Celebrating Aunt Alpha’s Life

I had the opportunity to attend and celebrate the life of my Aunt Alpha in El Paso, TX on what would have been her 89th birthday this weekend.  She was a wonderful woman and a great matriarch of the Wagner family during her almost 89 years on this Earth. 

If you have to say something nice about a Memorial Service for a family member it is that it can motivate a family to get together. In the case of my side of the Brand family, we see our cousins, aunts, and even sometimes our immeadiate family on fairly rare occasions. Alpha’s passing brought about 50 of us together from the US, Europe and Asia, all to El Paso for the weekend.  That’s my Dad Stan Brand, the youngest of the Brand siblings, sitting next to his sister Bernice Rogge, surrounded by children, grand children and great grand children of Aunt Alpha’s and previously deceased Uncle Hilmer Wagner’s clan.  Dad and Bernice, now that Alpha is gone, are the last children of Elsie and Alfred Brand. 

Alpha’s oldest, cousin Lisa, reconnects with Dad and Aunt Bernice. There were lots of smiles and laughs shared among all of us. My sisters and I never got to see our Wagner cousins very often, even before we moved away to Massachusetts from our home in Texas City when I was 11 years old because it was an 800 mile drive.  But we always felt a strong connection with them and it’s always good to see them, even all these years later. 

That’s my sister Staci and her husband Brian on the left, Bernice’s youngest child, Cousin Donna, in the middle, and my sister Stana on the right.  Donna is a somewhat younger cousin but she’s always fit right in with us “oldsters”. 

Sunday morning we met for breakfast and got a last picture of “the cousins”: (L-R) Sheila, Lisa, Donna, Russ, Staci, me and Stana. Missing from the photo was Andi who had to fly to Dallas to be with her recovering husband Rick, and Stanley who wasn’t able to make the trip this weekend. 

After a wonderful BBQ and pool party at Andi and Rick’s house Saturday night the Brands and Rogge’s spent the best part of Sunday decompressing and hydrating around our rented houses’s pool in the 100 degree afternoon.  That’s Donna’s youngest Elise luxuriating by Stana, Staci in the tube, and Donna on the right. 

Brian and Bernice chilling in the shade of the patio. 

And Dad, perched in his “smoking” chair downwind on the patio. He’s 84 years old, has smoked cigarettes since college and he eats like there’s never been a tomorrow, and takes virtually no medications: a modern day medical miracle and counterpoint of what a healthy lifestyle for longevity should be. Amazing. 

Of course we had to punctuate the end of a great family get-together with ice cream before saying goodnight.  It was a really great family reunion and celebration of Aunt Alpha’s life, the kind that I think would have made Alpha very, very happy. 

Monday we all flew out of ELP about the same time.  We had plenty of time before our boarding so Dad got his obligatory coffee and cream that he drinks all day long and I got a Margarita that I try not to drink all day long!!  So long till the next get together!!

Kansas!! Day 8: Tribune to Sheridan Lake, CO

A short ride on a cold and blustery day to get me over the Colorado-Kansas border to Sheridan Lake where Angela was waiting for me (with some east bound cyclist; Maybe she has a cyclist thing going on?). 

Yesterday evening I thought I was going to miss all the storm activity but around 11’ish thunder and lightning emanated from the western sky.  A radar check indicated that I was likely to get some wind and rain so I crawled out of my sleeping bag and lashed the rain fly over my tent as best as I could to protect me from the blowing rain.  It hit a little after midnight but I stayed dry. 

When I crawled out of my tent at 6:30 I found Judy(L) and Karen(R) doing their morning swim (Karen has a key) even though it was 55 degrees out and windy.  A hardy breed these west Kansas women are!

After the challenge of breaking camp while keeping my tent from blowing away I headed to the only place in town for breakfast, the Cenex Gas Station. Nothing says breakfast like a breakfast pizza.  It actually wasn’t too bad and it got me into Colorado! 

Low gray skies, and a stiff wind from the north made this short day probably my most challenging. Besides the less than pleasant conditions I think my state of mind that this was my 13th and last day of riding, kind of told my body to relax, it’s over, and it did. 

I see road carnage all day long but this one caught my attention and made me a little sad that this antelope wouldn’t be playing on the range any more. 

16 miles after leaving Tribune I say hello CO and good bye KS!! I enjoyed my solo tour of Kansas just fine and I’m glad I rode. I had better weather than I could have expected, no flats, no mechanical issues, no dropped bikes or fall overs, no wrecks, no saddle sores, no lost articles, and no sunburn. I met some wonderful and interesting people and only a few strange, weird or unpleasant ones. Drivers of both trucks and cars were probably 98 to 99% kind and considerate with only a few bad actors. My bike which I call The Beast, The Cracken or Flica, depending on my mood and if I call it by name at all, ran like a champ. I don’t think I could have asked for more. 

Now reunited with my wonderful wife, who lets me do these strange things every now and then, I’m heading home to see our new 2 week old baby granddaughter Merritt who I’ve only seen once after she was born. And of course our grandsons Graham, Miles, daughter Michelle and husband Adam and son Ryan and his wife Mattie.  I think one of the benefits of traveling like this makes you appreciate even more the important things in life; the ones you love, your friends and the joy of coming home again. 

