Who am I? . . .   (the song is "Back Home Again in Indiana")

I am a child of God and a "Hoosier" born and raised in Indiana. In 1991 I decided to take up day hiking and for several years I took numerous hiking trips with New England Hiking Holidays and North Wind Hiking & Walking Holidays:

• 1991 - Shenandoah area of Virginia with North Wind & Rocky Mountain National Park* with New England Hiking Holidays
• 1992 - no trips this year as medical problems that  I had been dealing with for several years were finally getting me down. Fortunately, I finally had a diagnosis by July--chronic myofascial pain syndrome which is related to fibromyalgia but is present on only one side of the body. A rheumatology specialist was able to relieve most of my muscle pain but not my headaches. However, the NSAIDs she prescribed caused my stomach to bleed. Finally, an excellent internist that I switched to as my general doctor was able to eliminate my headaches, quiet the trigger points,  and not cause bad side effects by prescribing anti-depressants to control stress and another medication to get me to Stage III sleep. I also stepped up my physical exercise by working out in a Physical Fitness center 2-3 times a week. The keys to controlling my physical problems are: reduce stress, get 8 hours of restful sleep every night, and exercise.  
• 1993 - Walt Disney World with my niece and her children
• 1994 - Yosemite National Park on my own & Lake Tahoe with New England
• 1995 - Mount Rainier National Park and North Cascades National Park on my own and Pacific Northwest with North Wind
• 1996 - Molokai, Kawai, and Maui on my own and the big island of Hawaii with New England then later New Mexico with North Wind. 
• 1997 - Acadia National Park on my own and New Hampshire, Vermont, & Bay of Fundy with New England

In 1998 I decided to add  bicycling to my vacation experiences and purchased a Trek 7500 hybrid in March. I rode what I thought was a lot (790 miles) between 3/22 and & 7/4. Then I rode the Habitat 500 in Minnesota from 7/12-18. After completing the bike ride I did some hiking in Itasca State Park which contains the headwaters of the Mississippi, Voyageurs National Park, and Isle Royale National Park. Then I drove to and did some quick sightseeing and a little hiking in several Minnesota & Wisconsin state parks--Cascade River, Temperance River, Tettegouche, Split Rock Lighthouse, Gooseberry Falls, Jay Cooke, and Interstate--all of these parks were very scenic.  Then in September and October I rode several more times including the MS 150 near Columbus, Indiana, and the Hilly 100 in Bloomington, Indiana. All together I rode 1,612 miles in 1998 and was hooked on bicycling.  

In 1999 I joined the Central Indiana Bicycling Association (CIBA) which is headquartered in Indianapolis and did several of the CIBA weekend rides plus the MS 150 ride sponsored by the Ohio Valley Chapter, the Habitat 500 ride again, and three of the Michigan Shoreline Rides--the Circle, West, and East tours. I rode a total of 3,496 miles. Also between the Habitat ride and the Shoreline rides I spent a week in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan seeing a lot of very beautiful waterfalls and a few lighthouses.  It was a GREAT year, and I decided to switch to a road bike that winter and concentrate on cycling for a while. So I purchased a Trek 5200 US Postal Service road bike (shown here) with a triple chain ring in November and spent the winter getting used to my new bike on an indoor trainer. 

In 2000 I was taking early retirement due to a buyout by my employer and started the year very enthusiastically as I was looking forward to doing a lot of hiking and cycling during my retirement. While I was still employed I did several rides in Terre Haute and Indianapolis. Then in June just one month after my retirement while doing the Ohio Valley Chapter MS 150 for the second time I had a VERY bad accident when I collided with another cyclist and went over the handlebars and did a face plant on the highway. I was through bicycling for the year and only completed 1,219 miles in 2000.

In 2001 I was healed enough to ride so I started the year on March 18 with the CIBA St. Patrick's Ride at Shamrock Springs Elementary School and completed 3,247 miles in 2001. Unfortunately I had another accident in August, but it was not very serious. However, I did give up cycling for the year and had my FIRST reconstructive surgery to repair the damage caused by the accident in 2000. 

