Happy Thanksgiving

Everyone here at the Tumbleweed Crossing wants to wish everyone anywhere a Happy Thanksgiving.

New York Landscape From My Window

I've gotten fairly good at shooting pictures from my window in a moving truck. Today I called Diana while out with Nathan so that I could tell her how wonderful it is here and ask her to come and visit us. Nathan wasn't about to wait around for me and my marathon long phone call, so I managed to shoot and talk on the phone too. I'm sharing that to explain why I managed to catch the rear view mirror in almost every single picture today.



This area really is so beautiful. I'm glad we got to visit here. Did you hear that honey? I'm glad we came here. I really didn't want to come to New York this year...but so glad we did now that I'm here.

The colors are just gorgeous here. Not quite fall colors yet, but right on the brink of that change.

I've been fascinated by cornfields this year. Maybe it is because we were out west last year and didn't see any there. Maybe it is because we stayed in one place long enough to see them growing. Either way, it just feels like summer and feels like America to me when we drive by them.

I'm also feeling sentimental about farms since I lived in an area surrounded by them at one point in my life.

I think I'm going to feel a bit sad when summer seems officially over this year. On the other hand, I love Fall when we are in the northern areas so maybe I will just be thrilled to enjoy the fun of that too.



Living the life in New York!

Another View

This is a view of the Indian Market Place from the other end.

Josh and his friend, Friend

Not to be outdone by Lauren, Josh also introduced me to his friend. Named friend. I know that is his name because I heard Josh say, "hey...that's my friend. Friend! I'm here!" He and friend did all the regular boy stuff then. There is really good boy stuff on a farm!







I mean, there are really, really cool boy things to do on a farm. We should have lived on a farm just for my two boys sake.







Thank you, Josh, for letting me follow you and friend around and snap shots of you doing your boy thing!



Yup, I got a shot of you that will make me smile every time I see it too!

Climbing pack in Cham?

More on climbing packs from Dave Searle in Chamonix. Call it a Euro perspective :) Thanks Dave!















With the recent Cold Thistle theme being
centred around climbing packs I thought I’d put in a word or to as well.




Last year and the year before my climbing
pack was the Black Diamond RPM 26. It
was more or less the ideal Chamonix climbing pack and served me well on many
good days out from big north faces to sunny rock climbing and hauling 25litres
of water on training runs. Its simple
clean design, low weight and smart features where a real winner. The material is good, tough enough to withstand
granite chimneys (cheese graters) without being too heavy. With two side pockets and a small lid pocket
stashing gloves and snacks is easy and with a simple yet effective draw cord
compression on the front shedding a layer is easy to. It was however difficult to carry a rope on
the outside (necessary
if your packing bivy stuff) and the zip top
closure was slightly worrying. I never
had any problems but when the teeth start to sit funny it’s pretty scary to
think it could burst open at any time landing you in deep trouble.




I have recently replaced the BD with a Blue Ice Warthog 26.26 litres seems to me to be the
perfect size for a climbing pack out here in Chamonix. If you need anything bigger you’re either
doing something wrong or something very hard!
The only time I needed a bag bigger last year was on my failed attempt
on the Desmaison/Gouseault with would have required two bivi’s on the North Face
of the Grandes Jorasses.




I much prefer the lid system on the Warthog
which makes carrying a rope a breeze with the separate strap and the helmet
carrier is a great idea to, something that the RPM was missing . The Ice ace
loops are simple but work really well. I
have even jerry rigged the Rope carrying strap combined with a ski strap
through the lower Ice Axe loop to make a rudimentary but effective ski carrying
system. It worked fine with my 108
waisted ski’s and held the ski’s in the perfect cross carry position for
bootpacking.












The material on the Warthog is tougher and
a lot more durable so it should last longer than my RPM and also would take the
odd hauling session if required. The
removable light waist belt is good to (the same as the RPM). I never climb with a waist belt but it is
good to have one for those long slogs up to the bottom of the Jorasses.






The quality of Warthog is superb too. It’s still going strong after half a season
of use and abuse without any signs of wear.
I’m looking forward to giving it as much use and seeing
how it fairs!

