Our New Digital Lifestyle

I find myself maybe not dragged, but nudged, into the 21st century by our mobility this year. Being away from home while maintaining it for renters, needing to maintain easy contact with family and friends, paying bills while away, not having room to move favorite photos, books, and CDs - all this prompted a slew of beneficial changes in our life. Moving has a way of doing that - forcing evaluation of what's important, what doesn't need to be done, and what can be done more efficiently. I'm beginning to think I should at least pretend I'm moving every few years.

My first steps were to consolidate services and move the remainder of our paper statements to automatic payment and online management. This wouldn't have been possible even a few years ago for some of our services, but now even the City of Houghton (population 8,000) water bill comes as a PDF in my email. Cool!

We'd  picked up cell phones for last year when Ben went off to college (Ann already had one - the family early adopter's been cellular since 2008, online since 1987). But it was time to cut the cord. AT&T was not enthused, but in the end accepted the inevitable with sullen good grace (They seemed to have lost this battle many times before.) And now this Christmas, Ann asked to upgrade to an iPhone4, leaving me the iPhone3G. So now I've even got portable data (on an admittedly tiny screen) in my pocket. Travelling will be all the easier.

Loosing access to our 200+ CDs was an outcome not to be countenanced. Ben to the rescue! We hired him to rip all our CDs to the computer (And paint the front of the house over the summer - thanks Ben). I'm a bit of an audiophile, and have avoided lossy compressed audio for years. And A-B comparisons between the original recording and the MP3 with the reference speakers in the living room did show a loss of quality. I don't know, maybe my standards are slipping, but I still wasn't up to moving 300 lbs of speakers in 6 sections to a 1 bedroom apartment 1,000 miles away. Instead I eagerly dove into researching top quality powered mini-speakers. How often do you get an excuse to by new audio equipment? And we've been very happy with the result. The Audioengine 2's produce a surprising quality of sound for something less than 6" on a side and plenty of quantity for neighbor-friendly apartment listening. It's nice having 80% of what our floor system offers fit in a shoe box.

We didn't get our half-dozen photo albums scanned before we left, but we've been using a digital camera for several years, and mom and dad gave the entire family one of our most precious possessions a few years before: DVD after DVD of their entire slide collection beginning in the 1950's. All this pops up on our screen saver daily, providing a sense of connection and history that is most welcome as we settle in to a new town.

Movies don't scan so easily - or legally, so we left our small DVD collection behind. The apartment has a decades-old TV and VCR, but we opted to forgo cable and instead moved into the brave new world of downloaded video. This has been very satisfying, and content selection is rapidly growing. I can easily see never having a TV again. And what we can't find online, we often find in the excellent Schlow Library DVD collection 4 blocks away. That's been nice too - and free.

To keep in touch with friends and family, email has been our primary medium, but with so much new going on in our lives, I thought it might be more efficient to post our thoughts and happenings online. I originally considered Facebook, but it's short, conversational style and constant interruptions I find frustrating. As you can see, blogging was the chosen solution. I've been pleased with it. I can ramble on to my heart's content without fearing that I've interrupted or outstayed my welcome, and folks who are interested can come by and read what they want. Nice.

Our computer was a bit of a dilemma, being a large, power hungry, difficult to transport desktop unit, and I toyed with upgrading to a laptop, but the old unit still had a few years in it. So we bit the bullet, wrapped it in bedding, and threw it in the car. In the end, I've been travelling so much exploring the region that we bought a cheap netbook so I could research, navigate, email, and blog on my adventures, and that's been a good alternative. I'd have been loath to take a laptop that was our primary computer pootling about the countryside, but the netbook I don't have to worry about. It's relatively cheap, all its data is in the Cloud, and I can fit it in any old backpack. Someday when the desktop unit bites the dust we'll probably move to a desktop replacement laptop - transportable, low power, but basically meant to stay around the house. The netbook will remain the risk taking traveler.

