Sunday, June 24, 2012
The Great Ohio Bicycle Adventure
The Great Ohio Bicycle Adventure begins every year on Father's Day.
This year, the ride started in Hillsboro in Highland County. Well, it's called Highland County for a reason. Expect hills.....
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We were one of the first people to arrive at the Highland County Fairgrounds. We set up our shade tent, first thing. Temperatures were in the upper 90's!
Ron and Molly have their tents set up.
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Sunday, we rode 52 miles to Chillicothe, the last half of the ride was in the rain. Hills and rain!
We camped at Yoctangee Park. Yoctangee is the Indian word for paint, referring to some of the local soils used for dyes.
Chillicothe was Ohio's first capital from 1803 - 1810, then from 1814 - 1816.
At one time, Chillicothe was a busy economic center. The Ohio and Erie Canal carried goods north and south; the railroad carried goods east and west.
Riders spent two nights at Yoctangee Park. Many of us took advantage of the pool next to the park on Monday. Temperatures, again, reached the upper 90's.
Booths were set up in front of the old Pump House.
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Tuesday morning, we started out early for our 48 mile ride north to Ashville where we camped at the Teays Valley High School. Teays Valley refers to the pre glacial Teays River that drained northwest from the Appalachian Mountains.
Fortunately, we had a south-westerly tail wind.
Unfortunately, the Penske truck which had been anything but reliable up to this point, broke down. John, Larry and Karen unloaded the yellow Penske truck that was to be exchanged for a white Penske truck.
Fortunately, the truck broke down close to the school... so we had ready access to indoor restrooms and showers! Yeah!
Many riders slept inside the air-conditioned school to escape the hot weather.
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Wednesday, we started out early for the comparatively flat 48 mile ride to Washington Court House.
From the inside of the Court House, light shines through the bullet holes.
This is the Washington Court House Junior/Senior High School campus where riders camped for two nights. Well, some riders camped; others slept and hung out in the air-conditioned high school.
The temperatures reached the upper 90's for the fourth day in a row.
Local groups are encouraged to set up booths selling snacks and beverages as a fund raiser at each overnight stay. As I was perusing the booths, I found a booth selling beverages hosted by the local PTA, Altruistics and Delta Kappa Gamma. Being a member of DKG, I stopped and chatted with the local members... only to find out later that one of the women on Team Bob is president of her chapter in Michigan. Small world!
The leader of Team Bob.
"...it's not just a job; it's an adventure."
Shade...
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The weather forecast for Thursday night/Friday morning was for a cold front to pass through with possible showers; bringing cooler temperatures Friday.
We were dressed and ready to exit the tent Friday morning when the rain started. We sat in the truck for a short time; Molly pulled up the weather on her i-phone.
The roads were wet when we started out on the 52 +/- mile route to Wilmington. We stayed at the Clinton County Fairgrounds.
Team Bob - mostly. On the plank is Zoe, Karen and David's four-year-old granddaughter.
She rode on the back of her grandfather's tandem for half of each day's ride.
Dubbed 'the most beautiful four-year-old ever on Team Bob.'
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Saturday morning, early. The last 33 miles into Hillsboro. Yikes and were they ever the hilliest miles! Frequently, locals/sheriff deputies watch/stop traffic at the more dangerous intersections.
Four and a half miles out, the locals watching the traffic told us that there were no more hills... I yelled back, "Right!"
We climbed two of the steepest, longest hills yet!
Time to celebrate another successful GOBA!
Thanks to Larry and Ron!
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Friday, June 15, 2012
Happy Father's Day Wishes
Wishes for a Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there!
The doorbell rang...
A package was on the front porch... what could it be?
Wow!
A sweat-shirt blanket! Extra soft!
Hope it's big enough to share...
Thank you, Christine and Bob!
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We have had some beautiful roses and tall holly-hocks this year.
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Fatherhood:
It's not just a job; it's an adventure!
Happy Father's Day!
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Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Bicycle frames
Many years ago, a teacher friend and her husband took their daughters and bicycles on vacation. On the trip home, the husband, forgetting the bicycles were on the back of the car, inadvertently, backed into a pole.
The frames have been stowed in our barn all this time.
A bicycle friend decided to create a unique tandem and he needed pieces...
Welded and painted.
Starting to come together...
Margaret needs a seat-back and some handle bars.
She'd appreciate some gears, too.
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Saturday, June 02, 2012
Warmest Spring on Record
It's official: this was the warmest spring on record since the spring of 1878, when the average temperature was 58.2 degrees. The average temperature during the months of March, April and May this year was 59.5 degrees.
The average daytime high temperature this spring was 70.6 degrees and the average overnight low was 48.5 degrees.
This comes on the heels of the eighth warmest May on record, an ordinary April and the warmest March since records started being kept for the region in 1871.
This March, the average temperature was 55.5 degrees - 12.5 degrees above the normal reading of 43 degrees.
New heat records were set on three dates in March and temperatures matched heat records on another three days.
So far this year, rainfall totals are nearly two inches below the average. As of Friday morning 16.89 inches of rain had fallen; normal rainfall by June 1 is 18.59 inches.
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We drove up for a visit with the relatives over the Memorial Day Holiday; stopping in Canal Fulton and the flower shop before the visit to the first cemetery.
Gene takes the time to prepare the soil; planting our flowers is a pleasure.
We drove over to Pennsylvania to visit Aunt Velma and Aunt Nina. Aunt Nina and Uncle Squeak took us along with them to purchase and plant flowers at two of the cemeteries.
Returning to Ohio, we visited with relatives before heading home.
Altogether, a good trip!
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