A Test Ride

(This is a test -- trying to get blogger to work with new info. If this works, I will edit)

Saturday 9/28/2013

 

Let me start out with a list:

Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, Leonardo Da Vinci, Marie Curie, William Shakespeare, Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, Galileo Galilei, John Stuart Mill, Germaine De Stael, Thomas Jefferson.

Susan wonders who the twelve Great Thinkers are who are honored at SUU memorial. I thought some others may wonder also. After our initiat test ride to and along the short trail, I rode to the campus to collect their names.

Any time I have used a bike from an outfitter, and have filled out all their requested information, including my measurements and the measurments of my bike at home, I run in to some issues at bike fitting. I think the main thing they see is my age and if they have no "perfect" bike they will give the more perfect one to a younger woman and I get -- an inferior one. I am not laying blame because, how do they know who I am (even though they ask on the form how much riding I do).

 

Our leaders prepare the bikes

Along the bike trail on he test ride

 

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Cedar City -- a town of statues?

Saturday 9/28/2013

 

My walk this morning took me to Veterans Park and then to SUU (Southern Utah University) Campus.

Veterans Park memorializes the Cedar City residents who lost their lives in one of the five wars. Each war (WWI. WWII. Korea, Vietnam, Iran-Afghanistan) has its own memorial. I chose only two to include in my post -- the two that I found most profound as well as those that had the best photo result ;'-)

This city is very Shakespeare oriented - or at least SUU is. The Shakespeare festival runs June-October and I missed a performance of one of the plays yesterday while doing other things. I am not a huge fan of Shakespeare, so I consider this no big loss. These sculptures are in front of the Randall L. Jones Theatre; the building was not open, so I could not get inside to see the sculptures there.

I thought Lynne would especially like these.

John Falstaff

Juliet

King Lear

SUU is an LDS school. It is not, by many of our standards, a very big campus, but the grounds are impeccably kept -- bright green grass (sprinklers going a lot), well trimmed edges of walkways, no trash on the grounds and not a weed that I could see.

I had gotten the SUU Sculpture Stroll map from the Visitor's Center yesterday and enjoyed stolling through the grounds which begin a mere 10 minute walk from my hotel.

Interesting looking library on campus

 

The Starmaker

Pioneer Nellie

All about Nellie

The Centurium celebrates 12 of the great thinkers of western civilization

 

The Founders Monument -- one of the largest bronze sculptures in the West

There were a couple of sculptures I would have liked to see, but they were inside locked buildings. As well, there were a couple of contemporary sculptures I skipped by rather quickly without interest.

Throughout town there are bronze sculpures that appear to commemorate someone -- a founder or pioneer of some sort.

When I returned to my hotel, our tour leaders were there, conferring together. I reintroduced myself to Dan and Kirk who were leaders of our tour in Moab last year, and met one of the two additonal leaders -- Steve who is Dan's son. We chatted a bit and they told me where we will meet this afternoon.

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Cedar Breaks National Monument

Friday, 9/27/2013

 

First thing this morning I took a drive along the shorter scenic byway loop from town. It was a beautiful drive and a wonderful way to begin my day.

Cliffs line the drive

That spectacular yellow

Entering deeper into the canyon I noted the frost up there at the top. When I took the photo, little did I know that I would be driving through the frost at 10,500 feet elevation.

Note the frost up there

 

Frost covered trees

 

Frost covered grass

Soon I was near the summit and it was COLD!!! I stopped at the visitor center where one is supposed to purchase the entry ticket, but it was before the opening hour of 9:00. I would not have to pay anything anyway as I have the "Geezer Pass" (Senior National Park Pass). I drove on and stopped at several of the overlooks -- taking little time out there in the freeze.

Colorful rock formations of the natural Amphitheater

From the same overlook

 

I continued the drive and stopped for views from the other side of the amphitheater. This amphitheater is 2,000 feet deep and more that three miles in diameter. Various combinations of iron and manganese give the rocks their different colors. President Franklin D. Roosevelt established Cedar Breaks National Monument in 1933.

