'Twas the Day After Christmas

Spring-Like Riding Route

Our recently purchased charcoal burning Barbecue worked wonderfully for Jacque's Christmas turkey on 25 December 2019.  We got a great deal on it, in spite of having to go to West Plains to buy it from its previous owner.  Its only flaw was one of the wheels was destroyed, making it difficult to move around.  Thursday, the day after the big feast, I didn't need much of an excuse to take the trike for a ride.  Since we needed a good wheel for the BBQ, and Ace Hardware seems to be the best place for such odd hardware, I rode that direction.  Just barely north of Walmart, another frequent riding destination, it's only about 2 1/2 miles each way.  I passed a pedestrian about halfway there who seemed dumbstruck when he saw me, stopping in his tracks as if to talk to me about my unusual pedal powered vehicle.  I stopped to see if he wanted to talk, but he just continued to stand and stare, so eventually I wished him a good day and rolled on.
Going for rides really is a great way to get fresh air and warmed up with a bit of exercise.  I surely need to talk myself into putting it as a higher priority for my daily "rituals".

Ride Started:    3:49 PM      Ride Ended:  4:38 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage:  13.8  Ending Battery Voltage:  13.0   Lowest Voltage:  13.0

Beginning Blood Glucose:  167      Ending BG: 65

Lowest Temp:  61 F    Highest Temp:  62  F

Stats from the GPS:  Total Miles:   5.28
Distance Walked: .7 mile
Overall Average Speed       Moving Avg          Max Speed
  6.4 MPH                             8.1 MPH               16.4 MPH 

Total Trip Time                   Moving Time        Stopped  Time
 49 minutes                          39 minutes           10 minutes

Balmy Christmas Eve

Today's Plotted Route

Again it has been too long without riding around on the trike.
I was mildly surprised a few days ago.  During my last doctor visit I received a sheet of exercises for stretching my back muscles in hopes of strengthening my back to relieve lower back and leg pains.
I don't do them often enough, like most beneficial things I'm supposed to be doing.   A few days ago I noticed a small footnote at the bottom of the page mentioning additional activities that would help including "Stationary Cycling for 20 minutes".  Stationary?  I don't THINK so.
So I should have additional motivation for riding other than keeping the blood glucose lower and pure enjoyment.
My days have of course been largely spent ripping up old linoleum tile flooring, scraping the floorboards underneath, and laying new flooring.  Which turns out to be good carb burning exertion but not all that enjoyable, and I have to stop and rest my feet every 15-20 minutes or so.   Thus, you see, progress is slow.  I'd like to ride every day the weather isn't sloppy, but I often putz around doing all sorts of odd errands and suddenly it's late in the afternoon.  Here at winter's solstice, that means if it's after 4:00 PM I don't have time to get in a decent ride before the sun goes down.  Another day shot without a trike ride.  Ah Well.  Thus is Life in the Slow Lane.
I wasted too much time again today but finally decided to stop my floor scraping early enough to ride up to Walmart for a couple of odd items, just for an excuse to ride.
And, after the usual several false starts and last minute potty breaks, I got going.
Christmas eve 2019 and the weather has been, and is forecast to be, sunny and balmy for the several days involving Christmas.  I wore open toed sandals for the ride and only one of my yellow tee shirts for today's ride and did NOT get chilled in any fashion.  Evidently we had a high of 64 degrees today and it wasn't cooled off much when I did my ride.  All this after a week of freezing temperatures and ice storms.  I DO NOT complain about nice weather, even if it seems out of time and place.
No youngsters on small bikes were out and about today, so I didn't wear myself out trying to prove my manhood keeping up with them.
Arrived at Walmart safe and sound, and what do I see?  A group of merry gentlemen I actually know:  Goodly Guys I usually see at Church meetings.  I can't mention their names, but their initials could be Richardson and Parker.  When I hailed them with a "Merry Christmas", they all laughed aloud at the concept of Christmas in such warm weather. 
Finished shopping for my 2 containers of nuts and returned home.
Mission Accomplished.
(P.S. :  Stay tuned.  We'll likely have the coldest winter on record in addition to the warmest:
IN THE SAME WINTER

Ride Started:    3:00 PM      Ride Ended:  3:55 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage:  13.0  Ending Battery Voltage:  12.9   Lowest Voltage:  12.9

Beginning Blood Glucose:  67      Ending BG: 66

Lowest Temp:  59 F    Highest Temp:  61  F

Stats from the GPS:  Total Miles:   5.32
Distance Walked: .7 mile
Overall Average Speed       Moving Avg          Max Speed
  5.8 MPH                             7.0 MPH               15.8 MPH 

Total Trip Time                   Moving Time        Stopped  Time
 55 minutes                          46 minutes           9 minutes