Low water on the Pigeon

This evening we went for a kayak outing on the upper Pigeon River. Boy, the river sure has changed since the last time I was on it a couple of weeks ago. The water is very low now. In fact, the hulls of our kayaks scraped rocks more times than we could count. In some areas, such as this spot just below English Rapids, almost the entire width of the river bed is dry exposed rock. Two months ago I was able to easily float right over these rocks... that's not going to happen now!

Hale Brubaker & Crow's Corner School

Maurice Hale Brubaker (known as Hale) was the youngest son of Malissa Joslin and William Brubaker. He taught at least one term at the Crow's Corner school in Smith Township, Whitley County, Indiana when he was 18 years old. This was still at a time when college degrees were not required for teaching.

Hale's life was cut short when just 6 years later he died of pneumonia while attending Law School at Columbia University in New York. His death had a traumatic affect on the family. It was a shock to his parents but particularly his father who died a little over a year later.

The brief "biography" of Hale was written by his mother: "Hale died in N Y Dec 14 1910 aged 24y 6m & 27da he was in Columbia University a Law Student would have finished in May 1911 he was born in Troy TP Whitley Co graduated in common School when 13 & in high School 17 Taught School in Smith TP. was an active member in the First Baptist church & Sunday School after all God took him called him higher where he is at rest Mother"

I'll be posting more about Hale in the future...

The Pupils listed on the Souvenir tag are:

• Grade VII: Chester McNeal, Thomas Griffith, Etta Rowland, Bessie Gordon, Katie Fulk, Dessie Garrison
• Grade V: Ethel Herron, Jennie Gilbert, Rilla Boggs, Edward Gordon, John Fulk, Charles Gilbert, Jesse Rowland, Earnest McNeal, Herbert McNeal, Cyrus Griffith, Joshua Griffith
• Grade III: Lottie Herron, Virgie Griffith, Frank Garrison, Howard Gilbert
• Grade I: Opal Boggs, Millie Garrison, and a few more that were in the damaged portion

Step-Throughs: an Advantage in Traffic?

There was aninteresting postonecoveloyesterday, where the author compared how he uses his three transportation bikes: aRivendellSam Hillborne, aSurlyLong Haul Trucker, and aCiviaLoring. All three bicycles are set up with upright handlebars and decent load carrying capacity, but the Civia differs from the other two in that it has a fairly low stepover. And according to the author, the combination of its "upright riding position, step-through frame, and internal gear hub make[s] the Loring exceptionally confidence inspiring for riding slowly when in close proximity to pedestrians and automobile traffic." Initially, I read past that sentence with the kind of matter-of-fact acceptance that goes with processing what you already consider to be a given. Butthen later I mentally "rewound" and thought "Wait a minute, he is saying that he finds it more comfortable to ride a step-through in traffic than a diamond frame - Is this a generally accepted notion?"

I used to think the reason I prefer step-throughs for transportation, is that I often wear skirts. But having read the ecovelo post, I realise that even when wearing trousers I feel better on a step-through in traffic. And, assuming that Alan of ecovelo mostly wears trousers, for him there must be other factors involved as well. Maybe for me it's the promise of the easy "hop off sideways" dismount should I need to bail, that makes me feel more secure. But to tell the truth, I am not sure what it is, and whether my preference is entirely logical.



All factors remaining equal (upright handlebars, ride quality, load capacity), what, if anything, would make a step-through bike an advantage in traffic?

Nick and Tonyia Visit The Villages

Nick and Tonyia came to visit Rich and Donna this weekend. We made plans to get together at our place Friday night, but ended up moving it to Saturday. Ava had fun catching up with Rich and Donna and Nick and Tonyia. Donna brought a mix, and Nathan got to work making us some yummy frozen drinks.



We visited on the lanai for a bit, until it started to rain. Nathan also made us some very yummy fajitas. Donna brought two different kinds of chips and salsa to add to the dinner. We had plenty to eat and it was nice to have a table that we all fit around.



After dinner, we got out the Phase 10 game and played that until quite late. Only half of us had played before so we played a practice hand to teach the others and then we were off and running. We were neck and neck at the end with Nick being the final winner.



This morning we met at Golden Coral and then Nick and Tonyia had to head back out. It was a great weekend that went by much too fast!

