Ragbrai L – Sunday Through Saturday
August 12, 2023 § Leave a comment
As I said in the previous post I would like to keep this to 3 posts, so I will not go into too many details regarding this trip. I will mention a few items of interest to me, and I will either embed, or post links to other content that you may or may not wish to click through to. I will post this Facebook link to a Ragbrai LI group where you are free to peruse what others liked/disliked about this years ride.
Sorry Tabitha, I don’t have an image with all of us.
« Read the rest of this entry »Minnewaska Loop-do-Loop
August 9, 2023 § Leave a comment
As I begin to add some hiking miles to my legs for my upcoming High Uintas Wilderness backpacking trip, my trusty hiking friend Jed proposed a loop in Minnewaska State Park. For those in ignorance this is a beautiful NY State Park just west of New Paltz, and is home to “The Gunks” aka The Shawangunk Mountains. An incredible natural beauty rich in Geology, and fortunately protected many moons in the past by the Mohonk Preserve and the Mohonk Mountain House. What keeps the park going, financially, is that it is very difficult to avoid a paid parking spot as most of the access is paid, and the street parking has been eliminated. There is something for everyone here. If easy is what you want, then the miles of Carriage Trails are for you. In the Summer months they’re also pretty sunny, but in the Winter months they’re groomed for some of the best cross-country skiing on the East Coast. In addition the Carriage Trails are open to cyclists, where a gravel bike works best, and a road bike with at least 28’s would work, and finally is easy for a Mountain Bike, but whatever your choice of transport is, miles and miles of Carriage Trails provide for a great day in the saddle. Scattered around are the various “Footpaths” that allow for and produce a much different hiking experience.
« Read the rest of this entry »Ragbrai L – Let’s Do This!
August 5, 2023 § 2 Comments
My Des Moine’s Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa finished this past Saturday July 29th in Davenport Iowa. This was my first Ragbrai, but not my first time riding across Iowa, as that occurred in 1981 when Frank Falcione and I rode our bikes across the country, at the time somewhat trying to get to that year’s start town on the West side of Iowa for that year’s Ragbrai. We weren’t even close to the start date as I recall, but we did have a good ride.
« Read the rest of this entry »Jed and Cindy Smock
August 4, 2023 § Leave a comment
A very bizarre message came across the family IM feed this morning from Daughter #2. She came across this video posting which occurred on the LSU campus and posted May 19th this year. As soon as I saw this woman, I knew I knew her. To say “knew” is maybe a little too much. I “knew” of her. Once I listened to the recording, I knew “That’s her!”.
Who is her? This is Cynthia Lasseter who started appearing with Jed Smock as he travelled campus to campus in the 80’s preaching against the “sins” that was considered a “Healthy College Experience” then, and probably still is considered healthy, but that statement may depend on your perspective. As long as we are talking consenting adults, then healthy. I think Jed showed up at Penn State in the Spring of 1980, on his own. He set up, at that time on the steps of Willard Building, as that was probably the highest concentration of College-aged heathens to be found anywhere on campus, and considering State College was surrounded by Mennonites and Amish, at least for 150 miles in any direction.
Jed, was sharply dressed, telling the flock “God rewards the faithful”. “God doesn’t want us to walk in rags when we preach his greatness, so that is why I preach in $1000 suits and wear a Rolex. God wants me to be on time.” Jed appeared towards the end of the Spring Trimester each year, guessing that he saw a need to preach hard at Penn State, and then one year, yes, I was there for a while, he showed up with a partner. Sister Cindy he called her. I don’t think they were married at the time, but eventually she did marry Jed, bearing them 5 girls which apparently grew up travelling campus to campus in their parents ministry. If you told me that Marjorie Taylor Greene was one of their girls, I wouldn’t be surprised in the least.
So, Cindy was there, and as I recall, Jed was doing his normal spiel when suddenly he would refer to a saved soul he was responsible for, and then Cindy would take the stage and talk about how she had been a college sinner, how alcohol had numbed her sense of self, and she was a sex toy to many an undergraduate, and maybe a professor or two. She went on for hours about how she had “whored and whored and whored” and the crowd ate her up. Our crowd in the 80’s was not unlike this crowd in 2023.
So, Cindy is still active, and after 40 years of practice has her act down pretty well. Along comes a female comedian who takes this twitter capture, and turns it into a Tik Tok Summer hit. This is the You Tube link. It doesn’t end there either, a the New York Times caught wind and produced an article written by Madison Kircher.
Back in 1980, this all seemed “Very Bizarre” even then, however today, Cindy Smock seems like just another regular crazy Evangelical Christian nut case, who like the “Freedom Caucus” and pretty much any GOP member of Congress, is bent on dragging this country backwards into the hot hell of biblical brimstone. I hope at least one of their daughters made it out with some sense of humanity and normalism (new word), but I doubt it.
Big Bird's Adventures 