A Day With Dad & Bernie

That’s my Dad, Stanley Herman Ferdinand Brand. He was born May 5, 1935 in an all German community in San Antonio, TX.  Today was going to be a project day for his wife Bernie and I, Dad was going to assist and supervise. He’s searching the back of his pickup truck to find a stud-finder for me. He found lots of things but not the stud-finder. 

My first priority was to fix the ignition switch on my BMW which almost stranded me 120 miles to the west yesterday. On the second day of this trip it started once or twice a day to not turn on the power the first time. At first I thought it was my kill switch that had been bumped but today, after filling up with gas it was completely dead and wouldn’t do anything no matter how many times I switched it on-off.  Luckily I had studied electrical engineering at Purdue and new exactly what to do. I pushed the bike away from the gas pumps (I was turning into entertainment for the locals), I waited a few minutes and began thinking critically: how was I ever going to get home again, and when or where could I find a replacement switch in southern Missouri and why am I riding a 36 year old motorcycle across country, and then I banged hard on the switch. It powered up and I never stopped it again until I got to Poplar Bluff!  Ironically it worked fine the rest of the evening and the next morning....

Researching the internet I found a new switch for $200 in the DC area but they didn’t respond to my inquiries for immediate shipment. I studied YouTube and BMW forums until midnight last night and came up with a plan to build a “Hotwire” harness I could use in a pinch for the rest of the trip. Bernie took me shopping at the local “Do It” hardware store and after $18 I had a crimp set, 3 male connectors and a foot of appliance wire which I fashioned into a hotwire harness and it worked!!!  Peace of mind was mine again. 

My sisters Staci and Stana have been sorting through a lot of old family memorabilia since Mom passed away about 8 years ago. Staci recently found Dad’s 1952 Alamo Heights HS Graduation program which I brought to Dad this trip.  He loves to tell the story about how his Guidance Counselor Mrs. Throckmorten told him he wasn’t smart enough to go to college. He apparently was somewhere in the middle of his high school class.  The picture on the left is of him after his freshman year as a cadet at Texas A&M.  He graduated in 4 years as a 2nd Lt. with a BS Chemical Engineering in the top 15% of his class.  I think he just wanted to prove Mrs. Throckmorten wrong!

After a day of limbing trees, blowing of the roof, and failed attempts at hanging abnormally heavy flower pots Bernie’s sister Betty, on the right, joined us for hamburgers on the grill, potato salad, baked beens and a few cold beers. That’s two of their 4 dogs, Palen and Nelson, who are still hoping for scraps after dinner. We had a really nice visit and I’m very glad I came. 

Day 3

I had a great riding day today and made it to Poplar Bluff by 4:30. Hours spent on twisty southern Missouri roads.  I forgot to take any pictures other than the welcome sign above and to a certain extent nothing was really note worthy other than the scenery. I had a very pleasant dinner with my Dad, his wife Bernie and her sister Betty before retiring to their backyard to enjoy the warm evening and continue our reminiscing.  Too bad I didn’t get any pictures of all that! Oh yea, and my motorcycle is starting to have electrical problems today and almost stranded me. More later....

Me vs. Weather

After a nice night of sleep I woke up this morning with a challenging weather radar.  My goal was to get to Joplin, MO about 360 miles away, while avoiding getting soaked. This weather pattern has been circling over southeast Kansas for a few days, counter clockwise to the south, as if it was waiting for me.  It seemed I would be playing a game of chess with the weather today. 


Several hours in I’m still dry so I get to enjoy my McDonalds in Pratt, KS outside on the sidewalk. No inside dining this morning.

 ☹️

Most of my day has looked like this, sometimes darker, sometimes lighter skies. I’ve been dodging the storm cells so far by changing my route, jogging north or south on county, state and US highways. 

At 1:30 I ran out of places to turn to avoid the rain so I took a little 45 minute break to let the sprinkles dry up while I mapped out my strategy.  I pulled up under a picnic awning at a small town park to keep me and my gear dry for the break. 

At 3pm, after about 50 miles of riding the weather puts me in check in Caney, KS near the Oklahoma border. A shroud of rain blocks me from going any further east for at least 2 hours and it appears Joplin won’t be clear until late this evening. 

It’s not checkmate yet. While there is absolutely no place to sleep in Caney, KS to seek shelter for the night I think I can get to Coffeyville, KS about 20 miles east later this evening.  Now I have time to blog, read and catch up with a few phone calls under an abandoned gas station awning while I wait out the weather. 

At the Caseys in Caney to grab some treats clearly social distancing is not happening here. As I’ve headed east from Boulder County where we have mask vigilantes to eastern Kansas now, I’ve seen less and less social distancing, even though you can tell many people are still a little weird about being near others.  I thought I would be safer in smaller towns on the back roads but this morning as I headed out of Dodge City I passed a huge meat packing plant.  Tonight I checked on-line and found that Ford County has two meat packing plants, has been a hot spot for Covid-19 leading the state with 1,299 Covid-19 cases. Maybe I should have challenged my assumptions about rural America?

Around 5:15pm the skies have cleared enough to make it to Coffeyville where I find this pleasant little inn for $57/nt. with a 24 hr restaurant just for guests.  They cater to railroad workers who come and go 24 hours a day. Besides having a grotto like pool and spa I had the best $13 dinner I’ve ever had, however I stayed out of the pool and spa and the restaurant was empty except for me. 😷

I’ll consider today a stalemate. 

