Counting trees

Recently it's dawned on me that every mature tree in Edinburgh city parks now sports a little blue tag with a number on it. The younger trees are free from this branding, presumably because as they grow and expand the tag might well ping off. One wonders quite why so much effort has gone into tagging each tree. Perhaps if one escapes it can be brought back to the right place. I should ask the City Council. Maybe there's a job opportunity there - I would exchange my day job for one counting trees.

RAGBRAI Day 2: The Grotto gem of West Bend

For the most part, towns you pass through on RAGBRAI are pretty similar.
All of them have a town festival of some sort, numerous food stands to choose from, and a beer garden to help quench you thirst. If you're lucky, the town will have a free water fill-up station and short lines to the bathroom. It's a welcome site for riders, but can get to be a monotonous one, especially when bike traffic gets congested.
At first glance, the small town of West Bend was a lot of the same. Since I spent $5 on some homemade ice cream (delicious, by the way) a few miles back, my intent was to pedal through the town on press on to Algona. I figured a full water bottle and last granola bar would tide me over for the last 18 miles of a surprisingly flat 79-mile day.
My intentions held true until I got to the east end of town. That's when I came across the Grotto of Redemption, a massive stone monument next to the town's church. I was told about the Grotto by a few seasoned RAGBRAI riders earlier in the day, but dismissed it as being being a run-off-the-mill statue of religious significance. After all, how cool could a monument be in a town of a little more than 800 people?
Well, after seeing the Grotto, I will tell you this: It ain't your average statue. I spent an hour walking around the park taking pictures (only posting a few of them because it's time-consuming to do so). Aside from maybe the Basilica in St. Paul, I don't think I've ever seen a religious monument so impressive.
Construction of the Grotto began in 1912 when Fr. Paul Dobberstein, a Catholic priest, gathered stones from around the world and built the Trinity part of the monument to fulfil a promise he made to the Blessed Mary for curing him when was stricken with pneumonia. The rest of the monument was construction was completed over the course of the next 70 years, first by Dobberstein, later by his predecessor Fr. Louis Greving.
There are numerous stories of Christianity depicted on the Grotto. The 14 stages of the cross, Adam and Eve, the Ten Commandments and Jesus Christ's birth are just a few of the stories told through stones and petrified wood. The Grotto is the size of a decent-sized church, draws thousands of tourists every year and is proudly referred to by some of the locals as being the "Eighth Wonder of the World."
I don't know if it's quite as awe-inspiring as the actual seven wonders, but it's certainly impressive.

Future directions

I don't like the word "goal". I think it can be (and often is) overused to the point of becoming meaningless. That said, it's probably time I gave myself some targets and put some plans in place to take something from .
The first thing on the agenda will be the Alpine Classic in a little over a week. If I'm not fit enough now I probably never will be, but I've done enough 200km rides that this one shouldn't bother me too much. The real challenge seems to have been finding accommodation in Bright -- given that some of the local businesses seem content to accept a booking, and then cancel it as soon as they get a better offer. I lost patience with their games a few weeks back, and will be bringing a tent. I'll need to give it a clean this weekend.
I'm also planning some more weekends away on the bike this year, in order to spend more time sleeping under that tent. A trip to Minyon Falls (now that there might actually be some water coming over it) will be a priority, as is spending some time exploring the Sunshine Coast Hinterland, and other areas in that vicinity.
There will, of course, be a major tour later in the year. I need to get some finances in order after overspending last year, so I'll probably "limit" myself to a few weeks in New Zealand aroud October or November. This time I'll be riding the North Island, having toured and thoroughly enjoyed the South last time around. Hopefully I can tie this in around the Great Southern Randonee later in the year and ride the Great Ocean Road along with it.
Locally, the Koonyum Range around Mullumbimby is somewhere I need to explore, as are some of the fire trails behind Numinbah Valley -- the ones that I plan to finally get to this year. All in all it promises to be a memorable year if I can manage fewer flat tyres than last year's tally of 28 (I'm on three so far). Bring it on!

Rutland Water clockwise by bike

With Harry. Pleasantly warm and dry. 15 miles.
The second time I've cycled in two days! I found the first section hard going - rough surface, then the steep hill from Manton. This was another where the ride was the thing, with a break at Whitwell car park for a much-needed drink. I'll stick a photograph or two from a couple of days ago, when I was wandering around with the camera.

