Responsible Vandalism

Took a little half paved/half gravel route today with the express intent of having lunch in the ruins of this old cabin foundation in Ledges Park. Simple plan, ride out, eat, soak in some chill time, purge stress, ride home. Packed water. Packed stove. Packed spork. Packed a beer. Packed all the stuff I would need, except noodles! Damn it! Oh well, I did discover that some industrious person/people are taking the time to rebuild the fireplace of an old log structure in the park. Location of said cabin foundation is just inside one of the gates of the park. The thing must have been sweet in its day with a native stone base, and a herringbone brick floor. Sandstone steps leading up to it, and even a drop pit outhouse about 15 yards away (although slightly uphill, and you know what direction crap flows.) One can only speculate what the structure looked like on the exterior, but maybe the parties involved have reference to this and will re-do that too?

The base of the fireplace. That is a breather hole in the bottom, I think. It goes in and then turns up at 90 degrees.
The form below looks like it is for the main fire box, and will probably either be bricked around and then burned out, or slid out and a skim of mortar packed in around the bricks? I think it is the negative space that will be the fire box.

The last pics are of the floor space with part of the brick floor still not excavated, and of some flowers that were holding on to the side of a sandstone "slot canyon" near the cabin. The boys and I have spent many hours on our adventure days scrambling up and down that little canyon, and always daydreamed about what the cabins looked like in their primes (there is another one to the South of this one) so maybe now there will be an answer to that mystery.
*Blogger is being difficult and not letting me put pictures and captions where I want them:(

Torn

I just saw that there is a gravel race this year for Iowa Games. On a Saturday, naturally! My most productive day at work in any week, and they're hard to walk away from. Last year I worked 50 Saturdays. That's sad.
So now I am torn because I was hoping to take Sunday and Monday of the week before that and ride up to West Bend to The Grotto of the Redemption. I have a route planned out and everything, p;us I shot my mouth off at work and people said it would never happen, too far, oh you're a liar! They don't understand.
I haven't raced a bike but two times since I had my arm surgery 3 years ago, and have ridden millions of gravel miles (well, a fraction of millions) but have never raced gravel. It would be fun to put together some wanky 3 speed touring bike with fenders, and go out and own some miles in a race! Heck, at my age I might even win a medal!
I guess I'll have to consult the Magic 8 ball and take the best 2 out of 3.
Later!

Quest for Fire

Rode the Karate Klunker down to Madrid and had lunch under the High Trestle Trail bridge. Gravel down and back, as much as possible, and a gnarly south wind. But the rewards were well worth it.
A.) You don't get this view anywhere else in the world!


B.) You gotta love trail cooked lunch, even if it's just two for a dollar Spicy Chicken noodles:)


C.) Testing gear in a comfortable setting makes it easier to deal with in a less than hospitable, or rushed state.

This little Esbit solid fuel stove is killer!!! It will bring a quart of water to a too-hot-to drink state in about 4 minutes (with heat shield) and yet is cool enough to fold and re-pack in another 8 minutes.
I have put together a miniature kitchen with the nesting Coleman cook set, an Esbit folding stove, Ronson butane lighter, and a Light My Fire giant spork. I'm going to sample some instant coffee and oatmeal tomorrow. Also bought a Grand Trunk ultra light hammock and rigged up a tree sling set, so I'm pretty much ready to bug out at a moments notice for any adventures that come my way. I gave forsaken the bike camper ideas for now, but it still pops into my head from time to time, so I'm sure I will still build one some day.
Lastly for this post, I'm thinking of making a blog devoted to The High Trestle Trail and my rides on it. What an amazing and unique assett this thing is to the state of Iowa. If you're reading this, and somehow have not been on this trail, please GET OUT THERE and ride it! And if you tell me when you're going, I'll even cater a lunch for you!
LATER!

Winter Project

Among the things I want to do this winter is to build, or at least source all materials and ideas for, a conversion of my old Burley into a bike camping trailer. I have seen a lot of ideas so far and the concept is quite intriguing to me. The Burley will serve as an excellent platform to build on as many have proven. I'm not going to aim for carpeted sleeping quarters or a gas stove, but it will be a nice little spread. I'm thinking screened windows, awnings, and a sky light so far. Heck, maybe there will be enough siding and roofing materials from our current house update to do a mobile home of sorts! I have an idea for chopping and channeling the frame to a narrower profile, then cantilevering a platform out over the wheels, and walls/roof from there. A sketch will be up in a few days. Then I'll see what changes/additions anyone wants to suggest. Later!

