"64 in 64" Will and Kathy Visit on their way to 50th Class Reunion

Will and me at Center Point railroad station. We did a twenty
mile ride on the Cedar  Valley Nature Trail  and a fourteen mile
Iowa City area trail the day before. Will is training to complete
a five hundred mile chunk  of the Continental Divide Trail in
 July.  It looks to me like he's ready to go with zero body fat.
Looks like my fat puts me out of his league. Good luck Will.

Back in February or March we were delighted to hear that our long time friends from dental and medical school days would be back in Iowa for their high school class reunion. Will and Kathy lived directly across the street from us in Stadium Park; a married student housing complex so named because it abutted the football stadium, today known as Kinnick Stadium. On game day it was only fifty steps from our front door to gate 13. We could wait until the national anthem was over and then leisurely walk to the stadium and be in our seats before kick-off. Those were the days, given parking in the spot we had now costs many thousands of dollars. Who would have thunk we were living the good life back then.

In 2004, after hiking to the top of Grays Peak in training for my trek to Mt. Everest Base Camp, Chris, Geoff and I stopped at Will and Kathy's house on our way back to Iowa. Good grief that was ten years ago! It was more than twice as long for Connie. She figured it was nearly twenty years since she saw our favorite Coloradans. They graduated from Sibley High in 1964 with a class of 64, therefore the title of this post, "64" in "64". These guys are incredible, having accomplished so many things in their lives. First raising three wonderful children that have given back so much to society. The concept of Sustainable Living is pervasive throughout the whole family, a way of living Connie and I embrace, but unfortunately don't practice. Will has given hundreds of hours of volunteer doctoring through out the world, Thailand, Africa and New Zealand to name a few. Nate, a Peace Corp volunteer and middle child, has come a long way since the time he tumbled head first into a flower pot. I guess because Nate didn't cry, Geoff thought he would watch to see if Nate would sprout out of the pot. At least that is what Will said in disgust as he frantically turned the pot over and shook out his son. Another Nate-ism was a skiing/tubing trip we did with the family at their ski lodge at Breckenridge. Chris and Geoff were probably age eleven and eight and Nate around four. We went to an awesome tubing run in the forest. It was a fast run with all kinds of moguls and turns. The bigger one was the less out of tube experience you got, but when little Nate hit a bump, he would fly two feet out of the tube and then land back into the tube, just in time to take on another wallop.  The Glenn Maze boys have had many breath choking belly laughs reminiscing  that trip.

A "selfie" of departure day. Hope we can get another selfie
in front of the earth ship.

Connie and I are so impressed with the sustainability concept but it makes us tried just hearing about their family constructing a house with straw bales and then another structure; an earth ship home. Goodness! homes made from bare hands and strong backs. I can't imagine hosting eight hundred used tires over eight feet, filling them with soil to form the main wall of the earthy abode. Eight hundred tires---come on! I am dead tired just thinking about it.

Seg #42 Little Miami a Beautiful Ohio Trail Newton-Yellow Springs, OH 5/20-21/14

Seg #42 Little Miami Scenic Trail

End	Yellow Springs, OH	N 39.80772 W 83.88798	N-S miles 47
Start	Newton, OH	N 39.13552 W 84.35847	Trl lgth 72mi Ride62.5 mi

Ride hr 6:34

AVS 9.3

MXS  mph 16.6

DST62.5 mi

Tmp55-73

Kcal 5374

Two thumbs up from the Newton, OH trail head. Mark took
me here after we finished riding the Cardinal Greenway.

The longest ride for the Cush and Cam boys (see previous posts regarding the naming of Cush and Cam) in 2014 was the Little Miami Scenic Trail (LMST).  A fully paved trail runs nearly seventy-five miles from north of Cincinnati to Springfield Ohio. The LMST is the fourth longest paved trail in the country. The fact that I accrued forty-seven miles of latitude, plus beautiful scenery, made this trail a Cam top ten. Lack of water and potty stops are the only "rubs" I have with the LMST. We got on the south end of the trail at Bass Island Trail Head at two o'clock. Within fifteen minutes I was peddling my way north to Spring Valley. Rain had been forecast but I managed to dodge almost every drop. Mark drove ahead and then rode south to meet me heading north. Then he scouted out a place to stay in Waynesville, OH. It is so helpful to have a partner to shuttle the car ahead, explore for trail heads, roads, food, locate a place to stay. When I carry out these rides by my lonesome, it is a colossal challenge to drive the car to a spot and then ride out and back; doubling the time and mileage needed to complete the mission.

