Saturday, December 26, 2009

My other family


One of the problems with living 2o00 miles away is that I spend Christmas alone a lot. Thankfully, my good friends, Tom and Mary Logsdon, invited me to become a part of their family, so I spent yesterday in the "heart" of Latin Los Angeles: Pico Rivera, CA.
I got a little bit of an intro on my way home from church. I usually go by a corner of Day laborers from Mexico. thet Greeted me with a Hearty "Feliz Navidad".
Which left me with a dilemma: should I reply "Happy new year" even though they probably didn't speak English? about all i could with "happy New year" en Espanol was "Neuvo .." Hint ": Listen to Jose
to start off with, there are Tom Logsdon's: sr and Jr. "Tommy" is friend and Tom is his dad:
From 12-26-2009

Flip soon adopted me:
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I soon settled down to a quiet afternoon.. Well aside from Tommy setting his hair on fire with Turkey Grease.
We had a nice dinner, watched the Laker game and opened presents:
From 12-26-2009

and we had a family photo:
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and I was invited back next year, only this i'm supposed to be a logsdon(i,e. bring gifts)
And for those bicyclistas, Here's a photo of San Dimas depot I took on my ride today:
From 12-26-2009

Saturday, December 19, 2009

riding with the snow

we had postponed our bent ride due to the rain. Today looked fine, but I was just about blown over by the winds on the way over.
I got there early since I wanted to get some extra credit miles. Took some pics
From 12-19-2009

This person died along the trail
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I got back to the star and we actually had a good turn out. Steve Albano did try and steal my bike:
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We were soon off and running. we stopped at Anza Narrows park, and some folk engaged in test riding:

Next , we encountered the "bollards of death" They are post embedded in the that are set too close together:
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putting a recumbent through isn't much easier:
we soon made it to Savi Ranch:
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we could see snow:
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and rode back into riverside for lunch:
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We had a pretty heavy wind back, but everyone lived another day.
Actually last week was the first week I had not done a post in over a year. I didn't have to post about, and was not feeling good , and one of my goals was to do a post a week, So what do I have planned for 2010? who knows? this year has really spun me around and given me some new perspectives on life, so long and crazy rides, may be not. wild and crazy software projects? Probably. More philosophy? of course, I've been reading Ayn Rand and feeling some section I'm stuck in Atlas Shrugged )A Christian Objectivist? why not? Time to go John Galt = now.
I'l leave you with a video. actually two, as you can interpret the lyrics in more than one way Hint: the band started doing Contemporary Christian music:

Friday, December 04, 2009

Why Can't I pick up KGMO here?


From 11-29-2009

Well it time to report on my annual visit back to my ol' stomping ground
As I had mentioned last time, my flight out involved a brief stopover in Atlanta, so I was pretty bushed by the time I got at to Cape at 9:00Pm, consider I woke up here at 4:00AM.
I slept in before we started out for Cape.
I took a walk along the flood wall that separates Downtown cape from the Mississippi it's painted with Murals illustrating the City's his toy
Pre history The Carolina Parakeet:
From 11-29-2009

1200: height of the Mississippian/ Mound Builder Culture with Hernando De Soto edging in:
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1673: Fr Marquette arrives, but the Osage tell him to turn around:
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1735: Jean Girardot starts a Trading post:
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1793: Louis Lormier and Bartholomew Cousin Start the town of Cape Girardeau:
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1803 : Louis and Clark visit. They arrived during a horse race:
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1804: Napoleon sell Louisiana to the United states. he reportedly made the decision durning a bath
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to the the right is Mike Fink
1821 Missouri becomes a state:
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1838: The Cherokee cross the Mississippi in the Trail of Tears:
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1861: Col Ulysses "Sam" Grant and Gen Benjamin Prentiss are both given orders to set up shop in Cape. Sam also gets and order promoting him to general. heated discussion ensues:
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Civil War: Union occupies cape, with the Battle of Cape Girardeau occurring in 1863
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1870: St Vincent's school opens . Sam Clemens admires their building. He called Cape "the Athens of the Midwest"
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1875: River Commerce:
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1880: The railroad arrives:
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1909: President Taft visits:
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1916: A fire ravages downtown:
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1918: The River freezes solid:
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1920's; the ship Cape Girardeau and River boat Jazz:
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1927: The building of the first bridge and the Great Flood:
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1964: Building of the Flood wall:
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2003: The first Bridge is replaced with the Bill Emerson Bridge:
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The Tour of Missouri came to Cape this year:
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Some neat buildings along Main Street:
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Unfortunately, you can't get Coke for 3 cents. This was Grant's Headquarters:
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and we leave Cape with the old Buckner Ragsdale dept store:
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I visited dad
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and another Grave at Trail of tears SP. when I was growing up, this was Princess Otakhi of the Cherokees. She's now Nancy Bushyhead:
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Finally, Old Man River at the scenic overlook:
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or is it the Father of the Waters?
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We also took another trip to Bufordsville and the still functioning Grist Mill and Covered bridge. I also went to 4th Grade here:
From 11-29-2009

The Confederates blew up the dam:
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One of the delights about going to school out was that were bused in so the class size would be big enough. The driver would occasionally take us over the bridge:
From 11-29-2009

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But you can't drive over the bridge now:
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We used to go swimming here when I was a teenager: not anymore, as I got an allergy:
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Finally we had Christmas:
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Before heading to the airport and a Flight to Saint Louis. Cape is a small airport:
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but I still got to fly on a 747:
From 11-29-2009

Since i had a 6 am flight , I spent the night in a Drury Inn. I almost felt like I was back living on "the Hill" in South St Louis (actually near the hill, as I had dinner at an Italian restaurant(Lombardo's: excellent) and finished off the night by watching the Blues take on the Red Wings at Scottrade(sadly, the "old Barn" on Oakland is gone) before heading off to Dallas, Ontario and home.
Not bad at all