Vickie's Ramblings

Picacho Peak, Canoeing, and Death Valley at last

2012-02-13T20:20:00.001-08:00

Here I am in Death Valley, at Stovepipe Wells Village. We were shuttled from Las Vegas to Rhyolite this morning. After lunch we got on our bikes at last, for a fairly easy 32 mile ride to here. Up less than a thousand feet to get over a 4200 foot pass, where it was SNOWING -- not what I expected here!---- and then down down down, back down to sea level and below. 13 miles of coasting downhill at a good 30+ mph, which would have been a bit more comfortable without the sleet, but that was gone by the time we got down a few thousand feet.

Yesterday... hard to believe it was only yesterday: 6 hours of driving through the Mohave desert from Yuma to Las Vegas, me and hundreds of RV's. Tiring and really not all that scenic, vast ugly RV encampments of snowbirds interspersed with vast areas of nothing. Possibly I am just getting tired of desert. I do admit to a mild craving for some lush, moist, greenery, and ocean. And just as I was entering LV, the batteries ran out on Ipad and my trusty GPS app would not guide me to the hotel. I managed to remember the street name and got there without much ado. Note to self: Need a new car charger for Ipad.

Here are some pictures from my week of hiking and canoeing with the Sierra Club. I think I will let them speak for themselves:

The view from one our campsites

Colorado River colors

An old miners cabin

Floating down the river

Many winding narrow channels through the reeds along the river.

Euchie enjoying camping at Picacho State Recreation Area

There were whole mountains and canyons of this malachite colored rock around Picacho Peak.

A little rest along the trail...

Slot canyons around Picacho Peak

In the desert

2012-02-05T09:17:00.000-08:00

If I climb to the top of the rocky hill behind the composting toilet, I can get 3 bars of cell phone service, so I I may do a blog post before the week us up after all.

Right now I am sitting at a desert campground in the Picacho wilderness area, after having just completed a day of hiking with the Sierra club. There are 12 of us in all, a great group. Today we hiked beautiful slot canyons through this rocky area. Sunshine and 72, not a cloud in sight. Saw some wild burros, lots of ocotillo but only one bloom, some desert lavender just starting to bloom, a defunct desert turtle shell, and lots of wonderful scenery. It's a 25 mile drive over 25 mph gravel roads to get here, passing through pinnacle of red, green, and gray. No trees to speak of, except possibly right down by the river....the Colorado runs right along the edge of the campground.

This is an amazing campground for being so far out in the wilderness. Running water and free hot showers. There's hardly anyone here... there are at least 50 campsites and maybe 8 are occupied, this during what is surely high season here.

It's chilly at night, at least down into the 40's. We've got almost a full moon which is a mixed blessing.... you don't need a flashlight, but the stars aren't as numerous as they would otherwise be.

Pictures later.....

Pictures from Carizzo Plain National Monument

2012-02-04T08:26:00.001-08:00

Euchie enjoying the birds at Carrizo Plain National Monument

This is the road where I had to clear tumbleweed roadblocks

Soda Lake, totally dry right now.

A beautiful view leaving the monument

This is probably my last post until next weekend. I'll be in the wilderness with the Sierra Club until the 11th, then driving to Las Vegas on the 12th to start bike tour on the 13th. Stay tuned!

Yuma At last

2012-02-03T19:44:00.001-08:00

Yesterday, after a nice slow morning enjoying coffee and blogging, I visited Carrizo Plain National Monument. Never heard of this one either, have you? It's certainly not on the way to anywhere, very poorly signed, and down 30-some miles of rough road that the map says is a dead end. After coming over a small mountain range and lots of those low, brown hills, it's startling to come upon this vast, flat, treeless plain. At 2200 feet it's cool...the woman at the visitor center says it was down in the single digits at night recently.... and one of the sunniest places in the state. Like Pinnacles, it sits right on the San Andreas fault. I wish I had time to spend a day or two there. Just driving through, it seems like there's no "there" there, but it's so, so quiet, and I can only imagine what the stars would be like. They've had no rain (well, .28") so far this year, so Soda Lake, which has no outlet, is dry and white with salt deposits. And yet there are birds everywhere, and squirrels, and kangaroo rats, and coyotes.... what do they drink???

I took a drive on a side road in the park, and had to clear several tumbleweed roadblocks.

Driving on past where my roadmap said the road dead-ended (but the park attendant assured me it didn't), I eventually got back to a highway which took me over the Temblor Range, and what a shock at the top.... A view of flat forever. Coasting down a long 7% grade brought me into a long, straight stretch of irrigated desert filled with mile after mile of orange groves.

Then on the freeway towards Los Angeles, up over that beautiful 4000' mountain pass and down into the beginnings of the metropolis. I decided I wasn't up for navigating the city during rush hour, so opted to stay for the night in Santa Clarita, home of Six Flags over California, aka, I think, Magic Mountain, since my hotel was on Magic Mountain Parkway, in sight of rollercoasters.

Something I meant to write about yesterday after my Pinnacles adventure. As I was climbing up those footholds cut in the rocks, it came to me that no one in the world knew where I was, and I had only seen maybe a half-dozen other hikers all day, and I definitely did NOT have the 10 essentials with me. Probably not the smartest thing. But I was careful and I survived.... to do a drive on backroads in the desert the next day, thinking much the same thing.

Right now I'm just east of San Diego having lunch. Another 2.5 hours to Yuma, where hopefully I'll have plenty of time to do washing and a little shopping before driving another hour or so to meet up with my Sierra Club trip. Also hoping to find a bike shop...Ipad says there's one near my hotel....where I can leave my bike to be cleaned up and tuned a bit. It's pretty sad looking after driving those dusty desert roads yesterday, needs a tune-up anyway, and I'm hoping I can leave it at a bike shop so I don't have to leave it on the back of my car, which will be parked somewhere out in the desert for the 4 days we'll be canoeing.

Later: Yuma at last! In my shorts, having a beer. Dropped my bike off, the laundry's in the wash, heading to Supercuts, just down the road, when it's done.

What a drive! Sea level at San Diego, then over three 4000+ foot passes, then back to sea level in the desert. This has got to be one of the most scenic freeway drives I've ever taken. The mountains east of San Diego are strewn, covered, with amazing house-sized boulders. No trees, just boulders and desert, even at 4000 feet. Then down below, after miles of scrub-desert, there are miles of beautiful sand dunes (the Algodones dunes, I think). When I biked through near here in 2005, those dunes were covered with beautiful purple flowers, but that was in March; no sign of anything but sand this time. And dune buggies.

It's been a great trip so far, but I'm happy to not be driving much for the next couple of weeks. Just to the meeting point with Sierra Club tomorrow, and then next weekend from here to Las Vegas to meet up with WomanTours for the bike trip through Death Valley.

Too tired to mess with uploading pictures tonight....

Pinnacles

2012-02-02T10:16:00.001-08:00

Starbucks right next to my hotel this morning... now that's what I'm talkin' about!

I got to Paso Robles just after dark last night, very tired. Asked the nice woman at the hotel where to eat, and she gave me this map that showed Red Brick Pizza very close, she said even within walking distance. Having walked quite a bit already (see below) I thought I'd drive there anyway. Couldn't really tell whether the restaurant was to the right or left, so I started out right...1/2 mile, nothing. Turned around, went almost a mile, nothing (now I'm tired and hungry and it's dark, I'm swearing). Back to the hotel, dammit, I'll just go to the crappy Denny's clone attached to the hotel. Sustenance, anyway. As I'm leaving the restaurant I notice...right there, almost ATTACHED to the hotel, are about 6 eateries, including the one I'd been looking for, and Starbucks. Like I say, I was tired, and it was dark.

Anyway, that walk... 8 strenuous miles and 1600 feet of elevation gain in 5 hours at Pinnacles National Monument. Have you ever heard of this place? Neither had I. Well worth a visit. After a 15 mile winding and scenic drive through wineries and those beautiful dry California hills, big rocky..well...pinnacles. Rock spires, ramparts, crags, massive monoliths, sheer-walled canyons. This is part of an ancient volcano, lying right atop the San Andreas fault. Blue oak and gray pine, 2 new trees I learned today. Gray pine has perhaps the most impressive cones I've ever seen and blue oak has these odd, long and narrow acorns.

Euchie enjoying the balcony of the nice B&B in Carmel

About 3/4 of the way through this hike I came to the High Peaks area, with a sign saying "steep and narrow". Wow!

Steep and narrow!

Monterey and Carmel

2012-01-31T18:31:00.001-08:00

I have fallen more deeply in love with my Ipad today. A few days ago, I downloaded a GPS app, for, I think, $1.99. Today it talked me through all the turns from Calistoga to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. (more on that in a bit). Afterwards I sat in my car and used my cellular internet connection to go to hotels.com and find a nice little B&B in Carmel, for less than $60. Trusty Ipad guided me on, and I'm now there, sipping the remainders of yesterday's wine.

Also, the ipad battery has lasted all day, and still says it's got 24% left. And the car charger that I already had for my ipOd seems to work fine for it, too.

The aquarium lived up to expectations. Most enjoyable to me were the displays of sea jellies, including an opportunity to see baby ones through a microscope; and a large and amazing display of sea horses... from babies to adults to sea dragons (yes, there is such a thing) which surely do not look like they belong in this world at all. I tried to find someone who could tell me what the jelly marbles in Oregon might have been, but no luck.

I was hoping to drive down to Ventura tomorrow and catch a boat out for a day in Channel Islands National Park on Thursday. However, the only boat on Thursday goes to Anacapa Island, and as near as I can tell, once you get there, there's a 1.5 mile nature trail, and that's it. Would rather go to Santa ..., but no boat until Friday, and I need to be in or near Yuma on Friday night, another fairly long drive, so I guess it will have to wait until another time.

I just got interested in the Channel Islands... truth be told, just learned of their existence... after reading T. C. Boyles' "When the Killing's Done" a few weeks ago. Good book.

So now I'm dithering about what to do for the next 3 days. May stick around here tomorrow and go biking. Seems like there are a lot of nice trails around here.

Redwoods to Vineyards, Boots to Sandals

2012-01-31T08:14:00.001-08:00

Enjoying breakfast in bed at a fancy hotel. My only choice, as I am in the upscale tourist town of Calistoga. Yes, its where Calistoga spring water is from, and theres a note in my room saying I can fill my carafe from the spring downstairs in the lobby.

What a drive yesterday! A ways south of Eureka, I turned off on Highway 1, certainly the windingest, hilliest road I have every been on. Marvelous, as long as you're not in a hurry. The speed limit might be 55, but I don't think I ever got to that on this road... more like 35 most of the way. Even with hundreds of hairpin curves, blind corners, no shoulder, un-guardrailed drop-offs, I occasionally saw signs proclaiming it as a bike route. I am a pretty brave biker, but really, you'd have to be suicidal! True, there wasn't a lot of traffic, but there's got to be a lot more in the summer, and really, I think they'd just have to close it to cars (Ooooh, wouldn't that be wonderful!) for me to ride it.

Eventually I made it to Fort Bragg, where I found a nice little natural-foods place for lunch. True to the California stereotype, seems like every little town has one of these. Here, I traded my hiking boots for sandals, and my sweater for a t-shirt! Yippee!

Stopping for a latte on the way out of town, I asked the barista if the road going south was as curvy as the one coming in. She said "There's no way out of Fort Bragg without at hour of winding roads"... you would've had to hear her tone of voice....sounded like she'd been there a bit too long....

But she was right. I decided to head inland toward the wine country, but the road was much the same. Gradually changing from redwood forest to hilly chapparal, and then vineyards, vineyards, vineyards, vineyards, and vineyards. Countless tasting rooms, one of which I finally stopped at mainly to use the restroom, but I did buy a bottle of wine from them. This was in and area that I think is called the Anderson valley, which eventually lead to the Napa valley, which as I'm sure you can imagine is even more vineyard-filled.

Not long after I left Fort Bragg I realized I'd forgotten to get gas, so pulled into a station in a tiny tiny town. Old, old pumps, the kind with mechanical odometer-type numbers. $4.55 a gallon! Yipes! I just bought enough to get me back to civilization...

Calistoga: Art galleries (mediocre, tourist-trade), restaurants ($$$), B&B's ($$$), restaurants ($$$), wine shops. I thought I'd stumbled upon a reasonably priced restaurant until I asked if anything came with that $11 order of crab cakes, and was told that it's a tapas bar and the chef recommended at least two orders for a dinner. Don't get me wrong, this is a pretty town and worth a visit, just be forewarned that it is pricey. And this is the off-season.

A couple of nice ocean views near Mendocino. Lots of cool seastacks.

California!

2012-01-29T17:27:00.001-08:00

Euchie enjoying the ocean view

This morning's latte was in Gold Bar, OR. I didn't make it very far yesterday because I got enchanted by the Cape Perpetua area and thus spent several hours hiking there. In the sunshine. In shirtsleeves: eat your heart out! Down to a basin called Devil's Churn, and the Horn Spout, neither of which were very impressive because it was low tide, but still of course very beautiful. Then a steep hike up to the top of the cape, billed as the best view on the Oregon Coast. I can't argue.

Ocean view lodgings again last night, where I slept like a baby. So far I am sleeping much better on this trip than I do at home... perhaps because there's not a cat meowing for me to get up at 4am?

My motto for this (and all other) trips!

Now Euchie and I are in California! Stopped to hike in the Redwoods outside of Crescent City for a while, then drove on to Eureka, where I'm spending the night. My first time seeing redwoods... it's easy to get jaded. After you see a few of them, they don't look that big anymore. I had to keep reminding myself that most of them are at least 15' in diameter. And 200-300' tall.

Staying in Eureka tonight. Weather has turned to rain, so I think I will push southward and inland tomorrow...

marvelous sand patterns at Yachats

Note Euchie under the sign!

Trying to get a picture of how big the redwoods are. Very difficult~!

Many of these jello-marbles on the beach at Yachats. Some sort of beach creature Wonder what they are?

The Unfettered Ocean

2012-01-28T10:11:00.001-08:00

it's been at least 6 years since i've seen the real, unfettered ocean. It is truly awe inspiring!

I stayed last night just outside of Yachats, Oregon, right on the ocean, with that muffled thunder in my ears all night. It's beautiful and fun to visit, but I would have a hard time living with that noise all the time. Can't they turn it off for a few hours a day?

The drive down here yesterday was foggy until midafternoon. When the fog finally lifted I got off the freeway and headed southwest, following a delightful road (hwy 34, I think) along the Alsea river, twisting and turning and watching it gradually turn from creek to real river to tidal lagoon.

A long walk on the beach just before sunset was a relaxing end of the day.... well, that and playing an hour's worth of "Where's my water?", my latest game addiction, on the ipad.

Pictures soon, I promise.

Getting ready to travel, again

2012-01-25T12:30:00.000-08:00

Just got back a few days ago from my tri-annual trip to Michigan. Got into Seatac last wednesday about 10pm, as 7-10" of snow were just finishing dumping on Seattle. Actually just as that dump was changing to freezing rain. I elected to get a room near the airport so as not to have to drive the 60 miles home. Nex morning I awoke to find my car encased in,quite literally,a half inch of ice... I still have a piece of it in my freezer as proof. I coul see my ice scraper in the car, but couldn't even get to it before borrowing someone else's to chip the ice off my door lock . After a half hour or so of hacking, I made it home with no problem, to find 7 beautiful inches of snow. All gone after a couple of days, of course.

Now, I have stuff strewn all over my living room in preparation for my next trip. On Friday I will being driving towards southern California. I have a liesurely wandering week to get almost to Mexico, to hike and canoe with the Sierra club for a week. Immediately following that, I will drive to Las Vegas to meet up with WomanTours, for a week of bicyling through Death Valley.

Yesterday I bought an Ipad! I've been very dissatisfied with the netbook I bought a couple of years ago, and also I've been looking for a way to have internet access when I'm at my dad's house. Thinking about getting an Iphone, but rate plans are at least $60 per month. Currently I use my cell phone so little that even at 20 cents per minute, I pay only $20 every three months. But with the ipad, I will pay $20 per month for cell-phone-type internet access, but ONLY DURING THE MONTHS I NEED IT! And will have wifi access anytime that's available, too. SOunds perfect to me. I suspect I'll still have to go sit out on a stump in the woods to get any cell phone service at my dad's house... but it's a start! Plus, the Ipad is just so COOL! Especially with the bright orange folder with bluetooth keyboard that I got to go with it.

Summer

2011-07-24T20:25:00.000-07:00

I do believe summer has arrived. A good 3 days in a row of sunshine, and I do believe we broke 75 today. Yesterday I kayaked almost 12 miles -- all the way across Useless Bay, from Maxwelton to Double Bluff and back -- and not in terribly smooth water either. In fact, I was sorta surfing on the way back. I had to take a nap as soon as I got home, but my arms seem to be fully functional again today.

Saw a pod (school? herd?) of dolphin, many osprey, pigeon guillemots, herons, eagles, and one seal who seemed to be taking a nap out in the middle of the bay. Did not really intend to get that close but I was trying to figure out what that "thing" was floating there and I was only about 5 feet from him when he woke up and disappeared under the waves in a somewhat panicked huff.

Spring at last

2011-05-18T16:54:00.000-07:00

A beautiful wreath of iridescent red seaweed

Every one of these tubes houses a feather-duster worm. When the water comes in,

they do look like colorful red and purple feather dusters

A shaggy-mouse nudibranch.

A very colorful purple seastar

Moonglow anemone

Geoducks, cleaned

A bouquet of geoducks, still in the shell

Spring on Ebey's Prairie

Cormorants on the Snohomish river

I am cautiously, very cautiously optimistic that perhaps the weather has turned the corner to actual springtime now. After the coldest March and April on record, we are completing our 2nd day in a row of sunshine with two more in the forecast. "Temperatures May Hit 70" made the front page of the paper today. If this holds, my lawn may actually dry out enough that I will no longer have an excuse not to mow....

The Swainson's Thrushes are here, but not singing yet. My usual due date for Swainson's song is May 20th, so they'd better get with the program.

Meanwhile, here are a bunch of pictures I've taken this spring on the few non-rainy days we've had.

Cleaning out my project room...

2011-03-21T12:02:00.000-07:00

Here's what I've been doing this winter... well for the past several winters, actually. I am finally starting to sell some of these...proceeds mostly going to charity, plus a bit to restock my supplies!

Spice Train

Snowball

Red White and Blue

Original (My design!)

Spring

Cattails

Blue Bargello

Asian

Dancing the Night Away!

2011-02-20T12:14:00.001-08:00

Last night Kim, Gerry, and I went down to Third Place Books to see "Two Scoops", a boogie-woogie piano player and band.

Picture this: Third Place Books has an area known as "the commons", which is basically a food court with a stage and dance floor. The minute the music started, the dance floor was full. Every variety of person you can imagine, and from 3 to 83. Little girls in their dress up princess clothes and shoes with flashing pink lights. Old couples two-stepping, reminiscent of "RFD TV". Teenagers jitterbugging. A gray-haired ponytail guy with a dance style I can only describe as "semi-spastic swing". A very elegant 70-ish woman with long, curly, platinum blonde hair and 4-inch spike heels. A couple easily in their 80's, the man with jaunty beret. What a hoot, and the music was great too!

We stayed only for the first set, as we wanted to get to Big Daddy's in Woodinville to see Dr. Funk, my very favorite dance band. By the time we got there, there appeared to be not an empty seat in the house. There was a birthday party going on that took up at least 40 seats, and as it was just beginning to break up we managed to snatch seats right next to the dance floor.

Dr. Funk plays the best dance music ever written, 70's and 80's funk (as you might expect). Once again, as soon as the band started, the dance floor was full. This is a slightly different crowd from the previous... no 3 year olds. Mostly 30's to 50's, I would say, dressed in everything from blue jeans and sneakers (me) to little black dresses and high heels. One woman in a yellow minidress with black polka dots dancing wildly by herself for most of the night. I mean, wildly enough that people were leaving a space around her so as not to get injured. Reminded me a bit of Elaine's dancing style on Seinfeld.

We were on the dance floor at least half the time until just after midnight, me grinning so hard my face hurt. Gerry and I caught the 1am ferry home (last boat). I could not quite get myself up to make it to my 10:30am class in Coupeville this morning. But it was sooo worth it!

FOMS

2011-02-04T10:30:00.000-08:00

In mid-January, I did the trains, planes and automobiles trip to Michigan: 3 buses, 2 trains, 2 planes, and a 3 hour drive each way. I really sort of enjoy the adventure of that, but it means 4 days out of my life every trip, as it takes me at least a day to recover from the travel day.

I delayed my return trip by a day because of forecasted freezing rain, then ran into it on the drive to Detroit the next day anyway. The defroster in the rental car was only able to keep the bottom half of the windshield clear, and the one time I tried to use the windshield washer the fluid froze, briefly blinding me on the freeway. It was an interesting drive.

Then, a bad case of FOMS! (Fear of Missing Something):

Just a day or two to recover at home, and then up to the Skagit flats for a very nice bike ride with the Rainbow Riders. Followed the next days by cat sitting for a friend, a class in Coupeville (more on that later), forage fish egg sampling with Beachwatchers, a half-day volunteer stint at the reception desk for WSU extension, another day of bike riding, interviews for 2 volunteer positions, and a card party in Seattle which put me on the 1am ferry going home.

I was actually supposed to go to the Coupeville class again the next day, but could not rouse myself for that. In fact, I've had to cancel out on one appointment this week due to FOMS recovery. But now I'm about to start all over again with: volunteering at the thrift store today, noon to 5. Then I will try to make it to Seattle by 7 (with a catsitting visit squeezed inbetween) for dinner and a blues show, possibly putting me on the 1am ferry again tonight. All day tomorrow is Sound Waters (one-day Beachwatchers "university" in all things related to marine ecology), and Sunday is the Coupeville class again.

It's all good!

Kitchen Remodel is DONE

2011-01-03T13:55:00.000-08:00

Done, finished, finite, at an end, complete! Well, except that I will probably still get a new light fixture. Anyway, here are some pictures with the new paint, plus a bonus very nice sunset which I caught on the way back from Camano Island.

Sunset from the bridge to Camano Island

My office, with new paint and flooring

New Kitchen

More new Kitchen

Creeping Remodelitis

2010-12-29T19:01:00.000-08:00

The painting is done! Well, almost. I decided to extend the color to my downstairs stairwell, and I have only put one coat on there so far. I got all the masking stuff taken down, and there are a couple of spots that I will need to touch up, but…. I need a break! Sick of the smell of paint, and my wrist is sore.

Meanwhile, I seem to have contracted creeping remodelitis. I’ve now decided I need new lighting fixtures for my kitchen. And, ergo, probably for my office, too. Today I ordered two fixtures from Plow and Hearth that promise to “easily” convert the two recessed fixtures in my kitchen to cool mini-pendants. Then I think I’ll start shopping for a nice pendant light to hang over my table.

Also decided I need new switchplates and outlet covers, as the brass-look ones I have don’t go with the new stainless cabinet hardware, and they’re cheap corroding things anyway. Started looking on-line, and man, for anything but the most standard ivory plastic (which I may yet go with) they’re $15-$20 each. So, I got this bright idea to try using the Sculpy clay I have had in the back in my pantry for about 10 years.Made one nice terracotta-looking switchplate, a couple more in the oven. Not sure how they'll hold up, but I like the look of the terracotta against my new sage green walls, nicely offset by the brick-red flooring.

Too tired to move all my stuff back into place tonight. Once I clean up a bit, I'll post pictures.

Tired of this project...

2010-12-27T18:38:00.000-08:00

OK, I admit, I'm tired of this project. Ready to be done.

