Coop's Corner: September 2021

Monday, September 27, 2021

(Not As) Brilliant - 2021/09/26

It was not too bad though...compared to last year's September ride. That one WAS Truly Brilliant!

We all had checked out the state Leaf Color by County maps, showing the percentage of leaf 'turn' supposedly all up to date and from home, prospects were not very good for any color other than green but we saw more than expected.

The cabin was a repeat and there were some other things that remained the same. Different however, the roads, some meals and a dinner in Ashland with family and friends. I doubt there would be a single complaint if we in some way could manage to do a complete repeat of this one...it was that great.

Eric arrived with gifts from home, thank you Mrs. Eric!! Both good, the pecan my favorite. We riders survived the weekend, these pies far from it.

Friday morning's sunrise over the lake...

I volunteered to serve breakfast for a lovely Friday morning before we suited up.

A fine memento from last summer's Lutsen bicycle race.

Our first stop Friday morning ....

Lake Owen Boat Launch, we ready to assist (and cheer on) an Illinois boater but he did just fine without any real help, a loud cheer and meeting of hands ensued.

Greg inspecting the Lake Owen dam....

A couple of pizza pies in Mellen....

From Mellen we looped back to Delta....the rain started soon after we left town.

A coffee stop in Drummond, the rain letting up but we were wetter and cooler. Luckily our Intrepid Leader was keeping spirits up.

Friday evening back at the cabin, the rain easing off, the skies trying to clear.

Time to get going with Greg's delicious chili!!

Friday's loop to Mellen...

Saturday morning we breakfasted in Iron River and then started our northern, to-the-Lake ride.

After Friday's rain, the roads were a bit greasy...

Eric noticed where we were....and stopped.

I was glad that he noticed!

This year.....

Last year, same spot near the small lake...wish that I'd remembered to stand by the stump. You'd think the watercolor that I did would have still been in my mind.

Often it's not just the more settled areas.....joggers, dog-walkers, hikers pop up everywhere....Have a care!

Herbster.....a block away from our favorite campground.

Greg did a Sand Angel....

Then it was off to Cornucopia....

Both Steve and Greg took photos of the Fishing Tug's powerplant, still in place. Later at the cabin we spent a good half hour sleuthing the manufacturer of the engine....and nailed it. Chrysler Marine the source.

USACE dredge along the breakwater....

Eric was kind enough to REALLY document my obligatory photo with Peg's Grandfather's Twin Sisters.

Then back up to downtown Corny with a stop at Halvorson's new Fish Market....

I had the chowder....and purchased 2# of Smoked Sugared Whitefish to bring home.

Back on the trail...

Friday's rain had made the sand more forgiving....

A good thing....some standing required.

It doesn't take long to stir up dust.

Saturday's north loop to the Lake....

Our ride didn't last as long as it normally would have due to our dinner plans. Part of my immediate family was in the area for a get-a-way...Kevin's daughter lives/works in the area so an arranged meal in Ashland was organized. Eric kindly drove we riders the ~25 miles to Ashland where we met for a total of 9 diners at the Deepwater Grill. Consensus was, the meal great, the company even better. Now there are more faces to names.

Kevin's KLR and KTM were already over by his trailer...

Sunday morning's load-out...

I was heading out by 8am to meet my family in Bayfield at their rented condo and then a breakfast down the street at Gruenke's. The rest of the riding crew were off to Iron River for another breakfast at the Rustic Roost before their routes home.

The condo in Bayfield, the lower level where Peg and family stayed...

At Gruenke's...... the placemats

A few of hundreds on the wall....

A few drone shots back at the cabin.....

We always have fun together but this weekend was an exceptional balance of The Best... eating, drinking (coffee), story telling, laughing, family, wet cold-weather testing of gear....

And riding.

Thanks guys for your contributions, time and most of all, your friendship.

So who's credit card for next year??

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)