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Alumni Band Weekend
It must be fall; football is beginning and the kids are back in school.
For me, it was the perfect weekend in the state of Michigan for the Alumni Band to get together. The Michigan State University (MSU) Marching Band has around 300 players. This year the Alumni Band had about 450 participants from 23 states. Together, we had over 700 marching at half time on the field. And we did drills.
It all started with an email from the Alumni Band asking for us to sign up. I waited a while and decided to go for it. Better now while I can still march and play. My former roommate and fellow E-flat trumpet player Steve said he would join me to march. Another one of my friends could only join for the game day due to a Friday night commitment.
They say you cannot go back. We did, and we had fun doing it. I have not played so much in 24 hours in a long time. The last reunion I attended, my second, was in 1991, ten years after I graduated. I do not remember the Alumni Band being so big.
The weekend started with a group rehearsal on Friday night; like we were still in school, bright and early the next morning we went over our drill with the students—who looked sharp. We marched to the Stadium after grabbing a lunch and performed in the stands and then on the field for half-time and again in the stands and then on the field again for a post-game show before marching back from the Stadium.
As a special treat on Friday night, after our rehearsal, before we were dismissed, we heard from the new women’s basketball coach, some former football players, the band director from my era (I did not even know I was part of an era) and the University interim president. I then went to the hotel room with my former college roommate Steve and spent the night again sharing a room. I feel younger just writing this.
During the Saturday morning rehearsal, the alumni members were corrected or reminded how to march. It is amazing how quickly it all comes back and how much faith the directors have in us. The show came together without too much trouble.
On Saturday morning, it was a treat to practice marching and join the Spartan Marching Band (SMB) on the practice field. This field is so much better than what we had, including a taller platform for the directors to see how we are doing. The students did not have a paper copy of the drill like we all did; they had it on some app on their phones. Times have changed. The SMB all had matching t-shirts and looked and sounded great. It has been over 40 years since I was part of this group.
During our practice, it was great to see that the SMB and the Alumni Band have several fans in the stands next to the band’s practice field. I was happy to see my fellow E-flat trumpet player Bill in the stands to greet us.
The march to the Stadium after lunch was one of the highlights of the day for us in the Alumni Band. We formed up on our former practice field, near the music building, and the alumni band marched to the Stadium. The SMB followed later. We marched to the familiar drum line cadence, which the Alumni played to perfection, we tried to keep in straight line, and play the fight song, as well as cheer and sing as we marched to the Stadium.
We had great seats for the SMB’s pre-game show and, of course, the football game. We did not know any of the drama that the football program would go through in the coming days and weeks with the firing of the head coach for our game. It is just as well that we could enjoy the moments for us and our fellow Alumni Band members.
Once the game began, we joined the band in playing for exciting moments in the game and then suddenly it was time to leave the stands and get onto the field to march the half-time show. Several good memories came flooding back playing in the Stadium that is now 100 years old. Just the exhilaration of being part of this big thing we call the marching band was an awesome time.
Halftime went well. Thanks to the guidance from the SMB on field, I hit my spots and remembered how to turn.
The postgame show was a blast, even though it took us a long time to exit the stands and get back onto the field. The SMB performed a number and then we joined them for Everybody’s Everything—which was fun to play and move with the band.
Until next time, we formed up and marched through the tunnel and marched and played on the way back to the Demonstration Hall where we began our Alumni Band journey on Friday night. I think the experience was typical from what I remember from being part of the SMB. It is a long day; it was 11 hours after we first came to Demonstration Hall Saturday morning to warm-up that we were done for our day. The SMB probably (as we once did) had an after-game party to attend. Our group went out to dinner and we were tired.
Lessons learned:
Wear a hat—the sun was great; I just was out in it for hours and needed a hat.
Bring the music for the post game show—I had to look on with a friend to get the parts. Now I know what to bring.
Other Fun:
Spending the weekend with my friends. Do we look any different?
This is us at the last alumni band day we attended in 1991:
I am happy to report that we all remembered our band jackets and they still (mostly) fit. It does get cool in September on campus at Michigan State University.
I drove by the house where I grew up and my old high school on the way home. I also stopped and played some disc golf as well. Always a fun time.
I was happy to spend time with my buddies from school and play my trumpet all day and catch up with friends and band members that I had not seen in a long time. I think I will have to go back next year.
As I was walking back to the stands after the half-time show, I met the trainer for Zeek the Wonder Dog IV. It was a good conversation and Zeek, to his credit, ignored the 700 of us mingling around him. I remember the first wonder dog. The trainer has been working with II-IV. A fun job going out to the field and throwing frisbees.