Mark met up with me at the half way
point of the LMST. Then we rode to
the car ten miles north (back for Mark)
of here to the car at Spring Valley. 

I am indebted to Mark, Chris, Geoff, Don and Connie for hauling me around on nearly half of the TAVRT trips. Psychologically the "Selfie" rides are a drain on the Cam Spirit Gauge. I mean, riding one direction and then back is not very uplifting. To realize that not only have I "been there, done that", but if the scenery is of the bland variety, the "what a drag-factor" kicks in especially when factoring the repeat mileage and time.All this doubling translates to double thank yous to the support crew for making this venture more interesting and less demanding. I made good time on this trail averaging over nine miles per hour. Therefore it wasn't dark at the Spring Valley trailhead when I met up with Cush. We had a great meal in Waynesville, OH, a Quaker town with a self proclaimed title of Antique Capital of the World. By 11 p.m. we were sawing logs.

Happy Birthday Dan! From Cush and Cam :-) Spring Valley OH

The next day was Mark's son's birthday, so we took a selfie and sent Dan a Happy Birthday greeting. I was able to ride from Spring Valley to Yellow Springs in a little over two hours. Then headed to Dayton, OH to visit the Wright Brother's cycle shop #5. The visitors center at Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park contained bicycle and air plane displays. I expected to be able to see more but after I got home and read the brochure, I realized the there were buildings and shops spread out over a large area that we missed.

Harry Ford bought the most significant
cycle shop (#2) and moved it to Detroit.
This building is Orville and Wilbur's
5th shop.

We were running out of time anyway so by 2:30 we were heading back to Iowa to battle some extremely heavy thunderstorms. Golf ball sized hail was predicted but we were lucky on that one. We made it to Davenport after dark where Donna was there to pick up Mark. After we reloaded bicycles and clothes, we were on the road to Dubuque for Mark and Donna and Coralville for me.

I am not certain where this newly built covered bridge
crosses the LMST, but the bright red color makes it is
recognizable from afar. Mark is the speck up ahead

This trip went very smooth without a hic-up sans the thunderstorm on the way home. This trip completed the northern half of the USA latitude except for the nearly three mile stretch I couldn't make on the beach at False Cape State Park. I have been able to find a trail in Clarksville,
TN, called the Clarksville Greenway that will allow me to close the gap between the False Cape Trail and the Mt. Airy Greenway. Whoopee!

Seg #41 Breaking Away in Indiana on the Greenway 5/19-20/14 Gaston-Richmond, IN

Seg #41 Cardinal Greenway 5/19/14 Gaston-Richmond, IN

End	Gaston, IN	N 40.27735 W 85.46205	N-S miles 32.7
Start	Richmond, IN	N 39.80698 W 84.90935	Trl lgth 62mi Ride51.2 mi

Ride hr 5:19

AVS 9.1

MXS  mph 16.0

DST 51.2mi

Tmp65-70

Kcal 5074

I am wearing a helmet light to be
prepared for night fall given I am
starting out late in the day so it
likely will be dark by pick-up time

The sign over my shoulder shows the trail running mostly
north to south, a good thing for my objective.

