East to the Lake

There are some positives to sleeping in and about a year ago this month, I did just that. I slept in and was surfing through the idiot box (tv) and came across a PBS show called 'Pedal America.' I believe the series only ran for a handful of episodes but on that July morning, their location was Raystown Lake, Pennsylvania; home of the Allegrippis Trails. The trails have to be pretty good if someone is doing a show on them. Additionally, local riders told me it was worth the seven hour drive from the 'D' so east I went this past weekend. I was not disappointed.

Fast, fast, fast. About 30 miles of trails, give or take, to choose from; it was a thrill ride. No crashes to report but riders lacking a good pair of gloves will be eating some handlebars down some of the flows. One slip while going over the many 'whoop-de-whoops' and down goes Frazier!!! I attempted to find out what 'Allegrippis' of the Allegrippis Trails means without success so I'm making faking news and claiming its Indian for "hold the fu** on."  I tried to capture it in the video below but not sure it will do it justice.  

Hold the fu** on.

Trail Head

north vista looking off onto Raystown Lake

stressful Monday morning drive to trailhead

Penn State was 30 miles away - day trip

Way Back Machine - story behind my profile picture

In tribute to nephew Jackson’s pedal this week from Rick’s E’s place in Grayling up to his Aunt Sue/Uncle Paul’s place on Drummond Island, the way back machine today takes us back 20 years to July of 1998 when this scribe had a similar pedal journey; albeit a bit longer in my case. My profile picture on here is from that journey so this is the background story of it and its significance I guess you could say.  

As I had the long distance pedal fixation a few years earlier when Gus and I did the Upper Peninsula pedal, I was ready for more. After digging into some maps, a Lake Michigan loop looked like an exciting journey.  The vision was to take the car ferry over from Ludington to Manitowoc, Wisconsin and pedal southbound through Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and back up through Michigan to where I parked my vehicle five days earlier. Living in Indiana at the time, I got into Ludington around midnight on Friday, slept in the car ferry parking lot and caught the first boat Saturday morning around 8 AM. Around noon, the boat docked in Wisconsin and my journey began. I have to add that this is during the very early years of the cell phone era (I didn't have one) and my version of ‘mapquest’ were bicycle maps I mailed for, xerox copies of map sections, and various state/city maps. Having a relative working for AAA was a big help. Loved those AAA TripTiks back in the day!!!

Day 1 started with a beautiful ride along Lake Michigan through Sheboygan and into Milwaukee for the night; about 80 miles in half a day. The day was beautiful but for someone who slept in a parking lot the night before with limited sleep, I was beat. This is where having someone pedaling with you helps; a pusher. I was honestly pondering finding a bus or train that would transport me and my bike and call it a trip. It was a flailing thought but a thought just the same. Quit I would not though and after a good night’s sleep at a hotel (not much camping in a city besides sleeping on the sidewalks with the street people), I was recharged.
Day 2’s destination would be Chicago; about 90 miles. With a full day to get there, the pedal went fine and only got turned around once on the north side of town as a heavyset lady thankfully saw I was in a place I shouldn’t probably be (i.e. not a great area) and got me turned around to the main strip. My lodging that night was probably a 1-star hotel but sleep is not a problem on these trips. 

Day 3’s journey started early as I wanted to get through south Chicago/Gary/Whiting before the night owls with the paper bags full of Olde English woke up from the previous night’s activities. The pedal along Lakefront Trail (Lake Shore Drive) was an obstacle course of weaving in and out of bodies sleeping on the ground. No exaggeration as there were many park sleepers. Thankfully no mechanical breakdowns that morning and put the head down (and the rocking mixed tape I had going through the headphones!!! - ha) through the last portion of Illinois into Indiana. No sightseeing; just get through. As fate would have it, I got a flat just outside of the shi#. The tent made its first appearance that night near St. Joseph, Michigan. 

No drama on Day 4 besides almost getting on the freeway out of Benton Harbor. I made it near Muskegon for the final night’s camp. 

The final day’s pedal back to my vehicle was uneventful and utopia.  A great feeling of accomplishment and glad I didn’t back out on Day 1. The trip was one I will always remember in more ways than one. The journey itself but when I got back to where a phone was (again, no cell phone), I found out some very bad news that no one ever wants to get. As mentioned, my profile picture on here was from that trip and right about the time it was being taken, the bad news I received three days later was being discovered by others present time.  That is a story for another time but that picture will always trigger that memory; a tribute I guess.
Great pedal brother Jackson!
Trail Head  

July 1998 - entering Chicago

Hi Neighbor

One of the many traits I inherited from my dad was taking care of the landscaping; or in a broader sense, working hard to take care of your home. I don’t have the best lawn/landscape on the street but it isn’t a carbon copy of those down in Taylor-tucky (longtime Detroit suburbanites will get that joke). Most on my street take care to do the same as the process takes maybe 30 minutes out of your day each week. There are a handful of yards on my street, however, that seem to be landscape (or effort) challenged. 

