Seminole Canyon State Park

After leaving Padre Island, I headed west on Texas Route 44 connecting to U.S 83 west of Encinal. From there it was north to Uvalde, which has a very nice public library with excellent wifi, where I was able to schedule those posts on Padre Island. The next morning it was west on U.S. 90 with Big Bend National Park as the next destination. I was tempted to stop at one of the camping areas in the Amistad National Recreation Area just west of Del Rio but the campgrounds I saw weren't all that appealing so I continued on a little ways to Seminole Canyon State Park near Comstock.

The campground was on the top of a very large hill. The sites were quite nice, with a covered picnic table, which provided some protection from the sun but none whatsoever from the wind!

Arriving at Seminole Canyon in the early evening of February 19th, it was too late in the day to hike the trail to the canyon, a six mile roundtrip, but it wasn't too late to catch a wonderful sunset!

Blue Dragon Balloon

One of my favorites of the special shapes.

More wildflowery

Yesterday I spent time with other wildflower nuts in the woods. We plucked a few where there were many, and rescued some from kudzu, Japanese honeysuckle, and men with bulldozers.



I came across this plant that I was not familiar with. I believe it may be a spider lily, Hymenocallis caroliniana.



Saw this guy. Eastern Box Turtle, Terrapene carolina.



Saw a couple of groundhog dens in the kudzu but didn't photograph them, as I was in danger of being left behind and it was too sunny anyway.

When we were done we appreciated Dan's beautiful garden.

OK we were just nosy.



Inside a foxglove (Digitalis purpurea) there are secret messages to bumblebees.



An unusual dogwood.



Sweet Williams (Dianthus).



Clematis.



Another Clematis. Most people around here seem to say it with the accent on the first syllable, but to me it sounds better on the second.

Recycle that old Computer - America Recycles Day

In my post Sticker Shock, I mentioned that I had an old laptop that no longer works and I didn't know what to do with it. Well, in a comment on that post, Janice Brown, at Cow Hampshire, linked to an article about Staples and their computer recycle program.

Since I was going to Staples to purchase my new digital camera, I took the old laptop along. I asked the sales clerk who was helping me if they accepted computers for recycling and he responded in the affirmative. When it came time to check out I made a quick trip to the car and got the laptop. The young man was very nice and courteous but didn't know how to handle the recycling charge. Neither did the other cashier. They called the manager. He said there was a code they had to use. It wasn't at any of the registers so he had to go into the back office to get it. In the meantime, I filled out the paperwork identifying what was being turned in and signing my name stating that I understood that they were promising that the equipment would not be resold or used in any other way, that it was really going to be recycled.

What should have been a less than five minute process ended up taking about 20 minutes. Of course, the sales clerk apologized saying it was the first time anyone had actually recycled anything at their store. I wasn't in a hurry or anything so it was no big deal. But if you plan on recycling any electronic stuff, I'd suggest calling ahead to the store to let them know.

This morning, while on the Staples website checking the status of my camera shipment, I did a search for "recycle computers" but nothing came up. In their page on Media Information they have a News Release titled Fewer Than One in Four Americans Recycle Their Technology Waste that provides additional information on the program and what they will accept.

Did you know that Thursday, November 15th, is America Recycles Day? The Material Recovery Center at Columbia City (in Whitley County, Indiana) has a Saturday in November set aside for turning in hazardous materials, batteries, tires, appliances, etc. that they don't normally accept. Fort Wayne also does this. There is a fee involved with these things, but it is minimal. I'm not sure if they accept electronic equipment such as computers, printers, and scanners though. It might be worth checking your local recycling center, especially if you have multiple items (CPU, Monitor, Printer, etc.) as there is a $10 fee at Staples for each item. There is no charge for cell phones, pagers, digital cameras, mice, or keyboards.

It cost $10 to rid myself of a piece of junk, but I feel good about having done so. It got it out of my closet and hopefully some of the precious metals can be retrieved for other uses. As Janice suggested, I opened the laptop, found the hard drive and gave it more than a few good whacks. After putting the cover back on, the insides rattled a bit, but that shouldn't take away any of it's recycling value ;-)

As a side note, I purchased my new digital camera. A Sony Cyber-shot H7. 8.1 megapixal and 15x zoom. The only one they had in-store was the display model. I'm prejudiced against display models so opted for having it shipped to me. It is supposed to arrive tomorrow (Tuesday 11/13). I just want to be able to check it out for a few days before my trip to Missouri. I'm really looking forward to that 15x zoom. Awesome! Flag image from the America Recycles Day website.

