Riding the Blue Ridge Parkway

This post is long overdue but the pictures and stories are well worth the wait. In September Stacy and I went with some friends, Perry and Amanda (a fellow grad student of Colby’s), to the Blue Ridge Parkway for a long weekend trip. Perry and Amanda brought their dog Adonis and we brought our beagle Maisie. The main activity we had planned for this trip was to ride our road bikes on the Blue Ridge Parkway but since we brought the pooches we rented a cabin from Ridgetop Cabin Rentals so we could lock up the pooches while we went biking.

The cabin was pretty cool. It wasn’t the “deluxe cabin suite” that seems to be so popular these days. This cabin is what a cabin is supposed to be – rustic. The cabin was nice and was on a mountain top near Mount Mitchell. To get to the cabins we drove off of the Blue Ridge Parkway down a mile-long gravel driveway (where we had to ford a stream) to get to a nice, rustic place with an amazing view. The owner of the property, Mr. Hubbard, checked us into our cabin. He said that he had retired from a long career in Florida over twenty years ago and went to the North Carolina mountains to “go back to work.” He retired in his sixties then bought the land with his retirement money. He built the house and five cabins by hand. He also chose a site with one of the most amazing views I’ve ever seen from someone’s house window. He had a great view from his back yard that overlooked an expansive Appalachian valley below.

Our cabin was a two bedroom cabin with a huge porch/deck that overlooked a backyard pond. The cabin was wood stove-heated and had a kitchen with all of the basics. There was also a nice fire pit on the side of the house. Other than that, there wasn’t any extras for these cabins, and that was alright with us. It was perfect for a weekend to get away from the rush of daily life.

So, on this trip we hung out at the cabin at night and went biking by day. On the Saturday that weekend Stacy and I rode just 12 miles on the Parkway. That doesn’t seem too long but the climbs were killing us – especially me. We hadn’t trained a whole lot outside of riding once or twice on the weekends around “flat” Raleigh. Amanda and Perry, on the other hand, put in 30 miles round trip and climbed to the top of Mount Mitchell, the tallest peak east of the Mississippi. They had a lot of fun doing that but were a little cold on their fast descent down the mountain.

The next day we went on a portion of the Parkway that was a little less steep and had more rolling hills. That seemed to agree with Stacy and my slack training regimen a bit better, but it didn’t produce the beautiful views we saw on the Saturday.

We also stopped at a mom-and-pop apple orchard right on the Parkway that was sort of a tourist trap. It gave us a chance to get some awesome ice cream and some post cards to send back to Iowa. We definitely plan on returning to the Parkway. All four of us will probably go to the Virginia mountains next time just for a change of scenery. Stacy and I will also do some actual training then so we don’t swallow a lung again on a 6 mile climb like we did on this trip.

I can go on and on about this trip, and the region, but as they say, “a picture is worth a thousand words”. I’ll let our pictures from the trip talk for themselves.

New Website for North Star Lodge #447

I have been working on a website for the Masonic lodge I belong to, North Star Lodge #447 in Estherville, IA. I just registered a new domain for it and have it hosted through WordPress.com. The new address is http://northstarlodge447.org/. We will be adding more content later, but we can finally say that the lodge has joined the rest of us online. While you’re there, please sign the guest book.

Tri-society Meetings in Pittsburgh

I went to Pittsburgh this week to go to the American Society of Agronomy – Crop Science Society of America – Soil Science Society of America annual meetings. It was a pretty though long nine hour drive from Raleigh to Pittsburgh. Most of the trip was in West Virginia. Unfortunately we were about two weeks behind peak fall colors but it was pretty none the less. The meetings were held at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center located riverside in downtown Pittsburgh. Here is the website for the meetings.

There was over 3,000 people who attended the meetings. During the meetings many people present their current research through posters and presentations, exhibitors present their products and companies, employers do job interviews, but most importantly – people network. I thoroughly enjoyed the conference. I was able to meet several well known “wetland soils people” and can now put a face to the names on the research journal articles I read all of the time. I presented my master’s research through a poster presentation at the conference. I had entered my poster in a contest with the other graduate students in the S10 – Wetland Soils division. I ended up winning the contest which was a nice surprise. For my poster I had to hang it early in the morning on Monday then stand by it between 4 and 6pm. At that time people can come by and ask questions. Posters are great for opening one-on-one discussion. Several people had good advice for where to take my research in the future. Several people also had great questions.

