Wow!

 What else can I say?  Oh right, a whole lot, but I didn't set out to write a blog about the weather trends resulting from climate change, but then again, these things are happening whether we intended them or not.  No, if anything, in a hopelessly idealistic world, this would be a blog about how people realized that the car paradigm wasn't just bad for our health and happiness, but also for the health and happiness of the world on which we evolved to survive, so they started riding bikes instead, to in a small way slow the damage to both themselves and the planet.  But no, it's far, far to little, as I'm not that enthralling a writer, and even to my surprise, but not shock, a bit too late.  Welcome our new world.

I know erroneously using the term "gravel" has become popular, 

but it's hard to argue this is an improvement.

Yesterday, after the damp from our spring-like overnight rain in July dispersed and I actually followed through on my intention to soften the gearing on the Kabuki, I headed north and west, sometimes simultaneously, in the rough direction of visiting my friend Pete atop Poplar Hill in West Whatley once he returned home at two.  Two o'clock was still a goodly chunk of time after I was finished futzing with chainrings, so I headed more northerly than the direct route, through Deerfield and up to Conway, which had me roughly following the path of route 116.  Happily, there is a good backroad that allow for a more sedate, if slightly more hilly, bypass of the more trafficked throughway.

Alas, after my short stint along 116, road crews were directing traffic onto my side route!  To compound matters, other crews had decided the day of the detour was the best option for service to the side road as well, in some places restricting a road, already serving more traffic than it's intended design, to one lane.  Odd timing, it seemed to me, but the reason became clear once we rejoined the former road known as route 116.  Yes, former road, as four inches of rain in one go exceeded the drainage design capacity and carried the road surface down the hill along with the water.  State DOT roads are usually engineered to not cut too close to the margin, so to exceed their water carrying capacity is no small feet.  Well, it seems that a third of a foot is no small feet.

Just up 116 from where someone used to have a bridge to access their house

For years, some preponderant portion of politicians have proffered that proposed plans to possibly postpone climate change pose too prolific a problem for the productive economy.  Well, that sentence isn't the only thing full of p(iss), so now you're in (read that aloud) for the effects of how little we've done.  It seems to me, and some others, the effects of climate change will be far more costly than any attempts we might have made to stem, or at least slow, its progress.

What Road! It used to be Whatley Road, 

but the downpour washed away the "ley"

I did make it to Pete's house, and even was able to negotiate the old woods road option for bypassing the steep climb up Poplar Hill despite, hey, more flooding of that trail at the base.  We had a high and dry visit sitting in his front yard, although he did show me videos of the the drainage swale designed to divert water from his basement.  It was a small geyser.  Back to costs and politics, I mentioned the two reliable sources for climate change evaluations I know: insurance actuaries, and the US military, although the later is often forced to suppress their data to keep the politicized purse pouring pennies.  Pfft.  This whole time, we were treated to his commanding view of the Holyoke range 7 Sisters, a series of bumps near and dear to both our hearts.  I hope those don't wash away too soon.  I neglected to take a picture!