It breathes me
2:30 a.m. Start route. First tube. No cars.
2:36 One skunk.
2:38 Swerve around discarded paper bag, beer cans. No moon. Replacements. Police.
2:39 A kitten in the ditch. The Turtles. New white gravel reflects on brights.
2:40 Gliding hawk or owl.
2:43 A single rabbit. Remove seat belt for right window deliveries. Happy Together.
2:48 Meet oncoming headlights. "How is the weather?"
2:51 Mist. Slow wipers. Pair of raccoons. Fat raccoon hides in the ditch, looks back.
3:00 a.m. Hit first benchmark, right on time. Thirty-six down. Bagging some, banding some.
3:08 Android alert: New York Times. Scan headlines. Queens of the Stone Age.
3:11 Stop sign. One motorcycle followed by one car. Unusual amount of human activity.
3:13 Branch stuck under car. Drive in reverse to dislodge.
3:14 Motorcycle and car stopped ahead on County Road 2500 E. Window down. "Is everything OK?" "Just didn't want to slide on the slick pavement." "OK, be careful."
3:16 Baron von Tollbooth and the Chrome Nun.
3:22 A little Pet Shop Boys.
3:23 Fox!
3:25 Birds playing chicken with headlights, fly up from pavement along 2600 E.
3:28 Slurp of coffee. Marlboro peppermint snus. "Wud've I wud've I wud've I done to deserve this."
3:40 Corn stalks half dry, brown. Didn't notice yesterday. Elton John. Teacher I Need You.
3:42 Predictable barking dog runs up to window. Phone battery down, plug in. Elderberry Wine.
3:47 Hippie rarity. David Crosby. If I Could Only Remember My Name.
3:49 A few minutes early. Missed farmer's truck leaving for work. Catch him tomorrow.
3:58 Alice's house now empty, dark.
4:00 a.m. Second benchmark. Halfway done. Running a little early. Incomprehensible tweet from insomniac Sponberg. Pass through Broadlands. Run both stop signs. Rain long stopped. Warm.
4:10 Stop to void on CR 100 N. No stars. Lonely tree on landscape dark as shadow.
4:12 Sing along. "I wonder who they are, the men who really run this land. I wonder why they run it with such a thoughtless hand. What are their names and on what street do they live? I'd like to ride right over this afternoon and give them a piece of my mind about peace for mankind. Peace is not an awful lot to ask." Could have been written yesterday.
4:16 Glide through silent Allerton. Turn off music. No signs of life, not even a rabbit in the gardens. Deliver thirty more.
4:33 Exit Allerton. Cricket chirps.
4:42 Three mile stretch of nothing in Vermilion County. Flip open paper to scan for angry letters. Champaign-Urbana glows 30 miles off. Nobody seen since the motorcycle.
4:55 Erik Satie piano music in the form of a pear.
5:00 a.m. Turn on NPR News. Republicans announce they will "disagree completely" with Obama's jobs plan, one day before he announces what that will be.
5:02 Turn off NPR News. Return to Satie.
5:03 Semi-truck on highway 49.
5:04 Brake for two young deer.
5:10 Coyote dashes into corn.
5:12 GPS screen as blank as the sky, save for single straight line, CR 2800 E.
5:15 Closed RR crossing, detour through Homer. Three cars. Marathon Station, gas $3.75.
5:25 Turn onto last gravel mile before Homer Lake.
5:32 Woman walking dog. Still very dark.
5:39 Homer Lake Road. Man jogs, wearing reflective tape.
5:40 Slurp tepid coffee. Slight pain in chest. Think about mortality. Contemplate how Satie piano music compares with Ryuchi Sakamoto.
5:43 Conclude South Homer Lake Road run. Lake still. No sunrise until Daylight Saving Time.
5:46 Train whistle three miles off.
5:49 Slow down for deer bounding along corn rows.
5:51 The last mile. Birds start to chirp. A rooster crows. Pre-dawn clouds looming and black.
5:58 a.m. Final paper stuffed into orange tube. 157 papers total. Dawn behind me. Gnossiennes plays on, indifferent.
Most Recent Opinion Comments
Okay, almost 24 hours later and I finally got Issac’s Summer joke. I’m an idiot.
