Author: bikeral2000

What a fantastic first day ride.  Temps were in the 60’s all day, tail wind, partly sunny, and just plain pleasant.  I don’t know how we will ever beat this.

We started out with a group shot at Buckingham Fountain and then took off on the Lake Shore trail.  We were on a bike path almost all day.  And I am so impressed with Chicago’s bike paths.  All paved, pretty well maintained, well signed, and easy to navigate.  There was only one time where we stopped and really scratched our heads about exactly where to go.  Remember, there are two of us ladies and nine guys.  Well, we had decided where to go but several of the men kept rehashing and rehashing.  I tho’t it was so funny.  No one would just take off and go and I finally said to one guy, “How many guys does it take to make a map decision?”

Group shot and our leaders, Jared and Johnny.  Great guys and very accommodating.

They even had cold sodas and chips for us when we got in.  They got points for that.

So our group’s names are kinda unique.  We have a Matt, Mark, Murray, and Alison, Allen, Al and Jared and Johnny as well as Doug, Glynn, Stephen, Richard, and Francis.

One exciting thing happened today.  We approached a draw bridge and were almost on it when all these bells and whistles went off and the arms came down.  A couple of us backed off and immediately the bridge started rising.  It only took a couple minutes to rise up enough to let a tug boat through and then come back down.  I was quite impressed.

One of our riders, Doug, has a wooden bike.  Yes, a bike frame made out of three different exotic woods.  It is beautiful. The bike has wood from three continents.  The outside wood is Jatoba from Brazil (Brazilian cherry).  The middle wood is Wenge from Zaire, Africa. This is the most dense wood in the world.  The center is Appalachian Ash.  The wood is musical instrument grade material.  The wood is laminated together and they make them in halves.  The tubes are only 3/16 thick.  They are computer machine controlled to make this frame.   Then they west system epoxy them to seal out water.  The next step is to put an adhesive on the joints that are pressure and temperature sensitive and then put them in an oven to slowly warm it up to 170 degrees over 24 hours.  At that point, the glue melts and the glue is stronger than the wood.  The final step is three coats of virgin polyeurathane. Then the frame is guaranteed for life.

The name of the bike is Renobe.  Check out the website.

We are camped at an RV park tonite and it sits between two busy highways.  It is probably going to be almost as noisy as last night’s train noises.  I didn’t sleep at all last night.  Every five minutes an El train went by our window.  It was disgusting.  I know I never slept more than 10 minutes at a time.

16.6 miles when we rode the Lake Shore trail two days ago.  3815.7 total

57.8 miles today. 3873.5 total

Wow, 61 degrees this morning.  Perfect riding weather, but, again, why couldn’t we have had that on the farm?

One thing I have noticed so far about this city is that it is very noisy.  We’re not too far from two airports, the El train runs right outside our window, and then there is the horn honking, sirens, and the general traffic noise.  However, I did sleep well last night.  Not hot for a change.

Spent a lot of time today just sitting around the hostel lobby talking to other riders and getting to know them.  We were told tonite at our meeting that this group of riders is the smallest age span difference of all other groups our leaders have led.  Only about 10 years between the youngest and oldest.  I know there are four of us 70-72 and the youngest so far is 63.  And all but one has had multiple experience riding long distances either with other organized groups or as solo, self – supported.  So we have a great group.

I did take a walk along the shore with Murray, just to get some fresh air and exercise.  We walked past the planetarium, aquarium, and the field museum.  Checked out all the gardens around the buildings and took shots of the skyline.

That red building up above in the first two pictures is the Chicago Housing Authority bldg and the blue one is Roosevelt University.  Very striking against the skyline.

This fish was outside the aquarium and is made from total junk, pieces of plastic from bottles, old plumbing parts, even a kid’s sand box shovel.  Really cool!

Four of us walked the few blocks to get a picture of the beginning of rte 66.

Had our orientation meeting tonight.  We got the rules of the trip.  All common sense really.  But nice to know up front what is expected.  We are all excited to get on the road.

And we get a map meeting every night about our next day’s route.  That will be very helpful.

After our meetings, they served us deep dish pan pizza and salad.  We also had rte 66 drinks.  Note the root beer.

Hope I can sleep tonite.  I’m excited and anxious to get going.

Got up at 5, on the road by 6, and arrived around 10.  Drove out of the rain to dry roads about half hour or so from Chicago.  That was nice.

