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July 14, 2003

I awoke this morning and glanced over at the clock to see that it was 4:30. There
seemed to be no reason in my mind, to try to fall asleep again. My alarm was
set for 5 AM anyway. I got up, dressed in shorts and sports shirt and let the
dogs out, as is my normal routine and part of my preparation for my morning
bicycle ride before work.

With coffee brewing and the dogs back in the house, I hung the flashlight lantern

I carry with me on these early morning rides, on my bicycle handle bars. I turned
the light on pointing it downward toward the ground, not so concerned about
seeing what was in front of me as I was about others seeing me. I placed
my left foot on the left pedal of my bicycle and threw myself astride the seat,
much as I would have put my foot in a saddle stirup and heaved myself
across the back of a horse. I thought of younger days, when I'd done just
that.

I looked back and pressed the remote control to the garage door, closing
it as I rolled out of my driveway on to the street in my subdivision,
and began to pedal toward US19. I bicycled just over 1 mile down US19
to the Pinellas Trail, (End of the Trail) Mile Marker 34, as has become
my custom each morning and each afternoon. It was about 5 AM as
I made my turn onto the Trail and very dark on this first stretch which
runs parrallel to the Anclote River. I was very pleased with myself at having
made such an early start. It meant that at the end of my morning ride, I'd
have plenty of time for breakfast and the coffee I'd left brewing.

I rode the trail past mile marker 33 headed in to Tarpon Springs. Here the
path is more lighted for the next mile as I pass the shops and cafes that
line the street along the trail. I remember thinking how great
my legs felt this morning and looking about to see if there was any
chance for morning rain.

It wasn't til Mile Marker 32 after I'd left the downtown area of Tarpon Springs,
that I noticed the full moon, that til this moment had been completely
hidden behind the clouds. Shaded even now by the wisps of grey clouds
in the still dark early morning, it seemed to get brighter and brighter as I
pressed forward toward the crossing at Klosterman Road. The bike trail
ahead of me became brighter as I rolled past mile marker 31 and to
Klosterman. The traffic light was in my favor at the crossing and I barely
even slowed down as I passed, then in to the darkness again.

I glanced upward and the moon in the Southwestern sky reminded me
of other days when I was about, in the darkness of early

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