Brr!

It is a good day to stay inside. The snow is moving sideways and in swirls. The thermometer indicates 7 Fahrenheit. Brr!

This is the view from INSIDE. Sorry, but it just doesn't show how nasty it is and you can't hear the roar of the wind!On days like today I really appreciate electricity, natural gas pipelines, and central heating!

The following is an updated photo from about 3:00 p.m. At 4:15 the snow plow made its first run. Perhaps that will be enough to keep the drifts manageable until the wind dies down. Now this is supposed to last through noon on Sunday. I think it is time for a cup of cocoa...

Fall Adventures, Close to Home

Here I am at Ashfall State Historical Park. It is in rolling hills, with tall grass similar to original prairie grasses and doesn't look too exciting until...

you walk into the Rhino Barn and see all the full sized fossils in situ. This was a watering hole that the animals came to during the ashfall from a volcano in what is now Idaho. Because of the water hole, the heavy ashfall, and the ingestion of the ash, the animals all died in this one spot.

The Rhino Barn has just been enlarged and is about 100-150 feet long. There will be archeological work here for many years to come!

Here is Gromit at Lewis and Clark State Park near Yankton, SD. He loves riding on the bike!

This is Gavins Point Dam with all the spillways open. That doesn't happen very often but it has been like this for at least a month. We drive over the dam to get to the bike path and state park and then ride along the toe road as part of the bike path.

Early October is paddlefish season. This is a very popular but very short season. Paddlefish are bottom feeders with very long snouts. There are barrels in the parking area where the fisher people have to place the snouts! Lots of boats... and lots of people on shore too!

This is the fairing John bought for his bike. It was used and had some scratches. He has been trying to smooth out the scratches. The jury is still out on the use of the fairing... a lot of glare makes it hard to see. Marilyn doesn't have a fairing and life is just fine!

Rocky Mountain National Park

In early August we headed west to Rocky Mountain National Park. We had reservations for four nights but ended up staying a whole week. When we arrived, the reserved camp site was unacceptable for our pop-up camper and the van so we found a great site in the unreserved section. That was fortunate because we could then extend our stay.

Our favorite campground is Glacier Basin with this wonderful meadow. Long's Peak is just out of the picture (on the left). The campground was closed last season for tree removal due to the pine beetle devastation. The area we were in still had trees but many were showing signs of beetle infestation and we are sure they will be removed soon. The sites just across the road from us were closed because a tree fell earlier in the season and the whole section was destined for tree removal. At a ranger talk we learned that the trees become very brittle and can fall at any time, without warning.



The shuttle bus system provides great transportation to a variety of trail heads. Only one hike we took the whole week required us to drive! The bus system allows us to do a great 9+ miles hike from Bear Lake to the Fern Lake trail head. We have done this hike three times now and each time we have hiked the last part in the rain.



As we hiked past Fern Lake, there were horses in the corral. The wrangler never moved a muscle as we walked right by! The rain and hail began in earnest within about five minutes and we hope he moved then!
When the hail started we thought we could wait it out under a tree. We both chose trees with lots of dry soil underneath but after about five minutes, we realized that it wasn't going to let up any time soon so we broke out the rain pants. This photo is pre-rain pants with lots of hail. The camera doesn't do it justice, but it was fun to see the hail that was passing by the lens!

The camera went into an inner pocket for the next hour or more as the the skies continued to open up. We felt like we were hiking in a stream and I wanted to get a picture. It finally cleared up enough for a quick pic, but it just doesn't show how much water was on the trail while it was really raining.

We had planned to visit the Snowy Range west of Centennial, Wyoming but began to have second thoughts. We had lots of rain, more than the normal afternoon mountain shower. We were fairly comfortable camped at 8,000+ feet but in the Snowy Range we would be at 10,000 feet and knew from past experience it would be a lot colder. That's when we were glad to be in the non-reservable campsite so we could just stay where we were!




For the first time we hiked up Deer Mountain. The views at the summit were wonderful. This view is south towards the Bear Lake and Glacier Basin areas. We could also see down into Estes Park. Watching the traffic driving into the park made us glad that we could utilize that bus system!

It is hard to beat scenery like this.... The Loch.

Elroy-Sparta Trail

On Friday we drove to the Tunnel Trail Campground where we had reservations for two nights, based on recommendations from other cyclists on the Root River Trail. It cost us $35/night for a gravel and dirt site up a steep hill with no electricity or water. Almost all of the other sites were lush grass. Since I had asked if we had water and electricity and was told yes, we can't figure out why we got one of the only 'primitive' sites! The campground was full of families who played games, yelled, sat around the campfire and played in the pool (think noisy and crowded). We saw lots of unused bicycles lying around. The concept of family camping, especially in private campgrounds, certainly has changed over the years! Oh well, at least we had immediate access to the trail as the entrance crossed it!