Occupy Third Street

In an attempt to acclimate myself to the harsher side of "recreational homelessness", I have been field testing some of my gear by sleeping out on the deck. As the weather began to cool this Fall, I started with a fleece blanket and overnight lows of mid 50s F. Over the weeks the temps dropped and I broke out my zero rated bag. Mid 30s were no problem. I think I actually slept better, and felt better all day, from the mid 30s nights. So naturally, once I had set a new low temp. mark, I wanted to go lower. My current low is 15 degrees F, and it was actually pretty comfy too. I used a double bag system (one inside the other) and the only thing that was cold was my nose. I had a scare in the night though. I put the bag up over my head to warm up the inside, fell asleep that way, and woke with a gasp! I think I had depleted all of the oxygen in the bag and nearly choked myself out.
Temps will continue to drop as Winter comes, so the records will keep falling too, until there is nothing to prove. But not until then. I see a drift-based snow cave in the not too distant future! Here's a picture of my last Hooverville. Later!

All In A Day's Work For...

Bicycle Repair Man! Did your neighborhood have a guy who could always fix your bikes? You and the guys would do something stupid on a bike, and after picking up the pieces, bee line right for the guys garage? We had one such guy. Jerry Grady. He had tons of old Schwinn parts (old by today's perspective) and would just knowingly set about repairing or replacing anything we had destroyed. Not big on lectures or demanding to know what we had been doing, just a great guy who would fix your stuff. He even helped us jam one set of forks into the top of another set to make a chopper fork! Welded? Well, no, but we didn't know that welding existed so... I took my awesome Yamaha Motobike apart once, too far apart, and he helped me get it back on the rode, (alley actually:)
Well, it seems that yours truly has acquired the cape and unitard of Bicycle Repair Man. You see, there is a family who have relocated their lives from Detroit to Boone, and their bikes came with them. One of the boys, 15 years old, has been riding around with:
-No drive side bearings in his rear wheel
-Seat post slammed all the way down
-Back break only, shoes worn down to the studs
-Cable housing taped with electrical tape, no ends
-No shifters front or back
-It's a girl's bike!!
Well, he came to the door one day, and asked, as best he could, if I had a wrench. Before I knew it I was 10 minutes late for work. Most of the problems were fixed though, so win/win! He's been coming back any time he sees my car out front, asking if I know how to fix this or that. It's a good feeling to be able to help someone out. (I look like a master mechanic from the other side, just doing the basic stuff that keeps a bike rolling.) Also good to realize that gifts are given to us for sharing. On any little level. The first day that kid rode away with a functioning bike, I can't tell who was happier, me or him. The smiles were ear to ear for both of us. He said simply, "Thank you," and rode off. I think that my time spent hunched over all my old janky beat up bikes has found a purpose for someone other than just me. All in a days work, all in a days work. Later!

Photos de Randome

A few random pictures to post, just to keep stuff on the blog. These are from the car show/shine in Stratford, and the "Big Show" burnouts from the Lehigh corner (punch up 491437 on a calculator and look at it upside down) and a few from Don Williams Lake in Boone County. I had a chance to share with the boys something I have ALWAYS wanted to do! We walked on the spillway and down to the basin at the bottom. Since the earliest days that I ever went there with my Dad, it was such a strong draw to want to walk on it. Actually, in the skateboard craze of my youth, I wanted to ride it. Now in my "mature" years, I would rather ride a bike on it or slide down it on a sled, or my ski bike! Hurry Winter, a middle aged man needs your magic! And lastly, a weird looking bug from the trail to Ankeny, and a fox right smack in the middle of Ankeny. He tried to hide from us, but I got a distant shot. We rode Slater to Woodward today, gorgeous weather. Kelli even rode 2 miles of gravel! I'll seduce her into the dark side yet, mwah-ah-ah!!