Perfect February Day ~

 February has arrived, I'm glad the short, cold days of January are over for another year.  February has started out mild & I'll take it!  The second was a nice day too, but I had appointments.  Saturday had been another gray day - so when the sun & blue sky appeared this morning - I loaded Smokey.

At the park & ready to leave~

Since riding along the South Omaha Bridge Rd. was so dirty the other day, I decided to forgo it & leave from inside the park.  Starting on the south side of the lake, my favorite part, kept me motivated.

Trail to myself~

Since it was Monday, I had the entire park mostly to myself.  The newly paved trail made riding a breeze.  

On the way to E. Lake Manawa Drive~

I took the old section of closed road to cut over to E. Lake Manawa Drive.  

Along E. Lake Manawa Drive~

Aptly named, this road & section of trail goes along the east side of the lake.  There are no views, you wouldn't know the lake was there. There's a light at the corner of Hwy 275, Veterans Memorial Hwy where I make a turn & cut over to take Wright Street past the north end of the golf course.

Today I made it all around the old campground without any remaining snow drifts to contend with.  Then it's back along the busy road until I turn off to the long stretch along Indian Creek.  (The west side of the lake.)

The west side~

If there's wind, this is where it usually makes riding a little tougher.  I was in luck today, hardly any wind at all, with what there was, coming from the west.  Much easier than riding into it!

Indian Creek - low!

The creek is still incredibly low.  Our third year of drought is in evidence everywhere.  There's no frazil ice floating down the Missouri this season.  The water level was within a foot of being too low for the power plants to power the generators.  Iowa is struggling with a host of issues brought on by a changing climate.

The lake still iced over~

Even the warming temperatures haven't been enough to open the ice over the lake.  I was more than happy to sit on the bench & enjoy the warmth of the February sun.  When I downloaded my stats from the ride, I'd only lost two miles of distance & I didn't miss them at all!