Annette Lake & Silver Peak

It was a warm 4th of July at Annette Lake. We could see trout swimming near the shore.

Tania, Michael, Michelle, Danielle, Becky, Bethany, Tina and Doug.





A gang of bloodthirsty mosquitos chased us up the mountain.





Traversing around the summit block.



Michael, Tania, Danielle, Bethany (and Doug) on top of Silver Peak.

Boot-ski race on the way down.

Entering Oregon

What happened to the Camp Muir Webcam?

April 14,

The webcam hasn't worked since a fateful day in late November.

I have it in my office in Longmire. I went up about two months ago with all the tools to fix it, but I was unable to make field repairs, so I dismantled it and brought it down the hill.

I have been able to connect to the on-board server, but the image doesn't come up in the admin tool. I will delegate this repair to one of the climbing rangers over the next few weeks. If we can't repair or make an easy adjustment, then we'll have to order a new one.

How did it get broken? Well, reports have come in from various places, but it appears that the webcam has been consistently been taking a good beating. Not by weather, but by people, well-meaning people, to be more exact. The webcam during storms gets rimed up and it obscures the view. It may stay like this for days. So when avid viewers are actually at Camp Muir and in a position to "fix" the rime on the camera, they either hit or scrape the rime off the camera.

The marks on the camera's protective dome seem to corroborate the circumstantial evidence and the hear-say. It definitely looks like dome has taken some pretty heavy blows with a sharp object.

It will still be a month or more until I can get it working again.

Sorry for the delay.

New Old Moser: a 400 Mile Assessment

Having now ridden Moser 2.0 for about 400 miles, I think it is time for a report. For those who do not feel like reading about the bike's entire history, this is a lugged steel racing frame circa 1978 fitted with niceCampagnolocomponents circa 1999. The Columbus"tretubi" frame is 52x53cm, with an 11cm stem, handlebars 1cm below saddle level (I would like to set them lower, but the stem won't go down any further), 700Cx23mm tires, and 175mm cranks. Gearing is 52/39t in the front and 12-26t (9-speed)in the rear.The complete bike weighs 22lb without the waterbottle. I have been riding it since the end of November, and the individual rides have ranged from 30 to 60 miles. Mostly these have been group and club types of rides, and mostly with riders stronger and faster than me.



I know that people are interested in whether building up an older steel racing frame is feasible for "serious" roadcycling, and based on my experience with the Moser I do not see why not. As far as weight, 22lb is not bad at all for a complete bike - I have picked up new bikes with aluminum frames and carbon forks and they felt heavier. If I want to shave even more weight off, it could be done with some strategic component upgrades, but honestly I did not feel that the weight was an issue for someone at my level of ability.





As far as speed, I was able to ride with strong cycliststhe likes of which I did not think I'd be good enough to ride with,at what they call a social pace (15-18mph on average, depending on the ride), while also feeling some reserve. At no point did I feel "if only I had a faster bike!" while riding the Moser.



When climbing, the bike itself feels "eager" to ascend, and the only limitations I felt were my own and also the high gearing. I would need to get lower gearing in the long run, no question. But the bike itself was fine climbing. When I ran out of gears, I would simply "heave" us uphill. Sadly my legs no longer fit into my jeans as a result of this practice, but we can't have it all.



The ride quality on bad roads has no harshness to it despite the 23mm tires, I am very happy with this aspect. The frame's tubing feels wonderful and just right; perfect amount of flex and all that.



At slow speeds (and I mean very slow - like less than 10mph, when stalling in traffic) the Moser is a little twitchy (compared to my fond memories of the Seven at least, which remained stable even at a crawl), but I do not mind and can still easily control the bike.