First thing I noticed once off the interstate in town was the number of impatient drivers who honk their horns.  My gosh, that is irritating.  If you don’t move when some one thinks you should, the driver behind you goes Beserk.  How rude.

I walked in with my bike and immediately met three other riders who were putting their bikes together and getting ready to go for a test ride.  So I changed my clothes right away and rode with them on the Lake Shore bike path.  That sure was better than sitting around until 4 when I could check in.  As we left the hostel, I was thinking I needed a jacket which the guys agreed.  Never did I think it would be any less than 80+ degrees but it was almost chilly.  We were ok once we started riding.  Why couldn’t we have had that cool weather on the farm.  We could have accomplished so much more.  The high today here was 69.

I have to say I am impressed so far with downtown Chicago.  The streets are clean, they have huge planters planted very nicely, and even an heirloom garden a block from the hostel.  Not what I was expecting.  There are over 150 different heirloom flowers and vegetables in those plots.  Really nice.

Also, a block from the hostel is a huge water fountain on the edge of the park.

Went to dinner with five of the guys.  An interesting group so far.  Should be a fun group.

A sad day but need to move on.  Got up at crack of dawn as usual and went straight to the garden to pick another 1/2 gal bucket of tomatoes.  Stef was thrilled. ( NOT).

I spent the morning cleaning up my mess from yesterday, vacuuming, labeling and putting another 69 pints and half pints of peppers in the freezer.  A total of 154 boxes of peppers.  Ye gads, that’s a lot.  Also, washed all the canning dishes from last nite.  Stef didn’t finish til midnight.

Did all my last minute laundry as well as fold three loads of towels etc from the canning process.  By noon, I felt like I had done a whole days work.  Might be getting soft.

After lunch, I laid on the couch and dozed off and on for almost three hours.  Haven’t been sleeping well at night.  Must have been tired. And I was thinking I might be a little homesick.  I miss my garden and house.  Working here on the farm, especially in the garden, has been therapeutic but also reminded me how grounded I am in the land.

Tonight, B J and the three boys came for supper and I played games with them before saying goodbye.  Not sure when I’ll make it back and I am going to miss these guys.

When Stef got home, I loaded my bike and bags in the car so we are ready to take off at 6am.  Phil, Stef, and I stayed up later than we should have talking but we won’t have time in the morning.

A great two weeks.

Another busy, busy day.  I was awake from 12:30 to 4:00 last nite, don’t ask me why other than I was hot.  So I woke up tired, but, put it in overdrive, and away we went.

First thing, I went out to the garden to pick tomatoes. Two 5-gal buckets.  Stef was not pleased.  She had to work most of the day, came home and started them, then we we went to a Soil Conservation function for dinner etc.  Her son, B J, is the head guy in his office.  Didn’t get home til after 9 and then we finished canning the tomatoes.  Makes for a long day.

After picking the tomatoes, I started on the monstrous pile of peppers and did really well. Haven’t added up the total yet but it was a lot.  One of the peppers is called a salsa pepper and it is HOT.  I have several cracks and/or cuts on my hands and they burn like crazy.  I think that helped me to not go back to sleep last nite.  I even washed with lots of soap and cold water today and they still burn.  And when I did dishes from canning tonite, they were on fire.  All part of the process.

Tomorrow is my last day here in Ohio so last minute laundry and packing is priority.  But I’m sure I’ll have some other duties to fulfill.  Been a busy two weeks.  I’ve enjoyed every minute.  Wished I lived closer so I could help with canning and freezing and chores.  My operation is small compared to here but still very demanding.  I just enjoy the companionship because at home, I pretty much do everything by myself.  I like sharing what we accomplish rather than just talking to myself.

It will be good to get back on the bike.  I feel like a sloth.

Seems like the closer to the end of my stay, the more there is to do.

The weed job was atrocious.  I had to walk across a soybean field and pull two different types of very large weeds.  It took longer to navigate through the field than pull the 30 or so weeds.  The soybeans were almost waist high.  Unheard of and so thick that I could hardly get through.  It was mostly easier to walk across the rows than to go down between the rows.  I did this soon after sunrise, and, of course, the dew was very heavy.  I was soaked from head to toe.  My clothes just stuck to me.

Then I picked the largest peppers, four different kinds, and ended up with 9 – 5 gallon buckets.  My job was to freeze them.  It took me til 11:00 to pick them, another two hours to wash them all and then I could start deseeding, chopping and freezing.  I hardly made a dent by supper time.  However, I did freeze over 50 1/2 pints today.  Guess I know what I’ll be doing the next two days.

