Singletrack Mind

At breakfast this morning, a friend of mine described me as having a "singletrack mind". (Thanks Dave - I like the term.) Let my try to explain.
I tend to work to find the root of the problem and bring up with single, working solutions. No wandering or waffling. Lets get to the point and can the extra garbage. No "one track" mind, but a "singletrack" mind.
There's another way to look at things. At least here in our area, mountain bikers (that breed of cyclists that have a passion riding in the dirt - singletrack) seem to get things done. No long, protracted discussions. No endless tabling of issues. They/we seam to just "get it done". Maybe that's why I like working with T.H.O.R., Psycowpath, and others.
Please, folks, don't take this the wrong way. Some times it takes hitting up on the side of the head with a 2x4 to get attention. But damn it, once they/we realize something needs to done, it gets done at lightning speed.
On another subject, I rode at Manawa today. Great to be in the dirt. Rodes over 12 miles today. The trails are in awesome condition. The only problem is that lots of leaves have finally dropped. Now, I ride almost every week at Manawa, but today I missed one turn in the trail. From the photo, it looks that I am not the only one that missed that turn! (The trail turns to the right there).
Get out and ride!

Castroville

News here is the weather has cooled a little. Temperature at the start of the Volksmarch this morning was 76 degrees and, when I finished 2-1/2 hours later, the temp was 82. Humidity, however, has not lowered at all. I'd say it was 80% humidity.

Castroville, Texas' historical influence comes from the Alsace region of France. Historic homes have Alsation design.

Today's Volksmarch was an event sponsored by the LoneStar Walkers Volksmarch club. The start point was the Castroville Chamber of Commerce and the start/finish table and checkpoints were staffed by club volunteers.

Bob played basketball this morning, so this was a perfect activity for me to do without him. I was able to dawdle, go to Pioneer Days at the mill, and take lots of photos along the way. I'm proud of myself for doing a 10K (6.2 mi) walk in 2-1/2 hours which included time looking at exhibits and taking over 100 photos. (When I use "we," it is a collective we including a number of Volksmarchers.)

St. Louis Catholic Church. That's me and
St. Louis in front of the church.

Original St. Louis Church, 18468

A restaurant in Castroville.

Arcadius Steinle House circa 1847.

Historical Hotel Tarde (Est. 1852)

A repurposed gas station - now an antique store.

You can buy this at the antique store.

About a mile into the walk, all walkers could get into the Pioneer Days celebration at the old grist mill for free. Bob and I had never been to the mill area before, so I had to check it out. My two favorite things were Tiny Town and the pole showing flood levels over the years.

Tiny Town had a few dioramas on display, each was meticulously put together. There is so much detail in the tiny town below which you cannot see. A 1/4" frying pan with two fried eggs in it has shaved graphite pencil lead to look like pepper on the eggs.

Tiny Town

The grist mill

Flood marker next to the two-story grist mill.

Below is the flood marker next to the grist mill to show scale on how deep the water has been over the years. A couple of pictures above, you can see how high the grist mill is above the river. Bob and I figure the highest flood waters must have been 30-40' higher than the river!

Grist mill with flood marker next to it.

The Bathhouse circa 1853

Period dress at Pioneer Days.

Volksmarchers listening to history from a volunteer.

Explaining about this pistol.

I loved walking through town and seeing all the historic houses. We then walked out to Castroville Regional Park and followed the one-mile trail around the perimeter of the park. Castroville Regional Park has an RV Park with pull through and back-in sites.

Castroville Regional Park

Long lines of cars looking for parking for soccer matches.

Soccer in the park.

Artsy drinking fountain.

Volksmarcher taking a snack break.

High-fiving after the game.

Pull-through RV site - pretty basic.

Castroville Regional Park RV sites.

Large pull-throughs.

Out of the park now, back walking through neighborhoods...

Love the goat.

Old truck in cherry condition.

Creative mailbox.

Reppold Hus - 1875

Wild, or Britton's, petunia

Zion Lutheran Church - 1939

Toward the end of the walk, I was given permission to take a photo of the man below working in his carport doing a wood carving of a deer lying down. Real antlers are attached to its head.

