Seg #24 Maze Boy Bike Ride Two B (MBR2B) 8/4/13

Segment # 24 Prairie Sunrise/HardwoodCreek Trail Stacy to Hugo MN 8_4_13
 

Start	Stacy, MN	45.40563-92.98670	NS miles 14.7
End	Hugo, MN	45.17712-92.99410	Trllgth 17.3Ride 22.6

Ride Hrs 2:20

AVS 9.6

MXS 26

KCAL 1848

Temp 78

El 890-960

 
Anyone following this blog will remember that Maze Boy Ride #2 was scheduled for May (See an older Post for Segment #15) but that trip was short one rider---Christopher Glenn was recovering from a hernia operation resulting in a opt-out situation. So Geoff and I did Maze Boy Bike Ride Two A (MBR2A) in Kansas. When Chris was mended and was able to get a couple days off from his hemodyalis position at Mercy Hospital in Des Moines, he decided he could ride some trails with me in Minnesota. It seems appropriate to name these rides as Maze Boy Bike Ride Two B (MBR2B).

Three Maze Boys. Brother Flip the senior.
Chris the Junior and Me in-between 

Since we were going to pass within twenty miles of big brother George’s (better known as Flip) house, about seventy miles up Interstate 35, we diverted to Webster City, Iowa and dropped in on Flip and Carol. As you can see in the three Maze picture, George is doing well as the 85 year old captain of the Maze Team; in fact, better than sixteen years younger, littlest brother Glenn (that be me). After a nice chat and inspection of their Rutgers tomato patch, Chris and I headed up the interstate to Stacy, Minnesota. We found the trail head and had our picture taken by a passing bicyclist. Chris rode with me for half the trail and then rode back to the car as I kept going to Hugo, Minnesota. The ride was smooth asphalt so we averaged 9.6 mph, faster than normal for me. There were quite a few bikers, in-line skaters and cross country “no snow” skiers. Chris picked me up and we drove to St. Paul for segment # 25.

Segment #23: Frisco Highline, Wilson Creek Greenway Springfield, MO 7_25_13

Start	Willard, MO	37.304999 -93.42761	NS miles 14.7
End	Battlefield NM	37.09159,-93.40540	Trllgth18.8Ride 21

Ride Hrs 3:23

AVS 9.5

MXS 23

KCAL 908

Temp 86

El1088-1305

*These data are estimates; I rode my black Trek that no longer has a working computer

Trixie was first-rate in shepherding me to the comfort of the Comfort Inn and she splendidly found the trailhead in Willard, MO. Being so close to Springfield, I could not but try to contact one of my top ten residents, Jody Vance. Jody finished his periodontal specialty certification at Nebraska in 1994. Right after Dr. Kaldahl gave him his certificate, Jody jumped into a loaded moving truck with his car in tow. My guess is he drove all night to get to Springfield. This hard working young man jumped into practice feet first. I am so proud of his leadership; support of the dental profession; and dedication to his community. Not only did he blaze the bicycle trail

Jody with his Nebraska College of Dentistry classmate Marlene Feisthamel. These Cornhuskers keep Springfield teeth, gums and implants in excellent condition.

I rode, he was instrumental in organizing the Ozark Huskers. That's saying a lot for guy who grew up in Oklahoma.  His support of the Ozark Multiple Sclerosis Chapter is just another good guy thing this man fits into his busy schedule. Keep it going Jody!
  How impressing it was to see so many people riding the Frisco Highline trail. The trailhead parking lot in Springfield was packed and it wasn't even the weekend!  Unfortunately the Wilson Creek Trail doesn't connect with the Frisco Highline Trail so I had to do some creative peddling along the West Bypass, Republic Road and the streets of Battlefield. I was able to negotiate the traffic without a hitch to get to the Wilson Creek National Battlefield. The Battle of Wilson's Creek, August, 1861, opened the Civil War in Missouri. By the end of the war,

Over my shoulder, up by the lone

tree, is the restored farm home of
John Ray. Ray, his wife and nine
children along with an enslaved
woman and her four children and
a mail carrier all took shelter in
the cellar while the Confederates
used the home as a hospital.

