Bringing Cliff Home – Day 1
August 15, 2016 § Leave a comment
The day began relatively early. Although there wasn’t much in Little Falls, the Travel Lodge did offer us some breakfast, and we were able to get a solid base in for the long day ahead. The plan was to set off with Cliff’s PAC Tour buddies (The EFM Crew) and ride with them into Saratoga Springs where they would stop for lunch. There we would split off and head Southeast while the PAC Tour continued East. Along the way about every 20 clicks or so, the support vehicles would set up a snack and water stop. A place to regroup, and recharge. There would be two of these, and we had our own Sag wagon being driven by Michael. Michael did a fantastic job provisioning everything. By my estimates, we probably could have made it all the way to Florida just consuming all the consumables that he put together for us. In addition Michael brought fold up chairs, and a shade canopy, so we were going to Sag in style and comfort.
Bringing Cliff Home – Getting Started
August 14, 2016 § 1 Comment
Cliff approached me almost two years ago regarding his desire to do a trans-continental bicycle ride. In those early days the basic idea/hope was that in our advanced years, there may be others among his friends that would be interested in doing some part of or the entire journey with him. This plan also included a really good friend who would be willing to sag the entire trip with a support vehicle, as it was Cliff’s intention to stay in motels along the way, and not carry anything on the bike other than bare necessities.
White Rabbit
June 1, 2016 § Leave a comment
The clock was ticking. I was finishing up some work when I saw 5 o’clock slip by. “No problem” I thought. I can still get home with plenty of time to change and catch the Tuesday Night Hustle ride. Then it was 5:15 and I knew I was running out of time. Had to wrap things up and get out of there. As my machine was shutting down, I realized I hadn’t taken care of my time sheet, and today was submission day as well. No problem, as I could handle it all using a phone app. With that taken care of I was out the door and in my truck. However there was HUGE problem when I got out to Industrial Way. Traffic was backed up as far as the eye could see West with east-bound traffic (my direction), and not only that, but the west-bound lane was backed up as well! Quick thinking and I realized I had to go West first, then loop around North and around, and actually catch 35 South to West Park Avenue where I can double back East and North to get home. While that did work for me, there were many areas where traffic was just a pain in the ass thick.
Pushing My Luck – I was an Idiot Though
May 20, 2016 § Leave a comment
Suddenly the truck lost power. I could feel the change in the accelerator pedal immediately and glancing at the dashboard display revealed my worst nightmare. The gas tank was empty and my gamble had failed. Just 3 minutes earlier I was in the queue at a Sunoco Station in the Service Plaza just prior to Exit 7A of the NJ Turnpike. The queue was long, and my gauge didn’t look like it was that empty. I knew from familiarity of the area that Exit 8 on I 195 has a Valero Station and that is less than 4 total miles from where I was currently detained in the queue. Why don’t I take a chance? In addition it had been a pretty lucky weekend overall. We had planned a 2 night 3 day backpacking trip into Tuscarora State Forest, and the 10 day forecast all week looked dismal. However it started to brighten on Thursday, and as it turned out, the rain stopped not long after we parked our vehicles in the hiking lot at Colonel Denning State Park. What luck! Furthermore, it only improved as the day progressed. The sun started to make appearances, and we had a clear sky all night. We watched the moon traverse a large arc in the heavens. Saturday started out as great as anyone could hope. Sunny and warm. Rain did eventually arrive, but tarps we possessed and deployed them we did, and after two fronts moved through we were good for the night.
So after all that good luck, why shouldn’t I try to make it 4 more miles? Off I went, and now the Tundra was losing speed on the ramp incline just shy of the toll plaza. I engaged the emergency blinkers, and pulled out of the travel lane. It wasn’t completely hopeless, as my insurance has coverage for just this sort of emergency, but what did the tow truck driver say to me the last time I used his service? “95% of my service calls are because people ignore their low gas warning and then ran out of gas. What idiots!”. Now I was one of those idiots! Or was I? I could simply pick up the phone and dial, or I could wait a moment, and simply turn the key. What is the worst that could happen? It doesn’t start? Well, it wasn’t currently running, so that doesn’t really change my status. But it could start. So, I turned the key, and it started! Now I just had to see how far I could get this time. I may not even make it to the top of the ramp, but then again, I might if I could just get some speed built up. I threw it into gear and eased my foot onto the accelerator and sure enough, I moved faster and faster and over the top of the hump. I let off the gas and coasted through the toll machine with “EZ Pass Paid” displayed and I kept rolling right on through to the entrance ramp for I 195 East “Shore Points”. I took a chance and depressed the pedal a little more and I picked up more speed. I had one more initial hump in the overpass over the Turnpike. I cleared that easily, and then the exit sign for Allentown (Exit 7) came quickly. I didn’t want that one, because there are no services on that road, and it would be a longer distance to the Valero. So I pushed my luck further and on to Exit 8. Exit 8 has a long swirling ramp that ends at stop light where most vehicles make a left turn. Fortunately for me that queue was short and it didn’t block the right turn I could make onto 539 South and to the Valero Station which was right there. I had made it!