This leads to one other trait I inherited from my dad; being direct. Taking the anonymous route (lack of balls route) isn’t going to happen as if you have something you don’t agree with, be a man and confront it head on with your name (and face in this case) attached to it. With that, Neighbor A and Neighbor B got a visit from me the other day on their overgrowth. You might be having bill paying problems but not taking a few minutes out of your day to give a trim to the bush that hasn’t been touched since you bought the place two years ago isn’t going to work with me as your neighbor. I've attached before and after pictures to justify my actions as both homes were the shining stars of the street prior to those residents moving recently. Now? Eye sores. If you didn’t intend to do any landscaping when you were house hunting, you should have bought a condo. This is exactly what I told both of them during my visits. Will it work? I don’t know but I can sleep at night knowing I gave both a look in the eye and the truth of what is expected.   

Grumpy old man, signing off.

prior to moving in to the left; current on the right - beautiful stone edge driveway rotting in weeds

prior to moving in to the left; current on the right - need to cut your way to the front door

Things to do when it's 100; Anyone? Anyone?

Let me preface this entry by saying I am very, very grateful each day to be employed and take my job very seriously; and believe I do a damn good job at it. From time to time, it requires me to travel for certain projects. No problem in that I love to see other areas, especially right now when my main route for the daily work commute is under construction; along with most of the roads in the area. 

The destination for this trip; Dallas. For two weeks. In late June. Ugh. 
I just finished week one. As shown in the attached, jussssssst a bit hot there in late June. A bad hair day for all as any hair poof got knocked down by the humidity once you were exposed.
As everything's bigger in Texas they say, that must be true for the air conditioning units in the buildings as you go from sweating to shivering in minutes. It was nippy beyond belief in any location I went. Emily O. would be standing proud if she were in the room it was that cold (silly Milford High adolescent humor there).
I found a well known local mountain bike trail about 10 miles from the work location but sorry Charlie, the post work temperature was near 100 and wasn't up for waiting until midnight so it would "only" be 85. Not going to happen this trip.
Besides a jittery dude next to me on the flight out, no airport drama to report thankfully. As the attached shows, Friday's high was 102 and I was boarding for the trip back to Detroit when it was that but no tarmac delays, no 400 pounders next to me and had exit row seating!!!! It's the little things that make the flying experience either awesome or crappy and I don't know how the constant travelers can do it each week when the chance that the 400 pounder IS next to you, you're crammed in the very back row, and have a 1 hour tarmac delay on a 100 degree day. Blah.
I think Lewisville Lake will get a visit next week to get a fishing report for my fishing comrades as the office is just south of there.
Until then, Schveddy Balls, signing off.

Lake of a 1,000 Casts - Number Came Up

Lake of 1,000 Casts impact on the casting arm

I've wrote about the 'Lake of a 1,000 Casts' before. Dunham Lake, home of the 'Dunham Laker' (aka 13 3/4 inch bass). Pictured first here is the arm difference of the Dunham Lake angler (its actually a picture from one of my favorite movies, 'Idiocracy', making fun of the future of masturbation). 

The lake beats all others in terms of serenity but can be a temperamental one in terms of giving up fish. Like the prom, most anglers fishing the lake are getting blue balls. Once in a while though, with some prodding and maybe some flowers, the lake supplies some beautiful fish. Last night's fish brought about the 1,000th (more like 12,000th) cast around 9 PM as Gus and Jim brought in the attached 30 inch pike and 18 inch largemouth, respectively. 

Cast on Dunham Lakers.

Trail Head

Glass-man Memorial Fish

This year's annual Milford High dude hanging/fishing weekend was in tribute to the man who allowed 14 or so slappies from Milford to take over his home each second weekend of June for the past 20 or so years. The Glass-man, Dave C, passed last year. I felt something missing when we brought the boats in after the morning session Saturday and he wasn't there to greet us at the dock with some "Did you knock 'em down out there?" comment always at the ready with the smirk/smile a standard. A good man.  

