no shade in east allentown

Ultimately I didn't walk last night. Storms rolled in about 4, and it never stopped pouring here until about 8:30.  Periodically the storms would stop, and the sun would come out, and then the tv would beep with another "storm alert". At least we didn't get the hail.

Today I had to take the car to the dealer for recall service and an oil change, since it was there. They said 2.5-3 hours. I took my laptop and sketchbook, and planned a walk in east Allentown to get the million clicks stop at Andre Reed (Irving Street) park. All that should take three hours, right?

I put my stuff in a corner of the waiting room, check in, and head out for a walk. I tell the guy I'll be back in an hour. (Yes, leaving my computer there was not the brightest idea. But who wants a 8-year old computer? And nobody's getting rich with my drawings!)

I headed out Union toward Irving and quickly discovered at 8 am there is no shade on Union Blvd. There was an occasional tree where I could take cover, but that's it. I moved down to Cedar hoping for better, but not much luck there either. When I reached Dieruff, I headed to the park. I didn't know where the clicker was, but I figured it would be at an entrance.

There is no trail in that park. I'm guessing it was chosen because it's the only one in a neighborhood on the east side. Keck Park is way off the beaten path by the river and canal. There is now a fancy new sign at the Irving street entrance, and the clicker is right behind it.

Then I noticed something. Irving street was 80% in the shade. Hallelujah. When I reached Hanover, it was back into the sun. I deduced that if Irving Street was in the shade, all the vertical streets would be shady. Not exactly, but I had a lot more shade than if I would have stayed on Hanover.

Streets in this section are alphabetical. I never realized that it skips from P to T. There is no Q-R. I was heading up Tacoma to Union Blvd and my phone rang. It was the car dealer. The car was done. 53 minutes had passed.

Before I returned, I needed to go down an alley to take a pix of the old Groman's building. Yeah, it's graffiti, but it looks intentional, rather than vandalism. You don't sign vandalism.