Now working on painting. After about a dozen sample swatches on my kitchen wall, I started painting "Clay Pot", basically a terra cotta, in my office. I wanted to finish the office before Leslie and Dave came down for Christmas so they could help me move my file cabinet, which weighs about a half-ton, back into place. So, I got the room done in time but am not crazy about the color. I guess it's OK for that room but I don't want to extend it into the hallway and kitchen. So, back to the paint store for another half-dozen samples, this time in gray-greens. Finally settled on "Saybrook Sage", back to the paint store to have them mix me up two gallons.

Come home all set to paint. Oh wait, I have to mask off all the trim, mask around the ceiling, wash the walls, take down the pictures and pull the nails, protect the new floor, take down the phone, knock down the cobwebs, protect the new countertop and sink, move everything off of the countertop, remove switchplates. Oh, and move the dang refrigerator. I got everything done but that last one before collapsing into chair with beer and crackers. Onward, tomorrow.

I'm floored!

2010-12-15T11:53:00.000-08:00

Before -- All the cabinets were this ugly brown color. The drawers were plastic and falling apart.

New flooring, new drawers and hardware, newly painted cabinets, new countertops

New sink

The new flooring is in, and it looks fabulous!

Sadly, that's not the end, yet. When they went to reinstall my bathroom sink, uh-oh, there was weird non-standard plumbing on the drain, that won't go back in correctly. So, my sink is sitting out on my porch awaiting further attention.

I got up this morning ready and raring to move all of my furniture back into my office and kitchen, but... I told the installers not to re-install the parts of the baseboard which had never had any finish applied, as I want to finish them first. Too cold to do this outside, so at the present time my office floor is covered with a blue tarp and assorted pieces of baseboard. My kitchen table is still in my living room, covered with a rat's nest of computer-related wiring and printers while my office furniture waits out on the patio.

Also, I need to buy, finish, and install some quarter-round where the new vinyl butts up against the base of the countertops.

And then repaint the walls.

And here are a couple of bonus pictures...

A nice winter day at the beach

Where Sabrina spends the winter

I am WOMAN, hear me roar!

2010-12-09T18:17:00.000-08:00

My new countertops, sink, and faucet are IN!

It took me several hours of sweating and swearing to remove my kitchen sink prior to the countertop installation, but I did it. After several more hours of trying to remove the old caulking from the sink, Leslie, bless her heart, suggested that I should just buy a new sink and new faucet too, while I'm at it. So off I went to Lowe's and did just that. Found a knowledgeable guy (IMHO, Lowe's has a lot more of these than Home Depot) who set me up with everything I needed. Well, almost everything....

On the 2nd trip to Lowe's, I got the part that was missing from the faucet, extra connections to connect the 3/8" faucet to my 1/2" water supply (thanks to Dave for advising me to check on that!), and waste connections with threads that actually matched the sink traps'.

This morning I got up all set to install the sink. But first, I'll slide my stove back into place, a 60-second job, right? 2 hours of getting it in place and levelled, and finally it's there.

Now I'm ready for the sink. Off to the hardware store (trip#3) to get caulk, then back home to apply it and put the sink in place. Now under the sink to apply the clips that torque it down...oh, now that I have the granite on top of my old countertops, the screws that came with the sink aren't long enough. Back to the hardware store (trip#4) and, with only an hour or so of further fuss, the sink is in!

Now for the faucet. I've already done some pre-assembly of the faucet, so all that remains is to drop it into place and hook up the water lines. The hell you say. This would've been much easier, I think, if I had had someone to hold the faucet on top of the sink while I tried to tighten it down underneath. But, too impatient to wait for help, I struggled long enough to finally get it in.

Now to connect the drains. Hacksaw off a bit here, a bit more there, finally everything more or less fits. Except that I have a minor drip from the p-trap. This, I can live with for now.

At last it's time to connect the water! Drip, drip, tighten, tighten, drip, drip, tighten, tighten. At last no drip.

In addition to new countertops, I now have a beautiful goose-neck faucet with detachable sprayer head, shiny new sink with built-in soap dispenser.

Let's see, I started this project at 9 this morning, it's now 6pm. Maybe a plumber could've done it faster, but I did it! I did it!

Next step: Move all the furniture out of kitchen and office in preparation for new floor installation next Tuesday. Stay tuned....

Progress...

2010-11-16T16:13:00.002-08:00

Today I put my deposit down and scheduled the installation for my new kitchen countertops. I am going with Granite Transformations, with installation on December 8th! Woohoo!

Although I am sticking with the flooring color I picked several posts ago, I am still waiting on two more quotes as the first one seemed a bit high. Hopefully that will happen later this week.

My new drawers are all painted, and this morning I finished installing the drawer pulls.... in the dark, wearing my headlamp, as we had our first big windstorm of the season last night. The power went off about 8pm and didn't come back on until 10 this morning. Since I have heat that is totally electricity-free, and a campstove to heat water for coffee, this is not a big problem. Except that I only had whole beans....briefly considered grinding them with mortal and pestle... but power came back before I was really desperate. Note to self: Keep a supply of pre-ground coffee beans in the winter!

Another fantasy, shot to hell...

2010-11-13T08:25:00.000-08:00

Countertops. Even though I only have 29 SF of countertop, the bid for laminate came in for 64 friggin' SF, because they have to use two 8X4 panels. Man, the prices they have posted are so misleading! Lowes in-store estimate was

And, after waiting a week for it, the bid for my favorite, the Cambria quartz, came in at... (drum roll)....$4400! OMG, in my tiny kitchen! So there must be plenty of people out there who are spending 15-20K just for their kitchen countertops????? Let me tell you, it's not going to happen here. My new front-runner is Granite Transformations at less than half of the quartz price.

The good news is, I got my new drawers and they look great!

Back to Nature

2010-11-11T08:13:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I took some time off from obsessing about my kitchen remodel. I took the train down to Edmonds to meet up with Kathy, and we then took the ferry over to the Olympic Peninsula. After a long drive 10-15 miles up winding gravel roads, we hiked the Upper Dungeness River trail. With little elevation gain, this was a pleasant and easy 6.5 mile round trip. It was chilly, and at the top (3100 feet) we found a little bit of snow, just enough to be decorative.

I am always amazed at the size of the Douglas Fir out that way. Yes, that's a tree trunk, not a stone wall.

Details, Details

2010-11-07T10:54:00.000-08:00

Ah, remember the good old days when I thought this whole kitchen remodel would cost me under $4000? Flooring for $1000? Well, that was a fantasy. I have about 360 sf of floor, and vinyl, even very good vinyl, is less than $4/sf. BUT.... since you have to buy it, apparently, in 12 foot widths, and eat the waste, the bid came in for close to 500 sf! PLUS, $1.20/SF for installation, and $1.20/ SF for "skim coat" (the stuff they have to put down to keep the texture on my old vinyl from eventually working it's way through to my new vinyl). PLUS... of course my toilet, sink, and stove have to be removed and reinstalled. And the few other heavy items I am reluctant to try to move myself. For this they want another $650! Bringing the total to about $3500, just for the flooring. Sigh. The bid looks to me like they're charging me for 500 sf of skim coat and installation, which seems wrong, so I am questioning that. And thinking possibly I can do the sink and toilet myself.....?

I'm still waiting for the countertop bid.

The chosen ones....

2010-11-05T11:38:00.000-07:00

OK, I have made a "final" decision on flooring, countertops, and vendor. Final, that is, unless the quotes come in way above what I'm expecting. Should hear today, I hope.

The flooring will be Mannington Sobella Supreme, color Rajah Red.

The countertops, god willing, will be Cambria quartz, color Chatham

I was all set to go with a laminate (many fewer $$) but when I got to the store and looked at the flooring and the Cambria together, wow, they look like they are made for each other! So, I am definite on the flooring but still sitting on pins and needles waiting to see what the countertops will cost me. I'm planning on living with this stuff for probably the rest of my life (or until I have to move to assisted living....) so it's worth getting something I love, right? Right?????

I am hoping I can reduce the cost of the flooring installation a bit by:

1. Pulling off the baseboards myself. I've done this before, when I painted, so I know I can do this. Also, I will be repainting again anyway once the other stuff gets installed and I can better choose a color.

2. Pulling the bathroom sink. Haven't done this before but it doesn't look too hard.

3. Pulling the toilet --- not sure about this one.

4. Moving all my furniture myself, except possibly the refrigerator and desk.

My new drawers should be installed in the next week or so. When I get my new camera (broke my old one, for the second time this year, by dropping!) I will take some before and after pictures to post.

Remodeling and biking

2010-10-28T10:39:00.000-07:00

Amazingly, we picked the one day this week without rain, and yesterday went for a perfect fall bike ride down in Seattle. Colorful trees, bike trails along the water, trails covered with leaves (and puddles from previous days rain), and actual sunshine for much of the day! Followed by the best meal I've had at a restaurant in a long time, and for only $15. Turns out Seattle has this thing called "restaurant week", twice a year, with many restaurants offering 3-course meals, $15 for lunch or $25 for dinner. I will definitely put a restaurant outing on my calendar for the next round of this, in April.

As for the remodel: I got the drawer quote back from builder #1, and it said, in total:

"DRAWER FRONTS AND BOXES with side mount full extension glides -- 788.00 "

No quantity, nothing about installation, nothing about the type of wood. What the heck? So I emailed back with some questions and got the reply "Does not include installation. I can give the name of some installers if you'd like". This, after I specifically said that I wanted drawers built and INSTALLED. This is the same place that was about to skip including drawer fronts and glides until I reminded them. Crossing them off my list.

Builder #3 came in with a quote of $750 including installation, but has not specified the type of drawer glides. Builder #2 at $1000 still inspires the most confidence but possibly #3 will win out after I talk to him a bit more.

I went to a couple of local flooring places and was pretty sold on getting Marmoleum (aka linoleum) instead of vinyl, even though its about 50% more $$. Much more environmentally friendly, as it's made out of natural ingredients like linseed oil and sawdust, and it has a 25 year warranty. And has some colors that I love. BUT.... they don't recommend installing over existing vinyl, or even over particle board. They want to install directly on plywood. I have no idea what's under my existing vinyl and am kinda afraid to look. And, surely ripping out the vinyl will add to the cost. Or can I do it myself? Once again, stay tuned.....

Adventures in Home Improvement

2010-10-25T13:52:00.000-07:00

My project for this winter is to remodeling my kitchen.

I started a few weeks ago with taking all the doors off of my cabinets and repainting. I decided to replace the ugly old "hammered copper" knobs with nice sleek new brushed nickel handles. Oh, that meant I had to replace the hinges to match. You'd be amazed at how many different types of hinges there are! Finally figured out I needed 3/8 inch inset, partial overlay (as opposed to no inset, 1/2 inch inset, full overlay, hidden, European style, etc, etc). Could not find locally in brushed nickel, had to order. Finally last week they arrived, I've rehung my doors, and they look FABULOUS! I am SOOOO happy to have ivory cabinets now instead of 1970's era ugly brown wood. I am totally amazed at how much brighter both my kitchen and the adjoining living room look. It's like having totally new cabinets, but for under $200!

Well, except for.... I still need to have the drawers replaced. Really ugly, 1970's plastic, fake-wood-look, falling apart drawers. I need 10 of 'em. Great, I found a place on the web where I can get custom dove-tailed drawers for less than $30 per drawer. Well, except that the drawer glides are at least another $30, and the shipping brings the whole shebang up to at least $80 per drawer, plus I have to assemble and install myself. Oh, and that doesn't include the drawer faces, another $10-15 per drawer, minimum. The installation looks dicey as you have to have all your measurements correct within 3/8" or you've just paid $$$ non refundable for your custom drawers. This having kept me awake for several nights, I am now getting quotes from several local cabinet builders.

Last week a guy came out to measure and quote, but I was less than impressed as I had to "remind" him that yes, I would need new drawer glides, and yes, I would need drawer faces. Which should've been more than obvious to anyone taking even the quickest look at my existing situation. Than I asked him what type of drawer glides he would quote, and he said, oh there are many, many kinds. Not helpful.

And it's true, there are many, many kinds. Side mount, undermount, center mount, self closing, soft closing, plastic, metal. I've seen prices varying from $7 to $70, no kidding. I settled on undermount, as they look easiest to install, seem to be the standard at kitchen showrooms, and are fairly reasonably priced at $20-$30. However, although nearly every cabinet system on display at Lowe's and Home Depot has undermount glides, they do not actually SELL undermount glides. I can get them through the internet but once again the shipping will up the price to more like $40 per set.

This morning a local cabinetmaker came out and gave me a quote for $1000 for the whole shebang, 10 drawers, assembled and installed. I liked this guy a lot and will probably go with this. Close to twice what I originally thought I would have to pay, but still a lot less than new cabinets. Just going to check with one more cabinetmaker tomorrow.

Next step is new countertops. Again, an amazing array of choices. Installed prices vary from about $25/sq. ft. for laminate, up to $90 for granite, or much, much higher for really cool granite. At the intermediate level is quartz composite, which seems to be more durable than granite and almost as pretty. Still, even here you can pay anywhere from about $45 to $90. With the quartz composite, from Lowe's I can get a free undermount sink or integral sink (actually part of the countertop) for free. Still dithering over this, as ... what if the sink needs to be replaced? Does that mean you have to replace the whole countertop? And, i don't know that any of these prices include removal of old countertop.

Another option is "Granite Transformations" which will install a granite-like layer overtop of my existing counters. They will be out later this week to take a look.

And after that comes flooring. My floors are so wavy that I can't use laminate unless I spend god-only-knows to get them levelled. So, sheet vinyl or linoleum will be fine with me. Prices for sheet vinyl look like a little under $4 per sq ft, installed. At 268 sq ft (no my kitchen is not that big. Includes hallway, bathroom, office) lets call this $1000.

So: Paint and hardware: $150

Drawers: $1000

Countertops: $1500?

Flooring: $1000

I am hoping to come in under $4000.... stay tuned!

Where's Vickie 2010: HOME!

2010-08-25T10:06:00.000-07:00

My connections all meshed perfectly (train-plane-plane-train-train-ferry-bus) and I got home about 7pm on Monday evening. I have to say that no place I've been all summer can hold a candle to Whidbey Island in August. It's clear blue sky and 70 degrees, perfect biking weather, but my bike unfortunately hasn't left Minneapolis yet. Tomorrow, they say....

Yesterday I managed to unpack most of my stuff, re-stock my kitchen, pick up and go through all of my mail, do a load of wash, unpack the 3 pieces of artwork I had shipped home over the summer (all intact! ) and cook dinner before collapsing into the lazyboy with cat in lap.

Sabrina seems very happy to see me and even happier to be able to go outside again, after being held prisoner in the house (and with a dog for part of the time) all summer.

My yard is overgrown and brown, the house is full of cat hair and cobwebs and unread New Yorkers, but today I think I must go to the beach and pick blackberries along the bluff...

Although I will still be blogging on a semi-irregular basis, this is my last "Where's Vickie 2010" post, and the last email I will send out. Thanks so much for coming all with me on this trip! See you next time!

Where's Vickie 2010, Volume 14

2010-08-22T15:24:00.000-07:00

Me and Mary Tyler Moore

There were a bunch of these cool sculptures of historic buildings, along 6th ave in Minneapolis

Unexplained sticker on a bike rack at an espresso place along a trail in Minneapolis

I just liked this big sign in Minneapolis. There was one for Gold Medal Flour, too

The house of Mary Richards and Rhoda Morgenstern in the '70's

A Segway parade? in Minneapolis

The end of the wonderful Paul Bunyan Trail, in Baxter, MN

The Mississippi River in Brainerd --- quite a bit bigger than at Lake Itasca!

August 17 -- Baxter, MN

Even with the irritating location, we’ve decided we need a day of rest so are staying here for another night. Kathy and I took off separately on our bikes this morning. I rode about 20 miles, around some scenic parts of town along the river, while she went downtown to the bike shop and in search of a library.

August 18 -- Malmo, MN
50 miles, 860 feet cumulative elevtion gain
60 degrees and rainy - perfect biking weather!

Kathy found us a beautiful route on quiet roads through the countryside. Rolling hills, woods, lots and lots of lakes. It rained pretty much all day, and at one point we had to pull off and seek shelter due to thunder and lightning. The place we happened upon turned out to be an animal boarding and grooming place. We went in and Kathy asked to use the restroom. You’ve seen that sign in stores that says “Unattended children will be given an espresso and a free puppy.”? While Kaithy was in the restroom they gave me a warm towel and a free puppy, a 3-week-old springer spaniel. So cuddly but poor little thing, I was still all wet and it was shivering, so gave it back. Kathy wouldn’t let me keep it, anyway.

Just in time for lunch we came upon a nice resort with a restaurant and a latte place. The rain let up long enough so that we were able to eat outside, on a deck overlooking the lake. (What lake, I have no idea, there are so many around here).

We are staying right on Mille Lac Lake, here pronounced “m’lack”. It’s huge, you can’t see across it. Our lodgings here in Malmo are, ahem, interesting. We had originally planned to camp here at the Castaways Resort, $35 to pitch our tents, but since we were so wet we opted to spend an extra $15 for a cabin instead. The “cabins” are 10X20 metal sheds with 4 bunks, no water at all, propane lights and heat, and a single power strip hanging along the wall. And then we noticed these odd fishing-reel things along the walls, and little trap doors in the floor that you can pull up and see the ground underneath --- they’re ice fishing shanties! What a hoot! They are on sled-like runners, and in the winter they pull them out onto the lake.

The resort is mostly a big trailer park, where it looks like the residents are permanent or at least here for the summer months. There’s a bar and restaurant, where we caused quite a stir when we stepped in, dripping wet, this afternoon. I don’t think they get many bikers here.

August 19th - Cambridge. MN
51 miles, 460 feet cumulative elevation gain
70 and party cloudy -- perfect biking weather

We rode into a headwind / crosswind most of the day, on a state highway with a fair amount of traffic but a good wide shoulder. Kathy’s friend Bill, who has been on a car trip for the last couple of weeks, met us today on his bike, just outside of Ogilvie. I jokingly said to him “I’m headed for the latte place in Ogilvie”, and he said, oh, you’ve heard about it already? Sure enough, just after we crossed the Groundhome river, we pulled into Groundhome coffee shop, converted from an old gas station into the nicest little place you could imagine The guy roasts his own beans (the roaster was still hot), made me the best latte I’ve had since Shelby, MT, and sold me a pound of his best espresso roast.

Fueled up, we headed on to Dalbo, where Bill had left his car. We had originally planned to camp in Dalbo. There’s a bicycle-only camping spot there, noted on the Adventure Cycling map as “bikers may camp in farmer so- and so’s yard, even if family is not home”. Sure enough, they had a sign in the yard “Adventure Cyclist Bunkhouse”. Would have been fun to stay there, but due to forecast of overnight t-storms, we loaded the bikes and gear in the car and Bill drove us on to Cambrigde, where we had hotel reservations.

Looking at the internet tonight, I discovered I can move my flight home up from August 26th to the 23rd, for about $75. So, that’s what I did. Kathy and Bill will drive me to Minneapolis in the morning where I’ll spend the weekend exploring, then on Monday I’m going HOME!!!!!

August 22nd -- Minneapolis, MN

For the past 3 days I’ve been happily ensconced in the Comfort Suites, right in the middle of downtown. This place is a DEAL. I have an apartment-sized suite which could easily sleep 4, with a free FULL breakfast buffet (including made-to-order omelets) included, within easy biking and walking distance of everything, for under $100 per night. The biking is so great here I’m tempted to schedule another vacation here just to ride the trails.

The trails --- they’re everywhere! There must be a couple hundred miles of trails within the metroplex, most of which are divided into 3 lanes -- one for pedestrians and one for each direction for bikes. In many cases the pedestrian path is physically separate from the bike path.

I rode about 35 miles yesterday on a trail along the Mississippi, through the U of M campus (go Golden Gophers!) and down into the outskirts of St. Paul. Today I rode another 30 or so, out west of town, all on trails. I had to see if I could track down the house from the Mary Tyler Moore show (where Mary Richards and Rhoda Morgenstern lived), and sure enough, it’s there and recognizable if somewhat more upscale looking than it was in the 70’s. There’s also a statue of Mary tossing her hat, downtown.

And then there’s the “nice ride” bikes. You insert your credit card and for $5, you get one of these bikes to use for 24 hours. You can drop it off at any of the several stations around the city. I saw plenty of people on them although I didn’t try one myself.

This afternoon I dropped my bike off at the local bike shop to be packed and shipped, thus officially ending my summer bike trip. Now I have nothing to do but relax in the AC. I’ll walk a few blocks in the morning to catch the light rail to the airport, and head for home.

Where's Vickie 2010, Volume 13

2010-08-17T08:09:00.000-07:00

Kathy on the Paul Bunyan trail

Tabers Historic bait and cabins

Minnesota state bird, although we've seen very few

Jo Ann and Reba

Jo Ann's fabulous house, where we had breakfast

coneflowers along Paul Bunyan trail

August 14th - Bemidji, MN

Here we are at Taber’s Bait and Historic Cabins, where we stayed last night. The cabins have been here since the ‘20’s, one of those old motor-court-cabin places. Tiny and overpriced, but cute. Kathy couldn’t get any cold water in the shower until I re-attached the handle more securely. You can sit on the toilet and lay your head in the sink. There’s an ancient 2- burner stove and fridge in the kitchen, and a table, although I can’t see where there’s any space to actually sit at it. The “closet” is hangers suspended from the rafters; you have to stand on a chair to reach them. No AC of course, but it’s nice and cool this morning and looks like a perfect day for biking.

Yesterday’s was a pleasant, easy 30 mile ride through rolling hills, swamps, and forests. The heat and humidity have moderated, thank god. We crossed the Mississippi twice, tiny little stream that it is up here. It pauses in Lake Bemidji and then runs on south from here. I don’t think I’ll see it again until Minneapolis.

If all goes as planned, we’ll spend the next 3 days on the Paul Bunyan Trail, a hundred miles of paved trail that runs from here south to Brainerd. Then we’ll cut east to catch up with a branch of Adventure Cycling’s northern tier again, cutting into Wisconsin briefly before heading into Minneapolis on the 22nd. Kathy and Bill will head off into Wisconsin then and I will have several days to explore Minneapolis before my flight home on the 26th.

Later, still August 14th -- Walker, MN

This morning, there were a couple of old guys messing around with a boat near our cabin. Turns out they built this boat, somewhere in Norway, had it shipped here, and are just about to embark on a trip down the Mississippi. The hope to get all the way to New Orleans. Here’s a link to their blog: http://www.oldmensriver.com/blogg/index.html

We rode around the north end of Lake Bemidji where we got on the Paul Bunyan Trail, which is supposed to take us clear to Brainerd, over 100 miles. In the town of Bemidji, though, we came to one of those irritating places, all too common on bike trails, where the trail just seemed to stop. As we stood there pondering, here came one of those road angels, offering to ride along with us through town and guide the way

Once out of Bemidji, though, the trail was continuous, smooth, mostly flat and pleasantly wooded all the way to Walker.

Walker, as it turns out, is a major tourist destination. Pulling in on a Saturday night, the weekend of “Walker Bay Days”, at the height of the tourist season, with no reservations, was perhaps not wise. No sign of any place at all to tent camp. The RV places wanted $45 and anyway they were all full. I called the first 5 hotels listed in the visitors guide, and they were all full, at which point I threw up my hands. We were seriously considering just waiting until close to sunset, riding down the trail a bit, and setting up our tents, when Kathy found us a room at the luxury hotel right in the middle of town. Much more than we wanted to pay, but oh well. They did have lattes.

