And Around And Around

Thursday Trike Track

We are making slow progress rebuilding our master bathroom, but I tire easily, and things seem to go better if I elevate my mood by taking trike rides here and there, so I saddled up a little earlier than usual and got in a few miles.  It was quite a bit cooler than my normal rides, so maybe until fall and winter get here I should make the effort to ride earlier all the time.
Wanting to have additional time for sawdust and paint to get all over me, I didn't try to get in more than a few miles.  The sunscreen plastered on my legs and arms helps the sawdust and paint stick to me better, so it was all for a good cause.
My blood glucose (BG) was a little low (114) before I started, and my legs didn't seem to have as much "steam" as usual.  So, after 3 miles or so I stopped and checked blood sugar and it was now in the 60's:  Pretty much normal for a non diabetic people but low for my situation.  So I dug out my emergency bag of 3 cookies and chowed them down.  One probably would have been a better choice but, having the sandwich bag open and the taste was Oh, So Good, I ate them all.
When I got home my BG was high (195), especially for post-ride.  That's why there are only 3 cookies in each bag.  I can control my appetite better with portion "control".  If there had been more than 3 cookies I'm sure I would have eaten all or most of them.  SIGH
Not much of interest happened on this ride.  Just enjoyment of having the breeze in my face and racing along at such speeds (6.8 MPH??) under my own power.

Ride Started:   8:32 AM      Ride Ended:  9:53 AM
Beginning Battery Voltage:  13.0  Ending Battery Voltage:  12.9   Lowest Voltage:  12.7

Beginning Blood Glucose:  114      Ending BG: 194

Lowest Temp:  64 F    Highest Temp:  70  F

Stats from the GPS:  Total Miles:  6.3
Distance Walked: 1/2 mile
Overall Average Speed       Moving Avg          Max Speed
  4.6 MPH                              6.8 MPH              20 MPH

Total Trip Time                   Moving Time        Stopped  Time
 1 hour 22 mins                   56 minutes           27 minutes

Later in the evening, I found a water bill in the mailbox. Mountain Grove has not yet advanced to online payment status, so I went to the trouble of writing a check and putting it in a stamped envelope.  It was just after 7 PM and the sun was setting.

I dragged the trike out of the garage and rode the short distance of a few blocks to the Post Office to make sure it got into outgoing mail.

As I started for home again, I remembered the Police Station and City Hall were just another block away.  So I rode that small distance to see if they had a deposit slot for bill payments.  Sure enough, they did, right next to a drive-up window, banking style.  So the City is at least up to date for 1960 standards.  I could have saved myself the expense and bother of envelope and stamp and just waited until Monday to ride over and pay the dudes through their high-class payment window.

As I pulled out of the parking lot, cranking hard to cross a small dip in the pavement, something went CLICK and I was unable to pedal further.  It felt like my right crank had somehow bent.  I thought I was doomed, and limped the trike up into another parking area...

As the astute reader may detect, the crank hadn't bent at all;  the entire front boom had twisted inside its clamp.   All I had to do was loosen the clamp, twist the boom back into the proper vertical position, and re-tighten the boom clamp, this time a bit tighter in hopes it won't happen again.  This trip was a bit over one mile out and back.

Road Hazards

Jim's Tracker Path via Ham Radio

Yesterday I only got to enjoy a quite short ride - after 5 PM - to the Post Office to deposit an outgoing letter.  We had spent most of the day in Springfield at the podiatrist's office.  Total Mileage to the P.O. and back:  1.01 miles.  WHOOPEE
We thought we were gonna freeze this morning when we woke up at 5 AM sharp:  It was only 64 degrees.  Not REALLY.  But it WAS an enjoyably cool morning.  Fall and winter must be coming on.
When we got home from our Seminary class, about 8 AM or so, I thought an early morning trike ride might be in order.  After futzing around for too long, it was 10:00 AM by the time I got rolling, and the sun was up and chasing away any coolness available.
Irregardless, it was a nice day for a ride.  By The Way, astute readers will notice my using the questionable word "irregardless", which really should be "regardless" unless one wishes to cancel the word's meaning accidentally or otherwise.  Irregardless or regardless, School is now out; back to cycling and other nonsense.
As I neared the end of our driveway to enter the street, a utility truck pulled up and actually drove over the curb to park in front of our house.  A couple of working dudes stepped out with tools in their hands, and when Dude #1 noticed me, he asked "Do you live here??"  When I answered affirmatively
(See, I could have written just "YES", but whatever...) he said "We're here to change your electric meter.  Your power will be off for just a few minutes."
I shrugged and told them to go ahead, and rode away without waiting to see what the momentary power outage might disrupt.  It often means loss of internet, since power outages usually lock up the WIFI and cable modem - at least for a while.  I felt I was already running a bit late for my ride and wanted to get going.
The day warmed rapidly but conditions were pretty much optimal for riding around in the sunshine.
I again rolled up to the main highway around here with good shoulders:  Highway 60.  I hadn't gone too far before again noticing all the junk in "my" shoulder lane:  Squashed squirrels, possum, armadillos ("Possum On the Half Shell", as my cousin Jerry calls them, turtles and frogs.  Poor critters that don't seem to realize how dangerous it is to try crossing such roadways.
And of course there's the man-made junk:  Bolts, chunks of tire treads, hoses, headlights, FENDERS, and ......