In 2002 I switched back to hiking as I was still recovering from my second nose reconstructive surgery and scheduled 3 back-to-back hiking trips. (1) the Columbia River Gorge & Mt. Hood with New England Hiking, (2) Canadian Rockies with The World Outdoors, and (3) Glacier & Waterton with The World Outdoors. However, I fell while crossing a creek on the next to last day of the FIRST trip and dislocated my elbow so I had to terminate the trip early and return home for R&R. However, my elbow healed quickly, and I was able to complete three wonderful back-to-back hiking trips with The World Outdoors later in the year: (1) Grand Canyon-Bryce-Zion Hiker, (2) Grand Canyon Hiker, and (3) Canyonlands-Escalante Hiker. It felt REALLY GOOD to finish 18 days of hiking with NO injuries.

In 2003 I stayed with the hiking regimen and completed two back-to-back New Zealand trips--the Rimu MultiSport and the Manuka Hiker which included the 4-day Milford Track. Then later in the year I took three more trips with The World Outdoors--Yosemite Sierra Hiker, Canadian Rockies Hiker, and Glacier-Waterton Hiker.  

In 2004 I decided to give cycling another try, but this time my doctor suggested that I look at recumbents.  I laughed at the idea at first, but after thinking about it and checking it out on the Internet, I decided to look into it. I found a recumbent dealer In Carmel, Indiana, and test rode several recumbents and was impressed. I ended up ordering a specially configured Bacchetta that Valley Bikes built for me. 

However, I also continued hiking. I took two trips with Timberline Adventures--Classic Canyons which included a Rim-to-Rim hike of the Grand Canyon and Yosemite which included 4 days in the high country part of Yosemite and a hike to Clouds Rest. Also I went to Yosemite 4 days ahead of the Timberline trip with my nephew, and he and I had a great time together including a hike to the top of Half Dome (17.5 miles round trip with a 4,800 feet elevation gain). Then in August I completed two back-to-back adventure trips to Alaska with Get Up and Go--the Alpine Explorer and the Kenai Explorer (I don't recommend this company, however). These were camping trips, and in addition to hiking I was able to kayak two days, glacier trek one day, canoe one evening, go flightseeing in Denali, and take a Kenai Fjords cruise. In between all of these hikes and getting ready for them, I worked at getting acclimated to the recumbent--the hardest adjustment was just getting started as balance was an issue for me. In spite of not really spending enough time on the new bike, I made a reservation for the Finger Lakes Fall Frolic 6-day bicycle tour for the last week in September. The cycling was great (but I wasn't ready for the hills and had to sag in on two days) plus I had a great time hiking in 6 of the Finger Lake state parks. 

In 2005 I was fortunate and took several great trips. In May I went to the Smokies for some hiking with a friend and her husband. In June I went to Peru with Andes Adventures; the main purpose of the trip was to hike the 4-day Inca trail to Machu Picchu. It was tiring especially the LONG third day when we crossed three passes in the Andes, but it was beautiful and definitely worth the trek. Machu Picchu is outstanding. The extraordinary pre-Columbian ruin, 5 sq. miles of terraced stonework linked by 3,000 steps, was virtually intact but covered by the jungle when discovered by Hiram Bingham in 1911. In addition to the trip to Machu Picchu, I also spent several days in the Amazon rainforest, visited Cuzco and the Sacred Valley, saw the IntiRaymi festival, and visited Lake Titicaca and the floating islands built of reeds by the Uros Indians. In July and August I drove my van to Minnesota, Vermont, and New York so I could  transport the recumbent bike I purchased last year to take three cycling trips. First, I did the Habitat 500 for the 3rd time in Minnesota and again enjoyed tremendously this fund-raising ride for Habitat. We started and finished in St. Paul and followed the Mississippi River so there were quite a few hills. Then I rested for a week before taking two back-to-back commercial cycling trips. The first one was with Bike Vermont, and we started and ended in Stowe, Vermont. It was called the Northeast Kingdom Tour, and there were a LOT of hills on this route. After the Vermont trip I took a trip with Classic Adventures to Lake Placid and The Adirondack Mountains. We started and ended at The Warbeek Lodge at Lake Placid. This trip was more relaxing than the Vermont trip as the hills weren’t as bad.  After getting back from Lake Placid, I rested for a week and then flew to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, for a two-week hiking trip to Yellowstone & the Grand Tetons. The trip was fantastic. I was putting two trips with two different companies back to back and they were both great. The first one with Timberline Adventures was a little more adventurous—longer and more challenging hikes and included both Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons. The second trip was with my old standby--The World Outdoors--and was a very relaxing scenic look at just Yellowstone. The two companies didn’t actually overlap on anything even when we were in the same area. For example, naturally I saw Old Faithful with both companies. But The World Outdoors took us up to a scenic overlook to view the eruption (see picture above), and I liked that better than seeing it down with the mass of humanity on the boardwalk.