It turns out the netbook is getting heavy rotation at home as an ebook reader, recipe downloader, and email companion. We brought only a few treasured cookbooks, and I've borrowed a few paper books from the so-convenient library, but with this Ann can see her online recipes right in the kitchen and I'm able to download free ebooks from the library. And any of the thousands of free out-of-copyright classic pre-1920 literature from the Project Guttenburg (highly recommended). I've revisited works I read in school, and some I should have but never did: Huck Finn, The Scarlet Letter (wow), Of Mice and Men, Grapes of Wrath (again wow). Now it's War and Peace. Slow to start, but at around page 85 the intrigue is heating up. Only 1,200 pages to go....

I'm pleased and amazed with the compactness of digital living. So much becomes virtual that with a furnished apartment waiting for us, we were able fit most of our valued possessions in a car and leave home for 9 months with only minor inconvenience. Oh what a brave new world!

A Final Thanksgiving at Camp Inspiration Hills

Thanksgiving Dinner 2010

 Our families have arrived at camp Inspiration Hills near Congress, Ohio on alternate Thanksgivings for the last 12 years. This year's was to be our last.

Griffin Gets a Bath

It's been a great run, with days of four square, ping pong, catching up, reading, and games by the great stone fire place in Cherry Lodge. Some years it's snowed, some years we've taken bike rides in sun and shirtsleeves. Always we hike the paths and ravines here, and visit the pond along Kilbuck Creek.

Dinner is Served - Family Style

Inspiration Hills is full of memories for all of us. Many of us went to camp here as children, Mom and Dad have worked in the district on its behalf for decades, and I worked a summer here, even helping construct the dorm-style addition we now sleep in at Cherry Lodge.

The Boys Networking

Abby Vanquishes the Creepy Space Angel

The lodge is rustic, with rows of bunk beds and plastic mattresses in the dorm, a small commercial kitchen in back, painted concrete floors, a large stone fireplace, and lots of open space in the great room - perfect for active families. Old couches surround the fireplace making a cozy nook. This year the four-square lines had finally worn off the floor so we stuck to ping pong.

For dinner, turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauces for all tastes - always. And always we celebrate the fall birthdays.

This year we had several special outings in rainy weather. One was to collect fresh spring water from a long-ago remembered spring in the wall of a ravine. Ben's fresh water shrimp needed real water - something with no chlorine or plasticizers. Another was a fun GPS treasure hunt for small treats Mom had collected.

The Craft Table

A fun game of Apples to Apples kept us all laughing at night, and the craft table was busy for hours making glitter accented acorns to adorn the holiday table. The older boys wasted no time on arriving and set up the network game station along the west wall. This is another long Thanksgiving tradition - except now they handle the networking themselves.

Baby Griffin entertained us all with his energy, happiness, and love of tractors and trucks.

As the older kids start heading off to college and organizing the travelling feast becomes more difficult, we all decided that a new tradition is in order. Our years at Inspiration Hills will remain dear memories for us all. Thanks, Mom, for all those years of planning, organization, and packing up the kitchen for the drive to camp.

Treasure Hunt!

Philadelphia

Leaving Easton, we had a very enjoyable day in Philadelphia. Ann swapped some of her Marriott points for two evenings in the restored historic Marriott across from the phantasmagorical city hall. Occasionally plain in passageways, but very nice rooms and great location if you're in town for the museums or arts.

And just a block from the Reading Terminal Market - a large indoor space choc-o-block with ethnic stalls, Pennsylvania Dutch bakeries, butchers, grocers, produce, seafood, and coffee stands. I fell hard for an all-Dutch pie breakfast, while Ann skipped down to the custom crepe shop. It was great fun just walking the isles seeing the variety.

We then headed down Benjamin Franklin Parkway towards Fairmont Park and the Philadelphia Art Museum. The axis from City Hall to the Art Museum encompasses much of the city's art and museum facilities. But with limited time we planned on just spending the day at the Philadelphia Art Museum.