Experts in Skincare

I saw this life-size display in a Marionnaud storefront a couple of days ago. It is a German-language Clarins advert and the text reads: "your experts in skincare".

You can't quite see this here, but the model's underpants are semi-transparent. And the poster is sized and positioned in such a way, so that the viewer's gaze is directed at the space above the bicycle saddle. Right.

In terms of the psychology of advertising, I think this poster is very Austrian: freikörperkultur, health as the path to sexiness, sun worship, golden hair, long legs, lean muscles, and a symbol of an active lifestyle - in this case a sporty bicycle. Whoever came up with the ad was clearly trying to evoke stereotypical cultural ideals. I don't suppose too many people notice that the saddle is set too low...

Where was I?

Oh, yeah. Prior to a brief interlude for a visit to my cousin and then meeting lots of online friends at Jamboree, I left Natural Bridges National Monument on the morning of May 25th.

The “plan” was to return to Capitol Reef and Bryce Canyon National Parks. And that is what I did. Sort of. After driving the 100 miles from Natural Bridges, through Glen Canyon, I arrived at Capitol Reef before 10 o'clock and was able to find a campsite. (It was the morning of Tuesday, May 25th.)

For whatever reason, Capitol Reef didn't do much for me. After a short rest break, I drove to the end of the scenic road and hiked one of the trails then returned to camp and read for a few hours. A short trip to the nearby town of Torrey later in the day garnered me a great hamburger and free wifi at a local restaurant!

The next morning (May 26th) I left for Bryce Canyon. The route took me through the familiar territory of the Boulder Mountains and Escalante National Monument. I stopped that night at Kodachrome Basin State Park, which was along on the way. The basin was named by National Geographic Photographers reportedly for the brilliant colors of the surrounding countryside. Although it was pretty, I was a little disappointed in the colors.

The campground in Kodachrome Basin as seen from one of the trails.

Bryce Canyon was less than a half hour from Kodachrome Basin, so I took my time getting around and arrived there at about 9:30 the next morning (May 27th). At the entrance gate I was informed that all but one of the campgrounds were fully occupied and there were only a few sites left at the one campground. That was when I realized the upcoming weekend was a holiday weekend – Memorial Day. I had completely forgotten about it. Finding an empty campsite on “normal” weekends is hard enough let alone on holidays!

I went on down to the campground that had sites available and saw just two that were empty. The entire campground was in shade, midst tall trees, which I imagine would be really nice in the middle of summer, but it was still a little on the cool side at Bryce (actually, it was cold). Plus, the sites were all very close together with little or no privacy. Most people, or so it seems, apparently aren't bothered by the lack of privacy at campgrounds. But it matters to me, a little. And, I guess, it sounds like I'm making excuses for not staying at Bryce... maybe so, but I decided to move on down the road and revisit Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park near Kanab, Utah. (If I had *really* wanted to stay at Bryce, the lack of privacy wouldn't have mattered – it didn't bother me at Death Valley or Zion! And some of the neatest people I've met was because of the lack of privacy.)

When I pulled into the entrance of Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park the “Campground Full” sign was posted. One thing I've learned during these travels is to ignore the sign and ask the attendant if the campground is actually full. Oftentimes it isn't, as was the case on this day. There were two sites available for the night, both small ones but plenty big enough for me. The park only has 23 sites and most of them are large enough for an RV with a trailer since many of the people who stay there have off-road vehicles for playing in the sand. I also asked if one of those two sites was available for the weekend and lucky for me it was!

I stayed at Coral Pink for four nights, until the morning of May 31st. I will admit that I felt just a little out of place. Most of the other sites were filled with families, which was cool. Everyone there (except me) had four-wheelers or sand buggies or off-road motorcycles, even the little kids!

However, I didn't spend a lot of time at the campground during the day. The library opened at ten o'clock on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday and the wifi was free and fast. So I spent quite a bit of time there writing and scheduling blog posts, getting caught up on email and reading other bloggers' posts, etc. Of course, I also went for walks in the dunes, drove around some of the backroads, and took a few side trips.