Song of the Day; Big Weekend by Tom Petty and the Heart Breakers

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pUQSGxsKi4M

Kansas!! Day 7: Dighton to Tribune

I left Dighton at 7:15 and arrived in Tribune at 2:15 in the afternoon for a 74 mile day. Only 16 more miles to the Colorado state line!  

Shortly after leaving Dighton a large, low, fast moving storm was blowing across my path. The radar and the forecast had predicted nothing like this so I stopped, got geared up for a rainstorm and rode on. The skies darkened over me and the wind picked up but not a drop fell on me. 

When I stopped to prep for the storm I picked up this piece of Kansas tall grass on my pannier.   For miles and miles it stuck there and I used it as my apparent wind gauge (for those sailors that may be reading this).  And because of the storm the wind had shifted from the northwest to the northeast and was now pushing me west!  

I saw 3 bikers headed east on the Trans-Am and Will was the first one I spoke with. He too is headed across the country and one of the more modern lite-packers on carbon bikes. 

My first stop of the day was Scott City for breakfast. I saw nothing that looked like a cafe at all so I asked a gentleman on the corner if I could find a real breakfast in town and he recommended me to a little hotel a few blocks north that had a restaurant.  There was no sign of a restaurant at the hotel so I wandered around and finally found a room full of locals having breakfast at 9:15 

Gravy is good, in this case liberally poured over 2 over-easy eggs, fried green peppers and onions, and sausage all sitting on a bed of hash browns.  Mmmmmmm. 

Mitch was on day 47 of a 90 day trip across the country. Originally from South Dakota, he’s been a missionary in the Philippines for the last 30. years.  A very nice guy, he shared that he had just stopped at a cyclist memorial a few miles to the west. He was facing the headwind that I had been enjoying so we wished each other well and went our separate directions. 

John Egbers was rear-ended by a car near here last summer and died from his injuries. He was 64. He apparently had just stopped at another dead cyclist memorial a few miles further west before he was hit.

I have a few links for more information if you like. Warning, it’s pretty tragic and sobering. 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.sctimes.com/amp/1510647002

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.kansas.com/news/local/article214446529.html

Yea!!  I’m still in Kansas but by crossing into Greeley County, the western most county on K96,  I’m now on Mountain Time and just added a whole hour to my day!

  

I believe that this is the other cyclist memorial that John Egbers had stopped at. Later in town a young man, Manuel, that I came to know told me this cyclist’s name was Jeremy and he goes to school with his kids. He said Jeremy was hit by a car and died in 2014. 

 

At 2:15 (1:15 MDT) I pull into Tribune. It was early still, I still had a somewhat favorable wind and I could be in CO in 16 miles and a church I could sleep in in Sheridan Lake in 30 more miles. That would make it a +100 mile day which was kind of cool too.  I decided to check out the town first and decide. There was no motel but Hoss at the place I stayed last night said I could stop by the Diamond Greenhouse Nursery and ask for Trina and she would probably have a place for me at her house. There was also a city park that allowed cyclist to camp. 

Interacting background, Horace Greeley and his work were apparently very popular in “Greeley” County. Beside the county name, this town of Tribune is named after Horace Greeley’s paper, the New York Tribune. And the town of Horace is just a few miles away. His publications and speeches made the phrase “Go West young man” famous and inspiring. Besides news publishing Greeley was also a politician and was supportive of philosophies like socialism. 

I stopped by the city park after asking a friendly man for directions. I was quickly greeted by the staff and told that cyclist swim for free and they leave the bathroom, with a shower, unlocked all night for them. Wow. I then called the Sheriffs office to get clearance and they were very friendly and said I could stay and that there were storms forecast tonight and if it got bad I could come to headquarters and sleep there!

I’m now thinking I’m going to enjoy myself and stay in this nice place. But first I need ice cream. As I started wandering the streets I met Manuel pushing his lawnmower down the street. Surely he would know where I could find ice cream. He was a great 12 year old kid and gave me directions south to the bowling alley on the other side of the tracks. 

I found the bowling alley but it was closed because “the guy” is gone this weekend for a wedding.  Later at the pool I found out that everyone in town new this except me and Manuel. 

 

At the market I modestly satisfied my need with an ice cream bar. 

Relaxing in a late afternoon sun, biding my time until the lifeguards all blow the whistle for Adult Swim.  The pool usually closes at 5:30 today but some little girl, perhaps 2 years old, had a for real “Baby Ruth” accident and they had to close the pool to do the necessary clean up process. I thought about taking a picture but then decided no, not a good idea. It could ruin that little girls future.  

My Base Camp for the night, across from the pool and the tennis courts and softball field. The shelter should help me a bit if a storm does come as long as the rain isn’t blowing in horizontally. It also has electrical outlets for charging my stuff. Sweeeet!

I enjoyed a little bit of a softball game as the sun was setting. Manuel joined me for a while back at Base Camp and we talked about many things before he went home after dark. The storms seem to be sliding by up to the north so other than the +20 mph winds it should be a good night.

Tomorrow I ride to Sheridan Lake, CO where my lovely wife Angela, who I miss very much, will bring me back home to Boulder County.