We spent a fair bit of time just enjoying the outside of the museum. A fantastically detailed bronze in front commemorating the settlement of the new world, the dramatically colored classical pediment sculpture on the west wing,  the polychromatic sandstone of the building itself, and the fine view of downtown from the steps were great.

Inside, with days worth of exhibits to choose from, we spent most of our time with the Impressionists (a specialty of the house), then hopped across the street to see a fascinating exhibit relating the history and restoration of Thomas Eakins "Gross Clinic". A fascinating journey into Eakins fascination with anatomy, the history of medicine, and responsible restoration.

We really wished we had a few more days in Philadelphia.  I can't say it could compete with our favorite arts cities - Chicago and D.C., but worth the time and nice to see somewhere different. We'll have to go back while we're in the east.

Walking Purchase-Salisbury Trails

The Salisbury trails at Walking Purchase Park in Bethlehem, PA are built and maintained by the Valley Mountain Bikers, a dedicated group of riders hard at work in the Lehigh Valley, They've done a great job here. I rode down the towpath trail from Easton, and had a good map of the trails, but not so good for getting to the trails by bike. But having braved the traffic on Main Street, I eventually found an entrance behind Reeb Millwork and was on my way.

Once on  the trails, they were a joy to ride - evidence that you can have rocks AND flow. Entirely purpose built for mountain biking, the single track flowed up and down the 400 foot hillside above the Lehigh River. Climbing beautifully executed switchbacks and descending rock faces and flowing banked turns, I had a great time. I rode 8 miles of the 10 miles, and wished there was more. Took Girly Man and Boulder bypass around the aptly-named Boulder Trail. The short SHE trail offered a sweet pair of roll over descents and berms. Also found numerous rock and log constructions, some substantial, like this one. Fun.

And of course, once on the trails, I found several other entrances suitable for bikes not on the map. One behind St. Luke's hospital, and one at the lower parking lot on Cardinal Street which seemed to offer an easy trail connection to Riverside Road near the prison, which would avoid most of the traffic for a biker.

Not enough trail to be a destination maybe, but what's here is top notch. If I lived in the area, I'd be lovin' it. If you happen near the Lehigh Valley, you should stop by for a ride.

Easton, PA

November appears to be the month of travel for us. After my time exploring Virginia I followed Ann to another conference the following week in Easton. Sharing her room at the Lafayette Inn was pretty high living for me  - pillow top mattress, made to order omelettes for breakfast, and endless desert breads in the parlor for snacks.

While Ann was running a training seminar at Lafayette College next door, my mission was to explore town and down the towpath bike trail to Bethlehem 15 miles away. 

Lafayette is a nationally ranked liberal arts college; its scenic campus high on a hill above Easton. Very compact and pretty. They did a nice job with the new library addition updating a previously vault-like 1960's era library.

Easton (26,000) is the smallest city in the Lehigh Valley metro area (with Allentown and Bethlehem) - the third largest metropolis in Pennsylvania.  Downtown has a central square surrounded by small shops and restaurants, with the surrounding streets crowded with attractive historic town houses and apartments. Very east coast, and well maintained. Away from downtown, Easton's history as part of America's first industrial revolution in iron and coal is more evident. The presence of the Lehigh canal is part of that legacy. 

The canal operated for nearly 100 years ferrying coal and iron from the mountains to the markets in Philadelphia and New York, dropping over 1,000 feet through innumerable locks. Major portions of its towpath on the Delaware and Lehigh rivers have been incorporated into bike paths from Allentown to Easton then down the Delaware 60 miles to Bristol. 

Riding along it a while, the Delaware impressed me with its size (the largest free flowing river east of the Mississippi), but my goal was to find the route along the adjacent Lehigh to Bethlehem where the highly regarded Walking Purchase-Salisbury mountain bike trail is located. So I turned back and started my search. Without much local signage for this segment, it turned out to be harder than I anticipated. After what I thought were a few false starts along the river on local roads, I found the path on the far side of the river. It treated me to numerous historical and industrial ruins, leading ultimately to the incredibly well preserved original wire rope (ca. 1857, the oldest in existence still in place) remnants of a suspension bridge shifting the towpath across the river, leaving me stranded. So I had to ride all the way back to Easton, cross again on the highway, and look harder on the other side.

