Indiana


13
Dec 16

Winter is here

Not to worry, we’ve stocked up on all of the important French Toast making ingredients.

We go now to our reporter in the field, Ernie Pyle, tell us how it is looking from where you are:

We got a quarter-of-an-inch of snow today. The record for the day, according to the National Weather Service, was three-quarters of an inch, in 2000. Ernie’s statue was not there on that day for a comparison photo.


11
Sep 16

Barns and corn and lakes and hills, all in one ride

We rode 40 miles today. This includes five significant hills and my ride falling apart about midway through for no reason whatsoever. But the company was, of course, lovely:

And the scenery was nice. Say this about this place, if you can get in a few dozen miles you can see plenty of different scenery. For example:


2
Aug 16

Revolutionary canvas and defying physics

On the loading dock today was this large canvas roller. These things intrigue me to no end, even as I know I will likely never have a real use for them myself. But that’s the way of it. Great logo, too:

Dandux is a product of C.R. Daniels, Inc. That company started out in New York City, but was purchased by the Trumpbour brothers soon after, in 1920. They moved to New Jersey, and now also have two custom facilities in Tennessee and Maryland, where this particular roller was produced. The second generation Trumpbour men at Daniels have passed away in recent years and you can find their obits online. They both had military service, which continues a long tradition in their family. Apparently eight of their Trumpbour ancestors fought in the Revolutionary War.

Favorite tidbit, Edward Trumpbour Jr. did not suffer mediocrity, “or as he would say ‘Meatballs.'”

Let’s find out about those 18th century Trumpbours … seems they were of Dutch descent. And at least some of them were enlisted in New York’s Ulster regiments as Tories. Two of the men from that era died in Canada in the 1800s, which is where a lot of Loyalists found themselves during and after the Revolution. Maybe we’re too far removed, in the sense of family history, to talk about the brother-against-brother aspect of that war, but here, it seems, we might have an example of it.

Anyway, their great-great-great-and-so-on grandchildren are still here.

We rode our bikes, where I thought nothing of Trumpbours or ducks or canvas or any other thing. If you chase fast people like The Yankee you don’t have time to think:

I took a bunch of pictures of her on this stretch of the bike ride, one of the few places I could pull alongside. But she kept outrunning my focus, which was weird. She wasn’t approaching the speed of light, but she was somehow defeating it nevertheless.

I did improve on a half-mile climb by four seconds. The cycling app says I presently have the third-fastest time up that climb for the year, which can only mean that most people don’t ride all the way down to the boat ramp and then back up. There’s no way my pitifully slow time should be on a leaderboard.


4
Jul 16

Happy Fourth

On Saturday we took a long ride. We went through downtown, alongside a creek, through a park, on roads that start with the word “Old” and to a town in the next county above us. Also, we went directly by the local driving school which seemed a dodgy proposition after you thought about it a bit. This was a 56-mile ride where we climbed 2,600 feet or 1,800, depending on which app you like.

I’ve grown skeptical of all of them, though. I think I’m going much faster than their speeds would suggest, he said, while elevating his chin and using a sidelong stare to indicate he’s joking and he’s actually quite slow on a bicycle.

We went by this on our ride. You wonder what all has been stored in there over the years, and how many kids climbed over all that stuff, and what they thought about it:

I always loved places like that as a kid. Oh, I could go climb over it now. But I’d hurt myself. And I’d be “trespassing.”

Whatever, lawman.

I think about the most random things when I am riding or running. I tell stories to myself and make up great jokes to write down and I forget all most all of them soon after. Most of them were brilliant, though. Except for my forgetfulness, which is probably just brought on by being out of breath as I ride.

Like this, I took a picture of this sign and car lot for some reason. It was hilarious in my mind. And if I could tell you the joke you’d think it was mildly amusing, too. But that was Saturday and this is Monday and I have forgotten it already:

Just look at all of those bargains!

What do you figure the point of that one part of the fire department is:

If you built that just to have the longest fireman pole slide in three counties … well, that would seem odd. And I didn’t notice it as I pedaled by — it was uphill, mind you — but that looks sort of like a watch platform or a diving board or something on the top. or perhaps it is the world’s most optimistic rain break.

Nothing fancy for the Fourth this year. It just felt like a good day to stay in. We celebrated with a patriotic and colorful dessert:

So that’ll go in the archive, which has grown quite historic. And large:


30
Jun 16

Corn! Beautiful corn!

And how was your day? Mine was just fine, thanks. I spent the afternoon yoyoing off and on the back of the front pack of the slow group ride. That sounds like about the right station in life for a couple of hours.

Here we were hammering it by a cornfield. Keeping up is hard!

I love this. A John Deere tractor sitting out on the corner nearest the road. That’s a tool and a display piece. And it is a welcome site.

If I rode more I’d see more.