Walking to the Stadium and having to park for the early morning rehearsal, we walked by several alumni fans who were setting up their tailgate parties. We were amazed at the elaborate tailgate setups. Something new for me was seeing “Fowling.” I had not previously heard of this game, bowling with footballs. I was assured that Fowling is a Michigan based game. I will look for it to catch on next year across the country.
No bike rides on this journey. I did get a run in on a sleepy and foggy campus on Sunday.
See you on the road.
Creeping Along the Virginia Creeper Trail
We are still biking, just not as much this year as in past years. We took a trip to Virginia to ride on the Virginia Creeper trail. We were planning on riding with a group on this trip. Unfortunately, that group trip was cancelled. So, we decided we could have some fun on our own and enjoy the trail ourselves.
After arriving in Virginia, we were struck by all the “Love” signs around. Apparently, the big marketing campaign for Virginia is that “Virginia is for lovers.” We did enjoy the many “LOVE” sculptures along the roads and towns.
We stayed in the town of Abington. The locals told me that it has more restaurants per person than any other town in the USA. It was a pretty town and we did not go hungry. We were happy to stay in Abington for our trip to the Creeper Trail.
We ended up walking all over Abington, up and down main street as well as on some of the side streets. However, our main attraction was to bike the Creeper Trail. They have a nice welcome center just outside of the trailhead in Abington as well as a visitors center in town.
We had a good day of biking from Abington and then back from Damascus. We had glorious weather. There were not too many people on the trail. It was almost impossible to get lost as the trail was well marked and maintained. On our long bike ride we had an enjoyable lunch at the Wicked Chicken in Damascus.
About halfway to Damascus was the old railway stop called Alvarado Station. It was picturesque. It was a good place to stop and reflect how the countryside has changed.
Damascus was a good destination for our ride and were happy to have a spot to stop on our ride, about mile 15 from Abington along the trail.
The ride is a good one on a crushed gravel trail. We did not bring our road bikes because of the crushed gravel. Renting bikes worked out well for us. I enjoyed the many bridges that we came across, all numbered and well maintained. Some had a story to tell. Most were picturesque as well as functional.
We did pass through a few farms with gates. I am sure the gates keep in the livestock. I do not see many gates on rail trails. It is a testament to how long it has been since the train came through.
The engine used to pull the coal car and the lumber is on display at the start of the Creeper Trail in Abington. It was restored and looked in fine shape. One of the stories on the trail name is that the train crept along at a slow pace due to the curves and grades on the path.
Other fun:
We spent a day hiking into the Channels State Forest
We enjoyed a well-done rendition of “Clue” at Barter Theatre in Abington.
I was able to play disc golf at the Virginia Highlands Community College.
We managed to bike, walk, and run on the Creeper Trail. It is a joy to see things differently as we all have a different pace we go while walking, biking, or running.
We got back home in time to participate in the first annual Luther Run. We finished first in our age groups for the 5k. A fun time.
See you on the road for our next travel adventure.
Underground Travels
We were last in Carter Caves celebrating an anniversary years ago. We really like this lesser-known state park as it has much more than just caves to explore. We had done most of the hikes on our previous travels here, and they are worthwhile exploring. This time, during our visit to Carter Caves State Park, we focused on the cave system.
We were able to stay in a cabin and explore the hiking trails as well as take a few cave tours. It does get dark in the caves. Going with a group is always fun. The rangers were so knowledgeable about the caves and the systems.
Led by the park rangers we did two cave tours:
X-CAVE: a cave with two vertical joint passages that gave us up-close viewings of the cave formations. Each section was different. We did see cave spiders. We saw the highlights in this cave which include the Great Chandelier, cave coral, and formations with descriptive names including Giant Turkey, the Pipe Organ, and Headache Rock.
Cascade Cave is the longest cave tour in the park and is noted for its large chambers and many cave formations. A highlight of the tour is a 30-foot-high underground waterfall as well as the Lake Room’s reflecting pool, the Cathedral in North Cave, and the Dance Hall where a previous owner held weekly dances. It was a nice cool temperature in the caves as it was hot outside.
We explored a little of Laural Cave on our own. It was going to rain and we did not want to get in too far and then back out due to the rising water. It is different exploring on our own as the guided tour is lit up and we only had our flashlights to assist us on this walk. I appreciate the Park System’s work making the guided caves tours so accessible to us.
We enjoyed hiking the area and exploring the creek that runs through the park.
Other fun:
We saw a live snaping turtle up close and personal as one of the rangers caught one and was moving him farther away from the camping area.
The camping area had an axe throwing demonstration and we were able to throw a few. It was good to try. We were not very good.
No bike rides on this trip. See you on the road.
Novelty and Reality, I will try not to repeat the same story again…
The kids are back in school, and as was the case when I was a child, I wanted to report on what we have been doing this year since our travel to New Zealand. We have repeated many of the same travels in 2023 as we did in 2022. My family is in the same places. As we visit these places, I will point out a few new sights along the way as well as a few favorites. We have been to Massachusetts and Rhode Island as well as to North Carolina. One such change was running a half marathon with my two oldest in Providence this year.
