the Rotary Daffodil 5k Road Race.  I thought I'd try to make the road race course, and parking areas for the runners, look nice by picking up trash prior to the event.

That meant an early start to this week's adventures. I started at the gate leading up the road to Merimere Reservoir, picking up trash as I walked.

By the time I reached the water treatment plant I'd filled up one bag and left it there for water department personnel to pick up later.

 It was so early the sun was still casting a shadow of South Mountain on the slope of East Peak.

Further up the road I came upon Season of the Missing Glove 2018/19, entry #7.

Rumor has it when scientists revealed this week they had for the first time, photographed a black hole, they discovered it was composed entirely of those single socks and gloves that get lost in the dryer. That's likely where the companion to the glove above has also gone.

I reached the north end of Merimere Reservoir and the sun was still slow on the uptake.

I continued on until I reached where the road begins to tilt up, then turned around, picking up litter from the opposite side of the road as I walked back toward the park.

As I reached the water treatment plant on the return trip, a water department employee named Dan pulled up in his truck and offered to take my second trash bag. He also said he would collect the first bag I left hanging on the fence. Thanks to Dan; he represents the Meriden Water Division, and the City of Meriden, well.

As I walked down the Soap Box Derby track, I spied this lonesome daffodil, far away from his homies. That daffodil marches to his own beat.

Okay, so now I was done with cleaning up the road race course. Next would be parking for the runners.

Since the festival tent occupied  most of the parking lot, I walked the road around the parking lot and playscape, and picked up litter.

Find of the Week was this unopened bottle of Guinness Extra Stout.

You have to be pretty drunk to dump a perfectly good bottle of beer; that's akin to leaving ONE piece of pizza in the box. Like you couldn't finish it after scarfing down the other seven slices...

I filled up a third bag of trash, and started a fourth.

With this last bag, I walked around roughly three-fourth's of Mirror Lake, tidying up both sides of the road so the runners would have a favorable impression of the park.

As I did so, I learned ducks think they have an exemption from using crosswalks.

I finished well before the runners arrived, and went home to watch the exciting finale of  Paris-Roubaix and see who came out ahead there. For the uninitiated, that's 150+ miles with over 20 sectors of cobblestones!