“Here I am picking up litter, and Linda is in Greece,” I explained to Mary Hasenoerhl as we walked near Rockin’ Y formerly Lucky Acres Stables.

I think the origin of the TRC Adopt-a-Road project belongs to Bill Cone. Bill was still organizing it when I joined the club though we seldom saw either Bill or Kathy on a club ride.

Why would cyclists want to Adopt-a-Road? Bill probably figured it would be good public relations for cyclists. And we do ride to Barr Road on Tammany all the time so we’d benefit from a cleaner roadway too.

In any case it was Linda who decided to take it over. She did make the first couple of arrangements and might have even picked up the signs,bags, and vests from the Nez Perce County Road department, though I think that chore fell to me very early on. And of course, what’s a retired guy going to do with his time? Bicycle?

Weekend dates were the norm until Doug Goodenough suggested a weekenight last spring. I’m sure Steve would have approved. He complained vociferously about litter pickup begin scheduled in the mid-morning effectively ending any possiblity of a long ride that day.

The chore itself takes less than 2 hours maybe just an hour when we turn out in force. Last spring, however, I think I was picking up for the full two hours. We got it done and more people did show up as we went along arriving after work but I was nervous about this fall’s event. Would I find myself alone? I could picture that scenariou and I didn’t like it.

No need to have fretted. Eleven people showed up and we finished by 6:30. True, we violated proceedure by posting the signs at both ends of our 2 mile stretch instead of doing 1 mile at a time. But we didn’t bunch up. I divided the two miles into 5 roughly equivalent settings. Volunteers drove to a section, walked one side and back the other, then helped in other sections.

Good to see new people too. Donna and Gary have become mainstays of the club this summer. They’re doing Tour de Lacs this weekend, but maybe we’ll get ‘em to Joseph next year. Mary Hasenoerhl is one of Linda’s Easy Does It riders who just may become more active with the rest of us.

So, Linda, hope you picked up a little trash somewhere in Greece just to keep your hand in.

–Corrie

Honor Roll for 3/24/2010

Doug Goodenough

Jennifer Trost

Lance Abernathy

Tom Leachman

Ronna Gustin

Gary and Donna

Carol Ellis

Corrie and Linda