Swap the dog for a fire pit and it sounds like you’re writing about my back yard. Very nice.
funny, as your summer begins, another Summer ends.
And that, my friend, is love. Bob, I think I still owe you for my wedding cake, served in 1998. But nevermind.
I believe the kiss between Rob and I was documented on low-quality videotape in the mid-ninties porn classic, Dirty Harry…and Sticky.
“Do I have to sign some forms, or am I just considered ‘in.’” You’re in!
Got damn, Coulter. You are the greatest.
I have no specific memory of it, but I wouldn’t be surprised if I’d kissed Mike, too—once we’d both drunk ourselves gay. And earlier this week I gave Clarence Shelley a back rub. Do I have to sign some forms, or am I just considered “in.”
FWIW, I got a copy of the letter in question. It was written in a way that would be plausible to a casual reader who didn’t scrutinize it too carefully. It announced the formation of an organization called G.L.A.B.A. (which actually exists), and had discussion about typical…
Most Popular Opinion Articles (60 days)
- Feeling Hot, Hot, Hot!
- “Opposite” marriage includes fun, love, and drinking in the day
- I bet you wish you had a hat
- Politics and poker may or may not mix
- Priest suing N-G is part of Catholic splinter group
- Opening day brings drinks to the table
- Off the rails
- The desert
- Double trouble in Coulter’s dog prison
- A Modest-ish Proposal
Most Recent Comments
Oh nice! I’d totally vote for Matt Campbell!
“Smile Politely sports writer announces candidacy for city government.”
I also got to visit Big Grove Tavern during the soft open and definitely enjoyed the pork belly the most of all the dishes I sampled. The cheesy grits and the vinegary pickled vegetables were a perfect compliment to the rich pork belly.
The Alan Partridge lookalike on the right in the first small photo has nothing to condescend to anyone about. AH HA!
Snell and the little Hitlers of the neighborhood association need to chill out. Legitimate businesses should have the freedom to exist without having to endure the slings and arrows of ignorant and misguided opposition.
represent, Matt.
Yeah, I’d agree that Transporter Room 3 is the worst house venue I’ve ever seen.
Food trucks are the start-up, small businesses of the future for those unable to afford real estate. No surprise, that merchants who pay rent, utilities, and maintenance on a property would despise the traveling competition. Or developers who build more empty retail spaces would want to close…
Not so much far-right Tea Party as a balanced, moderate viewpoint between letting businesses succeed and protecting society with reasonable regulations. In spite of what the city reps are saying, the interpretation of policy on this issue certainly has changed. Letting a business start up under one…
I think it’s neat that SP has turned rightward, now espousing a Tea Party-style frustration with government regulations & taxes.
This makes me so sad. (Happy to live in Urbana, though!) Crave Truck has been a GREAT addition to the food choices in C-U, and it’d be a travesty to chase them away. This town should be supporting small businesses. I’m glad to hear that they’ll still…
*slow. clap.* Still offering no threat of intelligence…. I know I said I thought you should just write this whole column yourself next year, Isaac, but now that you’ve gone and taken a “part deux” run at it, I’d like to modify my request: Best Music 2013,…
Actually, it’s kind of nice, the quiet. John Heoffleur’s engaging commentary/dialogue is sorely missed, however. In lieu of someone intelligent saying something, I’ve compiled a list of Honourable Mentions: BEST ROCK BAND: Take Care ::these gentlemen have four completely different sets at their disposal right now (which…
What? Echo! (Echo!) Where’s the dischord and dissent?
This weekend will mark the first appearance of Kayla Brown’s Fire Doll Candle booth at the Market. Check it: http://www.facebook.com/firedollcandles
And without bloodshed. Sounds like the Savoy trustees aren’t as narrow-minded as some of their whiny pants constituents. Do you think quack Snell is already planning an asinine counterattack or is he still laying low after those “threats” against his person?
hey, if hair ain’t gon’ be over your head, my jokes may as well be.
Okay, almost 24 hours later and I finally got Issac’s Summer joke. I’m an idiot.
Excellent. I am glad sometimes American dreams are encouraged, rather than stifled.
Swap the dog for a fire pit and it sounds like you’re writing about my back yard. Very nice.
Facebook
Twitter
Full Site
hey, if hair ain’t gon’ be over your head, my jokes may as well be.