On the Road Again

I need to get on the road again and Angela, bless her heart, supports my little wanderings. This time I’m headed east to Poplar Bluff, MO and Bloomington, IN to visit family and friends.  I’m traveling the back roads and small towns, interested to see what other parts of the country are doing in the time of the virus.  It’s pretty easy to social distance on my 1984 BMW. 

6 hours and about 250 miles into my day I take a little break for crackers, peanut butter and a soft drink in Lamar, CO. Angela and I spent two nights here back in 2016 when we were riding our bicycles to the Outer Banks. It’s been a beautiful day with mostly light traffic and the motorcycle and I are getting reacquainted. 

https://outerbanksbybike.blogspot.com

About 300 miles behind me and I finally break through the Colorado state border into Kansas!  By the way “ad astra per aspera” is Latin for “through hardship to the stars”. Nothing great comes easy is what kept the pioneers and settlers going, and sometimes me too. 

I pull into historic Dodge City around 5:30. After checking in I start to explore the town and see if I can find a restaurant where I can sit and eat inside again just like the good old days and the “I Don’t Care Family Restaurant and Sports Bar” beckons me. 

Bingo!!  With about half the chairs removed from the bar I find a spacious seat by the beer taps and order a tasty Boulevard Wheat beer and one of my favorite dishes, chicken fried steak.  I found very few people wearing masks so far on my trip and in the case of the restaurant, just the staff.  I had a nice chat with some of the old timers about historic Dodge City on the other side of the bar while I enjoyed my supper. It was also nice to be sitting on something that didn’t vibrate for a change. 

 

I attempted to walk off my dinner and explore the town. The Boot Hill Distillery sits atop the real Boot Hill Cemetary where 22 men and one woman were buried.  Good news is they relocated the bodies before they built this building. 

 

And here’s the man that put some of those men in Boot Hill, Wyatt Earp.  Born in 1840 he was brought to Dodge City in 1872, about the time the railroad arrived in the heyday of Dodge City and the beginning of the end of the Wild West.  Wyatt went on to bring order to other cities and died in 1921. 

Back to present day in Dodge City where anyone who wants a test can get a test in 15 minutes at the Xpress Wellness, bringing order to the chaos just like Wyatt did only with a nasal swab instead of a six shooter. 

A relic of the past, not me silly, but a steam engine from the Atchinson, Topeka and Sante Fe railway that sits right off of US 50 in front of the Boot Hill museum (still closed). It’s been a great day on the road again. 

Fort. Collins and the Last Day Ride Home

Monday started off with McDonalds Al Fresco on the front steps to the Jeep Dealership next door.  It’s not easy to find a place for your takeaway food when you don’t really have a place to take it but we had a beautiful morning to enjoy it. 

After an easy morning we visited our local friend Brad’s standing Pickle Ball round-robin  to see how pickle ball is “really played” and then after lunch he took us on a bike tour of Ft. Collins.   After this and previous time spent in Ft. Collins I’d have to say it is the most cycle-centric and cycle friendly town I’ve seen in the US. The trails and bikeways along the road are plentiful, interesting and in great shape and widely used.  

Part of the afternoon was spent riding along and across the Cache La Poudre River, this spot just north of Old Town where lots of folks are kayaking, tubing or swimming in the cold water. 

After 20 miles of riding and site seeing we settled in at Brad’s place for a little relaxation before the day ended. 

Monday morning started beautifully as we spent 90% of our ride/time on paved paths like this wandering around, down to and through Loveland more than 20 miles away.  

Not all of the trails connect directly so we had to spend a handful of miles  reconnoitering on  County roads and US287.  It was still great riding. 

 

Further south as we approached the border between Larimer and Boulder County we found more ranches, farms and lots of baby animals like these colts. 

We stopped at Loveland Civic Center Park for Elevenses of little cherry pies and peanut butter crackers. It’s getting warmer so the garden bench in the shade was a nice find. 

8 more miles to home we once again find ourselves at the Mountain Fountain in Hygiene for a Chocolate milk for Ang and Mountain Dew for me to get us home. Angela shows off her new birthday cycling sandals to two carved owls keeping eyes-on my parked bike. They were as impressed and pleased as Angela was with the gift.  

1:30pm, before the hottest and windiest part of the day, we happily and safely arrive home.  While it’s still weird out there in public places we adapted, changed our expectations and had a great time. It was also very refreshing just to get away for a few days. While not the 3 week trip to Europe that we were supposed to be on these last few weeks, it was a refreshing, invigorating and enjoyable diversion and we expect to do more things like this in the coming months. Be safe and well everyone. 

Covid-19 Breakaway

Living and adapting in the time of the Corona Virus, after 2 months Angela I decided we needed to get out of the house and find a little adventure in our life. Fort Collins, by bike, was good enough for us at this moment so off we go on a beautiful day for a bike ride. 

Nature calls Angela 9 miles in at Hygiene at the Mountain Fountain portapotty where she scores not only toilet paper but hand sanitizer too!

 

She takes a number of calls during the ride with our daughter Michelle, her sister Sandy and her Mom, Sara, to find out both Sandy and her Mom aren’t feeling too well today and suspicious they could be sick with the virus. They both spent Mother’s Day together last weekend in Tampa and their symptoms showed up at the same time.  Fingers crossed....

25 miles in around noon we stop at the Carter Lake State Park campground ( not open yet ) for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich lunch. 

Check in at the Quality Inn shortly after 3pm we’re warmly greeted behind plexiglass and required masks. Our old friend Brad met us for dinner of takeaway pizza and salad from Oreganos about 1/2 mile away. We gorged ourselves and then some red wine to wash it all down and said good bye until tomorrow.