To the Lighthouse

I have always been fascinated with lighthouses. Luckily, there are many in coastal New England. Even our wedding was next to a light house. Now for the first time, we have combined lighthouses and bicycles.

This is the red and white Nauset Light, operational since 1837. It is a short but very hilly coastal ride from where we are staying. From Nauset Light, a narrow bicycle trail through the woods leads to a truly unusual sight: the Three Sisters.

The Three Sisters stand in a semicircle in clearing in the woods: three small, pristine-white lighhouses. My camera is not wide angle enough to capture all three together - but here are two of them, with the Co-Habitant cycling in between.

The site is so quiet and unexpected; it has an almost mystical quality to it. Here I am next to the Middle Sister.

Miles and Marianne in front of the smallest sister. The Three Sisters are the only station in the U.S. designated by three lighthouse towers. Read more about their history here.

Logan Barber

Climbers, you know some memories, even recent, can seem unreal as if they could never have really happened in a world as busy and complicated as this. Jet travel creates sudden disconnections.

I find myself reliving the holds, move by move, on the magical red sandstone of Kalbarri Gorge Western Australia.

Simon Carter, Monique Forestier, Lee and Sam Cujes, Coco Carter and I spent a few days there.

Days from another thread of a different story. This story is not about that.

But being in W.A. got me thinking about the indomitable West Aussie climber Logan Barber.











Logan answered my plea to the internet for an accomplice in China for Easter .

We had about a day and a half cross over in China. That's worth a trip. Lee had told me this guy was someone I should go out of my way to meet. I think his words were "He's another me from W.A."








Logan leaves a trail of drill dust behind as he sends his latest new route on the fresh walls of Dragon City crag.
He gave it 27 (Aus). Sandbag alert!

I've got a good advantage of reach on Logan, but I couldn't find anything useable within reach through the upper sequence. The guy can lock down hard on rubbish small holds.


















Lock down!!!















I was just grateful to the climbing gods for getting me through the run outs on the lower section when it was my go. Balance and guesswork.
























Looking across the valley from dragon City crag, I have to keep reminding myself where I am.

A country that remained so mysterious to so many of us for so long. So vast, so different.







The next morning we head to super crag Lei Pi Shan where Logan has put so much heart and soul into his long project Storm Born. It's his last day in Yangshuo. Like so many Yangshuo routes now, it extends from the ground to the last useable rock.

I jug the 40M to the top for a photoshoot, plans change, Logan and David Kaszlikowski send the nails-hard arete route on the right end of the crag (see below).

I swap out Logan's draws on Storm Born, I still can't remember how I did that, I know I thought I was pretty clever at the time. I put up local legend Abond's shiny new green draws.

Logan resigns himself to the fact that projects don't stay exclusive round here.

They were still there on my last visit.




















Acclaimed Polish photographer and world climber David Kaszlikowski.




















Logan is back in China as we speak. He'll be lugging that drill through the muddy fields and dusty villages on the good quest.




Logan beneath the towering Lei Pi Shan.



Photo: jjobrien iPhone

Find him on Facebook: Logan Barber

He won't answer, he's in China.




jj




ps. this post lost all it's photo links and I've reconstructed it as good as I can.

If anyone knows why google albums would undo it's own links let me know.

What Tan Lines?

thanks to PL for the leg modeling!

This summer I've received some emails from readers asking for suggestions on how to get rid of tan lines from bicycle shorts. The women I ride with sometimes discuss this as well. Some say they actively try to cultivate cycling tan lines, seeing them as a source of pride and part of their identity as road cyclists. Others say they dislike tan lines, because they look unflattering when wearing skirts and bathing suits. For me, it's more about the attention they generate and feeling branded: I've had stares and questions from cyclists and non-cyclists alike that I'd rather avoid.




For those who do not wish to cultivate obvious cycling tan lines, one solution is to alternate bicycle shorts of different lengths. Assuming that you are not a racer who is required to ride in a specific kit, yet ride often enough to justify owning more than one pair of shorts, this method works pretty well. I now own three pairs of shorts, each from a different manufacturer: One hits just above the knee, the other half way up the thigh, and the third somewhere in between. I make sure to rotate them, while also doing my best to regularly apply sun screen. The result is a very gradual colour-fade from the knees up instead of a harsh tan line. The leg model above is sporting a similar look, though a little more crisp than mine.