August 15th -- Pine River, MN
Another 40 or so miles of pleasant Paul Bunyan trail today. Forests of white pine, oak, birch, alder, a few hills, a few tiny little towns. Just before we pulled into Pine River, another biker pulls up beside Kathy and begins chatting. We had planned to camp at the local RV park, which wanted $22 per tent, but this nice woman says we can camp in the city park for free, and guides us there. Sure enough, a half-dozen or so nice campsites, flush toilets, running water, what more could we ask? Oh yeah, I want some beer, but the local liquor store is closed on Sunday. The nice woman (Jo Ann) says “what kind of beer do you like? And how many do you want?” and just about the time we get our tents set up, she is back bringing us cold beer! She stays to visit with us for a bit, then takes off for home while we make dinner. Just about the time we’ve finished our dinner, she pulls in again, with an invitation to come to her house for breakfast in the morning! Of course we accept! We manage to build a nice campfire with leftover logs from previous campers and manage to stay awake long enough to enjoy it.

August 16th -- Baxter, MN

We rode to Jo Ann’s house for breakfast this morning, and what a house it is! She says it was the first house built by a white woman in Pine River, in the early 1900’s. They had it moved out of town (amazing, this is a big house!), have lovingly restored it to a beautiful Victorian showplace, and have lived there for 30 years. It is just a beautiful place. As we pulled into the driveway, Reba, a sweet German Shepherd, came wagging and wiggling out to greet us. Jo Ann fed us excellent coffee, biscuits, scrambled eggs with all sorts of veggies from her garden, bacon, steel-cut oats….we did not go away hungry! Thanks Jo Ann!!!!!

Then on down the trail another 30 miles to Brainerd. Wow, this trail really does go all the way from Bemidji to Brainerd, more than 100 miles, all the way paved and beautiful. My only complaint is the lack of camping facilities. Even after consulting with the chamber of commerce and the local parks and rec, we cannot find anyplace to camp within 10 miles of Brainerd except an “RV only” place. So here we are tonight at the Brainerd Super 8. Well, at least we can do our laundry here.

It was quite a culture shock, after 3 days of no vehicular traffic at all, to have to negotiate a mile or so of busy road to get to the hotel. This same busy road is the one that Google has us routed on to get to tomorrow’s destination. We are looking for other options.

Baxter / Brainerd is really all one big town … well, 25000 or so people…separated by the Mississippi river. Our hotel is out in walmartland, in one of those very irritating areas built as if pedestrians don’t exist. We walked a half mile to dinner tonight with no sidewalks, having to cut across lawns and through parking lots to avoid getting run over.

2010-08-11T13:18:00.000-07:00

Headwaters of the Missisippi

You find bikes in the oddest places. Thats Kathy looking up at them,

sunflowers

bike trail at lake itasca

The group of us at the Mississippi

August 7th - Hitterdal, Minnesota
35 miles -- 500 feet cumulative elevation gain
85 degrees, humid, sunny -- perfect biking weather

This morning Kathy and I loaded up our bikes and rode out of Fargo and into Minnesota. We are fully loaded now, carrying all of our camping gear, so doing far fewer miles per day. We also had a bit of a headwind today, but even so, we were here shortly after noon. And there is NOTHING to do here -- this town consists of a mini-mart / gas station, a liquor store / bar, and this little half-acre city park where we are camping tonight. It looks like were are in someone’s back yard -- there are houses on 3 sides of us -- but our map says we can camp here and no one has tried to shoo us away yet.

So, it’s been a relaxing-bordering-on-boring afternoon of laying around trying to stay cool, waiting for the sun to go down and the temperature to drop. This little park has a bathroom, running water, electricity, and I was even able to connect to the internet! No lattes, though.

Laater: This evening the woman who lives in one of the adjacent houses came over and talked to us for awhile. She said there are bikers camping here 3 or 4 times per week. A little later a 10 year old boy rode over on his bike, telling us he was “usually the official greeter” and that he has talked to bikers staying hee from all over the world. The listing on the Adventure Cycling map is probably helping to keep this tiny town alive.

August 11th - Itasca State Park, Minnesota
Steamy. NOT perfect biking weather

I’m sitting in the hostel at Itasca State Park., having my morning coffee. The eight of us who are here for the reunion of the 2005 cross-country group have this place all to ourselves, and it’s very nice. Big kitchen, multiple bunk rooms, showers, and perhaps most important: air conditioning. I got up late this morning and everyone else is gone, probably over to the lake to rent canoes, and I will join them in a bit.

The 8th and 9th Kathy and I rode a total of about 70 miles, through a steam bath. For perhaps the first time ever, I cannot in good conscience say that this was perfect biking weather. At times it was downright miserable. My camp pillow feels like a wet towel. A sticky wet towel. All clothing is suffocating, so you can imagine what black lycra bike shorts feel like. The only thing more uncomfortable than riding in this weather is sitting still; at least when you’re riding, there’s a breeze. It’s not all that hot -- low to mid 80’s -- but my GOD, the humidity. Its like….oh yeah, I remember, it’s like August in the Midwest!

We headed directly for the lake when we got here, where I spent a couple of hours floating on my air mattress in the small, crowded swimming area. Between little kids, parents, and water-football games, it was still wonderfully refreshing, After two nights in air conditioning, I feel full human again.

We are a long last out of the great plains, and into the north woods. A mile north of here is the official headwaters of the Mississippi, where it drains out of Lake Itasca in a 4-foot-wide stream. I had always heard that you could straddle it there, but that’s a bit of a stretch.

This park is enormous. It’s about 10 miles long, and there are miles and miles of paved bike trails through the woods, a lodge and restaurant, several campgrounds, a huge bike and boat rental place, miles of hiking trails. If the weather was more temperate it would be a wonderful place, but as it is I don’t feel like doing much but sitting in the AC. I went for a 10 mile ride on the trail yesterday, very pretty, but I was soaked through to the skin by the time I’d ridden a couple of miles. I am fairly dreading loading all my belongings back on the bike and riding on towards Minneapolis in a couple of days. Oh how I hope the air dries out a bit.

Where's Vickie 2010, Volume 11

2010-08-05T08:56:00.001-07:00

Pipe Stone National Monument

Elm-lined streets in Fargo. Apparently dutch elm disease has never reached here. Sad to think the streets in my hometown were probably like this at one time.

Corn palace artwork. Picture is corn cobs, frame and stars are some sort of straw

corn palace

August 2nd -- Mitchell, South Dakota

So, to my continuing surprise, much of Nebraska is beautiful.
Yesterday I spent several hours at Homestead National Monument. This is the site of the first homestead claim, made in 1863 by Daniel Freeman. I did not realize the homestead act was in effect for so long…until 1976 in the lower 48, and until 1986 in Alaska. The last homesteader claimed his land in Alaska in 1974. The park itself has several miles of trails through pretty prairie and woodlands, all of which I enjoyed even in the heat. Lots more fascinating information at http://www.nps.gov/home/historyculture/index.htm.

Last night found me in the unremarkable town of Grand Island. I never could determine where the name comes from…it’s near, but not on, the Platte river, and I did not see any islands, grand or otherwise. It’s the home of the Nebraska State Fair (at the end of August), there’s a lot of grain-processing industry around it’s edges, and other than that it seems to be a vast Wal-Mart-land. I did find a very good Thai restaurant (Vientiane) downtown, although I was their ONLY customer. And a Scooters Coffee, the Nebraska version of Starbucks.

This morning I headed north on Nebraska hwy 14. What a gorgeous drive! The area south of Albion is surely one of the prettiest roads I’ve been on. Big steep rolling green hills covered with corn, grass, and trees. This would be a fabulous area to bike through. No shoulders on the road, but little enough traffic that I don’t think it would be a problem.

Around lunchtime I stopped at Ashfall Fossil Beds State Historical Park. Here’s the park’s blurb:
About 12 million years ago, a volcano in southwest Idaho spread a blanket of ash over a very large area. One or two feet of this powdered glass covered the flat savannah-like grasslands of northeastern Nebraska.
Most of the animals which lived here survived the actual ashfall, but as they continued to graze on the ash covered grasses, their lungs began to fill up with the abrasive powder. Soon their lungs became severely damaged and they began to die.
The smaller animals died first (smaller lung capacities) and finally, after perhaps three to five weeks, the last of the rhinos perished. Their bodies were quickly covered by the blowing and drifting ash.
Undisturbed except by an occasional scavenging meat-eater, the skeletons of these animals are preserved in their death positions, complete with evidence of their last meals in their mouths and stomachs and their last steps preserved in the sandstone below.

Lot of rhinos, horse-like creatures, camels, all still laying there in the ash after 12 million years. Quite interesting.

Pretty scenery continued on until I crossed the Missouri back into South Dakota, at which time it became flat and dull. I was racing a nasty looking black sky off to the west, and did not especially want to be caught in a thunderstorm out in the wide open, so stopped early today in the outskirts of Mitchell, whose claim to fame is the Corn Palace, which I will visit tomorrow, after which I think I will hightail it for Fargo.
August 5th -- Fargo, ND

The Corn Palace was only mildly interesting and very touristy. I took a few pictures and drove on over to Minnesota, where I visited Pipe Stem National Monument. (not to be confused, as I first was, with Pipe Spring National Monument, which is in Utah). This is an area where native americans quarried ( and still do) a red rock to make, you guessed it, pipe stems… and now, earrings, key fobs, paperweights, and various other tchotchkes. I suppose if you lived in the prairie, this ridge of rock, with a stream running through it, might seem remarkable. But for me, not so much. (Pipe Spring is nicer).

Got back to Fargo Tuesday night, where I have Ann’s house all to myself until tomorrow, while she and Ed are off riding CANDISC. Yesterday I returned the rental car and spent the day biking around Fargo. There are lots of bike trails here, some nice winding ones along the Red River, and others that are just glorified sidewalks, but still make it a very bike-friendly city. This was the first temperate day I have experienced since pedaling into the city 2 weeks ago… I don’t think it even got up to 85, and this morning it’s downright cool.

About 1pm, it was déjà vu all over again -- tornado sirens! But, but, it doesn’t look stormy…there are a few big clouds…. I’m biking through a park, where do I hide? I’m just about to panic when another biker assures me it’s the test they do the first Wednesday of every month.

I broke my multi-year avoidance of first-run movies, and went to see “Salt”.Have to admit I enjoyed it.

Where's Vickie 2010, Volume 10

2010-08-01T07:53:00.000-07:00

Harriet, aka Little Dick

An interesting sign on our Iowa bike ride

Pleasant sight in Old Town Omaha

This is a big stone sculpture of the mountainous profile we rode over, starting with the Cascades on the left. (Although judging from the height, that must be Mt. Rainier, which we certainly did NOT ride over!) This is at the western trails (?) museum in Omaha.

Best coffee place in Fargo. How could it be otherwise?

Days 34-35 - July 23-24th - Fargo, ND
No biking!
70, rainy - perfect biking weather!

The rest of the group has now all gone home, and I so enjoyed not leaving the hotel at all yesterday. I only left my room for breakfast and dinner at the hotel café, and spent the rest of the time sleeping, staring out the window, reading, watching TV.

Our farewell banquet Thursday night was great fun. We took over the hotel bar before the banquet, and again afterwards,where we all sang a reprise of my version of “What a difference a day makes” and Christine’s “Will the shoulder be unbroken”. Much laughter, lots of hugs, vows to see each other again soon. This has been such a great group of women! I see reunions in our future.

About half the group is signed up to ride the “eastern half of the northern tier” next year, continuing on from Fargo to Maine. I don’t plan to do this, but would like to do it on my own at some point. Riding self-supported in the east, where there are fewer mountains and more civilization, is much more feasible.

If I can afford it, my next WomanTours tour will be the Meandering Mississippi in 2012, from New Orleans to the headwaters at Lake Itasca, Minnesota.

One thing I have learned from this trip is that I really don’t want to ride more than 60-70 miles in a day, unless, of course, we have one of those 30mph tailwinds. Fully loaded, my preference is about half that.

I called my dad this morning and asked what’s new, he said “well, I started my new year”, I said “huh?”. Today is his 83rd birthday and I TOTALLY FORGOT IT! BAD, daughter, bad, bad daughter! Sigh….

One more night here at the Radisson, and then tomorrow I go to my friend’s house just a couple of miles from here, for at least a few days. I have nothing certain scheduled until August 6th, when I meet up with Kathy to ride on into Minnesota to the 2005 tour’s reunion.

July 28 -- Omaha, Nebraska

No, I did not bike to here!

After spending a day exploring downtown Fargo on foot, I relaxed for two nights at Ann’s (who I met on the 2005 Southern Tier) house. We went for a nice 25 mile, very flat bike ride, and she showed me around suburban Fargo. I got to ride the ferris wheel inside Scheel’s, which seems to be the prairie states version of REI / Cabela’s.

At 1am Tuesday morning I was awakened by tornado sirens. Ann, Ed, and I migrated to the basement for an hour or so until the all-clear, and then I got my wish of seeing a good thunderstorm… and then another one …. and then another one. Pretty much constant thunder and lightening for the rest of the night.

Trying to figure out how I’m going to fill up more than a week until the reunion in Minnesota, it suddenly occurred to me that I could rent a car! So yesterday, that’s just what I did… and drove from Fargo down to Omaha, to visit Lynn and Christine. It’s much different, and nicer, here than I had expected. They live in Bellevue, just outside of Omaha, and it’s just lovely… hills and wooded, winding roads. Today we rode our bikes into downtown Omaha, much of the way on nice bike trails. A very pleasant ride except for the heat… 90+ with what seems to be about 110% humidity. The old part of downtown merits more exploration, which is my plan for tomorrow.

I crossed 3 state lines yesterday -- South Dakota, Iowa, and Nebraska -- and have tried to convince Lynn and Christine that I deserve 3 margaritas as a result, but so far no luck with that.

August 1st - Beatrice, Nebraska

August at last! I get to go HOME this month!!!

After spending 4 nights at Christine and Lynn’s lovely home, like staying in a 5-star hotel (except the wireless internet service was a little spotty), I took off again in the car yesterday.

The stay in Bellevue was wonderful. I drove back into Omaha one day to walk around “old town”, a very pretty area of old (1800’s?) red brick buildings which have been converted into galleries, restaurants, boutiques, and the like. We went to the movies to see “The Triplets of Belleville”; I’ve seen it several times before and it seems I like it better every time. It was new to Chris and Lynn, and they thought it was a hoot.

Thursday we drove over into Iowa and went riding in the Loess Hills, with friend Pete. This is a very pretty area of short, forested hills rising up out of the cornfields. We were stopped at a corner and heard a loud, pitiful, “meow, meow, meow”. And found a beautiful grey tiger-striped kitten, probably 3-4 months old, cowering alongside the road, terrified of the big trucks going by. What to do? We tried both of the houses nearby. No, they hadn’t lost a kitten and didn’t want one either. So, Lynn stayed with the kitten while we rode back to the car. We drove home with kitty in my lap, purring. Surely we can’t take this cuddly sweetheart to the humane society? But Patsy and Eddie (my host’s cats) aren’t likely to cotton to her, and Pete’s 23-year old cat isn’t either. Lynn says their neighbor was, she thought, looking to adopt a cat. And sure enough, when we get home, the neighbor comes over and immediately falls in love -- how could you not?

Neighbor has another cat, named Ozzie, so we thought the perfect name for kitten was Harriet, such a sweet little thing. But neighbor calls later to say Harriet was cleaning herself when it became clearly visible that she was a he…. So Christine came up with the alternate name of Little Dick, “LD” for short. Not sure the neighbor agreed with this, though.

So, yesterday I drove down to Nebraska City, home of Arbor Lodge state park. Arbor Lodge is the former mansion of Julius Sterling Morton, founder of Arbor Day and secretary of agriculture during the Cleveland administration in the 1890’s. His son Joy was the founder of Morton salt.

The lodge is well worth a visit -- 52 rooms to wander through on 4 floors, including a bowling alley in the basement. The mansion is surrounded by, of course, trees -- a beautiful arboretum of some 270 species from all over the world.

Just across the road is the Arbor Day Farm, a bit more touristy but still interesting, and a lovely half-mile or so trail through the woods to the Lied Lodge, a big (old?) hotel and conference center, where I had lunch.

In the afternoon I drove to Brownville, right across the river from Missouri. I had planned to drive across the river there, just to rack up another margarita point, but the bridge was closed. Brownville, however, was charming… a tiny town with several enjoyable art galleries and many beautiful old houses tucked into the hills along the river.

I stayed in Beatrice last night because it’s near Homestead National Monument, where I will go today. Had some trouble finding a hotel room here; the first two I checked were full, something to do with baseball. Can’t imagine playing it in this heat and humidity.

Where's Vickie 2010, Volume 9

2010-07-23T09:24:00.000-07:00

Beautiful library in Mayville ND, on national register of historic places.Beautiful inside, too, but the librarian was a little odd.

ND Sky

A reason to love Fargo

Possibly the coolest bik store ever, in the old railway depot, with it's own cafe and espresso stan. Although the latte was awful, tasted like Farmer Bros. coffee. Bad.

A boquet of wheat (or rye, barley, oats, who can tell??)

The 2nd-tallest manmade structer in the world, from about 8 miles. Field colors look weird because I had to manipulate some to get that tall, skinny tower to show up

No, this is not a joke. Water to the north goes to Hudson Bay, to the south to the Gulf of Mexico.

Day 30 - July 19th - Devils Lake, ND
80 miles, 1600 ft cumulative elevation gain
80 and sunny - perfect biking weather!

Too tired to write today.

Day 31 - July 20th - Carrington, ND
49 miles, 740 ft cumulative elevation gain
75 and sunny - perfect biking weather!

I really shouldn’t have ridden yesterday, or at the very least I should’ve sagged the last 30 miles. All that kept me going for those last miles was the thought of a cold beer, and then when I got in, my room wasn’t ready, and we’re staying in an “alcohol free” hotel on a “dry” Indian reservation. And no espresso, either. If you’re gonna have a casino, a casino for god’s sake, without alcohol, shouldn’t you at least have good coffee????? Still, several of us sat out in the grass and surreptitiously sipped our various illegal beverages (that’s grape juice, right? Or apple juice?) until rooms were ready. I went to bed last night thinking, I don’t care if I ever see another bike, or another bike rider, for that matter. Maybe I’ll just fly home from Fargo.

Not to worry, by this morning, I was refreshed and ready to keep on riding. Although I do think I will cancel out on riding CANDISC. This is another big (hundreds of people) week-long group ride that I signed up for, which would circle back near some of the places I’ve already ridden near Minot. I don’t think the scenery would be much different from what I’ve already seen, it’s back near the oil fields with all that truck traffic, it’s near where Barbara got hit, and I’m just tired of being around big groups. So my current plan is to spend a few days in Fargo, until I’m bored, then head on east into Minnesota in hopes of finding a quiet lake to camp by until I meet up with friends on August 9th for the reunion of the 2005 Southern Tier group.

We have a 92-mile day scheduled for tomorrow, but I’ve already decided I’m riding 60 of it at the most. The day after that will be our last, 60-mile, day into Fargo. There I will spend 2 or 3 nights luxuriating at the Radisson, and (hopefully) another night or two at a friend’s house, before taking off on my own.

Yesterday’s ride was nice enough, it was just too long. Fields of corn, beans, grain, and hundreds of small ponds surrounded by cattail. For about 10 miles at the end of the day, we rode along Devil’s Lake, the largest natural body of water in North Dakota. I was sure this must be a man-made lake, but it turns out that some 3800 square miles drain into it, with NO outlet! So, it has a rather high salinity and high nutrient content (I imagine made even higher by fertilizer and cattle from the surrounding farmlands), which explains the rather unpleasant odor and also the opaque, green-paint look of the water. I would NOT want to swim here, or even boat for that matter, although it seems to be a big recreational draw and is popular with fishermen. (Don’t think I would eat the fish either, thank you.)

There have been problems with the lake flooding surrounding farmlands in recent years, and right now the lake seems only an inch or two below road level. This has lead to proposals to drain it into surrounding rivers, but many environmental questions remain about draining a salt lake into fresh rivers (and I have some trouble understanding this anyway, because don’t the rivers drain into the lake????), invasive species, etc. All in all it sounds like a very poor idea to me.

Along the lake there was an actual forest, the first we’ve seen since leaving Glacier. It was nice to see trees again, mostly oak.

Accommodations last night were at another Indian casino, this time the Sioux. No blackjack for me this time.

But today dawned bright and clear, a very pleasant and easy ride. At one point we passed a sign that read “Continental Divide: Elev. 1619”. Huh??? I thought we passed that way back in western Montana? Turns out this is the Laurentian divide, north-south instead of east-west. On the north side, water drains into the Red River and eventually into Hudson Bay. To the south, into the Missouri and on to the Mississippi and the Gulf of Mexico.

Lynn waved me down at a little town along the way, saying “Have you ever had coffee at a taxidermy shop before?” Inside the Wild Things Taxidermy & Spicy Roadkill Café, sure enough there were many stuffed wild things (bear, cougar, deer, antelope, elk, lynx, otter, ducks, fish, all for sale) AND coffee and vittles. The café is a volunteer effort, open only 11am-1pm, to raise money to convert a local old schoolhouse into a hunters lodge, to bring more business to the town. 20 or so women contribute to this, calling themselves The Sisterhood of the Traveling Crockpot. They told us they cook with the finest wine, and sometimes they even add it to the food!

Day 32 - July 21st - Mayville, ND
0 miles, 0 ft cumulative elevation gain
75 and sunny - perfect biking weather!

This morning I did a “bump-up”, riding about 50 miles in the van, to our lunch stop, intending to ride after lunch. But during lunch my enthusiasm dwindled, and the women who were riding said it was long, and boring, so I just stayed in the van for the rest of the day.

Day 33 - July 22nd - Fargo, ND
59 miles, 242 ft cumulative elevation gain
75, cloudy and misty - perfect biking weather!

We rode out of Mayville through a still, misty morning on a flat, and quiet, silky-smooth road. Killdeer and red winged blackbirds, vast ripening fields of wheat and corn, groves of wind-break trees. A soft gray sky like a down comforter, a spritz of skin-softening mist. It was all just lovely.

A few miles into the ride I notice this impossibly tall, straight, skinny structure away off in the distance. What in the world it can it be?… It looks totally impossible to me, like it extends right up into the clouds. Is it some sort of mirage? It can’t be a radio tower, it can’t be a tower at all because I see no lights flashing on it. For awhile, since the morning is so still, I convince myself that it’s a column of smoke. I can hardly take my eyes off of it. Then I think, man, could it be a funnel cloud??? As it gets closer, though, it continues to be ramrod straight and 10 miles later I can see guy wires and it’s clear that it is, in fact, some sort of radio tower. I comment to one of the other riders “that thing’s gotta be a half mile tall!” and she pooh-poohs that. Googling later, I find that this is the KVLY-TV tower and is, in fact, the 2nd-tallest manmade structure in the WORLD! Topped only by the Burj Khalifa in Dubai! At 2063 feet, OK, it’s not a half mile tall, but it is nearly four-tenths of a mile. Wow. I am just delighted by this roadside discovery!
Unhappily, after that, the wind picked up, and soon we were heading straight into what must be a 20 mph headwind. The last 25 miles into Fargo were drudgery, but WE MADE IT!!!!!

I am now happily ensconced on the 8th floor of the Radisson. It’s wonderful to be in a city again! The whole population of North Dakota is around 600,000, and 1/6 of that is here. And there are trees here! Lot’s of ‘em, more than I’ve seen in one place since leaving the mountains. I’m sitting with my feet up, watching wind turbines in the distance, watching trains go by below. The room here is divine, downtown Fargo is delightful, and I will luxuriate here for 3 nights

Where's Vickie 2010, Volume 8

2010-07-18T17:42:00.000-07:00

HEre are several videos of the ferocious wind (tailwind and sometimes crosswind) that we rode in for several days. be sure and click the "expand to full screen" button for the full effect. And turn up the volume!