The one and only inherent aspect of the handling that is a problem - and the more I ride, the more I realise it is a problem - is descending. I do not entirely understand what is going on and why. But basically at high speeds, the bike is extremely resistant to turning and this was rather scary to discover. At first I thought that I just needed to get used to being on a racy bike again, and that I was holding myself back because I was nervous. But nope, something odd is definitely happening with the high speed turns - not just 90° turns, but even following the curvature of a winding road on a descent. I cannot make the same turns that I know I had no trouble making on the Seven over the summer. So while the bike is capable of great speed, this handling issueultimately makes me slower, since I hold myself back on descents when I do not feel in full control of the bike. I've been trying to understand what is causing this, and what I can do to counteract it, but my instincts are failing me. Naturally I try to take wider turns, but it isn't always possible, and I am just never at a point where I can let myself go on descents.





Exacerbating the descent problem is that I am not entirely happy with the braking power. I did not have a brakeset that would fit this bike, so I bought some CampagnoloVeloce calipers. While I realise that Veloce is not top of the line, I still expected it to be fully functional. I guess with my weak hands, not so much. We have adjusted the brakes this way and that, but coming to a complete stop (like at a stoplight or traffic light at the bottom of a hill) after a high speed descent is problematic.





There are other issues that have surfaced in the course of riding the bike. For instance, there are only braze-ons for one bottle cage, and during longer rides I needed more water. I could get a second bolt-on bottle cage, but it seems a shame to do that to this frame. As mentioned before, there is also quite a bit of rust on the frame that is not visible in pictures (like along the underside of the top tube). It might make sense to get the frame stripped, the rust cleaned up, a second set bottle cage bosses brazed on, and then the frame repainted.





In addition, the rear wheel does not want to stay put in the chromed horizontal dropouts unless the skewer is tightened with a death grip. When initially the skewer was closed with reasonable force, it became misaligned and jammed against the chainstays the first time I rode the bike. It is now tightened as tighteningly as can be and this has not happened since. But it means that I cannot remove the wheels on my own despite them being quick-release; I am not strong enough to budge the skewers.





On top of the too-high gearing, the pedal strike from the 175mm cranks, and the too-tall stem, all in all that adds up to a lot of stuff I would have to replace on the bike (the crankset, the cassette, the brakes, and the stem at least)even without the re-paint and second bottle cage question. I would be willing to make this investment for sure if I was 100% comfortable with the bicycle's handling, but this problem with descents now has me concerned.



And that is where I am right now with my assessment of the bike. More than anything, this experiment has convinced me that I do very much need a fast road bike. Despite the issues mentioned here, I just wanted to ride-ride-ride it all the time, even in the winter. No time to ride? I found the time. Too cold? I got over it. Too early in the morning? Nonsense, the Moser beckons. Tamer, more sensible bikes are wonderful, but for whatever reason they do not have the same effect on me as this bicycle does and as the Seven did over the summer. I want a bicycle that is fast enough for club and paceline rides, comfortable over bad roads, and handles well for a ballance-challenged person like me. Is the Moser it? I love it and I hoped so, but I honestly don't know at this stage. Holding back on descents is a problem; I need to feel in full control of the bike if I am going to improve, not to mention for reasons of safety.

The Rewards of a Closer Look

There are bicycles that strike you as unique from the first glance, and then there are those that sneak up on you. When Ed showed me the rando bike he'd put together from a refurbished Miyata frameset, it seemed like a nice enough classic build. Fenders, racks, leather, twine. But on closer inspection,all sorts of curious features emerged.






First I noticed the unusual front rack mount. A small DIY bracket at the front curled under and bolted onto the fender.






Initially I assumed this was to add extra stability to the rack. But then I realised the real function of this bracket - in addition to another one extending from the fork crown - was to hold up the fender. Or, more accurately, the front part of the fender.






I had seen split fenders before, but what struck me about these was how subtle they were, how utterly integrated into the overall design of the bike. The split was something I noticed only after my eye led me to it as it moved from one end of the rack to the other.






The tires are 700Cx28mm Gran Compe ENE Ciclo (brown, with tan sidewalls) and Ed was determined to make them fit along with the fenders. The split accomplishes this despite the lack of sufficient clearances under the brake bridge and fork crown.