Ultimatey, patience paid off and I found the path after a 3 mile road ride along the river. The path is partly paved and partly packed stone dust, and suffers a little from erosion in places, but was generally in great shape. Not a scenic wonder, but the river was pretty, the weather warm and sunny, and the occasional ruin diverting. Others have found different ways to enjoy the river, witnessed by these rungs up a tree leaning far out over the bank.

As I neared Bethlehem, the previously wooded opposite bank suddenly erupted in massive industrialization as far as the eye could see. These 4 towering blast furnaces are only a small part of the Bethelehem Steel complex that stretches for miles. This facility finally closed in 1995 after nearly 150 years of production. Up-close they are almost beautiful - rusting, muscular, sculptural reminders of the glory and costs of our industrial heritage. And believe it or not, they're building a 300 room hotel next to a casino as a brownfield redevelopment smack-dab in the middle of the complex - I kid you not, I saw the tour buses.

I didn't get a chance to visit Bethlehem proper (71,000) on the canal side, as I was headed across to the mill side to find the Salisbury trails near Lehigh University. Again, I was unable to find good directions to the trails by bike, and spent some time riding through town and down by the rail tracks trying to find an entrance. In the end, I had a 15 mile ride home and it was getting late, so I decided to head home and come back directly the next day after some more research. 52 miles that day was enough without another couple hours of hilly single track.

So I cruised back to Easton in time to join Ann and a colleague for dinner at Sette Luna. We had a great time with John, and the food was very good Italian Bistro fare. We ended up having several very good, but no great, meals while we were in Easton, and there were plenty of interesting establishments still to try. Well worth a visit if you are in the region.

Monongahela National Forest: Spruce Knob and North Mountain

I'm still underestimating cross-mountain travel (versus along-valley travel). The short but surprisingly time-consuming drive from George Washington to Monongahela National Forest left me in a quandary - how to spend the few hours of daylight left scouting the trails there. I decided to summit Spruce Knob, at 4,863 feet the highest point in West Virginia, by car. IMBA has listed an Epic Ride here and on nearby North Mountain. This is pretty remote country, with nothing the size of Harrisonburg nearby. Just the small towns of Franklin and Petersburg.

The drive up the mountain on twisting gravel roads took longer than the 17 mile distance would indicate, but above 4,000 feet, things really started looking interesting. The trees changed from hardwoods to spruce and pine, and alpine meadow openings appeared. Closer to the summit the spruce acquired a distinct 'flag' form - a classic sign of exposure to strong prevailing winds. Of course near the peak I hit a paved road coming from the north - guess I took the back way. The knob itself is a beautiful jumble of gray rock and spruce. And sports a substantial paved parking lot. Either this place is very popular summers, or West Virginia Tourism was overly hopeful once. But there was no one this November evening - I had it all to myself. I walked the interpretive trail and climbed the stone observation tower. It does almost look like the rockies until you see the distant ridges receding in the blue-gray mist of the humid East.

I had my bike, the Epic Huckleberry Trail started from the parking lot, and it was over an hour till dusk, so I hopped on and headed down-trail a ways. It was stunning to see - and not surprisingly, very rocky. Not the loose rock of a scree pile, but large rocks well anchored in soil. Ridable but relentless, demanding attention to line and wheel weighting. I did this for a while, but decided I would be better served scouting the entrances to some of the other trails rather than seeing more of this one.

