Life on Two Wheels and Two Feet

 Trouble with my truck landed us in Middle Tennessee (Dickson) on a Friday evening for the start of 3 days and 4 nights of waiting ('til Monday morning) for a professional opinion and vehicular service.  Deciding to turn lemons into lemonade we made good use of our base of operations located some 35 miles West of Nashville.  We explored the local area and then went into the Music City. Looking down Broadway, in Nashville.  The AT & T Building is to the left and is referred to by some locals as the Batman Building. "Ground Zero" of the Christmas Day bombing, Downtown Nashville, Tennessee   Although subdued by the Pandemic, the music scene in Nashville is alive and well.   I was also able to do 3 very nice rides on what turned out to be quite a serendipitous network of rural backroads in Dickson County.  Photos from each day appear below to give a flavor of the area.  I could spend some more quality time riding here, especially in January when t...

 Hard to believe that nearly 31 years have passed since two cycling friends and I took this trip.  We started out from McConnells Mills / Moraine State Park in Northwestern Pennsylvania.  On the first day, we made it to Geneva on the Lake, Ohio where we spent a cool and rainy evening in a campground. On the 2nd day, we rode East along the Lake (Erie) Shore to Ashtabula and Conneaut, Ohio.  The day was overcast, as had been the first day but it was warmer.  After stopping there for a while, we rode South to the Pymatuning Lake State (PA) Park area, where we played pool at a local establishment and camped out again. Rain came on the 3rd day as we completed our big loop and ended up back at McConnells Mills State Park.  A few photos from that trip are below. Horsing around on some old trains, near Conneaut, Ohio Riding in the rain, a covered bridge at McConnells Mill State Park, and preparing our accommodations on what would be a wet night.

Installment V - Postponed Until 2021 - originally written on August 17, 2020.  Updated twice on September 10, 2020 and again on October 24, 2020. "The better part of valor is discretion."  Shakespeare We met virtually, via Zoom, last evening and decided to postpone the ride until May 2021.  Several reasons factored into the decision.  Kansas is a hot spot right now for the Coronavirus Pandemic.  Colorado, where we are headed, is still pretty light with Covid cases.  Two of our team members are still working (including yours truly) and would have to quarantine for 2 weeks upon our return.  Additionally, since we are all from states considered to be of concern at this time, Arizona, Florida, and Pennsylvania, we're screwed six ways to Sunday.  I suppose it goes without saying that all of us take this Pandemic seriously. Map of Kansas showing the counties and the numbers of Covid cases in each.  The line is our approximate route through the ...

 Originally written on April 8, 2020 and updated on August 17, 2020 "...look for the helpers.  You will always find people who are helping." - Fred Rogers                                                               The culprit, of the world wide crisis, with which we all are dealing. Perhaps some were following this situation from the beginning but for most of us, the Covid-19 Pandemic seemed to come out of nowhere.  Many felt that such things usually only happen in far-off places that aren't as technologically advanced as we tend to think we are here in the good old USA.  It was easy to ignore what was happening in China and to think it would never get here.  Then we watched as other countries were affected, Iran, Italy, and Spain were seemingly overrun overnight.  Health ...

                                                           Installment V                                           Part 5 of a Bicycle Tour Across the USA                            Scheduled to resume in Kansas City, Kansas in May 2021 Introduction (originally written on 12/31/19) "The prairies are as patient as time and as mysterious as the stars, with as many moods as the wind, drawing you on.  And suddenly you know that this is what you have wanted all your life."  - Zula Bennington Greene, aka, Peggy of the Flint Hills.  The Great Plains.  The Old West.  Land of Cowboys, Indians, ...

Yesterday, I began transferring some of my previously written journals and articles from another website to this blog.  Over the past few years, I have seen several articles in other publications that have uncanny similarities to parts of my work.  After recently seeing a 4th such occurrence, I decided it is time to protect some of my "intellectual property." Brief excerpts from some of those works and perhaps some from upcoming travelogues may appear here.  I'll most likely be retiring soon and it may finally be time to get down to the business of writing a book. I finally retired and now have the time to continue transferring my writings. It is slow going and also involves a tremendous number of photos that I do not want to lose.  Stay tuned for some discernable progress.

I am grateful to the Installment IV Riders and for the token of appreciation they gave me,  a book called "Epic Rides of the World."  In the book is a chapter, beginning on page 68, called Mountain Biking in Moab.  Since we will end up Utah at the end of our 5th segment (in 2021), I looked it over again, this time with a greater degree of interest. The chapter describes the area and some notable trail options that are available.  One of them is, the Behind the Rocks Lunatic Loop, the least popular trail in the area, according to the book.  It was described as a "sandy sufferfest" by a local bike shop outfitter.  Most of the routes are quite technical and may require bicycles other than the hybrids we will be riding to get there.  Perhaps they can be rented at the Poison Spider bike shop, nearby, if any of us want to tackle a trail. The famed Slickrock Trail is the most popular in the area and that may be a downside.  A less popular and moderately ...