Segment #9 Spingfield, Ill: 12/32 sm 10/25/12

Seg #9 Sangamon & Interurban Trl 5/13 & 7/19 (12/32) 10_25_12

Start	Centennial Pk	N39.75356 W89.760532	N-S miles  5*
End	Stuart Pk	N 39.82716 W89.709334	Trl lgth 6mi Ride13mi

 

Start	Wabash Trl	N39.763422 W89.668221	N-S miles  6.6*
End	Chatham, IL	N 39.66805 W89.704455	Trail lgth8mi Ride19mi

 



Connie and Linda, Med Tech pals
44 years. Henrietta is a 4 year old
friend. Isn't she cute---all three girls

This ride was born out of another combo trip; which is to say, I hooked a ride with Connie who goes to Petersburg, Illinois every fall to visit her good friend Linda. Linda comes to Iowa for spring time visits. These trips include the transport of Henrietta, an antique cookie jar that both ladies wanted to buy at the same time. As a compromise, Connie and Linda decided to share the bird by hauling her back and forth between Iowa and Illinois. I think Henrietta likes the idea given she has not shed a feather ever since this four to five year exchange has been occurring. Petersburg is just north of Springfield so it took only an hour to drive on down and unload for a ride on the Sangamon Trail. It was 77 degrees but the wind was a blow’n. This was a paved super highway like trail with new concrete roadbed. With the wind at my back, I made good time going six miles. It took longer to get back to Centennial Park due to the wind. While this trail was likely fostered from an old rail bed, there wasn’t any information I could find on its heritage. The Sangamon Trail gave me a measly five miles of latitude.

It was nearly 3 p.m. by the time I got on to the Interurban Trail.   This trail is an example of a Rail with Trail layout. The bicycle trail is the consequence of rehabbing an old electric commuter train line that parallels an active rail line currently used by Amtrak. While I was riding, two Amtrak trains came whizzing by. Amtrak brags of its bicycle user friendliness but so far I have run into to a lack of interest in being able to haul my bike to one point and then ride back to the start. It would help so much to complete some of my cross country rides without Connie having to haul me some place. By the time I was on the Interurban Trail, it was blowing a gale out of the Northwest. Couple that with the wind and it was not a fun ride. In fact I split the eight mile ride into three sections so I could miss the heaviest of the rain and warm up. One interesting sight on the trail was riding across the bridge over Lake Springfield, the 4,200 acre lake that supplies the city of Springfield and surrounding communities. Hundreds, if not thousands of snow geese were taking a migration break on the water. This goose sighting reminded me of the incredible experience we had years ago at Desoto Bend, Nebraska. There were thousands of snow geese that year that happened to come in the day Connie and I were visiting the preserve. Other than the Sand Hill Crane migration in central Nebraska, the snow goose migration in the fall is a close second place for exciting, memorable ecological lifetime experiences. With all the wind fighting and “monkeying” around loading and unloading the bike, there wasn’t enough light to ride the Lincoln Prairie Trail. The next day when I drove passed this trail I decided I was glad I didn’t ride a trail that had few trees and paralleled a busy highway. My idea for taking rail trails is to avoid the danger and noise of vehicle traffic. With this trail so close to the road, I doubt if I could have heard my Ipod playing Tom Clancy’s audio book, Act of Valor.

Seg #8 Keystone Trail: 6/19 sm 10/19/12

Start	Karen Pk Omaha	N41.227094 W96.012772	N-S miles  6*
End	FortStOmahaNE	N 41.305794 W96.047773	Trail lgth7mi Ride19mi





Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge Nebraska side
of the "Big Muddy" Missouri River. Longest
river in America. Sorry Mighty Mississippi