The center of North America

Dinner in a teepee, Minot ND

Dinner in a teepe, Minot ND

Me and the troll at the Scandinavian Heritage center, Minot

Beautiful replica of medieval Norwegian church, Minot

Typical North Dakota scene

Escape from Montana!e

Long road, North Dakota

Flax and Canola in bloom

Day 25 - July 15th - Williston, NORTH DAKOTA!
59 miles, 1800 ft cumulative elevation gain
75 and sunny with a tailwind- perfect biking weather!

And WHAT a tailwind, a howling 20-30 mph all day! A bout half of us actually did an optional extra 18 miles across the wind, to see the confluence of the Yellowstone and Missouri rivers. The scenery made it well worth it - rocky hills, curvy back roads -- and I actually thought riding in the crosswind was fun. Kinda like playing in the surf, waiting to go up against the next “wind wave”.

We have now entered an area where there’s a big oil boom going on, and the truck traffic that goes with it. We are awaiting to hear how we’ll be re-routed tomorrow because of way too much traffic (the paper reports something like 6000 vehicles per day) on the scenic, narrow, no-shoulder road that we were supposed to be on. I suspect we’ll be back on good ol’ US 2 again.

We’ve finally made it out of Montana ! The state line margarita celebration is being postponed thought, due to it being so windy that our cook can’t keep the fire lit in the chuck wagon tonight, so we’re going to the local restaurant for dinner

I am not impressed with our digs tonight. Williston is the biggest town we’ve been in since I can’t remember when, so I was looking forward to the benefits of a city (at least an espresso), but we are on the outskirts where there’s nothing in sight but the hotel, a gas station, and “Gramma Sharon’s family restaurant”. And there are big trucks keeping their engines running, just outside my window. OH well, 2 more days to our rest day in the big metropolis of Minot.

Day 26 - July 156h - New Town, ND
69 miles, 1800 ft cumulative elevation gain
75 and sunny with a tailwind- perfect biking weather!

That tailwind had us flying again today … 70 miles in 4 hours! It was a blast! We rode the whole day on US 2, now a 4 lane highway, most of the way with a good 10 foot smooth shoulder. That got us to the town (which consisted of 2 bars, a café, and a tastee freeze) of Stanley, where the van shuttled us on another 35 miles to New Town, on the shoulderless road with all the oil-construction traffic.(the local paper says 6000+ vehicles per day!) It is truly amazing how many oil wells are being drilled here…hundreds either already pumping or just being drilled; We passed lots of temporary housing, and all the motels closer to our route are booked with oil workers.

So, tonight we are at the 4 Bears lodge and casino, run by the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara tribes. It’s luxurious digs compared to where we’ve been lately. Right on huge and, to my mind, not very scenic Lake Sakakawea. The view is clouded by the tragic story of how the flooding of the fertile valley here basically ended the way of life of the tribes. We have ridden through so many huge Indian reservations out here, the tragedy of the decimation of their culture, and loss of lives, has really struck me. I want to do a lot of reading on native American history when I get home.

Well, I assuaged my white person’s guilt a tiny bit by giving back $25 at the casino tonight. I learned how to play blackjack, which turns out to be a lot more fun than just feeding quarters into the slots. It took me more than an hour to lose $20 (I was actually ahead $20 at one point!), and then about 5 minutes to feed $5 to the slot machines without a single hit. Disappointing because the slots here still use actual coins, and the only reason I would ever play slots is for the love of that clink of coins into the tray when you cash out.

Tomorrow morning we will get shuttled back the 35 miles to Stanley to resume our ride into Minot.

Day 27 - July 166h - Minot, ND
52 miles, 820 ft cumulative elevation gain
90 and sunny - perfect biking weather!

I would swear that today was hillier than yesterday, but I guess it was just the lack of tailwind.

There can surely be no better way to comprehend the immensity, and the emptiness, of the great plains than by bicycle. Minot, with a population of about 36000, is the largest city we’ve been in since, well, it’s the largest city on the trip so far. (Holy cow, I see that Fargo is almost 100,000... I can hardly imagine….)

We passed many large fields of flax (blue) and canola (yellow) in full bloom. It was a beautiful ride.

Sadly, the horrific accident at the end of today overshadows everything else. One of our riders was hit by a truck and died at the scene. She was riding by herself at the time, so we will never know exactly what happened. Needless to say, we are all pretty shaken up.

Day 28 - July 176h - Minot, ND
rest day
80 and sunny - perfect biking weather!

We are all still shaken up from yesterday’s accident, and I imagine we will be for a long time. Four of our group have elected to end their ride here. The rest of us will ride on tomorrow, dedicating our last five days to our fallen friend. I can only think that she would have wanted us to go on enjoying our trip, so that’s what I aim to do.

Several of us took a taxi into downtown Minot today. There’s a very nice Scandinavian Heritage museum, but not much else to recommend the place. Although we did find an espresso place.

Day 29 - July 186h - Rugby, ND
71 miles, 770 ft cumulative elevation gain
75 and sunny - perfect biking weather!

An easy, flat ride with a tailwind. Once again I averaged 15 mph for the day, and even had energy left to ride an extra mile or two into downtown Rugby (where there was really nothing to see anyway) at the end of the day.

We are starting to get into cornfields now. And in between, acres an acres of wetlands. Here’s a piece of trivia for you: North Dakota has more surface water than any other state. Not hard to believe: as you ride through here, there’s nearly always a pond in sight. And it seems like there are more cattails than wheat.

We all wore our WomanTours jerseys and left Minot in one big group today (which is very unusual for us), and then rode mostly in sight of each other all day. We’re all still feeling a bit insecure about traffic, and glad that tomorrow we will leave US 2 behind and be on back roads most of the day.

Rugby bills itself as the “geographic center of North America”. So I guess as of tomorrow we will officially be in the east?

Where's Vickie 2010, Volume 7

2010-07-13T16:34:00.001-07:00

This is a video of the montana wind... which was unfortunately NOT a tailwind on this day.

curvy hayfield

The bike shop in Glasgow MT. Only sign is the bike and the piece of paper visible in the window. Unfortunately not open

It's a wonder no one wiped out on this maze of cracks in the road, about an inch deep and just wide enough to fit a bike tire. This went on for several miles

This pretty little house-sized building is apparently really a working Coca Cola bottling company in the tiny town of Glasgow, MT

Bikes lined up before breakfast in Wolf Point, MT

This is my attempt to capture the beauty of the alfalfa lining the highway.

Day 21 - July 10th - Malta, MT 88 miles, 660 ft cumulative elevation gain 80, sunny and windy - perfect biking weather! Last night I worried about whether I would want to complete today, thinking I might just hop in the sag wagon at about mile 60. But this was surely the easiest 88 miles I’ve ever ridden.. The weather cooperated by not getting too hot, and we had a marvelous tail wind for the first 50 miles: I averaged 15mph, unheard of for me. The terrain was very different today. No more vast fields of wheat. We rode all day within sight of the Milk river and, what’s more, within sight of actual trees! Instead of wheat we had lots of hay fields. Where are the cows that one would expect with them? At about mile 50 the terrain changed again, to a wide river bottomland, dotted with small ponds and BUGS. You literally could not stop - or even slow down - without being immediately surrounded by a cloud of what I think are black flies, which I remember (and not fondly) from northern Michigan summers. Luckily that only lasted for about 20 miles, and then the wind picked up, and changed to a cross wind, blowing all the bugs away and keeping us cool. (Note that positive spin!) I felt like I was leaning about 20 degrees to the left to ride with it, and sincerely hope that does not turn into an actual headwind tomorrow. C’mon, prevailing westerlies! Day 22 - July 11th - Glasgow, MT 0 miles, 0 ft cumulative elevation gain 75 and drizzly- perfect biking weather! I woke up this morning still very tired and achy from yesterday, so decided to skip riding today. Got into the little town of Glasgow a couple of hours before the motel room was even ready. When we first got to the hotel, it seemed like everyone in town was at the hotel restaurant for the Sunday afternoon buffet. Not much else to do here on a Sunday. Although it is still apparent that the town was once fully alive, with quite a few nice old brick 3-story buildings, it is all but dead now -- especially on a Sunday. Still, it’s the county seat and there are TWO espresso places in town, and one nice looking restaurant -- all closed today. About half the stores are empty, and the only one open for business today other than gas station mini-marts was Ace Hardware. Wikipedia says Glasgow was 4 times this size in the 60’s, due to a nearby air force base that was used in the Viet Nam war. I also must note that today we drove through Saco, which held the record for making the world’s largest hamburger in 1999 --- 6040 pounds, which is about 30 pounds for every man, woman, and child in town. Hey, cut me some slack! It’s been a boring afternoon! I tried to watch the world cup final game for awhile, but my god, how long can you watch a game with no score???? (my limit was about 60 minutes….) Tonight is one of those perfect, crystal-clear, soft, warm evenings you get after a summer rain. I really wanted to just sit outside until sunset, but I lasted for all of about 10 minutes before the mosquitoes found me and I had to retreat to the safety of my room. Day 23 - July 12th - Wolf Point, MT 53 miles, 750 ft cumulative elevation gain 90 and sunny- perfect biking weather! We started out racing a big thunderstorm off to the south this morning, but it passed us by with no problems. I’d like to know where the heck these “prevailing westerlies” are, because we rode into a stiff headwind / crosswind all day. Probably a blessing, as that kept the temperature down and the bugs away. I added a layer of Cutter’s over the sunscreen this morning, which probably helped some, too. We actually got off of US 2 for about 30 miles today, on nice back roads through beautiful, sweet smelling fields of alfafa, some freshly cut, some just about ready. We had our first, and hopefully only, accident of the trip. Lynn and Barbara crashed, Lynn coming away with skinned elbows and Barbara with a split lip.They both seem OK and in reasonably good spirits and I think both will be riding tomorrow. Day 24 - July 14th - Culbertson, MT 57 miles, 910 ft cumulative elevation gain 75 and sunny with a tailwind- perfect biking weather! What a great ride! We finally found the prevailing westerlies, so it was more of a flight than a ride: 57 miles in 4 hours. For several days, we’ve been riding with occasional glimpses of the Missouri river to the south, and today we were right at it’s banks briefly. Lots more hay fields today, and toward the end of the day, a couple of big hills to climb. Once again we were on pleasant back roads for a good part of the day. Today we played group “poker”. Everyone contributed $3 to the kitty this morning and got 5 cards. At each of our two sag stops, we got to draw. Tonight at dinner we’ll see who’s the winner. I’m pretty sure it’s not me, with just a pair of 8’s, aces high.

Where's Vickie 2010, Volume 6

2010-07-09T14:10:00.001-07:00

prickly pears in full bloom

grain silos and a nice old truck

one of the last old steam engines, in Havre

someones driveway, with the Sweetgrass hills in the distance

nice rollers between Chester and Havre

Several of the little towns had these beautiful signs, each one different

I liked this weathered old grain elevator

lots of nothing, as far as the eye can see..

We've seen lots of murals similar to this throughout Idaho and Montana

Day 18 - July 7th - Chester, MT
64 miles, 910 ft cumulative elevation gain
75 and gorgeously sunny - perfect biking weather!

Today was just lovely! Sunshine all the way, and our first day with less than 1000 feet of climbing! We are really in the prairie now, with long, gradual, rolling hills. I rode in my big chain ring nearly all day.

About 20 miles into the ride, we found a very nice little espresso place in the tiny town of Shelby, where I spent close to an hour and ended up buying a painting to have shipped home. This place also had walls full of various homeopathic remedies, big jars of evil looking dark liquids. There were 10 empty bottles of Everclear in the restroom, and I assume that’s the liquid in the homeopathic stuff…which may go a long way towards explaining why so many people claim that homeopathy works…?

In 60 miles the only other signs of civilization were the “towns” of Dunkirk, Devon, Galata, Lothair, and Tiber, each of which consisted of a grain elevator and maybe a dozen houses on dirt roads. The Chester museum guide (see below) told me the story behind this: the original steam engine trains had to stop for water every 6 miles, and that’s how the towns originated. Now, there are no regular train stops between Cut Bank and Havre. It looked to me like most of the grain elevators are still in use, though.

The vast wheat and barley fields are beautiful and green, and the sky is huge. We passed a sizeable area of prickly pear cactus, all in full bloom. The mosquitoes are fierce out here, even in the heat of the day, and (I think) black flies in the evening.

We rode on US 2 all day, with reasonably light traffic and a reasonably good shoulder. A half dozen full logging trucks passed heading west, and it makes me wonder where the heck they’re finding the trees, as I saw maybe 5 the whole day. Way off to the north you can see a small mountain range, which the map says is the Sweetgrass Hills. Perhaps there are trees there.

Chester, Montana: I am quite enchanted with this place. I can’t think when I’ve been in a more peaceful or friendlier little town. Walking through town after dinner, folks were actually sitting out on their front porches, and said hi to me when I passed. The retired town doctor rode by on his one-speed and tooted his rubber-bulb horn at me. I spent the better part of an hour at the town museum, where a very nice woman showed me around. Coming back to the hotel, the proprietors were sitting outside an asked me if I wanted a glass of “Hutterite wine”. There are apparently several Hutterite settlements around here (somewhat similar to Mennonites), and they “horse-trade” with them, wine for Coke and such. The wine was sweet and strong, and quite good.

The MX hotel where we are staying tonight is the only hotel in town, and it is one of those fabulously funky places. Every room is different. Some have kitchenettes and separate bedrooms. The “executive suite” has a gold pressed-tin ceiling, and a huge 4-poster bed with a gold-lame bedspread. Our group is taking up the entire hotel; in fact, there is a guy who normally lives here full time who vacated his room so there would be room for us tonight.

All in all, just an excellent day!

Day 19 - July 8th - Havre, MT
60 miles, 1040 ft cumulative elevation gain
80 and gorgeously sunny - perfect biking weather!

Today seemed much harder than yesterday. I think we had a bit of a tailwind yesterday, and a bit of headwind today, though nothing like the strong winds that Montana is infamous for. Kinda hoping for some of those (from the west, please!) over the next week or so.

We had exactly two turns all day: Right, out of the hotel onto US 2, and left, into the hotel in Havre. And sure enough, those railway water-stop towns / grain elevators about every 6 miles: Joplin, Inverness, Rudyard, Hingham, Giltford, Kremlin. The only trees were in the towns or the very few farmhouses, which all seem to be set back about a mile from the highway.

This whole area is referred to as the “Hi-Line”, after the Great Northern railroad which we are riding along. Completed in 1893, it’s still in heavy use, with long trains going by probably twice an hour.

Still, it’s mighty lonely looking out here. Liberty County (Chester, where we were yesterday, is the county seat) has a population of only 2158 people , fewer than it had in1920. That‘s only 1.5 people per square mile, so when our group sweeps through, it‘s a 1700% increase in population! Hill County, where we are now, tops out at under 17000, with more than half of those in the town of Havre. And Philips County, where we’re heading next, stands at about 4600, less than half of its 1920 population. The main reason given for the decrease in population is the increasing mechanization of farming. You see miles and miles and miles of grain fields between anything that looks like a house. I would like to see this area at harvest time.

Havre, by the way, is pronounced “haver”, like “I don’t want ‘er, you can have ‘er”.

The whole 60 miles of highway right-of-way seems to be planted in hay just one or two swaths wide, which has just been cut, lending a very nice perfume to the air.

Day 20 - July 9th - Havre, MT
Rest Day
Hot, dry, and sunny - perfect biking weather!
I walked the mile or so into town this morning before it got too hot. Bought a couple of books and found a latte at the deli in the back of the IGA, where I also finally bought some real coffee (Seattle’s Best) so that I can make non-motel coffee in the mornings. A trip to the local thrift store scored me a sun hat for 50 cents, and I was back here in air-conditioned comfort by early afternoon. Better soak it up today, as we will be riding 92 miles in the heat tomorrow.

Where's Vickie 2010, Volume 5

2010-07-06T20:08:00.000-07:00

Any idea what these flowers are>

Big field of those flowers, just east of the rockies

Foggy, Rainy Logan Pass

Lake McDonald, Glacier National Park

Looking down at where we came from, from Going TO The Sun Rd.

Going To The Sun Rd, Glacier National Park

I can't resist wildflowers. No idea what they are. Not lupine

Day 14 - July 3rd - Lake McDonald Lodge, Glacier National Park, MT
40 miles, 1000 ft cumulative elevation gain
55 and cloudy with a little rain - perfect biking weather!

Today’s ride was nearly flat and very easy. Our late start made it even easier. Bikes aren’t allowed on the road in Glacier between 11am and 4pm, so we didn’t leave Whitefish until just after noon. I availed myself of the latte stand next to the hotel this morning, and then walked back into town for a late breakfast. And still we were at the gates of Glacier just after 3, with an hour to dawdle in the gift shops and visitor center. Then just a 9 mile ride to the lodge, so there was plenty of time for a nap before dinner.

WomanTours is, for some reason, not allowed to cook out of the van here, so we all got dinner vouchers for the nice restaurant in the lodge. There was about an hour wait to get into it, but we spent it pleasantly in the adjoining bar.

After dinner I sat about by the lake for close to an hour, listening to the Swainson’s Thrush echoing through the trees, and enjoying the mirror-like lake and surrounding mountains. Unfortunately it’s still pretty cloudy so we’re not getting the full impact of the mountains, but they’re sill impressive.

Day 15 - July 4th - Lake McDonald Lodge, Glacier National Park, MT
Rest Day
60 and mostly cloudy - perfect biking weather!

Christine and I took the free park shuttle some miles up the road intending to hike to Avalanche Lake, but by the time we got there it was threatening to rain, so we just got back on the bus and came back. There’s not a lot do to here other than sit by the lake, and the weather is just not cooperating for that.

After dinner tonight I sat down at the piano in the lobby and played for an hour or more, most of the way through a “songs from the movies” songbook. I am certainly not the greatest piano player in the world, but I got a little applause and no boo’s, and a nice man bought me a glass of wine. It was great fun!

We’re all a bit worried about the weather tomorrow, which is predicted to be worse. Climbing over a 6500 foot mountain pass, where there is still 4 feet of snow on the ground, does not sound all that appealing in the rain. I’m about to dig out all my cold weather gear.

Day 16 - July 5th - St. Mary’s Lodge, just outside the east gate of Glacier National Park, MT
40 miles, 3000 ft cumulative elevation gain
37 to 65, rain, clouds, sun, wind - perfect biking weather!

Well, Logan Pass was a piece of cake; most of us thought it was the easiest of the 7 passes we’ve been over. Maybe it’s just because we’re in better shape…?
Because park rules require us to be done with the climb before 11am, we were on the road just after 6 this morning It was a lovely ride through quiet woods and a bit of that liquid “Seattle sunshine”, surrounded by early morning birdsong, After about 10 miles, the climb started. But it’s “only” a 6% grade, and “only” for about 10 miles. Even with the clouds, the views were superb… I imagine on a sunny day it would take a lot longer because I’d be stopping a lot more to gawk.

Near the top we got into thick fog, and then more rain and cold. Stopped at the top just long enough to take a picture of the sign, and then a very chilly descent until we hit the blessed warm sunshine below.

I am quite happy to be done with our major mountain ranges! We have climbed close to 7 miles so far!

We were at our hotel just after noon, but they wouldn’t let anyone check in until 4pm Luckily, they have a very comfortable lounge with a big fireplace, nice bartender … and lattes!

The rooms here are just beautiful, and my room has a deck overlooking the St. Mary’s river. Wish we were here for more than one night.

Day 17 - July 6th - Cut Bank, MT
63 miles, 2400 ft cumulative elevation gain
45 to 70, mostly sunny - perfect biking weather!

We had a hard 8 miles of climbing out of St. Mary this morning, gaining 1000 feet in the first 3 miles. By the top of the climb my altimeter claimed we were back above 6000 feet. It was damp and chilly, really chilly on a long, fast descent from there. Then, at long last, we were truly OUT of the mountains and into rolling prairie. As the Rockies receded into the distance, we coasted down long hills with a (mostly) tailwind into Cut Bank. The mountains are now where I prefer them, just a pleasant backdrop in the distance.

Last night after dinner I performed a little song I worked up, in honor of our rest days. It went over very well, and everyone was singing along at the end. Here are the lyrics, to the tune of “What a Difference a Day Makes“:

What a difference a day makes
24 little hours
Brought my legs back to power
Where there used to be pain

I’ve been pumpin’ up those steep hills
I’ve been poppin’ lots of pain pills
I’ve been riding on sheer will
But I’ve survived to say

What a difference a day makes
When you ride in the van
Once again I’m a fan
Of the Northern Tier

It’s heaven when you
Find lattes on your menu
What a difference a day makes
And the difference is you and you and you and you and you and you and…

What a difference a day makes
You can sleep in for hours
You can take a long shower
And rest your butt all day

Or you can get your muddy bike clean
You can blog about all you’ve seen
You can wash your clothes in a machine
If you’ve got quarters to pay

What a difference a day makes
Now I’m ready to jump on
My bicycle and pump on
Towards our Fargo goal

I feel a great bliss
With such great women to ride with
What a difference a day makes
And the difference is you and you and you and you and you and you and YOU!

Where's Vickie 2010, Volume 4

2010-07-02T14:38:00.000-07:00

Along Lake Koocanusa

Lots of these rock walls along Lake Koocanusa

Loading bikes for all of us bailing on the ride to Whitefish

The only moose I've seen so far...

Another excuse for margaritas!

I wish it was me in the picture, but it's Lynn. What a perfect biking picture!

Me with Lake Koocanusa

Kootenai Falls

Lake Koocanusa

Site of the great glacial ice dam... see below for more info

Christine, Vickie, Rebecca and Kit in Sand Point

I couldn't resist this perfect daisy lying on the pavement after rain in Whitefish

Day 10 - June 29th - Sand Point, Idaho
Rest Day!
77 and sunshine - perfect biking weather!

No biking today. Spent the day wandering around this pleasant little tourist town, and napping. I bought a new camera -- 12 mega pixels with a 5x zoom, for less than half the price of my defunct 6-year-old with 8 mp and 3x zoom. It doesn’t have a view finder, but the guy at the camera store says even Canon, the last hold out, doesn’t make view finder cameras any more, and the LCD screen seems reasonably visible even in bright sunlight.

At one store today, I asked the saleswoman if Lake Pend Oreille was a natural lake or dammed. She looked at me strangely and said “ you mean lake Pend-O-Relly?”. I’ve asked another couple of locals and they are unfamiliar with this pronunciation. As to whether it’s a natural lake or not…. Yes, it’s a natural, glacier-formed lake, but made somewhat larger by a damn downstream. This is the largest lake in the northwest, and at 1150 feet, #13 on the list of the world deepest.(holy cow, did you know that Lake Baikal is 5369 feet deep???)

A 98 mile day coming up tomorrow, so I’m off to bed.

Day 11 - June 30th - Libbey, MT
98 miles, 3160 feet cumulative elevation gain
80 and sunshine - perfect biking weather!

Another day where I was barely functional at the end, so I am writing this a day later. And since I am once again barely functional, not sure how descriptive I can be about yesterday.

We went through the Cabinet mountains today. Through, thank god, rather than over. Big, steep, tree-covered mountains all around, but after leaving Lake Pend Oreille, we followed along the beautiful Kootenai river valley all day. The Kootenai is a surprisingly big river.