 

Missouri had seen so many battles and skirmishes, it would rank as the third most
fought-over state in the nation. Many soldiers
hid and crawled through cornfields the farmers
in the area had planted. As a farm boy I was impressed that the battlefield was in prime shape with the corn tasseling over six feet---perfect for hide and seek guerrilla warfare. Despite the Union Army being 8,000 troops down to the 12,000 Confederates, the Union forces initially prevailed by using surprise attacks lead by General Nathaniel Lyon. But when Lyon was killed a day later, the Unionists retreated. Not until September, 1864 did the Union Army return. In the biggest battle of west of the Mississippi, the Battle of Westport, October 23rd, The Confederates were driven into Arkansas to never return.


When I was trying to establish my location on the Wilson Creek Trail, I came upon this work

of art, at least that is what I thought. There was no identifying plaque as to the name of the

piece nor the artist but I was intrigued and took this picture. When I ran into a local fellow at

least my age, I thought I would get the story. Well not only did he not know anything about a work of art in the area, he could not remember seeing this wall in the middle of no where next to the trail. Maybe it is left over bricks from Pink Floyd's The Wall? :-)

Seg#22 Prairie Spirit Trail #2 KS 7_24_13

Start	Garnett, KS	38.40145 -95.252604	NS miles 7.9
End	Richmond, KS	38.28303,-95.24920	Trl lgth 9.6Ride 19.2

Ride Hrs 2:10

AVS 9

MXS 14

KCAL 1600

Temp 88

Elev 960-1130

*These data are estimates; I rode my black Trek that no longer has a working computer

Ride segment #22 was a feel good ride with pequeno vento (Portuguese: “little wind”--- hearkening back to living in the Azores while serving in the US Air Force) or humidity and plenty of sunshine. It tickled me to be able to complete unfinished latitude Geoff and I were unable to complete on Segment #16. Since I was alone, I needed to peddle up the trail to Richmond, Kansas and back to Garnett, Kansas nine plus miles each way.  The train station in Garnett is a classic.



Garnett, Kansas: This is one of the
nicest trailhead stops I have seen.
An awesome restoration



 The original railroad, Leavenworth, Lawrence and Galveston Railroad, built in the 1868 eventually went bankrupt due to the Great Panic of 1891. The Santa Fe Railroad then procured the right of way and operated the tracks for ninety years. In 1990, the KTC Railway Corporation bought and subsequently abandoned the rail bed. In 1992, the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks obtained title to the right of way and the first section of the Prairie Spirit Trail was built. Currently the trail is nearly sixty miles in length. Long range plans include joining the Prairie Spirit with the 117 mile Flint Hills Nature Trail and then connecting both trails to a Quad State Trail uniting four states,  Kansas, Missouri, Iowa and Nebraska.

Shorty after 5 p.m., I headed toward Springfield, Missouri for the Frisco-Highline Trail. Along the way I passed through Fort. Scott, Kansas. The town is quaint with eighteenth and early nineteen century buildings restored to their original glory.

Fort Scott National Historical Site today. The
post served to keep the peace and corral the
native Americans to the west side of the
Mississippi River. Heavy bloodshed occurred

The Fort was established by the US Army in 1842 to protect the Permanent Indian Frontier. Prior to the Civil War, Ft. Scott was a hotbed of controversy over the extension of slavery into new territories. Murder, rape, mayhem, robbery, arson and other hyenas crimes were committed by bold free-state, pro-slavery advocates in the name of the Cause. On January 29, 1861, Kansas entered the union as a free state but turmoil known by eastern newspapers as “Bleeding Kansas” continued throughout the Civil War. After the war between the states, the army pulled out of Fort Scott only to be called back in 1869 to deal with squatters  who forcefully opposed  the development of the railroad south of the military installation and the city of Fort Scott. The army became the scapegoat of problems between the squatters and the railroad, causing the troops to leave Fort Scott in 1873.  The development of the Fort Scott National Historical Site makes this area a destination point. I hope to return with Connie so she can enjoy the shops in the town along with the history at the historical site.

