Category: yot3

Vacation Is Over

Our vacation is over and now it’s time to get ourselves in shape for the Des Moines Register Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa (RAGBRAI).  It’s true that there are still 37 days left before the ride starts but we do need some training rides that match the conditions on the real ride.  Our travels and adventures over the past 6 months often included bike riding, but we were mostly on rails-to-trails bike paths and we didn’t do rides that were very long.  Especially for me, I’m anxious to start using the road bike that I will have on RAGBRAI, instead of the hybrid bike that is the one I’ve been using on our travels.  It’s important to get riding time on the bike that you plan to use for the week of RAGBRAI.

Before we left the West on Monday to make our way back here to the Midwest, we had a wonderful weekend with friends in Boulder, Colorado.  They hosted us for the weekend at their cabin, which is on the eastern edge of Rocky Mountain National Park.  The pictures and descriptions of our Rocky Mountain adventure are posted here.

There are a lot of miles of plains and prairie to cross on the trip from Boulder to Jefferson City, Missouri.  Most of what we did this week was just grind out those miles on the interstate, not spending a lot of sightseeing time along the way like we usually do.  Maybe we have gotten too spoiled by all of the beautiful country we have seen in the West and are blinded to what eastern Colorado and the state of Kansas have to offer.

We did spend one relaxing evening camping at Eisenhower State Park in Kansas.  It was a nice campground on a reservoir about 30 miles south of Topeka.  At the park visitor center we picked up a brochure on Kansas state parks and noticed that not too far away from where we were there is a state park, the Prairie Spirit Rail Trail State Park.  We made plans to break camp early enough Wednesday morning to allow ourselves some bike riding time on the Prairie Spirit Trail.

The weather forecast for Wednesday called for afternoon winds from the south.  The Prairie Spirit Trail has a northern terminus in the town of Ottawa, from where it passes through a number of small towns before ending to the south in the town of Iola.  Given the wind conditions, it made sense to start riding south from Ottawa, pedal for awhile and then when we were ready to turn around to go back to our car, we would have a tail wind.

We got a good workout and enjoyed our day of riding on the trail.  One of the most interesting incidents happened just before we reached the town of Richmond, which was our turnaround point.  On the trail in front of us we saw a parked pickup truck with 2 men taking a lunch break from their task of trimming brush and trees along the trail.  We struck up a conversation with one of the men, who was quite helpful in answering questions about the trail.  Before continuing our journey we learned that we had been talking to the manager of the Prairie Spirit Trail.  What a surprise that he should be out there trimming trees on the trail.  Also, we were surprised by some of the history we learned from him.  The first section of the trail was completed in 1996 and he was hired as trail manager the year before that.  It was the first rail trail in Kansas and those who were advocating for the project met with a lot of resistance.  97% of the land in Kansas is privately owned and its citizens were not ready to accept the idea of a public trail passing through their lands, with people potentially trespassing and/or causing property damage.  As it turned out, the trail has been quite a success and is featured in the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy Hall of Fame.

Trailhead of Prairie Spirit Trail at Old Depot Museum in Ottawa, Kansas
Manager of Prairie Spirit Trail and assistant, hard at work along the trail.
Many cornfields along Prairie Spirit Trail
Many wheat fields along the Prairie Spirit Trail
Some of the Prairie Spirit Trail passes through wooded areas.

Wednesday evening we arrived at Jefferson City, Missouri, where we are spending 4 days at a motel.  We will be doing some day bike trips on the Katy trail.  It will then be time to drive to Iowa City where I will be able to get the road bike at my son’s house that we left there at the end of last year’s RAGBRAI.  Then RAGBRAI training will begin in earnest.  And, of course, the best reason for arriving in Iowa City will be to see the grandkids again!

Wyoming Ranch Life–A Tribute to My Sister, Sande


Words and pictures fail to describe all that we observed these past 5 days while visiting my sister, Sande, on her ranch in Torrington, Wyoming.  The amount of work that is necessary to make a living on a ranch is overwhelming.  We tried to come up with a list of categories for everything she is involved in that contributes to her daily workload.  That list (I’m sure we forgot some) includes: haying, beef cattle, dairy cows, housekeeping, cooking, cheese making, poultry, business management, calving, branding, fencing, irrigation, vehicle and machinery upkeep, gardening and rattlesnake killing.