My friend Mark and I headed out of Coralville at 6:20 am but did not get to the Cardinal trail north of Muncie, IN. at 2:30 p.m. The Cardinal Greenway trail takes its name from the Cardinal passenger train that once ran a route between Muncie to Richmond, IN.   Amtrak currently runs a train from New York City to Chicago that also has ties to the original passenger train that ran in this area of Indiana.  The beauty of this trail is that it runs nearly straight north and south, giving me more than thirty-two miles of latitude. A "far cry" better than the hundred mile Silver Comet-Chief Ladiga Trail in Georgia and Alabama that gave me only eighteen north-miles (latitude miles). The Cardinal Greenway Trail (CGT) is paved with concrete or asphalt so I averaged 9.1 mph, just under my best average of 9.6 mph on the American Tobacco Trail.  The CGT was blessed with porta-potties nearly one every three miles.  This trail would likely rank in my top three but becasue it lacks shade at the rest stops, it could be a scorcher on hot sunny day. I guess it should be ranked in my top twenty. I didn't need shade because it was "jacket weather" the day I rode the CGT. Some areas the tree canopy was tall enough to protect from the wind and sun but for the most part, trees were not as mature as I normally see,  likely because a passenger train ran this route.  Is it possible that rail trails constructed along freight lines have larger and more mature trees? My guess is the railroad wanted passenger trains to give the riders an expansive view, therefore vegetation was trimmed to improve the view---it makes for a good theory anyway.  As a farm boy, I got a kick out of seeing the country side and the pristine farms. Especially the round barn farms. Indiana is known for building and now preserving the most round barns in the country. Round barns include buildings that are octagonal, polygonal or circular in design. Most round barns today are listed in the National Registry of Historic places.     

I loved finding this beautiful round barn just a quarter mile
off the trail.---a pristine setting in central Indiana 

Indiana had at one time more than two hundred round barns. The popularity of such a barn, was partially attributed to the belief that the devil could not hide in the corners of such buildings. Indiana, particularly Fulton County, claims the title of the Round Barn Capital of the World.  I found a lovely red round barn about thirty miles down the trail.  It was getting late so I only had time to take a picture.  A beautiful site in rural America. 

A late start cut my planned mileage to 34 but I was able to get picked up before dark although I was prepared with all kinds of lights. The next day I polished off the final 18 miles.

Mark picks me up before dark but we were in the dark
looking for a place to stay and eat in Richmond, IN

Seg #40 Andy Griffith's Mt. Airy, NC aka Mayberry 5/11/14

Seg #40 Mt. Airy Greenway 

End	Mt. Airy, NC North	N36.51585 W80.61510	N-S miles 2.6
Start	Mt. Airy, NC South	N 36.47878 W80.62312	Trl lgth 11mi Ride11mi

Ride hr 1:37

AVS 6.8

MXS   20.6 mph

DST 11 mi

Tmp65-70

Kcal 949

Most of the sites listed on the map behind me are Andy Griffith related.  I
should  have added some education and took in the world's largest open
face granite quarry. It likely would have dwarfed our Coralville River
Products dig that has provided me erosion control rocks to stop the
Grand Canyon-like ravine caused by runoff  from my neighbor's house.

Originally I was going to ride a trail in Kingsport, TN but after researching the Indian Pipes trail and watching some videos on YouTube of mountain bikers taking some spills, I decided to be more sane and change to the trail in Andy Griffith's hometown. The official name for this town is Mount Airy but Hollywood influenced the unofficial name, "Mayberry".

Andy played the sheriff of Mayberry for eight years but it seemed like a lifetime. Heck you can still see Andy Griffith Shows forty four years later.. He actually played Matlock two years longer than playing Andy Taylor, sheriff of this little North Carolina town. We didn't have television so I didn't watch any shows until Chris and Geoff were old enough to get a laugh out of Opie and Barney. Connie got hooked on Matlock; watching most, if not all of Ben's shows.

1964 Chevy was Andy's car on the show. Walley the owner
of a this car, says it is not the "real"car but folks like riding
around town and reminisce, ala Field of  Dreams in Iowa.  

 Nothing particular was going on when I rode the bike trail through and around Mt. Airy on a beautiful Sunday morning. The greenway was a cross between a trail and bicycle safe streets. I rode until I satisfied the coordinates and saw the sites e.g. Andy Griffith's boyhood home, Wally's squad car tours and Floyd's barber shop. I doubt if I ever would have ever stopped at Mt. Airy if it had not been for the critical latitude I needed. After ride #5 for the trip we loaded up and headed back to Iowa.

