Railroad Bridge #9, #9, #9

So, I'm sick for the first time in a couple of years. I thought I was going to make it through two whole winters without getting sick, but that probably was an unrealistic goal, especially with the junk going around here.

I had been thinking of trying to ride a bike to work today for the first time this year. There's still snow, puddles, and ice, but the temps stayed above freezing last night, so I was going to try taking the fat bike on its longest ride yet.

Instead, I was sitting here, blowing my nose, thinking about the rides I'll go on this spring and summer, including showing my team the Dinkytown Greenway and how it connects to bridge #9.

I learned some things about ol' bridge #9 this morning, including that it used to connect to tracks that ran straight through the U of M campus, on the north side of what is now Northrop Mall (before the Mall was designed by Cass Gilbert). Trains on this route used to carry passengers to Chicago and connect to Great Northern routes out west.

I also learned that there is a guy who is more obsessed about railroad bridges than I am about river confluences or the Donner party. He's got great photos of the bridge on his website, but way more than are remotely necessary. I thank him, though, for having many to borrow from for this post.

Getting in the spirit, I'm also posting a photo of the stone arch bridge I took last weekend while at the Guthrie Theater (in the room with the yellow windows). It, too, was a railroad bridge and now is a pedestrian bridge.

I'm nearly at 50% of my fundraising goal. Thanks for your help!! I've just organized a fix-a-flat class for my team for a couple of weeks from now, and a teammate has managed to get The Firm to host a free spin class on 4/19. We can bring friends, so let me know if you want to join us. We'd love to have you!

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/MaggieMS150