We were able to celebrate Christmas with our grandson and his birthday (two already!).
Visiting Block Island, which is part of Rhode Island, was a new experience for us. It was a nice day to walk the beach and bike around the island. Happy that one of our sons took the day off to enjoy the adventure with us on the Island.
We did learn about fog warnings. The boat taking us to the island used a fog horn several times. We were safe and enjoyed the island. I was pleased to stop in the visitor’s center and receive a discount on the rental bikes. We also received good information on where to go and what to see at the center.
After the sun came out and the fog cleared, we had a satisfying bike ride, including riding to all four points of the compass on the island. At the end of our ride, we enjoyed some ice cream before going back to the harbor and turning in the bikes. All in all, a good day at the beach and on an island.
The way to and from our house to visit family in Massachusetts and Rhode Island is through Pennsylvania. We have gone several ways, including going though Erie, PA, the most northern edge, and taking I-76 on the southern route as well as I-80 through the heart of the commonwealth.
As we get older, we cannot drive straight through (like our kids sometimes do) for a 15-hour (not including stopping) car ride. We break it up. Where to stop in Pennsylvania is a planning challenge; it can be fun to think about alternative stops in the state.
We often take a different route home than we did on the way to Massachusetts. I have a friend who lives near Wilkes-Barre, not too far out of our way. It helps to have a place to spend the night. He and I recently stopped at Ricketts Glen State Park for a hike before continuing home for me. It was beautiful to hike, and had so many waterfalls. I am not sure I would have ever stopped at this park without Rob pointing it out for me. In reading about this park, it was slated to become a National Park before the Depression era budget cuts and WWII began heating up. Pennsylvania has turned this into a magnificent and underappreciated park.
We stopped to hike here in July as well, but we did not make it back to the car before the rain came. Fortunately, we had a set of dry clothes in the car.
I ran the Great Appalachian Valley 10K, which also counted for my virtual Big Ten 10K run. As we were driving to Massachusetts, we enjoyed the Shippensburg campus and the disc golf courses. The Great Appalachian Valley run was small (about 250 runners); we were happy that we could all start early even though we were running on a rail trail. It worked out great for us.
We have been back to North Carolina visiting our newlywed couple. Again, a fun trip and not too much new. We did get a family trip to one of the Charlotte area disc golf courses.
Other repeated travel this year has been to visit my mom and my in-laws as well as family and friends along the way.
Other fun:
Traveling on holidays can be interesting. We were in Pennsylvania for Valentine’s Day and had a great meal out; and I spent the day (in the car) with my lovely wife. Even more creative, on Christmas day we had dinner in the hotel in Pennsylvania, as all the restaurants are closed on Christmas day. My wonderful wife planned ahead, so we had all the trimmings for a fancy dinner in the lobby, alone. It was great.
I participated (a repeated story) in the Tri-State Running Group. This year the Frozen 5k went off as planned. The Heart Mini was cold but provided the right distance training (a 15k run) as we prepared for the half-marathon. We had several runs in and around Cincinnati with the running group.
As part of my training for the Providence half-marathon, I was able to do a training run in Providence. It was an eight-mile preview of the half-marathon course. This is a similar process that my running group was doing in Cincinnati on their half-marathon course. It was only 11 degrees when we started, but it was my opportunity to train and experience running on the Providence course.
I ran the Red’s Run, a 10K as part of my training that benefits the Cincinnati Red’s Foundation. This run made my training schedule to get ready for the 10K in July.
I played disc golf at a few new courses (for me). My favorite from my recent travels though Pennsylvania is the Faylor Lake DiscGolfPark. This is the top-rated free disc golf course in the world according to the 2023 UDisc ratings. I agree.
I did get to play the number one UDisc course in the world, Maple Hill. Based on my game, I decided to move up from Red (easy course) to White (moderately difficult course) and when I did, I was so excited to see that I was already playing well at the next level on this course. I needed to move up. I am not yet ready for the next two harder levels on this course.
We were able to visit friends as well on our travels. It is wonderful to reconnect with friends in person.
The summer means bikes, and we took our bikes to Massachusetts. We enjoyed (again) the ride to Dighton Rock and the East Bay trail in Rhode Island.
We spent the evening at the Old Silver Beach on Falmouth (Cape Cod). The water was refreshing and we got to see our oldest play ultimate Frisbee while we played with our grandson.
Lessons learned:
We have choices on what road to travel, flying or by car. It is important to explore alternative options. In May, on the way home from Massachusetts, I stopped at a disc golf course at a brewery and picked up some tasty beer. It is a better experience to be open to the possibilities.
