As It Might Have Looked 400 Years Ago

These are photos I took of distance views from around Coronado State Monument. Of course the fences are new. 2nd photo shows a brush ramada or outdoor cooking area that would have been similar to those used by the Indians at the time the Spaniards first saw this area.

As always the Sandia Mountains can always be seen. Coronado State Monument is just north of Albuquerque and a couple of hours drive south of Santa Fe. It is right on the edge of the town of Bernallio, and about 20 minutes drive from my house. Don't know why it has taken me about 25 years to get back here since the last time I went. I plan to go more often if I can.

Driving in Lesvos to Polichnitos and Agiassos, and going off road

Because Lesvos Island was a big island, in fact the 3rd largest island in the Grecian archipelago, Dutchman and I decided to rent a car so that we can see farther areas. This was after a week of going around with the scooter.



Lesvos Map







Our holiday base is Anaxos located in the northern part of the island and we are going to Polichnitos and Agiassos.







Polichnitos



For this trip, we have decided to go to Polichnitos and Agiassos, and I was also hoping, Plomari, but that never came to fruition. Just before reaching Polichnitos we saw this abandoned (military) runway. Dutchman is fascinated with airplanes, he once was a spotter (mostly military aircraft), so we did a detour and inspected the runway. It was barricaded but what the heck, we will check it out =)



Dutchman said that the airport could have been used during the years when hostilities between Turkey and Greece were heightened. As you can see, Turkey is just a stone’s throw away. Both had a very turbulent relationship and past, let us just say that both nations are friendly with each other now but there is still work to be done.







In Polichtinos, we stopped to take our lunch. Dutchman and I are not big eaters, we usually eat light and healthy. We also share our food. And because of the heat, we always end up ordering the usual local refreshing Greek snacks suspects—Greek Salad and Greek Yoghurt to go with our lemon soda and water. In Greece you always get a basket or plate of bread. They gave us buttered garlic bread.



The Cafe Toulipa was a nice temporary oasis for us. It is located on the intersection of the village with an open terrace that has ivy crawling on its wooden trellis. A perfect retreat on a warm summer day since the foliage gives a cooling effect.









Nevertheless, Polichnitos town was almost dead! There were barely people walking on the streets, Maybe because it was sweltering hot, but anyway, we have decided to move on...













Off-the-beaten-path



We drove down to the beach and pondered if we should stop for a quick dip but decided to drive further until we reached the junction. There is an unpaved road going up the mountains, a short cut actually to Agiassos, and well before we knew it, the adventurous in us kicked in. We are going off road with our little car!



The off-the-beaten-path is a narrow gravel winding road in the mountains where we barely saw a soul during the entire drive. I watch too many CSI’s and Investigation Discovery episodes these days so being in the middle of the wilderness I cannot help but think of grisly stuff. Let’s not go in there, but you can imagine the torture going through in my head as we drove through this deserted part of the island.



It was a long slow drive of half an hour. Not a nice place to get a flat tire or problem with your motor. Here is a quick video:








As we drove on the gravel road passing by the lush vegetation of olive trees and pine trees, we never saw a single soul. A bit eerie.







Agiassos



Finally we reached the main road to Agiassos. In this part of Lesvos we noticed more pine trees than olive trees. I love it that the island is quite varied, not only in terrain but in vegetation as well.



Agiassos is one of the pretty places in Lesvos and I really wanted to see it, however when we were there we could not find parking. The village sits high up in the mountain and we will have to park somewhere before going up. A heated debate ensued in the car about going into the village or not.



Anyway, without going further into detail, we turned back the car to the direction of Anaxos, in the northern part of the island where we are staying. My heart was so heavy, but sometimes we just have to let certain things go.









The only 2 pictures of Agiassos that I took, taken from the entrance of the village. You can already see and feel that this village is going to be pretty, but, helaas...