Hartville Run & Ride

Saturday's plotted track

Saturday, 7 Dec, Jacque and I drove up to Hartville (16 miles away) for a Ham Radio Christmas Club meeting and dinner mid-day.  A few of the hams, having heard me on the radio while riding the trike, expressed interest in seeing the trike setup, so I had loaded the Catrike in the back of the Exploder for the trip.
I parked the trike just outside the club door on the sidewalk, turned on the blinky lights, and we enjoyed another Thanksgiving / Christmas style potluck meal with lots of salad, stuffing, and turkey, ham, and chicken for us carnivores.
On the way home, with full tummies, Jacque decided she wanted to go to the YMCA at home for a craft fair there.  She offered to drop me off at home before she went.  Thinking it would have been nice to ride the trike I almost said aloud "Too bad I don't have my trike with us" when I (Duh) suddenly remembered we DID have the trike in the back and thus she was able to drive directly to the Y and all I had to do was unload the trike and take off.
As always, Mountain Grove is so small I have to ride the longest outer roads around in order to rack up more than a couple miles.
I had my dressy jacket on, which I worried was going to be warm since it was nice and sunny out.  I barely got pedaling before I zipped it up as far and tight as it would go.  In spite of the sunshine, it was COLD out there and I did NOT get overheated all the way home.
That night, we attended the Town Square Christmas Parade.  It was of course small-town but there were a few fun things to watch.

Ride Started:    1:39 PM      Ride Ended:  2:11 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage:  13.0  Ending Battery Voltage:  12.9   Lowest Voltage:  12.9

Beginning Blood Glucose:  160      Ending BG: 66

Lowest Temp:  50 F    Highest Temp:  57  F

Stats from the GPS:  Total Miles:   4.13
Distance Walked: .7 mile
Overall Average Speed       Moving Avg          Max Speed
  7.8 MPH                             8.2 MPH               19.3 MPH 

Total Trip Time                   Moving Time        Stopped  Time
 32 minutes                          30 minutes           2 minutes

Grocery Run

Today's Cloudy Route

I actually got in a few miles pedaling the trike today, instead of the more recently-usual less than 2 miles.
I'd planned to ride up to Ace Hardware for some caulking cartridge caps, that seal and keep fresh a tube of silicone or other caulking gun-activated goop.  Having tried various big box stores including Home Depot in Springfield, Ace Hardware here locally was about the only place left unsearched for such handy items.  I'd bought a couple SOMEWHERE  recently but since I have more than two tubes needing caps, I wanted more. 
Jacque also needed some coleslaw from the grocery so I agreed to pick some up on my way across town.
We have a brand new "CHC" home center here, and my route today took me past there, so I stopped there first to see if they had any.  Nice store, lots of good stuff, but no goop-saving caps to be had.
I'm beginning to wonder if most stores fail to sell such caps in hopes of more replacement goop-tubes to be sold when partially used ones dry up early.
On northward to Ace.  This is about the best-equipped hardware store for miles around.  They indeed had the desired caps in stock as well as some replacement blades for my jigsaw.
Then, a quick stop at the Walmart right next to Ace, for a bag of coleslaw.
The day had started out mostly bright and sunny but as I headed south for home the clouds began covering the sun and it started cooling off noticeably.  Still,  I opened a couple more snaps on my shirt to cool down a bit more while climbing the little hills along the way.
When I crossed the bridge over Route 60, a Camaro passed me with his passenger window open and I heard the driver holler something at me, but I didn't hear well enough to tell if he was trying to be encouraging or derogatory.  Since I couldn't tell I am forced to assume it was encouraging, like almost everyone else I've encountered.  The worst comments I hear, though well intended, are similar to "Hope nobody runs over you on that thing."  This in spite of the tall flags, blinky lights, and such.  Invariably, drivers give us WIDE berths when passing and often slow down and follow us slowly for long distances instead of passing in a big hurry.

Ride Started:    2:00 PM      Ride Ended:  3:10 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage:  13.0  Ending Battery Voltage:  12.9   Lowest Voltage:  12.9

Beginning Blood Glucose:  110      Ending BG: 60

Lowest Temp:  60 F    Highest Temp:  62  F

Stats from the GPS:  Total Miles:   5.7
Distance Walked: .7 mile
Overall Average Speed       Moving Avg          Max Speed
  4.9 MPH                             6.9 MPH               19.7 MPH 

Total Trip Time                   Moving Time        Stopped  Time
  1 hour 10 mins                   50 minutes           21 minutes

REAL Short Riding

Today's Tracking (Worked for Some Reason)

The cold and fog and clouds burned off about noonish today, which is always a wonderful thing.
I humped dirt and broken sidewalk concrete sections for a couple hours, trying to restore our torn up yard to some semblance of decency after the wreckage remaining from the water line replacement project several weeks ago.  The once-bulging dirt mounded over the new water line has sagged and collapsed with recent rains and soggy weather to where there is a sunken not-so-shallow ditch now, which unfortunately has been draining rain water toward and underneath the house, leading to waterlogging of the soil surrounding the house and basement, causing quasi-continuous cycling on and off for the sump pump in the basement.  I was able to dig out a shallow diversion channel taking most of the rainwater away from the house foundation, but even after 2 days of no rain - the poor sump pump is still cycling every few minutes trying to keep the basement from flooding. 
Life in Missouri.
Anyway, after several rest intervals for my poor feet and back, I realized time was rapidly running out for a fun run on the trike.
Jacque had put up a birthday card for her brother up in Michigan and had asked me to put a stamp on it.  It was still lying on the counter - with stamp firmly attached - when she drove off to the store.
I decided a short ride across the tracks to the Post Office would be better than no ride at all, especially since it would likely get me home shortly before total darkness developed.

