How I got to Alaska

I received my draft notice on my birthday in 1971.  I had been going to Linn Benton Community College where I was on the basketball team, “Road Runners”.  I had to maintain a 2. GPA and carry at least 12 hours of credits to maintain my 2S student deferment.  I had done that the term before and during basketball season but with spring coming and back to working an 8 hour graveyard shift at the local plywood mill and trying to maintain my grades I got a little burned out.  Maybe it was falling asleep in my VW bug after work and before class began that finally broke the camel’s back but with the Vietnam war winding down and what I thought was soon to be the end of the war…I let my guard down and decided to withdraw from all my classes except for “Advanced Basketball”!  Well I got my first 4 point GPA but it was only for one credit and I got “DRAFTED!”

WOW, what a blow that was.  I ended up at Ft. Lewis where I was trained to be an “11C”  m.o.s. (military occupational code),  11Charlie stands for a mortar man.  I guess I was selected for this since I was in great shape and could carry a mortar and I was also good at math.  At 6’5″ I assumed I would be an easy target for snipers if I were ever to make it to Viet Nam.  I took my old VW bug to base which I wasn’t allowed to do and got in some trouble when I was finally caught.  This little trouble meant that I was held over for a week in November of 71.  When I did finally get my orders for overseas duty is was for the dreaded “NAM!”  While I was sitting in Ft. Lewis trying on my new “Jungle” boots, our President, Richard Nixon, issued one of my favorite declarations from him,  “No more boys to Vietnam!”  Well, all of the sudden my orders were changed from NAM to Alaska!  Whoooohooo!  The Army took back my “Jungle Boots” and gave me “Bunny Boots”, huge(size 15 for me) white rubber insulated boots that resembled something that the Michelin Man would have looked natural wearing!   I was soon on my way to Alaska in the back of a huge jet with no windows for my first jet flight.  When we landed in Anchorage I was stunned by the beauty of fresh snow and the mountains and a relatively comfortable 20 degrees ABOVE ZERO.  Unfortunately that didn’t last for long as the next day I headed for my permanent duty station in Fairbanks where it was an unbalmy MINUS 40 degrees below zero and dark!

Biking in Omaha!

Happy November! It is cold here in Anchorage but we still don’t have snow. Edith and I were in Omaha Neb. a couple of weeks ago for the electric co-op regional meeting. First time in Omaha. Nice city. First thing I did after checking into the Hilton across from the convention center was check Craigslist for recumbents. There was a Rans Wave for $300 so I had one of my friends from Barrow who was there for the convention take me there to see if I could fit the bike. It was a beautiful bike so I gave the lady the three hundred and with the seat all the way back tried a ride around the block. I just couldn’t get full extension so I asked for my money back. She could see that it didn’t fit so she gladly gave me my money back. The next morning it was close to 70 so while Edith went to her convention I wandered uptown and discovered that they have a bike rental program like New York City. I inserted my credit card and for $6 I had 24 hour access with a hour limit. If you went over a hour it was an additional $4 but if you docked the bike before the hour was up there was no additional charge. I would redock it every hour and then turned it in for the evening and then checked it out again the next morning. I took my helmet and bike shoes along with my hose horn. I had a blast waking up those Nebraskans with an occasional blast from my hose horn. The bikes are very sturdy 3 speeds with a big basket in front and a very long seat post for all heights. I really enjoyed riding it along the Missouri river and the river walk that runs through Omaha. A lot of sculptures and bike friendly access. I did feel my back, neck, and butt the next morning though. We have a friend there who grew up in Omaha but was in Barrow many years ago. He took us out to lunch and then His wife joined us for dinner. It was a great trip. After three days in Omaha we flew back to Seattle where Edith headed north and I headed south for a couple of day visit with my folks and my only Sister’s 60th birthday at their beautiful home overlooking the Pacific Ocean. My brother in law, Dan, is quite the carpenter and craftsman. They have a three story home with beautiful decks overlooking the Pacific. Very nice trip overall!