The truck owner’s manual lists the tank at 25 gallons and change. How much change? Well the Gauge on the pump indicated I put 26.34 gallons into the tank. That is the most ever! Whew!
NJ AT Hike #6
December 6, 2015 § Leave a comment
Frosted weeds
“Who ever decided on extending this hike to 17A, Fuck You!” Andy was a little grumpy, and he had turned a patch of exposed pink granite gneiss into a Tempurpedic mattress for a short rest, but he was still moving, and in the end he was going to make it.
NJ AT Hike #5
November 8, 2015 § 1 Comment
Morning on the Wallkill Wildlife Refuge
It’s funny thing about trail systems. It doesn’t really matter what size the system is. We could be talking about your favorite local trail, for example The Grand Tour in Hartshorne Park here in Monmouth county. At some point in time, the trail requires a re-route. There are reasons for these changes; Some times it is to allow a used section of the trail to recover and regenerate. Where the area is large, say for example Harriman State Park in NY, trails can be moved fairly often so that no one section gets too abused. In the case of the AT there are many sections where private land is involved, and the land owner changes their mind, or the land changes hands and the new owners refuse to allow the right-of-way to continue. When this happens enough, new maps get issued.
Thor The Destroyer
August 19, 2015 § Leave a comment
I could tell already what kind of Hustle Ride it was going to be. Me, I was already aching and quaking from a 14 mile AT hike along the NJ NY border from High Point State Park to Wallkill River Wildlife Refuge. As I seem to do on all of those AT hikes is I forget to start off with Ibuprofen and continue an Ibuprofen regimen throughout the day. I know I would ache a lot less on Tuesday if I did.
The Tuesday Night Hustle – Some New and Some Returning Faces
July 29, 2015 § Leave a comment
I got home early today. This week is VIP week at Fort Dix and I figured I would be tied up all day every day, but so far, this week is easier than the last two weeks! Once the VIPs come through, we can close up shop, and so we did and I was home by 4 o’clock. I have to admit, that today was pretty damn hot, and the humidity stuck to me like a wet drape. I wasn’t sure I was in the mood to go out into that mess and hammer for an hour.
Stung! The Tuesday Night Hustle Rides Again
July 22, 2015 § Leave a comment
Sometimes it is amazing what you can get when you cry Waa Waa like a baby and call out to your friends “Why won’t you come out and play with meeeeee?” Tonight was the first Tuesday Night Hustle after last weeks rant, and I was both surprised and relieved to see a larger turnout. In addition to Doug and myself, we started out with Maxipad and Jack who rode in with Dougie. Tony managed to make it out tonight and in spite of his already ridden that morning! We got Grant back out again, but he was recovering from an infection for which antibiotics were prescribed. Finally we had a new person show up who had just heard about the ride. Mike from Atlantic Highlands. I had never seen him before, but he was riding a nice bike. I did point out we would warm-up out to Sea Bright and then turn the gas on.
Thirty Years Ago – The Adventures of Frank & Stein – Part II
July 21, 2015 § 1 Comment
June 1st 1981 was the set departure date for the journey that would become known as “The Frank and Stein Route”. We had everything we needed, and the time had come to put the plan into action. We weren’t shipping our bikes and gear to San Diego, so we had to get bike boxes from a local shop, and disassemble our machines enough to re-pack them in these boxes. Fortunately there was room in the box to stuff many of the other items we had as well. What didn’t fit in the bike boxes we crammed into two other normal packing boxes, one each, so that we each had one huge bike box and one rather large box to manage at the Airport. We didn’t need suitcases, because we couldn’t carry them back with us, so disposable cardboard was the way to go.
Big Bird's Adventures 