Cream Delta-Cruisin'

Last night, our 3-speeds Lucy and Rodney came home after a bit of sprucing up. When replacing the original tires, we decided to go with the cream Schwalbe Delta Cruisers. These are light touring tires with a "racy" quality. They have Kevlar puncture protection and are inexpensive.

Here they are in motion. It was getting dark by the time we got the bicycles home, so pardon the blurry shots. I think the cream looks so elegant with the green frame! As an aside -- Yes, I've been wearing the same shorts in recent photos (well, alternating between 2 pairs of the same shorts)! It's been over 90° F here with 100% humidity for the past week, and the thin terrycloth material of these is about the only thing I can endure wearing when not submerged in the ocean. Summer dresses get soaked instantaneously and stick to the saddle, but these shorts have an intriguing moisture wicking and non-slip quality to them. They are by Champion; highly recommended.

Back to the Delta Cruisers: The tires on the Roadster are 28", and the ones on the Lady's Sports are 26" . Note that the 26" tires have reflective sidewall strips, but the 28" do not; no idea why that is.

We've tested the tires on a ride around the neighborhood. They feel very similar to the Schwalbe Marathon Plus that came with our Pashleys, but the Delta Cruisers are a bit lighter and faster. This makes them well-suited for the vintage English 3-speeds, which are somewhat more sporty than the Pashleys. I also love how the cream tires give the bicycles a personal touch. There are so many 3-speeds in Boston, but Lucy and Rodney are our 3-speeds.

Gardens & garden books

In March last year I wrote about attending the Alabama Master Gardener conference, where Lee May was the keynote speaker. (Don't ever pass up the chance to hear him speak - he's wonderful!)



What a nice surprise to open the February .. issue of Better Homes and Gardens magazine, to find a feature article with several pages of pictures of his gardens. (Mine's a subscription, but I believe it is still on newsstands - go buy one to see the other pics.)



I probably should not admit that both of the lovely books he autographed for me are still sitting on my "to read" shelf. I have not found a lot of time for reading in the past year.

Of course that does not stop me from buying more books.



(As an aside, I believe bookstores that perpetrate placing impossible-to-remove stickers on book jackets should be punished. Severely.)

As far as I know, Lee May doesn't blog... but Amy Stewart does!

Hopefully both my garden-book reading and our actual garden will fare better this year than last.

We've come to the conclusion that we must install raised beds if we're going to be able to grow anything at all. Our beautiful vegetable garden spot apparently lacks any sort of drainage whatsoever. So when it rains heavily, like it has for the past two years, the veggies tend to sit in water for quite a while.



Hubby resisted the raised bed idea for a while, because it means no more driving around on the tractor in the garden. But I think it's inevitable.

Now, will we have the time and the energy to devote to this project? Stay tuned...

Travel Gadget: my MAPS and my GPS

Currently I am juggling between 2 mobile phones. Both have different purposes and I am keeping it that way.

The Blackberry is for work calls and work emails. This phone is strictly for work. There are only 2 people who knows this number outside work and that is the Dutchman and my mom.

The Nokia Mini is my personal phone. I call here. I SMS here. I Facebook here. I internet here. Maybe I should try blogging here soon too. But most importantly, I use the OVI Maps and GPS here—this is actually the functionality that made me buy this phone. Being a travel addict, I need my MAPS and my GPS.

The dosage I get:

Free Drive Navigation Worldwide
Free Walk Navigation Worldwide
Free Maps and Maps Update (any city and country in the world)
Free Events guides
Free Lonely Planet guide (very basic)
Free Michelin guide

So in preparation for our upcoming holiday, today Dutchman and I downloaded the California, USA map. Just a few more nights and we are off! We also downloaded the Jordan map for my trip in April with Blondine, as well as the Philippine map for future use. There was also an automatic update for Europe map which is what I badly need seeing that the highways in the Netherlands have been recently upgraded. The A2 highway for example is now unrecognizable!

Nevertheless, what I wanted to say is, I am not a tech geek but I am very happy that I have Nokia OVI Maps in my phone. The software is free to download and GPS is of course free to use worldwide. No additional costs.