Both the front and rear racks were recycled from older bikes, and I noticed that the rear one was stamped "Jim Blackburn." This prompted me to look into the history of Blackburn Racks, and indeed they were once called by the name of the founder. The vintage racks - now quite sought after - used a single bracket design to connect to the brake bridge, whereas the Blackburns in current production use a two bracket design to connect to seat stay braze-ons. I also found an interesting article describing Jim Blackburn's contributions to research in weight distribution for loaded touring.






The components seemed like a random mix, until Ed explained that he was going for a Suntour-inspired build: mostly vintage Japanese (but no Shimano), with some modern VO and Dia Compe sprinkled in. While such a thing would never have occurred to me, gathering components that made sense within this paradigm had been an important part of putting the bike together, a game he'd enjoyed playing.






The more we talked about the bike, the more of these things I discovered. Subtle details, hidden meanings. What looked like "just" a nice bicycle at first glance became fascinatingly personal.And that's the thing about bikes. We don't really know what they mean, or represent to the owner. We don't know what the story behind each one is, until we ask. Maybe that's why I still can't seem to walk past a bicycle without a closer look, or at least a second glance.

Canyonlands National Park :: Needles District

This area of Canyonlands is extremely remote. I saw few people there on the day I spent in the Needles District. Unless you want to do lots of hiking, backpacking or have a four-wheel-drive vehicle, you won't see much here by sticking to the main road. I don't think I even saw any of the tall spires or “needles” that this district is known for, except for those in the distance. I walked several of the short nature trails then found a spot at the nearby BLM campground. That afternoon I watched the blowing sand and read a bit more. It was another lazy, relaxing day for me!

The “famous” needles can be seen on the distant horizon.

Mushroom Cap formations.

I was startled by the intensity of these blue flowers.

And I'm always amazed by the flowers growing in the trail.

I was also fascinated with their paper-thin, wavy texture.

Love Bike!

We stopped by DBC City Bikes (formerly the Dutch Bicycle Company) in Somerville, Mass. to see if they had some bike parts we were after. In the showroom, among many other things we saw this:

Yes, you guessed it: "Love Bike"! Clearly I had to photograph and share such a masterpiece on this magical day created for us by the greeting card industry.

This is the entire bike in its glory.

I imagine the handles next to the seats (love seats?) are for steering. The lovers are meant to share a bell. Magnificent! The Love Bike is for sale, but Dan (owner of DBC City Bikes) cautions that one should view it "as a sculpture," because as a bicycle it is not very efficient. Efficiet schmefficient! Just imagining this beauty rolling along Mass. Ave., taking the lane and being honked at by bewildered drivers, brings a smile to my face.

We saw more fun things at DBC City Bikes, but they can't possibly follow in the footsteps of the Love Bike, so I will report on them later.

International Woman's Day - On Bicycle

[image via Miami University Russian Studies Department]

In honor of March 8th, International Woman's Day, I give you "Collective Farm Woman on Bicycle" by my favourite Soviet painter, Alexander Deineka.

["Woman Riding a Bicycle with Grasses" by Jerry Cooke ]

... and a real Soviet "commuter" farm woman from 1960. Too bad this holiday is neglected in the USA. In Vienna I got flowers!

Call of Duty 28, Coolum Cave, Queensland Aust.

Photo: Phil BoxBeautiful winter conditions, steep, steep rock and my favorite lap route.

Antoine is on belay for this lap at the "Coolum Sendfest" .

Shopping in Ghent, Belgium

Belgium compared to the Netherlands is a shopper’s sanctuary. There are more choices, better of course, and many popular designer shops abound. Moreover, the women in Belgium are better dressed than their counterparts in the Netherlands. The petite Belgians as compared to the gigantic Dutch women are in my opinion classier, elegant, and feminine.

Of course, it is not complete visiting Ghent without a souvenir foto, there must be! This is taken in Veldstraat shopping street and if I am not mistaken that is the Sint Bavo Cathedral at my back. Thanks Rich for taking this foto!