Raising two bottle calves, that have to be fed 3 times a day.
Straining the milk sold as fresh milk or made into cheese.Heading out with 3-wheeler to check hay fields.
Boone, faithful dog, rides everywhere with her and helps with herding the cattle.

Eleven chickens, let out of their pen each afternoon, for “free range” time.

Candy, the dairy cow, needs to be milked twice daily and then given feed and water.

Didn’t get a photo, but 2 horses and several cows and calves stay in the barnyard area and have to be fed twice a day, also. This doesn’t count driving the tractor out into the fields to bring hay to the main herd (80 cows with their calves).  This task is necessary because the drought conditions have meant there is not enough grass for grazing.  

Feed and water for Candy.

The week that we were on the ranch the task of putting up the first cutting of hay had already started.  Sande hires local ranchers who have the proper equipment and then prays like crazy that the weather cooperates. This year the weather wasn’t too cooperative.
Raking the hay

The hay had been cut and was drying in the fields until Wednesday morning when the men with the rake and baler showed up to begin baling the hay. Sande assisted by using her forklift to pick up the bales and organize them into piles of three.  This made it less time consuming to get the bales off the field and put onto the storage stack near the farmyard.  The man who had been hired for that task showed up with his tractor, loader and wagon later in the afternoon.  He and Sande worked so efficiently that they were almost caught up with the raker and baler when the storms hit.  It was amazing how fast the storm clouds built up.  When the rain and hail began in earnest the haying had to be abandoned as everyone ran for shelter.

The hay crop was small because of the drought and some of what was cut will be ruined after everything has dried out and the haying resumes.  But most of what was cut down this week was brought in and stacked before the rain and Sande was thankful for the hay that she did get.  Hopefully, second and third cuttings later this summer will yield more.

Baling the hay

Heading out to begin stacking the hay.

Sande and Boone working on making stacks of three.

Loading the wagon.Bringing in a load of hay.Unloading the hay.Second milk cow, Eva, and two horses, Racer (a quarter horse) and Ten (a paint)


Are you wondering if Lee and I did anything useful while we were there?  Well, the day before the haying started Sande said that we could help with the task of getting one of her young bulls moved from its pen in the farmyard out into the field where it could be with a group of her cows who were ready for breeding.  We would get the bull corralled first and then she would load it into her horse trailer and drive it to the field.

Lee came prepared with his red shirt for the bull herding task.

Sande did most of the “herding” and we just yelled and waved our hands or closed gates after it went through.Giving the bull its tag before it gets loaded into the trailer.After the bull was unloaded in the field there was a water tank in an adjacent field that needed to be brought back to the farmyard.  Using the now empty horse trailer, Lee helped Sande drain the tank and roll it into the trailer.

We also helped with the cooking and housework whenever we could.  One of my favorite tasks was to let the chickens out of their pen each day and then go into the hen house and gather the eggs.  Lee’s favorite part of that task was to eat one of those farm fresh eggs every morning with his breakfast.
Although calving season on the ranch had ended over a month ago there was one late cow that had not yet had its calf.  After the rain and hail that made a muddy mess out of the barnyard, the late cow decided on Thursday morning that it was time for her to give birth.  Fortunately, the calf was able to get up on its shaky legs in spite of the mud and found the nourishing mother’s milk so necessary for its survival.  As quickly as she could, Sande made a pen in the shed for the cow and calf and brought them into shelter.
Newborn calf, that in a matter of 15 minutes, was up and nursing its mother.
It was hard to say goodbye today to Sande, but we are so thankful for the time that we were able to spend with her.  Please join us in praying for her health, strength and safety as she lives this ranching life she loves.  We are on our way now to Boulder, Colorado, where we will spend the weekend with some friends at their cabin near Rocky Mountain National Park.