See you on the road.
A trip to the Lake for an Anniversary Date
Having an anniversary at the end of March allows us to spend time together in all kinds of weather. We signed up for a cabin at the Lake Cumberland State Park in February not knowing what the weather would be like. Our anniversary turned out to be one of the nicest days in March.
The day after our anniversary, we hiked in the rain; not too cold but not ideal. We were soaked and fortunately could change our clothes and dry out. It has been said if you don’t like the weather, just wait and it will change.
We have been to Lake Cumberland in the past and enjoyed our time here. This is a vacation destination for Kentucky and is known as the houseboat capital. Certainly, the 101-mile-long lake is good for boating. That was not why we came, and it was before boating season opened. We enjoy hiking and just getting away for a few days. We were able to do that at a cabin near the lake.
Other fun:
We played disc golf near the lodge. It was challenging and fun to play this course. We played late in the day and saw the deer come out to also enjoy the course, although I did not see them with any discs.
The Lake Bluff and the Baugh Branch hiking trails were good. We got turned around a little on the Lake Bluff trail with all the leaves and the periodic stops near the road. We consulted our maps and made our way alright.
The Lake Bluff trail has several good views of all the boat docks, which go on for quite a while.
Spring was beginning just as we got to the lake. It was exciting for us to see the signs of spring as we hiked along. Several of the trees were budding and the redbuds were coming out.
No biking on this trip. See you on the road soon.
New Zealand—land of the long white cloud—Part 2
Part one of this two-part blog describes our adventure on New Zealand’s North Island. This blog tells the story of our South Island biking and hiking tour. We began by flying from Auckland to Christchurch. It is so much easier to fly within a country than into a country.
For part of my adventure, I got in a few rounds of disc golf in between the hiking and biking and managed to play four courses on the South Island. I also ran in a few of our locations enjoying areas that we explored biking or hiking. The planned tour took us to great hotels and showed us wonderful sights on the South Island.
We could have stayed longer at each location we visited on the South Island. Because it stays lighter later in the day in summer (AKA January!), we were able to visit attractions later in the evening. We biked though the Mona Vale Garden Park on our bike ride around Christchurch, and it was near our hotel. So, after dinner (it was light until after 9:30!) we walked over to the Mona Vale Garden Park. Wow! The following group of pictures was taken at about 9 PM local time, when the park closes to vehicle traffic.
We took advantage of our outdoor time in Christchurch and enjoyed the city. We were impressed with Hagley Park, one of the largest city parks in the world. I thought it needed a disc golf course. We did enjoy the Botanical gardens in the park.
Some of the tour members were going back to Christchurch after the tour to stay there for a month. We were envious of their extra time in this beautiful city. From Christchurch we took an open train ride to the mountains on the TranzAlpine Kiwi Rail to Arthur’s Pass. I had never been on one of these trains with large windows and a glass ceiling. The views on the train ride were breathtaking; we are happy to have taken this route to get our first experience in the Southern Alps. We got off the train at Arthur’s Pass and were driven to the west coast to begin biking.
We enjoyed biking and hiking in the west country of the South Island.
We were introduced to the beach town of Hokitika, and we were able to enjoy the Tasman Sea waves from our room.
Near Hokitika we began a bike ride from Lake Kaniere. The lake was a great backdrop as we got our riding instructions and options for the day ahead.
We enjoyed the quaint town of Franz Josef (population about 300 with over 2,000 rooms for rent) to see the Franz Josef Glacier. The scenery here was lovely and we got some great views of the Southern Alps on the western part of the South Island. We hiked, played their 9-hole disc golf course, and ran. I also took a helicopter ride to walk on the glacier.
When you are in a helicopter for the first time, like I was, you do not have a perspective on size. The pilot pointed out to us our landing area and all the people already out. In the picture I took, you must look closely to see where we are going to land and the other tiny helicopters in the distance.
Two helicopters here
Look closely for the two helicopters just over the “O” and “S”
I was happy to get out and walk on Fox Glacier. After walking around, I thought to myself, I have done kata on the beach, so why not try it on the glacier. It was not pretty, as the ice made it slippery and the marks from others’ feet made the surface uneven. Still, this was my first-time doing kata on a glacier, and it was fun.
Near the Southern Alps we took in the Lake Matheson hiking trail. We had a wonderful lunch after our hike. At one point on the hike, they displayed a postcard of New Zealand and it was exactly our view. This was a great spot for a bike ride and then a hike. My phone camera does not do justice to the view of Mount Cook and Mount Tasman reflecting off the water.
I did not think about rain forests or wilderness in New Zealand. We appreciated that our tour took us to the Wilderness Lodge at Lake Moeraki on the west coast of the South Island. We enjoyed the penguin signs. Because it was summer, we did not see any penguins.
