An Afternoon in Pete Egan's Garage

The picture to the left here should tickle the Theobalds. Jan and I were taking a break at a church outside of Cashville, Wisconsin and I spotted this gravestone.
On the picture below, I was taking one of my frequent map breaks to try and figure out where we were and I managed to get one of Jan patiently waiting for me to get my bearings.

Anyhow, the primary mission for Tuesday the 28th of June was to head down to Madison to visit the grave of Rachael Hugo, who was killed in action in Iraq a few years ago. It was one of the first Patriot Guard missions that I had gone on and I wanted Jan to see the grave site. She originally was buried above ground but evidently been moved to a private site in the interim. This stuff drives Jan crazy, but in wondering around the city trying to locate the exact location on the cemetery we had a funeral procession pass by that seemed to be heading in the right direction, so I just fell in and followed them to the proper cemetery. We visited her grave site and had a peaceful lunch there and then headed out on the second part of our excursion, trying to locate Pete Egan's home location. He writes for Cycle World and Road and Track magazines and is the column that I turn to first thing when the magazine comes every month. We are similar in age and he writes about the area quite a lot so I know what he is talking about when he refers to weather conditions etc.. A little game I play is trying to nail down a location from bits and pieces of his column and I thought that I could have it narrowed down to a couple of small roads in the Madison area, so Jan and I did a little more exploring without a whole lot of luck. I am not sure just what I figured would happen if I did manage to find his location. Jan and I have tried to track down Dan O'Brien in the Rapid City area more than once without any luck. Anyway, we stopped for a break at a tree covered closed bridge over a creek. I was just going to get a picture of Jan framed in the trees when we heard a bike coming around the bend and he stopped and it is Pete Egan in the flesh. We introduced each other and invited us up to his garage for a Coke!! Jan and I spent at least an hour just hanging out and talking and meeting his lovely wife Barbara and her friend whose husband is an F-16 pilot with the Air Guard- they were going out on a bicycle ride- and another neighbor who just got back from Norway and his dogs. It seems like such an idyllic setting, a modest home and the garage that is smaller than I expected with his drum set right in the corner of the garage where I expected to find it, all of this along a tree covered back road in Wisconsin. I guess the part that really makes me smile when I think about it, is how relaxed we were just talking bikes and the 34 Ford he is working on. He intends with Barb to follow Bonnie and Clydes' routes probably as the basis for another book, in the same brand of car that they actually used at the time. We also discussed the amount of road work going on and he related that just getting home from the airport in Milwaukee had been tough the night before. He was returning home from covering a race in Las Vegas for Road and Track . You may notice a little hero worship here, but I think that he is the first person I have ever met of such national stature. This is a guy that has been to and written about all of the places that you read about in magazines. I guess the surprise is, how he is just like any other gear head that I have ever run across, except he has a real talent for writing. Eventually we had to head back to the trailer up at Oakdale and he mapped out a route on some nice roads. Quite an afternoon to say the least.

The rest of the trip was very good too. I think that I have told you that almost every road is paved in those hills, but we hit some exceptional ones this time, narrow tar roads winding through the trees, it reminded me of the Black Forest in Germany. And the Amish almost everywhere, with huge gardens and every thing being done by hand or horse power. You could always tell when you were in Amish country by the amount of fresh horse apples on the road. All in all a very fine several days in Oakdale, Wisconsin. Stay in touch and check it out sometime, I know that we will be back.

