Coop's Corner: Running Hyosung / Walk In The Woods

Sunday, May 17, 2020

Running Hyosung / Walk In The Woods

Monday afternoon the 250 Twin was out, finally running and running it was! I should have dealt with the fuel supply issues a long time ago.

Another shopping trip into Red Wing on the rig, another lovely afternoon.

Friday morning early I helped Peg's mom with her doctor visit and then it was ride time. An early afternoon stop at the Eagle Valley Cafe for take out Fish Fry.

A shady spot in the grass...a slice of homemade, the always-included banana creme and some coleslaw to keep things balanced.

Then it was time to wander....

A short video highlighting 4 sections of roads I ran....

The tightest gravel hairpin that I know of in the area.

Loved the budding ferns here on Markey Bluff Rd.

An afternoon coffee break in Independence, their Island Park.

And it was good...

The very famous Caddie Klink Road corner.

Bisek Ridge Rd....

A couple of young Amish men were salvaging this old abandoned chicken facility.

I wave when I can...

River Road along the Trempealeau River.

Wisconsin's Hwy 95.....(sorry about the smudge, I continually forget to check)

Dropping down to the Fountain City Rod and Gun Club's facility.

This valley never disappoints....

Had to visit Whitman Dam Road....had a real adventure one late winter when I locked the keys in the van. Luckily daughter Lauren found me when AAA could not. No problems Friday however, just lovely Mississippi flowing backwater.

Again, Lake Pepin and almost home.

A stop at the Lake City Rest Stop for a snack, I wanted my 2nd cup of coffee but it was getting late so I decided against it.

Saturday morning another chance for coffee at Diamonds.

Bikes all Social Distancing....

After coffee, a trip up to GoMoto to see Marty and pick up my freshly shod wheels. Sharp observers will note my pet moth down there between Helix and Himalayan rubber. Now that the opossum seems to have left for smellier garbage cans, this moth is the best I can do.

Saturday, evening Woods Walk.

We have a lot of these vines in our woods, this one relatively small in size. The largest one that I know of is as big around as a gallon paint can.

I was looking for Morel mushrooms and wasn't seeing a single one but there were plenty of other funguses present.

I ate my fill of these delectables and finally Sunday morning was feeling much less queasy.

Found....one. I'm no expert but my hunch is that we just haven't had enough heat yet this spring. The forest floor plants aren't as developed as I remember them on previous successful hunts. I'll be back out there now that my skills have been sharpened.

Sunday?? Well, Sunday is/was wet.

See that island of Dry between Viroqua and Gays Mills, that tiny tiny spot of green? That's where we would have been for our Great River Road Rally this weekend sans pandemic. Dry enough to get our tents and bags on the bike, but a wet ride back up to that 51 degrees.

It's like Memorial Day weekend two weeks early.

So what did I do to pass the time? Garage time of course, after the towel racks, laundry and fireplace 'adjustment'. Minuano, Slip Away, Letter From Home, Sisters, Cafe Del Mar, San Lorenzo on repeat at safe but respectable levels. I wanted to feel it...the garage slab is only 4" thick.

Well mom, what do you think? I've been busy working on menu items that I can carry as well as cook. Somehow dad's favorite meal came to mind; baked beans, the pork, pickled onions and fresh baked bread. Your baking days when the oven was already hot sometimes netted the baked beans. I don't have a reasonable way of baking on the Coleman so here I did the best I could. Great Northern beans, bacon pieces and pickled onions, a bit of garlic and some cracked pepper. Flour tortillas instead of your wonderful fresh bread. This actually was very good and if not exactly like yours, it sure hit the spot on a cool rainy afternoon.

It's been at least 40 years and this afternoon I felt 10 again....the flavors and memories of the four of us around the table were here. Thank you.

4 comments:

redlegsridesMay 17, 2020 at 7:55 PM
Too dry here in the Stoner state for mushrooms like that I think....good knowledge to have, which ones being safe to eat!
ReplyDelete
Replies
RichardMMay 17, 2020 at 8:37 PM
What was the fuel problem? Just curious…

Morels are wonderful, too bad there weren’t more to be found.
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)