The amphitheater is the result of the same geolgic forces that created other Southwestern landscapes including the Grand Canyon, Zion and Bryce.

It is hard to "cull" the photos becuase I loved them all! I may have put in too many here, but I can't help myself.

It was frosty and cold with some snow on the walkways, and I was glad to be driving out of it into the sunshine. Passing through the ski resort of Brian Head I slowed to avoid hitting some wild life ...

Open range

 

I returned to town and took a walk to the riverfront trail. We will do our short shake down bike ride on the trail tomorrow. Back to the hotel, a rest and another walk around town and the University Campus rounded out my day. Nothing exciting to report about the walks as town has not much exciting nor interesting. I will weed out a few town photos and decide whether to post some tomorrow. Might be too boring.

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Bryce and Zion Utah

Thursday 9/26/13 -- Part 2

I am on the road again -- for a bicyle tour of Bryce-Zion with Road Scholar. We meet on Saturday, and I drove down so will be here a couple of days before we gather; I will acclimate a little to the higher elevation.

As I was checking out of the motel this morning I asked the motel staff person if she knows the weather in Cedar City -- my destination. She said no, but it is warmer. It's warmer? Good news.

While I filled up with gas yesterday in what I considered icy cold, I was mentally listing the layering gear I packed for riding. With the afterthoughts and last minute throw-in of heavy gloves and shoe covers, I thought I would be OK for the cold -- but would it be comfortable riding in icy cold weather? So this was good news to find we were at a higher elevation in Twin Falls, Idaho so it is colder than where I am headed.

in Utah

sky is lightening up

 

I'm a water baby, so oceans and other large bodies of water draw me in, but majestic mountains also have their pull. These are not very good photos, but I was driving. I know, I know, not a good idea to take photos while driving. But really, I didn't look through the camera -- just pressed the button and hoped for the best.

Let me rant a bit about some of the driving in Utah.

Starting with Washington. Speed limit on Intersate in WA is 70. Enter Oregon and it drops to 65. Enter Idaho and it increases to 75. 75! Seems oh so fast until you drive a few miles then it is quite a comfortable cruise. Enter Oregon and it is 80. 80! Seems like a speed that would draw a speeding ticket.

So now we are in Utah with speed limit of 80 and signs along the way warning of "Game Crossing". Game crossing. If there is any game crossing my 80 mph path, unless they are very swift, I am a goner. I keep my eyes peeled and wide open, but we all know how these game appear out of nowhere.

Once we hit Ogden, the posted limit is 65. Seems reasonable as we pass through cities. I must only assume that this is a "suggestion" as the traffic speeds along way above 65. I try to stay within my comfortable overspeed of 67, and traffic behind me about climbs over me, drivers that pass me (all of them pass me) give me the evil eye as they convey that I am holdng up traffic!

OK then, I will go with the flow of traffic and follow the lead of the Utahans even though 72 seems a bit high in a 65 speed zone. But there is no consistency as I go from 61 to 74 (in a 65 zone) trying to avoid being run over by the approaching speeders at my rear, or crunched by those passing on the left AND right who seem to change lanes on a whim. With five lanes I decide the middle lane should be safe as the far right has traffic constantly entering the on ramp, and the one directly to my right has a stream of huge trucks.

This goes on for many miles through Ogden and Salt Lake City. I cannot wait to get out of these cities! As we hit the outskirts, with open road ahead I finally am behind a car with Washington plates who is doing the 67 mph that is so reasonable! To say nothing of legal. I follow him for a while. Gradually I think we are going too slow and I pass to keep pace with the Utahans!

I survived the "games" -- wild animals as well as wild humans -- and have safely arrived at my destination of Cedar City. Tomorrow I will wander the streets and explore the area, but will also relax a bit as I am feeling just a little road weary.

I promise less wordiness and more photos from here on now that I am not behind a steering wheel.

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FRUSTRATED!!!

9/26/13 THURSDAY

I had a post all ready to write today but ran into a very frustrating happening! After signing in to wifi at Days Inn last night, I now have 15,000 (the number of zeros is correct) SPAM emails. I have spent the past two hours trying to access some kind of help from google and/or gmail. I have been referred to at least 8 different phone numbers and have not gotten any help. The best I have gotten is that I need to be at my home computer and someone will then be able to wipe out the emails. So that means Susan will have to try to do that; I have been unable to brief her on the possibility as she is busy with other things.