If you've already got the tan lines and need to quickly get rid of them (say, for an event), try makeup. Buy liquid makeup in a shade that matches the tanned area and apply it to the untanned part - reducing the density as you move upward. A friend of mine did this when she had to wear a short bridesmaid's dress (the bride said the tan lines would ruin her wedding photos). It works, though will smear on the underside of your hem a bit. Spray tan would also work if you need the effect to last longer, though makeup tends to look more natural.




What's your take on tan lines from cycling shorts? Are you bothered by them, pleased by them, or does it not matter? I admit that I've identified other cyclists by their tan lines... though I try not to stare!

A Year Gone By :: in Review

Well, the year .. is almost history. It's been a great year for me for research, though not so much for blogging. With only 112 posts published, it's been the "worst" year since I started blogging. In fact, this is my first post for December! No excuses, really, but what I've "discovered" is that when I get involved with a project (be it actual research, transcribing documents, or simply standardizing my database) I tend to get really involved - to the point of doing little else until "that project" is completed. I must admit, I have missed the blogging...



January found me traveling westward from Louisiana where I had spent the holidays with extended family. Highlights for the month were a short stop at White Sands National Monument, a meetup with a blog reader who turned out to be a distant cousin, a two-week stay at Lake Havasu City where there was a hot-air balloon festival and where I developed a naming scheme for organizing my digital files.






An Arizona Sunset. January 12th.


February was spent in Salt Lake City where RootsTech was on the agenda. I must admit, I was a little disappointed with the conference but enjoyed seeing old friends again. Of course, there was The Library that was calling my name for the entire month! Among other things while there, I began writing the series on the Hoffman-Huffman family of Ohio and Pennsylvania.



After a few days in Death Valley I made one final stop before heading back to Indiana in March. May came all too quickly along with the NGS Conference in Cincinnati, which was absolutely fantastic. The sessions were (for the most part) outstanding, and being with like-minded friends was priceless.






The Grand Canyon looking north from Desert View. March 15th.


A short sojourn into Kentucky looking for the land of my Bray ancestors, then it was back to Indiana for a few more weeks. In early July I was notified that a seat had opened up in Thomas Jones' class at the Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh - I had been put on the waiting list in February when I was unsuccessful in registering - and was asked if I was still interested in attending. Of course, my response was a definite "Yes!" and I was shortly on my way to G.R.I.P. and what a "trip" it was - one of the most challenging yet exhilarating experiences of my genealogy journey!



I had thought that I might spend a week in Pennsylvania doing on-site research but after a week at G.R.I.P. my brain was fried. Instead, I returned to Indiana for a few weeks to assimilate what I had learned and to prepare a bit more to research those Pennsylvania Ancestors.



In August I spent about 10 days in Huntsville, Alabama helping a cousin who was recovering from surgery. While there, plans were made with another cousin for spending a few weeks in Maine. A couple days of research in Pennsylvania on the way there, a few more days afterward, a visit with my aunt and cousin in Maryland, then a few more days in Pennsylvania and I made it back to Indiana just in time for the Midwest Geneabloggers .. Fall Meetup (link to Tina Lyons' post) on October 13th.






Northern Maine. September 25th.


Since then I've been looking for more Hoffman and Switzer and Rupert descendants, and found quite a few of them too! But most of the last month has been spent on "cleaning up" and standardizing my genealogy database in preparation for uploading it to ancestry.com or some other online tree site. It's been somewhat tedious and very time consuming. Sources still require a great deal of work and I'm beginning to think that this "clean-up" work could go on for ever!



It has been an interesting and rather satisfying year. A mixture of travel and research and a little of both combined. What could be better?

Red and Yellow

This is a small group of red and yellow yuccas that I found at a roadside pull off.

Raindrop

I took this photo after our rain last Friday morning. You can see some of the other tree branchs in the raindrop

Jefferson, Ohio to Reading Center, New York