The Elroy-Sparta trail is a rails-to-trails conversion so the elevation changes never go above 3%. The trail is often wooded and canopied but does have open spaces. It has three tunnels and each is at the top of a 2-3 mile long hill.

The tunnels really provide variety on this trail. Each is unlighted so cyclists must carry flashlights and have to walk their bikes. Both ends of each tunnel have huge doors. In the train days, the doors kept the temperature consistent, especially in the winter to prevent the freeze and thaw cycle that would cause rock falls. Men were hired to open and close the doors for the 50+ trains a day. The longest tunnel was quite wet as it intersected a spring. Walking the bikes really decreased the average speed for the day!



Note the 'light at the end of the tunnel!' John and I took photos of each other to prove we were there!



On Friday afternoon we rode from the campground to Elroy and back for a total of 23 miles. (Note that we rode nine miles that morning before leaving the Root River Trail.) The section from Kendall to Elroy was not as interesting as the section on either side of Tunnel #1. Once in Elroy the signage was not clear and we took the long, trafficked route to the visitor center in the old station. There they had clean rest rooms with showers (which would come in handy in a couple of days!). We didn't leave Elroy until after 5:00 p.m. so all we did after arriving back at our campsite was to take showers and then eat watermelon, chips and salsa for supper!



On Saturday we started our ride in the other direction about 9:00 a.m. Very few people were on the trail at that time. We stopped in the second town (after another tunnel!) for a sweet roll and coffee. What a surprise that we could get bacon and eggs, etc. but NO sweet rolls or doughnuts. So, miniature Snickers fueled us for the uphill section to the longest tunnel. Suddenly the trail was quite busy with lots of families and a few youth groups. Two 12-13 year olds and an adult kept leap-frogging us. We never stopped and it was a classic tortoise and the hare scenario. Finally we saw them begin to walk their bikes as we slowly and consistently pedaled on by; we never saw them again and have no idea if they made it to the tunnel. Just before the tunnel was a rest area with a brakeman's shed and a water pump. Did either of us think to take pictures? We walked through Tunnel #3 which dripped cold water on us and was definitely sloped downhill. After riding a mile or so beyond the tunnel, we turned around knowing that the rest of the trail to Sparta was not as interesting.



The route back was broken up by walking the two tunnels and then stopping for food twice. For lunch the highlight was REAL fresh Wisconsin cheese curds. They were surprisingly tasty. Then less than a mile from our campground John saw a sign for a restaurant in an old schoolhouse just off the trail. We bounced down a steep grassy slope, along a trail through a corn field, and to bicycle racks in a large yard. With no further signs, we wandered around a bed and breakfast inn and abandoned farm buildings before locating the restaurant. It was worth it because we each had a piece of delicious, home cooked pies and then got huge cinnamon rolls for breakfast, all for less than $10!

Root River Trail Revisited

In July of 2007 John and I spent a couple of days near Lanesboro, Minniesota riding part of the Root River Trail. Our campsite was close to Whalan, so on our 'long' day we rode from Whalan to Preston, then up to Fountain and back to Whalan. A few extra blocks in Whalan got our mileage to 50 for the day!

This year we spent two nights camping near Houston, Minnesota to ride the eastern end of the trail. We rode from Cushon Peak Campground to the pie shop in Whalan and back for a total of 47 miles. The next morning we rode from the campground to the small but excellent nature center in Houston and back for nine more miles. We have now cycled the entire Root River Trail, but need to do the Preston to Harmony link at the southern end. That will be sometime in the future!

We were almostthe only people in the campground. The bluff views were great, deer came to nibble in the soybean field, water and electricity were available at the site, bathrooms and showers were almost private! Not bad for less than $20

Like most of the bike trails in Minnesota, the Root River Trail is paved. However, there were a number of small 'potholes' that kept our eyes more on the trail than on the scenery. Much of the trail is canopied which certainly makes for pleasant riding, but makes those 'potholes' more difficult to see! We rode with small two-way radios and John could warn me whenever he noticed one. I did hit a couple that made me wonder if a flat tire could be in the making. Thank goodness, that didn't happen!

Here I am - just a typical view on the trail.