More Bucket list roads

As usual I have these photos in pretty much reverse order of when they were taken. Eli and I headed West one Thursday after he got off work in Worthington, dodging rainstorms, we ended up running across South Dakota on highway 44. This is the first time that I have actually made the trip from Sioux Falls to Rapid City on that road. Except for hitting heavy rain around the Badlands it was a nice trip on a quiet road. We spent the night in Rapid and headed up through the Hills the next morning. West of Edgemont we tried a "shortcut" on a back road and I got a little sideways in a soft spot. I managed not to dump it so no foul I guess. That pretty much set the tone for my sense of adventure for the rest of the trip. We spent a lot of time waiting in road construction zones between there and Laramie, but for the most part they were pleasant breaks by the side of the road. I wanted to take two passes west of Laramie and the pass over the Snowy Range- you can judge by the photos how true that was-had just been cleared. We spent that night in Saratoga, where the North Platte river was over it's banks and still rising. There are a couple of photos from there. The next morning we were going to head west over the next pass to Baggs, but he motel clerk said that they had not even started working on clearing that one. So, change of plans, we cruised up to Rawlins, Thermopolis, Ten Sleep canyon and Crazy Woman canyon, where one of the photos shows a babbling brook, so to speak. Coming out of the canyon on the east side of the Big Horns we outran another rain storm and stopped at Gillette for the night. The next morning we were going so well that we agreed to try for home after a detour through the Hills on back roads. Eli did some shopping at the Rochford Mall, which can be seen in a picture. We pushed on to the east and home for what seemed like an awfully long time, due to the high cross winds all of the way home, but we made it shortly after sundown. Not too bad, over 600 miles with stops in Rochford and Rapid City on the way. I have fallen way behind in my blogging and have one more to do covering a fabulous trip to Wisconsin that Jan and I just returned from. So there will be more in the future.

An Update of Sorts

Here we go again, playing catch-up. I wonder if it was the loooong Winter, which is just starting to break around here, but just getting started on any project has been tough. Since my last post in February, Jan and I have spent time in Virginia at the DeFors among other activities. I've been on a few Patriot Guard missions and am organizing a send off for the local Guard unit here in St. James next Saturday. Last Saturday night Jan and I were at the Rochester airport to welcome home a plane load of WWII vets from an outing to Washington D.C. What fun was that!!! Those guys and a few women vets were so excited to see the crowds. We were shaking hands with as many as possible and one guy told me "I haven't shaken this many hands in the last two days as I have in the previous 50 years!" We will be doing that in the future for sure. The program is run by the Honor Flight organisation. I am just getting over a cold, with a capital C. Damn, I don't know what it is, but it seems since my cancer surgery any cold I get, borders on pneumonia, which come to think of it I did have twice since then. I used to be able to work right through it, but not any more. One of the downsides of getting to retirement age I guess. I have also been digging out some of my aircraft models with an eye to maybe finishing them for once. I can't hardly believe it, but it has been 40+ years since I started on them, my how the time flies. As to travel plans for this year. I am thinking that Alaska has slid off of the radar for me. That would have been a 7000 mile trip of at least 3 weeks by myself. I am kind of a lone wolf but I do have my limits. So I am rethinking a western sweep again after I do another back road loop in Wyoming next month. I have added a few pictures to this report as usual. At the top are two of our rocking chair. Jan and I put it together before we were ever married, and I added our children to it as they came along, so one project that I finished this Spring was getting all of the Grand kids on board too. Things are a little crowded on the back of that chair, kind of like our house when we are all together. Next down are a few of Rachel, Josiah, Annika, and William from our time at their house in March. I guess that it is the march of progress but most updating now days seems to be moving to Face book. I guess that blogging is getting so ancient not many people are doing it anymore, but I plan on hitting here once in awhile anyway. Take care, drive safely, and be healthy.

