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image courtesy of San Bernardino Police Department
Just last week, a husband and wife used the above SUV in killing 14 and wounding 21 people in San Bernardino. ISIL, or ISIS, or the Islamic State, or Daesh, who "inspired" these two, for all of its faults, establishes the reality that evil exists, and abounds. Charlie Hebdo. The France train attack. Paris. San Bernardino. And more. Much more. Yet we face a greater temptation than that presented by terrorism...
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The pic above looks serene, two nice looking bikes in the California redwoods on an early morning. September 2015. Yet the surface appearance never reveals a clue to the hard times those bikes and one other experienced on that trip. Nor the difficulties of the riders. Look at ...
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True confession time, annoyance is growing in me. Already, in EARLY November, two Christmas Facebook posts have made the rounds. Yes, I chastised both posters--one a writing friend, the other my wife. NOVEMBER! Next, on Saturday November 14, the neighbor across the street began hanging his Christmas lights. In mid November! Have people no sense of timing? OK, it's not as elaborate as the pic above, but...
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130 years ago, this gravestone of my great great grandfather was fresh and clear. Now, the information about his life can only be read with difficulty. Not long ago my wife and I traveled to Park City Utah, near the birthplace of my father, to combine a week's vacation and a family heritage tour. Thomas Jefferson Thurston pioneered a valley east of Ogden, accumulated a number of worthwhile accomplishments, and passed away in St. George UT in 1885. But outside his family and a few historians, few have heard of him. But seeing his gravestone struck me with
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This last summer my grandson Josh and I took off to climb Mt. Whitney, the tallest peak in the lower 48. His success, and my failure, were recounted in an earlier post, so we'll not repeat my embarrassment. But the Whitney ascent begins with a nice, fairly moderate wooded trail. In my ignorance, I assumed the rest of the trail would be as easy. But like the pic of the trail shows, relatively soon the timberline took over, an altitude too high for trees to grow, and few plants of any kind. The woods gave way to ...
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Funny how you can know a guy for over 50 years, take dozens of multi-state bikes trips together for multiple decades, and not know some of his darkest secrets. Take Jerry for example. After all this time, only on our last trip to Oregon and Washington and down the California coast did I discover the depths of his depravity. To me, one of the best features of our trips is to enjoy the ride and the country and to ponder it in its natural silence. Kinda like the Simon and Garfunkel song, "Sounds of Silence." Now, I knew Jer took an I Pod on our rides, which I ...
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image by backcountrymaven.com
Mid September, and the end of a three month motorcycle tour of the US was in sight. Money had begun to run low, and Denver had just gotten snow. A bit east of Aspen I came across my own personal campground, deserted with the onset of the fall that comes early to the high country. Gold already adorned the aspen, and a likely looking trout stream ran next to my site. Lacking a license but unable to resist some temptations, I threw in a line, trusting in solitude, and landed a decent sized rainbow.
Earlier I'd picked up some ...
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Isn't this a great season, as the upcoming national election kicks off, almost two years early? The politicking brings out our best and worst, some thoughtful comments intended to persuade the marking of ballots, along with verbal bombs with asinine and degrading and insulting comments about the "other" side. Can't help but love it, right? Only if you're ...
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