Back from Jax again  Finally made it back from a trip to Jacksonville to visit Mom. The United flight was delayed by 3 1/2 hours. The JAX airport is small. So small that nearly everything closes at around 7 p.m. I was glad that I was carrying a New Yorker magazine, a Wired magazine, and a book.

I took my Bike Friday New World Tourist, which I assembled at the airport and rode to Mom's place. It's about a 25 mile ride that takes around 2 hours. There was a great tailwind. At one point I looked down at the speedometer and I was cruising along at about 21 or 22 mph. I decided to see how fast I could ride without a lot of effort. I inched up the speed to 26, 27, 28 and just barely reached 30 mph before I backed down to the low 20's.

On the St. John's Ferry I parked among a group of cyclists returning from an afternoon ride on their hogs. They were surprised that I was cold riding in shorts and a light jacket.

Here are some photos from the trip. Included is a copy of a painting I did in acrylic of a bicycle, based on a photo on fixed gear gallery. It was an experiment, as I've never painted in acrylic before. Mom had paint in large bottles donated to her by a friend. It was fun to use lots of paint to achieve a thick blending of multiple colors.

Speaking of bicycle paintings, after a brief search I discovered Taliah Lempert, an artist who makes her living, mostly painting bicycles. Here's an interview of Taliah on fixed gear gallery.

Mosquito Control office on Eastport Rd.	Aboard St. Johns Ferry with Bike Friday	Power plant and Bike Friday near Heckscher Blvd.
Ship on St. Johns River next to Heckscher Blvd.	Acrylic painting of a bicycle	Red Cross lifesaving station on Jacksonville Beach at Beach Blvd.

posted by Bruce Wright at 4:28 PM #