Recently, Nokia revamped its go to market strategy by teaming up with Microsoft. Several doomsday analysts thought it’s the worst team up ever, a marriage that is bound to fail? Nokia has been losing market shares to iPhone and Blackberry while Microsoft’s Windows Mobile OS barely has a 3% market share. How can 2 losing companies become successful in this highly competitive mobile communications market?

I have no idea, but for now, I am sticking with Nokia because of the OVI Maps and GPS.

All in all it was a good day

Went to Peru. . .

The Marriage Record for May Hale and George Armstrong did not include parental information.

The Death Record for May L. Armstrong (Miami County Health Dept. Book C-5 page 5, December 18, 1899) gives her parents as Albert Hale and Elizabeth Foutz. So she is NOT the daughter of Jacob and Rosanna (Wise) Hale. I didn't get a death certificate as it would have cost $10. I was fortunate that the clerk allowed me to look at the record. Afterwards, she said "for future reference" in case I needed additional searches, they are supposed to charge $35 per half hour for lookups, plus the charge for the certificate!

The Estate Packet for Christina Wise was found in the archives building! Got my hands dirty ;-) I "made copies" of all the documents in the file using my camera since photocopies were $1 apiece! Most came out quite well, with a few being a little soft in focus, but they can be read.

In addition to the people already named in a previous post, there are documents that mention William Wise and John Wise, though no relationships are given.

There was a statement (see image below) signed by Rosanna Hale (her mark) and witnessed by M. H. Grunden which fits in quite nicely with the census information found by Pseudo-Anonymous Gary earlier this week (which also prompted this overdue visit to Peru). In the 1900 census for Steelton Borough, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania (page 55B), Rosana Hale is listed in the household of Martin H. Grunden as widowed, mother-in-law.

There is no date on this document, but similar ones for William Kircher and Luella Culbertson were dated October 4, 1887. It reads: "Whereas, the assets in the hands of William Kircher, Administrator of the Estate of Christina Wise, deceased are insufficient to pay the claims allowed against the same in full - to avoid the additional expense of settling said estate as insolvent, I, Rosanna Hale, consent to accept, and hereby acknowledge the receipt of about eighty-three per cent of my claim against said estate, to-wit: Seventy-seven & 27/100 Dollars, in full payment and satisfaction of said claim. Witness M. H. Grunden. Rosanna x Hale, her mark."

Found the deed book entry where Peter Wise and his wife, Christina, sold their 180 acres of land on April 5, 1866 for $8,000.

On May 14, 1866 Peter purchased town lots 5, 6, & 7 in Gilead. On October 26, 1868 he purchased 5 acres of land that was bordered on the east by the town of Gilead.

Those two entries in 1866 were in one of the books I had skipped on my previous visit to the courthouse a month ago. The reason I had skipped over them was because in the 1870 census it still showed that Peter owned land. What didn't "click" though was the fact that in 1850 his real estate was valued at $4,000 while in 1870 it was only $1,000. Lesson learned: Check all records for the time period of your ancestor, not just the years you think there "might" be transactions.

However, I didn't find the records for the sale of the lots and 5 acres under the Wise surname. So I checked for transactions by William Kircher, the administrator of Christina's estate, and found the record of the sale of the five acres on April 15, 1887 and the sale of the town lots on September 10, 1887.

As a point of reference, this is a portion of the 1860 census for Seward Township, Kosciusko County, Indiana page 60. After looking at it for a while I can now see that it could be Mary A. rather than May A., but then again, maybe not.

I just couldn't resist...

The last Iris bloom.
And a promise of things to come. Lovely Lillies.

Hello Winter! Commuting in a Blizzard

Sunday morning. 17°F (-8°C). Blizzard. Snow emergency in effect.

The Co-Habitant has to work today. He prepares for his commute as usual.

Dragging the 60lb beast down the snow-covered concrete steps.

The snow is deep and I grow a little alarmed. "Are you sure you'll be able to cycle in that snow?..."

"No problem," he assures me cheerfully, putting on his convertible mitten-gloves.

And, with the quiet chuckle of a man who has conquered nature, he is off into the blizzard. I scurry back indoors to drink hot coffee and put on a second pair of wool socks.

Pictures taken with his mobile phone upon arrival to work. Lucky for the Pashley, his workplace provides secure indoor bike parking.