Ride Started:    4:28 PM      Ride Ended:  4:48 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage:  14.2  Ending Battery Voltage:  13.0   Lowest Voltage:  13.0

Beginning Blood Glucose:  121      Ending BG: 105

Lowest Temp:  40 F    Highest Temp:  43  F

Stats from the GPS:  Total Miles:   1.02
Distance Walked: .6 mile
Overall Average Speed       Moving Avg          Max Speed
  3.2 MPH                             6.4 MPH               17.2 MPH 

Total Trip Time                   Moving Time        Stopped  Time
  19 minutes                        10 minutes           9 minutes

Miserable Day, Great Day, Same Day

Today's Manually Plotted Route (Radio Tracker No Workie)

I have not ridden my trikie-toy in weeks.  I have been mostly on hands and knees removing old nasty flooring tile and scraping and installing new flooring to Jacque's specifications.  We invited some friends for Thanksgiving, and since the kitchen and dining floors were a mess, we were under tremendous pressure and motivation to get the new floor in.  With Jacque helping measure and cut flooring panels and me stretching and straining on my knees, we barely made it.  Mostly.  A few pieces of trim were yet to be installed, but the  new floor was in place in time for the feast.

What I soon discovered was that my contortions, with multiple rest breaks throughout the day and short bursts of flooring, burned MORE calories and carbs than my normal Trike Ride "Exercise".
I had to consume a LOT more carbs to keep from low blood glucose episodes than when taking trike rides.  Evidently trike riding is a lot more leisurely than actually working and getting something accomplished.
The Thanksgiving feast was a success, with the usual overeating and visiting half asleep afterwards.The weather, though, was not conducive to enjoyment of the outdoors.  Cold, wet, and fog.  DEEP fog.  Lots of rain and slop in the yard.  Sump pump in the basement chugging on and off all day and all night.   Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, we made a late afternoon run to Springfield to restock our supply of moulding to trim the new flooring.  It was a pea soup ride in the muck most of the way out and back, slowing often to avoid over-running our headlight visibility, with several sightings of dead dear and other critters along the shoulders and in the middle of the roadway in the dark foggy mist.  Thankfully we didn't have any encounters of our own to deal with.  We got home late, soaked, and tired.  Again the sump pump chugged and hiccuped all night long, with water seeping too fast in various spots along the foundation.  Thunder and lightning.  Typical Missouri winter weather.
This morning, Saturday, it was still drizzling, miserable, and deep fog.  It looked like we were in for a weekend of slop again.
Along about noonish, Heavenly Father answered our hearts' desires and the sun actually started peeking through the misty muck.  Within a couple hours it had warmed from the upper 30's to the 60's and it was actually WARM outside and almost dry.  I had some bills to mail at the Post Office and a UPS parcel to deliver for Jacque, so I determined to take a trike ride for the errands and take the day off from flooring. 
I thought it must be warm enough to require only a windbreaker instead of a jacket.  As I stepped out the door I was SHOCKED at the sunny warmth of the day, and immediately took off the windbreaker and returned it to the house closet before taking off. 
It was a FABULOUS day for riding, and before I got halfway through the ride I had to unsnap most of my  shirt buttons and roll up my pants legs to get some cooling air going for the old bod.
I was getting a bit tired early on and realized missing a month of riding had resulted in lack of stamina - as if I ever had any to spare to start with.  The exercise of waddling around with flooring had not kept my cycling muscles properly trimmed.  SIGH
I stopped to check my blood glucose and saw it was getting close to the dizzy stage.  As IF I need any additional dizziness in life, hah.  I took a break and ate one of my emergency 3-packs of cookies stashed for just such occasions.  I had an unusual encounter with a bicycle rider I passed going the other way:  He refused to look at me or acknowledge my wave as we passed.  Very unusual.  Perhaps he - unlike most cyclists - was forced to ride his 2-wheeler by circumstances and not because he enjoyed it.  Who knows?  Didn't wipe the foolish grin off MY face.