In 2006 the Lord was good to me again, and I had three great vacations. My 26-year-old nephew, Jason, and I visited Yellowstone in February. We flew to Jackson Hole and stayed in the Wyoming Inn—a fabulous inn. We spent some time sightseeing in Jackson Hole and took a sleigh ride out to the Elk Retreat then we took a half day sled dog trip with the Jackson Hole Iditarod Sled Dog Company. The next day we left Jackson Hole with the Jackson Hole Snowmobile Company for a 4-day snowmobile tour of Yellowstone. We were driven to the Flagg Ranch where we picked up the snowmobiles and entered the national park. The first day we entered the South entrance went to the center loop road and drove around it stopping at all the scenic points—Lewis Waterfall, Kepler Cascade, Continental Divide, Old Faithful, Firehole River thermal area, Grand Prismatic Springs, Firehole Falls, and of course we saw lots of buffalo and elk and even some Trumpeter Swans—then we exited on the west side and stayed overnight in West Yellowstone. This continued to be the pattern as we spent the next two nights at Gardiner, Montana, on the north side and Pahaska Teepee on the east side of the park. Yellowstone was my big trip this year, and I didn’t take any hiking trips, but I did take two cycling trips. I once again rode the Habitat 500 in Minnesota. This year the ride started in Sandstone, Minnesota on July 9, and we rode a 500 mile loop in 7 days. I got a new light weight carbon fiber recumbent bike from Lightning this year and rode my old bike and the new bike a total of 664 miles getting ready for the Habitat ride and did much better this year—I rode 447 of the 500 miles. A picture of me on my new recumbent is shown below.

Then in October I took a two-week scenic bike trip with America by Bicycle in New England. The first week we did a small loop in Maine that started in Portland and went north. The second week we did a small loop that started in Portland and went south into New Hampshire and a small corner of Massachusetts. The fall color was beautiful, and the area was very scenic. 

In 2007 I concentrated solely on cycling. From May 10 to June 18 I cycled with WomanTours from New Orleans to Itasca, Minnesota, following the Mississippi from its source to its mouth. We rode over 1,900 miles in 31 days and had 6 rest days during the tour. I then had about 3 weeks to rest and recuperate before driving to Minnesota for the Habitat 500 ride once again from July 15-21. As you know, even though it is a difficult ride I enjoy this ride because it is for a VERY good cause—Habitat for Humanity—is well supported by a great group of volunteers, and attracts great people who are fun to ride with, eat with, camp with, and generally hang out with. On this trip I rode 544 miles in 7 days; and for the first time since I’ve been riding a recumbent, I was able to complete each day easily. Obviously after 31 days of cycling I was in good shape, and it paid off as I had a GREAT time. I still wasn’t through cycling, but I did have a longer break as my next trip didn’t start until the last week of September. I took 2 days to drive to Hyannis, MA then rode over 400 miles on a 2-week trip with Bike and the Like from September 23 to October 5 in Cape Cod and Rhode Island so this trip was more relaxed than the Habitat and Mississippi trips. Together with the training I did for the trips I have ridden 3,571 miles this year, and I’m looking forward to riding Coast to Coast with WomanTours from March 6 to May 2; we will ride from San Diego, CA to St. Augustine, FL. I will have a web page for this trip and the shortcut to the page is xrl.us/2008SouthernTier. I’m looking forward to riding with WomanTours again as they are a great touring company, but I’m not looking forward to crossing the Rocky Mountains.