Not far out of Libbey today we passed the site of the huge ice dam that blocked ancient Lake Missoula. This dam was over 200 stories tall and covered, the sign said, as far as the eye could see. Then occasionally, every few thousand years, it gave way, letting all that water pour out, which is what formed large parts of the landscape in eastern Washington. The area there is sometimes called the “channeled scablands” which makes it sound awful, but it’s really quite beautiful. See from the air, it looks like someone dumped a washtub of water into a Childs sandbox. It’s really quite remarkable, and so hard to even imagine such a cataclysm of water. For more on this quite fascinating story, see
www.glaciallakemissoula.org/story.html

I saw a bear! Just a little black bear, munching on something alongside the road.

Near the end of the day I stopped to see Kootenai falls, well worth a visit. Not a big falls, but a beautiful series of smaller ones, surrounded by rocky shores begging to be sat on in the sunshine. I wish I’d been able to spend a half day there.

Day 12 - July 1st - Eureka, MT
67 miles, 3400 ft cumulative elevation gain
70 and sunshine - perfect biking weather!

We started out in a 48 degree cloudy chill this morning, but by lunchtime were back in the sunshine. This was a very difficult day, perhaps more so than yesterday, through the Purcell mountains. Who knew there were so many mountains???? And now the Rockies are in sight.

Most of the day we were again along the Kootenai River and it’s dammed counterpart, Lake Koocanusa…. A tortured combination of Kootenai, Canada, and USA. Personally I wish they’d just called it Lake Kootenai.

This was some of the most fabulous scenery so far on the trip. We rode on high bluffs above the lake, with sheer rock walls to the right and lake to the left. Visited briefly with a bevy of rock climbers, some of whom were hanging from said walls.

I swear gravity works differently here. Yesterday, and especially today, I found myself having to granny down into my lowest gears on roads that looked flat, or even downhill. Yesterday at the end of the day even though we were riding UP the Kootenai river, we coasted DOWN hill. But the worst was just before getting into Eureka today: it looks like downhill; the town, I swear, is down in a pretty green valley. But you have to pump like hell to get to it.

This is a HARD trip. Strenuous. Tiring. Arduous. Demanding. Exhausting.. I think I’m still having a good time, but I’m too tired to know for sure…..

Day 13 - July 2nd - Whitefish, MT
0 miles, 0 ft cumulative elevation gain
45-70 rain, sun, rain, sun - perfect biking weather!

I rode in the van today, along with nearly half of the group. After riding more than 160 seriously hilly miles in two days, I had trouble getting to sleep last night due to aching thighs, aching feet, aching hands, aching shoulders. I would’ve been another 60 hilly miles today, and the rain this morning was the last straw.

It was SOOOOO nice not to have to rush around getting ready this morning. I got to have 2 leisurely cups of good (aka, NOT Farmer Brothers at the motel ) coffee.

We were in the Whitefish in time for lunch. Many of us bought “Going to the Sun” (which we will be riding up on July 5th ) jerseys at the local bike shop. There’s an art fair going on downtown, which I spent an hour or two at and bought a lovely fused glass plate (being shipped home). Whitefish has a very nice downtown with lots of interesting little tourist-trade places, art galleries, outdoor clothing stores, and the like. And many espresso places… in fact, there’s one in the parking lot of our motel! Good coffee again tomorrow morning!

Where's Vickie 2010, Volume 3

2010-06-28T20:18:00.000-07:00

See the 3 wolves? At sherman pass

another hill, conquered

remnants of the White Mountain fire, 1988

I WISH!!!

Day 7 - June 26th - Colville, WA
56 miles, 4000 feet cumulative elevation gain
75 and sunshine - perfect biking weather!

We started out downhill in the 7am morning chill, but not to worry, within 3 miles we started up, up, up again, a good 15 mile climb to Sherman Pass. 4 hours up, and about 30 minutes to get down the other side. This is Washington’s highest pass that’s open year round.

Forests of lodge pole pine and larch, a good bit of which burnt in the big White Mountain fire of 1988; the burn area still has black sticks of the old pines towering over everything else, but a good growth of new ones coming. Lodgepoles are one of those pines which need fire to crack the seeds out of the cones.

Just after we started up the hill, we passed this incredible deep, steep, rocky gorge, with a stream rushing through it, the kind of thing that in a less lavishly appointed area would at least have it’s own state park attached. But here, they don’t even bother to name it.

The guy carrying the 80 pound load passed me again today.

The ride to the top wasn’t bad, and the ride down was magnificent. A sign at the top says “it’s all downhill from here”, and it is, all the way down to the Columbia, close to 20 miles of coasting as fast as any sane person would want to coast. (And maybe a bit faster).

Well, it’s not really the Columbia any more, but Lake Roosevelt instead. We crossed at the town of Kettle Falls; the falls itself was drowned when they filled the lake. This is a sad story. Here’s what Wikipedia says:

“Kettle Falls was flooded in 1940, when the Grand Coulee Dam impounded the Columbia River to create Lake Roosevelt. The waters behind the dam rose 380 feet, flooding more than 21,000 acres (85 km2) of prime bottomland along the river where native peoples lived, as well as the original town of Kettle Falls.[3][5] In June 1940, an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 people mourned the falls at a "Ceremony of Tears" organized by the Colvilles and attended by representatives of the Yakama, Spokane, Nez Perce, Flathead, Blackfeet, Coeur d'Alene, Tulalip, and Pend d'Oreille tribes.[1]
Native burial grounds on Indian Island were moved, and the town of Kettle Falls was relocated to the present site of Kettle Falls, Washington. In addition to submerging the falls, Grand Coulee permanently blocked anadromous fish from traveling upriver, ending salmon and steelhead migration in the upper Columbia River Basin.[6] As with the flooding of Priest Rapids, Celilo Falls, and Cascades Rapids downriver, the loss of Kettle Falls ended the traditional way of life for the native cultures that revolved around salmon fishing. Many native people moved out of the area, but others live today on the nearby Spokane and Colville Indian Reservations. The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation filed a lawsuit against the United States government, which was settled in the 1990s for approximately $52 million.”

I had counted on stopping for lunch in Kettle Falls, but our route skirted the actual town, and I was too lazy to ask for directions. So I was running on empty by the time I got to Colville 10 miles later, and very, very glad to join several other bikers in a nice little sandwich and latte shop.

Our hotel tonight, Benny’s Colville Inn, has lobby walls covered with taxidermied fish. Benny Buchanan, the grandfather of the current owner, caught them all. They are each labelled with date and place, and are from all over the world, every type of fish you can imagine and many I’d never heard of. It’s worth a stop here just to see that.

Linda, our wonderful chef, outdid herself tonight with a choice of chicken or tofu in peanut sauce, asian slaw, rice, and fresh fruit. We are well fed.

We were all pretty beat-up feeling at the end of today… possibly related to climbing 3 mountain passes in three days….? One would think that tomorrow would be a rest day, but no, we have another 80 hilly miles tomorrow. Hopefully I will feel better about this in the morning….

Day 8 - June 27th - Bear Paw Camp, middle-of-nowhere, WA
79 miles, 3244 feet cumulative elevation gain
80 and sunshine - perfect biking weather!

I am actually writing this a day later, as I was so tired as to be barely functional when I got I last night.

The first half of the day was a long climb up over the (I think) Selkirk range. No pass was identified as such, but it was definitely yet another mountain range, so make that FOUR days in a row of passes. We were warned by the guide that the start of the day would be “shockingly hilly”, and I’d have to agree that’s an apt description. But how beautiful! Lush, evergreen-covered hills; clear, quiet, golden-brown streams; piney air; the occasional incredibly fragrant field of alfalfa. Wildlife sightings included a baby and momma moose, and a black bear…unfortunately not by me, but I did see several deer. This is an area I would like to return to.

After another thrilling descent from the mountains, we were at the Pend Oreille river. Pronounced “ponderay”, and there’s actually a town near here that spells it tht way. Those silly French with all their extra decorative letters! So, I was thinking, if you were Canadian, you could say “The pronunciation of this place is really something to ponder, eh?”

The second half of the day was on a nice, relatively flat road following the east bank of the Pend Oreille. They’ve had a lot of rain here recently (so, so happy that’s in the past!!!!!!) and the river is very high. Intellectually I know this was a beautiful ride, but I was worn out and really should have sagged about the last 30.

Our last half mile was down a rough gravel road to Bear Paw Camp. Complete with bunkhouse cabins, make-your-own-bed, shared showers and toilets. I stumbled to the first little cabin I came to and collapsed for an hour before dinner, seriously considered just skipping dinner and sleeping till morning But did manage to stay awake long enough for a traditional camp dinner of hamburgers, hot dogs, beans, and mac and cheese.

Day 9 - June 28th - Sand Point, Idaho
46 miles, 1500 feet cumulative elevation gain
85 and sunshine - perfect biking weather!

SUCH a relief to ride “only” 46 miles today! And in only Whidbey-esque hills, no actual mountains. It really was a lovely ride, still right along the Pend Oreille. It’s a big river! Day-glo green floodplains, pretty marshes, rocky hills, and lots of vacation homes. We were in Sand Point by lunch time, and had our laundry done before dinner.

I’ve been looking for an excuse to buy a new camera and now I have it: I dropped my camera 2 days ago and it hasn’t spoken to me since. Will go shopping for a new one tomorrow, a REST DAY!!!!

Where's Vickie 2010, Volume 2

2010-06-25T20:29:00.000-07:00

Wauconda Pass

Just another nice scene near wauconda pass

I tried so hard to get a picture that captured the beauty of the purple flowers in this golden field... I just stood there and soaked it in for about 10 minutes. The picture does not come near doing it justice.

This is a closeup of the purple flowers. What are they????

Big fields of this gold stuff...what is it?

Possibly a rattler? {dead}

Conquerer of Loup Loup Pass!

Just a lovely scene near Tonasket, WA

This guy is NOT going to have his mailbox smashed. Rebar, crowned with chainsaw

Day 4 - June 23rd - Winthrop, WA

Today was a much needed rest day, most of which I spent doing just that. Took a brief tour of this touristy little town and bought some better sunglasses at the bike shop. My friend Gay, who lives in nearby Mazama, took me to dinner at the Sun Mountain Lodge. I’ve known about this place for many years but never been there before. It’s about 10 miles straight up the mountainside from Winthrop, with a fabulous view. It’s open year round and I’d really like to stay there sometime in the winter.

The speed of the current in the Methow River here is unbelievable right now. A little scarey.

Tomorrow we go over Loup Loup pass. Its sure to be easy compared to yesterday!

Day 5 - June 24th - Omak, WA
48 miles, 3200 feet cumulative elevation gain
80 degrees and sunshine - perfect biking weater

And easy it was!

To fuel the climb most of us first stopped in Twisp,at the Cinnamon Twisp, for , you guessed it, a cinnamon twisp. And a latte.

Just past Twisp we began climbing up out of the Methow valley. The air is just perfumed here, with wild roses, fresh cut hay, and lots of unidentified wildflowers. An 11 mile fairy reasonable climb got us to Loup Loup pass, followed by an exhilarating long, fast, curvy downhill. That was so much fun I really wanted to get a lift back to the top and do it again!

Winding back roads through orchards brought us into Okanogan, for a lunch stop. Just a short, downhill ride from there to Omak, and happy hour on the lawn in the sunshine.

I am always amazed by the change in climate and vegetation once you’re east of the Cascades. We’re out of the rain now and into sage desert and big dry, treeless hills, anywhere that isn’t irrigated. And the rest of it, now that we’re in the Okanogan valley, is orchards.

The rubber band connecting me to home has broken.

Day 6 - June 25rh - Republic, WA
69 miles, 4200 feet cumulative elevation gain
75 and sunshine - perfect biking weather!

What a perfect day! We started with 30 miles through rolling hay fields and orchards, with big rocky, sparsely-treed hills all around. Then a stop in Tonasket, hoping for a latte but had to make do with one of those canned iced mocha things instead, enough fuel to get a good start up towards Wauconda pass. This was another day that I was very thankful for my low gears; we had about 20 miles or so of climbing, but none as steep as going up to Washington Pass a few days ago, and the scenery was so spectacular I hardly noticed the effort. Well, OK, I noticed it a little bit.

This is the 2nd pass in two days, and tomorrow we have a 3rd, Sherman Pass, which I've never even heard of before. After that I think we flatten out for awhile.

I know I am one of the slowest uphill riders on this trip; I accept that and really have no desire to go faster. Still, it was a bit depressing to have this guy on a fully loaded touring bike, carrying, he said, 80 pounds, pass me. He and a couple of friends are doing a loop from Vancouver through Sand Point, Idaho.

It’s fun to see so many fully-loaded touring cyclists on this route, which is Adventure Cycling’s Northern Tier. Yesterday I talked to a couple of young guys bound for Ohio.

I could try for more description of this beautiful area but I think the pictures will do it better.

There are a bunch of Harleys here in town and some of the guys are staying at our hotel. Tonight after dinner, as I was walking back to my room, I nodded at this guy, he asked how I was doing, I said fine, how are you. He said "My butt hurts. Will you rub it for me?" I said no. Do you suppose that line has worked for him in the past?

Wheres Vickie 2010, Volume 1

2010-06-23T09:43:00.001-07:00

Washington Pass

Yours Truly at Diablo Lake

Spring in the Cascades

Misty morning in the cascade foothills

Dipping our tires in the Pacific

Wildflowers

Bigfoot crossing

This is what we did on Day 3

Volume 1

Day 1 - Sedro Wooley, WA
40 miles, 1000 feet cumulative elevation gain
Cool and cloudy - perfect biking weather!

We started the day by riding 5 miles WEST, to dip our tires in the ocean at Washington Park. Then backtracked through Anacortes and on through the Skagit Valley. This was a very easy, flat, short day.

Out of Anacortes we took a beautiful trail on a trestle across Fidalgo Bay. (I’m happy that they’ve re-opened this as an arsonist burnt part of it down last year.) Then headed north a bit, along Padillla Bay, before turning east again through Skagit Valley farmland.

Two of my biking buddies, Cheryl and Liz, came up last night to attend our send-off dinner. Cheryl spent the night and rode with us today all the way to Sedro Wooley, then turned around to ride back. She is training for the STP (Seattle to Portland ride) and wanted to do at least 70 miles today.

Day 2 - Marblemount, WA
52 miles, 1500 feet cumulative elevation gain
Cool and cloudy - perfect biking weather!

A pleasant day, mostly through green tunnel-like back roads along the Skagit river. Fern-covered rock walls, little waterfalls, the music of Swainson’s Thrush and the buzz of hummingbirds, wildflowers lining the road..

I biked for most of the day with three friends from the Underground Railroad tour, Rebecca, Christine, and Debbie. On this tour I also know Joanna, from the Southern Tier, and our guide Michelle from several previous tours. We only have a couple of WomanTours virgins on this trip. Youngest is 42, oldest is 70.

I feel like I still have a rubber band connecting me to home. Hopefully it will break once we’re over the mountains.

Day 3 - Winthrop, WA
90 miles, 6630 feet cumulative elevation gain
Sunny and warm - perfect biking weather!

Oh. My. God.

Today was HARD. Definitely the hardest ride I’ve ever done. Yes, well over a MILE of elevation gain. Miles and miles of 6 - 9% grade. I am SOOO glad I had mountain bike gearing put on my bike before this tour!

Still, I pedaled every mile!

We started the day in clouds again, but by lunchtime we had sunshine and clear blue sky. I was worried about cold and sleet at the top of the pass, which has been common in recent weeks, but this was shorts and short-sleeve weather the whole way.

Our chef and nutritionist advised us to stop every hour for a snack, which really helped. Towards the top (Washington Pass, 5500 ft) I was stopping every 200-300 feet of elevation gain. The only thing that really got sore was my feet, which I was sorely tempted to plunge into one of the remaining snow banks.

The mountains are, of course, so beautiful as to be nearly indescribable, especially this time of year. Many, many roaring creeks of snow run-off. Wildflowers everywhere. Blue-green lakes surrounded by tall evergreens. Thrushes singing: Swainson’s, Veery, Hermit, Wood, Varied.

Then the long, thrilling coast down from the top… 20 miles at 20-30 mph, Yee-Hah! And at the bottom, what do I find but a latte place in Mazama! Just fuel enough for the last 15 flat miles through a lovely valley into Winthrop

Did not get in until just after 7pm -- 12 hours on the road. As I rode past one of the restaurants in town I heard “yay Vickie, way to go!”. Tour group #1 ( we are #2, traveling one day behind them, and we overlap on rest days) was there eating dinner. Then on to our hotel for a cold beer and spaghetti dinner. I think we were all in bed by 8::30.

Almost ready....

2010-06-16T14:27:00.001-07:00

I've shipped my camping gear off towards Fargo, signed out at work for the summer, returned my library books, cleaned out my refrigerator.... just a bit of packing left and I'll be all set!

My overall schedule for the summer will be:
June 20th - July 23rd: Ride with a group of 20-30 other women, in luxury provided by WomanTours, from Anacortes WA to Fargo ND. We stay in nice hotels, bags (and bikes and persons, when needed) carried for us and meals provided. To get an idea of our route, see Northern Tier Bicycle Route - Adventure Cycling Association

July 24th-30th: Rest and explore the Fargo area.

July 31st - August 7th : A large group tour around North Dakota, called CANDISC. See CANDISC-Cycling Around North Dakota in Sakakawea Country for more info.

August 8th - 12th: Reunion with the group that I rode cross-country with in 2005. This year we are meeting at the headwaters of the Mississippi.

August 13th - 26th: Ride, self-supported, to Minneapolis, take plane back to Seattle. My friend Kathy will most likely be joining me for this last leg of the ride .

OK, I'm off to finish packing....

Pre-trip musings

2010-06-13T06:16:00.000-07:00

I awoke at 3 this morning to the sounds of coyotes yipping, or humans partying, I'm not certain which. Anyway, I couldn't get back to sleep, and then at 3:45 the violet-green swallows started their morning hunting rounds, chattering to each other all the while. Soon followed by the rest of the dawn chorus, at which point I decided to get up and sit in the midst of it, and watch the sun come up.

One week from today I will be on my bike, heading east from Anacortes, with Minneapolis as my ultimate goal. I'm alternately excited and sad about leaving here. Its hard to leave at this time of year! My previous two long bike tours have left in March --which was ideal, and I was back home by May -- and in May, which was harder but still before the Swainsons Thrushes are singing. Now, the Swainsons' are in nearly full throat, I'm harvesting fresh greens daily, my deck railing is full of blooming flowers. And we've just had two precious, glorious, clear-blue-sky, sit-on-the-deck days. I find myselft trying to soak up every detail of this place. I keep reminding myself that I'll be back, I'll be back. But still, leaving is hard.

How I love this place!

I finally got around to looking at some of the pictures I've taken this spring. Without a lot of explanation to go with them, here are some of the best:

Lupine near Plain, WA

Along the I-90 bike trail

Switchbacks on I-90 bike trail

Ebey's Prairie

Ebey's Bluff

Rainbow Riders at Longhorn Cafe

Skagit Valley Tulips

$1000 worth of sand dollars!

Rhody at Greenbank

Rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain

2010-05-02T09:23:00.000-07:00

AGHH! I can no longer recall the last day it didn't rain! Make it stop!

Luckily, there have been some dry periods and even some "sun breaks". Last week I lead my first Beachwatchers beach monitor, and we managed not to get rained on. We combed the beach just below downtown Langley, and saw:

Pits in the sand where the gray whales have fed,

grey whale pits
and the ghost shrimp that they eat.

Big, scary looking, cool polychaete worms, some nearly a foot long.("sometimes called "goddess worms").

Pretty little chocolate-brown sea slugs with gold spots. Har to tell from the picture, but this guy is maybe an inch long.

Lots of shore crabs (hemigrapsus oregonensis).

And of course, Limpets, mussels, barnacles, clams.

Beach monitoring also involves "profiling" the slope of the beach, which is what we're doing above. The beaches around here vary an amazing amount from year to year. According to our measurements, this beach has filled in about 4 feet since last year. But this is right in the middle of the 10 year's worth of data we have... 500 feet out from the shoreline, the drop has varied from 6 feet to 13 feet over the years.

The movement of the sand really amazes me. At Maxwelton, just a few miles from my house, there's a boat launch where I've launched my kayak many times. Over the past several years, a sand spit has been growing near the boat launch, but last summer the launch was still usable. This year, not so much. Instead of water at the end of the launch, there's now a 5-foot sand dune!

Note: All photos in this post were taken by Mary Jo Adams.

There's no place like home

2010-03-21T11:31:00.000-07:00

It's taken me most of this week to recover from our 16 hours on the road in a push to get home. We drove almost 700 miles on our last day, further slowed down by the hour and a half we were lured into spending at the Sierra Trading Post Outlet in Idaho. Then I had to spend the night at Nancy's, unload the trailer and return it the next morning, and then go into work for a couple of hours, so I did not actually get home until mid afternoon on Tuesday, at which point I just crawled into bed with Sabrina and slept for about a day and a half.

It seems so wrong that we had to drive clear back to Seattle to find spring again, but there you have it. Trees are flowering and leafing out, bird song is ramping up: the last few mornings I've awoken to a chorus of Robins, Varied Thrushes, and Towhees. Yesterday I lead a 30 mile ride here on the island, in bright sunshine. It's good to be home.

Not quite according to plan

2010-03-14T10:57:00.000-07:00

March 14

We’re on our way home, just north of Salt Lake City. Nancy is driving and the freeway is so bumpy its hard to type.

What a week! After sitting out a day in Tucson due do the crummy weather, and spending another day riding a not-especially nice route around the south part of town, we loaded everything back in the trailer and drove down to Bisbee. As we drove into town we saw the PAC tour van, reminding me that Judy, a friend from a previous bike tour, was also down here biking this week. After checking into the Inn at Castle Rock (more on that later) we all walked over to the Copper Queen Hotel, where I asked at the front desk and sure enough, Judy and Marilyn, another previous-bike-tour acquaintance, were checked in. Although they were already in PJ’s, they invited the 4 of us up to their room for a visit. It was so great to reconnect with both of them. They are both such inspirations, To celebrate turning 70 last year, Judy rode cross-country all by herself, and is planning to do it again this year with her partner. Marilyn, as near as I can tell, has biked just about full time for many years.

Back to our charming hotel. I stayed at the Inn at Castle Rock the first time I ever visited Bisbee, which was…. Hmmm…. 2001? It was charming then, in a shabby-hippie-chic-sorta way. The next time I was there, it was closed, SO I was delighted to find that it had re-opened, just 7 months ago, is undergoing renovation, and is even more charming than before.

But first I have to describe Bisbee. This is an old copper-mining town On the edge of town is The Lavender Pit, a big old open pit copper mine, no longer in use. (Note that it’s not lavender colored,; it’s named after a Mr. Lavender). Bisbee itself fills the bottom and sides of a small, steep canyon.. The main street runs along the bottom, with dozens of long, steep staircases up the sides of the canyon, and picturesque houses clinging precariously to the hillsides. When I was here a few years ago with a couple of friends we rented the Hummingbird Hill House, near the upper reaches, and had a patio with a marvelous view down on the town.

This is also an artist’s community, with several nice galleries, and much eclectic, eccentric, and hard to describe artwork scattered about town on houses, fence posts, sides of buildings, and staircases: A house with dozens of pink-painted objects fastened to the front: A bicycle, a bunch of old etch-a-sketches, a shovel, a suitcase, boxing gloves…..A downtown building with a couple of exquisite bas relief plaques of desert scenes. Another house with angel and devil gargoyles surrounding it. The more you wander around town, the more of this stuff you find. You just have to see this place.