Ride Started:    1:13 PM      Ride Ended:  2:14 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage:  13.8  Ending Battery Voltage:  12.9   Lowest Voltage:  12.9

Beginning Blood Glucose:  171      Ending BG: 96

Lowest Temp:  55 F    Highest Temp:  64  F

Stats from the GPS:  Total Miles:   5.45
Distance Walked: .6 mile
Overall Average Speed       Moving Avg          Max Speed
  5.3 MPH                             7.4 MPH               18.1 MPH 

Total Trip Time                   Moving Time        Stopped  Time
 1 hour 1 minute                  45 minutes           17 minutes

Cool Runnings / Riding

Today's non-GPS plotted route

We've been so busy working on the house issues that I haven't had much of a chance for triking since LAST Sunday.
One big milestone done this week was FINALLY getting our water line replaced between the street meter and the house;  about 90 feet worth.
In my crawlings under the house hooking up gas lines for the kitchen range and water lines for the new refrigerator ice maker and new kitchen sink, I - early on - noticed the very corroded galvanized water line coming out of the ground, with very damp earth all around it, even after days of dry weather and no known leaks.  We talked about this maybe being related to our unusually high water bills ever since we moved in.  Deciding it must be the over-50-year-old pipe, we contacted a local plumber to do the nasty replacement for us.  I was pleasantly surprised to get a quote of
$750 labor for the job, plus pipe and parts.  The big problem since then has been the extremely unpredictable weather, with sub freezing temperatures, ice, snow, and rain popping in and out.
One date planned for the work was drowned out with 5-15 degree weather.  The next proposed date was for Friday, 15 November.  Waiting for the day was difficult, still worrying about a possible big failure of the main water line, with several more days of spotty weather.
Finally the big day arrived, and contrary to fears, the weather was great.  AND, instead of taking all day and half the next, as I had worried, they were done shortly after noon.  Happy Camper, Me.
I actually had to work up a sweat a couple times helping the digging plumber get a hole dug underneath our foundation so it could be buried below the freeze danger line without having to build a protective insulating box around it on the surface.
Thus, after taking a relatively restful day off Saturday, moving the kitchen fridge around and peeling up old tile and laying new flooring, enough to roll the fridge back over, I took a ride while resting after Church this afternoon.
Today was a bit overcast, with the sun peeking through the clouds.  However, instead of burning off, the clouds totally obscured the sun most of the day.  By the time I decided to go for a stretch-ride, the temperature was not all that warm:  46 degrees.
So I dug out the cold weather gear, felt skull warmer, hunting mittens (with openable finger flaps), etc.
From experience, I did not wear any heavy layers over my shirt:  Just two layers of lightweight windbreakers.   Even though it was chilly I did not get overheated, and actually had to unzip the jackets about halfway through the ride to let some cooling air in.
It seems a bit more difficult to motivate myself to ride in cold weather, but the lower blood sugar is worth it....

Ride Started:    3:47 PM      Ride Ended:  5:15: PM
Beginning Battery Voltage:  13.8  Ending Battery Voltage:  12.9   Lowest Voltage:  12.9

Beginning Blood Glucose:  171      Ending BG: 96

Lowest Temp:  46 F    Highest Temp:  46  F

Stats from the GPS:  Total Miles:   6.00
Distance Walked: .6 mile
Overall Average Speed       Moving Avg          Max Speed
  4.6 MPH                             7.0 MPH               21.5 MPH 

Total Trip Time                   Moving Time        Stopped  Time
 1 hour 18 mins                    52 minutes           27 minutes

Short Sunday Miles, Great Exercise

Today's As-Usual Spotty Tracking

These last three days have been LOVELY weather-wise.  This after several days of very frigid temperatures, cold rain, and whatnot.  Yesterday and the day before I had planned to get in some miles on the trike but never "got around to it" because of laziness, working on the house, procrastination until it was too late, etc.
The weather wizards on TV have been threatening impending arctic weather from a cold front moving across and down the South and Midwest, but so far so good.  When we got out of Church today it was at least 70 degrees and sunny out.  I still have not found any prohibitions in Scripture or Church Law about avoiding pleasantries like bike/trike riding on Sunday, so I finally got in a ride today.
I tried just riding around various city streets, hoping to add up some exercise miles while seeing neighborhoods I haven't experienced yet.  This is a small burg  but still many streets and neighborhoods I have not seen.
One thing I've seen several of around here makes some sense in Tornado Country:

Earth-Sheltered House

The name of this town being "Mountain Grove" often makes us wonder where the Mountain is supposed to be.  There are a few hills here and there, but nothing we would call mountains.
What we DO have is some pretty deep and steep valley areas that can be fun to smoke downward on, but I have to be watchful for the frequent rough spots and potholes in the pavement.   Thus it's often ride the brakes going down and chugging along in Grandma Gear going back up.  Today's story.
The tracking map doesn't show much of it, but I rode a couple miles west on 13th street - not realizing that it dead ended out near Route 60 with no known outlet or junction to another road to return on.  It involved about a mile of steep downhill, which was nice,  Unfortunately I had already gone down almost to the creek at the bottom before I checked my GPS map and realized the only way out was to go back the way I came.   Funny, when going UP the hill in Granny Gear it seems MUCH steeper than it was going DOWN.  But Hey, it's exercise, right?
By the time I got back up the hill, I was about ready to find home again.  It was a bit over a couple more miles, which only adds to my ability to brag about such amazing feats of mileage.  HAH.

