Tag Archives: Bike riding

Skywatch Friday – The Big Warmup

We’ve had a warm spell lately and life is glorious now. I can fly my drone without it going all “Danger Will Robinson” on me.

We have had a contractor replacing our backyard fence in something besides a rainy/snowy/icy windstorm.

I was able to go hiking without risking hypothermia.

And I went on a long bike ride Monday along the Arkansas River. It was crowded, every old retired guy in town had the same idea and were out cruising the river in their cargo shorts.

So yep, this week has been good. How about yours!

I’m linking to Skywatch Friday

Skywatch Friday – At Home, On the Road, Trail, and

A shot from the front yard during a rainy interlude.

My wife and Kodi the pomeranian on a walk in the neighborhood greenbelt. I love the orangey sky.

I went on a bike ride on the Osage Prairie Trail in Osage County. This gas station was a location for the movie “The Outsiders” filmed way back in the 1980s. It has been restored by some volunteers and has a sign, fake gas pumps, paint inside and out and geocache. Which I found. One of my geocacher friends had a big role in the restoration.

This is a pond in Skiatook at the northern end of the Osage Prairie Trail.

A nearby church is having a revival!

The old railroad bridge on the trail is a favorite spot of mine for photos.

Switching Gears, this is a scene from Turkey Mountain on a recent hike.

And a shot from the RiverParks trails in Tulsa. I wasn’t hiking or biking, I was handing out gallons and gallons of coca cola and red bull to exhausted runners slogging through the Tulsa Ironman competion. 141 miles combined of swimming in open water, an over 100 mile bike ride, and a marathon distance run. It was a warm day. They had a 70 mile race for wimps.

I’m kidding about the half distance people being wimps. I couldn’t do it in a week. I admire their dedication. I have to admit though why people doing an endurance race would want red bull or coke.

The volunteer fuel was pizza. Unfortunately, my table was next to the truck so I ate more than I should have done.

That’s about it this week. I am linking with Skywatch Friday.

Shadow Shot Sunday – Halfway Rest Stop

I’ve been riding my bicycle more these days. I try and start in the morning to beat the 100+F heat we have been having (and are going to have for the foreseeable future.) I only go about 15 miles or so. This fountain is my turnaround spot to head back. I don’t rest at the fountain; I rest in the shade of a tree.

Stay cool everybody, find some shade.

I’m linking with ShadowShot Sunday 2. Nice posts over there.

Our World – Bike Riding on the River Trails

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I went on a bike ride on Tulsa’s RiverParks Trails last week. It was mid 90’s temperature with heat index at about 105. So I kind of took it easy and stopped a few times in my 16 miles to drink water. I had my GoPro knockoff camera on the handlebars set to take a photo every ten seconds. So I get hundreds of photos and I only save a few. I get passed a lot when I ride. You can tell this dude is passing me because he’s on my left.

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I passed this guy several times. I’d pass him and I’d stop for a water break and then I take off and pass him again. You can tell that I’m passing him because he is on my right.

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And then here is another person. At least he is not coming at me head on. That is what a really old guy did to me last year about this time. Veered right into me. I’m glad that I didn’t have my camera on the bike then except I still remember all the details except thinking at first I was going to evade him and then he turned further into me while he was screaming. I was glad I had my helmet on because my head hit the pavement. I’m all good now except I am extra special vigilant when riders come my way.

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Another couple of innocent bystanders. I wish more people would wear helmets.

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And a walker

Couldn’t do the loop because part of the trail is closed due to new bridge construction. It’ll be open again in a couple years.

Have a happy and safe Labor Day Weekend. I have pre-prepared the next two Skywatch Friday posts. We are heading off on vacation and we are supposed to have internet connectivity but didn’t want to hang everybody out to dry just in case it didn’t work. This post, I am linking with Our World Tuesday.

Riding the Osage Prairie Trail and Checking out Movie Locations

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Earlier this week, I took my bicycle up to Skiatook, Oklahoma and rode about ten miles of the Osage Prairie Trail. It is on the roadbed of the now defunct Midland Valley Railroad. Being an old railroad, the grades are very easy and the route very straight. I love it though because you ride through old farm and ranch country away from the roads. Sometimes I see deer and other wildlife and always lots of birds. The other night there were lots of birds, no deer, but a couple of snakes crossing the roadway. Hmm, a thought just popped into my head. How come snakes always go across trails and never along trails? Let me know if you have the answer. Okay I’ll get back on track.

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The trail goes right through the town of Sperry. So what you say?

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This is what. This a former shooting location for the movie “The Outsiders” based on S.E. Hinton’s book of the same name. A coming of age novel set in Tulsa in the late 50’s-early 60’s. It was shot in Tulsa back in the early 1980’s. I don’t think it is used for anything these days. Check the image here.

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Right across the street is another shooting location for the film.

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So much for Hollywood. A little further along I come across this scene of a workover rig on an old well well. The rig has been up for quite a while and I am not actually sure they are working on it. Most activities in the oil field go on pretty much 24 hours a day. The way oil and gas wells are, if you lose a day’s production, you don’t make it up until the back end of the of well’s life which could be years away because you can’t double up to make up so producers end up being pretty demanding with their service providers. Speaking as a service provider.