In Holland, I only see stylish women in moneyed suburbs, posh little villages, PC Hooftstraat in Amsterdam and in Maastricht, but in Belgium these women with the élan touch are everywhere. They strut the busy streets of Ghent from 9 to 5 and till later. I just love to see well dressed women around me and I can’t help but admire these Belgian women, they absolutely have finer tastes in fashion.

Ghent (Gent) as a city is also very pretty; she is like a well dressed Belgian woman! I do not understand though why Ghent is often regarded as second choice by travelers opinion in travel forums over romantic Bruges (Brugge). Bruges is overly touristy and having been to both towns, I think I would prefer Ghent. She has this special allure and magnetic mystery in her. The old Graslei harbour is my favorite. The panoramic line up of beautiful and impressive medieval buildings is one great sight to behold.

The Graslei Harbour, a very popular attraction in Ghent. Boat tours starts from here too.

Biking is an everyday activity in the Flanders region which also bears the same flat landscape just like the Netherlands.

The buildings in Ghent are very similar to the Dutch architecture. Given the bond of history, Flanders or Belgium was part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands until 1830 when the Kingdom of Belgium was born and separated from the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The façade of the structures and the “trapgevel” are very familiar, you see the same thing as you go about in Holland, however there is a French flair into it, in the art work details, which makes the buildings very uniquely Belgian manner. You don’t see such type of art in France or in the Netherlands.

More fotos of Ghent here: Ghent, Belgium

For those who read the news dutifully, you might be aware that Belgium is currently torn apart by a serious national crisis: a country divided by two cultures and two languages, Flemish (Dutch speaking in the north) and Walloons (French speaking in the south) that resulted into not having an official government for more than a year already. Check BBC for more information.

Mrs. Rich and I having our warm choco and coffee drink. I like this cafe because they have plaids that you can drape your body or cover your lap as it was a bit chilly day.

The Belfry Tower, one of the striking structures in Ghent that dominates the city skyline.

Ghent is part of the Flemish region so I did not have to speak a word of French there. Yet the Flemish Dutch is always an interesting thing to me. I just can’t help but smile when I hear the locals, perhaps I find it amusing, but their accent is softer, milder, and it seems that they have this certain rhythm when they talk, like they are softly singing.

I find it droll too when Belgians quickly find my accent. Although I have presumably a distinct foreign accent when speaking Dutch, they just know I live in the Netherlands. I reckon the universal throat gurgling sound of G and SCH (that I have learned and gotten used to!) cannot be utterly disguised.

The Vleeshuis (Meat House), the place where meat was weighed and sold during the Middle Ages. Now it is used as a Promotiecentrum to promote events about delicatessen products.

In wrapping up, it wouldn’t hurt to cross over to Ghent (or even to Brussels and Antwerp) from time to time. The drive is around 3 hours only; definitely worth the trip – hey, it’s outside the Netherlands! However, I realized that shopping is a real chore, and believe it or not, it’s not always something that I look forward to. I’m terribly lazy and I prefer to stay at home if I am not working or traveling, but I don’t mind some sane periods of shopping in between, though I must insist, it must be scheduled. I am trying to control my spending! Given that I have come to a point in my life that I can pretty much buy whatever I want (that’s why I will never trade in my older years with my younger years), it is a challenge, and undeniably hard to keep the standards low in terms of spending. I am glad I have the Dutchman as my conscience and financial adviser.

Nevertheless, I would need at least 2 days to shop. So next time when I am in Belgium for shopping, to maximize and stretch my time I would need to book a hotel to stay and relax for the night.

The quality of my photos are not really great because they were all taken by my Nokia Navigator mobile phone.

From Strange to Familiar

For the first time in a long time, I've been riding for transportation along routes that started out as uncharted territories. As it often goes, at first these routes seemed hostile, strange. Unfamiliar towns. Different patterns of motorist behaviour than what I'd gotten used to. But over time, the trips grew familiar, peaceful, and therefore unremarkable. This reminded me why I write so much less frequently now about transportation cycling than I used to: because nothing "happens." Whether my commute is 2 miles or 22 miles, nothing about the process is really novel anymore. With roadcycling, there is still the rush of going a longer distance, discovering a new route, learning a new skill, riding with a new group or partner. But with commuting, things have become automated.