RV test drive

In May we drove to Prescott, AZ to rent a Pleasure Way class B RV. We have seen these and similar vehicles in our travels and they look so fun. We've gone to RV dealers and checked out new models but they are very spendy, $80-110,000. That's a lot of money for an untried camping lifestyle... if you can call it camping. So we decided to rent one but they are hard to find, thus the long trek to Arizona. Here it is:

Here is John connecting the TV cable at the highest priced RV campground we had. You can see the electrical and water connections too. Notice the gravel. We did have some shade and were close to the bathrooms, but it was interesting that the highest priced campground we ranked as the second poorest quality!

This was our Grand Canyon campsite. There was enough room in our space that several people thought it was the road and drove right through. Notice how we found the ONLY shade! In this picture you can see the two single beds/couches, the night stand with two drawers and the storage space. We kept chairs, backpacks, hiking poles, and hiking boots in this space. It could be accessed from the two back doors and a small door on the inside below the night stand drawers. The small door was just the right size for Marilyn's hiking boots to pass through.

Gromit and his buddy, Hutch, took a tour of the inside.

Gromit and Hutch found their nice in the corner while their buddy, Pug, sat in front of the pillow. The single beds/sofas and night stand could fold down into a big bed. However, there would be no access to the night stand drawers and it would take up the entire back of the RV. We'd brought sleeping bags, silk sleep sacks, and fleece blankets and it was more convenient to use the single beds.



There was a TV that could swing out. If we stayed in an RV park with cable and electricity, this worked great once we figured out how to use the menu! Since it is an older non-digital TV, we couldn't get over the air broadcasts. It could run on 120 (electricity) or 12 volts (battery). For all but the first few nights of our trip, it was useless. It did have a sliding cover, behind Hutch, that kept it protected while driving or not in use.

There were several storage areas above our head. Gromit and Hutch are sitting in my 'clothes closet.' It held everything from my duffel bay with ease and was a lot easier to use than plastic boxes in the back of the van. John and I each had one of these and another good sized lower drawer and it was plenty of room. If we had to carry both warm and cold weather clothes, it could get a bit tight.

The built in coffee maker looked great. Apparently the carafe couldn't stay in the coffee maker while on the road so we would have had to find a storage spot for it. Since we use individual coffee bags to accommodate our regular and decaf choices, we opted not to even bring the carafe with us.

There are two storage spaces above the cab end. We used it for dirty clothes! My handbag fit nicely to the right above the door. Next to that is the tank and battery monitoring system, and switches for the hot water heater and water pump. There is a door directly below. Anyone taller than Marilyn had to duck to avoid a head bump when entering through this door.

The kitchen is small. Under the red cup is a cover for the sink, but the sink was used so often that covering it wasn't even an option during meal prep. To the right of the gas burners is a pantry with plenty of space. In looking at floor plans and photos of similar vehicles, this much pantry space is unusual. We kept paper towels and paper plates in a storage space above the kitchen and pots and pans below the sink. The BEST part of the kitchen was the 3-way refrigerator. Once we discovered how well it worked, we had ice cream for dessert every night! A microwave was available, with electricity only, above the coat closet directly behind the camera.

Speaking of the coat closet, here it is. Marilyn made sure to hang the jackets so the zippers didn't rub on the walls. There was a table secured in here that we only used once. It fit right in front of the night stand but took up a lot of room and was too high for Marilyn. We kept two laptop computers in here too.

And the bathroom!
We didn't really use the toilet except when miles from any other facilities. The shower was nice. The curtain is tucked into the towel rack and covers the door and the cabinet area. It was a tight squeeze but, along with the refrigerator, a highlight!

The sink is tiny and okay for brushing teeth. The medicine cabinet couldn't hold much and we had two small drawers for our toiletries. The lower cabinet held cleaning and holding tank supplies. Every campground we were in had decent, close bathrooms so we utilized those. Sometimes we wondered if the space for the bathroom was worth it, but the first shower after a sweaty hike in a campground without shower facilities convinced us of its value.


We had some learning experiences along the way... how to get the TV signal to come in when we had cable, how to reset the fuse when the air conditioner was on (just didn't use the AC because of the fuse problem), how to flush the holding tanks without looking like rookies, how to tighten the battery kill switch after two dead batteries, how to get the refrigerator to work on gas (who knew to interpret the word 'stop' as 'hold both buttons down at the same time'), discovering that the awning doesn't help when the sun is low in the sky just when you REALLY want it, remembering to duck when entering, or walking under the air conditioner, stepping UP over the sill into the bathroom...


So, what is the verdict? It was not an easy vehicle to drive, especially in the wind. John did all the driving and it was two handed all the way. After analyzing the cost and thinking about how often it would be used and where it would be stored, we decided we could rent one for a couple of trips a year for many years before we spent that $80-110,000. The only problem is how far we have to travel just to get to a rental dealership and the daily mileage limits.