Another big attraction in the town for me is Café Roka, which I have to say is the best restaurant I’ve ever dined at. And you can get a 4-course meal there for under $20! This was my third time there…. Well, now its 4 times because the four of us enjoyed it so much the first night we decided to go back the next.

Now, the Inn at Castle Rock: Built into the side of a steep hill (like nearly every other building in town) and nearly over top of a creek, there are 2 floors of outdoor porches overlooking the street. You enter through a cosy stone-floored lobby with a small, free-standing wood burning fireplace, than back out onto the porch to your room. We scored the perfect room for the 4 of us, more like three rooms actually, all connected, with two bathrooms, 4 beds, and all for about $160 per night. And the decor: Nancy and I had “Geronimo”, where every available surface seemed to be covered with something Indian related. On our third day there we were still discovering new things. About a dozen dream-catchers, some nice bead work, a spear , original paintings. Cheryl’s room was named Faraway, and was mostly taken up with a huge bed covered with leopard skin bedspread,and about 50 animal themed pillows. On the porch outside our room, Adirondack chairs and porch swings (although too cold to sit out there). In back of the building, a bamboo grove and garden on the hillside. Off of the lobby, a common room with big refrigerator, kitchenware, etc, for our shared use. I highly recommend this place!

And a good thing, because we ended up staying there three nights. After our first night, we intended to to a 55 mile loop ride down through Douglas, on the Mexican border. But, as we didn’t get up and around until almost noon, we elected to do a shorter out and back ride instead. A bit cool but sunny, a nice coast down to the Sand Pedro river and a tailwind-assisted ride back up. We decided to stay another night so we could do the Douglas ride the next day.

The next morning, Nancy woke me up with “You’ve got to look out the window!. SNOW!!!!!! Just a half inch or so, but c’mon, dammit, this is Arizona! Well, we ARE at 5500 feet elevation…. Sadly, no ride to Douglas for us today. We spend the day happily climbing up and down the towns many staircases and shopping. , and decide to spend another night here.

March 12th
Finally on Friday the weather is perfect, but we have to head back towards Phoenix so Gerry and Cheryl can catch their plane northward Saturday morning. But I still want to visit my friend Kathy in Patagonia, and we want to squeeze in one last bike ride, so I drop off the other 3 about 40 miles from Patagonia and drive on to meet Kathy.

Patagonia is really just a wide spot in the road, and the END of the road at that, just a few miles from the Mexican border. But it has character to spare, and is well worth a visit. Kathy and her partner, Bill, have taken the train here from Pennsylvania and rented a trailer for two months, with no transportation but their bikes. I rode the Southern Tier with Kathy in 2005. Kathy and Bill met a couple years later when Kathy rode the Great Divide mountain bike route. Kathy and Bill the road the Northern Tier…last year I think. Anyway, they are just a couple of intrepid bicycle nomads.

After a great lunch at the Velvet Elvis Café, Kathy and I took off down a back road for a fabulous 20 mile ride over many cattle guards, low-water crossings, and a bit of hard-packed dirt road. I finally got to ride in shorts and shirtsleeves, in the sun! By the time we got back, Gerry, Cheryl, and Nancy were waiting for us, in a state of bliss from the perfect ride they had had. And off we went to Phoenix.

March 13th

Nancy and I have decided to take the more easterly route back north, through northern Arizona, Utah, and Idaho. We head north along the Vermillion Cliffs in clear blue sky, with Nancy, who has never been through here before, ooohing and aaahing all the while, and me trying to keep myself from spilling the beans about all the wonderful sights yet to come.

Then we see clouds gathering on the horizon (hmmm…have we heard this story before?). At 3pm we stop at the Page AZ visitor center, and it hits. Sideways rain, and then, you guessed it, snow. After lunch in Page, we push on, in winds strong enough that I get sore shoulders from holding the car in the road. The red rock cliffs are beautiful with a dusting of snow, but it’s not letting up, so we decide to stop in Cedar City Utah for the night.

And in the morning what do we have but … a good 4-6 inches of the white stuff! Well, we knew this was a risk of coming back this route, in high elevation and far from the gentling effects of the ocean. Thought my car has 4 wheel drive,with the trailer we have 6 wheels, two of them without brakes, so we are reluctant to drive until we’re pretty sure the roads are clear.

We try in vain to get the weather channel to tell us anything; they seem to think the country goes west only as far as the Mississipi. Well, they do mention Fargo once, but maddeningly, nothing about a winter storm in the southwest. I trudge through the snow to the local Starbucks, in search of information. We try dialing 511, and the recording nicely tells us there's a winter storm coming through Saturday night (last night) which we obviously already know, dammit, and that there are at least 3 “incidents” on the freeway north of here and 4 wheel drive or chains are recommended, but as near as I can tell this message was recorded at 8pm last night. Some guys in the hotel tell us they drove through that last night and it was awful. We finally call the Chamber of Commerce in Beaver, about 50 miles up the road, and the nice lady says the storm came through early yesterday afternoon and the roads are all cleared by now. So we decide to chance it. But while I’m cleaning off the car, another guy tells us he’s just come from the south and gotten off the here because it was so awful, and is going to hunker down here for the day. What do do????? The lure of home is just too great, so off we go. It’s snowing lightly, but the roads aren’t bad.

Until we get to the first of three or four 5000+ passes, where there's slushy stuff frozen to the roads, it’s still snowing pretty hard, and there’s quite a bit of traffic. We nail bite our way through this at 30 mpgh with our hazard lights on, big trucks speeding by spraying slush, and FINALLY get back to (relative) warmth and sunshine just before Salt Lake City.

Tucson Adventures

2010-03-07T09:55:00.000-08:00

March 6th
This morning we picked up Cheryl and Gerry (aka “Geryl”) at the Phoenix airport and drove on to Tucson, with the intention of driving on down to Patagonia and camping. However, just as we were pulling into Tucson, I got a call from my friend Kathy who’s staying down there, saying they were predicting rain tonight and tomorrow, with highs only in the 50’s. Since Tucson looks warm and sunny, and is about 2000 feet lower in elevation, we elected to stay there. We found the very reasonably priced Days Inn where I have stayed before, right on the edge of downtown.

Tonight in the lobby there were 3 teenage girls just dressed to the nines, sparkly high heels, short skimpy dresses, all made up very pretty. I thought… hookers? But they looked so innocent, and so young. Then one of them asked me if this was where the party was? Party, what party? They are there to attend their friend’s Quinceneria. I tell them they are just so beautiful I can hardly help staring. They seem to really like that compliment!

March 7th
The day dawned with clear blue sky, and by the time I was up it was warm enough for just a long-sleeved shirt. Gerry and I located a Starbucks just a few blocks away this morning, while Cheryl contented herself with the hotel breakfast and Nancy went for a walk. By then it was in the high 60’s and off we went for a nice ride on the Rillito River trail. Like most “rivers” around here, it was just a dry bed. To start off with, anyway. After a couple of miles here came a little water creeping down the streambed. Then a bit more, and after 7-8 miles upstream, we had a full river. Perhaps this should’ve been a warning to us....

We rode to the end of the trail, getting sprinkled on just ever so slightly, and fighting a strong headwind at times. When we turned to head back, I checked my thermometer. 64 , then 62, then 57 inside of 5 miles, now raining pretty good. We decided to stop for lunch and wait it out. However, once back on the trail, OMG! Wind! Sideways rain! Sleet! We had to stop and huddle in a doorway at one point; it just wasn’t rideable. By the time we got back to the car the temperature had dropped to 47, and we were riding through half-flooded streets of cold water. But, we were all laughing about it by then… and adventure! Not one any of us wish to repeat, but still…

Soutward Ho!

2010-03-05T18:32:00.000-08:00

March 3

We drove 650 miles today, and it was not bad at all. Our little U-Haul trailer is a breeze to haul, and even though “NEVER exceed 45mph” is clearly printed on it in several places, we’ve been tooling along at 55-60 for most of the day.

Nancy and I left Everett at 6am, stopped in Tumwater for breakfast, and were in Oregon before lunch time. In Sutherlin, south of Eugene, Nancy steered us to the coolest little coffee and lunch place she remembered from a previous tour. Called something like “White Horses” it indeed does have several huge white horse sculptures in front of it. And sea-monster sculptures behind. And very nice horse paintings hanging inside, all of these created by the proprietress. And inside also, an aviary full of several dozen finches and a couple of parrots. Quite a remarkable place! After an excellent lunch (and of course a latte for me and tea for Nancy) we were on our way again.

Soon I began to notice that the deciduous trees on the hillsides looked to be well into leafing out into pretty, pale blue-green. But no, it’s some sort of lichen, covering every twig and branch for miles and miles. Is this normal? An infestation that’s killing forests? Time, and a google search, will tell.

Soon we began climbing the first of a series of many mountain passes. First 1700 feet. Next 2000 feet. Just past the California border we came in sight of beautiful Mt. Shasta, and then we really started climbing. Neither of us has ever driven through here before so we were surprised to find ourselves well up into the snow with a 4500 foot pass. When we stopped in the mountain resort town of Shasta for gas, there were 4-foot piles of snow in the middle of the street…. Which they just got early this morning, and if we’d come through just a bit earlier we’d have been stuck, with chains required on the freeway.

The snow and mountains were fabulously beautiful, but 4 hours of winter is enough, and I am happy to be down in the relatively low lands of Redding for the night, heading back into spring tomorrow.

March 4th
Another 600+ mile day, mostly through endless groves of blooming orchards. Literally hundreds and hundreds of miles of olive, almond, grape, and who knows what all. Beautiful but a bit monotonous after the first 5 hours or so. We passed one horrifically huge feedlot, very smelly, and another that looked a lot like it but was full of dairy cows. OK, I’m really going to stop eating beef.

We got into the greater LA metroplex right at rush hour and enjoyed our last couple of hours crawling through traffic, finally finding a nice, reasonably priced Best Western in one of the southeast outlying suburbs. It was a perfect place to stay except for the long, loud argument outside our door at 3am.

March 5th

Here we are in Phoenix, or at least in Goodyear, a suburb of Phoenix. Though we got in early tonight, just after 5, the first two hotels we tried were full, and we got the very last 2-bed room, a smoking one, at this hotel. Everyone and their brother is down here to watch baseball spring training.

We had a leisurely start this morning and took the time to drive through Joshua Tree National Park, well worth the 2-3 hour side trip. It’s in high desert mountains 4000-5000 feet. The rock formations are indescribable, but all the same I’ll try. Some of the hills just look like big piles of gravel, but instead of pea-gravel, imagine car-gravel, or even house-gravel. Then there are just big rocks and bluffs of every conceivable size and shape. And everywhere that’s not rock, there are, of course Joshua trees. They look a bit like yucca, if yucca grew into many-branched, 20-foot-tall trees, but are actually a member of the lily family. There are whole forests of them, but a thick forest here means maybe one every 30 feet or so.

We drove up to and overlook where you can see forever , with a very good view of the San Andreas fault, which really does look like a big crack in the ground running for many hundreds of miles. You also get a view of the vast wind farm we drove through on the way here; there must be thousands of wind turbines, some in the valley, some on the ridge tops.

A stressful couple of weeks..

2010-02-24T10:32:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago, I took my car in for a routine oil change. They called me and said I needed a new left-front CV joint.($250) OK, I said. Driving onto the ferry that afternoon, I remarked that the car in front of me was making an awful grinding noise. Remarked on it again as we were offloading. And as I turned into my driveway, there's that noise again.. must be that same car still in front of me. However, the next day when the noise was still there as I was backing out of the garage, I had to admit that it was probably coming from MY car.

What to do? I have to be at a meeting 50 miles up the island later today, and I'm now concerned my axle is grinding itself to pieces. So I decide to take the bus. I will call Jill when I get up there and she will pick me up and cart me the remaining four or five miles to her house. Halfway there, I check my cell phone and find I do not have Jill's number, although I swear I can clearly remember adding it just yesterday. No problem, I have my laptop with me and I know I have her number there. I open the laptop. Battery is dead.

Just in time, I ask to be let off at the fire station, where they kindly let me plug in my laptop, and use their phone, as I have no cell phone service there anyway.

After a 2-3 hour meeting I hop back on the bus, and half way home my phone rings. It's Crystal, my student from 25 years ago, who I was expecting to visit me tomorrow, saying they're coming up today instead, and could I please pick them up at the ferry. No problem, I am so looking forward to seeing her! I ignore the grinding in my car and hurry down to the ferry. My bike is in the back of the car and I need to make room for Crystal and her partner, so I haul the bike out and install it on the roof rack. Forgetting, in the excitement, to remove my garage door opener from it's usual place on the visor, as I always do, to keep me from driving into the garage with my bike still on top of the car. Which, wanting to show off my house to my guests, I promptly do.

Crunch!. Of course my first impulse is to back up. I get out to see the damage I've caused, and realized I've backed up ONTO my bike.

Well, the damage doesn't look too awful... I've only backed onto the wheel, not the frame itself. Off we go for a mini-tour of the island, trying to ignore the grinding sound still coming from the left front wheel. We have a nice visit and I make it home without the axle breaking.

The next day I take the car in for what turns out to be a very minor adjustment, and the bike in for repair. I need a new rear derailleur, not a problem as I was planning to get a grannier granny gear installed before this summer's big trip anyway. They even manage to true the bent rear wheel, but I opt to order a new one to be safe. ($300 + $250 for new wheel on order)

Meanwhile, I'm obsessing about how we are going to get 4 bikes and camping gear for 4 people to Arizona in a couple of weeks. Buy a trailer? Rent? Finally opt for renting a Uhaul trailer, only $15 per day, but that means I have to get a hitch installed. ($350) Oh, and I might as well buy new tires as long as I'm hemorrhaging cash anyway; I've got 90K miles on my old ones. ($550)

A couple of days ago, as I was doing some routine thing on my laptop, I began to get these very Windows-official looking pop-up messages saying that Windows had determined I was under attack from a virus, click here "for the scan you computer now", and wanting me to activate some previously unheard of virus protection software. Being a bit suspicious of Microsoft's lapse in grammar, I googled that phrase and found that this is most likely the Conficker virus and the "virus protection software" is bogus. After following all the directions on the Norton website, doing a complete scan of my PC (in which Norton found nothing wrong!), spending close to two hours on the phone with a Norton tech in India, I am no closer to resolution. I can't access the Internet, can't do much of anything, and every few seconds I get a pop-up saying "Want to activate your antivirus protection NOW?" I'm off to take my PC to the local tech ($??). Hoping they can save my turbotax file, as I was 99% finished doing my taxes.

Hoping for some less stressful days soon....

Spring is coming....?

2010-01-13T15:46:00.000-08:00

I'm hearing birds practicing their spring songs already. Yes, it's true that we could still get a foot of snow in April. But it's also true that there will be more overt signs of spring here in the next month or so. I've been so busy this winter I've barely noticed winter go by!

First of all, I've been doing volunteer database work for Beachwatchers and also for Anacortes Friends of the Forest. Really enjoying this, and hoping that it will pan out into a bit of paying work some day. Towards that end, I've gotten some business cards made and am handing them out to everyone who comes within 5 feet of me.

I'm still working a few hours each week at my paying job at Fluke, but it's dwindling. With my big project (moving all my Access stuff to SQL Server) complete and the manufacturing area in the process of shutting down, there's just not much left to do. I've put in a total of about 9 hours in the past two weeks.

Earlier this month, I joined the Whidbey Open Circle Singers. This is a choir for which no auditions are required, and yet they are very good! I've never sung with a group before so it is a learning experience for me. Being in the middle of a 50-person group singing 4-part harmony is quite wonderful. To end our weekly practice, someone sings a note and we all form a chord around it, to send out "vitamin H" (aka Harmony) to the universe.

At this group, I met a man who is trying to get a Sacred Harp (aka shape-note) choir going on Whidbey. (This is the music that you hear in the church in the movie Cold Mountain). So earlier this week I attended my first practice with them. So far there are only 5 of us, which is too bad, as this music seems really meant for a large group. But it's very interesting to learn. It's called shape-note because, to be more friendly to people who don't read music, each note has a characteristic shape and name. You start out singing the shape names; it seems strange but it really does seem to make it easier to learn a new tune. This tradition goes back several hundred years. We are hoping to be part of a performance at WICA in March.

On Friday, I am off to Michigan for a quick visit with my few remaining relatives. For the first time, I am going to leave my car in my garage. Believe it or not, Seattle finally has mass transit all the way to the airport, at least if I go during commuting hours on a weekday. There's a bus that stops near my house to get me to the ferry. Once I'm on the mainland, the Sounder train will take me to downtown, and the "Central Link" light rail will take me on to the airport. All this for $4 each way. Whatta deal!

My friend Nancy and I have started a tradition of taking the train to the city the first Thursday of each month. I've done this 3 months running now, and each time my gracious friend Ellen has picked us up at the train, driven us to her place, and fed us brunch. Again, whatta deal!

Nancy, Cheryl, Gerry, and I have hatched a plan for another bike trip, this one to Arizona in March. The plan is that Nancy and I will drive down with all the bikes and gear, and the Cheryl and Gerry, poor wage-slaves that they are, will fly down to join us once we get there. Although I am not totally sick of winter yet, I admit that some warm sunshine does sound pretty appealing.

Jury Duty

2009-11-21T10:13:00.000-08:00

I spent 3 days of last week on jury duty. A fascinating, disturbing, very worthwhile experience.

The case was 1st degree rape of a child. A father was accused of raping his 6 year old daughter. The daughter testified, and was very believable. She has told the same story multiple times for the past year. There was no real evidence other than the testimonies of the father and the daughter. So we basically had to decide who was more believable, the father or the daughter. We sided with the daughter. So this guy is going to prison for a long time, quite possibly for the rest of his life.

I've had trouble getting this out of my mind since then. I think we did the right thing. But what if we were wrong???? I have to keep reminding myself that I truly have no "reasonable doubt".

The father and mother had split a year before the incident, and there was a restraining order against the father for part of that time, where he could only see his kids if another adult was present. But during the trial, we were not allowed to know why. Afterwards, we learned that it was because he had been physically abusive to his wife.

The daughter had been acting out a lot at school, and the acting out only started after that restraining order was lifted. So ...?

The 6 year old child was able to describe details about her father's anatomy that a 6 year old would not normally know.

The 6 year old told her mom about the incident the morning after it happened, and they were at the police station by 11am that morning.

The defense was, well, there basically was no defense. No character witnesses, no friends testifying for the guy. The only one who testified for him was his mother, and she was really not believable. Grasping at straws, the defense's main tactic was to try to make us believe that the daughter had made this story up after hearing her mom talk about being abused when SHE was a child. The mom was abused as a child but flatly denied that she had ever talked about it within her daughter's hearing, and there certainly was no evidence to that effect.

We did the right thing. We did the right thing. I keep seeing the defendent's face, and thinking about him being in jail now.

The jury selection process took an entire day. Because of the nature of this case, there were 60 people in the jury pool to insure getting 12 jurors. About 1/2 were excused "for cause", mostly because of personal experiences with sexual abuse and/or admitting that they didn't believe they could be fair and impartial in such a case. One guy was excused because he said he believes 99% of the accused are guilty and he doesn't see why we don't just take 'em out and shoot 'em. Another because he said the only evidence he would accept in such a case is lie detector tests for father and daughter.

An interesing experience. But one I do not wish to repeat any time soon.

It Was a Dark and Stormy Night

2009-11-10T18:56:00.000-08:00

I love this time of year! Oh, I know in a month or two my tune will change, but for now...
I love the rain, and the fact that I can no longer remember the last dry day.
I love the colors: every imaginable shade of gold and sepia.
I love driving home at night through dark, winding roads littered with leaves.
I love sitting in front of the fire with a cat curled up in my lap, listening to the rain on the roof.
I love laying in bed listening to the rain and wind.

I've been inspired to start quilting again, for the first time in a couple of years. Have finished up a couple left from my last burst of inspiration, completed one new top and a couple of pillows with the leftover scraps. When I get more ambitious, I'll post pictures.

Fall

2009-10-17T13:05:00.000-07:00

The first big storm of the season blew through last night, carpeting the yards and roads with cedar, fir needles, big-leaf maple leaves, and small branches. I spent this morning curled up in the lazyboy in front of the fire, with cat in lap, watching the rain and fog. I am quite ready for hibernation time.

Earlier this week Lucie, Kathy, and I went for a day hike to Lake 22, just off the Mountain Loop Highway near Verlot. We had a perfect fall day and even some sunshine.

Swathed in Spiderwebs

2009-09-26T11:41:00.000-07:00

This morning the outside of my house is swathed in those magical classic-design spiderwebs, each with a spider waiting patiently in the center. A quick count nets 4 on my downstairs deck, one guarding the walkway from my car (which I walked right through last night after dark, but this morning it's rebuilt), and they've virtually taken over my upstairs deck. I haven't picked my cherry tomatoes (which are still going strong) in a couple of days simply because I hate to disturb those beautiful webs.

I've had the kayak out once this week. Many of the winter watefowl are back or at least passing through on their way southward: surf scoters, western grebes, mergansers, cormorants, and a large flock of what I think are murrelets, either ancient or marbled.

Home Sweet Home

2009-09-20T10:49:00.000-07:00

The need to see ocean again was just too great.

The drive from Keller's Ferry to I-90 was all rolling fields of grain, nary a tree in site other than those planted around houses as windblocks.

I forgot to get gas until it was almost too late, rolling into the tiny town of Odessa on fumes. I only saw one gas station, and it was closed. Uh-oh. I thought I was going to have to go begging for fuel at a farm. Then noticed a small sign pointing off the main street, for 24-hour credit-card-only gas, a couple of pumps next to the grain elevator. Whew!

I stopped right at sunset at a rest area on I-90, made coffee, and ate most of the rest of my unhealthy vacation snacks. That got me over the pass and home in time to catch the 10pm ferry. Oh, that ocean air smells good!

When I got home, in addition to the couple of beers that Gerry usually leaves me (thanks Ger!), there was slightly battered ear of corn in the fridge... hmm, I wonder where that came from? ;-)

Home by the Scenic Route

2009-09-20T10:35:00.000-07:00

I woke up this morning feeling a visceral longing for salt air and greenery. I decided to head towards home via the scenic route, maybe stopping for another day down at Steamboat Rock State Park.

But first, I drove up through Summerland and Kelowna, and back down the east side of the lakes, to check out the route for possible future rides.

My conclusions:
1. I am very glad we did NOT ride to Summerland. For several miles of this route they are doing road construction and the highway is one narrow lane with no shoulder whatsoever, and lots of traffic.

2. The route around the east side of the lakes would be HARD. Out of Kelowna, it’s up up up up and then more up, to an almost 4000 foot pass, not a whole lot of traffic but little or no shoulder, no facilities and nothing but heavily forested mountains (the Kootenays, I believe) for about 50 miles. BUT, if we had someone to sag, from Beaverdell on southward it’s downill and very nice all the way to the border.

I crossed the border at Midway, a tiny out-of-the way station with no waiting. After a friendly chat with the one guard there (he did check my passport and looked inside my kayak hatches for contraband, but I think it was mostly because he was bored and lonely), I continued south on Highway 21 all the way to I-90. I do believe that’s just about the prettiest road I’ve been on in Washington, and now I want to go back and bike there! It’s labelled as a highway, but I bet I only passed 30 cars the whole way.

Keller’s Ferry. Wow. I was just enchanted with this spot. After driving through miles and miles of rocky bluffs and forest, a tiny, free ferry takes you across Lake Roosevelt. You then climb switchbacks up and up the bluff, and just as you top the bluff... it's a whole 'nother world! It's just astounding. I had to get out of the car and just stare for awhile. PLEASE do yourself a favor and double-click to enlarge this picture!

