Most Recent Posts

  • Different Strokes: 20 Bicycle Tours | # 1

    The First in a Series of Posts About Past Tours To celebrate turning 50 in 2003, I bought a touring bicycle and a full set of panniers, joined Adventure Cycling Association, and began learning about bicycle touring. By April of … Continue reading → Read more

  • Travels with Dad – 3

    Part 3 In the summer of 2001, Dad sold our family home and moved to Northern California to live with my sister Judy. He had vowed to himself that he would leave Western New York winters behind by the time … Continue reading → Read more

  • Travels with Dad – 2

    Part 2 Instead of looking forward to this next cross-country trip, by the time I arrived at my father’s home in Blasdell, New York, just south of Buffalo, I was feeling anxious. It was mid-February, 16 degrees and overcast outside, … Continue reading → Read more

  • Travels with Dad – 1

    Part 1 If Dad answers one more time, “Whatever you want,” I swear I’ll scream. He once made life or death decisions under fire; now he can’t choose Wendy’s or McDonald’s. So I pick the motels and restaurants, plan tomorrow’s … Continue reading → Read more

  • Gallery: Cape Henlopen

    Gallery: Cape Henlopen

    Camping I visited Cape Henlopen State Park in Delaware over three midweek days during an unusually warm spell in early November. Only a few campsites out of more than 150 were occupied. Even after a Boy Scout troop moved in … Continue reading → Read more

  • On the Beach at Cape Henlopen

    Except for tracks of gulls, my footprints are the first on the beach this morning. Waves ease out of the glassy water and lull onto the sand, which is coarse with ground-up shells and abrades my feet. I haven’t strolled … Continue reading → Read more

  • Coasting Along the Jersey Shore

    Coasting Along the Jersey Shore

    When I’m looking for an easy seashore getaway and casual bike rides by the ocean, I head for New Jersey. Over three days in September, I returned to a few familiar places and took several rides along or near the … Continue reading → Read more

  • Gravesite Hunt at Arlington National Cemetery

    Gravesite Hunt at Arlington National Cemetery

    I’ve visited Arlington National Cemetery countless times. On this day I had a particular mission in mind: to find several gravesites of people I knew or knew of through my work at the National Air and Space Museum. On a … Continue reading → Read more

  • Lock 5 to Edward’s Ferry on the C&O Canal

    I bicycle the three miles from home to the C&O Canal, where I pick up the towpath at Lock and Mile 5. From here I could bike to Georgetown, four miles east, or to Cumberland, Maryland, 180 miles west, without … Continue reading → Read more

  • On the Boardwalk

    On the Boardwalk

    Night here belongs to the young, to the local middle and high school kids promenading or hanging out with friends. It belongs to the young families drawn like summer pilgrims to “America’s Greatest Family Resort!” as alcoholically dry Ocean City … Continue reading → Read more

  • I ❤ NY (State)

    On one of my many drives between Boston and Buffalo in the early 1980s, I stopped off at a New York State Thruway rest area and bought what was then considered a travel mug. It was a small white plastic … Continue reading → Read more

  • Adirondack Morning

    Adirondack Morning

    The veils of mist lift slowly, one by one. First the nearer trees appear, then the island and the rocky point beyond. Then the far shore begins to emerge from the fog. At last Blue Mountain starts to shed its clouds. By then … Continue reading → Read more

  • Florida Dreaming

    Florida Dreaming

    “All the trees are green (la, la-la, la), and the sky is blue . . .” At least that’s what the Mamas and the Papas might have sung about Florida on a winter’s day. It’s hard to be brooding when … Continue reading → Read more

  • Gallery: Daytripping

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  • Biking the Western Maryland Rail Trail

    The Western Maryland is a gem of a rail trail, one of our favorite day trips. About an hour and half from home via interstates, it is remote enough that, even on this summer Saturday with a welcome break in … Continue reading → Read more

  • Garrett Park and Bethesda: A Tale of Town and “City”

    When I bicycle to local places I’ve never biked to before, I’m often surprised by how close and accessible they turn out to be. A recent case in point was my first bike ride to Garrett Park, a tiny town … Continue reading → Read more

  • Page Zero

    I’ve struggled for a long time over what to call this blog and what its theme should be. I’ll spare you the long list of trite, unimaginative, and already imagined options I came up with. I finally decided on “Bike Walk … Continue reading → Read more