Looking pretty happy about this.
Somebody got an early birthday surprise, and from the looks of it in this photo, the “surprise” was worth it! Way to go Scott.
Happy Birthday Mandy, lots of love, Mom & Dad.
Category: Family
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MDH2010 – Day 2
It’s early. Some are still trying to sleep. But the keeners in the room next door are up and revving up the bikes in the parking lot. I think they slept in their cycling gear. As the ranch is not fully open for the season yet, there is nobody in the restaurant so breakfast is a combination of bars, fruit and miscellaneous snack food left over from yesterday, a truly healthy way to start the day.
With everybody roused out of bed, bikes checked, water loaded we’re off, heading north on the Buffalo Gap Trail. Our goal, to see how close we can get to where the BGT intersects the MDH. A couple of miles down the trail, I’m having mechanical problems with my bike. After a consult with Daniel, our senior bike mechanic on the trip, he diagnosis it as a chain link that is damaged and sticking. After a quick repair were once again roaring down the trail.
It seems rather quickly we’ve crossed the creek that marked our farthest distance on the Sunday 2009 trip and it seems lake a good time to stop for a mid-morning snack. We power on after the break and enjoy the new scenery and are having great fun on the trail. Well, I am any way. I couple of guys are feeling the pain that was inflicted yesterday and are taking a more “relaxed” approach to the day. If you look very closely at this picture you can see them while some of us are further up the trail. We need to get on the road back to Winnipeg so we’re watching our ride time and have planned a 2 hours out, and 2 hours back, but we stretched that a bit because everybody kept on saying “lets just go over there to that next marker”.
Eventually, we call it quits and turn around an head back to the Ranch. Doug is off trying to catch Josh and Elijah who have at least a 3-4 mile head start, Danial and Scott set a fast and steady pace, and Eric and I enjoy the ride back together stopping to take pictures and enjoy the scenery and a beautiful afternoon. At one point on the ride back I had a very clear and special thought as I watched the riders ahead, that this is “the best of days”. I hope to hold on to that memory for a very long time.
Back at the ranch, so to speak, we shower up, pack up, and enjoy another round of steak dinners while discussing the days ride. In another 9 hours more or less with a few stops for gas and food, where back in Winnipeg. I think everybody is looking forward to possible the first ever 2nd trip to the MDH and the same year this fall. In fact, we may have booked that ranch already.
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Ride Report
Well the first trip to the Maah Daah Hey trail is over and we’re on our way home. This years ride was dry and sunny all weekend long as opposed to last years mud fest. Our hosts at the Buffalo Gap Ranch we’re awesome and treated us to some excellent steak meals. We consumed quite a bit of prime beef
On Saturday we arrived at the south end of the original MDH trail and parked at the very beautiful Bully Pit Golf course to catck a little sleep and wait for the sun to come up. Eric was out early riding the new bike around the parking lot while the rest of us waited for the temperature to warm up. Later Scott “stole” a golf cart and took it for a joy ride.
Eventually we braved the cool temperatures and changed into the gear. Just befoer we left we were visited by the local sheriff who informed us that the golf course was open and that perhaps we should park somewhere else. I think it has something to do with the gold cart incident. He was pretty soft about it and later we checked with the course people and got the OK.
Our warm-up was a quarter mile steep climb up followed by a lot more steep climbing on the trail. At this point we’re on the MDH II trail a newly opened extension of the original and the gravel on the trail is quite soft and loose as it hasn’t been packed down by too many riders. The scenery is gorgeous and the trail is challenging. One we turn around the ride back seems quick as there more down than up and the howling wind is at our back.
A short drive back to Medora and some of the guys are looking for a place to eat but tourist season hasn’t started yet and nothing is open. We share the food some of us brought and then head out on some familiar trails behind town starting at about MDH mile 5. Right away we cross 3 streams and got our feet soaked and then a killer long climb to the top of the plateau. We came close to the scene of my 2005 crash but managed to take a different trail to explore some new trail.
Back at the ranch some guys had some lunch and then while some napped Doug, Eric and I went out for another short ride. After that it was bring on the beef for a big steak dinner. That pretty much did everbody in and we called it a night.
Day 2 in the next post.
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Rullupylsa in the Raw
The making of an Icelandic TraditionBack on December 8th we re-vitalized an Icelandic tradition that has been in our family for as long as I can remember. My Ama made it, then my Mom, made it and somewhere along the line I started making it. For a few years we sort of dropped the ball for one reason or another, mainly because we lost our connection to a good source of Lamb flanks. But this year, we’ve re-instituted the tradition with a little help from Thor’s Meats and Groceries in Selkirk, Manitoba, a great source for boned lamb flank. FYI, boned flank saves a ton of work. Anyway with the main ingredient secured, we began the 6-8 day process, prepping the meat as shown in the photo. They turned out fabulously and we’ve enjoyed it several time this season with friends and family. We’ve even managed to share it around the country by sending some to my sister and brother-in-law in Victoria, and cousins in Toronto. If you’re thinking of giving it a try, here is the recipe.
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Caddy Lake Memories
I was looking through some drawers the other night and I came across some pictures from my Mom & Dad. Two little 3 x 3 booklets of black and white pictures from 1950s. Is these pictures I’m 3 and Gail would be 7, and were standing in front of the first cottage in what would be several cottages I’d experience growing up.
The cottage was build by my Grampa and Dad, all by hand, no power tools. Quite an accomplishment and one that still impresses me today. Just spend some time with a hand saw cutting 6×6 posts to length and you’ll know what I mean. I have a couple of vivid memories about this cottage. One is about a salt lick we had on the lot and watching the deer that came quite close to us to get to the salt. The other involves a car. Just to the right of the boardwalk is the driveway and it’s a little steeper than it looks. At the end of a weekend when Mom & Dad were loading up the car to go home. Gail & I were put in the back seat and told to “sit there and don’t touch anything”.
