I’m back in New Orleans and back on my bike. Rhoda felt so different from the big old cruiser I’ve been riding. I like a high seat, what can I say, and I’m happy to be back high up on the bike. Leaving the Bay Area was a little bittersweet. I was reminded of how nice it is to be in a big city where I have friends who have known me for over a decade, but the bike routes are new. Haven’t I already biked every street in this place? But as soon as I got on the bike to meet A. for dinner, those worries were gone. It was a stormy day, which means it was a little bit cooler than normal, and a lot more humid. I love that feeling of swimming through air on my bike, and I felt like I was home again. After dinner I rode down the Quarter for a quick drink (and a lucky viewing of a former Miss Nebraska riding the bull at Bourbon Cowboy) and then over to the Treme for dessert. The sky was threatening when I set out to home, all thunder and flash. Thunder storms here are just different from storms other places. Like everything else in this place, storms are all drama. I got off my bike and held my camera up, hoping to catch the purple-y sky all spangly. Look at it. I mean, really. I’ll ride in the rain a thousand times (tonight was another one) to get to look up and see this sky. I could live here forever and never run out of skies to look at. Yeah, it’s good to be home and back on my own bike. And I even came home to a blog shout out in the local paper! Take that, San Francisco!