Exploring the Desert

We made it to California!

We are still in the hotel, but that hasn't stopped us from doing a bit of exploring. These photos are from Rainbow Basin, maybe a 30-minute drive from base.

It was the night before the full moon, but since we have plans for Saturday night, I thought I'd drive down and take some photos.

Catherine and I explored here last weekend, so I knew there were some Joshua Trees right off the road.

Cheers,

Marc

Motorcycle Camping Trip

The past Veteran's Day weekend, I loaded up the motorcycle to ride the Texas Hill Country Backcountry Discovery Route. It is a 500+ mile loop through some pretty remote parts of Texas. The first day, I rode with a friend from work. We completed the first leg by noon, so we grabbed lunch in Leakey and then rode the Three Twisted Sisters. Those roads are paved but twisty with lots of ups and downs like a rollercoaster.

We got back to Leakey, and then he had to head home while I went to my campsite (above). The next day I was solo, and it was the most remote section with multiple river crossings and bump gates to navigate. You have to get your tire against the bump gate, give it some quick gas, let off the gas to allow the gate to swing ahead of you, then swerve to get out of the way. It worked except for one very heavy gate - I had to hop off the bike and tie the gate back to get the bike through it. I ended up in Junction, where Catherine joined me for a hotel night.

Next morning was cold - there was frost on the ground! Catherine and I shared a breakfast, then I hit the road. It was primarily high country ranch land that I rode through, with lots of little (tiny) villages that were primarily a church and a post office. I got to Colorado Bend State Park where I camped for the night. I brought in left overs from lunch to eat for dinner, and just waited for the stars to come out. I was not disappointed!

The final day I got rolling by about 8am. This section had a couple of long and deep stretches of sand, which is quite squirrely on the bike. I made it through no problem, eventually making my way to Fredericksburg for lunch, and then finished out by about 2 pm. That was after a puncture to my rear tire about 1-2 miles from the end of the route. 15 minutes to pull the nail, plug the hole, inflate the tire, and I was on my way.

I got home in time for dinner and got everything unloaded. This weekend was a brew weekend - Belgian Dubbel. Cheers!

Marc

Mission Espada

With Catherine in Florida, picking up Leah to get her to college, I had the weekend to myself. I had lunch out yesterday at a greek restaurant which was underwhelming for the price. I thought about checking out the Missions for sunset, but decided against it.

So I got up this morning in time for sunrise (and to beat the church crowd - this is an active parish community) and had the place to myself.

Cheers,

Marc

Falls Creek Falls

I visited Falls Creek Falls the day before, but it is a popular swimming hole - for good reason!

I decided I would come back in the morning, which was a great decision. I had the place to myself for 30+ minutes. I brought my water shoes, so I was able to enjoy the cool water, too.

The waterfall is a short, 15-minute walk along the lakeshore at Lake Catherine State Park.

Cheers,

Marc

On Our Way

Well, we are on the road once more.

Ian has started welding school and is still in Pennsylvania. Catherine and Leah are in Florida, so Leah can have a consistent time of the day to take her online courses (Iowa State University) during our move. I am on my way to San Antonio.

Along the way we stopped to see Ian; Dad and Pam were able to come spend part of a day with us. While I continued west, Catherine and Leah headed south to Florida via the auto train.

I stopped to see my Mom and Chuck in Ohio, with a short visits to my brothers and an old friend. It was a short stay - onward to Cumberland Falls State Park.

There was no moonbow because of rain and clouds, but I still had a nice time. I got up to see the sunrise and make the short hike (less than a mile) to Eagle Falls, then loaded the van and made my way to Memphis.

I had two nights in Memphis, which was enough for me to do laundry, check out a brewery, and hang some photos that were Christina's Christmas gift this past year.

I took the back roads through Arkansas, and realized in short order that last year's impression of terrible drivers was not wrong...

Be that as it may, I made it to Hot Springs National Park on Father's Day, and adjusted my schedule to avoid the Gatlinburg of Arkansas as much as possible.

I got out to see a couple of cool waterfalls, and filled my thermos with natural spring water from the park. All in all, not too shabby of a trip - just wish the rest of the family were here to enjoy it, too.

Cheers,

Marc

Smokies!

 Catherine, the kids, and I are on a short holiday from the War College. We headed down to Knoxville to check out the area out. Since we ended up so close to the west end of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, we took some time to go revisit the Cades Cove area - though this was a first for the kids.

I made sure to stop at the waterfall just off the road. We had the place all to ourselves, which was very nice.

The kids and I scrambled down to enjoy the little river and get some selfies.

Leah helped get this one of Ian and I.

From there we went into Cades Cove and drove the loop, making a couple of stops along the way. 

We even saw a bear (and some turkeys - but the bear was way cooler).

Cheers,

Marc

Almost missed this one!

