Swarms.  Legions.  Flocks.  Skeins.  Gaggles.  Googols.  Armies.  Droves.  Throngs.  Murders. After a month of emptiness, don’t you think we should lurch back the other direction?  This seems like a challenge everyone can participate in, regardless of season or environs.  We expect to see a host of submissions this month, featuring many different aggregations.  What’s the … Continue reading "December Challenge: Collections"

Things were going very Minnesotan this month, a cold and wet November, my bike froze up, see featured image (fake news??). ‘ Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery’ they say, so I’ll return he favour of Greg’s ‘Hastings Little Australia theme park’ and demonstrate how we’re going Minnesotan around here. I agree that Plataturkeypus-up is … Continue reading "Plataturkeypus-up and emptiness"

No more bicycling in these entries, but this concludes our expedition to the Warm Springs oases in Saline Valley of Death Valley National Park, in case anyone is interested. Hiking Oasis Departing

For my third day ride from base camp in the desert at Lower Warm Springs in the Saline Valley of Death Valley National Park, I wanted to drive the Forester to Lippincott Road. Here’s what the National Park Service has to say about that: “Rough 4WD. Very steep, exposed, and winding with cliff edge washouts. … Continue reading "Death Valley: Warm and Saline: Ride 3, Warm Springs Road"

For my second day ride from base camp in the desert at Lower Warm Springs in the Saline Valley of Death Valley National Park, I wanted to pedal up Steel Pass Road toward Dedeckera Canyon and Eureka Sand Dunes, roughly 20-25 miles distant. In January I pedaled from the dunes to the top of the canyon … Continue reading "Death Valley: Warm and Saline: Ride 2, Steel Pass Road"

Due to never-ending pandemic, wildfires burning up to the edge of our home, and family obligations back East, 2020 has prevented me from undertaking as many bicycling expeditions as I would in a typical year. I made it to Death Valley in January and Nevada in February, but that’s about it. Despite those triple constraints, I’ve remained determined … Continue reading "Death Valley: Warm and Saline: Arrival and Ride 1"

Well I’ve just managed to slip this post in edgeways to complete this months challenge. True, it’s the 1st of November here but this website is still in Californian time and I’ve really been busy doing lots of rides lately. A few weeks ago I joined my cycling club and rode for nine days around … Continue reading "October Challenge – Vanishing points"

Built in 1927 and named after one of the town’s founders Alba Honeywell History of the school The demolition begins  🙁 Vanished So, this may be something for the Vanishing Challenge, or equally, the possible Empty Spaces Challenge Nancy suggested I can say this, no one was happy about the fate of the school, and … Continue reading "Vanished or Vanquished?"

So the feature photo has just one example of vanishing lines from a short overnight ride the guys and I did on Fri/Sat. There’s more vanishing lines to be found in my journal entry which can be found here: https://rambleoutyonder.org/2020/10/04/shifting-oct-ride-1-re-emerging/

The feature photo is of the Scott Covered Bridge, one of same bridges you’ve seen before. If you look real close, my bike is located at the exact center at the far end of the bridge. This weekend is Adventure Cycling’s Bike Travel Weekend and Bike Your Park Day. So, I decided it would be … Continue reading "Bike Your Park Day"

…perhaps this photo from Albuquerque (bike bridge over the Rio Grande) in 2016 will fulfill the criteria.

I’m retired, so I no longer commute to campus by bicycle. But I still try to participate in “Bike to Work Day.” That might be a global phenomenon, or just in the US, or just around the San Francisco Bay Area. Not sure. But it happens in Santa Rosa every year, and there are always … Continue reading "Bike to Wherever Day"

Vanishing point: the point at which receding parallel lines viewed in perspective appear to converge. This month’s theme was inspired by this striking photo from Suzanne’s latest post: I especially like this example because it shows both horizontal and vertical convergence.  There are a couple of other examples below.  Note that the lines don’t actually … Continue reading "Challenge of the month, October 2020: Vanishing Points"

All the fires in Sonoma County, the North Bay, and the greater Bay Area are under control, completely contained, mostly extinguished, and not putting out much smoke. On the other hand, big fires farther away to the north, east, and south continue to rage across thousands of acres. Depending on prevailing winds, some days are … Continue reading "Clear blue equinox"

Did a mostly gravel ride today, and noticed that these downed trees on the trail form something of a natural arch. And, I even remembered to include the bike in the photo. On another note, smoke from the fires out west have reached the east coast. We’ve been having some really bizarre looking sunrises and … Continue reading "An arch, or at least something arch-like"

I’ve been trying to get to the coast for a ride for at least a week, but the poisonous air quality around here has extended out to the ocean and beyond, which is quite unusual. Every day I look for somewhere in the Bay Area with tolerable air, figuring the breezy coast should be okay, … Continue reading "Dog Beach"

Spring has sprung. We’ve been having many perfect days since the beginning of the month. The cherry and apple blossoms are gone and those trees have leafed out now. The magpies are swooping big-time. I have at least 6 different kinds of flowers blooming in my front garden. Many other trees have started to blossom … Continue reading "The guys go look for arches"

Quick science lesson: Smoke from distant fires rises high into the atmosphere, flattens into thick layer. Wind pushes layer of smoke hundreds of miles away above Santa Rosa and the Bay Area. High, thick layer of smoke completely blots out the sun. At lower elevations, marine layer pushes in from the Pacific Ocean and forms … Continue reading "There has to be an invisible sun"

Well I’m glad that there are 31 days in August and I just managed to sneak a ride up to the television towers before work. I do take my monthly challenge seriously, so I just made it…Pheww. Well we don’t have any nuclear power stations or weapons anywhere around here so I googled ‘radiation’ and … Continue reading "Hooked on Radiation"

I’ll bet you thought I’d forget about posing this month’s Challenge, enjoying myself cruising around over here in Croatia with Rocky and pretending that the world isn’t falling apart before our eyes.  Nope. Let’s stick with shapes again for another month, and look at another versatile shape: arches.  Lots of possibilities here, natural and un: … Continue reading "Challenge of the month, September 2020: Arches"

Just happened to be in the right place at the right time . . . . . Thanks to Bill’s suggestion and Bob’s train photos I never would have thought of it Riding down 7th street, I happened to hear CSX sounding 2 miles to the south — right turn on to 4000N and half … Continue reading "CSX Doppler"

This was covered some time ago, and originated by Bill Makes kind of a neat photo of the reflective stripes shooting photons back to the camera

No riding for a few days past, today, or a few days to come. Rare two-day lightning storm, record high temperatures, hundreds of wildfires, smoke filling the sky, ash falling like snow, and power outages. The image, captured from the Web, shows nearby fires as of approximately 4:00 PM today, with Sonoma County evacuations zones, … Continue reading "“Fire radiative power”"

No question about radiation from whatever this was attached to “We are just little cogs in the wheel of life” (Paraphrased from Mongo in Blazing Saddles) Double Radials Radiating R’s Radiating Reinforcements Radiating (?) mud cracks at JR’s Recyclables