Bunny rabbits at Easter

Good Friday to all.  Easter Sunday is this weekend and it gives us a reminder to reflect on why we celebrate Easter!  No, it is not to celebrate the Easter Bunny!  However, bunnies have become a symbol of this holiest of Christian celebrations.  We can thank good ole American commerce for that.  Candy and chocolate Easter bunnies, colored hard boiled eggs, and ham.  Yummm!  Then there are the little rabbits that are so cute…until they grow up and start leaving little “coco puffs” all over the place.  We have one of those cute little bunnies that is all grown up.  His name is “Bugs” and he is getting to that age where he lives up to his name.  He often bugs me!  We have let him be an outside bunny even here in Alaska.  He has an insulated box in his hutch which he prefers to sit on top of but he is usually only in his hutch at night.  The rest of the time we leave him to run loose in our fenced yard.  Bugs has a wonderful, white, thick fur with black spots that is even softer and thicker then usual since he has over wintered outside here in Anchorage.  He loves to dig holes in our yard in the hopes that some fair damsel of his breed will somehow stumble into our yard and be impressed by the size of his holes for a potential den.  He loves to spray me with his musk which I assume is to let me know that he thinks he is the boss.  He is quite friendly to all that come through our gate, in fact too friendly for one neighbor lady that must have seen an attack bunny at one time since she is afraid of his friendly attentions.  All in all, he is a fun fellow for the most part, especially when we harnass him up and put a leash on him.  That is quite comical.  I would like to make a little basket sled for him and have him pull it around.  I’m sure it would be a great hit with the neighborhood.  Have a Happy Easter everyone! 

wind power

I’ve always been awed by the power of the wind.  When I was a youngster, my brother and I and some of the neighbor kids would fly kites in the big field at the bottom of the hill where we lived.  I can still picture those days in my mind.  Later in life my brother had a hang glider and he and his friends would defy death with some daring runs.  I was chicken, but I used the excuse that I was too heavy!

Late in life I rediscovered kite flying, only this time I was using a power kite which is like a small parachute controlled by 300 lb test lines.  This was quite an improvement on those old one string kites.  It took a lot of attention to keep it in the air but there is also a lot of power produced by these kites.  There was enought power that I was able to hold on to the control bar and pull myself on cross country skies.  What great fun that is!  Now I’ve upgraded to a harnass and a big kite that is capable of pulling my 250lbs along at terrifing speeds.  I thought it was time to take some lessons so yesterday I met up with an expert who showed me some new tricks.  Now all I need is the right wind and to be about 20 years younger! 

Got a bicycling horror story?

I had a Doctor appointment this morning and I rode my recumbent trike. I had on bicycling shoes and one of the ladies at the front desk asked me if I was riding a bike. When I said “Yes, well, a trike!” she said, “Do you ride on the road?” “only when I have to” was my reply. She went on to opine that it must be very dangerous. I told her that I ride very defensively. While having my blood drawn I had several phlibotomists hanging around and once again the topic of my bike riding came up. Everyone had a story of a close call they had had or of even being hit. When I saw my Doctor later, I queried him about his recent trip to China and asked him if he rode a bike there. “No’, he said, in fact he didn’t even see many cyclists there, but he did have a close call to tell me about when he was going to college and using a bike for transportation. Later while checking out another Doc stopped to ask me if I had been riding a bike, I had all the indications, bike shoes, muddy coat with a reflective vest, and expedition pants. I told him that yes I was having a wonderful ride this morning. He told me he had used a bicycle as his main transportation while going to med school in sunny southern California, he loved it until he was hit in a round about by a orthopedic surgeon who clipped him and sent him flying. The offending surgeon berated the rider by telling him that he had no bright-colored clothing and that he hadn’t seen him. However he thinks the guy did see him since he sped up and tried to pass him before the exit and hitting him. Later after I got home I was sitting on my trike petting my pet rabbit when the neighbor came in from a bike ride. He has a very high-end carbon fiber mountain bike which me maintains meticulously. We started talking about his ride and before you know it he was telling me a bicycle horror story from his youth where his front wheel quick release had become loosened after parking it against some other bikes. Anyway he had a wreck!
That’s when it dawned on me that I had heard a bicycle horror story from almost everyone I had talked to today about cycling. I told him my theory that everyone has a bicycling horror story that they like to share. A little later I heard him talking to another neighbor lady and she was telling him about almost getting him by a careless driver when she was a little girl!!! I gave him a knowing nod!

Happy Winter Solstice!

Fresh snow and Christmas vacation.  Kenny and I did some sledding and skiing.  Really enjoyed the XC skiing.  I’m going to get back into a habit of taking a short xc ski run everyday.  We also launched the kite but there wasn’t much wind.  Didn’t do any dancing around a bonfire though!  Had our local eagle come by and sit in the big spuce across the street and eye our rabbit hutch.  “Bugs” our pet rabbit knows to duck under the bicycles when he out in the yard and “Big Ed” the eagle is holding court here in Spenard in the heart of Anchorage, Alaska.  The ravens and magpies keep “Big Ed” pretty busy but he still likes to see if there is any fresh rabbit available.  So far he has been out of luck for rabbit but I have noticed the local squirrel population diminished!!  