I did not set my alarm, but woke up right at sunrise this morning. The weather forecast was for rain, so I was taking my time.

When I finally got dressed I decided to look out the window through the blinds, and lo and behold, we were having a beautiful sunrise. So I threw my camera stuff together and hustled to this spot. I missed most of the color, but still ended up getting a nice photo.

Cheers,

Marc

Carolina Beach get-away

Catherine and I snuck down to Carolina Beach, NC for the long Valentine's / President's Day weekend. She has a friend who owns a rental less than a block from the beach.

While it was a bit chilly in the wind before the sun came up, it has warmed up nicely!

Edit - I took some afternoon photos at low tide, thought I'd share them here.

These are both from the other side of the pier (top/first photo).

Cheers,

Marc

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone! We wish you a blessed and joyous 2025.

Nothing terribly new here, just some photos of my favorite people.

We will part ways this summer as Ian pursues his welding training and Leah heads to college...all while Marc and Catherine head to Texas (again) - which is simultaneously scary and exciting.

Be well,

Marc

Anniversary

Catherine and I went to Glasbern, PA to spend the night and celebrate our anniversary. It was below freezing with a "feels like" temperature in the low 20's AND there was an outdoor wedding that evening. Glad we did ours in warmer weather - and still glad she said "yes"!!!

Cheers,

Marc

Covered Bridge

I took advantage of the skies this morning to go photograph this covered bridge that I passed several weeks ago.

Cheers,

Marc

Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS)

 Catherine and I stepped outside to see the comet in our neighborhood this evening. So cool to see!

Cheers,

Marc

Pennsylvania explored

We had a ton of rain come through Thursday night into Friday afternoon, but the clouds cleared off after dinner. Since it was Friday evening, I decided I'd go photograph the sunset and stars at a couple of places I have discovered on my motorcycle rides.

First up was Laughlin Mill in Newville. I thought it might make a decent sunset location, but on this night (no clouds) discovered it will probably be a better sunrise.

From there I headed up into the hills to a little country church - Sheaffers Valley. I was treated to a pretty sunset.

I waited another hour or so for full dark, and then photographed the Milky Way. Light pollution made processing this very tricky - the light sky in the left side of the frame is light from Harrisburg.

Cheers,

Marc

7,000 miles. 19 States. 2 Bison encounters. 1 epic trip! - part 2

After Yellowstone, I made my way to Ten Sleep, WY (via the Beartooth and Chief Joseph Scenic Byways - but wind was a scary deterrent at altitude!) to spend the night, and then Devil's Tower National Monument via Crazy Woman Canyon. There is a story behind the name, but once I rode through the area and saw Crazy Woman (everything) stores/etc., it all made more sense. It was a little gravel road through a canyon with a couple of huge boulder areas. I'd go back to camp there, but enjoyed the Big Horn mountains quite a bit more.

I linked up with my buddy Jason, who accompanied me for the rest of the trip as this year's Moto Mountain Man adventure, at Devil's Tower. We got a decent sunset, clear skies for stars, and then a nice sunrise at Devil's Tower. We stayed at the KOA, which meant showers and laundry (both needed and appreciated!).

From there we made our way to the Black Hills of South Dakota. We rode the Spearfish Canyon, Needles Highway (twice), and the Iron Mountain road to Mt. Rushmore. We camped there two nights, which meant we had time to ride and day trip the area. I will definitely go back to hit some of the gravel roads through the area.

This was also where we had the second bison encounter. We were riding the Needles highway and came around a blind curve, when lo and behold, another dumdum in a white car was stopped to photograph a bison on the left side of the road, just standing in the ditch. We hit the brakes hard to avoid colliding with the car, when Jason saw the bison and said into our intercoms "go, go, go!". We both passed the dumdum (thankfully no oncoming traffic), but could have practically slapped the bison on the butt on our way past!

We then rode to the Badlands National Park. Along the way we took shelter from a severe thunderstorm (complete with close lightning and thunder and hail) under an abandoned hotel's awning. Shortly after we got there, two dudes from Canada showed up to also take shelter. We chatted for about 30 minutes waiting out the storm.

All that rain meant the temperatures were down a bit. We rode through Badlands in early July in the 70*'s - fantastic!

From there we rode through Nebraska (the Survey Valley was very pretty and remote), Kansas, and Oklahoma on our way to the Ozarks. We had a couple of nights there, so we could day trip some roads. Arkansas was nice, but the (in)famous Pig Trail just didn't live up to the Blue Ridge or Cherohala Parkways (imho).

We made our way to the Tail of the Dragon: 318 curves in 11 miles. That was a workout, but a complete blast! After that we rode the Blue Ridge Parkway, then Highway 16 through Virginia (the "Back of the Dragon") and West Virginia, followed by Highway 555 in Ohio.