An economically painless way to collect latitude miles, is to combine a business rip and a trail ride. So Thursday we went to Lincoln, Nebraska to meet with Lee our financial advisor and then we drove to Omaha so I could ride the Keystone Trail and cross the Missouri River on the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge. Thursday was a miserable day with steady rain and the wind gusting 25-40 mph most of the 315 miles it to get to Lincoln. I this was the first time, other than I was on the farm, that I noticed streaks of dirt with it raining and the windshield wipers running. Apparently there was dust blown in the air that attached to rain droplets which became tiny mud balls, creating a northern version of "Pine Pollen Plaster" an annoying event come March in Georgia. Good thing it's over by the Masters.  Thursday night Connie and I stayed in the largest Nebraska city, Omaha, allowing me an early start on my ride north on the Keystone trail. Omaha has a nice network of bicycle recreation/commuter trails running throughout the metro area. My goal was to go as far north on the trail from our hotel on Grove Street. The Keystone was the best option; however the wind was blowing 20-25 mph out of the northwest. Guess what direction I was riding in? Therefore a ride that should take less than two hours, took three hours. The good thing was it wasn't raining, just some mist. The trail went right through Rose Blumkin’s Nebraska Furniture Mart (NFM) parking lot. Rose started NFM in the 30’s and grew it to the largest furniture business in North America. The Russian born Jewish woman worked the store until age 103 and then left this earth one year later. Warren Buffet, Mr. Rich Guy of the World, must have perceived Rose had what it takes to make money, because his Berkshire Hathaway Investment Company holds much of the NFM stock. Although the Omaha metropolitan area includes over 877,000 folks, expansion of the store to Kansas City has grown NFM even more. What else is important about the city named after the Indian word meaning “Dwellers of the Bluff”? Well, the Ruben Sandwich was first made in Omaha. The NCAA College World Series has been played in Omaha ever year since 1950. Among the many mega million dollar corporations headquartered in Omaha, ConAgra and Union Pacific Railroad lead the way. America’s largest private bank, First National Bank of Omaha anchors the downtown.



It was a bit chizzly and very windy yet I got my
buns from this Iowa side to the Nebraska side. I
can now say I've crossed the eastern and western
borders of the only state bonded by two rivers.

And then there’s the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge crossing America’s longest river, the Missouri River. This bridge is one of a kind for bicyclists. Its beautiful design mimics the Western Hemisphere’s longest Cable-Stayed Bridge, the phenomenal Arthur Ravehel Junior Bridge; joining Charleston, South Carolina with Mount Pleasant South Carolina; an eight lane traffic bridge son Chris and I rode in 2011. Like the Ravehel Bridge, the Bob Kerrey Bridge gave me the “willies” once I was out over the river and the wind was kicking me around. Bob Kerrey, was a Medal of Honor winner, Governor of Nebraska and a US Senator. Kerrey ran for president in 1992 and now is running for senator again to fill Ben Nelson’s seat. Although there were some smoke clouds around his service in Viet Nam, as a Viet Nam era veteran myself, I respect him for all his service to our country and feel privileged to have had the opportunity to ride the bridge named in his honor.  

We lived in Lincoln for ten years when I taught at the College of Dentistry, so it is fun to go back there and see how things have changed or stayed the same. Lincoln is second largest city in Nebraska and on Saturday afternoons the third largest population springs up when there is a home football game at Memorial Stadium on the University of Nebraska campus. More than eighty six thousand red and white clad fans scream for the beloved Cornhuskers. Since 1962, there has been a NCAA record 325 and still counting, consecutive sellouts. Sellouts were easy when Bob Davaney, Tom Osborne were head coaches but when Frank Solich and Bill Callahan lost that were supposed to have won, sellouts were threatened. Only when major corporations bought up extra tickets, would the record stand.

Segment #7 Prairie Farmer Trail 13/20 sm

 

Start	Calmar, IA	N43.18343 W91.86378	N-S miles  13*
End	Cresco, IA	N 43.37124 W92:10478	Trail lgth20mi Ride20mi

 

Mark & me (yellow) ready to challenge
ourselves to some inclimate weather for
October in Iowa. The twenty mile trail
was smooth asphalt and well maintained

This ride was a chilly one. Considering it was only October 10^th, it was a cold day—48 degrees. Toss in a 15 mph headwind and we had a very chilly workout. Luckily I was able to draft my buddy Mark (see Heritage Trail Ride 9/16/12) for another ride with me. Since this trail did not always have the usual tunnel of trees common with rail-trails, we had quite a bit of open Iowa farmland to encourage the brunt of a headwind. There was some fall color but most trees had peeked a week or more ago. The farmers were cutting corn with their half million dollar combines, unloading the golden grain in huge semitrailer trucks. Wow, has farming changed from the days the Maze boys worked on the Carroll farm. We had a two row corn picker that got clogged much too often. I can remember my brother Johnny nearly suffering a crushed arm when he tried to loosen lodged corn stocks from the rollers of an operating corn picker. Farming is a risky business. Now farmers, those who can afford it , have the best of everything operating  multi-million dollar equipment with air conditioned dust proof cabs, surround sound audio and video entertainment and incredible safety features. Huge lights allow the farmer to work all night if necessary.  The size and speed of modern farm equipment allows modern farmers to complete harvesting more than ten times faster with three times better yields than we could do on the Maze farm in the 60’s and 70’s.