As I said before, I hate driving at night but that is just what I did. Trixie (the GPS Momma) was relied upon to get me to Bolivar, Missouri where I crashed a burned for a power sleep.

Even though Kansas is a flat state, there is tremendous beauty when the golden wheat contrasts with green trees and row crops. When I was on the farm, bales were liftable.

These two ton "porkers" require heavy equipment to lift, carry and stack. They are good for

hiding moonshine as we learned on the History Channel :-)

 

 

Seg #21 Hiway 12 Trl & Badger State Trl 7_11-12_13

 

Start	Middleton WI	43.19591-89.58140	NS miles 46
End	Clarno WI	42.51851,-89.64794	Trl lgth 52/Ride 52

Ride Hrs 5:40

AVS 17.9

MXS20.2

KCAL 4173

Temp 82

Elev 820-1115

What perfect weather for Segment #21. Mark, Donna, Connie and I headed out from Dubuque, IA and drove to north of Middleton, WI to find a paved bike path at the junction of highways 12 and 19. The nice thing was that 75% of the trail was downhill---a good warm-up, without the stress from hills and headwind. It was one of my top ten biking days ever, as far as ease of ride. Scenery and traffic noise kept the Cam Rating (see Cam and Cush names below) down to seven on a ten point scale. Low humidity kept the sweat beads from forming and the body cool. After riding the Highway 12 trail to Middleton, we loaded up the bikes and drove to the Lakeshore Nature Preserve, part of the University of Wisconsin Campus. A wordless sign at the gate displayed the ubiquitous NO Way Jose, showing an encircled bicycle image with a diagonal line through it. I was bummed out about my latitudes until I checked my GPS. It was clear I did not need to ride from as far north as Frautschi’s Point through the preserve. I made a note of the change in coordinates and we headed south toward Madison in search of the Blue Moon Bar on University Avenue.

Mark outside the Blue Moon in

pursuit of the Slimy Curd Motor-

cycle Club but "No Cigar"

The joint was minimally habituated likely due to the university students being off on summer break.  Mark was in hopes of meeting members of the Slimy Cruds Motorcycle Club that regularly meet at this bar. The bartender didn’t know that much about the group, a surprising response and eliciting a negative Cam Rating from me. After a sandwich and beer, we headed south on Highland Avenue to connect with the Southwest Commuter Trail and then Badger State Trail. We needed to ride to Belleview, ten miles, to complete half the distance of our two day ride. As we rode south the trail changed from paved to crushed limestone. Mark thought we could ride a bit farther to New Glarus to meet the ladies so he hailed down a bicycler coming toward us. This cyclist looked like Mark but wasn’t as sharp as Mark when it came to directions, confirming Cush’s Theorem. Back in our college days at UNI, we had given each other biblical names. Mine was Cam and his was Cush. Cush’s Theorem states that no matter who you ask for directions, there will be significant details excluded, thus resulting in not arriving at the correct place at the expected time. This was the case with the world experienced bicycler that we happened upon. We wanted to know how we could short cut to New Glarus so the gentleman told us and even drew us a map. After he left Mark said that can’t be right. “There is a road off this trail that will take us straight to New Glarus.,” Mark growled. “That guy doesn’t know what he is talking about.” Sure enough on the next day’s Badger Trail ride, Cush's Theorem: "Directional information tends to be generally misleading",  was confirmed---County Road W was the best shortcut.

Mark's Look-look-alike explains how we can "shortcut"

to New Glarus. If we would have followed his map,

we would have gone miles out of our way 

Cush's Theorem confirmed !!!

Mister Mystery Cycler directions would have caused us to ride six or more miles out of our way, bypassing the County Road W short-cut. This has taught me to have a bit of suspicion of directions, especially from someone that acts tough, all knowing and condescending. Remember my experiences with the Great River Trail directions (see Segment 20)?