San Abino Church

Nearly all of the old southwestern towns were built around a catholic church with small shops and maybe a courthouse around the church with a park or a place for festivities in the center. Old Mesilla is built around the Basilica of San Albino church which was built in 1855 and still offers mass in both English and Spanish. Originally built out of adobe it has had to be remodeled some. There is a memorial to parishioners who have died in combat in front of the church with a white statue on it.

Happy Memorial Day

It is still hard for us to not be with all of our children and our grandchildren on holidays. We did have the joy of having friends around this holiday though, and that offset our sadness some.



Jack and Diane hosted a Memorial Day party for all of us. We had food, fun and friends. All good things!

It was Karen's birthday, so we celebrated her day with her. Josh had picked out all of her cake ingredients. Good job, Josh!

Bob brought a game that he made. We split into teams, with guys against girls, and played against each other.

Faye was the first one to land on a hook. Then Ken showed her up by landing TWO rings on the same hook. I managed to hook one of the top ones. Karen hooked a 10,000 point hook and then accidentally knocked it back off. So not fair with it being her birthday and all, but she was a good sport.

So, who won? The women! We had a lot of fun and I'm now thinking I'd Nathan to try and build one for us.

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday filled with good things!

Beaver Creek Resort in Gaylord, Michigan

We really like this park, so I grabbed a few pictures to help us remember it in case we are back this way again sometime. The staff is top notch and the facilities are great. The internet in the lodge is the best we've encountered so far.

Sitting Still

When we landed in Florida last year, I had a family member that kept asking me if we were going to put up for awhile. Although I'm not familiar with the phrase "put up", I took it that it meant to stay put somewhere rather than moving around every two to three weeks. I could only say I have no idea at the time. Because we didn't know what was going to happen.



We did end up sitting in one place for what seemed to us a very long time. Seven months to be exact. To say I got restless is a huge understatement. The only other time I've felt that restless is when we lived in VA years ago. Nathan was concerned that I might get restless here because it is kind of remote, like where we lived in VA was. I had the teensiest concern that I might start to feel restless if we stayed in one place when we long to travel so much. I'm happy to say, neither has been an issue. At all.

I think neither is an issue because we love it here. We love it like we have no other place we've been to in fact. And I'm not sure why, when it is pretty remote. There isn't tons in the way of entertainment or places to shop.

I miss having grocery stores to select from. I miss having a bit faster internet than we get sometimes here.

Other than that, I have no complaints so far. We are very content to just be here. I'm going to try to remember to take my camera with me when we go out and about, since we are here longer than we are normally at a place. It will be fun to share more in depth things about this place than I usually can.



Living the island life in NC!

Abstract Ice

So far in this early winter season we have not had cold enough temperatures for much ice to form, at least not for very long. A recent warm spell combined with rain quickly did away with what little ice and snow we had along the Lake Superior shoreline. So, I'm digging through my archives looking for ice shots, since I have "ice on the brain". This one is a shot of a small Lake Superior wave pool along the Hollow Rock shoreline, taken in January of 2007. It is one of the coolest patterns of ice that I've ever seen. The true scale (in terms of surface area) of this ice was roughly two feet by three feet. I was blown away when I discovered this unique feature. I visited the same site a few days later and the pattern in the ice was completely different. Look for that one to be posted soon :-)

Friendly Witches and Scenic Graveyards

Was I a good witch or a bad witch for Halloween? Only Eustacia knows, and she is not talking. I rolled through the night with reflective sidewalls and plenty of lights on my bicycle, and I think only good witches do that. Bad ones tend to hide under the cover of darkness.

On this ghoulish night, I present you also with this photo of me and Marianne cycling through Provincetown Cemetery at dusk. I spent part of my childhood in a small New England town, where we lived down the street from a very old graveyard. Its presence seemed entirely normal; my friends and I would even take walks there after dark. Only later did I discover that graveyards freaked other people out. That and old Victorian houses with floorboards that creak even when no one is walking on them. Go figure!

Kimbolton-Tilbrook, Pertenhall, Stonely, Kimbolton

Led by Barry, with me Eddie and Maureen - weather grey, some drizzle, improved to sunshine. Just over 10 miles (including mini-detours).

Llamas and a mini-cow?

Pertenhall church in the diocese of St Albans - we took shelter in the porch for our snack break

One more mile, guys! We can do it!