We learned about some of the plants in the wilderness and were excited to see Koru, the Māori word for a loop or coil, a spiral shape based on the appearance of a new unfurling silver fern frond. We were introduced to this symbol by our walking tour guide in Auckland. We saw it in several places as we hiked the countryside.
After saying a fond farewell to the Wilderness Lodge, we made our way back into civilization. One of our first stops was the breathtaking Mount Aspiring National Park. The park is named for Mt. Aspiring, one of New Zealand’s highest peaks, which we were able to see on our hike. We were taking the Haast Pass back to the east side of the South Island and stopped to hike.
We enjoyed our hike to see the Blue Pools on the Makarora River. We laughed at the signs that limited the number of people on the bridges over the pools and marveled at how many people were using the pools and even jumping off bridges into the pools. The two-mile hike was beautiful; we were happy that our guides took us to see this amazing site.
We noticed along our journey that just stopping along the road provided a wonderful view of the surrounding area. Here we are looking at the top of Lake Wanaka from the highway leading into Wanaka prior to our bike ride—just outside of Mount Aspiring National Park.
After enjoying a day at Lake Wanaka, we hiked to Lismore Park for some disc golf and enjoyed ice cream on our way to play. It was twilight as we strolled back to our hotel along Lake Wanaka from Lismore Park. Such a pretty area! It is nice that it is light so late here in summer. January and late nights are a new concept for us.
Our last big hike in New Zealand was almost eight miles from Lake Wanaka with the tour group to Glenduh Bay. The hike is along Lake Wanaka. We had great views of the lake all along the route. We were also passed a few times by experienced mountain bikers on the trail. I would not have been comfortable biking on this hiking path.
Other Fun:
Our group leaders taught us to sing a Māori song. The tour group leaders brought in a Māori warrior. He greeted us with the traditional Haka performance and we were able to respond (apparently appropriately as friend) with our Māori song.
We visited Arrowtown and enjoyed walking in and around this historic town. It was good to get out and see the town. We did not stop and pan for gold. We did find some great merino wool items to take back with us. I also had another cup of the flat white coffee.
Prior to getting on our 14-hour flight home, I was able to get in one last disc golf round at the Queenstown Gardens. What a lovely setting for a public disc golf course. The Lake Wakatipu in the background was delightful. We would have liked to have spent a few more hours of viewing the gardens prior to our flight.
Lessons Learned:
Looking back on our travels, I learned that a smaller island, like New Zealand was the just right size for us. We left a lot of area in New Zealand unexplored. We loved the places we visited and the people we met.
We would like to come back to New Zealand. January was a good time to travel to this side of the world.
On the Move, Helping Kids Move
Last year I assisted in moving one of my kids up to New England. This year again found me assisting a move to New England, for our oldest and his family. I am happy to say that in both cases a professional moving company did the actual move. My involvement was only driving a car and a moving a few boxes once the movers left.
After my oldest asked if I could help out on their move, I looked up the total one-way driving time from Colorado to Massachusetts. It is over 32 hours and about 2,100 miles. Some of the travel was just me in the car, following my oldest across the country, and part was driving from Kentucky with our grandson and my wife to the new home. And of course, the 14-hour, 900-mile drive back home and any driving along the way to see friends and family.
This adventure started with me landing at the Colorado Springs airport as my grandson and daughter-in-law were getting ready to fly to Kentucky. Good parents that they are, they do not want to have their child sitting in a car for the entire drive from Colorado to Massachusetts.
I feel like I just made this drive back in January 2022. When you think you know your plans for the next month, I was unexpectantly was looking forward to driving across Kansas again this year. In any case, I was happy to find myself flying to Colorado so that I could drive back to the east coast and spend time with family.
The timing of the airplanes was wonderful; too bad the movers were not finished with the packing in Colorado. Our original plan was for me to fly in, load the car and begin driving. I was able to take advantage of time in Colorado as the movers were delayed in finishing their packing.
On the weekend, instead of waiting for the movers to show up on Monday, my son and I were excited to hike Brown’s Creek Trail in the San Isabel National Forest. The views from Brown Lake at the top were wonderful. It was a 12-mile hike with over 2,400 feet in elevation gain. The waterfall is a picturesque spot to stop and take some refreshment, which is just what we did.
In Colorado, you just never know when it might rain or thunderstorm. On the way down from Brown Lake we did get rained on a little bit; we ran down some of the trail in case in the higher elevations it became bad. I am so glad to get another big hike in on the mountains in Colorado. Thank you to Anna for finding this terrific hike and driving us to the mountain and back.
The three of us hikers stopped at Buena Vista, Colorado, for dinner on our way back to Colorado Springs. This is a charming town on the Arkansas River with all the surrounding mountains making for great views while enjoying dining outdoors.