Seg #39 American Tobacco-No Smoke Observed 5/10/14 Durham-Chatham NC

Seg #39 American Tobacco Trail 

End	Chatham, NC	N 35.71515 W 78.94345	N-S miles 19.8
Start	Durham, NC	N 35.99141 W 78.90566	Trl lgth 22.3mi Ride22.3mi

Ride hr 2:17

AVS 9.6

MXS   22.1mph

DST22.3 mi

Tmp75-85

Kcal 1798

It was Saturday so it would make sense that we would see a record number of people using on the American Tobacco Trail (ATT). In addition,  the weather was perfect and the trail was top ten quality. The first ten miles or so were paved with smooth asphalt, while the last nine of ten miles were hard crushed limestone. My average speed was up to 9.6 mph which got me to the southern end by 3:30 p.m.

Not bad if I must say so myself. There were a few, Lance Armstrong want-to-be's, busting buns at twenty to thirty miles per hour. Not a smart idea with all the other folks on the trail; especially the little folks wondering about like lost kittens. Trail courtesy has gone to hell since the early eighties when I first rode trails regularly. One thing that drives me nuts is how few bicyclists, coming in the opposite direction, acknowledge you. When I first started riding trails thirty years ago, nearly everyone would say hello, wave, nod their head or just lift a finger as they passed. You know, just acknowledging ones existence. I always say hello. But today the acknowledgement percentage has dropped like a lead balloon. Around fifteen per cent I figure. Sometimes when I feel spunky, I will loudly say hello early and load enough that if they were in an acknowledging mood,  I could not help but here their reply. When I did see or hear a response, then I will say it again and louder. When it is clear there has not been a response, then I finally yell HELLO!!!at the top of my lungs. By this time I have no idea whether they responded. I get my jollies out what I consider a sad state of friendliness affairs. I even give the "plugged-in" folks, woman, girls, children and older than I am trailer users a pass on my acknowledgement scale. The only group I can count on to show some respect for humanity, are the folks that are in the sixty and older age group. Does this observation mean anything really. I don't know but I think there is a growing element of self-centered, paranoid people that never existed before. Now that I have spouted out this bit of rubbish, back to ATT ride.

Smooth crushed rock on southern half of the ATT. I took
this picture after a Screamfest from a spaced off  walker.

I used my ding-a-ling bell the most I have used it on any trail. As "cheesy"(got this one from Chris) as it sounds, people do respond and move over for me to pass. The only problem is the bell will sometimes rotate on the handlebar such that I can't reach the lever until I am right up to the person. Dinging a bell or shouting, ON YOUR LEFT, frequently frightens them if the timing is off. On the ATT, I really scared a lady not paying any attention to other trail users. She was wondering on foot with a cell phone in her ear. She looked back toward me so I figured just a normal voice lever, on your left, would be fine. "Good gravy", just when I spoke the word's, she moved left (not right like she was supposed to), SCREAMING incoherently. I don't know how I missed hitting her but I did, thank the Lord. I stopped to apologize but she was not interested in what I had to say, ignoring me and continuing to yak on with her phone. It is common for trails to be busy with wandering parents and kids near the central areas of a town or city, especially on a holiday or weekend. Throw in distractions like groups of four or more, meandering folks with cell phones and ipods in their ears, the bicyclist needs to be alert. That is why I prefer riding during the week when often I don't see anyone for thirty minutes or more; many times no one, especially late fall and early spring  .

Downtown Durham at the Durham Bulls Stadium. Another
Hollywood/Kevin Costner  inspired site to see. Field of
Dreams and Mayberry are other examples (see Mt.Airy post)

The northern trail head starts in Durham. The whole downtown area is upscale and fun. Many folks were milling around at shops and restaurants or heading to the Durham Bulls baseball stadium. Durham is a place I would like to go back to and spend some time. Even go to a baseball game.

