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<div>Today I decided to take advantage of the beautiful summer weather, hot as we all know, to take a bike ride on the wonderful Latah Trail between Moscow and Troy. I rode about 12 miles on the trail, stopping a few times under a few of the wonderful trees that line the trail (too bad there are not more!), and enjoyed myself immensely.
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<div>I also used the bike ride to take advantage of the Moscow Food CO-OP's program to encourage biking, walking or other non-motorized forms of transportation, to punch the special CO-OP card for those using non-motorized forms of transportation to shop, which after purchasing five dollars worth of goods each shopping trip, carried home by the aforementioned non-motorized forms of transportation, earns the card holder after 20 trips a five dollar discount.
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<div>But what I found surprising, was that during the 90 minutes or so I was on the trail, I did not see another human being, not one, except perhaps for those driving on Hwy. 8. Well, I could not see the actual human beings in the cars and trucks on Hwy. 8 very well. But it was a sign that human activity was nearby. Otherwise I might have wondered if the whole human race had departed to another realm. A cooler realm, perhaps!
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<div>Every time I have biked the Latah Trail so far this late spring and summer in the late afternoon/early evening on weekend days, there have been numerous users, on bikes, walking, using strollers with infants and children, etc.
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<div>Today I had the trail all to myself. It was nice, in a way, like having my own private bike trail to enjoy the non-human life forms and the beauty of the Earth with no distractions. Yet odd, insofar as I wondered why a bit of hot weather might drive people away from using the trail.
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<div>Hey, 100 F. in shorts and tee shirt leisurely and slowly biking on the Latah Trail with some breeze to cool off is a picnic.</div>
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<div>Consider what US troops face in Iraq with 110 F. in the shade while they are covered by all the gear they must wear?</div>
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<div>That's tough!</div>
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<div>Ted Moffett</div>
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