The Night That Fall Ended

That's one massive Cottonwood tree my Mukluk is leaning on

Monday was warm, maybe in the 60's here, but the door on the warm air was about to close and a rushing wind was predicted for Monday night. Monday nights are my regular night ride night. So, I was wondering how this would go. Strong winds and our rag-tag woods generally will result in breaking branches and what not falling down. Possibly on me.

I weighed the options as I took off into the teeth of a strong Northwest wind. The trees were free from leaves, since Fall has advanced so far, and by the sounds of things, Winter was kissing my cheeks with a cold welcome. I decided to roll over toward George Wyth State Park and try the wider, more open trails which maybe would not be so dangerous. I reached the far side of the park and hit up a section where the trees were younger and less likely to throw off dead and weak wood. As I twisted and turned into the trail, I started to see something in my lights. The winds were dropping the temperatures and it was maybe already 30 degrees colder than it was in the afternoon. White looking, swirling bits in the head lights. Snow?

By the time I reached the house after an hour and a half I was pretty damp from the precipitation that was falling. As I came into the house, I was pretty sure that I was going to go to bed and wake up to Winter.

As it turned out, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but it was still really cold and the wind was straight at me outta the Northwest. Standard Winter fare for the commute to work, which on this day featured a wind chill into the single digits. Hello Winter, I suppose you'll be sticking around a while, won't you?