Giving a thumbs up for Durham. The city and trail are super

Seg #38 Rough Ride Roanoke 5/10/14 Weldon NC- Roanoke Rapids NC

Seg #38 Roanoke Canal  Trail

End	Roanoke Rapids, NC	N36.47899 W77.67010	N-S miles 3.4
Start	Weldon, NC	N 36.66815 W80.92442	Trl lgth 9.3mi Ride 9.3 mi

Ride hr 1:22

AVS 6.7

MXS  mph 19.9

DST 9.3mi

Tmp55-80

Kcal 809

This historical landmark, generator house, was built after
river navigation gave way to the railroad. The canal began
operation in 1824 as a transport and power source for the
textile industry. The canal became an important hydroelectric
power sour in 1885. The generator house is now a museum.

It took three hours to get to Weldon, NC. from Virginia Beach but it might have been faster had I not "spaced off" driving through Boykin, NC. Chris and I were chatting about our struggle with the False Cape State Park Trail when we entered the city limits of Boykin. I noticed some motorcycle riders slowing down ahead of me. They were pumping their arms downward. Translation, slow down buddy! You would think I would have had a few light bulbs flash off in this sluggish brain of mine. By the time I put two and two together, there were a different kind of light flashing from a Boykin police car. The officer said he followed me for four blocks, thinking I would slow down but when he saw the Harley Davidson group signalling me, he had to pull me over. The officer was a Andy Griffith-like fellow so he only gave me a verbal warning. Chris "flipped out" over the lieutenancy, shouting after a mild tongue lashing, " I never get by with a warning"! I guess officer Taylor bought my "sob story" that I was still in shock over our False Cape fiasco. How fortunate of me. Since we were stopped anyway, Chris wanted to get a razor at the Dollar store just across the street.  While waiting, I got out to the car to stretch. In the process of exiting the car, I must have dropped the leather wallet that had insurance and registration documents the officer wanted. I didn't realize the missing wallet until the next day. Thinking it may have wedged between or under the seats, I gave the possible locations a cursory study.  No luck. And for that matter, no luck with a major clean out of the car when we got home. Just for the fun of it, I called the Dollar store in Boykin to see if I could be as lucky as I was in 1981 when I left my wallet in the men's room at the Salt Lake City Airport. That time I not only got my wallet back, but all two hundred dollars cash was intact. No such luck with Boykin, NC and the Dollar store.

The Roanoke Canal Trail was but a few blocks from the Weldon Holiday Inn our overnight pit stop. It was not a "slam dunk" to find the trail. Trail maintenance was limited if not non-existent, especially the southern end of the trail. Based on the coordinates it appeared I found the correct route but the overgrowth of trees and the lack of a trail bed, caused me to feel like I was blazing the trail for the first time. After two or three miles, the semblance of a rough trail emerged.

After a mile or so a recognizable trail emerged and the dips
a dazzles associated with MTB trails leveled out.  

Can you find the bike trail in this picture? It's there but only
a tire width wide. I think the millionaires that  live up the hill
just claim the public access for their yard or horse pasture. 

Something equivalent to a mountain bike trail. Eventually the trail came into a opening and the trail appeared to connect to a small decorative bridge with flowers and landscaping. I never saw anything like it. But where did the trail go from this spot?  There was a humongous yard or perhaps pasture, straight ahead, large mansions to my left and the Roanoke Canal to my right. But where was the trail. Did it go toward some large mansions to my left? Nope! After riding into someone's seven car garage-driveway, it was clear I was not on the trail. So, I headed down to a horse barn by the canal. After exploring a bit, I found a one tire width path through the lawn. Back on track. The Roanoke Canal is wider and has more bends than the Augusta Canal in Georgia. Like the Augusta Canal the Roanoke bike trail followed the towpath that horses and mules used to pull cotton laden barges in the 1800's. The Augusta Canal towpath is a much more user friendly trail than the Roanoke Canal. I commuted seven to thirteen miles from Martinez to the Dental College twice a week on the Augusta Canal Trail. In the winter, I would start out in the dark and then as the sun rose over the Savannah River, I witnessed some of the prettiest sunrises I have ever seen.

Chris was able to sleep-in after staying up to watch the LA Kings beat the Anaheim Ducks on the road to the Stanley Cup finals. He met me at the north end of the trail about an hour and a half later and we loaded up and drove to the American Tobacco Trail in Durham, NC.