The move was again delayed; my son and I did not leave until Tuesday when I was originally expecting to leave on the prior Saturday. With an extra day in the Colorado Springs area, I was able to visit one of my favorite attractions, the Garden of the Gods. Even in the rain, I enjoyed walking along the peaks and the colorful rocks.
The other thing I did while waiting for the movers to finish up was playing disc golf at Cumberland Green, in Colorado Springs, a good beginner course. I managed to play three rounds while visiting for four days.
We finally got on the road, in the rain, late on Tuesday afternoon. We spent one night in Hayes, Kansas, and the next day I stopped in Topeka, Kansas, to play some disc golf and stretch my legs allowing my son to sleep in and catch up with me in his car when I finished my round.
My son and I arrived in Kentucky and had a few days together with our grandson and our daughter-in-law. It was fun to relax and make plans for the next leg of the journey. Our son and his wife needed to begin work (glad to be retired!) and prepare to receive the movers, which is best done without an 18-month-old in tow. Grandma and Grandpa enjoyed our alone time with our grandson prior to driving out to meet the parents now settled and working in Massachusetts.
While the family from Colorado was here, our recently married daughter came up to work from our home and spend time with all of us. We had a fun family challenge of running while everyone was here. Most of us are not too fast, but we all enjoy being active.
After about a week alone with our grandson, it was time for us to leave Kentucky and drive up to Massachusetts. Driving with a young child, we needed to take advantage of his time asleep and get him moving to sleep again in the car. Our grandson responded well to the car ride and stops we made.
Our first stop, about 4 hours from the house, was the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. We had driven by this park several times without noticing it. It was a fun stop and picnic. Just the right amount of walking around and energy release for an 18-month-old to explore. The rangers even indulged us by making him a junior ranger. When I was younger, the Cuyahoga River was best known for catching on fire. It has now been cleaned up and the biking path here looks like a fun path for us to take in the future.
When we arrived at the new place in Massachusetts, we were not surprised that the moving trucks were not coming as soon as planned. We took advantage of our three weeks waiting to explore the area and catch up with family and friends.
Some of our highlights from exploring New England include biking, running, hiking and playing disc golf. We were able to enjoy several state parks in Massachusetts that we had not visited when we lived there.
Our oldest was nice enough to give us some running tips. I know he has collected several since running on the high school cross country team and being in the Army. We learned a lot and hope to improve our running as a result of the private lessons.
Our Massachusetts park stops included:
Borderland where we ran and hiked trails as well as sampled the disc golf course.
Massasoit State Park where our grandson loved to play on the playground and we were able to get in a lot of hiking.
Boyden Wildlife Refuge where we took a few of our hikes. We enjoyed exploring here as it was near where the kids now live.
Dighton Rock State Park where we enjoyed biking to and from the park. We did the tour and saw the rock, which was exciting for us but not too much to look at.
We took a few different roads to go to Dighton Rock. Our favorite was a less traveled road that has a sign for the Pan Mass challenge; we have friends who rode in that event.
On the other side of the Taunton River from Dighton Rock is Sweets Knoll State Park. This place from the outside looks like a private residence. This is an interesting park, pretty and not too developed. One of the trails ends at the railroad bridge from where we think we can see Dighton Rock State Park. It has the promise of future funding to make connections with other state parks.
During our three-week stay, we also biked on the nearby trails.
We rode on the Assabet River Rail Trail starting in Marlborough. Years ago, I played in a band during the dedication of the trail. It is always fun to come back and ride on this trail, although it is not yet connected the way the organizers dream it will connect sometime in the future. We did enjoy riding over 11 miles total from Marlborough through to the adjoining town of Hudson and back again.
We took a ride on the Blackstone River Valley bike path, starting in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. This is another partially finished trail, with plans in the future to connect bike paths. We enjoyed the 11 completed miles and rode for over 21 miles. The parts that are completed are scenic and fun to ride.
We completed the East Bay Bike Path, Rhode Island, that we started last year. This year we rode from near the end to Bristol, riding roundtrip over 20 miles compared to the ride last year of about 24 miles.
We were able to get together in Rhode Island for some disc golf with family. It is always good to see the oldest two get competitive.
Eventually the movers made it to the new place. We took a few days to help the kids unload their possessions, enjoyed having a table to eat at and use plates and utensils, the small stuff that makes the house a home.
We were excited to be back home, although we miss being with our grandson, and our kids.
Lesson Learned:
We learned long ago that when our kids want us to be involved, it is good to say yes. So, we went on this journey moving across country for almost a month.