This one's for St. Jan

I don't know why it is so hard to sit down and start a new blog but lately it seems to be. Maybe it is the brutal winter we have had here this year. Anyhow, I got the idea to dedicate this one to my wife of 40 years as of tomorrow the 14th of February. Thinking back to our first date, which was a blind one to boot- lined up by friends- we hit it off right off the bat. Thinking back she should have known I was a little unusual by the selections in my 8 track tape collection for the player in my 1969 Mustang Mach 1. It included some J.S. Bach, Johnny Cash, 3 Dog night, and Henry Mancini. I think that I didn't get her home to Alpha until the early morning hours. Life with her has been an adventure with only a few bumps in the road. So far our health has been pretty good with only my brush with cancer the major bump in the road. I think that one of the reasons for our marriage stability is the fact that we have always been such good friends and comfortable around each other. I know from my side of the equation, that I love Jan more every day, and it has been that way for more than 40 years now. She has given me three beautiful children which has progressed into seven beautiful grandchildren. When they are all here it is a little crazy, but it is a house full of love. What an amazing sensation that is! I wish we could spend another 40 years together but I am sure that that scenario is not in the cards. I have added some pictures, one is Jan with Rachel when she was a baby. Jan is doing what she is really the best at, being a Mom. I love to listen to her talk to her daughters, and son, and daughter-in-law, and sons-in-law. We have a relationship with our family that I don't always see in others. The scary part of getting older is not being around to see how this all plays out, but I am sure that everybody feels that way. I just wanted the world to know that all I really want from Jan is to grow older together, although I don't feel that old yet. Hopefully I have a few good years left in me to give her warm coffee kisses in the morning, and hugs in the evenings. The other picture at the top is Jan with Leah, Aaron and their Mom Lindsey. So, Jan, I hope you like your surprize at work today and I'll see you later.

Love Pete

The Bucket List revisited

I know that it has been a quite a while since my last post and I really have no good excuse for not writing more frequently. Lord knows that we have been busy in the interim. St. Jan and I drug the trailer to Wisconsin to be on hand when Gen ran a half marathon in Elroy, Wisconsin shortly after returning from an excursion to Rapid City with the trailer in tow. In October Jan and I, Gen, Sam and Gus loaded up the pickup and made a run to Virginia to see Rachel and her family who just returned to the USA from Germany. After a non-stop run out -lets not do that one again- we found their house in Chesapeake with the help of our gps unit. How did we ever get along before this came along? I mainly use it to navigate in urban areas. Anyhow it was good to see them, Hans, Rachel, Josiah, Annika and for the first time William, the newest grandson. The Norfolk area is nice, naturally not quite what I expected. We celebrated Will's first birthday during our stay and made a two day run home. Amazingly enough we all made the round trip without strangling anybody. Even Sam and Gus traveled like troupers strapped into car seats the whole way. I don't think that I would care to make the trip tied down like that.

I have been on a few PGR missions in the meantime, riding to as many as I could before the weather turned cold and snowy. Today it was 2 above zero when I got up. That makes me think of something, every night when you go to bed you routinely assume that you will get up in the morning don't you? Hmm, anyhow in this period of time I should have written a blog for St. Jan's birthday, the woman that literally saved my life, gave me three terrific children that have expanded into seven grandchildren. What can I say but thanks? At one of the last PGR missions I was standing next to a guy from Jordan, and we got to talking about riding to Alaska. This guy spent two months on the road up there and back and said don't wait. I mentioned it to Jan and she encouraged me to just do it. I have to admit that that is one item that has been on my bucket list for a long time, so know I am into researching the trip. I have all winter and then some to get this organised so it should be interesting. I have done a map-quest and it is over 3000 miles to Fairbanks from here, so I am thinking it's going to be a minimum of two weeks on the road. Jan and I also plan to ride out to Virginia this year too, and I was planning a return to western Wyoming this Summer. I am thinking something is going to have to give or I won't be back until Fall. I am going to throw in some random pictures with this post to give my pathetically small group of readers a look at what we have been up to.

