I guess Dexter started school today...

[johnridley]

Chelsea started last week. I have been getting up at 6:15 with everyone else. I recall last year I was getting up at 5:30, but all week long I couldn't remember why.

Now I remember. Leaving at 7:00 (plus or minus) puts me in Dexter around 7:30. At that time, there's a big lineup at the light west of town. Either a lot of teenagers are driving to school or a lot of kids need to be chauffered (I suspect the latter since they don't turn off on the road that goes straight to the high school). That means I wait in line, on my bike, breathing SUV exhaust, for about 12 minutes to get into town, instead of the 1 minute it usually takes. Bleh.

(insert obligatory "When *I* was a kid, I rode the bus to school every day until the day I graduated, over an hour each way" blah blah)

K needs to go in early for band practice twice a week, so I'm stuck at a 7AM or 7:15AM departure (depending on whether J or I make the kid delivery) on those days, but starting tomorrow I'm back to 5:30 wakeup, with everything ready to roll and out by 5:40.

Now, if I can only actually get to sleep on time.

There are upsides. I'd much rather ride in the dark, especially in the morning. Also the early arrival means I can leave work around 2:15 to 2:30, or work overtime and still get home pretty early. Still, waking up at 5:30...

Comments

[rmeidaking.livejournal.com]

Can you cut south on Wylie to Dexter-Chelsea to Parker? I don't know why more people don't go that way, actually, except for the railroad's level crossing on Wylie - but there aren't any trains going through at that time of day anyway. Yeah, this route does take you right by the high school, but the traffic doesn't get clogged up by the lights at Central and Baker.

It's just a thought.

[johnridley.livejournal.com]

Yes, I can, and I keep that route as a backup for if I expect Baker to be badly snow-covered and rutted, but Wylie+Parker = another 2.5 miles or so of gravel road. I'm already doing 4 out of 10 miles gravel, I'd rather wake up 30 minutes early than take an extra 50% more gravel road per day.

I'm glad more people don't go that way, because for the few weeks that they diverted traffic while working on the bridge a few years ago, Wylie turned into an unbelievable mud bog. Even going 5 MPH and weaving all over the road, you still stood a good chance of suspension damage. There were 2 foot holes a foot deep all across the road for most of its length.

[(Anonymous)]

OK, today I took Wylie through to Parker, then took Shield rd over to Baker to avoid the gravel part of Parker and Marshall. Wylie is 1.2 miles of gravel, and it's not bad at all. The whole route is 1.5 miles farther, so about an extra 6 minutes. Still, even if it's exactly as long, I'd rather be riding than sitting at a light. I think I may use this route.

At first I thought you were suggesting taking Parker all the way to Marshall and then across and backtracking to work. That's my alternate route for heavy snow days, but it's probably at least 2.5 miles longer, and has a big chunk of gravel road that gets pretty bad. Using Wylie/D-C/Parker/Shield to just avoid town actually isn't bad.

I'd still rather just ride in earlier, so I can ride at night and leave work earlier. On days when K needs to be dropped off at school at 7AM, I think I'm going to go back to parking my car in town and riding from there. That takes me down Jackson Ave almost all the way, and Jackson is a breeze to ride.

[kevinnickerson.livejournal.com]

How did Chelsea start last week? I thought that was against the law now.

[johnridley.livejournal.com]

They're moving to after labor day next year. Here's a relevant article:

http://www.mlive.com/news/statewide/index.ssf?/base/news-7/1157067606136000.xml&coll=1

Quote:
Most Michigan schools scheduled the start of school for Tuesday. A 2005 law, designed to help the travel industry, prohibited an earlier start, although some schools started in August because union contracts were already in place.

[jennlk]

When the law was signed, Chelsea already had a contract with the teachers and transportation unions which had school starting before Labor Day. The law was written to grandfather those districts in.in