After staying overnight in the Swiss settlement of New Glarus and a dinner of Swiss meatballs and fresh baked peach turnovers, we loaded up the bikes and headed to Clarno. Clarno is just a few miles north of a the Illinois-Wisconsin border. A light south by southeast wind pushed us up the trail. With wind at our tailfeathers, the ride from Clarno to Belleview went very smoothly. I was delighted that Mark remembered that we needed flashlights to see our way through the Stewart Tunnel south of Belleview. The tunnel was dug in late 1800’s by laborers from the Chicago, Madison and Northern Central Railroad. Workers (120) earning $1.25 per day, split into two groups; one group dug from the north side and the other from the south. A friendly competition developed between the north and south side excavators. In one year the tunnels met in the center of the mountain, askew by only one inch---near perfection, especially given the era and equipment available. I wish my camera had not broken in California but this 1887 photograph tells the story. The tunnel center is a constant fifty to sixty degree temperature, which made for a pleasant walk through the quarter mile passage on an 80 degree day. My headlight allowed for me to see modern day cave paintings---mostly graffiti of names and hearts but one day perhaps Martian explorers will think of this trash as a significant work of art? With my long beam headlight, I could also see the bend in the tunnel, one of the few tunnels in the world built with a curve. The first pass through the tunnel was February, 1888.

Workers building the Stewart Tunnel in 1887. Blasting,   
steam shovels and steam drills were critical to the project.

 

 



 

 



It was time to head home. The girls brought home some finds including a new purse and shoes for Connie. Donna is turning my wife into a shopper junkie :-)

Hiatus From Riding to California Dreaming

Connie with Geoff and Kayoka's California and
Toyko family including Chris' two, excluding
the photographer who is not cluttering the picture.

A break in cycling border to border in exchange for a nice trip to Geoff's in Long Beach California was a lovely respite. Most activity was youngster based with three trips to the beach, a Knott's Berry Farm (KBF) day, hitting golf balls (Ian, Geoff and me), LA Science Museum, Hollywood, swinging in the parks and tons of Play Nine card playing. It got a bit warm on Sunday but the rest of the time was typical super duper southern California weather. I miss that part of California but not the crowds and traffic. Believe it or not, smog has dissipated from the early 70's with clearer views of the mountains and less exhaust odors. This picture is not the best, mainly because I lost control of my camera at KBF. It crash landed on a concrete walkway. Looking like a rear end fender bender accident---we saw several of those in just a week---I didn't think I could get it to function. Somehow I was able to get the accordian-like lens to operate even though the shutter cover was toast. I guess now is the time to move into the 21st Century. I will see if I can keep up with Alex and Ian and buy an Iphone 5. Apparently it takes super pictures. I remember dental students at Georgia taking intraoral images of their patients with eariler versions and having excellent outcomes. An Iphone would be good for my cycling having apps in that it will help with directions and distances. The GPS in the car doesn't work well in remote areas (see Seg #20 post).

The tough part of the trip was flying out of Denver to LAX. Thunderstorms had moved into the Denver area and some planes were turning around and going back to the gates. For some reason our plane was going to go. Thanks United Airlines for the hellasis white knuckled ride. Ian seemed to like being thrown around like a ping pong ball, but I was really stressed. Connie and Alex did better than me but they didn't enjoy it either. With the San Franciso and Alaska crashes coming on the heals of our flight, I have decided this may be my last plane ride, Connie too. Amtrax here we come! Yoshiharu and Mitsue, Kayoko's parents have a long ride back to Toyko: I just hope they don't have deal with a Denver-like experience.The next post on TAVRT should be a trip from the Illinois border to north of Madison, WI. Thanks for following me.

Chipping Around, but not at golf :-)

Chipmunk Hotel:

  

Ian and me grand standing with finished Munk City Hotel ready to haul. Four Chipmunks were corralled and plunked in through the hinged top. Hope Ian can train them like his dad did with Steamboat.

