Sunday, June 12, 2016

Playing Catch-up

Our internet access has been REALLY SLOW, so I'm way behind on putting up photos.  Now that I'm in fast-speed land, I'm going to dump a load on you, and hope that I'll be able to clean it up at home before I publish.  Download time; it's a thang, I guess; and we are limited.  I hope that this week, our HughesNet guy upgrades us, so we can do what we need from now on.
Here you go!

Jeffery took his 1912 Indian down to the Antique Motorcycle Club gathering in Chico.  He's had fun being in this club.

These two bikes were my favorites, besides Jeffery's of course. I wish I'd done better showing you the running gears and chain

the Flying Merkel.  Isn't it fab?

the specs

here's my other fave

This is real!  I can't stop being tickled about it.

this bike was all tricked out with foo-feraws and gimcracks

Jeffery is going to start his Indian by peddling madly.  It would go "spoot" and "pow" and try to keep running, but not quite succeed.

the crowd really wanted Jeffery to be able to keep the Indian running.

After I left Jeffery with his biker chums, I headed to my own party-group, which I look forward to each year.

I love the colors!  I love the outfits.  I love seeing it all!

On Jeffery's actual birthday, we had a potluck for him

Jeffery, Oakley, and the King Cake.

Okay, now we're getting caught up.  This is Susanville Ranch Park, the day after Jeffery and I did the Bizz Johnson Trail.  This trail was much rougher riding, cross-country type biking, and we had a blast in the little valleys and along the creek, and in the meadows.

The trail begins

There goes Jeffery, and this shows one of the riding surfaces we rode over.

the beaver pond, where we rested a mo'

one of the many bridges we crossed.  A few were terrifyingly narrow

this entire little vale was filled with wild roses.

shot of the local HunkaJunk shop in Susanville.

Main St.  Susanville.  The Pioneer Cafe houses the Lassen Brew Pub where we dined.

leaving Susanville, heading south for home via Janesville, which I've never seen

Thompson Peak from 395

we went over Janesville Grade to get to Antelope Lake for a respite and a snack

Jeffery's first dip of the year; not before Memorial Day, I tease

Love this photo; he reminds me of those snow monkeys in Japan in the hot springs pools.  No?

pollen shapes form and change along the shoreline

art shot of pollen on water.
There we go.  I will try to get more caught up soon, but at least I caught up to where I was before.  Giggle.  Thanks for looking in!

Sunday, June 5, 2016

Bicycle Birthday Ride with Jeffery

Jeffery asked for one thing for his birthday; to ride bicycles along the Bizz Johnson Trail that goes from Westwood to Susanville California along the old railroad bed.  I eagerly agreed to give him the gift he desired, and we plotted our day-ride, leaving the possibility for spontaneous changes on the table.  I had only been to Susanville once, so it was a voyage of discovery in every sense.  We will definitely want to do this tour again; all the way from Westwood next time.  This time we just did a section.

Mt. Lassen, seen along the way to Westwood, still has quite a lot of snow on it.  Yay.

We had neither of us ever been up to Mountain Meadow Reservoir, aka: Walker Lake.  We need to go back to see more.

Here's Jeffery at the Westwood Ranger Station sign.

It's me and Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox.
Here comes Jeffery at the start of our ride from Devil's Corral to Susanville

First bridge on our trip


Jeffery, birthday boy, is happy.
the Susan River

a calming view

some of the many wildflowers in bloom

lots and lots of cool rock bluffs, piles, and shapes,  I'll be showing you more.

the first tunnel, which was blowing cold air through it

same tunnel, seen from the other end, which was wood, not cement

art shot of Jeffery in the tunnel

art shot of the ceiling.
We particularly liked this rocky outcropping and tunnel

but this black rock spill was also wonderful

penstemon

we stopped for a shade break along the Susan River

art shot of underwater flora

those lazy hazy crazy days of summer take it out of a fellow, eh?

perspective is important, but detail matters, too; so here's a close up of a huge, huge dead tree leaning on a rocky outcropping, and yet, I can't show you how big it is, since if I zoom back, it all gets rather small

the pink in it doesn't show, but it was so pretty, and I don't know what it is.

the landscape took on a softer look as we drew closer to Susanville
I loved this wall of "marching guardians".  By now, we can hear traffic noise again, since we're almost back in town

same rocks, different angle

Jeffery crosses the last bridge on the rail-trail (or the first if you start in Susanville)

Here I come, too!

the home stretch and "finish line" is in view

the view from over the bridge's side

where the rail meets the trail.

love this picture especially much

Western Pacific Railroad caboose

riding back to our hotel along Riverside Dr. and the bike lane there, we saw this lovely vista
That's all I can fit on this blog, since my internet has become limited, but in the next day or two, I'll have another bike adventure and fun day out with my honey to show you.  Now I need to decide what I want to do for MY birthday excursion.