Ride Started:    2:47 PM      Ride Ended:  3:55: PM
Beginning Battery Voltage:  14.1  Ending Battery Voltage:  13.0   Lowest Voltage:  13.0

Beginning Blood Glucose:  156      Ending BG: 119

Lowest Temp:  68 F    Highest Temp:  71  F

Stats from the GPS:  Total Miles:   6.31
Distance Walked: .6 mile
Overall Average Speed       Moving Avg          Max Speed
  5.7 MPH                             6.7 MPH               21.9 MPH 

Total Trip Time                   Moving Time        Stopped  Time
 1 hour 6 mins                     56 minutes            10 minutes

Monday Madness

Today's Two Trips Tracking

I was working on more plumbing - running pipes under the house and through the basement today.
Since I needed a couple more items from the local plumbing supply store (Miller), I wound up making two trike trips.
The first trip was close to being just around the corner to High Street to deliver a toilet seat I'd sold for $5 - which I'd just paid twenty-something for via Amazon.com .
I ordered the toilet seat in color "Almond" since I thought it would look nice on the brand new white potty in the master bathroom.  Unfortunately, I neglected to consult with Jacque about the color, which she hated immediately, resulting in another order to Amazon for the absolute white color version.  I advertised the week-old-nearly-new seat in the local Facebook Marketplace, for $10.
No takers.  I lowered the price to $5 and it still took another couple weeks for someone to contact me and buy it.  Then she asked if I could deliver it.  You may snicker, but I thought it a good excuse to ride the trike.  After delivering the wonderful accessory, I kept riding west on Clouse out to the "airport".  I put airport in quotes since I've never seen any activity there, just a couple of hangars, a locked office building, and a lonely crop duster plane sitting on the tarmac.
As I rested a bit in the shade and was leaving, I was surprised to meet a van actually coming into the airport lot, with a sign on the door saying something about "aerial applicators".  I assumed that had something to do with the crop duster.
Then I got busy again under the floorboards cutting and running pipe  to take gas to the kitchen for our new gas range.  With several black pipe joints and adapters, each stage requires careful testing for leaks with soapy water.  Still have a few feet and joints to go.  Hopefully we'll be cooking with gas before too much longer.

Ride Started:    11:53 AM      Ride Ended:  3:24: PM
Beginning Battery Voltage:  13.0  Ending Battery Voltage:  13.0   Lowest Voltage:  13.0

Beginning Blood Glucose:  203      Ending BG: 136

Lowest Temp:  60 F    Highest Temp:  71  F

Stats from the GPS:  Total Miles:   1.90
Distance Walked: .6 mile
Overall Average Speed       Moving Avg          Max Speed
  5.1 MPH                             7.5 MPH               24.3 MPH 

Total Trip Time                   Moving Time        Stopped  Time
 32 minutes                         25 minutes            1 hour 8 minutes

Saturday - Another Plumbing Parts Commute

Today's SHORT Tracking

I needed a 1" pipe nipple to add to my do-it-yourself plumbing job collection, so I used it for an excuse to take the trike for the very short ride.

Ride Started:    3:55 PM      Ride Ended:  4:18 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage:  14.1  Ending Battery Voltage:  13.0   Lowest Voltage:  13.0

Beginning Blood Glucose:  197      Ending BG: 95

Lowest Temp:  34 F    Highest Temp:  41  F

Stats from the GPS:  Total Miles:   1.90
Distance Walked: .6 mile
Overall Average Speed       Moving Avg          Max Speed
  5.1 MPH                             7.5 MPH               24.3 MPH 

Total Trip Time                   Moving Time        Stopped  Time
 22 minutes                         15 minutes            8 minutes

Halloween: Sunny and FREEZING

Today's Mostly Accurate Plotted Route

The last couple days have been COLD and WET.  Zero motivation for riding around the neighborhood(s).

This morning we awoke to our thus-far coldest morning on record for our Missouri area: 26 degrees and icy rain.  Surprisingly, around noonish, though still freezing horribly, the SUN actually came out and it turned into a beautiful afternoon.  Still a freezing breeze, but "warming" tp almost 34 degrees.
Having missed a couple days of "fresh air" and riding, I decided to dig out my cold weather gear and take a ride.  I layered on a couple more layers, dug out my fleece skull cap Jacque made me some years ago, and rode onward.  I did NOT regret the warmth of the layers.  I even wore real shoes with socks, and the feet did not overheat for the first time in who knows when.  About a mile before I got back, I had to unzip the outer layer from my chest when I finally warmed up a bit.   I also accomplished a couple of minor errands during the ride:  I dropped off a bag of surplus goodies to the local Thrift Store across the tracks, and on the way back I stopped into the barber shop on the square to get the surplus hair off my ears.
It was GREAT to be out riding.