The second week in June, I was logged-in for trail riding but when my Grandson Ian called about coming to our house and playing golf along with some serious fishing, I changed my plans and Ian came over to Coralville. Once he learned that Gpa was rounding up chipmunks, Ian wanted to take some home. His dad Chris had a pet chipmunk Steamboat when he was young so Ian decided that would be a good idea for him too. Therefore, time allotted for golf, fishing and computer games was directed toward designing and building a three by two and half foot tall cage. When I made Chris’ cage, I jerry-rigged a rustic end table into a cage by closing in sides and end with wire mesh left over from my days on the farm. The 2013 version of that cage was much more robust. Although it took some doing to keep Ian involved, he helped with about 30-40% of the project. I knew it would be tight trying to fit the finished product in the car but it turned out to be impossible. Each day we caught a chipmunk and kept them corralled in the wheelie bin (that’s what my friend Boris [See Wabash Trace Posting] from Australia fondly called garbage cans with wheels).  Because we could not get the cage in the car, we rented a U-Haul trailer to cart the cage 110 miles to Ian’s house. After attaching the trailer, loading the cage and tricking four chipmunks into the cage, the impoundment was pulled to Runnells. One little fellow died from all the excitement but the other three are scooting around in the cage foot loose and fancy free. Now it's time to hit the trails.

Seg #20 Great River State Trail

Seg #20 Great River State Trail (Midway, WI out and back) 6-21-13

Start	Midway, WI	N 43.92757W-91.25027	NS Miles 6.3
End	Black River	N 43.95985,W-91.33813	Trl lgth 24mi/Ride 19.5mi

Ride hrs 2:02

AVS 9.5

MXS 13.9

KCAL 1641

Temp 84

Elev 662

Because of the missing purse fiasco the previous day, my chauffeur was not in the frame of mind try to find me up or down any trail. So, the ride plan was changed from riding to Tempealeau from LaCrosse to driving to unincorporated Midway, Wisconsin and riding out five miles and then back to the car. The Great River is a 24-mile trail that travels along America’s biggest river, through prairies and backwaters of the upper Mississippi River valley. Built on an abandoned Chicago-Northwestern railroad line, the trail is in Wisconsin's scenic Coulee Region, part of the Driftless Area that was untouched by glaciers during the last Ice Age. We took our time getting to the trail since a severe thunderstorm struck early in morning. A large group of golfers were hanging out at the motel ranting about the weather and vehemently exaggerating hole-in-one stories. Eventually we drove out of the rain and ended up in Midway. The miles north of Midway were what I needed for my venture, but somehow I trusted the bartender at the local pub to give me the correct directions as to whether I should go right or left for a northerly heading. “Just go up the trail”, the swashbuckler spit out and pointed to the front door. So that is the way I rode. It took but a few miles to make me wonder if the way I was going was correct. I wish I had used the compass the Perio Department at Georgia gave me on my last day. A compass would have helped more than my GPS, especially since the GPS latitude appeared to be increasing. That would mean I was going north. Because I didn’t remember the Midway start coordinates correctly, I was convinced I was indeed going north. But after another three miles, it was clear I was in the north part of Lacrosse---Damn!  I went south rather than north! Around I turned and headed back to Midway. When Connie saw me riding by, she thought, “What the Heck, he must have gone the wrong way". Yes I did! Since I needed to get some positive latitude so I headed north. No sooner than a mile up the trail, a large ash tree had blown down on the trail. The storm that passed through early that morning was a toughie. After carrying the bike over the branches I was back to riding again only

The Great River State Trail is a crushed limestone

surface a majority of the way. I took this photo

looking back where I crawled through the

first fallen tree; there is only a small hole

of light in this picture. Normally the opening

would be five to six times larger. There were

many limbs on the trail to dodge. I have seen worse.

to have a  another  tree divert me. In the scope of a few miles, I had to negotiate five downed  trees. The storm that hit us up the road had torn through the trail with authority. It was interesting that every fallen tree was an Ash. Probably the heavy volume of seeds limited air flow and created a resistant surface, much like a solid back yard fence. With all the obstacles on the trail, I decided to turn around and go back to Midway. Since was unable to get all my needed degrees of latitude, I will need to find another trail to make up the lost miles due to not making it to Tempealeau (pronounced “temp low”). So after five to tens miles of north-south credit, we headed for home. We got back to Coralville before dark---I don't like driving in the dark. The cats were happy to see us and chipmunks probably groaned sensing the hiatus from my trapping was over.