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Sunday, April 19, 2020

Socially Distanced Bike Ride - With One Distinctly Unsocial Incident

Went for a bike ride yesterday.  Further beyond the neighborhood this time.  We're still in a serious self-isolation, so I had some concerns about being able to maintain a 6 foot separation if there were others on the bike trail.

Not far from home, I passed the Lake Otis drive by COVID-19 testing site.  Not much activity.


I wanted to check out something on Tudor and as I was getting close to my destination, someone was walking toward me in a spot that had little room.  I detoured into a parking lot to let him pass by.  As we was just past, another guy was coming across the street toward me.  I'm assuming he was homeless and high on something as he came towards me yelling, loudly and menacingly, "Get the fuck out of there" over and over again.

One thing I hadn't worried about was someone intentionally coming at me.  Until then.   There was room for me to bike out of the way and I gave up my original destination and biked back to Lake Otis and headed south.







Here's Campbell Creek from the bridge.










And the playground.  There was yellow police tape at the equipment, but it had been torn down and was on the ground.

There were lots of motorcycles on the road.  The streets are all clear of ice and snow and it was in the low 50s.  The bike path along the streets was also clear and there's enough room for people to pass with SD if both get on the edge or just off the path.  During about the four mile loop, I passed twelve others on my side of the street - four on bikes, two with dogs, and one with two little kids.

I had a neck warmer that I could pull up over my nose as a mask when I passed others.  Alaska's statistics are good, and I'm probably being obsessive, but getting in the bike ride was mentally and physically joyful, and so a little mask wasn't that much effort.

Though the aggressive guy did spook me - more after the fact than at the time.  Is someone coming up to you in a pandemic and touching you, coughing or spitting at your face, like a zombie attack?  He didn't do any of those things, but he could have.  I'm wondering if the building near the parking lot was a space homeless people are using and he just didn't want me nosing around.  I was just using the parking lot to let another pedestrian get past me, but I he didn't know that.  I just have no idea what it was about.


 I turned east at Dowling and then back north at Elmore.  Here's the south fork of Campbell Creek from Elmore.





Just past it there was a green tent hidden in the trees.  I don't like to jump to conclusions, like saying 'a homeless tent' but it's not likely anyone was doing recreational camping in that spot.










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