Construction Progress

Curbs were going in around the parking lot expansion in Lexington Center today. Over at the Depot, workmen were breaking up old concrete and putting down a gravel bed ahead of bricking the passenger platform.

Today: 10 miles. This year: 348.5 miles.

A Tunnel of Green

East towards Wiggins Avenue

Today: 13 miles. This year: 338.5 miles.

Bits and Patches

The passenger platform at the Lexington Depot is completely dug up in preparation for repaving. The trail in front of the platform is cut and patched: the big dip there is gone. The broken pavement around one side of the gate at Hancock Street is also patched, but the patch was too soft and is scored with bicycle tire tracks.

The construction site at Edison Way is paved over now, except for a strip down the middle in the shape of a traffic island. So it's not another substation, it's an extension of the municipal parking lot.

Grading the new Lexington Center lot

Yesterday: 10.5 miles. This year: 325.5 miles.

Trail Conditions: Damp Debris

There's washed-in debris all over following a week of rain, plus a few puddles. But the leaves are fully out and the trail is practically a tunnel now through under a continuous canopy.

Near Bow Street, Lexington.

West of Hancock Avenue

Today: 21 miles. This year: 281 miles.

Loose Ends

The cut at Camellia (or Camille) Place and Hancock Avenue is smoothly repaved. Only a little of Monday's trash has been collected and some bags have broken open. The excavation at Edison Way is filled nearly to ground level with drainage pipe and coarse gravel. I'm still thinking it's another electrical substation.

The first cottonwood snow of the year lightly lines the path near Hartwell Avenue. It's early -- most of the cottonwood snow falls in June.

June 2004 cottonwood snow in Lexington

Today: 13 miles. This year: 217.5 miles.

Excavation and Sanitation

The sand-filled cut across the trail at Camellia Place (spelled "Camille" on the sign) and Hancock Avenue was an open excavation on Monday. It looks ready for repaving, but you'll have to skirt around it until that happens.

There's a much larger excavation just off the trail between Edison Way and Grant Street in Lexington Center. It's right behind the existing substation and I wonder if it might be another.

When I saw a trash bag on the trail at Woburn Street, I thought it was illegal dumping. When I saw another at Bedford Street, I thought it was more illegal dumping. Then when I saw a rusty ladder, an old lawnmower, and more bags in the wetlands area near Hartwell Avenue, it finally dawned on me that there must have been a cleanup, and all this trash was waiting to be collected. The rusting cot below was near Wiggins Avenue.

Today: 21 miles. This year: 204.5 miles.

"... about seventeen miles an hour"

"I think you're going about seventeen miles an hour" -- actual unretouched quote from passing cyclist. If I could do that uphill or upwind, I'd be in great shape.

Today: 13 miles. This year: 175.5 miles.