Most of all, I tend to forget the spectacleI make of myselfwhen I - a woman in a long belted overcoat, knee high boots and a beret - ride a weird bike through areas where such sights aren't as normal as they are in Boston Metro. Drivers roll down their windows in freezing temperatures just to get a better look at me. No one has honked or gotten angry with me yet for being on the road; I think they are too stunned to.




The other day I was just riding along, heading homeward, when I sensed a car hovering behind me. I looked over my shoulder and saw it was a white minivan. The sun was in my eyes and I could not make out the driver. I got a little nervous and moved over to the right encouraging them to pass me, but they kept hovering. Finally, the van did pass, only to pull over to the side of the road in front of me. A woman jumped out and started waving her arms wildly, beckoning me to stop. Out of the windows I could now see several children's heads peeking out. So I braked and put a foot down tentatively, hoping this was not some trap to kidnap me and harvest my organs. And the woman shouted "Oh my God, I just wanted to tell you I love your bike and your outfit!" She asked some questions about the bike and where I was going, and was stunned by my answers. What about a bike that could fit her kids? (Just two kids, the others in the van were the neighbours'.) Yes, there are those kinds of bikes as well, I told her, and described the different options. She was so excited, it was really quite marvelous. A little extreme to pull the minivan over to talk to me, sure, but I'll take it over driver hostility any day. What started out as being strange to her became familiar. These are good encounters.

Gratin Dauphinois

Gratin Dauphinois, originally uploaded by ParsecTraveller.

A specialty from the Dauphiné region of France. This savory treat consists of thinly-sliced potatoes layered with garlic, herbs, and Gruyère cheese in a dish filled with milk. The dish is then baked for at least an hour, or until the potatoes come out tender and delicious.

Serve with a succulent roasted chicken on a cold winter night.

The Deed is Done!

Took all of 10 minutes. One of the advantages of living in small-town America! And in Indiana. Now, if only the irritating political ads (on both sides) and the very annoying phone calls would stop!!! The ladies at the polling place said there has been a good turnout for in-person voting. I was number 1,136. That doesn't sound like much but there's only about 20,000 registered voters in Noble County. They have also gotten "a lot" of mail-in absentee ballots too. Like everywhere else in the nation they are expecting a record turn-out. It's been pretty amazing to see all of the attention that Indiana has gotten from both parties. For the first time since I started voting, I feel like my vote will actually mean something. 'Bout time.

A Stand Out

One leaf stands out amongst the others.

Ida Joslin Dressler Lewis (1863-1937)

Before posting more letters from Ida, I thought perhaps a little background information might be helpful.

Ida Blanch Joslin, the 11th child of Lysander and Lydia Robison Joslin, was born on July 11, 1863 in Whitley County, Indiana. She was three years old when the family moved to Jefferson County, Iowa. In August 1868 they returned to Whitley County then in 1877, Lysander and Lydia moved to Barton County, Kansas taking with them their four youngest children: 17 year old Andrew; Ida, 13; Della, 10; and Elmus, age 8.

Now, a bit of a mystery develops. Among those listed in the household of Lysander in the 1880 federal census for Cheyenne township, Barton County, Kansas was a one year old son, Charles Joslin. It is not likely that Charles is actually a son of Lysander and Lydia as Lydia would have been about 54 years old when Charles was born. It is more likely that Charles was a son of their daughter Ida, who would have been about 15 years old when he was born. Charles lived with Lysander and Lydia. He is listed in the 1885 and 1895 Kansas state census records with them. There is a transcription of "Father's Bible" which lists all of the children and their dates of birth. Charles is not among those listed. We (Joslin researchers) had not had any success in locating Charles until recently.