Bike Bounce

2009-09-19T10:32:00.000-07:00

It was gray and very threatening-looking when I got up today, so I drove back once again to the Penticton Starbucks, where I spent a couple of hours drinking coffee and catching up on my email. By then it was raining, so I decided to take a drive out towards Okanagon Mountain Provincial Park. This is a little confusing… within 50 miles there’s Okanagon Falls Provincial Park, Okanagon Lake Provincial Park, and Okanagon Mountain Provincial Park. Okanagan Mountain is way out in the boonies, and the last kilometer is a 2-track, 4-wheel-drive-only, not very scenic dead end road. Still, I persevered to the end, just before which I had to drive under a fallen tree leaning across the road. Nothing but a parking lot and presumably a trailhead, although it was raining and I didn’t even get out to explore. Turning around, as I headed back under that tree, I hear a clunk, and looked in my mirror to see my bike bouncing on the road behind me. Well, shit.

I got out to survey the damage. Doesn’t seem to be any to my bike, other than my new mirror falling off, but even that isn’t broken. But when I went to put the bike back up top, I realized the straps that hold it onto the bike carrier had broken clean off. I’m so happy that they broke and not the bike! After removing the front wheel I was able to stuff the bike in the car on top of all the other stuff that’s in there Maybe this is a sign I should head for home?

Back towards town I drove out to Skaha Bluffs and hiked back in a bit to watch rock climbers doing physically impossible things. Oh, if I was 30 years younger and 50 pounds lighter..

Then it was raining again, so back to town for a visit to the wonderful used-book store… one of those big old slightly disorganized places, with books piled high everywhere, and the guys running still able to tell you where everthing is. And then to my afternoon latte, this time at Pacific Brimm, obviously the locals coffee place, very homey with big comfy chairs where I sat and read for awhile. When the rain let up, I went out to explore the huge farmers market that takes over downtown every Saturday. Oh, I wish I could take a bunch of the wonderful local fruits and veggies home. I limited myself to a bag of pickling cukes to munch on.

By the time I got back to my campsite, the weather seemed to be clearing up and the wind had died down a bit (although it never seems to stop here), so I decided to paddle for awhile. About 45 minutes out, the wind picked up. And then picked up some more. And then some more. And I ended up paddling back in a regular gale. Not a headwind, but not exactly a tail wind either. It was exhilarating but right at the edge of my comfort level, and I was glad to get back to camp. It was so windy that stuff had blown off my picnic table, and a layer of sand had formed inside the tent.

2009-09-18T10:22:00.000-07:00

I just haven’t felt much like writing for most of this trip, so am just catching up today. Too busy biking, visiting, and just enjoying the sunshine, of which we’ve had nothing but, every single day that we’ve been here. I still plan to stay for a few more days, but have to admit I am so hoping that rain greets me when I drive over the pass back to the west side of the Cascades. I am really looking forward to spending INSIDE time.

Meanwhile… After 5 days of riding and camping with my friends, yesterday they headed home. I drove back towards Penticton, and I stopped and paddled for a while on Vaseaux Lake. After I got out on the water I felt a bit ridiculous in my life jacket as much of the lake is less than 6 inches deep. In places I had to pull up my rudder to keep it from dragging. Double click on the picture to see the nice line of geese posing for me.

Last night I camped alone at Banbury Green Resort, just south of Penticton, and I think I will stay here for at least two more nights. My tent is pitched ten feet from the shore of Skaha lake, and today I spent about 2 hours paddling down the lake against the wind, and an hour sailing and surfing back with almost no paddling. Fun!

20 feet away on the other side of my tent is the KVR (Kettle Valley Rail Trail), which unfortunately is not really suitable for a road bike, but still I hope to ride it the 3 or 4 miles into town tomorrow. The KVR goes for many miles, much of it through wilderness (I’ve seen bikers wearing bear bells) and over some big old railroad trestles which have been rebuilt after burning down in forest fires a few years ago. Someday I’d like to come back with a mountain bike

Back down down down to Osoyoos

2009-09-16T10:02:00.000-07:00

Back to Osoyoos, retracing the same route we took up. And I do mean UP. Taking the same route back allowed us to appreciate how much serious UP we really did that first day. I think OK Falls must be a good 1000 feet higher than Osoyoos. It was a fun downhill coast for most of the way back. We finally got around to stopping at one of the hundreds of wineries we've been passing. Back to our cars and campsite in the apple orchard, we were all tired from the heat... it was close to 90 today. After a nice dinner at the local brewpub, we drove up to the viewpoint on Anarchist Mountain to watch the sun set over Osoyoos.

Short and Sweet

2009-09-15T09:56:00.000-07:00

A very pleasant and short ride from Penticton back to OK Falls, this time following along the east side of the lake via the route I’d gotten from Bikely.com. MUCH better. We had camp set up at OK Falls Provincial park by early afternoon. A very nice little park right along the river, a shady, grassy oasis in the midst of this desert country. Nancy and both went down for afternoon naps, and both agreed it was possibly the pleasantest nap we’d ever had… dappled sun and shade; warm, caressing breeze. Life is good.

Bike Repair and Ice Cream

2009-09-14T09:54:00.000-07:00

After another leisurely breakfast, we rode back into town hoping to find a bike store where I could replace my bike mirror, which I broke on my fall yesterday. Found a great bike shop and great mirror, and then it was time for lunch: perhaps the best sandwich I have ever had in my life, at a little deli near the bike shop. Finally, we headed out for our intended day-ride to the little town of Naramata. Just as we got to the top of the steep hill out of town, I finally decided that the “funny feeling” I had been experiencing with my bike all morning deserved attention. A closer look turned up a loose headset… not a good thing to have if you’re really depending on your bike going in the direction you steer it. So, the others went on towards Naramata, but I went back down the hill to the bike shop. They spent a few minutes tightening the headset for me, and I was on my way again. About halfway up that same steep hill out of town, I decided things still did not feel at all right. Back down I go again. This time, the guy says OK, my headset bearings have probably gone bad; come back in an hour or so.

Thus, I had the opportunity to thoroughly explore downtown Penticton. I quite like this town. It seems just the right size to me. Large enough to have a cosmopolitan feel, small enough to still feel like a small town. Even though there is a Wal-Mart on the edge of town, downtown still feels vibrantly alive. At least 3 very nice coffee shops, a quilting store, a shoe store where they had Keene sandals on sale… uh-oh, it’s Nancy’s fault, since she pointed this one out to me, that I now have my favorite sandals in a third color, a lovely dusty lavender.

Just about the time the others rode back into town from Naramata, my bike was finally done. I still wanted to do the ride, so I headed out while the others headed back towards camp. Finally all back at camp, we enjoyed a great pasta dinner and then were looking longingly at the two old guys across the street from us who were eating bowls of ice cream. Some dessert sure would be good!. Off went Cheryl to buy us some nice, healthy fruit for dessert. She hadn’t been gone more than a few minutes when one of those old guys came over and offered us the remainder of his carton of ice cream! Dixon Seabrook, bless your heart! He stayed and chatted for a bit, and then came back with ANOTHER carton of ice cream. What a guy.

Trail of the Damned

2009-09-13T09:28:00.000-07:00

Following the advice of someone who was NOT a bike tourist (note: big mistake), we attempted to ride the KVR from Okanagan Falls to Penticton. It seemed like such a good idea… right along the western shore of Skaha Lake, totally flat. BUT…it quickly went from hard-packed dirt to loose gravel, large rocks, and in places, mini-sand-dunes. After struggling through this, walking a good bit of the way, and ¾ of us taking falls, we decided to bag it at about the halfway point. From the lake we had to push our loaded bikes about a kilometer up a very steep hill to get to the highway. Not a lot of fun, but once we got there it was a nice downhill coast into Penticton.

From the shore of Skaha lake, its another 5 miles into downtown Penticton, which is actually on the shore of Lake Okanagan. Although we had originally intended to ride on to camp near Summerland, we were all too worn out from the awful trail experience, so hoped to find camping near downtown. No such luck. The only campgrounds near downtown were “No Tents” (guy said they ruin the grass). We did find a marvelous restaurant for lunch, followed by Starbucks. Then back we went the 5 miles to Skaha Lake to find camping. The first one we tried had closed for the season at 5pm that day (it was about 5:15). The second one wanted us to pay for three separate sites at $24 each. But the third one was just right… very friendly and a little rough around the edges, with lots of senior citizens apparently living there full time. We crowded our 3 tents onto one of their 10 or so gravel tent pads, next to another group of women who were avid rock climbers; Skaha Bluffs, just down the road, is a popular rock climbing area.

This may be a new low for Rainbow Riders. It took us 7 hours to ride 21 miles today.

Hills!

2009-09-13T09:25:00.000-07:00

Too tired to write yesterday. We did only about 32 miles with maybe 1400 feet of elevation gain, but Nancy said it was the hardest 30 miles she’d ever done, and I would come close to agreeing. So much for my theory that we would be riding along the bottom of the valley, so it should be relatively flat.

But it was very scenic and we all enjoyed it. We got very late start, close to noon by the time we got out of Osoyoos, and it was 5-ish before we got to OK falls. We asked a teenage girl which way to the provincial park, and she, of course, steered us the wrong way. After a couple of miles we were smart enough to ask again and got turned back the other way. But signage for finding the part was practically non-existent, so we opted for the RV part instead. Not very scenic… stuck way back in the corner behind the office and next to th4 restrooms… but functional , and we were tired.

My friends Gail and John from Texas are up here on vacation, and I went out for dinner and a nice visit with them while the others had a meal at camp.

Then we had a bit of excitement right after bedtime. I heard loud voices and then a strange loud scrambling sound…. Kids climbing over the fence right next to our tents, after running through the park and stealing beer, pop, and, for some reason, an ear of corn, from Rver’s coolers. They got away but dropped about half of their haul climbing over the fence. We found the ear of corn the next morning.

Osoyoos at last!

2009-09-11T15:34:00.000-07:00

Sept 9,2009
Here we are in Osoyoos. Nancy and I left Everett about 9:30 this morning, after somewhat amazingly fitting all of our stuff into my car: 2 bikes, a kayak, a bike trailer, camping gear and a week’s worth of supplies for two people. We drove over on the north cascades highway, not the fastest but certainly the most scenic route. Stopped for lunch in Winthrop and made it to the border by about 5, where the guard asked us the usual (where ya from? Where ya going? Why? For how long?), told us with a perfectly deadpan face that it was going to snow here next week, and then waved us through, without ever asking for our passports or even our drivers licenses!
We tried to get into Haynes Point provincial part for the night, but, as had been my experience on a previous trip, it was full. The campground host says you must get there “much earlier” in the day to secure a spot. It’s a very popular place, on a long, narrow spit jutting out into lake Osoyoos, where practically every campsite is waterfront.
Oh well, of we went to the other, very touristy side of the lake, The nice, grassy-field campground that I stayed in a few years go has been pa paved over and turned into an rv resort, like most of this side of the e lake. We found 2 or 3 little run-down looking tent campgrounds. The first on e we stopped at had no one manning the office and no information whatsoever posted, so on we went. We are now at a tiny (11 sites) place squeezed in between apple orchards and rv resorts, with no electricity, a sign warning us to boil water before drinking. And for sale signs posted out front… so I imagine it will be gone to condos or rvs on my next visit. On the plus side, its just us and one other tent here, and we have free pickings of the loaded apple trees in the camp.
We drove into town to a\the ridge brewpub for dinner )really excellent beer and good food., and then took a drive up Anarchist mountain to watch the sun set over the lake. A good day.
Sept 10, 2009
14 males biking, 750 feet elevation gain
6 miles kayaking
Sunny and 80 F, perfect biking and kayaking weather!
After lingering over our campsite breakfast of coffee, tea, and oatmeal with apples from the trees hanging over our tents, off we went on our bikes to explore the town. A stop at the visitors center scored us some good information on bike routes. We stopped at the bike store hoping for some nice Canada-themed socks, but none to be found.
We then road out to visit the Nk’mip cultural center, which, although not a casino, certainly must be dragging in big bucks for the tribe. It’s a huge and beautiful place on the hillside overlooking Lake Okanagan. Many very nice sculptures, a huge campground on the lake, a large condo development, a very pricey restaurant. There’s a museum which we elected not to visit due to the $12 admission. I forgot to ask how to pronounce Nk’mip. “Nik Mip?” “Unk Mip?”
From Nk’mip, we took hillside roads through orchards and vineyards, back to our campsite. I was so energized I hopped right in the kayak. I paddled into a brisk breeze for about an hour, enjoying bouncing in the small waves and watching the “stink boats” zoom by. There was a hobie cat just flying around the lake, making me wish that I still had my little sunfish sailboat. Turning back with the wind behind me, I made it back to camp in 40 minutes, hardly paddling.
September 11, 2009
I got chilly during the night last night, so dug out my sleeping bag liner, carefully unfolded it, and climbed inside of t and into my sleeping bag. Awhile later, I noticed I was still cold, and felt around.. No liner! I guess I dreamed it all! So once again, I dug it out, unfolded, climbed in, ahh, that/s better. But when I woke up this morning, I my liner was still packed away in it’s little stuff sack! (This makes me think of the dream sequence in American Werewolf in London, but not quite so scary.)
After another long, leisurely camp breakfast, with more of those fresh apples in our oatmeal, we decided to take a short drive. We took the Crow’s Nest highway , up ( and I do mean UP) into the fabulously scenic Similkameen valley. This is some of the prettiest scenery I’ve seen anywhere. A narrow valley with a bucolic green bottom full of orchards, vineyards and gardens, closely surrounded by steep, rocky mountains.
We stopped in Karemeos for lunch, and then drove an very steep road full of hairpin curves up to the Apex ski resort. The resort looks like it’s fallen on some pretty hard times, lots of of stuff for sale and nothing open.
Back down the mountain to Penticton, where we found a starbucks.. I asked an other star bucks customer abut the “jazz” placard she had hanging around her neck, and it turns out there’s a big Dixieland jazz festival in town all weekend. She told us to walk “just a block or two” over to the convention center to get more information. It turned out to be more like a mile, but on the way we found a big bike store where we once again could not find cool socks, but I did buy a shirt on sale. We finally made it to the convention center, picked up schedules, and each bough last year’s festival t-shirt. A worthwhile walk!
Our short drive ended up taking all day, and we finally got back to the campsite about 5, expecting Cheryl and Gerry to be there, but no. When they still weren’t there at 6, we headed off for dinner. When they STILL weren’t there, we started to worry. Much to our relief, they finally arrived at about 9:30.

Fall arrives

2009-09-07T13:32:00.001-07:00

Right on time for Labor Day, it has rained all weekend. I feel sorry for the Labor Day campers, but anyone from the northwest knows to expect this, and the rain is SO welcome!

I suppose this means I've waited too long to do any serious blackberry picking this year, but here's a picture anyway. This is from the beach near my house, but basically what every vacant lot, bluff, and untended yard look like around here in late summer. It amazes me to see blackberries for sale in the grocery store when there are quite literally enough blackberries here, free for the picking, for every man, woman, and child in the greater Puget Sound area.

I intended to light my furnace (propane fireplace) this morning but for some reason it won't light. Seems like I go through this every fall. I turn it off for the summer, since propane has become so expensive, to save the money that running the pilot light all summer would cost me. Then I end up paying the service man $150 to get it re-lit for me in the fall, thus pretty much negating any cost savings. Oh well, I suppose turning it off is still the environmentally correct thing do to.

A few nights ago during my sunset paddle, a whole school of porpoises passed within 50 feet of me... there must have been around a dozen of them. There are so many salmon jumping out there now, I really though one was going to land right in my boat. I wonder if it's legal to take one home if it volunteers like that?

Sunset has now travelled well south of it's summer position behind Double Bluff, to the northern part of the Olympics.

I've just about finished packing for my bike trip in the Canadian Okanagan, for which I will be leaving on Wednesday morning. I'm taking along my new netbook so hope to do some posts while on the trip.

A week or so ago my friends Vicki and Nick were here for a visit. YOu'll have to guess which one is which:

Preparing for Hibernation

2009-08-23T21:26:00.000-07:00

I've had a rare case of domesticity the last few days. Cleaned and reorganized my pantry, scrubbed the kitchen floor on my hands and knees, dusted and vacuumed.... the shortening days and fallish nip in the air have got me preparing for hibernation. I do believe I'm ready. I've had that "enough with the sun already!" thought several times recently.

Still, it's certainly nice to sit on the deck for my morning coffee. This morning I enjoyed listening to that late summer sound of nuthatches nyak-nyak-nyaking, just about the only birdsong left this time of year.

I have now moved my TV from the living room to the garage, in preparation for lugging it to the thrift store. Still planning to buy a small flatscreen to put in my sewing room downstairs, but I like NOT having one in the living room. In it's place I am finally able to display a lovely art glass vase that's been hidden away in my bedroom for years.

Paddling at sunset again tonight. Tiny ripples all over the water, making it look like a vast, undulating sea of corduroy. Saw lots of salmon (pinks, so I hear) jumping, and I do believe I may have seen a grebe meet it's demise: I was coasting slowly toward it when suddenly it squawked and went rather ungracefully underwater. It didn't look like a typical grebe dive, more like something had grabbed it from below. Hmmm....? Or maybe I just panicked it?

2009-08-20T20:55:00.001-07:00

Paddling into the sunset tonight, the wind came up suddenly and I found myself bouncing in 2-foot waves. Not to worry, I stayed close to shore, in about 4 feet of water, and enjoyed the ride. After paddling into the wind for a half hour I turned around and didn't have to paddle at all on the way back, courtesy of the tailwind and outgoing tide. I love being on the water!

It's surprising how fast our long days are disappearing.. sunset seems to be a good 5 minutes earlier each night. And although today was plenty warm, by sunset (now 8:10) I was wearing two extra layers and it really felt like fall.

Earlier today I picked up some friends at the ferry and the four of us went up to Ebey's Landing to do the bluff hike. I had to stop and replace the rock "eye" in the dragon log.

Yesterday I biked up to Freeland, with the intent of getting a few groceries, but when I got there I discovered I'd left my lock in my other bag.... perhaps a sign of having too many bike bags???? So I made do with a quick run into the library to pick up some books on hold, and then over to the gym where I convinced them to let me leave my bike inside "just this once, I promise" while I got in my resistance training.

On my way home I decided to take the scenic -- and hilly!--- route down Saratoga Rd and through Langley. There is one hill on this route that is just a bugger, at least 400 feet of elevation gain and it seems to go on forever, with several of those cruel "false summits". My altimeter briefly showed a 27% grade, and although I'm pretty sure that's an exaggeration, it has to be 10-15%.

I stopped for a snack in Langley and ran into Joel, a guy that I've kayaked with a couple times in WISK (Whidbey Island Sea Kayakers). He told me he'd had a close call here a few months ago: He and a friend went out for a sail ("...a three hour cruise....;-0")on his friend's Hobie Cat. After they'd gotten out aways and the boat didn't seem to be handling well, they realized they'd forgotten to put the plugs back in the pontoons! The boat rode lower and lower in the water, and they of course could make no headway and soon were in water up to their waists. Joel was wearing a wetsuit but not his friend. After SEVEN HOURS out there his friend was hypothermic and Joel knew he wouldn't last the night....finally at 10:30 pm another boat passing a mile or so away decided something looked wrong and came to the rescue.

Moral of the story (and memo to self) ALWAYS take your safety equipment with you! And I don't mean just a life jacket! Gotta take paddle float, pump, a light, some sort of communication device, as a bare minimum. I am good about the first three but am going to start being more religious about the others, honest I am.

I rode on from Langley and thought I'd take the bus from Clinton to avoid the last 8 hilly miles home. Sadly, there were already 2 bikes on the bus so no room for mine. I could've waited a half hour for the next bus but jeez, I'd rather ride than sit. So on I went, getting in a total of 40 miles and just under 3000 feet of elevation gain for the day.

Tuesday after work I drove up to the Everett Marina, intending to launch my boat there, which I've never done before. After finding out that (a) They want $5 just to use the boat ramp (b) The ticket machine would not take my credit cards, does not give change, and of course I did not have the correct change, (c) There were threatening signs prominently saying your car would be not just ticketed but IMPOUNDED if you didn't pay, (d) There was no provision whatsoever that I could see for someone just wanting to put a kayak in the water.... by this time I was pissed off so I left.

Drove on down to the ferry and was able to launch at the tiny 20-foot-long park tucked in next to the hotel there. I paddled northward for 45 minutes or so, but really not very pleasant scenery here. The railroad runs right along the water so it's all just ugly bulkhead, the new Boeing pier and another huge crumbling old pier of unknown origin. I did have a couple of harbor seals pop up to check me out.

Biking and Bussing

2009-08-16T11:47:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I bussed into the city with my bike, where I met up with Cheryl at Gasworks park. We rode on the beautiful Burke-Gilman and Sammamish trails, from there to Redmond Town Center and back, a total of about 55 miles. Cheryl has just returned from a bike tour and I was really panting to keep up with her.

Cheryl offered to drive me back up to the ferry, but I wanted to do the environmentally responsible thing and take the bus back. After a 45 minute wait the bus finally arrived, I loaded my bike, and went to the front door, where the driver refused to let me board. The bus was FULL, and I do mean that every available place to sit or stand seemed to be occupied. Driver told me to try the back door, where I was just barely able to squeeze in. Apparently folks returning from a mixture of the Mariner's game, HempFest, and every other variety of summer festival imiginable.

The HempFest contingent made for a fairly mellow 20 minute ride. However, we got to the transfer station about 5 minutes too late for me to catch the bus to the ferry, so... another hour's wait, where I had a talk with a nice young gentleman returning from HempFest; he said it was elbow-to-elbow crowded and, of course, smokey.

Made the 10pm ferry with about 30 seconds to spare, home in time for about half a beer before collapsing into blissful sleep.

I do believe the middle weekend of August is the summer's pinnacle of outdoor festivals. This weekend is not only HempFest, but Bite of Edmonds, Fresh Paint, the Island County Fair, and I'm sure many others I'm too tired to even think about. Everyone's in a frenzy, trying to soak up the good weather and sunshine, as we all know it will be gone in a month. Already, although sunset isn't until 8:30, it's noticeably dusk-like by 7pm. Right now I'm about on the fence between "Oh, Summer, please don't go!" and "Enough with the sun already, bring on the rain so I can hibernate f0r awhile".

The End of an Era

2009-08-14T14:18:00.000-07:00

My boss called me this morning to let me know that yesterday, the official announcement was made: The manufacturing area that I've worked in for the past 20 years will be shut down within a year.

It's not that we all didn't see this coming. We've been working with 20-year-old equipment for some time, with no hope of getting approved to upgrade. More and more stuff has been outsourced to China, and more and more of our staff has been cut. But still. I feel as if I've just been told an old, dear relative has only a year to live.

I officially retired more than a year ago, but I've been back working 2 days per week for the past 9 months, and really enjoying it. I've been working to upgrade the vast "data empire" I've developed over the past 15 years, to a more robust platform. Suddenly it all seems so pointless.

It's not at all that I'm worried about losing the job. I know I will get along OK, if on a somewhat tighter budget. But to see my work "family" broken up, my work "home" dismantled, all the stuff that we all worked together to develop, all just thrown out. It seems so wrong.

On a lighter note: Yesterday I had a bacon and tomato sandwich, with my own homegrown tomatoes! Man, they are tasty!

Rain at Last!

2009-08-11T21:19:00.000-07:00

Finally our drought is over. A pleasant soft rain fell all night and into the morning,making for perfect sleeping weather... so pleasant that I was late for work this morning.

