Coop's Corner: Some Surprises

Friday, October 19, 2018

Some Surprises

New roads, some things learned and a remarkable coincidence.

I had a couple of designs/drawings to work on before getting on the bike this morning, not such a bad thing since the weather was only getting better after 8am.

I mentioned last weekend, my non-riding weekend, that I'd installed my engine guards.

That stainless SHCS, the lower mount, is the one that had the buggered threads. The exhaust had to almost be removed to get my 8mm tap on axis. At this point, my bike was still clean.

Taylor Hill Road....

Rollingstone for breakfast.....

Too big for the roads even without the corn or grain heads...

I've been by this one so many times I can't even count them....finally today it was taken.

This was one of today's surprises; the most demanding gravel riding conditions I've ever done. We've had lots of moisture, there's been frost and yesterday it was in the mid-70's. Did moisture come up from the earth's core?? Not only did it make my bike the dirtiest it's ever been, these ruts were firm yet the top inch was greasy. There were times the bars were almost yanked from my arms.

Going down today would have been easier than my recent sand riding and it was deceptive....it never appeared to be so.

A fisherman not far from here...

It got nicer outside....

Such a nice ride, many new roads today, the result of just wandering. Out the driveway and a basic 'turn left'. 218 miles, many of them on new roads, a surprise because I'd been under the impression that I'd done most of the 'good ones' in this general area. Today the list of Good Ones grew.

Speaking of new, I stopped for lunch in Chatfield at JW's Silver Grill. The only place I've previously stopped at in Chatfield was the Kwik gas station for fuel, a sandwich and coffee. Today I decided to try a cafe, pulled out my phone and the Silver Grill seemed perfect.

Seated and waiting for a fresh pot to be brewed, one couple came in and sat at an adjoining table; at that point we were 3 customers. A couple of minutes later, another couple entered and when she turned around, I saw a familiar face. They live near Hudson, Wisconsin, she and I have mutual friends and through those friends, have been involved in a design project together, sharing backgrounds in the medical device field. I was introduced to husband Greg whom I'd not met before and then the coincidences really started flying. Growing up in the same Twin City suburb with shared knowledge of the neighborhoods, time spent as youths in the same general area near our current home in southern Minnesota, the same technical college and some of the same interests. It had to almost be a part of some master plan though I'm not sure who had put everything together. These 2 had been in the area scouting back roads and exploring Amish country. Thanks for lunch Elaine and Greg, a real pleasure to meet you. I'll do some digging about that family and ask mom some more questions.

2 comments:

redlegsridesOctober 20, 2018 at 5:25 PM
That stuff looks like clay....
ReplyDelete
Replies
Coop a.k.a. CoopdwayOctober 20, 2018 at 8:01 PM
Dom, I tried to hose it off this afternoon in the cool windy sunshine. The chunks are gone but not the sticky greasy tan. I had 3 dirty bikes to finally get to, both north and south Wisconsin grime and from yesterday, southern MN muddy dust.
ReplyDelete
Replies

Add comment

Others say....

"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

"Steamboats are like wedding cakes without the complications...." ----Mark Twain

"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

"I tell the guy's girlfriend that the only difference between the book's main character Phaedrus and myself is that I am neither brilliant, tortured or insane, she looks at my bike and there is an uncomfortable silence." --------ahendepe (a.k.a. Vermin)