December Sky

Plainsboro Rd, Cranbury

13 December 2015

Yesterday afternoon my new camera arrived. Burnaby let me test it on him.

I don't normally bring my camera out on Cranbury rides. It's not a picture-taking crowd. Today I made an exception because I wanted to do something I haven't been able to do since the lens on the old camera got scratched: shoot into the sun.

There was as much haze this morning as there was yesterday. The sun was still low in the sky at 8:45 a.m. I got out of the car for this picture of one of the farms on Plainsboro Road outside of Cranbury:

The sun between tree branches near the Knapp's parking lot in Cranbury: 

Larry took us northeast today because he wanted to go on one of his favorite roads. Unfortunately, this favorite road is way the hell out in Marlboro, and to get there we had to pass through miles and miles and miles of classic New Jersey suburban sprawl.

The sights got moderately better when we crossed over Tenent Road. "We're now officially in Marlboro," JeffH announced.

"It looks like we just jumped a couple of tax brackets," I said.

"Yep. There are three kinds of cars here," he explained. "There are Mercedes, There are BMWs, and there is one Hyundai. I drive the Hyundai."  He's looking to leave.

We gawked at the size and overdoneness of the houses, all of them new construction from old money.

There were a few places that still looked like old New Jersey.

Pleasant Valley Road at Conover Road:

This is what all the fuss was about: Conover Road.

"Y'know," I chided Larry, "We had to go through a whole lot of ugly to get here. Province Line Road is a lot closer."

"I know, I know," he said.

Province Line Road, Hopewell, 7 April 2012

Most of us were in late summer gear. We were sweating. It was close to 70 degrees out.

The only time I could tell for sure that it was December was when I found myself pulling the group into a headwind for miles. Eventually, a couple of the guys jumped ahead of me. "Take a pull, why don'tcha?" said Steve as he sped by. "Enough!" Peter said as he passed, and then I was doing my best to keep up with them.

I ended the day with a handful of miles over the round number I was hoping for. Now I will forget what that number is, so don't ask me, OK?