Happiness is found where we are. It does not come when some date or event occurs. It is what we do all the time. Maintaining a happy state is easy for us, being retired and hanging out with our kids and grandchild. Imagine that the movers are late coming to your new house as they were in packing up the former place. Also, imagine that the new place is being renovated and you do not have many toys for the grandchild and only a couple of dishes and an air mattress or two. We can; this was our life for a few weeks as we waited for the moving van to show up so we could help unpack prior to going back home. It was fun, and we kept reminding ourselves that we were having fun being with the people we wanted to be with.
Other Fun:
We had a fun stop for ice cream after the Blackstone River Trail. We managed to find Wright’s Dairy in Rhode Island. As the sign says “RI’s only cow to cone ice cream.” It was delicious!
We went with the family to Newport Beach, Rhode Island, and after we were tired of the water, we took the cliff walk.
A friend from Marlborough drove out to give us a bridge clinic, have some dinner and caught up on things. We had seen him at our daughter’s wedding and it was good to have a less formal setting (borrowed chairs and a card table) to get together.
I had a visit from a former co-worker, making his way to Boston for business, who stopped by to visit and see the house prior to furniture. The East Coast is a good place to reconnect with friends and family.
We rode for about 140 miles while visiting in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
Visiting—Andrew Jackson’s Home–The Hermitage
We noticed the signs for the Andrew Jackson home on our way to and from our niece’s wedding. We did not have the time on that trip to explore, so I planned this trip as a result. One of the many joys of retirement is being able to pick up and visit fun places.
I enjoy reading history. A long time ago I read the Andrew Jackson biography. Earlier this year, on our way through Nashville, I noticed the Hermitage, Andrew Jackson’s home. Being retired, I planned a trip to visit the home for the seventh president of the United States. As a bonus, I listened to the audio book recording of Andrew Jackson and The Miracle of New Orleans, read by the author. This is a really good book and one to get you into the mood when visiting the house. Several of the museum artifacts are about topics covered in this book. One of the fun facts that I learned on the tour was that the Hermitage is the second oldest presidential museum outside of Mt. Vernon, in part because the Jackson’s adopted son went bankrupt about 11 years after Andrew Jackson’s death.
I took the Mansion tour; it was really well done. No pictures in the house were allowed, but you can see a glimpse of the inside on the YouTube video on the Hermitage website. The place was interesting. I think a tour on a day other than a Saturday would be at a more leisurely pace. It was good to see the guides in costume. They were all knowledgeable and well spoken.
Nearby the Hermitage is Stones River, the Civil War battlefield site at Murfreesboro, Tennessee. I did a quick visit here, although spending more time is on the agenda for a future visit. The battle at Stones River follows the battle in Kentucky at Perryville, a site that I visited in 2019 with my friends. As anticipated, the battlefield was too much to see or take in on one afternoon.
Lessons learned:
I purchased my ticket on-line prior to my visit. This was good as several of the tours were sold out when I arrived. Also, in purchasing the ticket I realized the Hermitage is on Central Time and I am on Eastern Time.
I had the routes for my travel all mapped out and did not anticipate any possibility of rain. I should have thought about the possibility of rain. It did start to rain in Murfreesboro, but not too much. I think a better plan in the future is to check the weather forecast prior to booking or planning an outdoor event that is only about 4 hours away. No harm, as I can be flexible in my plans and I do not melt in the rain.
Other Fun:
I did not take the direct route back home. I was able to plan the round trip back home through Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois and Indiana.
On my drive, I found a fun place to visit in the future, on my way to locate a disc golf course in Jackson, Tennessee. A surprisingly large number of people (to me, who had not heard about this spot) were gathered at the Casey Jones Museum. I think I will need to stop in the future and tour the museum, house and the rail cars.
I got out of the car to stretch my legs and play at least 9 holes of disc golf in Tennessee, Arkansas, Missouri and Indiana.
I have seen a lot of corn from the highway over years. Until this trip, I had not seen cotton on the side of the road ready for the harvest or just harvested. The fields were pretty, all white and wavy. The big machinery ready to pick the cotton was in several fields along the highway; in some, I saw the tractors in action. I took a picture of a cotton field near Memphis, and it looks like it was doing just fine and ready for the harvesting machines.
One of the tidbits I picked up from the Hermitage tour was that Andrew Jackson tried to grow cotton. Apparently, Nashville is at the far northern edge of the country that can support growing cotton. He did not do well growing cotton, although some small area of cotton growing is on display at the Hermitage.
All along my route I saw pretty colors. October is a fun time of year to drive. The fall colors were nice to see, although some trees had already lost their leaves and others had yet to turn colors.
On my travels, I like to visit family and friends. On this road trip, I was able to visit with my mom and check out her new apartment. I also saw my younger sister, my in-laws and some friends along the way.
No bike rides on this trip as it was short. The National Park Service does encourage bike riders visiting the National Military Parks and Battlefields. I will have to think about that for my next visit.