On Tuesday I ran in the annual meetings 5K run. The race started at 6:30am and the starting line was 1.5 miles from my hotel. I had to get up well before sunrise and walk the whole way to the run, then run the 5K (3.1 miles) then walk back. It was a lot of fun though. There was about 100 people who ran in it. I did my part as an ex football lineman and secured the back of the pack. I did 3.1 miles in 35 minutes. The running path followed a greenway trail that was on the opposite side of the river from the convention center. I was told that the trail dates back to before Pittsburgh was “Pittsburgh” when the river was only 4-6 feet deep and people had to portage their boats.

Pittsburgh is a great city (despite all of the Steeler fans). The city is very clean and has a lot of new industry and technology coming into it. The buildings have a lot of character to compliment their age. There is a lot of tradition in the city too. Some fellow graduate students and I did what we do best and went drinking each night. One night we went to East Carson St. which is a strip of bars and restaraunts that are between where the steel mills used to be and where the steelers lived. They would each stop in for food and beer then head home. The large amount of bars from way back when now make it a “premo” spot for nightlife in the city because each building has a liquor license. The strip had 60 bars in a very short walk. A bar crawl there would probably end up in a person actually crawling. Also, since there were so many bars, competition drives the price of beer down. We were drinking 89 cent Bud Lights and it only took $30 to get all of us buzzed. We also ate at Primanti Brothers which Pittsburgh is also known for. It is a bar-restaraunt which serves the whole meal in the sandwich. For example, I got the pastrami sandwich, which is a normal pastrami and Swiss sandwich, but with a whole serving of coleslaw and fries on top of it – all between two pieces of bread. We also had some Iron City beer and Yuengling which the area is also known for.

I also went to a mixer for Iowa State faculty, students, and alumni on Monday night. It was good to get caught up there with some old friends and meet some new ones. Attendees for the conference stayed at various hotels. I stayed with the rest of the NCSU grad students at the Omni William Penn Hotel. This place was the definition of class. I felt like I was underdressed the whole time except for when I was in my suit for my poster presentation. Here is the outside:

And here is the awesome lobby:

It was a good thing my research grant was footing the bill. The convention center was also really cool. It is hard to explain but here are some pics I took while on the 4th floor deck overlooking the river.

Colby checking out the view

Old School Riverboat

Upstream

Weinan and Wendy

The convention center roof with the Pittsburgh skyline

Convention center and more skyline

Adam and the looking glass

Pittsburgh was fun. I didn’t really know what to expect of it but I was surprised none the less. Plus it is where ketchup comes from so it has to be good. Anyway, the conference was good. Next year it is in Long Beach, CA. Hopefully I’ll be able to go to that one too since I’ve never been to Cali.

Cycling Equipment Review: The Helmet Lock

I was contacted a while ago by a rep from thehelmetlock.com to do a product review. Even though this is just a modest little blog (that has been neglected in recent months) I am happy to do a product review… especially if I get free stuff! So here is the scoop. The product is called The Helmet Lock. The Helmet Lock’s key to being ingenious is its simplicity. It is basically a metal loop with a bolt that is covered in plastic (to keep my bike scratch free). The picture to the right shows a closeup of it. To use it you push to loops on either end of the lock through holes in the helmet leaving the bolt on the inside. A U-lock, or cable lock in my case, is then pushed through the loops and locked just like you would normally lock the bike. So, like any good scientist, I’m going to summarize my findings.

The good

This invention is easy to use and is extremely useful for bike commuting and recreation. It also stores well by just putting it on your bike lock. The website for it (see above) has great pictures for step by step directions. They probably aren’t needed though because the locks are pretty intuitive. I keep it on my bike and use it just about every time I lock up my bike.

The bad

I didn’t sacrifice the helmet lock that was sent to me to test how strong it holds up to pliers or bolt cutters. However I don’t think the lock would do a whole lot to stop a determined bike/helmet thief. On the other hand, if the person is going to go through so much trouble to steal a $30 commuter helmet then they are probably gonna steal your bike too. This isn’t something that would keep me from buying a helmet lock.

The ugly

Actually the locks look great – I just couldn’t resist the classic western reference.

Here are some more picks I took of The Helmet Lock that you can purchase from thehelmetlock.com for $12.95 or $19.95 for 2.