Well, after a while a guy gets a little bored and a car is a fascinating place. I leaned over into the front seat and was playing around with the steering wheel and then the gear shift leaver, and suddenly we were in neutral and rolling backwards down the driveway. Just then Dad and Grampa came out the door, dropped whatever they were carrying and came running to grab the car.
This is the view down the driveway to the lake. I was always told that the car might have rolled down, across the road, and throught the lot in front of us, and into the lake. Looking at this, I think the trees would have stopped the car first. Anyway, they managed to stop the car and get in and put the parking brake on. I think there was a stern talking to and perhaps a spanking involved, but all I really remember was being rescued. A good cottage story with a happy ending.
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update
I’ve been getting a little flack for not posting anything to the Blog for a long time so here is an update.
I’ve actually been thinking aboot a lot of things for a post but just not putting the thoughts down.
One of the recurring thoughts is around sentimentality and memories. For the last number of months I’ve looked at stuff around the lake or house and had some strong memories triggered about my parents. One example was a day at the lake when I needed to take some tools down to the dock for a project. I looked around for the orange plastic tool tray but then remembered that somehow I’d left both of them at home in Winnipeg.
I looked around under the work bench and there it was. A well worn galvanized sheet metal tool tray that I made in Grade 8 and given to my Dad. He had kept it all those years and as I loaded it up with tools I remembered many of the times we’d worked together on a project with that tool tray near by.
Mom and Dad have been gone for 10 years this month. I think of them every day and “tool tray” moments really keep the memories alive and meaningful. Memories triggered by things that might have been thrown out or replaced by something shiny and new.At times these old treasures make me feel like my dad’s hands are on my hands. This summer I used a classy brass plumb bob with a string wound on a stick. It was my Grampa’s, then my Dad’s and now mine. The brass part is in perfect condition and I put some new string on the well worn stick a year or two ago. I’ve seen that tool off and on all my life and when I used it it was like they were there with me.
For me some of these old ordinary things that have been around my life for a long time are some of my fondest treasures. Treasures that trigger precious memories.
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On the Long X Trail
We’re about 1 1/2 hours into an almost 8 hour “character building” ordeal when we stopped for a photo op after a long muddy climb of about 500 vertical feet. It’s rained Friday night and we’re out on a spur trail off the Maah Daah Hey trail in North Dakota called the Long X Trail. We knew the trail would be difficult if not impossible when wet, but some how we just kept on thinking it would dry up and get better. It didn’t.
After we rode on far enough to start thinking things would never get better, we were too far gone to bother turning back, so we kept on ridding and it kept on getting muddier, slipperier, and then it started to rain. Parts of the trail were so rough that not only did you have to walk the trail, you needed to carry your bike. If you didn’t the tires just picked up so much mud that they refused to turn. Everyone spent a significant amount of time just scraping the clay muck off your bike so you could resume riding for what ever distance was possible before the bike was once again coated in mud. At one point we even resorted to washing the bikes in a cattle watering trough to get free from the mud.
Everyone made the full days ride of approximately 20km which I’m sure was actually longer because the cycling computer didn’t register the mileage while I was carrying the bike, and there was a lot of carrying going on. Once back at the CCC campground everyone washed up and changed before driving down to the Buffalo Gap Guest Ranch where we washed the bikes and enjoyed a BBQ pork & beans dinner.
The Sunday ride was much better. More on that later.
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Return to Maah Daah Hey
In just under a week I’ll be heading off to ride the MDH trail in North Dakota with the boys. For many years we made an annual trip to ride this outstanding single track trail, but this will be the first time since 2005.
I’ve been taking with some of the guys and everybody is getting pretty excited about the trip. Its quite the action packed weekend with a 9 hour drive thru the night, breakfast at 4am, a brief nap in the vehicles until the sun comes up and then all day riding!
I think we’ll be riding the northern section and taking in some near by trails on Saturday. Sunday we’ll ride for half a day in the Buffalo Gap area. As some would say, it should be GTs. I’m looking forward to it. -
Has me thinking…
Thanks to Bill over at kinnon.tv and his post on two shirts I end up reading…
I remember exactly when I first realized our fun little experiment had swerved completely out of my control: it was the day I learned someone had given away a grandmother.
which leads to reading….
Our Vision
Twoshirts is a community of gift-giving where people freely give and receive all kinds of different things in our items listings, from appliances, to clothing, to help and services.
Twoshirts members have given away over 1000 items to each other since we started in January, 2008. We simply think generosity is a better way to live.
In fact, our vision is to connect the world in relationships of generosity.
which has me thinking about stuff, all the stuff we’ve accumulated and really don’t need and really can’t even figure out where to put the stuff half the time. I remember a time when Acts 2:44-45 had a big impact on me. Perhaps it’s time to do more and “give to each other”.
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New Years Eve
Fireworks-9
Originally uploaded by Big DadooHappy New Years to one and all.
Last night we spent the evening with good friends over dinner and conversation with a little outing to the Forks to take in the fireworks. Even though it was not all that cold at -15° the walk back to the car was a little brutal in the light wind. We’d planned to play some games but after reviewing each other’s vacation pictures and watching the New Year festivities for a few minutes at midnight, it was suddenly 1:30am and we called it a night. Perhaps another evening for games.
This morning we’re easing into the day with a few coffees and brushing up on our Canasta skills for a card game tonight. Brushing up might be an over statement. The last time I played was at the lake as a kid and it will be a first for Shirley. Thanks to canasta.net and a little online playing we won’t be total rookies (I hope).
Time to dust off a few inches of snow from the truck and head out for a little breakfast adventure.