Castroville

News here is the weather has cooled a little. Temperature at the start of the Volksmarch this morning was 76 degrees and, when I finished 2-1/2 hours later, the temp was 82. Humidity, however, has not lowered at all. I'd say it was 80% humidity.

Castroville, Texas' historical influence comes from the Alsace region of France. Historic homes have Alsation design.

Today's Volksmarch was an event sponsored by the LoneStar Walkers Volksmarch club. The start point was the Castroville Chamber of Commerce and the start/finish table and checkpoints were staffed by club volunteers.

Bob played basketball this morning, so this was a perfect activity for me to do without him. I was able to dawdle, go to Pioneer Days at the mill, and take lots of photos along the way. I'm proud of myself for doing a 10K (6.2 mi) walk in 2-1/2 hours which included time looking at exhibits and taking over 100 photos. (When I use "we," it is a collective we including a number of Volksmarchers.)

St. Louis Catholic Church. That's me and
St. Louis in front of the church.

Original St. Louis Church, 18468

A restaurant in Castroville.

Arcadius Steinle House circa 1847.

Historical Hotel Tarde (Est. 1852)

A repurposed gas station - now an antique store.

You can buy this at the antique store.

About a mile into the walk, all walkers could get into the Pioneer Days celebration at the old grist mill for free. Bob and I had never been to the mill area before, so I had to check it out. My two favorite things were Tiny Town and the pole showing flood levels over the years.

Tiny Town had a few dioramas on display, each was meticulously put together. There is so much detail in the tiny town below which you cannot see. A 1/4" frying pan with two fried eggs in it has shaved graphite pencil lead to look like pepper on the eggs.

Tiny Town

The grist mill

Flood marker next to the two-story grist mill.

Below is the flood marker next to the grist mill to show scale on how deep the water has been over the years. A couple of pictures above, you can see how high the grist mill is above the river. Bob and I figure the highest flood waters must have been 30-40' higher than the river!

Grist mill with flood marker next to it.

The Bathhouse circa 1853

Period dress at Pioneer Days.

Volksmarchers listening to history from a volunteer.

Explaining about this pistol.

I loved walking through town and seeing all the historic houses. We then walked out to Castroville Regional Park and followed the one-mile trail around the perimeter of the park. Castroville Regional Park has an RV Park with pull through and back-in sites.

Castroville Regional Park

Long lines of cars looking for parking for soccer matches.

Soccer in the park.

Artsy drinking fountain.

Volksmarcher taking a snack break.

High-fiving after the game.

Pull-through RV site - pretty basic.

Castroville Regional Park RV sites.

Large pull-throughs.

Out of the park now, back walking through neighborhoods...

Love the goat.

Old truck in cherry condition.

Creative mailbox.

Reppold Hus - 1875

Wild, or Britton's, petunia

Zion Lutheran Church - 1939

Toward the end of the walk, I was given permission to take a photo of the man below working in his carport doing a wood carving of a deer lying down. Real antlers are attached to its head.

Two blocks later, I was done. The Volksmarch was well attended today. After the walk it was time to go home and shower before my 1:45 p.m. hair appointment.

Saturday blog to be continued - this blog is long enough and the day is only half finished!

Stay tuned.

Evidence...

Ozzie here. I'm just chillin' - enjoying the sun while I wait for my supper. Little did I know what was happenin with the mom.
Chillin' s'more.

Picked up one of the hairy giant's toys (cause I happen to like hers better than mine) and started playin' with it.
Feels good... Then I heard a scream from inside the house. I guess ma found my pressie of this evening. A nice bird. Under the coffee table. She apparently stepped on it barefooted. Then she came out to me and found this.
The Evidence... that the peeps talk about...
What freaks I live with. Note from mom: I emitted such a bloodcurdling scream when I stepped on that bird that I think Sammie might be deaf at this point. Ozzie looked amused.Note from Sammie: The scream issuing from ma led me to believe that something had broken into the house again - like the raccoon last night that opened the giant garage door all by itself and walked in, calmly as "I own this place" and went for my food. The nerve! I woke everybody up, you better believe it. And now look at the eviedence above that simply makes my peeps crazy.