The Myth & The Majesty

... that was an inadvertent two-week hiatus. Not that anything happened. I didn't just get out of the hospital (or jail). I just woke up the day after my last post and ... didn't feel like writing. Same for the day after that. Just as inertia helped me to post daily for a few months, it led to an unplanned break. What have I been doing instead? Well, I've been biking a couple of times, which is two more than in the entire year before that. We have some great trails around for both the incredibly leisurely bikers (like me) and the incredibly crazy ones (like Shorty). Although the incredibly leisurely trails still offer opportunities for spectacular crashes. All you need is to be a little unfamiliar with your bike's braking capabilities and be going just a little faster than makes you comfortable. [Side note: This was the second time in a month that I'd seriously crashed and burned  and in both cases, I messed up my right elbow ... and my camera. Luckily, b...

So! Here we go. Highs & lows are a campfire tradition around these parts where you go around the circle and state the best and worst parts of your day or week. I started doing it here when I realized my (almost) daily blogging needed at least one planned easy one. Plus it's fun. We're settling into something more like "normal" around here (normal for not-summer, that is) and as a result, I get to watch the end of the Cowboys/Texans game as I write this. Which is ... good, I guess? Anyway! This week's highs and lows. But in the opposite order. Lows: ... The buffalo roundup requires a really early start. And I'm only just now starting to feel well-rested. So ... tiredness has been the general low point, I guess. Highs: It's a good week to be a Packers fan. Mia Sorella was out in the Hills for the weekend (she was here for school and I had to work, but hey, at least I caught her a couple of times!). We've had a couple of my favorite re...

A year ago today, the power went out. Okay. Let's try that again. A year ago today, the Rapid City area received record snowfall . It led to region-wide power outages for days (or weeks) and traumatically high death rates of livestock. This week, we've actually gotten a fairly equivalent amount of rain (one foot of snow amounts to roughly 1 to 1.5 inches of rain) ... but as it stayed above freezing while it rained, it's just been a wet week. Nothing noteworthy. Thank goodness. Here's hoping that the snow holds off a few weeks longer... I'd rather not do this again. Ever.  

[Or "And Then Things Took A Turn For The Awesome"] I got lost in Cleveland. It's embarrassing -- I mean, Cleveland?! -- but looking back, it affected the rest of my day ... and therefore the entire experience I had that weekend. My first view. The emptiness did not last. I'd awoken at dawn on Lake Erie with only 108 miles to cover that day. There was space in my schedule from when I'd thought I might have a last-minute companion; since that hadn't panned out, now I had spare time. I dawdled as well as I could -- took my time eating breakfast, went for a walk, geocached, slowly dismantled camp. Despite my best efforts, though, I was ready to go before noon. This was important! It was Cedar Point day ! Cleveland changed things. If I hadn't gotten lost, I would have been significantly early to Sandusky -- instead, I rolled in to the hotel parking lot only fifteen minutes before "official" check-in, a point where I didn't think I ...

My main objective of the trip -- besides Niagara Falls -- was to set foot in all five Great Lakes.   And okay. Maybe they weren't all out to get me, but there were a couple of incidents. Starting with...   Lake Superior   It was a beautiful day when I found my way down to the lake, just outside Marquette, Michigan. This was a simple, just-passing-through stop and a chance to get my feet wet. (Literally.)   Alas, there are various shore reclamation projects that use chunks of old roadway ... which leads to exposed rebar here and there. My first lake knocked me on my butt and got a lot more than my feet wet.   So deceptively serene. And apparently I snapped a picture before that moment. I left Superior with a scraped knee and hand (the back of it, somehow) but not much the worse for wear. Next up was... Lake Michigan My stop by Lake Michigan was also at a random wayside stop, this one ... actually, I'm not sure where. Sandy be...

This last Friday was the buffalo roundup out here... Something like 15,000 people turned up to watch. (It is, admittedly, pretty cool.)   As it was also ridiculously hot outside (well, over 90, which for September is pretty ridiculous) I spent a lot of the day seeking shade. Or more accurately, sitting juuuust under the bleachers by the corrals, talking to random passers-by and reading. Because I could.   And then on Monday, I overindulged in National Coffee Day shenanigans.   Right, so I couldn't leave out the trip-related mug. It is my new favorite.