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The trail has several grade crossings of local roads. Best to slow down before you get there so you don’t get run over. That would ruin my whole day. I don’t know about you.

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I passed a big group of people walking on the track. I love that kind of stuff. You know, getting out and actually talking to each other and exercising. Great stuff.

Relive ‘Biking the Osage Prairie Trail’

A video of my little almost 20 mile jaunt.  Be thinking about me Saturday. I am participating in my first biking event. A 24 mile race. I expect to finish dead last in my big heavy cruiser bike. My goal is finishing.

Last Skywatch Post of April 2018 – Osage Prairie Trail

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Last week I took my bicycle up north of Tulsa to the “Osage Prairie Trail” a rails to trail project  that starts in north Tulsa and goes to Skiatook, way out in the country. I started in Sperry and went about five miles north to Sperry. The trail is deluxe, asphalt paved and well maintained.

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I got some geocaching in on the way. How do you like my stylish outfit? I found that garish yellow top at Walmart for about seven bucks. Don’t feel bad if you don’t like it cuz I like it just great! Along with my mismatched socks. Where’s the law that says your socks have to match? There isn’t one, I already checked!

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I love this bridge across Bird Creek.

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I got to Skiatook and everybody in town was taking an exercise class.  I felt like jumping in myself but they were just finishing up. I love community stuff like that. Except community sounds like communism. We don’t like communism here in Oklahoma, so I am glad I didn’t join this communistic exercise program. People need to be in there own homes watching Fox News and checking you know who’s twitter feed. Not out in the sun getting skin cancer and getting to know your possibly leftist, immigrant, non gun owning  neighbors.

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Enough about politcs. How about some cows? These are my wife’s cousin’s herd out in western Oklahoma. I love the calves especially. I always name one of them “Little Brisket.”

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I went riding along the Arkansas River after work earlier this week during a pretty day. I am loving riding my bike this Spring!!

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And it is Azalea season here in Tulsa. Here is a house in midtown that I just love. Look at the blooms, and the windows.

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And I have a volunteer gig with the city of Tulsa picking up “litter on a stick” signs. I’ve picked up 17 so far. Within days of getting trained, me and my fellow 61 volunteers picked up over 500 trash signs off city rights of way. I’m all official now. I have a city ID Badge with my photo on it and some “cop gloves” to help protect from sabotaged signs. (Not yet in Tulsa but apparently in other cities the people who have put out litter on a stick signs have superglued razor blades to the wire frames.” The gloves will come in handy for geocaching also. On my bike ride on the Osage Prairie Trail I went looking for a cache called something like “In the hole” and I found the hole in the tree and as I went to inspect it, a snake slithered out! So as we say in the energy biz, I plugged and abandoned that cache, figuratively. I am just glad that I didn’t stick my hand in there, even though the slithery critter did not appear to be poisonous.

I am linking with Skywatch Friday this week.

Skywatch Friday – Anniversary Edition

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On Sunday Heather and I went for a bike ride. We drove 14 miles in nice weather under a beautiful blue sky.

And because I’m such a nerd, here is a video of the route we took.

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Saturday night we celebrated our Anniversary in style at a trendy restaurant downtown. The Bull in the Alley, only ten tables in the place. But it is deluxe.

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We had lots of real estate to ourselves. We had a nice leisurely dinner. We’ll be going back.

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The entrance is in an alley. Who’d of thought. No sign or anything.

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We also have a new member of the family. A nice little female kitten. She has taken over the house. We are trying to name her. The vet we got her from calls her Wendy. We think Windy might be more apt because she is kind of gassy. We are thinking Izzy or Lizzy or Chloe sounds good. What do you think? She is very sweet and not scared of our goofy dogs at all.

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Nana kind likes her also.

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Heather is already hooked, and so am I.

Anway, that is what is up with us. I did post a bit of the sky so this is my Skywatch Friday post.

A Bike Ride and Second Thoughts about Computer Designed Buildings

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Last Friday I took the day off and Heather and I went for a bike ride on Tulsa’s Arkansas River Trails. Of course I had to take the selfie before we took off. Notice that the strap that holds the helmet on my head also packs up my double chins pretty well.

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This is a YogiCam shot showing Heather on the right and a showoff zooming by with no hands on the handlebars. What do you think about guys like that. Personally I’m mad I can’t do it. Of course I’ve never tried it either.

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Ripping by the University Club apartments. I should have slowed down and took a better picture they are semi-famous. It was the first building ever designed with a computer. It did two years of calculations in 24 minutes. I don’t where we went wrong personally but things have gone the other way around. For example with PowerPoint you can take you days to put together a presentation that should take only an hour to put together. We’ve lost our way somewhere. The other thing that it is famous for is that a former resident is serving 25 years for pushing her husband out a window from their 17 story apartment. I don’t know about you but that doesn’t say much for computer designed buildings is what I think.

 

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Here are some other apartments further up the river. No murders here that I know about.

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And then we headed back to the car so we could go pick up the kid at school.

Have you been on a bike ride lately? You don’t live in a computer designed building do you? With a volatile spouse? On a high floor? Poor you.