Rode Every Day this Year. So Far.

Today's Short - Tracked Tracking via APRS and Ham Radio
I blew most of the morning taking down our Christmas tree and burning it in small pieces in the wood stove to avoid infusing huge amounts of partially burnt pitch into the stovepipe which hasn't been cleaned the last couple of seasons.  So I got pine pitch all over my hands, and had needles all over the floor, which I swept up and threw into the fire as well.  Sadly it was after noon before I got the tree  completely down.  This was a live tree cut on our own property, and the lower trunk was almost 3 inches in diameter, so I put that portion out in the next-year woodpile to age and dry out and be ready for cutting to stove length next fall.
Jacque was working again today so I again rode solo on the tandem trike.  I thought at first to take my 2-wheel single recumbent, but complications arose.  The front tire was almost flat, not being ridden in over a week or so, and the wheels and fenders had a nasty hard coating of road mud from the last ride it got down our goat-path of a private road.  So I rassled it down to the tool shed and blasted some air into the tire - THEN it wouldn't even TURN since it had expanded against the caked mud inside the fender.  Since it has a quick release spindle, it didn't take long to pop the wheel off and twist the plastic fenders until the mud flaked off.  When I put the wheel back into place, it felt a tad soft even though I had just put 50 PSI into it mere moments before.  So I put another jolt of air in and waited a few more minutes, rotating and checking the tire to see if I could spot any leaks or thorns or nails imbedded in the tread.  No problems spotted, but I decided rather than take a chance on it going flat again after I had gotten a few miles from the air compressor, I'd ride the trike and park the bike and check its front tire in the morning to see if it's gonna hold air.
Short ride today, since as usual I put it off too late in the afternoon to get in a longer ride.  At least it was strenuous, up the hill to the Post Office and all that, so I retain some small smidgeon of bragging rights.  Tink was at the retirement center with Jacque so I only had Jazzy with me for mad-dog barking duty.  I don't have any idea why so many people stared at us as we went by, with me pedaling furiously up front, Jacque's empty seat behind me with her pedals whirling freely, and Jazzy raring up in the basket way in the behind of the over-10-foot trike yapping shrilly at everything she noticed along the way.
When we got back from the Post Office to the dino-powered carry vehicle, we stopped for a short break and then took off toward the east to get in a few more miles to get the metabolism going more better.  About a quarter mile later, our gentleman great-guy neighbor Jose waved and hollered at us, so instead of racking up miles, we stopped and chewed the fat with him, as he showed us his goats, his chicken, his tractor, and his burgeoning firewood pile.  Very interesting guy, the type you hate to leave, because he's just so blasted friendly and interesting.  He must be in his late 70's and retired but puts in more into hard labor and interesting projects than most 40-somethings... or more than anyone I know including me.
After about an hour of this "short visit" I had to reluctantly tell him I had to scram, because by now it was almost dark and Jacque would be home needing her sore feet rubbed with lotion.

Beginning Battery Voltage:  13.2        Ending Voltage: 13.0
Lowest Temp  48 F      Highest Temp:  62 F
Stats from the GPS: Total Miles:  4.39
Overall average speed            Moving Avg               Max Speed
  2.9 MPH                                6.2 MPH                    25.7 MPH
Total Trip time                       Moving Time             Stopped Time
1 hour  29 mins                     42 mins  33 secs         46 mins 42 secs