Ride Started:    3:19 PM      Ride Ended:  4:32 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage:  13.9  Ending Battery Voltage:  12.9   Lowest Voltage:  12.5

Beginning Blood Glucose:  197      Ending BG: 95

Lowest Temp:  34 F    Highest Temp:  41  F

Stats from the GPS:  Total Miles:   6.09
Distance Walked: .6 mile
Overall Average Speed       Moving Avg          Max Speed
  4.3 MPH                             6.6 MPH               20.8 MPH 

Total Trip Time                   Moving Time        Stopped  Time
 2 hours 14 mins                 1 hour 27 mins      46 minutes

Made it Home Before Dark

Today's Straight-Line Route Almost Plot

Jacque fed me one of her hot-chocolate pecan-whipped cream ice cream Sunday Sundaes late this afternoon.  It was, as usual, SO yummy that I decided I'd better take advantage of the limited daylight left to go for a ride to help my insulin pump deal with the carbs consumed.
This morning had dawned with some of the heaviest fog we've seen since moving here, which means it was THICK.  We couldn't even see our Walmart as we drove past on the way to Church, and it's maybe 100 yards off the road.
By the time we left Church around 1-ish PM, the skies were clear and blue and the sun was bright.
This was all still evident when I dragged the trike out of the garage, but the sun was getting low.  Looking at my Iphone mapping, I saw I could make it to a friend's house out past Bell Crossing and back just before the sun set.  So I took off.
Not only was the sun pretty much in my eyes for a few miles heading west, but it was setting faster than I had bargained for.  By the time I arrived at the intersection at our sleepy Mountain Grove Airport, I had decided I was going to cut the trip short and return home in hopes of getting there before dark.  I had 15 minutes of dusk left when I arrived.
An uneventful but enjoyable jaunt, and successful at that.... after the Sunday Sundae feast, my Blood Glucose was only 111.  And again, my mood was noticeably elevated.

Ride Started:    5:38 PM      Ride Ended:  6:18 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage:  13.8  Ending Battery Voltage:  13.0   Lowest Voltage:  13.0

Beginning Blood Glucose:  249      Ending BG: 111

Lowest Temp:  56 F    Highest Temp:  59  F

Stats from the GPS:  Total Miles:   5.15
Distance Walked: .6 mile
Overall Average Speed       Moving Avg          Max Speed
  7.8 MPH                             8.4 MPH               17.3 MPH 

Total Trip Time                   Moving Time        Stopped  Time
 40 minutes                         37 minutes            3 minutes

Several Miles Without Really Going Anywhere

GPS was spotty so this plot shows the route

Today was again rainy, dank, and cold.  The enthusiasm for riding in such weather can be difficult to muster.
As usual, though, the clouds cleared a bit and the rains stopped later in the day, so I again chose to burn down the blood sugar at least a little and boost the morale by dragging the trike out again.
It was sufficiently cold that I not only wore 3 layers of shirts, but also enclosed shoes with socks and FULL fingered gloves.  I dug through my almost - forgotten stash of cold weather cycling gear and found ONE of my flap-open mittens that I prefer to wear, so I had to wear the fingered gloves which helped a bit but my fingers don't like being isolated when in cold weather - they prefer to lounge together inside mittens.  Ah Well.  Hopefully I'll discover missing items soon.
Just riding same routes over and over can get a bit dull, so I decided to just randomly zig-zag around Mountain Grove to get in some miles without taking my well-known outer routes on the outskirts around the area.  Not only less boring, but I got to see some more streets and neighborhoods I'm unfamiliar with.
Today was the usual mix of reactions from motorists and pedestrians I encountered, from big waves and flashing headlights to weird looks and - in the case of a female walker I passed close to - pretending I was invisible.  Which was hopefully not the case since I was running the headlamp on the front of the helmet as well as the flashing red tail light - since full sunshine was not in abundance.

Ride Started:    3:19 PM      Ride Ended:  4:22 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage:  13.7  Ending Battery Voltage:  13.0   Lowest Voltage:  13.0

Beginning Blood Glucose:  253      Ending BG: 163

Lowest Temp:  44 F    Highest Temp:  46  F

Stats from the GPS:  Total Miles:   6.31
Distance Walked: .6 mile
Overall Average Speed       Moving Avg          Max Speed
  6.6 MPH                             6.9 MPH               22.3 MPH 

Total Trip Time                   Moving Time        Stopped  Time
 57 minutes                         55 minutes          2 minutes

Ride When it's Rainy

Today's Short but Soggy Tracking

Today we awoke to drizzling rain, which threatened to last all day long.  Consulting the weather forecast was no source of encouragement.  So we lounged around the house with cabin fever most of the day.  Late in the PM the rain seemed to be stopping and the skies were lighting up a bit.  I had to stretch for an excuse to go for a ride, but I needed some copper tubing and fittings for work under the house.  The local electric and plumbing supply stores were  not sufficiently far away for satisfaction, but with the spotty weather I figured it was far enough.
I use the B.O.B. trailer for hauling such "freight", so I had to drag it out of the garage as well.  Fortunately it's not a difficult hook-up, and I was soon on my way.
The outside temperature was not quite 50 degrees, and the humidity was above 80%, so I again added a couple more layers on the outside of my shirt.  I did NOT get overheated, and didn't remove any layers until I got back home.
I also wore real shoes, that completely covered my feet, with real SOCKS today.  I haven't done that while riding in a month or more.  I certainly didn't regret it today, as the normally overly hot feet enjoyed the protection from the coolness.
Of course the first shoppe did not have all the parts I needed so I had to ride another quarter mile or so to Miller Electric & Plumbing which had a great selection of everything I needed.  That is, except for MONEY.  Copper tubing at 6 bucks a FOOT?  And I needed 12 feet of the stuff?  Over a hundred and a quarter for a few bits of copper and brass.....  You people think Trump is the problem?
The world will END if such prices keep climbing.  I shudder to contemplate what having a professional installer would cost including parts and labor.  ACK
For some odd reason, the rain did not resume during the entirety of this short excursion.
There IS a God, after all, and He is certainly good to me....