Ride report (in a boyishly excited tone):

"It was so dangerous. I only got off the bike once to cross a snow bank in [Harvard] Square. The worst part was snow in the eyes and face. The bike kept sliding but was going and controllable. Pretty amazing. The worst conditions in a while. Took me 20 minutes instead of 10."

Should I be worried?
Morning view from a window at his workplace. It continued to snow after that, still is. Hope my fearless commuter rides home safely in the evening!

I too tried to brave the snowy terrain today, though on a much smaller scale. I will save that for another post.

Better Than New

When vintage bicycle collector Chris Sharp invited me to join a VCC ride in Northern Ireland, he also offered to lend me one of his pre-war roadsters and I gladly accepted. We corresponded about this for some time, and I arrived very curious what my loaner bike would be. Before the ride, Chris took me aside and told me he had something very special picked out. "I'd like to know what you think of it."





When he pointed out this bike across the yard, I admit I was a little surprised. It was certainly a nice bike. But considering some of the other machines in his impressive collection, there did not seem anything extraordinary about it: a plain black step-through with rod brakes.





"It's a 1941 Royal Enfield Sports Roadster, single speed, "Chris explained, studying my reaction. "I think you'll like it." Puzzled, I stood there looking at the bike as our group prepared to take off.






Aside from the original Brooks B18 saddle, I just didn't see anything remarkable about it. The drivetrain was in the right place. Nothing eccentric about the components. Ordinary lugwork. I didn't get it.





Furthermore, it occurred to me that riding a heavy ancient single speed with rod brakes was maybe just a tad ill advised in a hilly area with a group of people I'd never met before. Would I have to walk it uphill? Would I be able to stop downhill? But the ride began before I had time to dwell on these questions.






And that is when I learned what the mystery was, and what made this Royal Enfield so special: This bike was a rocket! A 45lb rocket, but a rocket nonetheless. It accelerated at the drop of a hat.It sailed effortlessly uphill. It plunged downhill.Its maneuverability and stability were impeccable.Riding through a stretch of rough gravel road, it rolled jauntily along as if on smooth asphalt.On top of that, the rod brakes actually worked, no worse than modern caliper brakes. "How are you liking that bike?" Chris would ask with a wink. But the answer was pretty clear, as for the entire ride I was in a state of permanent jaw-drop. How could something so old, clunky and seemingly ordinary handle like this?






Chris's theory is that this 1941 Royal Enfield happens to be an especially successful specimen of what was once known as the Sports Roadster: an upright model designed for leisure cycling, with more aggressive geometry and a shorter wheelbase than the more stately Roadster model. Raleigh made a Sports Roadster as well, as did most other English manufacturers of that time. The ladies' versions had straight step through frames, instead of the loop frames of the Roadster/Tourist bikes.





The following week, I paid Chris Sharp another visit and we went on a ride just the two of us. Once again I was given the Royal Enfield - I had to confirm whether my memory of how well it rode had been accurate. We were spectacularly unlucky with the weather that day, and it began to rain not long after we set off. Soon we were riding in a downpour, and by the time we decided to turn around, the shortest route back was 20 minutes. The rain was so bad we could hardly see in front of us.





I would never have imagined that I could ride a bike like the Royal Enfield in such weather, but it was fantastic. It handled no differently in the rain, and - perhaps most amazing of all - the rod brakes remained perfectly functional.





Really, these must be some magical rod brakes. Normally this type of brake is notorious for loss of functionality in wet conditions.







Overall, to say that I was impressed by this bicycle would be an understatement. "They don't make them like they used to" is a cliche I do not always agree with, but in this case it happens to be correct: I do not know of a modern step-through city bike that handles quite like this. Some come close, but this one wins nonetheless.






While a 1941 Royal Enfield Sports Roadster is a pretty obscure bicycle, my point is really more general. I've mentioned before that I tend to prefer the handling of vintage European strep-through city bikes to that of any contemporary version I have tried so far. In my experience, the older bikes tend to be not only more comfortable, but also faster - despite usually being at least as heavy and made of lower quality tubing. What was their secret? And why, with all our technology, can we not match - let alone improve upon - their ride quality today? It is a mystery that I would love to figure out some day.