Bike Riding on the Bourbon Trail
We completed the 2022 the Bourbon Burn bicycle ride this fall. It was a long time in coming as a couple of my friends and I signed up for the ride in January 2020.
We initially had the idea to find a 2020 ride for the three of us at the end of the 2019 outdoor biking season (around late October here in Kentucky). We were looking for a ride that three of us could go on and have fun riding bikes, without any “race” pressure or fund-raising responsibility. We found the Bourbon Burn met the criteria with the added bonus of being about an hour away from where we lived.
Spots for the ride are limited, so for the Fall of 2020 ride we needed to sign up for the ride in early January 2020. Little did we know that we would not ride the event until 2022!
No event was held in 2020; we were allowed to defer until 2021. The event organizers did open back up for a limited ride in 2021, but we deferred again until this year, thanks to the generosity of the organizers.
The ride is a four-day event. One of my friends reserved a campsite at Kentucky Horse Park. We enjoyed the camping experience, even with two of us staying in a hotel. The base camp and camping area of the horse park allowed the other two of us to sample the camp experience.
We all drove down together on Thursday to register, set up the camp and get the lay of the land. The organizers had bourbon tasting on site. There was an optional short ride to both a distillery and a brewery that we did not ride. I think we only have so many days of riding in us as a group.
For the Friday ride we took the medium 45-mile route to Paris, Kentucky, with a visit to the Hartfield & Co. Distillery. It was cold (well under 50) at the start of Friday’s ride, and well under my preference for not riding below 55 degrees Fahrenheit. The day did warm up to over 65 at the end of the ride. We all dressed appropriately and were comfortable after we got going. The route was very nice, the people we met along the way were friendly and the traffic on the road was light. Several people looked like they purchased bottles of the Hartfield products, so it was a good stop for everyone. Samples were available for us as well as the typical bike ride snacks and refreshments.
The base camp experience after the ride included tasting several bourbon samples and enjoying the meal on the grounds. A long day and one well worth coming down for the ride and spending the night in a hotel.
The second day of riding had us going to Bourbon 30, a distillery in Georgetown, Kentucky. We took the short route of 26 miles so we could enjoy the beautiful day. It was cold again at the start, just about 50 when we began, and it again warmed up nicely during the ride.
Saturday evening featured live music and distilleries sharing their product as well as the camp dinner. This is a great ride. If you enjoy bourbon and bike riding, like we do, it is a special treat.
The final day of riding placed us on the medium route of 37 miles in beautiful horse (and bourbon) country. We stopped at the site of the Bluegrass Distillery’s coming soon location at Elkwood Farm in Midway, which is currently under construction and opening in 2023. It was again cool to start the ride, but the warmest of the three mornings as we began the ride. The countryside was very pretty and the roads were a joy to cycle on.
After the ride we spent some time at the basecamp, ate some lunch and closed up and had our celebration of completing the three days of riding (108 total biking miles).
Other fun:
Ride preparations were a challenge for us retired guys. In 2019 we were training, i.e., bike riding 2-3 times a week and I was teaching Spinning® at a local gym. In 2022, we were all pulled in different directions, I was no longer teaching and we got together once or twice a week, often just once a week.
Most of our rides in Northern Kentucky go through the “town” of Rabbit Hash. This is a low point along the Ohio River and always a good place to stop and view the scenery. Being at a low point means you have to climb hills to leave the area.
We laughed about training. How do you train for the Bourbon Burn bike ride? Do we bring a bottle of bourbon for the ride and have a few samples and peddle back to the start? A fun joke and we never did do that. We trained by riding bikes.
Our one advantages on this ride is that we live in Kentucky and have to ride hills on all of our routes. One of our favorites, if you can call hill climbing a favorite, is Waterloo Hill. Back in 2021 I was the local legend on that route. No longer. I am not sure I went up 5 times this summer. Still, we did go up that hill and others along the training routes. The hill climbing practice was good as all the routes on the Bourbon Burn had rolling hills as a primary feature of the countryside; we were well prepared to take them on.
Many of our training rides take us from Big Bone Lick State Park and down 338 toward East Bend Road, with a good hill to climb or come back down. We often pass an old steam shovel and other historical markers as well as a ferry from Kentucky to Indiana. I did not make all of our “training rides” and neither did both of my friends. We did more training rides together in 2020 and 2021 than we did in 2022. These pictures from 2022 are places where we either stopped on the route or ended and turned back to the beginning of our ride.
We even managed as a group to see the newest Top Gun movie and gain some inspiration from an impossible mission.
The Saturday afternoon of the Bourbon Burn we were able to go into Lexington and play a round of disc golf, prior to going back at basecamp for the dinner and evening festivities.
See you on the road for our next adventure.
Retirement Travel with Glen 