A FORK in the ROAD??

I only realized what this object was as I sailed past it, and for a couple hundred yards I thought "Mercy, if I ever hit THAT it would cause a BLOWOUT!!"

Then,  of  course, it occurred to me that it likely would  cause ANYONE a blowout, and shouldn't I go back and throw it out of the road?  Yes, it was on the shoulder, but only maybe a foot or so away from the high-speed pavement.  I stopped and thought I was going to walk back, but there were no oncoming vehicles on  my side of the highway so I just turned the trike around and rode back, wrong way, on the shoulder.  A few cars passed me head-on but I stopped each time to avoid scaring them by their noticing I was going the WRONG WAY.

It was a hay fork of some kind, with the long handle broken and gone, with only the steel of the fork head left.  I heaved it off the roadway as far as I could throw it, at least several yards into the weeds.

When I got another break in the oncoming cars, I again turned around the RIGHT way and continued onward.

When I got to the westernmost exit to my lovely town of Mountain Grove, I took the curve around to Bell Crossing road and rode the freshly tarred-and-graveled pavement.... Not Very Far.  My feet were killing me, I was hot and thirsty, and I was looking for shade.  A large metal building on the left side of the Bell Crossing intersection offered shade, and I gladly veered over there to rest a bit.

A few slugs of water and a few minutes with my feet elevated without shoes and I was ready to go again.  In about 3/4 mile I stopped again at a favorite shady spot:  The seldom-used Mountain Grove Airport.  There are a couple of crop duster planes frequently parked outside there but I've never seen one in action or any other activity.  But the shade there right at the entrance is great.
As I was sitting there relaxing, I noticed another head-strap had separated inside my helmet.  Much as I hate it, I'm gonna have to throw this one away so I won't be tempted to use it again and start using my other helmet which has only a "few" miles on it, unlike this one which has quasi protected me for thousands of miles and several years.

Another few minutes of shade and rest and I was off again.  I started to go further south on Bell Crossing but could not spot a certified paved road leading me back to town from there so I turned around and went back to Wheeler Arch Road which took me back very close to home.

Back Home Safe and Sound.  Now back to work rebuilding the master bathroom....

Ride Started:  10:00 AM      Ride Ended:  12:01 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage:  13.9  Ending Battery Voltage:  13.0   Lowest Voltage:  12.7

Beginning Blood Glucose:  253      Ending BG: 94

Lowest Temp:  71 F    Highest Temp:  78  F

Stats from the GPS:  Total Miles:  8.98
Distance Walked: 1/2 mile
Overall Average Speed       Moving Avg          Max Speed
  4.5 MPH                              7.3 MPH              21.2 MPH

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

Bad Storm, Good Day Riding

Today's Spotty Tracking

Last night, we had barely gotten to sleep when the weather alert receiver went off, squalling and bleeping.  "Severe Thunderstorm Watrning", it blared, and I stumbled over to the window to shut it off.  It was perfectly quiet outside and no sign of storm, though no visibility since it was dark.
Often the alert radio goes off when it's the neighboring county getting a warning, and we've gotten a bit jaded after several false alarms.
I had just gotten back to sleep again when a humongous crack of thunder almost kicked me out of bed, and just like that, we endured a severe thunderstorm.  Blinding flashes of lightning, fearful roars of thunder echoing and rocking the house, intermittent screaming wind, and short but loud blasts of driving rain.  The Callie-cat was terrified and thudded against the bedroom door several times trying to get through it, and the dogs were whimpering and fussing.  Jacque, bless her heart, slept blissfully through it all.  Not wearing hearing aids to bed helps in such times, evidently.
Thankfully, the storm was violent but brief, and in about 20 minutes all was quiet again, and I fell blissfully back to sleep again.
When we awoke at 5 AM this morning, it was misty and dripping, with clouds keeping the skies dark even after sunrise.
We arrived home after seminary, with soggy skies as far as the eye could see, and I thought it would be a rainy work-on-the-bathroom-only day.  But, after a couple more hours and an early morning nap for me to recover from getting up at the unGodly hour of 5 AM 4 days a week, the sun actually showed its face and I determined to get in a ride before it got too warm.
Even though it was shortly after noon when I got going, there was still a cool breeze to be had in spite of the bright sunshine quickly warming things up again.
I rode a reverse of a few rides today, sticking mostly to the outskirts of town.  As I rode Hubbard Street to its intersection with Highway AM just outside the city limits, I encountered this sign, which always makes me chuckle:

"Speed Limit 40", right next to a smaller sign warning "Speed Limit 30 Except Where Posted".
Snicker.  There are seldom any signs warning that the 40 MPH limit is no longer in effect so I guess it allows the local police to pretty much nail you whenever they feel like it.
The "Noise Ordinance Enforced" is also funny because here in this humid climate any vehicle more than a few years old has mufflers and exhaust pipes rusted through, resulting in a lot of little old ladies sporting loud pipes.
Since I have never achieved 40 MPH, even on long downhills with a good tailwind, I suppose I should avoid complaining about speed limits.  Even the 15 MPH school speed limits are hard for me to exceed.
After a lengthier-than-usual shade break at the local airport, I began riding north toward Route 60 again and for some reason decided to take a picture of the curved rails where the road crosses.

I'm not totally aware of the history of this rail line, but I have read that US Route 60, which pretty much parallels the rail line, was once a true coast-to-coast highway, unlike Route 66, which gained all the attention and the glory in the 40's and 50's and 60's, and which only went as far east as Chicago.
I still have neuropathic foot pain, but I can still feel light tickles from feathers and such when tested.
I have decided I am relatively happy to have at least SOME foot pain, since I have diabetic friends who have lost all feeling in their feet and have trouble noticing injuries or other problems with their feet.  At least I can still feel specks of sand etc. under my feet and in spite of the almost constant pain in some level, I prefer that to losing all sensation in them.  Ideally I'd not have painful feet but still be able to feel sensations in them like a normal human.
My feet got hot on this ride and I had to stop and remove my socks t get more air to them.  I rubbed sunblock on them and rode the rest of the way WITH sandals and withOUT socks.
I was a bit surprised as I neared home to see a little over 9 miles on the GPS with a mile or so yet to go.  I'm very happy to have gotten in the miles today.  It always elevates my mood even though I get home hot and sweaty and smelly.  Thank God for a tolerant wife...

Ride Started:  12:34 PM      Ride Ended:  2:36 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage:  13.8  Ending Battery Voltage:  12.8   Lowest Voltage:  12.7

Beginning Blood Glucose:  78      Ending BG: 98

Lowest Temp:  71 F    Highest Temp:  82  F

Stats from the GPS:  Total Miles:  10.43
Distance Walked: 1/2 mile
Overall Average Speed       Moving Avg          Max Speed
  4.9 MPH                              7.5 MPH              25.5 MPH

Total Trip Time                   Moving Time        Stopped  Time
 2 hours 6 mins                  1 hour 23 mins        44 minutes

Dodging Storm Clouds...

Today's GPS/Ham Radio Tracking

This morning we awoke again to driving rain.  It was dark and wet and still spitting a bit of rain as we got home from our early morning seminary class.  I prefer to ride in the mornings before the weather warms up too much, but it was too soggy out.  Around 11 AM I checked outside and decided it was dry enough for a quick ride, but it started raining again before I got saddled up.  BAH.
We got a little done on the bathroom and floors after spending money on a small belt sander  - to replace my old Craftsman sander that had given up the ghost after so many years of intermittent use.  We have a bothersome ridge in the floor between the kitchen and dining room, and hoped with the small sander and the coarsest belts available we could grind it down sufficiently to start laying new flooring over it.  Within a few seconds both belts I tried were hopelessly clogged with old floor glue and gunk.  So we'll work on a new strategy.  We'll see.
I kept checking the weather and finally it looked like things had stopped ripped dripping out of the sky.  This time I saddled up a bit quicker and got going with only a few tiny drops of rain hitting me.
I at first thought I'd duplicate the nice route from yesterday, but the weather north of town looked a bit threatening,  so I tried to cut it a little shorter by not going any farther north than 13th street.  I stayed on 13th as I rode west, assuming I could take it all the way to Busch/Bush St. like yesterday, but when I got to the crossing at "Main" (Highway 95), it turned out not to be a crossing at all but only a dead end at that point.  So I turned back and looked for a street to get around towards home again.  I kept getting tempted to ride farther west to get some extra miles but the dark clouds seemed to be gathering steam toward the north and I didn't want to get caught in a downpour.

ME Trying to put the Storm Behind Me..

I encountered several very courteous drivers on this ride.  I pulled up at one intersection just as a large pickup pulling an even larger horse trailer pulled up opposite me.  Even though I had barely arrived at the intersection earlier than the truck, thus having theoretical "Right of Way", I have driven such long loads before, and I waved the horseman to go ahead of me through the intersection.  Even though it took a couple minutes for him to accept the invitation, I felt better letting him go first.  A few other drivers, in amazement as usual, slowed or stopped to watch me go by.
Arrived back at the house with hardly any moisture soaked into my hide.  Great Stuff.