Two blocks later, I was done. The Volksmarch was well attended today. After the walk it was time to go home and shower before my 1:45 p.m. hair appointment.

Saturday blog to be continued - this blog is long enough and the day is only half finished!

Stay tuned.

Bamboo Forest

The bamboo groves of the Quail Botanical Gardens in Encinitas, California.

Three

Two weeks ago I set off on a slightly ambitious ride. It was ambitious for two reasons, firstly, it involved the climb to and descent from O'Reilly's Plateau on a wet day, a descent on which I've had two nasty wet weather crashes before. The second reason was that I'd had a pump failure and a mega tyre blow out on the previous two weekends, so something nasty was almost certain to happen today. Yet that was all forgotten on the early part of the day, as I rode along The Gorge Road, and began the climb out of Canungra, where the surrounding patchy rain provided spectacular views over the ridges to the west.

On the higher parts of the mountain it got even better, particularly the final 10km of the climb through thick rainforest in the mist, which occasionally gives way to spectacular mountain views over Lamington National Park. There really is no need for heaven when you can ride through areas like this. I pondered launching an attack on the climb in the rain as the temperature had now dropped to 15 degrees C (in Queensland this is akin to snow on the Equator), yet I kept my pace constant, conserving energy for the Beechmont climb to come later in the day.

I donned the jacket for the descent as the rain seemed to be intensifying at the higher altitudes, and set off. The descent along this road isn't for the faint of heart or weak of bowel, as the narrow strip of bitumen winds through some massive rainforest trees, many of which are hundreds (or possibly thousands) of years old. The road is also pretty bumpy, and in the wet it gets very interesting. Still, I made it to the flatter part of the plateau near Mt Cainbable, and mentally prepared myself for the really treacherous part of the descent.

I needn't have worried about it. I decided to take the short detour to Kamarun lookout, because I figured the views would be spectacular on a day like this, but shortly after leaving the main road, the crank on the left-hand side simply fell off. I didn't just lose a pedal, I lost the entire crank. It dawned on me quickly that this was to be the end of the ride right here, with no great escape possible. All I could do was walk the 2km or so to the Alpaca Farm/Coffee Shop (one of two on the entire mountain) in intensifying rain, and hope they had a telephone I could use.
Luckily, I had just eaten lunch when I met up with a family of day-trippers from the Gold Coast who offered me a ride home, an invitation I gratefully accepted. I had to accompany them back up to O'Reillys while their kids fed the birds and did the treetop walk, but that wasn't a problem, it was actually fun in a way. I was glad I still had the jacket with me, because it was no warmer at O'Reilly's than it had been the first time I was up there. I still would have liked to have completed the ride, however, as the Beechmont section would have been doubly spectacular on a day like this.
That's three.

A Little Birdie

I sat down at the piano at dusk tonight to play my troubles away.  As I was playing Bach, I heard this little bird outside the front porch window just singing its little heart out.  It was perched on the top of the porch swing with its head thrown back just singing away.
The phone rang, and while I was walking to answer it, I was fussing about our duet being interrupted and figuring that the bird probably wouldn't come back.  
Conversation over, I sat back down and began playing again.  After a minute or two, it again started singing to my accompaniment.  Another of life's grace notes; a gift from God.  

Sold the RV

Earlier this year, i decided it was time to sell the RV. I have not used it, and was just depreciating every year. Got a idea of what it was worth from Leach Camper. Dropped most of the insurance coverage. Was going to put a sign in the window and perhaps list on Craigs list.

Tuesday, a neighbor knocked on my door, wondering if I was loke to sell the RV. He and his wife were looking for one. I said I was.

We talked about the vehicle and its options. I was honest that it had not been started in a couple years. His wife and another guy gave by to talk more and look at the RV. Agreed on the "as-is" sale.

Yesterday, after my bike ride, I was back into town ordering a duplicate title (you can never find those when you want them). Cleared out my stuff from the RV. Buyers came in the afternoon with the money. They were able to start and drive the RV home (about a mile from my place).

Another thing I don;t have to worry about. Just need to deposit $$ in the bank and cancel insurance today.

Photo is the buyer checking "under the hood" before driving it home.