I checked the entrances to Seneca Creek and Lumberjack trails. They were a lot less rocky and seemed built (at least at the trailheads) on overgrown logging roads. The one along Seneca Creek looked especially scenic, but it was getting darker, grayer, and I could feel a few sprikles, so I decided it was time to head home. If I made good time, I could stop for dinner in Cumberland at my favorite Italian restaurant of all time - Ristorante Ottaviani (sure enough, I scored a third memorable meal there). I'd like to come back to Spruce Knob to ride while we're still in the east. The season is over for this year - especially at this elevation. Maybe if we have a early dry spring....

More photos at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/jbp1111/SpruceKnobTrailsWv?authkey=Gv1sRgCOypwL7Aiv_YhgE#

2-Riding George Washington National Forest: Hankey and Shenandoah Mountains

I woke to frost on the car and a powerful desire for another breakfast at the Little Grill. That was easy to arrange and as excellent as the first - fresh local eggs easy over, crispy potato hash, and another hit of vegan biscuits and gravy. Today I would ride some of what I didn't get to the day before when I changed plans, plus the new out-and-backs recommended last night. It all starts at a different trailhead, and so worked out well.

Dowell's Draft Trail started near high valley farm fields and climbed steadily and immediately into the forest on an excellent established bench for 5 miles to Hankey Mountain. The payoff was to be a rocky outcrop with view. Nice enough in the end, but the real payoff was a beautiful, leaf-covered single track ride which never climbed too long without a rest and was nearly buff up to the last 0.5 miles. Forewarned, I parked the bike and hiked the last bit and up the scree pile to the lookout. I certainly was surprise halfway through my hike to hear "Pssst - you seen anything - deer or bear?" A hunter was traversing the hill just below the trail. We had a nice whispered conversation, but I was no use to him in bright green jacket (it was after all muzzle loading season) and noisy bike shoes, so I went to bag the summit and he his prey.

Half the time down, and on to ride a section of the Shenandoah Mountain Trail south of the Ramsey's Draft Wilderness I ended at previously. With the weather forecast to turn nasty the next day, I was having to compress my trip, so I drove to the pass and started at the Confederate breastworks there. Here I would be riding a piece of American history. Fortifications were built at this pass by the South to prevent the Northern army from invading the Shenandoah Valley from the west. Which they did before being driven back across the pass by Stonewall Jackson. This was another really smooth, rolling, and long established piece of single track gracing a scenic ridge. I dearly wished I could continue further than the several miles in, but the wilderness boundary was well posted as closed to bikes.

So I turned back to try my hand at the Road Hollow Trail descent highly recommended at the shop. It was a hoot - nicely done, steep but never too steep, and flowing. One humorous clamber over a rock nose and a small shelf ideal for the wheelie drop I've never mastered were all that broke the flow. Bummer the climb back to up to the car was paved US-250, but I didn't have time to ride the additional single track/two track to complete the entire ride. I wanted to at least stop by Spruce Knob in West Virginia on the way home that night and look at those trails since I wouldn't be able to ride there as I'd planned (what with the forecast of 40's and rain the next day).

So ended my adventure in George Washington National Forest. I had a good time on this trip. Harrisonburg is a happening place for biking, and is only getting better. Much of what they've done has only been in the last few years, and it's a lot. It's an hour drive to the best riding, but they are surrounded by it. The single track I rode in the forest was excellent stuff. My only frustration as a Midwesterner was how hard it is to create a loop without lots of road riding. Like in Rothrock State Forest In Pennsylvania, you tend to climb roads to access a ridge, cruise the ridge, then bomb the descent. That's how it is in the East I guess, but I'd love to go out for 20 or 30 miles of continuous single track and end up where I started. It's a lot of work building in the mountains, but imagine the ride. The alternative here is to choose ridge trails and ride them out-and-back, or point-to-point or ridge-and-descent combinations with a shuttle. And out-and-back isn't bad - most trails look and ride pretty different going the other way. Shuttles require more planning and two cars or a hire. So a different kind of riding. And different's good - you get the pleasure of something new, an appreciation of what you know, and perspective on the best features of each.