Ride Started:    4:15 PM      Ride Ended:  5:01 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage:  14.0  Ending Battery Voltage:  13.0   Lowest Voltage:  13.0

Beginning Blood Glucose:  188      Ending BG: 113

Lowest Temp:  50 F    Highest Temp:  50  F

Stats from the GPS:  Total Miles:   1.96
Distance Walked: .6 mile
Overall Average Speed       Moving Avg          Max Speed
  2.3 MPH                             5.9 MPH               18.8 MPH 

Total Trip Time                   Moving Time        Stopped  Time
 51 minutes                         20 (!) minutes        30 minutes

To Save the Sanity

Today's Shortened Route Tracked

Today I was again a bit lacking in motivation, but again, realizing getting out in the wind improves such motivation, I dragged the Catrike out of the garage and went for a windy-day ride.

Jacque had been out of town most of the day helping a neighbor take her elderly brother to the  Texas County Hospital in Houston, MO.  He had taken a tumble and broke his head open, bleeding quite badly.  We learned this when they pulled into our driveway madly honking their horn.  Jacque drove their car hurriedly to the med facility while I stayed home with the dogs.  

Jacque was thus gone a while, and she walked up to the house just as I was hooking up the power to the electronics on the trike.  She is SO kind and understanding of my trike habit and gracefully allowed me to take off again.

Not only does riding help reduce my Blood Sugar readings for diabetes, and improve my moods, provide fun, etc, but I recently saw a few announcements that exercise actually wards off mental illness and dementia.  In my case, I find that motivating to say the least.  Stay tuned;  I'll try to let y'all know how it works out.

Today being Wednesday, we have  seminary classes at 5:00 PM, so I decided to cut the ride a bit short to make sure I got home in time.  As a result, I rode a few streets I'm not that familiar with, lessening the boredom factor.  Great stuff.

Ride Started:    2:25 PM      Ride Ended:  3:14 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage:  13.2  Ending Battery Voltage:  13.0   Lowest Voltage:  12.9

Beginning Blood Glucose:  171      Ending BG: 104

Lowest Temp:  68 F    Highest Temp:  71  F

Stats from the GPS:  Total Miles:   4.06
Distance Walked: .6 mile
Overall Average Speed       Moving Avg          Max Speed
  5.1 MPH                             6.8 MPH               19.2 MPH 

Total Trip Time                   Moving Time        Stopped  Time
 48 minutes                         36 minutes           12 minutes

Shallow Soil and Tall Trees?

Today's Partial Track (via APRS)
A More Accurate Track via PlotaRoute

The last couple days I haven't really looked forward to a trike ride but it's kind of a tradition and even when my mood is lacking I always feel better when pedaling roundabout.
Today was no exception.  It was quite cold all day, with a HIGH of around 51 degrees and stiff COLD wind.  I wore 3 layers of shirt:  A "normal" short sleeve shirt underneath,  one of Jacque's homemade flannel shirts on top of that, and my nylon yellow visibility jacket on the outside.  I did NOT get overheated, and barely stayed warm enough on most of the ride.
I wanted to get in a few more miles than my too-usual 5-ish mile runs.  So I took off toward the airport and south on Bell Crossing Road from there.  I faintly remember riding this area before and finding a paved return route somewhere out there, but the closest cross road I came to was Sunshine, and that immediately turned to gravel, which I detest.  So I turned around and retraced my route all the way back.
Along the way, I again noticed the really TALL trees lining the roadway.  The soil around here is not deep at all;  a couple feet of soil shows in the road cuts, atop layers of limestone.  Yet most of the trees get super tall.

Many of such trees are over 100 feet high... It's a wonder they all don't blow over when the winds get high.  Some do.  Maybe they have taproots that penetrate the shallow soil and through the layers of limestone to some depth.
One slight problem cropped up on this ride.  I turned the brakes loose going down a long hill (thus the 29+ MPH reading), I bounced over several large pavement ruts and bumps, and suddenly the GPS bleeped and said something about needing external power.  I looked at the radio/GPS cluster closer and realized the Kenwood walkie-talkie was dead, without power, and thus the GPS had complained because it was now running on it internal battery.  I checked and re-checked the various DC connection leading from the Lithium-Ion battery in the saddlebag and the radios and could find nothing wrong.  Starting to ride again, I thought suddenly about the actual connectors ON the battery inside the saddlebag.  It took a bit of digging to get it out, but sure enough, one of the spade connectors had popped loose during all the road-bouncing.  I don't think I've ever seen that happen before... But it's always something.