Saturday I Went hiking in the mountains with Kathy's group again, this time to Snow Lake, near Snoqualmie Pass. Unfortunately we could barely see the lake through the fog, but it was still a pleasant hike. On this hike and the previous one a few weeks ago, it seems like a good half of the hikers are ESL types. I heard varieties of eastern European (Russian? Serbian?), Indian (Hindi?) east Asian (Chinese?), and German. Amazing. Are these folks all tourists, or has Seattle really become that much of a melting pot?

Sunday, Lucie was kind enough to pick me up at the ferry, and off we went to the Everett Farmer's Market. I scored big, lugging home 20 pounds of kohrabi, pickling cukes, and tasty little donut peaches. Then managed to have enough energy left to paddle into the sunset again that night.

Today marks 9 years since I moved to the island! It was a very, very good move. I still love riding the ferry, and nearly everything else about my island home -- the lack of freeway noise, traffic jams, and crime; the deer in my yard; the eagles and ospreys and herons; walking on the beach, in the woods, or kayaking, whenever I want; using my high-beams when I drive home at night; not having street lights shine in my windows... Oh I could go on....

I am still happily TV-less, almost 2 months now. ANd since I've discovered that I can get most TV shows (maybe a day or two late) on the internet, on demand and with far less advertising, I'm thinking I may stay that way. As a plus, watching on my laptop with headphones is like having a big screen TV with surround sound!

Tomatoes

2009-08-06T12:28:00.000-07:00

I have been harvesting cherry tomatoes for the past week or so, just a few each day. I keep meaning to take a picture, but so far none of them have avoided my mouth long enough to make it to the camera.

Found a very cool website that takes you, live, right to the middle of a seabird nesting colony in Alaska: http://watch.birds.cornell.edu/nestcams/camera/view?cameraID=C100080. Well, it's cool if you're a birdwatcher anyway.

Finally got around to uploading my golden sunset picture from a couple of days ago. The other is just a pretty on my bike route near home.

Ospreys and Gold

2009-08-04T19:42:00.001-07:00

Last night after work I put the kayak in over at Maxwelton. Paddled for an hour or so through hypnotic, long, slow swells, with just enough chop to be fun. Right around sunset I watched an osprey hunting, and after several unsuccessful dives she finally left for home, carrying her bedtime snack. After the sun had set, the water turned such a brilliant gold that I had trouble getting myself to come ashore.

Just kickin' around the the island

2009-08-02T22:04:00.000-07:00

Had a pleasant 35-mile ride back from Coupeville yesterday, after a couple of hours at the street fair. I guess I've become too jaded to enjoy the street fairs around here much; everything looks too familiar. The woman I bought a jacket from a few years ago, the painter that puts out the Whidbey calendars every year, the guy that paints stuff on copper, the musician that plays the wierd guitar-like thing called a "Chapman Stick", many people selling fused-glass jewelry. Don't get me wrong: they're all great, it's just that I've seen them all too many times and there seems to be nothing new.

Oh well, I had a nice visit with Gerry and bought a festival t-shirt, last year's, for half-price. We stopped at Miriam's for coffee, and then I headed back sout while Gerry went to visit relatives.

By the time I got to Greenbank I was hungry so stopped at Greenbank farm for an early dinner and a browse through the Rob Schouten gallery. This is an artist who's paintings I find quite fascinating. Many contain a sort of hidden mini-galaxy. Take a look

http://www.robschouten.net/open_edition.php

Today dawned bright and clear once again, so I decided to ride up to Freeland for my (sometimes) thrice-weekly visit to the gym. On the way home I detoured down to Sunlight Beach to scope out a possible kayak launch. I was really intending to go back with the kayak for sunset this evening, but just ran out of steam. Anyway, got in another 30 miles with about 1800 feet elevation gain.

Earlier this week I received my new Arkel front panniers (which so far I love!) and Adventure Cycling maps to get me from Fargo to Michigan next year. In June of 2010 I will be taking off from here and riding with Woman Tours as far as Fargo, and then self-contained (with possibly a friend or two) on to Michigan. Now that I have the maps..... How can I wait a whole 'nother year????

The Foghorns of August

2009-08-01T09:00:00.000-07:00

I woke this morning to the late-summer sound of foghorns, right on schedule for the 1st of August. How I love lying in bed and listening to them! The different tones from different ships, listening to them move up and down the Sound. Then sitting on my deck and watching the fog roll across Cultus Bay. Once again, I am so grateful to live here.

An email from Washington State Ferries this morning says the Port Townsend ferry is closed until further notice due to "heavy groundswell conditions and zero visibility".

Pleasant temperatures have returned and the sun is out. I'm off to Coupeville this morning with Gerry, to visit the annual arts festival. Gerry will drive me and my bike up there and then I will ride home, 35 miles or so.

Another Sunset Paddle

2009-07-29T23:06:00.000-07:00

I'm sure we broke records for heat here today. I think we officially passed 99 F here on south Whidbey. Went to the grocery store and library to soak up some air conditioning, then home to sit in front of the fan and perspire for most of the afternoon. How did I survive Texas for 8 years????

This evening I put the kayak in again over at Maxwelton for a sunset paddle. This time I remembered the camera: After paddling out a ways, I just sat quietly and watched the sunset. I kept hearing this strange intermittent sound, like something brushing up against my kayak, or something breathing, or... yeah, that's it, something taking a breath.... Porpoises! A pair, surfacing to breathe, maybe 50 feet away. Then 20 feet, then 10 feet! Wow!

Sleeveless in Seattle

2009-07-29T09:23:00.000-07:00

7-27-09
Another 90+ degree day, our 3rd in a row. Sunday I rode to the Everett waterfront, (30 miles, 2700 feet elevation gain) in this stuff. For the first time ever in the PNW, I wore my sleeveless jersey. Yesterday and today I am working, so spending the day n AC, and I fully intended to come home last night and go kayaking. But the heat just slapped me down… and man, dose my bedroom heat up (and not in a good way) during the day. Last night I tried sleeping out on the deck for awhile, but the mosquitoes drove me inside.

At 9am this morning it’s already plenty warm enough to keep the windows down on the car (especially since my AC quite working awhile back) . And this promises to be one of the 5 or so days per year when it’s comfortable to stand outside on the ferry deck in shirtsleeves for the whole ride.

I am writing this on my new Asus Eee900 PC, a tiny little netbook which weighs barely 2 pounds. The upside is this will be very easy for me to carry on bike trips. The downside is, well, it’s tiny. The keyboard is not quite 9 inches wide, which makes typing a cramped challenge. And I’ve turned the zoom up to 200% on the display so that I can actually read my typing… although that may have as much to do with my aging eyesight as with the display size. This is my test day to see how much of the “up to 3. 5 hours battery life” I’m really likely to get.

7-28

I managed to overcome heat lethargy and get the kayak in the water last night for a 90 minute paddle at sunset. Lovely, silky-smooth pinkpurpleorangeyellowblue water . I was looking at this big house up on the bluff as I paddled past, and then after awhile I noticed I didn't actually seem to be paddling past, but more like staying even with it. Turns out there ARE some tidal currents around here!

Last Week's Low Tide

2009-07-25T11:29:00.000-07:00

A -3.1 tide last week drew me to the beach again, where I saw: A juvenile pea crab. Isn't she pretty?

Clam condos. Most of these holes are occupied by a type of clam called Rough Piddock. They actually dig the holes. The substrate is a combination of peat and clay; my local beach has large formations of this stuff.

A pretty red anemone of some type.

An ochre sea star.

They're Gone...

2009-07-24T22:11:00.001-07:00

The Swainsons's thrushes, that is. They start singing in mid-May (this year at my house May 16th), gradually build to a crescendo in mid-July, and then suddenly, right around July 20th, they're gone. Whether they just stop singing or actually migrate this early, I don't know. But I am so sad to see them go. One of my favorite things about spring and summer is being serenaded to sleep by this ethereal song echoing through the woods; they sing from early evening until well after sunset. Their song is actually one of the reasons I bought my house; I was house hunting in early July and just enchanted by the sound. Check it out here:
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Swainsons_Thrush/sounds
although a recording doesn't do it justice. You really have to hear them echoing through the woods, one answering another, in the quiet of the evening.

The Cat Days of Summer

2009-07-17T14:46:00.000-07:00

We don't really get dog days here, so Sabrina says these are the Cat Days of Summer. Perfect for laying in the shade, which Sabrina of course has been doing all day, every day.

I myself have also been doing a fair amount of that, but have managed to work in a modicum of active, fun stuff, too. I just got back from 3.5 hours of kayaking, a longer paddle than I've done in quite some time and I'll probably pay for it, but it sure was fun! I made it clear from Possession park to the Clinton ferry dock and back, which must be close to 10 miles of paddling. Clear blue sky, no wind, very little current. Saw eagles, kingfishers, pigeon guillemots, and many motorboats, which created just enough waves for bouncy fun.

Yesterday I drove up to Ebey's Landing and did the loop walk again, along the bluff and back on the beach. Not as many wildflowers in bloom now, although still plenty. They were baling hay in the prarie. Not sure why I'm so fascinated with fields of hay bales....something about that crisp, clean geometry against the natural background.

Garden explosion

2009-07-10T09:15:00.000-07:00

I guess we must've had some hot, sunny weather while I was gone; I can hardly believe how my garden has exploded in the past week, thanks in no small part to Gerry's watering it for me. I have a whole 'nother batch of kale and chard from the plants that I harvested the outer leaves off of just a couple of weeks. Cilantro has bolted up about a foot and is flowering. Cukes are looking happy, beets are absolutely lush, and the biggest news of all... after two years of trying, finally 3 of my kohlrabi plants have produced something besides greens! I ate one yummy, tender, sweet, crunchy bulb last night.

Rambling in Michigan

2009-07-09T10:38:00.000-07:00

Just back from a week-long visit with my dad in Michigan. Here's are the highlights:

Wednesday 7/1 -- The worst airport experience I've had in some time. I bought my tickets from Northwest, months ago, but now Northwest and Delta have merged and they definitely have some customer service problems to iron out.

Normally I get to the airport a good 2 hours before my flight, and then have 1:45 to wander around, get coffee, etc. This morning I decide 90 minutes will be plenty of time....

First off, I look for the Northwest check-in at Seatac and can't find it. It's all just labelled Delta now. I already have my boarding pass but since I'm taking my Bike Friday along, I need to check baggage. I see a sign that says "baggage drop off" so I get in line. After about 10 minutes in this line I find out it's not really a line, but a group waiting to have their names called to come to the counter. I determine that instead, I must get in a different line, one that leads to a kiosk where you enter your flight information, then go back and wait in the baggage-drop group.

When I get to the front of the kiosk line, the kiosk I get doesn't work. I move to another one that works, but when I type in my confirmation number it says "see Northwest ticket agent". I try putting in my credit card number instead, same thing. But of course, "Northwest ticket agents" no longer exists. There is a Delta customer service person wondering around, and she tells me that I should be able to check my bags out at curbside.

Off I go to wait in that line. When I get to the front, the guy looks at my boarding pass and says he can't help me, because it was booked through Northwest. There's another line right next to him for people who booked through Northwest, but that line just leads to another one of those kiosks.

So, I head back inside and get into the long, slow line for people with "issues". (And believe me, by now I DO have issues.) And when I get to the front of it.... the lady says she can't help me because I booked through Northwest, and I'll have to wait in the next line over. At which point I say, no, I have reached my limit, I am not going to wait in another line, make it right. She just looks at me blankly and says there's nothing she can do.

Luckily, the agent at the next line over stepped in and helped me, and was actually able to check my bags. I get to my gate just as they are saying "last call", without even time to grab a cup of coffee.

I had to change planes in Minneapolis, and was heartened to see my Bike Friday bag actually get off the plane and onto a baggage cart there. But when I got to Detroit.... no baggage! Off I go to get in the lost baggage line. The lady there says, come in the back room with me and we'll just check in case it might be there. Thankfully, it was. I guess it took an earlier flight???

Anyway, I am now thinking I may just buy another bike to leave in Michigan.

Thursday 7/2 -- Recovery from flight.

Friday 7/3 -- I'm just settling in to my dad's place in Midland, Michigan, when it suddenly occurs to me that my friend Judy, who is riding from Maine to the west coast this summer, should be just about to Michigan by now. I send off an email to her, and sure enough, she will be passing right through Midland in a couple of days! We make arrangements to meet and possibly ride together for a ways when she gets here.

I met Judy when we rode the Underground Railroad route (Mobile AL to Niagara falls) last year with WomanTours. To celebrate turning 70 this year, Judy started in Maine in mid May and is riding, by herself, across the country. What a woman!

I put together my Bike Friday and rode over to Aunt Dorothy's house for a short visit. Aunt Dorothy turned 89 this year but looks more like 70. She lives only about 3 miles from my dad, and it's been a tradition since I was in high school, that I ride my bike to her house to visit. This may be the last year, since she is finally putting her place up for sale and planning to move to Indiana to live with her son. I promise to take her out to lunch later in the week.

Saturday 7/4 -- The day dawns bright, clear and calm, and my dad and I decide it's a perfect day for canoeing. I get the canoe down from the barn while my dad starts up the 35-year-old Jeep pickup and tries to find the dead thing in it that is making it smell really bad. No luck, so we leave the windows down, load canoe, lunch, and fishing supplies, and off we go. Our launch site is about 4.5 miles up the road, down a steep little hill. My 82 year old dad, who really needs hip replacements but so far has been too stubborn to get them, manages to get down the hill, and I head back up to move the truck. By the time I get back, he's got a bass on the line! In the bucket it goes, and off we go floating down the river.

This is the beautiful Chippewa river, which I grew up on. A totally worry-free float-trip river, rarely more than 4 feet deep. Little paddling required, no rapids, the worst that could happen is you'll drag bottom and have to get out and pull yourself off a gravel bar. Well, actually the WORST that could happen is you'll run into lots of deerflies, which have been known to drive strong men to distraction (one year my dad spent most of the trip hanging off the back of the canoe, mostly underwater, to escape them. And my cousin Kris once abandoned me mid-trip, nearly in tears, to march into the nearest house and call home to be picked up.) but thankfully, we see very few this trip.

What we do see, in spades, is cedar waxwings. Hundreds off them, flitting back and forth across the river, looking for all the world as if someone has carefully dipped just the very edge of each of their tails in neon-yellow paint. There's really no prettier bird.

And jewel-like dragonflies, some with brilliant metallic green bodies and velvety-black wings, others with bright red bodies and transparent wings. A few deer, a few dozen little turtles dozing on river rocks.

We stop for lunch at our halfway point. Just about the time we're done, here comes about 10 cute little pre-teen / early teen girls in bikinis, and ONE teenage boy, looking very happy. With maybe 3 tubes between them, they pile on, hang on, or wade beside, and start down the river.

My dad lands 2 more bass before we're done. Shirley cooks them for us for dinner, and I pull and steam fresh beet greens from the garden. Yum!

Sunday 7/5 -- I take Aunt Dorothy out for dinner, and then we drive around to the 3 local cemeteries where most of my Whittington relatives are buried. Mom, grandma, grandpa, and Aunt Letha at Poseyville cemetery. Aunt Onie, Uncle Jerry, cousin Gayle, Aunt Marie, Uncle Jack at Homer. Uncle Pete at Lee. Aunt Dorothy keeps flowers on all their graves and tries to keep the gravestones cleaned.

Monday 7/6 -- Judy made it to down last night and has a room at a motel downtown. I ride in to meet her this morning and give her the quick tour of downtown: the very unique Midland courthouse, and the Tridge. We eat breakfast on Main Street and then head off down the Pere Marquette rail-trail. At about mile 20 I must turn back, but how I wish I could just keep going with her! This was I think day 48 for Judy's trip, and she's far from tired of it.

I'm back to my dad's house just in time for a quick shower before we head downtown for dinner. Afterward we stop and visit Uncle John. He and Aunt Dorothy are all that's left of that "greatest generation" of Whittingtons. Uncle John can't drive any more but still lives by himself, and has a tricycle that he rides every day.

Tuesday 7/7 -- Today my dad, Shirley (aka "Aunt Mom") and I head 50 miles NE to Standish, to visit the Hagley side of the family, at the farm where my dad grew up. This dairy farm is now going on 6 generations, and 4 of them are living and/or working there today.

My grandpa and grandma milked maybe a dozen or so cows, by hand of course. ( I can remember having fresh, still warm milk before I went to bed when visiting there). My dad had to quit school early to help on the farm, back when they still used horses to till the fields. My dad's brother, Uncle Louie, took over the farm from my grandpa, and his son Tim took it over from him. Tim's daughter (who now has a baby of her own) now does the milking, 100 ( or is it 200??) cows twice a day, pretty much single handedly, in the new 16-stall milking parlor. The parlor has a 2000-gallon milk tank, which gets nearly full in 2 days.

We pulled in just in time to see Stevie, my cousin Deb's grandson (maybe 12 or 13 years old) drive past on a huge tractor hauling a load of either oats or peas, which go into this big thing that Tim calls the sausage stuffer. The oats and peas get mixed together and stuffed into a huge plastic sausage, 6 feet in diameter and maybe 50 feet long, for storage.

Today I get to see my cousin Mike for the first time in probably 25 years. He has lived and worked near Detroit for many years, but recently was laid off, and is now up working on the farm part time.

Deb takes me out to the vegetable garden where I pick a mess of greens (arugula, leaf lettuce, bok choy, green onions) to take home.

Tim takes my dad and I out to show off the new milking parlor, much of which Tim bought used and refurbished himself. Tim obviously enjoys what he does and it's a joy to see that. The cows are mooing demandingly and Tim says, shoot, I forgot to do the noon feeding (it's been a busy day), so we get to see his automated feeder, too. It grinds corn, mixes it with sweet-smelling silage, and delivers it via conveyor belt to the impatient cows.

In addition to dairy farming, Tim has gone partially organic in the last few years, as "Saverine Creek Organics". Branching out from this is Deb's business making jewelry from colorful heirloom varieties of corn and beans. It's unique and stunningly beautiful, as Deb has a real eye for design. Check out her website at http://www.saverinecreek.com/.

Back at the house, we have a wonderful visit with Uncle Louie and Aunt Gin, who feeds us a yummy homemade custard-cake. I get to see a picture of Isobel, Deb's newest grandchild, and to meet Tim's 18-month-old granddaughter Delia.

Alas, finally it's time to leave. On the way home, Dad, Shirley and I stop for dinner at Wheeler's in downtown Standish. This restaurant has been there at least since my dad was a kid. It sill has those cool individual juke-box things in the booths, although with the coin slots taped over.

Wednesday 7-8 -- I get up just in time for a quick breakfast before hitting the road for Detroit. It's a 2.5 hour drive to the airport, made a little longer by the fact that even though I've driven this dozens of times, I somehow miss a turn and end up in a bombed-out looking area in downtown Detroit. A mighty sad looking place. But no worries, I backtrack and make it the airport with time to spare, especially since I am NOT checking any baggage this time, as I've elected to leave my Bike Friday in Michigan for now.

Flights went fine and after a long day of travel, I'm on the midnight ferry back to my beautiful island home.

More cool stuff on the beach

2009-06-28T11:36:00.000-07:00

Leslie and Dave came down Friday for another superb minus-tide beach walk. The weather cooperated with a perfect sunny day, and we rambled the 3 or so miles from Maxwelton back to Scatchet Head, barefoot most of the way. Sights of the day were: that same otter again, a half-dozen bald eagles sitting on the beach, many tiny flounders hiding in the sand in the tide pools. A large bright-red anemone(another Christmas anemone, maybe...?), many moon snails, and we actually caught this one laying eggs! If you double-click to enlarge th photo you will see.. On the right, the snail's shell. In the middle, and partially covering the shell, the snails "meat" (although I'm sure there's a more scientific name for it...). On the left, the rubbery-looking thing is the egg casing. You see these laying all over the beach, looking for all the world like big rubber gaskets that the tide has washed in from a shipwreck. But what the actually are, as I understand it, is a mixture of sand, mucus, and snail eggs. This is the first time I've seen a snail actually pumping one out.

After our long day on the beach, we retired to the deck with wine. Dave apparently got a bit chilled. We decided the title of the picture should be "Summer Evening in the Pacific Northwest".

Saturday we went on the Whidbey Island Garden Tour. This included only 4 gardens, but what with stops for lunch, a visit to the best thrift store in the world, and a stop for shopping at the dump (where we scored an antique fireplace poker set, and 5 big iron tiki-torch stands), it took all day.

The gardens were marvelous but man, looks like waaaay to much work to me. One of them, ust downt the road from me, was truly an estate: main house, guest house (far larger than my own), and a fantastic remodelled barn that I sooo wanted to go inside. But the buildings were off-limits, so we had to content ourselves with wondering through 20 acres of flowers, shrubs, ferns, and the like. This turns out to be the (retirement?) estate of Artie Kane, who was a prolific Hollywood composer and conductor. Although his last movie listing was, sadly, Waterworld, he's got composer credits going clear back to The Rockford Files, and conductor credits for well over 50 movies including Good Will Hunting, Alien:Resurrection, Men In Black, Sister Act. And apparently a truckload of money.

Pollen flurries

2009-06-24T20:00:00.000-07:00

Several times today I've been fooled into thinking it was hailing... it's the pollen cones from douglas fir, coming down in flurries. There are enough of them on the ground now to scuffle through like fallen leaves, and small drifts of them along the road in some places.

After a hard day of forced labor around the house (got it about half-clean, anway...), the north wind cleared out the rain, and my ramblings took me to my local path through the woods. There are these huge, prehistoric-looking flowers just starting to bloom, which my field guide tells me have the inelegant name of "cow parsnip". These things are a good 6 to 8 feet tall, with leaves close to 2 feet across, and big carrot-like white flowers.

Blackberries suddenly in full bloom everywhere you look.

Low Tide and Sunshine

2009-06-23T15:27:00.001-07:00

I tried to make myself clean house today, but a minus 3.6 tide and sunshine lured me to the beach instead. Today's was possibly the lowest tide of the summer, exposing beach probably a half mile from shore near my house.Putting on my beachwatcher's hat, I saw:

Moon snails: I don't see how all that body could ever get inside that shell, but it does! These things eat clams, by drilling a hole through the shell and sucking out the meat.

Geoducks: Somebody else dug this one up; that looks like way too much work to me.

Christmas anemone: The colors don't show up too well here, but it's a festive red and green.

Also many aggregating anemones and possibly plumrose (or is it plumose, I'm not sure) anemones, and one pretty little unidentified light green anemone. AND a bright red sea cucumber, a couple of sea lemons, a mossy chiton, a whole bunch of assorted starfish, hundreds of rough piddocks, limpets, dogwinkles. A few herons, a bald eagle, many crabs (red rock, hemigrapsus, hermit), acres of eelgrass and bull kelp, and about 27 billion barnacles and mussels.

Oh, and walking back up the hill from the beach, 3 deer.

Now I'm sitting on my deck watcing the birds at my feeder. I have many black-headed grosbeaks this year, and of course goldfinches, chickadees, purple finches, down and hairy woodpeckers, flickers, pine siskins.

For the past two years, starlings have nested in my eaves just outside my living room window. I know that most birders hate them; supposedly they drive other birds away (haven't noticed that happening here yet), and I do admit that they can be noisy at times. But ever since I started really listening to their vocalizations, I'm quite fascinated. They have a huge "vocabulary" of sounds, are great mimics and I've even heard them do a spot-on bald eagle impression. I know that starlings will congregate in large flocks at times, and I certainly hope that doesn't happen next to my house, but the flocks that congregate down by the ferry dock put on just spectacular flying displays many evenings: huge amorphous clouds of birds taking on fantastical shapes in the sky.

Enough rambling for today, I really must start on that house cleaning!