Gasburg VA to Wauchula FL

We were going to drive down to Florida nice and slow. We were going to split it up into three legs, and stay a few days on two of those legs. We hopped in the car today planning to land in South Carolina. About an hour away from the campground, I decided we could try to just drive straight through. Out of the sixteen months of travel, I can only recall one other time we did that. I jokingly said traveling with Daryl and Diana must be rubbing off on us.



So we drove fourteen hours straight through to Wauchula, Florida. Arrived somewhere past 2 am. Boondocked next to some interesting neighbors whose dogs woke me up about 5 am. Felt like crud due to both the stupidity of driving that long and lack of sleep. I still could have kissed the ground when we woke up the next morning and stepped outside. Not that I'm so fond of the ground here...but it was WARM. I'm happy.



Just a few shots of the guys during our long drive. I was playing with my speedlight trying to remember how to use it now that Nathan has it working again. So I kept snapping pictures of them. It wasn't until later that I realized they don't even bat an eye when I snap pictures of them. It's kind of scary.







Living the life in WARM Florida!

Early Morning Photos

Rock Bear

Every time I see this rock out in this meadow I think it looks like a large bear standing on it's hind legs scratching its back against the other rocks. You can see the ear at the highest point, then the head and nose, from legs with paws dangling, belly and back legs. Or is it just my excessive imaganation?

Brooks Colt: New vs Vintage

I have a new-releaseBrooks "Colt" saddle on loan from Harris Cyclery (for comparison with the Gilles Berthoud) and have just received a vintage "Colt"from a reader to try out as well. The weather we've been having has not allowed me to ride either of them just yet, but I thought a side-by-side comparison might be useful for those who are wondering how the re-released version compares to the original (produced 1979-2001).



What attracts me to the "Colt" model, is its shape, which in some ways resembles theSelle Italia "Turbo" and similar models of 1980s Italian racing saddles. Those saddles have fairly narrow (but not too narrow) platforms that gently curve in a way that feels very comfortable to me. But while the foam, plastic and padded leather surfaces of the "Turbo" style saddles start to bother me after a while, the suspended leather of the Brooks "Colt" should solve that problem.



Like the '80s Italian racing saddles, the "Colt" has a fully covered, squarish, down-turned nose. It is the only Brooks model where the nose is styled in this manner, and to me the design holds the promise of anatomical comfort. The new and the vintage versions of the "Colt" appear to be identical in form, dimensions and basic construction - differing only in colour, in the shape of the Brooks placket in the back (see previous picture), and, of course, in the amount of wear.



I have two roadbikes for which I need saddles, and I have more or less decided to keep theBerthoudfor one of them. For the other, I would ideally keep the vintage "Colt," and return the new one. One reason I prefer the vintage version is the classic, rich brown colour (the only normal colour the new release comes in, is black - the other options being purple, mustard, turquoise and hot pink). The other reason, is that everyone complains about the "Colt" being difficult to break in, and the vintage version looks like it has most definitely been broken in by the previous owner.



On the other hand, the vintage saddle may in fact be too broken in. The colour variations in the leather make this difficult to capture in pictures, but basically the sit bone indentations from the previous owner are so deep, that a narrow, raised ridge has formed along the center of the saddle. There are several online tutorials that give instructions for re-shaping saddles that exhibit such distortions, and I am considering doing this. The process (as described by Hilary Stone) basically involves getting the saddle wet, then stuffing it with paper and reshaping it as it dries. Curious about the experience of those who have tried it!

Miss Moose

Today we went up the Gunflint Trail in search of the cow moose with twin calves that seemingly everyone who has driven up the trail in the past month has seen. Unfortunately, we did not see them. I think maybe if the weather had cooperated and it had been nice instead of a torrential downpour we would have been more likely to see them. Oh well, you take what you can get. Luckily we did see another cow moose further up the trail and had the pleasure of watching her eating in a small marsh right next to the road. She hung out in the marsh for a long time and it sure was fun watching her from less than 50 feet away. Every time she dunked her head under water she would root around for some plants then come up and shake her head off. It was quite a comical sight I must say :-)