Ride Started:  2:11 PM      Ride Ended:  3:20 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage:  14.1  Ending Battery Voltage:  13.0   Lowest Voltage:  12.7

Beginning Blood Glucose:  149      Ending BG: 49

Lowest Temp:  71 F    Highest Temp:  78  F

Stats from the GPS:  Total Miles:  6.54
Distance Walked: 1/2 mile
Overall Average Speed       Moving Avg          Max Speed
  5.6 MPH                              7.2 MPH              19.4 MPH

Total Trip Time                   Moving Time        Stopped  Time
 1 hour 10 mins                   54 minutes           16 minutes

Rainy Riding

Today's Plotted Route, APRS was on the Blink
(My self-tracker died yesterday and I forgot to muck with it until halfway through today's ride)
APRS/GPS Ham Radio Track after I wiggled the Wires

We awoke today to thunder and lightning on the distant horizon.  Roads were still dry by the time we got to our early morning seminary class, but when class ended, everything was soaked outside, and rain was still coming down vigorously.  It stopped raining as we drove home, and after changing out of my "good" clothes I stepped outside to see if I could devine what the weather was going to do.
The weather app on the phone claimed possible showers but my eyeball personal observation stirred me to go ahead and saddle up for a trike ride.

The streets were still wet but the skies seemed only lightly clouded, and it actually had cooled off a bit, so I was a happy rider.  At first I thought I'd take a known, "safe" route, and be in position to hurry home if it began to rain again.
Everything went mostly fine and dandy, although it occasionally hit me with a very light sprinkle, more of a faint misting than real rain.
As I got a little past my projected halfway point, I noticed a long street to my right that I had previously noticed but not investigated:  West 13th Street.  One reason I hadn't ridden it before was that it ran up a fairly long hill, and my old GPS map did not show any details about it.
For some reason I turned right and chugged up the hill to see if I could see what was on the other side.   Thirteenth actually stretched on for a ways and I kept going. 
It was a long climb to the top of the rise, much of it in the lowest gear set , commonly known as "Grandma Gear".  Then a large dip down hill and back up again.  I worried it might turn into a dead end somewhere out in nowhere and I'd have to turn back.  My trike's GPS is an old Garmin 350 and the internal maps are years old, but when I looked at it closely it showed  a cross road somewhere up ahead that would take me back towards town.  When I finally arrived at the intersection it turned out to be Bush Road.  Interesting because on maps it's spelled Busch Road but on the street signs it's spelled Bush.  Oh Well.  It's a great low traffic route which I enjoyed greatly and plan to use it again.
It led all the way back to Business 60 on the west end of town.  I crossed this main road and rode another block or so to First Street, which led me back toward home. 
Even though it was still cloudy and I had been lightly sprinkled several times, I was high and dry when I got home.
Now, a couple hours later, the skies have largely cleared and the sun has been out for a while.
I'm glad I got in a ride before it got too warm again.

Ride Started:  9:45 AM      Ride Ended:  11:15 AM
Beginning Battery Voltage:  13.8  Ending Battery Voltage:  12.9   Lowest Voltage:  12.7

Beginning Blood Glucose:  229      Ending BG: 65

Lowest Temp:  71 F    Highest Temp:  75  F

Stats from the GPS:  Total Miles:  7.73
Distance Walked: 1/2 mile
Overall Average Speed       Moving Avg          Max Speed
  4.9 MPH                              7.0 MPH              21.4 MPH

Total Trip Time                   Moving Time        Stopped  Time
 1 hour 34 mins                   1 hour 6 mins         27 minutes

Heat Index Riding

Today's Rambling Ride

To mention that it's been a bit hot here in Misery, er, Missouri, would be to understate things a bit.
On Monday 2 days ago, the outside thermometer reported 100 degrees, which did not account for the high humidity here, which usually means an even higher "heat index".
Yesterday it "only" got into the upper 80's, again not counting the higher heat index.
We don't miss New Mexico's high crime and costs of living, but we do miss the drier air with the associated "comfort index".
Yesterday we rode our Tandem Terratrike to the nearby Senior Center for lunch and, though short, we got overheated enough to call it good for the day.
Tandem Trike Route for the Day
Today we didn't have Early Morning Seminary - since on Wednesdays we have it just before Youth Activities at the Church - so we slept in until about 7:45.  That is, I slept that late, though Jacque got up about an hour earlier to take pity on the critters and feed them.
I wanted to get in a few miles on my Catrike today before it got too hot, and it worked out OK for me in spite of waiting until almost 10 AM to get rolling.
I had thought I might ride the several miles east on Route 60 to see my buddy Ted near Cabool, but as I rounded a few turns I decided it might not be wise to go that distance so late in the day what with the heat.  So I pretty much stuck to one of my tried and true routes around the paved perimeters of town.  I took a small detour north to Wal-Mart to splurge on a 50-cent ice cold canned Pepsi.
I try to ride the outer perimeters of such parking lots in hopes of avoiding the more heavily traveled interior parts of the lot.  As I began my exit this morning, however, a screaming FedEx delivery van smoked past me, seemingly barely missing me.  I just need to remember the lesser-traveled routes are not always totally empty of traffic.
I took a few more small detours on the way home without further incident.  Drivers invariably give me lots of clearance when they pass by, and I'm sure Mr. FedEx would have as well, had he not been trying to make highway speed in a crowded parking lot.