I have never seen that many peppers on one plant as I did today.  One plant had over 20 peppers on it.  So glad I did the corn yesterday.  And tomorrow I get to pick tomatoes so Stef can can them when she gets home from work.  Never need to look for something to do on the farm.

Phil and Stef took me out to dinner so I could get my favorite Midwest sandwich, a pork tenderloin.  We don’t have those out west.  They are only available in the Midwest hog country.

Need some sleep.  Was awake half the nite due to the extreme heat.  Not any better tonite.

Boy, another really hot day.  Ohio is having its 4th heat wave this summer.  I could never live here.

I left home at 8am to ride into town to do a few errands and then rode to my sister’s house to go meet our other sister for lunch.  It was already too hot by 10am.

We met in Middletown and lunch was ok but not great.  The food was below average in my book.  But we caught up on things.

Rode back home and pulled the last of the sweet corn and shucked it.  Too hot to even do that, but I did.

Cooked supper for my brother since his wife isn’t home tonite.  We are both whipped from the heat.

I have another yukky job awaiting me in the morning early.  More weeds to pull. Gotta do it before it gets unbearably hot.

Hoping this heat dissipates before the weekend when I take off on my next bike ride.  Will keep you posted.

23.5 miles today. 3799.1 total

Somewhat busy day for me again.  I cooked lunch for 10 people and it all was received well.  Not too many leftovers.  And what was left, my great nephew’s wanted to take home.  I was a hit with them.

Went home with Cathy and worked in the apples again.  They picked up something like 20- 5 gal buckets of apples and THAT is a LOT of apples.  We are making progress but still lots to do.

Early this morning, I went out to Phil’s garden and picked a 5 gal bucket of tomatoes for Stef to can and I helped her with some apples before lunch, too.  Both these ladies have lots of produce to take care of.  That has always been one of my favorite jobs in the summer but I don’t get to do that a lot because there is only me and I can’t eat that much.  So I’m glad I have this opportunity to help them.

My brother, Phil and his son, B J hauled lots of gravel today and BJ’s dump truck is a 1968 relic that runs but is really an antique.  He has to do all kinds of things to it to keep it running.  Riding in it is a thrill.  You feel every bump, it is loud, but has enough power to haul loads of gravel up hill.  A real relic.

So this morning, I also pulled lots of weeds while picking tomatoes.  I could pull weeds every day and never get all of them.  They have had so much rain, the weeds grow faster than anything else.  What a pain.

That’s it for today.

Not too much going on today.  I worked on photos and maps this morning.  Attended a reunion on my sister in law’s side this afternoon.  Brought the three boys of my nephew home with us after the reunion and I played games with them, then watched Home Alone while eating popcorn.  Just a fun afternoon and evening.  After everyone went to bed, I worked on preparing lunch for everyone tomorrow.  Lots of prep work for what I’m making.  Needed everyone out from under my feet and a little peace and quiet.  The boys are 7, 9, and ten and boy do they talk a lot.  My ears get tired after about a half hour.  But they are fun and pretty darn smart,

That’s it for today.

I have to say the weathermen here in Ohio are way off more than they are on.  We listened to the 6am weather and no rain forecasted until late afternoon.

I had planned to ride into town this morning and do a few errands since I wasn’t needed for today’s project.  Well by 7:30 it was pouring down rain.  And I mean pouring hard.  I couldn’t believe it.  I got a late start into town waiting for things to dry off a bit.

I have come down with a bad case of poison ivy from the wood we worked in.  So I went to an urgent care place to see if I could get something to help me.  My anti-itch cream is not cutting it.  I walked in and within a minute or two, the skies opened up again.  Unreal.

I have poison ivy on my face, arms, and hands.  Don’t know how I got it on my face because I wiped the sweat off with a bandana that didn’t touch my hands.  But it is worse there than anywhere else.  I woke up at 4am with the itching driving me crazy.  So the doc gave me a nine day prescription for steroids to dry it up.  Hope it works soon.

After lunch, I went home with Cathy to help with canning apples.  We got a lot done before BJ came to take me home.

The guys were hauling gravel and they had at least four heavy rain showers from 7:30 til when BJ picked me up around five.  Made their work less than fun to do.

5.4 miles today.  3775.6 total