All told, I rode more than 7,000 miles to get to Pennsylvania, through 19 States, in about a month. I'm tired, but ready to explore what Pennsylvania has to offer. More than that, I am ready for Catherine and the kids to join me.

Cheers,

Marc

7,000 miles. 19 States. 2 Bison encounters. 1 epic trip! - part 1

Whoo - I think I am still decompressing and absorbing this latest trip. I kicked off 19 June and signed in to my next duty station on 19 July. I was on the move for the overwhelming majority of that time on my motorcycle. Catherine and the kids/young adults drove to Memphis - I'll let her tell that story if she wants. Suffice it to say, as of the 20th, they still aren't here.

I got a nice, early start to my trip. I had originally planned to ride around Mt. Rainier, but since Chinook and Cayuse passes were open, I took a chance. There was still plenty of snow at altitude, but the roads were clear.

I made my way through central and eastern Washington, to include a trip to Palouse Falls. I camped for the night at Field Springs State Park, which was a nice way to finish the day. There were a couple of RV'ers there, but they were quiet.

Next day I headed south and thoroughly enjoyed riding the Rattlesnake Grade through Washington and into Oregon. The road was amazing, switching from high desert into montane and sub-alpine terrain. I continued on through the Wallowa area and Hells Canyon. Both of those areas deserve more time to really explore!

However, I was on a schedule and needed to get to Idaho (Nampa - near Boise) for an off-road motorcycle course.

The course was two days of in the field instruction followed by a day of riding, really putting those lessons into practice. I am really pleased with how I did, only a couple of falls (deep sand, loose rock) - really only hurt feelings/pride! The course really paid for itself immediately after, and again here in Pennsylvania. The photo below is one that the instructor/school took - this was a very tame section, but still not to be underestimated on a 500# bike!

Part of the appeal to the trip for me was to put the course into action. We actually rode fairly close to the Leslie Gulch area for our instruction, but I had planned to go there camping. Once the course was done, I got up the next morning with a fully loaded bike and headed deep into the Owyhee wilderness for a night. They have these amazing volcanic tuff rocks/towers that I really wanted to experience first-hand.

I had the campground to myself, which was a treat. I got up close to midnight to photograph the Milky Way core coming up over the tuff. I am pretty pleased with how those turned out.

I was supposed to camp the next night at Seven Devil's campground in Idaho, but the campground wasn't open. The roads were cleared all the way to the top (9,000'ish feet) from snow, but downed trees kept the campground closed. I still wanted to see the lake, so I rode up to see it. It was a bit of a challenge to find, mostly because the trails to it were still covered in snow, and finding rocks to hop on (to spare the soft grasses and flowers) was time consuming...but totally worth it! I rode back down into 95*F temps and decided to find a hotel, with AC. The next morning I rode into Montana and spent a night weathering thunderstorms. I then made my way to Yellowstone National Park.

I camped at the Madison campground on the west side of Yellowstone. I got up to photograph the Milky Way and was treated to some pink airglow (northern lights?). The photo below captures the entire Milky Way arch - basically a 180* panorama!

I'll end with the bison story (well, the first one). As I was leaving Yellowstone, I got caught behind some dufus in a white car. He stopped to iPhone photograph a bison on the (driver's) side of the road, stopping over the double yellow line (meaning no one could get past him). He eventually moved on, but the bison decided to cross the road at the same time. It was just me and the bison - no car to protect me if he decided to charge. He stopped in my lane, swiveled his big fat head to stare at me for 15-30 seconds. I didn't make eye contact to avoid provoking a charge - which either worked or didn't - but he didn't charge. He eventually meandered into the meadow on the other side of the rode, and I was able to make an escape. I hope to never repeat such a situation again!

Cheers, 

Marc

Leah's Graduation

It's official - Leah has graduated from high school!

To say that we are proud of her, is an understatement!

She graduated with honors, no surprise there!

Nancy came to help us celebrate.

Cheers!

Marc

Mt. St. Helens day trip

Nancy came to visit for Leah's graduation, which happens later this week. Before we leave Washington, Ian wanted to visit Mt. St. Helens again, so we loaded the family into the van and made it a day trip.

We started with lunch in Longview, on the Columbia River. The weather was cool and the restaurant was packed, so we ate at a table outside. Afterwards we made our way to the Coldwater Visitor Center.

After exploring that for a bit, we went down to Coldwater Lake, because Leah saw an interesting boardwalk on the lake that she wanted to walk - maybe a 20 minute out and back with plenty of time for photos.

We stopped at a restaurant on the way out for desert - huckleberry cobbler with huckleberry ice cream, except Leah who got the chocolate lave cake.

Cheers!

Marc

More fun with the new camera

Nothing new here - just working with the new camera and flashes.

Plus I thought I'd play with some black and white.

Cheers,

Marc