Ride Started:  9:43 AM      Ride Ended:  11:03 AM
Beginning Battery Voltage:  13.9  Ending Battery Voltage:  12.9   Lowest Voltage:  12.9

Beginning Blood Glucose:  130      Ending BG: 124

Lowest Temp:  71 F    Highest Temp:  84 F

Stats from the GPS:  Total Miles:  6.16
Distance Walked: 1/2 mile
Overall Average Speed       Moving Avg          Max Speed
  6.7   MPH                           6.7  MPH              16.7 MPH

Total Trip Time                   Moving Time        Stopped  Time
 1 hour 16 mins                    55 minutes           21 minutes

Ten Miles of Bliss

Today's Ten Miles via GPS/APRS

Yesterday Jacque and I "took the day off" and traveled over to Big Spring, MO, where one of the largest springs in the USA and the World, according to Wikipedia.  The main road into the area was closed due to bridge renovation so we took the marked detour to the springs, which turned out to be shorter than taking the "main" road.
The Springs were quite breath-taking, with huge swirls of crystal blue water gushing forth from the rocks.

This morning had started out soggy and rainy but settled into shady clouds and cooler weather until the sun came out and everything got warm again.

Jacque had suggested this outing as a break from bending and twisting and getting sore backs and bones from working on the house.  It WAS a nice diversion, and we found a nice set of hot fudge sundaes only a couple miles away before we headed back home.
Saturday, today, had no threats of rain, but just some light clouds overhead.  Great day for a ride.
As I started to pull the trike out of the garage, I recalled that I have been suffering an intermittent squealing somewhere along the chain circuit.  Instead of just riding away and putting up with it, I laid it over on its side and worked on the lowermost idler pulley under the seat.
Of course, instead of a few minutes work it tyook at least half an hour to get it all undone.  The plastic idler pulley turned out to have 2 parallel roller bearings inside the hub.These bearings weren't dry, as I'd expected, but there was evidence they had been turning on their mounting spindle bolt, perhaps causing the intermittent squealie noises.  I oiled them a bit, reinstalled them and tightened the main bolt, and took a few more minutes to wash all the chain grease off so I could ride comfortably.
I first rode a route I've done several times before, along Harker, next door, over to Wall, then yo to Clouse and over to the local airport.  The airport is a nice place for a passing cyclist since there seems to seldom be any car traffic and there are large shade trees at the entrance, affording a great place to take a cool-off break.  After a few pleasant minutes with my bare feet out of the sandals and in the breeze, I was ready to go again.  I turned toward the "Business Route 60" but instead of taking that, I turned left and rode the short ramp down on to the divided highway of Route 60, with its nice wide paved shoulders.  This is actually a safer route, though slightly longer, than the "Business 60", with its lack of decent shoulders.
Arriving at the middle exit for Mountain Grove, I turned left at the Taco Bell entrance to the frontage road leading to Hovis Street, which was the reverse of the route I normally have taken here.
It didn't turn out to be an exact reverse path - since going the opposite direction caused several areas to look different to me.  It was mostly like a totally new area to me.  Of course, as I get older and older, I likely can soon ride any route or direction and bask in the wonder of "new views", what with fading memory and all.
Speaking of faltering brain power, after one rest break I was toiling along and realized I was not wearing my cutoff cycling gloves, and they were nowhere to be found on the trike.  I gave up trying to find them on the trike and turned around to retrace the route back to the last "rest area", hoping against hope I could find the worn, raggedy things again.  One promising spot turned out to be only a clump of colorful leaves, but I did indeed find them again just south of the resting place.  I again resumed the ride with gloves in place, a happy rider.  The gloves keep my sweaty palms from sticking to the handles and brake levers, a wonderful thing.
Finally arrived home safe and sound and ready for some more tedious home renovation.