 

So as the farmers were farming, tossing plums of dust in the air, Mark and Glenn were peddling into the wind. As we neared Cresco, we noticed a shape in the bike path that did not fit the design of a dog or cat. It seemed to be taking a sunbath in the middle of the trail. The closer we got, the cleared it was that it was a bushy tailed animal with reddish brown hair. Color and body shape, matched that of a fox. Apparently bicyclists failed to spook Mr. Red Fox, so he waited until we were within one hundred yards and then he gave a big stare at us and then lazily loped off into the underbrush. I had never seen a fox, flop around on a trail or road before. Perhaps it was because the sun was shining on the asphalt, warming a spot for a nice sunbath.




Donna, Mark & Connie are tired
and hungry. Good thing the food
was good and the ladies were not
as tired as the Bike Boys. Thanks
for driving us home ladies!.

Mark and I rode into Cresco, Iowa right on time for Connie and Donna to meet us at Sue-Z-Q’s Family Dining. I could not resist the Awesome Omelet made from six eggs. I guess I was nutritionally deprived because gobbled down the omlet in record fashion. In addition, this restaurant had the best coffee I have had in months. Sue-Z-Q’s gets my vote for the place to eat in Cresco, Iowa.  The Awsome Omlet is just that---Awsome!

Seg #6 Neal Smith & High Trestle Trails 9/16



Seg #6 Neal Smith/High Trestle Bridge Trail: 9/16 sm

Start	DesMoines, IA	N41.591780 W93.618614	N-S miles  8*
End	Saylorville Dam	N 41.707288 W93:671210	Trail lgth26mi Ride 12mi

 



 

Start	Madrid, IA	N41.871021 W93.849530	N-S miles  1*
End	Woodward, IA	N 41.858704 W93:921294	Trail lgth25mi Ride 4mi

 




 

Neal Smith Trail 26 miles

Today’s ride (10/4/12) was another brother trip, with bike animal Don taking the lead. Don has ridden his bike nearly every day since retiring so he has accumulated over 20,000 miles riding primarily in Marshalltown, Iowa and Austin Texas. This does not properly credit him for pre-retirement miles which likely were 15-20K miles riding to work, RAGBRI, etc. Therefore he should be anointed with official title, “Bike Animal” of the Maze Clan. Don and I decided to do a couple trails this time. First, the Neal Smith Trail that gave me eight miles of latitude  and second a route called the High Trestle Trail would give me a thrill peddling across one of the highest, if not the highest bike trail in the in America. BUT, I am not good with heights. You would think I would have conquered any semblance of acrophobia after completing a trek to Mt. Everest Base Camp in 2005. In Nepal the foot bridges that cross rivers are extremely creepy. Holes made by yaks dislodging loose planks are scary enough to grow hair on your teeth. But then add the swaying motion of these cabled swings as man and animal trudge across, swaying even if there is no wind, the 200-300 foot drop to the rivers below is ominous to say the least. Just as I did in Nepal, the crossing the High Trestle Bridge required a straight ahead look.



Glenn riding into the sunset on a 13 story high

bridge. The architecture suggests a coal mine

shaft. Once there was considerable soft coal

in this region of Iowa. High sulfur levels led

to mining extinction.

 If the wind had not been so strong, I think it would have been a bit more fun for me. The bridge is designed to give the allusion of a mine shaft which is even more impressive at night when the bridge is lit with blue LEDs. 

 More can be found about the High Trestle Bridge by following this address: http://www.railstotrails.org/ resources/documents/magazine/ 2012_Spring-ummer_Destination.pdf

 

When the Chicago, Milwaukee & St, Paul Railroad first built tracks through this area in 1881, the route down through Des Moines River valley floor and across the river involved steep curves---a treacherous journey for rail cars. Trains had to steam down one side to pick up enough speed to climb back up the other. Train wrecks were common, so in 1912, the railroad built a long span high trestle bridge across the top of the valley. In 2003 the Union Pacific abandoned the tracks and bridge leading to a state of the art bicycle trail.

 

The Neal Smith Trail was a smooth ride except for a chilly headwind. Thank goodness there were plenty of trees to block a lot of it. About five miles north of Des Moines, two bikers had stopped on the trail to watch a fire burning a few downed trees and threatening a live tree. This situation did not look right. It likely was set on purpose for no reason than to be a pyromainac but it was too hot to try to put it out without water. The bikers had called 911. My experience as a forest fire fighter the summers of 1965 and 1966, told me that the fire needed extinguishing but it was not a serious threat. So off we went riding to the Saylorville dam.



Don surveys the Des Moines

River more than half its normal flow.
It has been a very dry year in 2012.

Pray for rain!



Saylorville Lake made by the Saylorville Dam
on the Des Moines River