Fall 2011

So, this fall has been like most over the past 20 years - busy with school and not much time for adventures.  We've managed a good 15-20 mile bike ride about every three weeks, with a shorter 8-9 miler here in town in between.  We've been to Walmart and Goodwill and the grocery store; exciting, huh?.  We've spent mega hours over too many weekends in our offices.  I've created over 20 PowerPoint presentations to provide content to my online class.  And then there is the grading...

What has been different was (and still is) the weather.  This has been one of the nicest fall seasons I can remember.  We've had a few short cold spells but it has been warm and dry (probably too dry) for several months.  The capris and short sleeved tops are still hanging in the closet, though it really is time to admit capri weather is over.  The leaves have been changing color so slowly that it seems like we are missing that burst of color.  Once we stop and really look, the color is there but just not all at once.

It is hard to believe that November is almost here.  Will snow and ice appear soon?

This is evidence of a fall bike ride, taken on the town bike path.  Yes, my big city friends, the corn fields come right to the edge of town.

Hutch and Gromit manage to find a way into the waist pack for a ride on the bikes.

This is the view from our front window.  In the late afternoon the leaves almost glow as the sunlight is reflected on the leaves.  A cold night meant that the lawn was blanketed in yellow leaves the next day.

Our two maples had already lost many of their deep red leaves but they were almost glowing.  Again, the next day most of these leaves were on the ground thanks to temps in the 20s overnight.

Critters in Colorado

In early August we managed a quick trip to Rocky Mountain National Park.  Our favorite campground is Glacier Basin and here are the reasons why:

• The views are great.
• It is very convenient to the free shuttle bus system.  The one bus stop in the campground was right at our loop!  The Park and Ride is a 10 minute walk if you miss the bus.
• A couple of trails begin/end at or near the campground.
• It is the closest campground to the wonderful Bear Lake and Glacier Gorge trailheads.
• It has two loops of 'first come, first served' campsites.  Monday through Tuesday that works great!
• While much of the campground lost its trees due to beetle kill, the two loops described above have some of their trees.  They get inoculated every spring at a cost of $1000 each.  
• Remember those views?

While the Bear Lake and Glacier Gorge trails are wonderful, they are very busy and not where you expect to see any wildlife except those fat, aggressive, tourist-fed chipmunks. Imagine our surprise when we saw three elk, all within about 10 minutes in the very busy mid-afternoon!

Okay, a bit of camouflage....

I never managed to get the antlers... just the rear view!

About a mile away from Glacier Basin is a day area at Sprague Lake.  This is lake is VERY shallow and it is common to see fisher-people standing knee deep out in the middle!  While attending the evening ranger talk on coyotes, we were told that several moose were frequenting Sprague Lake and a bull had been there earlier in the evening.  So the next evening we skipped the ranger talk and headed to Sprague Lake.  (Well, we went earlier too but no moose.)  There he was, oblivious to camera flashes and tourists walking by him on three sides.  He just kept on slurping up the slimy stuff from the lake bottom.

Slurp, slurp.

Something caught my eye off to the right!  It looked like a muskrat.  Quick!  Change to zoom back to normal and snap!  Amazingly, I got both the moose and the muskrat in the same shot.  If I'd been a bit faster with the zoom, the grass and leaves wouldn't have interfered but I still like it!

Marilyn's muskrat and moose (alliteration is fun!)

Okay, this is a more common sighting, and often annoying... but still kind of cute!

Posing on top of Deer Mountain

Please give me some peanuts!

Minnesota cycling - New personal record!

For our third day of cycling we could ride to Park Rapids or Bemidji.  Park Rapids is a smaller town and the trail brings you right to the middle of town.  It appeared that negotiating some city streets would be in the cards for Bemidji, so we opted for Park Rapids.  Either route would be just over 60 miles which would surpass our previous personal records of 52 miles.

Again the route began right at the motel with the first mile along a quiet lake front road, through a park, then on about 2-3 blocks of quiet side streets before the spur to the actual trail.  We headed southwest on the Heartland Trail under cloudy but muggy skies.  The first seven miles retraced our last miles of the previous day, through the woods and along side Lake May.  After that there was a small town every 6-9 miles that made a nice break.

Paul Bunyan and the two of us in Akeley, MN.

For some reason the first 20 miles were a struggle for me.  John got way ahead of me and mentally it was tough to catch up and that only happened when he stopped at a junction.  After 3 hours on the trail, we pulled out the peanuts and craisins for a small snack.  The last 30 minutes were so much easier.  Could it have been the wrong food for breakfast?

Once again, we questioned the mileage on the signs as we rode almost two more miles than what we expected on that last leg.  Perhaps the mileage was to the city limits (though we never saw a sign).  The trail dropped us across the street from Burger King.  By this time John was hungry enough for a Whopper and after the peanut boost, I decided a Whopper Junior with cheese was a good idea.  This Burger King had four choices for iced tea and the sweetened green tea was excellent.  We filled a water bottle each with iced coffee (John) and iced green tea (me).  The ice didn't last an hour...

Those burgers must have hit the spot way out.  We even stopped in the same places for water and potty breaks, but we do have to take out the five minutes we spent in the morning getting our photo with Paul Bunyan in Akeley!  A quick Google Earth check revealed that the elevation of each end of our route was about the same but the middle was about 40' higher.  Who would even notice that amount of change over 15 miles?

Every town in Minnesota seems to have its giant 'sculpture.'  Nevis, one of the small towns along the route, has a Tiger Muskie.