Ride Started:  9:50 AM      Ride Ended:  11:48 AM

Beginning Battery Voltage:  13.8  Ending Battery Voltage:  13.0 Lowest Voltage:  13.0

Beginning Blood Glucose:  182      Ending BG: 76

Lowest Temp:  75 F    Highest Temp:  78 F

Stats from the GPS:  Total Miles:  10.82
Distance Walked: 1/2 mile
Overall Average Speed       Moving Avg          Max Speed
  5.4   MPH                           7.4  MPH              26.5 MPH

Total Trip Time                   Moving Time        Stopped  Time
 2 hours                              1 hour 27 mins      34 minutes

More Toodling Around Town

Today's Travels (per GPS and APRS)

Today we got up at the Ungodly hour of 5 AM so we could direct  Godly studies for the Mountain Grove Seminary class.  What a bunch of great teenagers.
This got us home just before 8 AM, leaving plenty of time for work and joyful exercise, i.e. riding the trike(s).
Jacque decided she and the puppy dogs wanted to ride too, so I backed her Catrike out of the garage too.
We rode together for a half mile or so and then Jacque turned north and I kept going south on Wall Street.  I thought to myself that I had ridden south this way at least a few times, and today I would just ride the reverse route.
This ride reminded me why I like to ride this country so much.  In spite of the heat and humidity,  there are lots of pretty areas with shade to take breaks in.  Which I took advantage of freely.
One of the pretty places is right in our own yard:

Surprise Lilies

These short term flowers seem to pop up everywhere, pretty much overnight.  All this heat and humidity result in some good, besides the discomfort when it gets much over 70 F.
As usual, all drivers I encountered gave me lots of space and wide berths, very nice since the roads were quite narrow most of this route.
Jacque wound up finding and following yard sale signs and found some good stuff along with the great exercise.
This day, the humidity wasn't as bad as usual and our rides were quite comfortable.
When I got home I wasn't even soaked with sweat, unlike most days.

Ride Started:  9:42 AM      Ride Ended:  10:51 AM

Beginning Battery Voltage:  13.7  Ending Battery Voltage:  12.9 Lowest Voltage:  12.5

Beginning Blood Glucose:  294      Ending BG: 108

Lowest Temp:  71 F    Highest Temp:  78 F

Stats from the GPS:  Total Miles:  6.10
Distance Walked: 1/2 mile
Overall Average Speed       Moving Avg          Max Speed
  5.1   MPH                           701  MPH              18.6 MPH

Total Trip Time                   Moving Time        Stopped  Time
 1 hour 11 mins                   53 minutes             18 minutes

Back-To-School Riding

Today's Intrepid Tracking

I haven't ridden in several days, due to prioritizing work on the house, for both bathroom and kitchen.
The whole house needs upkeep and renovation in one way or another.  It's the price we pay for buying a house we could "afford", for cash, without a mortgage.  This Ole House is a-gettin' weary, this ole house is a-gettin' old.  I need to look up that old song and sing it out loud to help ease the pain when Jacque and/or I are on our knees getting all stinky and slimy and achy-breaky, as another song goes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WhLhF12TBE


Anyways, I decided I need to try at least a short ride as often as possible since I get so stiff and sore from house-wrangling.  So I took off on another trip today.
I at first rode out to our local airport on Clouse Street and then south on Bell Crossing, thinking I was following a nice route I'd done before.  It wasn't long before I realized I was about to duplicate another LESS desirable route unless I turned around.  I recognized Sunny Slope Road for its absence of pavement.  Continuing further on Bell Crossing would take me even further along than the few miles I wanted to ride, so I turned around and went back.
On these back roads, passing drivers invariably give me a wide berth, but many seem t not slow down at all when they roar by me.  I find myself torn between angst about their speed or thanks for their getting around me in a flash, thus narrowing the time in the oncoming lane.
Then there are those who slow to a crawl behind me, refusing to pass at all, which often makes me feel guilty enough to pull over to the side, off the road, and stop, thus allowing the polite slowpokes to get around me before I resume hogging the roadway.
Big trucks and RV's always get this treatment from me, since I know how difficult it is to find a wide enough gap in oncoming traffic to get around anything, even a slow old cyclist.
Speaking of road manners, yesterday Jacque and I rode the Terratrike Tandem over to the Senior Center and back for noonday lunch.  On the way back home, a car actually pulled up in the oncoming lane as we approached the city center square, leading me to think "What jerks, wanting to get around us that bad right here in downtown where all traffic is at a stall anyway!"  But the passenger had rolled his window down and asked us politely if he could take a picture of us.  No offense intended...
What's the old saying about taking offense when none is offered?  NEVER MIND...
The "Back-to-School" title has little relation to school, actually, even though local schools do start with their first day tomorrow.  We have been assigned as Early Morning Seminary team teachers, so tomorrow we start waking up at 5-ish so we can "Stand and Deliver" at the appointed late hour of 6:30 AM.  We have substituted for this group of Church students before, and they are a great bunch.  Thus we actually look forward to this assignment, even though it means no more sleeping in on weekdays....
But it should not prevent me from trike-riding, since I never get started early in the mornings anyway...
I like to leave the trike outside of the garage on nice days, in case another excuse for riding presents itself.  Hopefully it can be seen in the shadows of this picture:

Ride Started:  10:03 AM      Ride Ended:  11:41 AM

Beginning Battery Voltage:  13.9  Ending Battery Voltage:  13.0 Lowest Voltage:  12.5

Beginning Blood Glucose:  153      Ending BG: 117

Lowest Temp:  71 F    Highest Temp:  84 F

Stats from the GPS:  Total Miles:  8.32
Distance Walked: 1/2 mile
Overall Average Speed       Moving Avg          Max Speed
  5.1   MPH                           7.1  MPH              24.8 MPH

Total Trip Time                   Moving Time        Stopped  Time
 1 hour 37 mins                   1 hour 10 mins     27 minutes

(Keep in mind the "Max Speeds" displayed on these readings are COASTING, downhill, with a tail-wind.  No Way I could pedal at such speeds)

Wal-Mart Tripping

Today's Usual 5-Something Mile Ride

Well, yesterday I was tied up trying to renovate our master bathroom in our 90+ year old house.
It was probably last renovated maybe in the 1960's but it's still pretty old and showing its age.
I actually got more exhausted bending and twisting around in the bathroom, both on my knees and sitting on a stool, chipping and peeling old plastic wall tiles off.
Thus I got all hot and sweaty and exhausted without even sitting on the trike.
Today, however, I needed to "run" to Walmart to get a refund and then next door to Ace Hardware.  Since nothing in this town is more than about 2 or 3 miles away, it makes no sense to drive the car when it only takes an hour or so to make the run on the trike, right??  RIGHT.
It was cloudy and cool this morning, with forecasts calling for "Showers".  I didn't see any real clouds within danger range, so I took off without changing into my "riding shorts" nor applying the usual coating of gunk for sun-block.  Of course, about halfway home, suddenly the sun came out, making things instantly noticeably hotter, and it stayed hot the rest of the day without a single sprinkle of rain so far as we noticed.
I'd planned to resume sweating out the bathroom work when I got home, but our local woods craftsman called and told me, while still triking on the way home, that our butcher block counter tops were finished and he was ready to deliver them.
WOW, do they improve the looks of the kitchen - and the whole house, for that matter:

So, even though that totally stopped progress on the bathroom all day, it was a welcome addition, even though it will likely take another 2 days' bite out of the time for the bathroom.
For one thing, I bought some expensive glue/sealant to put this new sink and counter top in place, but try as I might, I cannot find any of my two caulking guns with which to apply the sealant.  I've searched everything, RV, house, basement, garage 3-4 times - and cannot find the needed device.
The only surefire way I know of to find them is to go buy ANOTHER one, which will instantly result in my finding the others.  SIGH

Ride Started:  10:30 AM      Ride Ended:  12:09 PM

Beginning Battery Voltage:  13.6  Ending Battery Voltage:  13.0 Lowest Voltage:  13.0

Beginning Blood Glucose:  67      Ending BG: 99

Lowest Temp:  71 F    Highest Temp:  78 F

Stats from the GPS:  Total Miles:  5.60
Distance Walked: 1/2 mile
Overall Average Speed       Moving Avg          Max Speed
  5.3   MPH                           7.1  MPH              16.4 MPH

Total Trip Time                   Moving Time        Stopped  Time
 1 hour 41 mins                     48 mins                 53 minutes

Miles and Miles of String...

Today's Track via GPS and Ham Radio

The weather forecast for today called for rain storms around noon, so I was motivated to get riding before that happened.  My riding weather was rather cool and cloudy, with no real indications of storms a-coming.
As with recent rides, I rode a street and area not ridden before, at least for the first half of the ride.
I frequently encounter things I wish I'd photographed for sharing, and today I got a few shots of what-not.
I had gone maybe a mile or two up West First Street when I rode by this colorful yard:

45 RPM Memories?

I at first thought to myself "Maybe I should borrow one of those and listen to it at home"
Then, of course, it occurred to me "What would I use to play it?"
I think the last turntable I owned was over 20 years ago.  You can listen to most any old song you want on Youtube nowadays , but it woulda been nice to hear one of those old scratchy records again.
Most folks younger than, say 40, likely would not recognize these.  But guys my age used to know girls who had stacks and stacks of these babies.  Most guys I knew didn't collect them but the girls I remember, including my lovely cousins, sure did.  Anyway.
I got a couple of waves, friendly honks, and one open-window "Thumbs UP" from passing motorists.
As I got within a couple miles of home, I spotted something I don't think I've noticed before:

Blue String Lining the Highway?

I at first started to ignore the string, but it kept appearing in my vision as I rolled along.  After the first mile of it I stopped to examine it more closely:

A MILE of STRING?