Ride Started:    3:44 PM      Ride Ended:  5:01 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage:  13.9  Ending Battery Voltage:  13.0   Lowest Voltage:  13.0

Beginning Blood Glucose:  111      Ending BG: 89

Lowest Temp:  57 F    Highest Temp:  64  F

Stats from the GPS:  Total Miles:   7.64
Distance Walked: .6 mile
Overall Average Speed       Moving Avg          Max Speed
  5.9 MPH                             6.8 MPH               29.3 MPH (Downhill w/Tailwind!)

Total Trip Time                   Moving Time        Stopped  Time
 1 hour 17 mins                  1 hour 7 mins         10 minutes

Trike Trash Hauling

Today's Travel Tracking

We got only a couple hours of real sleep last night.  The weather forecast had called for hail and thunderstorms about midnight.  All was calm and quiet when we went to bed, thinking amongst ourselves that the TV weather dudes and dudettes were smoking something strange.  Around 1:30 AM our much-hated weather radio blasted us awake, warning Wright County to take cover, amongst other counties of course.
Since we dwell in Wright County this alarm alarmed us, though at first we still heard no sound of rain and only faint breezes blowing outside.  As we watched the radar progress across the TV screen, the storm fronts seemed to be moving east sorta towards us at speeds between 45 and 70 MPH.
Around the wonderful hour of 2:30 AM, the TV screen showed red and yellow slashes right next to dear old Mountain Grove, but the tornado warning had been downgraded to "Severe Thunderstorm Warnings".  This was not a whole lot of comfort since severe thunderstorms often spawn tornadoes.
High winds and heavy rain pummeled us for a while, and the lightning flashes, though miles distant, lit up the sky and rocked the neighborhood with very vocal thunder, but no tornadoes nor further alarms resulted and we finally got to bed close to 3 AM.  Since we get up at 5 AM sharp, the night's rest was lacking.
So today I took a later morning nap from around 8 AM to 9:30 and it felt great. Jacque and I worked on more kitchen painting and by four-ish I was ready to try a ride, though still fatigued.
Happy I was to finally get outside and saddle up.  I more motivated myself for the ride by "running an errand" by loading up the trike trailer, normally used for doggie rides, with a stack of collapsed cardboard boxes we continue to accumulate as we unpack from moving as well as flatten boxes received in the mail with various supplies.

The load looked heavy but I doubt it was much more than 20 pounds.
The cardboard recycler, who seemingly is never staffed, but has trailers full of cardboard whence more can be added, was not far away, about eight-tenths of a mile.  So, with trailer now empty, I rode the long way around our burg to get a few more miles under my belt.
Riding around, as usual, improved my grumpy sleep mood greatly.
Again I encountered an un-leashed dog of medium size, but he merely followed me a hundred feet or so without aggression or even barking.  No problem.
My feet were a bit more sore than usual, but not in any extreme.
Hopefully the unusual fall weather will fade a bit and allow us a few nights of deep sleep.
Jacque may be a Spring Chicken, but I, sadly, am not.

Ride Started:   4:10 PM      Ride Ended:  5:24 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage:  13.9  Ending Battery Voltage:  13.0   Lowest Voltage:  13.0

Lowest Temp:  61 F    Highest Temp:  75  F

Stats from the GPS:  Total Miles:  5.82
Distance Walked: .6 mile
Overall Average Speed       Moving Avg          Max Speed
  5.3 MPH                             6.8 MPH               18.2 MPH

Total Trip Time                   Moving Time        Stopped  Time
 1 hour 5 mins                       52 minutes          14 minutes

Sunday Rider

Sunday Evening Tracking

I didn't get a trike ride yesterday, Saturday, so I was able to get in  a few miles this evening just before sundown.
My recently patched tires seem to be holding pressure just fine, so no additional air was needed for today's ride.
I need to pressure-clean and re-roof the RV, so I took a few photos of places for sale or rent that looked like they had a garage big enough to get the RV into.  We'll see.

The weather was just perfect temperature wise, and all drivers encountered were courteous, as usual.
I passed this fellow relaxing next to the fence as I went by and couldn't resist taking his photo.

On the other side of town, I was suddenly accosted by a couple of large, loose, and noisy dogs.  I failed to get THEIR photo, but thankfully they were all bark and no bite.

Ride Started:   4:42 PM      Ride Ended:  5:47 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage:  13.8  Ending Battery Voltage:  13.0   Lowest Voltage:  13.0

Beginning Blood Glucose:  145      Ending BG: 86

Lowest Temp:  64 F    Highest Temp:  68  F

Stats from the GPS:  Total Miles:  6.92
Distance Walked: .6 mile
Overall Average Speed       Moving Avg          Max Speed
  6.8 MPH                             7.3 MPH               21.5 MPH

Total Trip Time                   Moving Time        Stopped  Time
 1 hour 1 min                       56 minutes            5minutes