Signs of Autumn

This caught my eye on the way in to work today.

Just a little further back and you now see that this is modern sculpture on the lawn of someone's business. I'm not sure why it's the there but I guess someone thought it was cool and so do I.

Here's the view from the road with the Fargo thrown in for fun!

The crispy sunshine and painfully blue sky are, in my opinion, the best ingredients for making any photo look great. The deep coolness of the sky also reminds me that autumn officially starts in a few days. Another sign that autumn is upon us  is the annual Inter-bike show in Las Vegas which starts on Monday. Las Vegas is the ultimate town for shallow illusions and drunken stupidity where the  Las Vegas strip is an assault on the senses. Loud music comes from every door and the uncountable number of lights make night-time impossible.  I hate Las Vegas. But I do love the bike show! There really is an enormous amount of non-sensical crap at the show but shiny paint and cool gadgets never fail to capture my imagination. Each year I come across at least one thing "I gotta have". (See Salsa Fargo above). I do get to ride for one day at the outdoor demo that's held in Bootleg Canyon where manufacturers let all of us industry wonks try out the cool new equipment. The only part that I don't like is that it happens in the desert. Everything is dry and brown and there is no shade anywhere. By the end of the day I think I know what it must feel like to be a sun dried tomato. Quite honestly I am not sure how anyone lives there! The rest of the week is spent trolling the miles of aisles looking at all the good, the bad , and the ugly that the bike industry has to offer up for the coming season.

After spending the week in Las Vegas with the 95 to 100 degree temperatures the return back to the east coast always punctuates the onset of fall. Just in that one week the temperature will drop another 5 degrees and the trees will start to put on their annual show. It's a small consolation for having to endure the cruel winter that follows but I look forward to it every year.