Anything's a Good Reason for a Bike Ride

Thursday Tracking via Ham Radio APRS
I had a small parcel to mail out this morning, but I really wanted to ride east instead of west.  I went uphill, west on Frost, to the Post Office first, and  at first thought I'd turn north on North-14 and ride up to the South Mountain / Cedar Grove turnoff and do that loop around South Mountain even though that route includes the infamous Heartbreak Hill which - for me - requires several miles of pushing the bike slowly uphill.  But I decided, after taking a water and snack break at the Post Office, to turn around and go east on Frost Road and do the Mountain Valley / County Line Road loop again.  So I did.
I prefer to do loop routes instead of just going out and coming back the same way, so I decided to ride down to Dinkle Road, go west to the Mountain Valley bridge over I-40, and ride Old Route 66 back up to Sedillo Hill Road and back on home.  A few days ago when Jacque and I rode this route to Edgewood, I noticed a house in the trees that is either a good replica of an old train station or is actually constructed from salvaged railroad materials:

This home looks very realistic in its depiction of a railroad station building and it has the Santa Fe Railroad emblem above the station name "SPRINGER", on both ends of the house.  I was tempted to knock on the door and ask for a tour or more info but I decided not to chance it.  It was bad enough riding right up into their yard for pictures....
August - so far - has been marvelous for biking weather.  Today was slightly overcast and cooler than the previous few weeks, and thoroughly enjoyable in spite of blustery breezes which seemed to be trying to whip up some afternoon showers.
Beginning Battery Voltage:  12.9   Ending Voltage:  12.6
Lowest Temp  66 F      Highest Temp:  81 F
Stats from the GPS: Total Miles:     21.9
Overall average speed            Moving Avg               Max Speed
5.7 MPH                                 8.8 MPH                    35 MPH
Total Trip time                       Moving Time             Stopped Time
3 hours 50 mins                    2 hours  29 mins        1 hour 20 minutes