New Bike

Today we celebrated our first excursion with our NEW BIKES! (a gift from Dave's parents). We took the the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail, which you can begin with a train ride up the valley! That means the return trip is all downhill. We rode the train for two bucks each from Brecksville Station to Botzum Station, where they unloaded our bikes for a 14 mile ride back to our point of origin. Along the way we visited historic Botzum Farm site and Szally's Farmers Market (pictured above). The apples were delicious - well, actually Granny Smith and Jonagold. It was a glorious day for a ride and I must have thanked God 100 times for such a day as this. How often do we get to wallow around in perfect contentment?

As a side note, I did see someone on the trail with my exact bike and I thought, "don't these brakes work well."

Old Bike

I have had my bike for thirty years. After my Peninsula State Park experience and learning the cost of fixing up our bikes - Dave's has been pretty rickety for some time - would get us more than halfway to new bikes, Dave and I decided to donate both of our bikes to Ohio City Bicycle Co-Op,
an organization that is all about bikes and getting them into the hands of people who cannot afford them on their own.

We were quite apologetic about the foibles of our old friends, but the energetic guys who accepted our donations were happy to get two venerable fixer-uppers. Now I have a bike that looks like all the others on the trail, is a bit conventional-looking, but the brakes work and I can ride on gravel - no problem.

Big Plans for an upgrade

Sometimes it would be nice to have cell phone/internet no matter where we are parked. We make due with our Verizon air card, but if only we could...

When we are boondocking, (no water or electric hook ups and generator use only) it would be nice to have unlimited water, if only we could... bridges could be a problem.

In this photo we are parked in a back lot - boondocking.

Door County, Wisconsin to Cleveland, Ohio

When planning our schedule, we try to spend at least a week in one area. This past week has been a dismal failure in that regard. Tuesday morning we left Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin and on Friday evening we were setting up in Streetsboro, Ohio, with stops at Delavan, WI; Munster, IN; and Pioneer, OH, inbetween. Dave was a under the weather most of the week, and still his wife would not drive while hauling the house - chicken that I am. So I helped him drive as much as I could from the passenger's side.

During the course of our travels this week we sang at two schools, traveled 686 miles, and suffered only a few of our household items trying to make a break for it. The dishes only made it to the kitchen floor (velcro strap left hanging), so too for the bag of frozen corn, ejected by the unlatched freezer during some hard left turn.
Events like this - which is nothing compared to the Great Exploding Correlleware Escape - make us say again, "Man, we should have a checklist."

Biking at Peninsula State Park

Like the Fish Boil, biking in the park has also been on my list of "gotta do." Since the movie Bucket List, I could change the name of my list, but I won't because that would be caving.
So, on a beautiful sunny day I biked 10 miles through the park. Did I mention that my bike is 30 years old? Did I mention that my front brakes fell apart while going down a hill? Did I mention that my bike keeps slipping gears? In spite of all that, it was a sweet ride and a check mark on my list.

Door County Fish Boil

A Wisconsin Fish Boil is one of the things on my list of " gotta do." It was a rainy night, but the boil over was still pretty cool. I will be posting a video on You Tube - uh.... soon.

No Pillow For You

I thought this sign was a hoot! I have included a photo of the "pillow" as well. It is actually a lot of fun. There are also a few rules about back flips and somersaults - like I could do that.

Singing in St. Cloud

During our school concerts, Dave likes to have teachers "volunteer" to help teach the kids an original song entitled, "Fix Our Eyes." The kids enjoy watching their teachers do the actions.

School concerts give us an opportunity to be perfectly silly to get the point across. In the photo Dave is wearing a wolf hat with a bit of sheep's clothing as a disguise. We love to hear the laughter of the children as he puts on the wolf.