Blush of Alpenglow

Blush of alpenglow:

The thrill builds slowly at the start of one of my recumbent bike rides.

The combination of adrenaline and fresh air coupled with the comfort of the bike

creates an exuberance that is palatable.

As I zoom along the coastal trail listening to the gentle lap of the high tide I look to the

north where I can see the grey curtain of overcast lift to reveal the blush of Denali, and

her siblings in the rose colored alpenglow of an early autumn morn.

Gooseflesh crawls up my spine at the beauty of it all.

Happy Father’s Day Dad!

I think all of us who have had a loving, nurturing Father are probably pretty lucky.  The odds aren’t that good!  I’m blessed to say that I was one of those lucky ones.  My Dad is strong, smart, ambitious, loving, and… no-nonsense but he does have a sense of humor.    I can remember like yesterday, the day I challenged my Dad’s authority.  It was summer and my brother Don and I were horsing around in the front yard, I can remember I was pumping iron with a weight set we had out in the yard and I was feeling pretty full of myself.  I believe I was 17 or 18 and was trying to find somebody to put on the boxing gloves and spar with me.  My arms were quite a bit longer than Don’s but he could still hold his own but he was almost 2 years younger and for what ever reason he wasn’t in the mood for boxing.  About then my Dad shows up from the shop pushing a wheel barrow.  I opened my big mouth and yelled, “Hey Dad how bout boxing a round with me?!”  Now we use to rough house wrestle with Dad when we were younger but I don’t think he approved of us getting slugged in the head or body so he never was encouraging us when it came to boxing.   He replied to my invite with a simple “I’m busy.”  In not my first, or last, moment of speaking without thinking, l flippantly replied, “Oh come on Dad, you’re not CHICKEN are you?”  Now I knew he wasn’t chicken, but was just hoping to get a rise out of him!  I can remember my blood starting to race as he quietly dropped the wheelbarrow and came for me with a rather ominous determination.  He quietly put on the gloves and proceeded to begin to thrash me.  I couldn’t stand up to the barrage and turned tail and ran!!  My Dad was also a High School record holder in the mile run and he quickly ran me down and continue to work me over.  At this point, he finally relented after me begging for mercy.  He quietly went back to his wheelbarrow and continued with whatever he was doing as if nothing had happened.  Not to many years ago I was reminiscing about that little episode with Dad himself.  We were laughing and I said, “I bet none of my brothers made the mistake of calling you chicken!”  “No, they never did.” was his no-nonsense reply.

Thanks for being there Dad.  We love you!

Happy 62nd anniversary Folks!

My parents, Ken and Helen Vorderstrasse have shared their love for over 62 years.  They’ve not only shared it with each other but also with us kids, and they’ve shared  it with family, friends, and customers!

They have plenty to go around.  Thanks folks.  I love you.

Special

We’ve seen quite a few recumbents bikes and trikes recently and one of the things we often have in common is that we are “Special.”  I saw a lady recently at the park that I had met  almost 20 years ago who has been riding recumbent trikes almost as long as I have been riding my Tour Easy recumbent bike.  Back in those days, before the internet was popular, she was interested in getting a different trike.  The one she had wasn’t to her liking.  She had been investigating,  but wasn’t able to find much info,  so she asked me and I just happened to have a copy of Bob Bryant’s Recumbent Cycling News.  I gave her the copy of the RCN.   Because of information she later read in RCN, she had ended up going to Australia to have her Greenspeed trike made to her dimensions!  This trike she loves and still rides regualrly here in Anchorage in the summer. She donated her first trike to the kids at Barrow Hopson middle school who needed “special” physcial therapy.  Those kids loved that trike and competed to be the first to use it in the Gym.  After our chat,  this lady pulled away with her friends, up a wet grassy slope, I thought surely she was going to get stuck.   Sure enough, she stalled in the worst spot,  but she was able to shift down to a lower gear and roll on up over the hump and out on to the trail.  Very impressive!

I’ve met many people, who because of their specialness, discovered recumbent bikes and trikes.  We are all “special” in our own way, so we should all have a chance to ride a recumbent bike.  They are such great fun and comfort.  Give yourself a “special” treat this summer and try to ride a recumbent trike or bike.  You’ll feel special!