That personal record?  By the time we ate our recovery Blizzards in Walker and then slowly pedaled back to the motel, we had ridden 64 miles, shattering our personal records!  When converted to kilometers, we had accomplished a metric century!  Yippee!

Look at that!

Minnesota cycling - part two

Typical rails to trails bike path.  This is part of the Paul Bunyan trail.

Our second day of cycling in Minnesota was to be a bit shorter but with a hilly section.  We headed out of the parking lot, across the street and onto a bike trail.  However, that trail just went behind the neighboring restaurant to cross Hwy. 371.  The next three miles were on a side road and then Hwy. 371, fortunately with excellent wide shoulders.  I was glad to be heading this direction because that side road had a nice downhill and the next section of bike path was a right turn off the shoulder.  Both would have been less than pleasant if going the other direction.  First we would have been crossing Hwy. 371 two more times, both on curves, and then ending our ride with a significant uphill!


After a few curves and hills the trail straightened out and was flat for about eight miles to Hackensack.  The trail passes right through this little town so we stopped at the city park with nice restrooms and a few shops across the street.  We bought iced tea and coffee, but got no ice for the tea because it was bottled and in a cooler.  Oh well.  It was consumed quickly anyway!

Hackensack is home to Lucette, Paul Bunyan's girlfriend.

We then retraced our route for those same eight miles and this time headed basically west for nine miles of curves and hills.  The hills were steep enough for us to get down into our lowest gears and just plug away, but the downhills were fun.  It seemed that we chose the right direction because it felt like we had more downhills than up.

Why is it that hills flatten out in photographs?  This was UP!

Once through the hills we crossed Hwy. 34 to get back on a fairly flat rails to trails section of both the Paul Bunyan and Heartland trails.  At an intersection one sign indicated Walker was six miles but ten feet away the distance was listed as seven miles.  After the hills, it was definitely more like seven miles!  Based on our experience the next day, we believe there is inconsistency in determining where a town is located (at the edge or in the center).

The deer flies were out in abundance, especially on the flat sections.  A speed of at least 12 mph is needed to avoid being pestered too much but that isn't always possible.  I took a bandana, sprayed it with OFF! and put it on under my helmet.  Not pretty, but effective!  Note the 'deer fly' trap of duct tape.  It was suggested by a friend in New Hampshire and this was our first attempt.  With only three flies trapped, we felt it wasn't worth the effort.

Minnesota cycling - part one

We decided to drive for 8-9 hours north by northeast for a few days of bicycling on paved trails.  At first we were going to cycle the length of the Paul Bunyan trail (about 120 miles) both up and back.  Because we didn't want to carry camping gear and lodging in some of the VERY small towns didn't correspond to our desired daily mileage, we adjusted our plans.  We got a motel room in Walker, MN and can actually ride at least 25 miles in four directions!

Today was our first ride, from the motel to Cass Lake and back.  The odometer on the cycle computer registered 50.89 miles, just shy of our record 52 miles last summer.  We haven't cycled a lot this summer, with our previous longest mileage at just 20 miles, so this FELT like a lot of miles.

We didn't stop for photos, mostly because the biting flies would attack but here are few, some taken while in motion.

My personal mechanic - John tops off the air in the tires every time we ride!

One handed, backwards over the head shot.  Not bad!

One handed shadow shot of me.

Typical trail scene.  Actually quite a bit had a partial canopy and mottled shade.  Nice.

Haying in New Hampshire

We spent a week visiting John's family in New Hampshire.  Whenever asked when he planned to do whatever while there, John always answered that it depended on the weather.  Finally, I got it!  He LOVES to help with the haying...  I think it is the tractors!  Here are some photos that include John, his brother Rick, and his dad.  Note that at 90, his dad still wants to help hay too!  The hardest part is getting him to hear the yells to STOP the tractor!

John is on the tractor and Rick is to the right.

John's dad is to the left while John is on the tractor.

John baling.

John stacking bales with his dad on the tractor with the baler.

Changes in the kitchen

There were several changes in the kitchen this spring. No, nothing really big but some changes, nonetheless.

First, the over-the-stove microwave began making strange noises. Then, occasionally it seemed like the food didn't get warm. Hmm. Put it back in and try again. Warm food. Well, that only lasted for a while and we bought a new microwave. It seems like they last us about eight years.


Then the oven thermostat control malfunctioned. When the oven was turned on, it automatically showed 350. That was the same. However, it was not a problem to push that up arrow and increase the temperature but the down arrow had stopped working and there was no way to set a temperature lower than 350. If the temperature setting was too high, the only solution was to turn off the oven and start over. Think that the control panel can be fixed? No. Think that control panels for that model are still available? No. Time for a new stove!

So, a new stove with a flat surface was installed. Those glass tops require FLAT bottom pans and I've overheated a pan or two in the past. All but a couple of my pots and pans are hand-me-downs... including some from my grandma which were well used when I got them in the early 70s. A new set of pans was ordered from Amazon - stainless steel, aluminum core. It isn't one of those fancy brand names but it does have the aluminum base and sides and the stainless is 18/10. I got a 10 piece set and plus a big, deep 11" saucepan (still on its way).

The microwave, pots and pans, and new stove! It feels like a mini-remodel!

The new pots and pans were the impetus to clean out some kitchen cabinets.  Now there are a couple of boxes of kitchen stuff to take to a friend's garage sale next weekend.  Perhaps I should check out a couple more cupboards and the basement before that garage sale!