It appears that when we put the bikes away for the 2012 biking season, I also put away everything else that connects to this blog of our Hoosier Moves adventures….my thoughts…my words…….my typing….and then went into hibernation. The intent was to write one more blog post, recapping our adventures and totaling up the miles pedaled (too tough to do miles PADDLED!), and then post any PEDS adventures from snowshoeing in the winter. As you can tell by the date, my good intentions went awry. So this post will be the “Where We’ve Been,” “In the Meantime,” and “Where We’re Going Next” post…three for the price of one, so to speak.
WHERE WE’VE BEEN:
A statistical analysis of last year’s blogs reveals :
BIKE STATS:
Bike rides: 23 (19 with mileage; 4 early rides with unaccounted for mileage)
Beginning odometer (from rides with accounted for mileage): 224
Ending odometer: 470
TOTAL MILES BIKED: 236+
Number of states visited on a bike: 4 (Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Missouri)
Paddling adventures: 3 (gotta work on that this year)
Notable nature sightings: a bald Eagle, snakes, a crazed squirrel, deer, Scarlet Tanager, cardinals, peacocks, an Indigo Bunting, and our personal favorite--- camels!
Notable Non nature sightings: a Swamp Thing, an airboat, Elvis, a water propelled Air Pack rider, flyover by the US Military, a lake surfer, several oxymoron signs, and Santa Claus (partially incognito)
Calories consumed on bike rides: too numerous to count (see “I BIKE TO EAT”)
Calories expended on bike rides: hopefully more than what we consumed!!!
By all accounts it was a very successful season of biking, less successful for paddling (the 2012 Drought contributed to this) and it was great fun to revisit our adventures as I reread my posts, which was the ultimate goal of this blog anyway….document our lives before memory loss takes over!!
IN THE MEANTIME…..
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| Self-Portrait of my Showshoes |
The “PEDS” part of “Paddleandpeds.com” was chosen for its connection to pedestrian movement, not just pedals. Since the snowy winter of 2010-11, Tom and I have taken up snowshoeing, i.e. trekking, as a way to get outside in the winter and again enjoy nature on a slower pace. The weather obviously has to cooperate, but we were able to have a few snow trekking adventures.
JAN 1, 2013: We started New Year’s Day with a snowshoe trek around Cindy and Dick’s property in Whitley County. It was a gorgeous morning with fresh snow…great way to start the New Year
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| Happy New Year 2013!!!! |
JAN 3, 2013: SNOWSHOE ADVENTURE: The big Christmas present around our house was the purchase of two IPhones…one for me and one for Tom. On the recommendation of our daughter-in-law, I downloaded Map My Fitness and found it to be the perfect accompaniment to snow trekking.
On Jan. 3 we went to a local rural county park and snow shoed within the woods. I really got into snapping pics of Tom AND being able to document our distance. It was a beautiful way to see the park at a time most people miss it!!
Distance: 1 mile Time: 47 min. (although it was longer…I forgot about the app until after we had started the trek)
JAN. 27, 2013: SNOWSHOE ADVENTURE: Michigan was beckoning us once again and so we went to St. Joseph, MI, home to many family beach adventures and then a place of great snow. We snow trekked 2 different parks, both with marked trails….who could get lost with such an obvious sign to follow!!!
Again, it was a beautiful winter day and it felt great to be outdoors. A trip to St. Joe would not be complete without a visit to the beach and a view of the lighthouse…..Tom was NOT interested in trekking out to it!!!
Distance 2:50 miles Time: 1’ 45” (there’s a lot of stopping and gazing when one is snow shoeing….otherwise, what is the point of missing the views?
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Tom snow trekking on a narrow "boardwalk" through the park...
it's an easier place to walk in the summer! |
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| The unusual beauty of the snow path is why we snow trek |
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| St. Joe Lighthouse.....trek at your own risk |
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| The Beach at St. Joe, Michigan in January....BRRRR! |
MAR. 3, 2013: The challenge of snow trekking is that you cannot plan ahead as the weather has to cooperate to provide the venue for snowshoeing. A late winter snow storm gave us an unexpected chance for one more snow trek at Metea Park.
We got right down to the river and reminisced about paddling through that very area many years ago on our very first paddling adventure….that was when the DNR (or someone) was clearing Cedar Creek to make it accessible. They are not accessible any longer, so it was great to see Cedar Creek once again as it wound through the park. We really moved along through this hike as it was pretty windy, but it felt good to be outdoors once again.
Distance: 2.21 Miles Time: 50 minutes
SNOW TREKKING STATS:
Snow Treks: 5
Distance: Around 6 miles (yes, there’s an app for that!)
WHERE WE ARE GOING NEXT . . . .
We are ready to start the new biking and paddling adventures for 2013. We already have plans to visit the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in July to paddle Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore (Tom says we might have to rent wet suits for that one…YIKES!) and have our bikes on the back of our car to use along the way. It is said that Ohio has some nice paths, so we are looking at expanding the states in which we pedal. The Rails to Trails Conservancy (www.railstotrails.org) is a great help with that goal.
In re-reading our 2012 blog posts, I can’t imagine we will “happen upon” as many unusual things during 2013 as crossed our paths in 2012…but I still intend to document our adventures for ourselves…and you are welcome to read along with us!