The Bucket List continued

Just a short one here. Phil and I just got back from Buffalo, Wyoming where we spent a couple days riding in the Big Horn Mountains. For the most part the riding was good but the distances involved in moving the bikes up into the mountains and from place to place was not as convenient as, say Colorado. Every morning meant hauling them up into the mountains 25 or 30 miles to unload and ride. Once we got off the highways and into the dirt it was fun. It's another case of having the correct weapon for the job. Our GS 1200 is almost too big, for me anyway and the KLX 250 doesn't have long enough legs. I'm thinking our XR 650 would be better at this type of spread out duty. Enough grousing, Tuesday we went over toward Ten Sleep and rode down old highway 16 to Ten Sleep, then up a gravel road to Hyattville. There we split off back to the east on a dirt road that deteriorated to some pretty rocky sections and some deep sand which can be worse ( ask Phil). The views back to the west as we climbed back into the mountains were spectacular! Eventually we got back into the trees and the truck for reloading and a scenic drive up to Greybull and back over to Sheridan and Buffalo. We headed out of there yesterday morning early and were home by about 5:30 in the afternoon. Buffalo is around 700 miles from here, so it is just a good days drive, around 10 or 11 hours on I 90 for the most part. We had a good time but I am not so sure that I would go back without some better basing location, ie. up in the mountains somewhere. I did see a lot of trailers tucked away in the trees on some of the trails we rode, but I don't think that I would want to drag our toy hauler in there. The pictures were from a look out we went to the first day and of course Powder River Pass which I have been over about 6 times in the last 3 months. Jan and I hit it in June, I went over in July, and Phil and I hit it several times this trip. Take care, stay in touch and leave a comment if you feel moved to write, ok? The flowers are a little something I gave St. Jan for being such a good sport and partner to me. It was good to see her again when I got home. When we are apart I feel like something is missing, my better half would be it, I think. She has to listen to my descriptions of the riding because there is no way to ride these trails two up. We will be off to the wilds of Wisconsin in the near future with the toyhauler to camp, ride some, and watch Gen in a half marathon, I believe. So more future riding. Oh ya, my check up at Mayo last Friday went well, I believe the Doctor said the results were spectacular. It must be all of the good care I get at home and the riding, actually he ( the Doctor) encourages it. That's it for real this time.

Rachel Naomi Cathrine DeFor

I will have to apologize to Rachel ahead of time here for the lack of any older pictures of her. It is the same with all of the kiddos, I am only up to about 1980 or so in my slide conversion project. Hopefully I will spend some of the non riding time in the Winter to get a little more caught up. Maybe next year at this time I will be able to ratchet up the age of the pictures. I am sure that she has heard all about the days before her birth in Waconia on a nice August morning, the false labor that brought Paul and I rushing home from the Hills and the night of the 17th at the Navarre drive in. I remember running into a co-worker of mine as we went into the hospital (he had broken his arm playing football). We brought her home to our duplex without a clue what to do next. I mean you buy a tv set and the instruction manual is in three languages that is 50 pages long, but they send you out of the hospital with a wave and a good luck, you are going to need it. Evidently the mother instinct kicks in shortly there after because she thrived and grew into a beautiful, talented, intelligent woman with three of her own. It probably helped that she spent a lot of time with her grand parents while Jan and I took some time off. Rachel has definitely become our musician and I would say that the piano is her primary instrument, although she has played the french horn, violin, and cello. All three of our children played the piano, but Rachie is the only one to sit and play for fun. She once won a competition at Normandale and went on to Northrop Auditorium for a mass recital. Since marrying Hans DeFor of the U.S.Navy she has lived in San Diego, California, Newport, Rhode Island, Japan, Germany and will soon be moving to Virginia. While moving around the world she has had three beautiful children of her own. Josiah was born in San Diego, Annika in Yokosuka, Japan and William in Stuttgart, Germany. Rachel may be a musician but this is her highest calling, being a top flight mother. I think that she could be an excellent teacher as her kiddos are all are way ahead of their contemporaries. The thing that makes me sad sometimes is the fact that I won't be able to see how things all play out, but that is life I guess, and that is what happens when you love someone so much you just can't wait to see the next act. Looking back it is hard to believe that that little girl we brought home from the hospital will be 36 in a few days. The one thing that I have tried to re-enforce with our children is this, pay attention, in no time at all your children will be grown and out on their own. Try to set the memories in deep so you can remember what they were like when you first saw them come into this world. Rachel we love you dearly and don't you ever forget that.

Dad August 14 2010