In December I decided to check the World War I Draft Registration Cards on ancestry.com and found the record for Charley Sylvester Joslin. Dated September 12, 1918, his permanent home address was given as the National Military Home in Kansas. He was 39 years old, born March 4th 1879. But what was most interesting was the name of his nearest relative: Mrs. S. T. Lewis. The name of Ida's second husband was Sam Lewis. In the 1930 census for the National Military Home, Delaware Township, Leavenworth, Kansas (page 136) is a Charley S. Joslin, male, white, 51, single, born Kansas, parents born Indiana, no occupation, veteran of Sp [Spanish-American War].

Another researcher then found a record of burial for Charley in the Leavenworth National Cemetery, he died April 25, 1934. Next step will be to see if we can get a copy of his death record and/or obituary. I also found a military pension card for a Charley S. Joslin. The card shows he served in Co. "I" 17 Reg't U.S. Inf., Enlisted Sept. 27, 1902, Discharged Sept. 26, 1905. The dates of service don't coincide with the Spanish-American War so I'm not sure if it is worth spending $75 for a copy of his record to satisfy my curiosity to find out if this is "our" Charley.

Okay, now, back to Ida. On July 20, 1882 Ida was married to John G. Dressler at Oden, Barton County, Kansas. John was about 15 years older than Ida. In December 1883 their daughter Elnora was born, followed on February 24, 1885 by the birth of their son, Joseph. The 1900 census shows John Dressler living with his second wife. They had been married 3 years, so we know that John and Ida were divorced before 1897. Joseph was living with his father in Russell County, Kansas and Elnora was with her mother living in a boarding house on McGee Street in Kansas City, Missouri.

Ida has not been located in the 1910 census yet. But we know from the draft registration card of Charles Joslin that she was married to Sam Lewis prior to September 1918. In 1920, Sam and Ida were living on East 9th Street Kansas City, Missouri and in 1930 they were living on Wabash Street, Kansas City, Missouri.

We haven't discovered when Elnora Dressler died. She has a marker with no dates next to that of her mother and Sam Lewis in Mt. Washington Cemetery, Kansas City.

The only clue we had regarding the whereabouts of Joseph Dressler was in Ida's obituary which stated that a son, Joseph, lived in New Mexico. Once the census indexes became available online it was a relatively simple task to locate him. To make a long story short, in September .., I made contact with a grandson of Joseph Dressler. Joe had married Belva Roe about 1904 in Kansas and had three children (Arthur born 1905, Lola born 1907, and Chester born 1910) before moving to Torrance County, New Mexico sometime between 1910 and 1920. Joe didn't have any contact with his mother until after his father passed away. He did visit her several times and took care of settling her estate.

I sent the information that I had on John and Ida to Joseph's grandson along with some of the information on Lysander and Lydia. I also included some blank family group sheets, hoping he'd fill them out with the missing information, but alas, I never heard from him and having gotten off onto other things, never followed up.

Ida Joslin Dressler Lewis passed away on March 4, 1937 in Kansas City "of pneumonia which followed influenza. Mrs. Lewis and her husband were stricken with illness some weeks ago and were taken to the hospital. Mr. Lewis passed away four weeks ago. Mrs. Lewis died of shock when told of her husband's death last Friday by a friend who visited her at the hospital." She was 73 years old.

The letters from Ida being posted were written to her sister, Malissa Joslin Brubaker Bower, who passed away at the age of 88 on September 30, 1937 - just six months after Ida's death. The other two sisters mentioned in the letters were Roxie Parkison, who died March 5, 1941 aged 87 in Ottawa County, Oklahoma and Della Quillen who died February 7, 1943 in Darlington County, South Carolina, age 76.



Ida Blanch Joslin Dressler Lewis and her husband Sam Lewis



Caption on back of the photo:
back yard under the Peach Trees the building is out in the ally
an old Garage of neighbor it spoiles the Picture he is an old ___

Upside down text was written by Malissa:
Sister Ida Lewis & hubby Sam Lewis Kansas City MO