Coop's Corner: Swan Ride

Monday, November 7, 2016

Swan Ride - 2016

I messed up and assumed....you know what can happen when I do.

Since "we" are down where we are, it's been our custom to not ride up to the St. Paul suburb for the free pancake breakfast and the group ride. Instead, we've been meeting in our neighborhood for breakfast, put on a few miles before or after and then wait for the riders to stop at the location that once upon a time was host to literally thousands of Trumpeter Swans on their southerly migration.

Before I left, the turkeys must have been feeling unsafe out in the woods with all of the deer hunters about.

On the way down to Alma for breakfast.....

Minnesota side.....

Had to stop and unplug my Warm Bib.....45 degrees didn't last for long.

Wisconsin side.....where the swans once stopped for respite.

One of our favorite valleys.......

Breakfast in Alma.....

It has now been years since the swans have stopped in the Buffalo River backwaters of the Mississippi. This year Bill decided to break up the old way, not make the same stop at Rieck's Park and gather for lunch in Buffalo City. If it hadn't been for Carol's map/route sheet, we 4 might still be there at the roadside park waiting for the throngs or riders to make their brief stop.

Not really sure how to adjust our plans, a bit of discussion had us splitting up in a couple of directions. Dave w/Justin decided to head downriver to the Brownsville area where he HAS been seeing swans. He found them yesterday.

Pat, Tim and I decided to take the long way up to Durand where they'd continue on, winding their way back up to the suburbs. On the way from near Alma to Durand, we just happened to stumble upon the actual Swan Ride route and met literally dozens of bikes headed towards their luncheon rendezvous.

We 3 stopped for a break along the Chippewa River in Durand before splitting up.

After a gas fill, I headed back to Alma to meet June and my brother. After some fits and starts, we finally connected in Nelson for pie and ice cream. One more absolutely gorgeous day.....I hope we all can remember this when the deep snow is blowing cold in what will surely be a few short weeks.

Another fantastic ride, a wonderful mix of 134 miles solo and with good friends.

In the driveway and home......

7 comments:

JasonNovember 8, 2016 at 9:50 AM
It was a beautiful day for a ride! I love these bonus days in November no less. Sounds like the swan ride was more of a swan scavenger hunt. It would be cool to find em and work in a stop along the route, but that's a lot of people to coordinate.
There are a handful of riding days ahead of us before the snow files, happy hunting.
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TrobairitzNovember 8, 2016 at 1:49 PM
Fun! Does anyone know why the swans have stopped returning to the same location? It seems a shame.
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Greg ProsmushkinNovember 9, 2016 at 1:28 PM
Really cool photos! Love seeing shots like this, thanks for the share.
Kim
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Coop a.k.a. CoopdwayNovember 10, 2016 at 6:08 PM
Thanks for stopping by!
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"it was auspicious to approach any situation from a deferential, inquisitive place. Conceding that there is much to learn is the best blueprint for discovering something new." ----B. Fuller

The Man straightened stiffly above the block of salt fixed to the stake and looked at the young cattle ringed about him. The pasture was holding out well and the stock was looking good. This bunch would be ready to sell in another month, maybe sooner if the market was right.

A stir among the cattle down near the river brought him round to face the swinging bridge he'd built years before. Someone was coming toward him from the bridge. Someone in breeches, but it didn't look like a man, somehow. What was a woman doing in his pasture this time of night?

He bent over the salt again; maybe if he paid her no heed she'd go on past and let him mind his own business. He heard her footsteps come nearer and stop. "Good evening," she said.

Her voice was smooth with book learning but friendlier than most, and somehow almost shy. When he made no answer she went on, "I've been sitting on your swinging bridge....I thought I'd like to say thank-you...." Her voice stumbled a little, then she tried once more.

"You are Mr. ____". His name sounded strange in her voice, but she went on to tell her own.

"That's what they've called me the last sixty-eight years," he said, looking past her face to the hills fast darkening under a single star. "I reckon the woods are free for those that like to walk there."

The unfamiliar voice laughed a little. "That's what Emerson said: the grove belongs to the man who walks in it with an open heart....On that basis I guess I've owned part of your woods for a good many years.....". She made a final effort. "I've always wanted to thank you....."

Something deeply hidden stirred in him. "There's a stump up there, in the notch of the woods", he said slowly, "that before the timber grew so tall you could stand on it and see all over this country."

He kept still a minute, remembering, then, "I used to stand up there an' look at things, an' wonder how they come to be like they was, an' how the hills was created, an' all the things in Nature.... I told my wife I guessed all the religion I ever had I got standin' on that old stump, a-wonderin'..." He turned his face away from her.

She helped him out. "I know about that, a little. This afternoon I saw......." Her account of a thing she had really taken time to look at eased him, and he answered with telling of the badger den at the foot of the swinging bridge.

When she had gone, he turned to watch her. After a moment she stood clear and unmoving against the sky. You could hear the sounds of the river where she stood. She was one that could stand still long enough, he thought, really to hear what a body was saying, or a river.

Then she walked down the farther side of the slope and was gone. ------Margaret Snyder from A Chosen Valley

Fall was the end of harvest, end of the growing season, a burst of color and sun-warmth before killing frost turned the land gray and cold. Fall was a moody time, full of both life and death, a time when we were reminded of the power outside of us, reminded that the seasons happen to us. We do not invite the change to come.-------Ben Logan, from The Land Remembers

When you get those rare moments of clarity, those flashes when the universe makes sense, you try desperately to hold onto them. They are the lifeboats for the darker times, when the vastness of it all, the incomprehensible nature of life is completely elusive. So the question becomes or should have been all along, what would you do if you knew you only had one day, or one week, or one month to live. What lifeboat would you grab onto? What secret would you tell? What band would you see? What person would you declare your love to? What wish would you fulfill? What exotic locale would you fly to for coffee? What book would you write? ------- Ben Tyler

We were also cautioned about journeying far from home. As an example of the dangers, the town had a badly crippled lady named Lucy, who as a girl had traveled to New York City. As she traveled along a sidewalk, sightseeing, she was struck by the outstretched hand of a suicide who had leapt from high above. Her spine had been shattered and for the rest of her life, she was to walk bent forward at the waist, tapping the sidewalk with two black canes. Whenever the subject of travel to a big city was raised, someone would say, "Just remember what happened to Miss Tripp." ---- Ted Kooser, from Local Wonders

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"It's not about having lots of money, it's about having lots of options......." -----Chris Rock

As the very proud father of three former ponytail wearers, hopefully I can get away with this....."For the past few years it's been fashionable for young women to wear ball caps and to snap the strap on the back under their ponytails. I like the looks of that, their shiny ponytails jauntily swinging, but it's hard not to think of the rear ends of horses. There's a piece of harness called the crupper that goes just under a horse's tail to keep its nose down. If the horse lifts its head to look for a way out of whatever predicament it's in, the crupper tightens and hurts the horse. But it's foolish for parents to think that a ball cap might keep a young woman from running away. Anybody can see they're made for running." ------Ted Kooser, Local Wonders

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