Also, there were a couple of places we would have gone if we'd had our own vehicle - some down dirt roads, or driving around to see the town after getting set up in a new place. The motor home RV does limit the incidental driving. We were less adventurous in our travels and stuck to the main roads.

We are both glad we did this, as it was really fun. We will keep RV rentals in mind for the future - and we did see a cute little 19' cab-over unit from Cruise America that would fit us nicely!

Bike Building

John's been busy building bikes this fall and winter. This bike is based on a Lightning P-38 and is supposed to be lighter and faster than our previous bikes. It didn't turn out to be as light as desired, but it appears to be faster! It is the seventh bike John has built and he will be the rider.

Next he decided to build me a short wheel base bicycle. The aluminum frame began its life as a kid's BMX bike. It took a number of fittings and adjustments to get it to fit Marilyn's short legs! It is not quite complete but is ride-able. We rode Sunday afternoon, giving it the first test beyond circle and figure eights on the campus commons. We found a few things to tweak but it was a fun ride. I felt like I got more power out of each stroke than on my compact wheelbase bike. It doesn't flex like a steel bike and the seat is harder so I feel all the bumps! The handle bars were a bit far forward so I couldn't practice the more laid back position.

It looks like I am all curled up in a ball. It doesn't feel that way. These photos just remind me that I am really short! Oh, Gromit didn't get to ride today. Maybe next time...

Today we went to Lincoln for a medical appointment. John likes to plan a mid-afternoon appointment so he can visit The Used Bike Shop where the owner is also a recumbent bike builder. (And I want to have time for a nice lunch. Today it was at the Great Harvest Bakery!) He bought some new handlebars, a new bike computer, and some other parts that aren't nearly as exciting. He ordered another part which we will pick up when we go down for the spring UNL volleyball game in a couple of weeks. Look for more photos when he gets the new handlebars installed!

Spring is here!

Sunday afternoon was nice will a bit of sun and very little wind. After a bike ride I spent some time in the garden, turning the soil and removing pesky clumps of grass from the flowerbeds. I discovered that the oregano survived the winter... maybe being buried under several feet of snow was just enough insulation. The snow in that area of the yard didn't melt until the nighttime temperatures moderated into the 30s.

Here is one of my rose bushes. All of the roses were damaged from the drifts, so I trimmed them way back. That action gave me the opportunity to get rid of lots of dead canes. I think the roses are glad for the cleansing. If you look carefully, you can see green leaves and red shoots beginning to appear!

Here is the ONE flower in my yard as of today. It is the only bud in this clump of daffodil greens. There are more buds in some other clumps so I am hoping for more color in a week or so, depending on the weather.

The greens in the background are lilies, commonly known as Magic Lilies, Surprise Lilies, and Naked Ladies. The leaves are the first to come up in the spring. They are full, large clumps. However, no flowers are to be seen. The leaves die back by early summer and are gone by August when suddenly single stalks shoot up out of the seemingly barren earth. Then, lovely pale pink lilies blossom for a week or two.

Gromit's responsibilities

I'm Gromit and I help Marilyn and John both at home and away. Here are some photos of me at work.

I helped knit socks for Marilyn's great-niece, Wren.

I shoveled snow MANY times this winter.

Here I am jumping into Marilyn's bag as she was getting ready to go to a conference. I stayed with her personal items while she gave a presentation.

I also help Marilyn when she grades the college students' assignments.

With my help on the taxes, John and Marilyn got a refund!

I help Marilyn charge and sync her iPod Touch. Sometimes I get to play games, check to see if Rover has sent me an e-mail, or listen to an audio book.

I helped John get this Kindle for Marilyn just before Valentine's Day. When she is at work, I get to read it! We both just finished a book about the Camino de Santiago de Compostella. Hmm. I wonder if she wants to go there... if she does, she'd better take me!

While in Florida I supervised John and his dad while they did some plumbing work.

I even help Marilyn buy cards for John. These were for Valentine's Day.

As you can see, I am quite busy!

Sad roses, but springs forth!

The rose bushes have been buried under drifts all winter. I've been worried about them as the few canes that were visible stuck out at odd angles. The snow is starting to recede after a week of above freezing temperatures and five days of rain and those worries were justified. Almost every cane in bent or broken. When the ground drains a bit, I will have to do some major trimming. I hope they can bounce back.

The tea roses have suffered the most!

Even the more robust floribunda roses (I think that's what they are...) are suffering!

I didn't even see these little green shoots until after photographing the nearby roses. Daffodils are in the background with surprise lilies (AKA magic lilies or naked ladies) in the foreground.
Spring will come!