I have not been able to receive any other emails as I suppose my mailbox is now FULL! Anyone reading this who may want to email me may do so at my hotmail address -- nancybikes at hotmail dot com (you can figure that out). I am considering deleting my gmail account but that presents some problematic areas that I need to research beforehand -- like how that will affect blogsy (my blog site) for one. I also wonder how this works on iPad since google is so tied to Apple. Will find that out as soon as I get home. I feel somewhat done with phone calls and phone number referrals for now!

 

Oh -- I am on another adventure and have arrived at my destination of Cedar City, Utah. I will post more after I settle myself down a little. If only I were a drinker I would go have one -- or two -- or... Well, that's why I am not a drinker!

Check back later.

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Day two (we really only have two)

Wednesday 9/4/2013

Very fogged in this morning. We will laze around for the morning and get going when the fog starts its lift.

I had my breakfast on our porch before others were ready to head over to the cafe for theirs. I would join them for tea.

My breakfast of champions

We have rabbits at our house -- many of them in the back yard, and some babies out front. Cute as can be.

Wandering across the sidwalk

 

Our room is the first one here on the end

I was able to make contact with my friend Elizabeth who lives here on the island, and we will be taking a detour on today's ride to visit with her and Val today.

After a walk along the docks we were ready to face the wettish morning weahter. We didn't ever get "bad" weather, and after about the first hour of riding the heavenly drips stopped, and we had sun breaks through the day.

A view of the hotel from the water side. Our room is hidden by the trees on the left.

The morning traffic was light and our cycling could take a meandering pace with stops for a few island iconic pieces of yesteryear.

Yesteryear's tractor

 

This one saw a lot of work I would say

We stopped at Shark Reef for our first hike of the day. Bikes locked up, we walked the wooded (damp) trail out to the sound for some water views.

 

A cloudy morning

We found our way to Elizabeth and Val's for refreshments and a long time no see visit. They have a gorgeous new house, gorgeous water view, and a fine Lopez Island life here in their dream home. It was so wonderful to connect with my dear friend Elizabeth after so much time of not seeing her. My hope is to get to see her a bit more often as time may allow for trips over here. I did not get to take many photos of the house as I was more involved in the visiting. Next time.

From Elizabeth's we aimed for Iceberg Point for our second hike of the day. The way to Iceberg Point is a bit elusive, and one must learn about it from a local, and know know how to find it.

Obscure sign hidden in the trees alongside what appears to be (but is not) a private driveway.

 

One of many views at Iceberg Point

Vickie would have loved to spend most of a day wandering the many trails that weave in, out, up and down among the rock outcroppings, but the day was waning and we needed to move on. As well, my back was barking at me to stop the hiking for this day. Once on my bike, my back was at least happier until later in the evening!

Our ride toward home on the other side of the island brought us a few more treasures.

 

Driftwood Giraffe for Jaydon

 

Vickie waits patiently across the road for me to take the giraffe photo

 

Vickie and Gerry are always patient with my picture taking stops

We neared our home destination (not as near as we had thought ;'-)) with a nice coast along the beach where we found where dead driftwood goes for a second life.

Field of Driftwood Dreams

 

Driftwood Dinosaur

Hat Racks

The last leg of our day had us climb a wall!! At least, at the end of this long and rolling hill day it seemed like a wall to us. Not fair to have a wall at the end of the day! Tired and a little sore, we stopped at the grocery to procure our dinner on the porch fare, rolled home and reflected on the activities and beauty of the day.

This morning (Thursday) it is storming -- (loud) thunder, lightning, rain, low and heavy clouds. I sit here in the lodge to access wifi and look out at rain hitting the deck and clouds making ghosts of the boats moored out in the bay. The weatherman was right with this day's forecast. We will be packing up and leaving today sometime, happy we had good weather for our riding yesterday. We planned this one just right.

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