More photos at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/jbp1111/GeorgeWashingtonNatForestRideFromUs250?authkey=Gv1sRgCN_G5LCZ2c7OowE#

1-Riding George Washington National Forest:Todd Lake to Tear Jacket and Little Bald Knobs

With two long, not too rocky rides recommended by Shenandoah Bicycle in my pocket, I drove south and west 50 minutes to Todd Lake. From there I would ride a loop climbing from 2,000 feet to 4,300 feet at the top of Little Bald Knob, followed by a 2,500 foot descent on Wild Oak Trail along Chestnut Ridge. The trail on Chestnut Ridge had just been restored by Trail Dynamics, a professional trail construction company hired by Virginia Conservation with a federal Recreational Trails Program grant awarded to the Shenandoah Valley Bicycle Coalition, and I was excited to see it.




But first, as seems the case for all Appalachian Mountain rides, I had to start with a long dirt road climb. The initial ridge segment was quite scenic, with a great view across the valley of where I would top out - Little Baldy. This road eventually dropped and joined a larger gravel road climbing the valley. Continuing up, with the impeccable timing of many pleasant surprises, I  ran into the Trail Dynamics crew heading into a trail with mini-excavator and walk-behind skid steer. They were working a re-route, but quickly recommended an out-and-back on a trail to Tear Jacket Knob they had re-constructed earlier this season.

The karma seemed good - when I reached my intended turn off, I continued on the road uphill a few more miles to Shenandoah Mountain Trail to Tear Jacket. What an excellent example of trail restoration with small power equipment. New regular grade reversals and well disguised abandoned trail turned a worn out, eroded bench into an enjoyable climb. Though by this point I was beginning to regret the flatlander's 11-26 cassette I still had on my bike. It was a relentless 13% grade of 1,000 feet in 1.5 miles, with only the grade reversals for a second-long respite.

At the top of the climb I was rewarded with a well established back country single track traversing the ridge. The narrow 10" tread wound along steep, wooded exposures of hemlock, pine, and hardwoods for several more miles before coming to a gorgeous glade of massive oaks. It was here that the trail entered a wilderness area - no bikes allowed. Since I have feet too, I hiked another mile to summit Hardscrable Knob at 4,282 where I found an abandoned cabin, a collapsed fire tower, and a tolerable view. 

Here we'll talk some about leaves. I recommend riding here when the most of the leaves are down (late spring or late fall) if you want distant vistas. Openings revealing the distant mountains are few and far between, but riding these mountainside benches with the leaves down the surrounding ridges were my constant companions behind a scrim of branches. Those leaves, however, also tend to obscure trail 'features' and can reduce traction, which adds excitement on the narrow, exposed benches. Also, these are back country trails, so there are occasional dead falls and steeps to be hike-a-biked. 

The ride back down was as fun as up, and the lower section of the reconstructed trail displayed impressive flow - it was a blast. I rolled back down the road to continue my planned itinerary. North River Trail turned out to be single track on a gradually climbing, overgrown road - becoming a steeper, rockier single track for the last mile. That segment was the only really scenic part, and hard to ride in places. Then another long dirt road climb without much in the way of views, even on the decidedly hirsute Bald Knob. Coming down Chestnut Ridge was great fun. Long, moderate descents, not too rocky, a few short climbs, and all single track but the last mile. 

Still the high point of the day for me was the Tear Jacket ride. Bald Knob was fun, but not quite as scenic in its lower reaches, and with more indifferent road riding to access the sweet single track. It was a great day of riding - 35.2 miles in 7.5 hours (5.5 on bike) with two ascents to 4,300 ft and 6,300 feet of total climbing (and descent). When I dropped back by the shop that evening, I asked for some out-and-back segments to increase the single track-to-road ratio the next day. They happily obliged and sent me and my tired body on our way to dinner and a welcome bed. 

More photos at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/jbp1111/GeorgeWashingtonNatForestRideFromToddLake?authkey=Gv1sRgCOets6nnptDbew#