The format for this year's competition no longer involved teams as the Class of '84 I believe got tired of getting their ass handed to them each year by the Class of '85. I'm still trying to grasp exactly what the format for this year's competition was as it appeared to be put together during a morning crap. For the prestigious angler of the weekend award, there was a morning and evening session on Saturday that counted. Thursday and Friday's fishing totals were excluded. Five best fish per boat. Fisherman A (we'll call him Jim D.) and B (we'll call him Tim R.) are in Fisherman C's boat (we'll call him Doke). Fisherman C catches what looked like one of the five best bass I've seen in some time. He culled three I believe while Jim and I more or less used the same lure but brought nothing to the table. With the new format, everyone in the boat gets credit for the fish poundage, regardless how many they caught. With that, our boat won the session and Fisherman B was in 1st place (tied with A and C); and $40 richer!......WITHOUT CATCHING A FISH!!! I am liking this new format at this stage of the weekend. 

Fast forward to the evening session where more new rules came out of the woodwork in that people couldn't fish with anyone they fished with in the morning. Seems simple but digging deeper into this new rule, I jumped on a boat where someone tied for second was also fishing. That person was screwed as if they had the best ever 15 pound fish bag, I would win (I didn't win). Jim D. did the same, brought something to his boat totals in the form of a 16 inch smallmouth, and his boat took the evening session. The Cinderella story from Sparta takes the weekend victory!   

Positives and negatives to the new format.  Anyone can win. Even fishing challenged individuals like myself can jump on two boats where others are catching solid fish, not catch one myself, and get awarded angler of the weekend (and $80 extra in my wallet). Negatives are Doke had a once in a decade bag of bass and got an atta boy for his efforts. Its a thankless job in trying to make everybody happy though. 

The angler of the weekend wasn't the only award up for grabs as there always has to be a big fish award. This year's big fish winner also utilized a new rule where fisherman could weigh and release any pike or other fish on the spot that might beat up the live well. A picture would need to accompany it. The suspicious meter was beeping when the big fish winner was the one who came up with the new rule and his fishing mate seemed to steer away from any comments surrounding said fish. I have it pictured below next to a pike Al caught (and should have weighed). The sheet said 4 pounds, 11 ounces but that is a lean looking 4 pounds if you ask me.  

Roger's big fish* to the left: Al's non-weighed to the right

Fishing rules on the fly aside, a great weekend as always. I quadrupled my quota (one) but peaked on hitting the big ones Friday night. Campfire discussions involved creative lyrics/great music, ripping on music player playlists, building ships in a bottle while listening to Gordon Lightfoot, a review (again) of the '83 high school football season, jokes about marmalade/jam, jokes about Jamaica/WENDY (do a search on the joke), jokes, jokes, and more jokes about EVERYTHING (amazed that people can retain jokes like that) and many, many "Did So-and-So go to sleep?" references. It seems like a contest for some to make it up the latest and monitor everyone; but then I remember that I'm hanging with "Dads" so they always have the monitors going (ha). If someone is on the afternoon shift to buzztown, let them go down early. 

With this group, some of whom are company leaders, it can be a chore to get your two cents of words in once a few soda pops are consumed but I was able to get Champ to beat his record of five seconds of silence as he doubled it; but lost it at ten while I attempted to tell a story. Baby steps Champ.

Thanks, as always, to Judy C. for putting up with these AARP individuals.

Trail Head

victory for Jim D.!

peaked on positive output Friday night

Roger explaining another new rule

Hotel Skegemog

Bad Pictures - We're Spoiled

looked in focus when I took it...

For every 10 or so cool pictures, there are always a handful that you thought while taking them were going to be the entries into the world photo contest...and they ended up looking like turds once you viewed them online. With that, I present to you my turd pictures from this past weekend's Milford Bike Fest as turds need love too.

We are so spoiled in the digital age with the picture taking flexibility as who gives a hoot that a picture doesn't come out? You delete and take another. Back in my youth (queue the Way Back Machine), it was a chore to take pictures as besides only having 12, 16 or 24 picture attempts per film if my memory is correct, you had to haul that film up to the pharmacy for processing. At the end of a vacation/trip you always had a few extra pictures available on the film but want to get the existing pictures developed so what do you do? Take a shi#load of bad pictures to drain the film. The 'selfie' was not a word yet (thankfully) and not as many people were sending pictures of their junk (thankfully) because by the time you had said picture taken, developed, mailed (regular mail, no internet yet), the thrill was gone.

Smile for the camera. 

Cheese!!!! (Who is the moron that started the "say cheese" trend?)

Trail Head

thank you Mr. Tree

blur on sherbet rider