It was blue polyethylene string, and nothing rubbed off on my fingers, so it must not have been "chalk-line".  I kept riding.
It continued to string me out, as I continued to ride, and my curiosity increased.  Who or what has a spool of string more than a mile long?  Or LOST that much string?
I kept riding and watching, even though the string actually changed lanes a couple of times for hundreds of yards.  I hoped to find and END to the string, maybe to solve my tiny mystery.
Believe it or not, I actually DID find the end, only a block away from home.  This wad of string (with a real END) was plopped in the middle of Highway 95:

After Moving the Wad off the Highway!

 I still didn't and don't know who or what carries that much string.  Gotta be a government vehicle.
Private enterprise surely couldn't suffer such a loss....

Ride Started:  9:47 AM      Ride Ended:  10:56 AM

Beginning Battery Voltage:  13.9  Ending Battery Voltage:  13.0 Lowest Voltage:  13.0

Beginning Blood Glucose:  113      Ending BG: 92

Lowest Temp:  67 F    Highest Temp:  78 F

Stats from the GPS:  Total Miles:  5.85
Distance Walked: 1/2 mile
Overall Average Speed       Moving Avg          Max Speed
  5.3   MPH                           6.6  MPH              25.4 MPH

Total Trip Time                   Moving Time        Stopped  Time
 1 hour 6 mins                     53 mins                 13 minutes

Roaming Around Town

Today's GPS/Ham Radio Tracking

Another Day, another ride.  That makes it a good day, in my eyes.
Today I rook a few detours around town, deciding in advance to not just ride a circle around town, but to detour into a few different streets I haven't ridden before.  It seemed a nice strategy, providing me with a view of various neighborhoods.
I should have taken a few pictures, since most of this area has lovely homes, with yards covered with beautiful Missouri grass, trees, and flowers.
About one mile into my ride, the trike started squealing horribly.  It's had an intermittent squeal of unknown origin for a week or so now, but this time the squeal erupted loudly every time I tried to pedal.  I looked for a shady spot to stop and investigate, and while I poked around the trike, an elderly couple across the street started up a conversation about the trike.
Even though he slowed me down a bit, it was nice visiting with the friendly husband while I lifted the back wheel and looked around for a rock or something to raise the rear wheel while I cranked the pedals to find what was squealing.  It turned out to be loudest right under my seat.  There in the shadow of the seat resides an idler pulley to keep the chain straight as it loops from the front ring gears clear to the back cassette gears on the rear wheel.  As I poked around trying to find out WHY it was squealing, I discovered the plastic idler pulley was in fact jammed, frozen from rolling with the chain.  I had lubricated, or thought I had, this pulley only a few days ago but evidently the oil I'd dripped around it had not actually reached the pivot point of the bearing.  I got my hands very greasy forcing the pulley to turn and then generously adding more oil for the bearing.  It now turned freely without squeal or complaint, so I was able to continue on, bidding goodbye to my chatty newfound friends.
The rest of the ride was pleasant enough, with up hill and down dale and finding various "streets" were paved but unmarked as dead ends, leading to quick entry and exit. 
As I rode 13th street and turned north on Hovis, I encountered a city back-hoe and a dump truck along with signs announcing "Road Closed".  As I rode closer to make sure, I saw there was a narrow strip of pavement between the signs - wide enough for my little trike wheels to fit.  So I was able to continue on Hovis up to the frontage road along US 60 and back south, navigating a few more small neighborhoods along the way.
I had been home, cooling off, for only a few minutes, when Jacque suggested going over to the local Senior Center for lunch.  I had ridden past there on my ride about an hour earlier and saw the full parking lot, indicating good food this day, so I agreed, and SHE agreed to ride trikes there and back instead of driving.  So that was another short but enjoyable ride.

1st Ride Started:  9:17 AM      Ride Ended:  11:14 AM

Beginning Battery Voltage:  14.2  Ending Battery Voltage:  13.0 Lowest Voltage:  13.0

Beginning Blood Glucose:  99      Ending BG: 66

Lowest Temp:  75 F    Highest Temp:  84 F

Stats from the GPS:  Total Miles:  9.14
Distance Walked: 1/2 mile
Overall Average Speed       Moving Avg          Max Speed
  4.9   MPH                           6.6  MPH              21.2 MPH

Total Trip Time                   Moving Time        Stopped  Time
 1 hour 51 mins                   1 hour 22 mins       28 minutes

Lunch Ride Started: Ride Started:  11:23 AM      Ride Ended:  12:32 PM

Overall Average Speed       Moving Avg          Max Speed
  2.0   MPH                           5.1  MPH              17.6 MPH

Total Trip Time                   Moving Time        Stopped  Time
 56 minutes                          22 minutes            33 minutes