When I arrived at Texas Springs Campground (sort of in the central portion of the park near Furnace Creek) it was almost full. It's one of those first-come, first-served self-check-in campgrounds, so you have to drive around and find an empty spot. It took a while but I pulled into what I thought was an open site at the same time as someone else pulled in to the one next to me. We looked at each other and said, “Hi neighbor!” But a few minutes later they pulled out and went to another spot. As I was standing there looking around, a little old lady (the 80-year old camp host) came up and told me I was in a handicap only site, so I had to move. She said there were only three empty sites left and told me where they were.
As I pulled into my next selected site, I saw that my new neighbors were actually the young couple that had pulled in beside me earlier. We looked at each other and laughed. They had gotten the last site that had a picnic table and fire ring. My site had nothing. But it was better than no site at all. Being nice neighbors, the young couple (Ian and Jennifer) invited me to join them at their table and campfire. They were very sweet and pleasant. We had a wonderful time sitting around the campfire in the evening and talking the night away, literally.
We were neighbors for Wednesday night also and once again they were gracious and companionable and we spent another evening talking around the campfire. By the time the night was over, we each knew quite a bit about the other. I spent two more nights at Texas Springs. On Friday night, Ian and Jennifer joined me at my camp site after spending Thursday in the back-country. (I had moved to a new site Thursday morning with a table and fire ring.) Thank you, Ian and Jennifer, for helping to make my evenings in Death Valley so enjoyable. It was great fun!
Death Valley from Dante's View, 5500 feet above the valley.
The Golden Mountains. Those two little vertical “lines” in the middle of the picture are people!
This is an area known as the Artist's Palette.
At Zabriskie Point.
Zabriskie Point.
The Devil's Golf Course. Telescope Peak, in the background, is the highest peak (over 11,000 feet) in the Panamint Range that borders Death Valley on the west.
Close up view of the Devil's Golf Course. In 1934, it was determined that the salt and gravel beds of the Devil's Golf Course extend to a depth of more than 1,000 feet. Later studies suggest that in places the depth ranges up to 9,000 feet.
The salt flats at Badwater, which is the lowest point in Death Valley at 232 feet below sea level. Walking on the salt flats was strange. It looked like concrete but there was some “give” in each step. In several spots there were muddy pools of water where small holes had been made in the salt flat.
Remember Al ? He's been hanging around a bit. Sometimes he needs encouragement. Frey offers a few words.
Separation Anxiety starts at the little hobbit hole, so I crawled in for a fresh perspective.Al clowned it up of course.
It has been pointed out to me via email by a helpful reader that I forgot to commemorate St. Valentine's Day with a give-away, a cocktail recipe, or at least a ridiculous post. Well, to tell you the truth, that's because I am not big on celebrating it. Exchanging gifts and going out to "romantic dinners" on a prescribed day feels forced to me and I prefer to just ignore the whole frilly pink business of it. But you are right: That's no reason to deprive my readers of a give-away. So, I will offer a little something both to those who observe Valentine's Day and to those who do not.
Behind the church in Old Town is a very big, old cottonwood tree. About 10 feet up the tree is a tree bole as is common in cottonwoods. Someone had taken the time, and talent to carve a old-style catholic saint, (I guess that is what it is as I am not catholic and not into the old art that much.) I do know it is very unique.
This is a pretty typical bike lane in Vienna. The snow is mostly cleared, but this morning there were some patches of ice. Cycling on the road is prohibited in areas where bike lanes are provided.
Intersection: bicycles wait for green and ride parallel to the pedestrian crossing.
Bike lane ends: bicycles proceed on the road along designated bike route.
Continuation of bike route on the road. 30 km/h speed limit (though to my eye cars go faster). Notice the tram tracks.
Close-up of tram tracks - yikes! They criss-cross and there is basically no way to avoid them. The thought of cycling parallel to these for several blocks on an icy day fills me with dread (see this post about railroad tracks) and I did not see any cyclists on this street today, despite it being a designated bike route.
Quite a bit of snow has fallen over the past week leaving plenty at Paradise (a solid 2 feet). As you can see in this John 
Don't know whether others have seen the classic film, 
Miss Brodie mounts her bicycle with ease using the proper Sheldon Brown method. Her long, narrow skirt does not seem to impede the mounting maneuver one bit.
Notice how straight her leg is on the pedal as she cycles: completely extended. She would definitely not be able to reach the ground with her toe in traffic.
Ah, here she indicates that she is about to stop. Look at all that stuff on her bike! Rolls of paper in the basket, and what looks like a wooden trunk strapped to the rear rack. You can hardly tell due to the bad quality of these images, but it looks like her bicycle has all blackout parts on it. Does anybody know what year they began doing that?
To get off the bicycle, she takes her right foot off the pedal and swings the leg over the frame while the bicycle is still in motion.
Then she coasts for a bit in this standing position - with the left foot on the left pedal and the right foot supposedly in the air next to it? - until she hops off and the bicycle comes to a stop. Impressive! - and no way can I pull that off.
Last weekend we visited the New England Bicycle Expo - held right here in Somerville, MA. We weren't sure what to expect: Would it be a handmade bicycle show? or a trade show of larger manufacturers? Turns out, it was a bit of everything: a mix of local framebuilders, artisans, manufacturers, and various cycling-related organisations. The show was relatively small and had a "country fair" feel to it - which was pleasant and personable.
The Expo was held at the Armory - an old military structure, refashioned into a community arts center. I did not have the right lens on my camera to photograph the entire building, but you can see ithere. The Armory basically looks like a cartoon castle, and I always get excited upon seeing it in what is otherwise a normal, residential neighbourhood. It's just so unexpected: House, house, house...castle!
Booths were set up pretty much all over the place, making use of the interior's pre-existing structures.Some areas were well-lit, while others were cavernous, which created interesting contrasts and a sense of mystery, but made it all darn difficult to photograph.
Some exibitors set up their spaces inside tents, which contributed to the country fair vibe. Wandering around the tents, I found myself craving a corndog on a stick. Ciclismo Classico had a large information tent.
Geekhouse booth - shaped like an actual house, with an actual geek in it. Those guys do not disappoint.
Royal H. Cycles took the stage - literally. There is a stage in the Armory, and that's where he set up. Naturally, the crowd kept expecting a performance.
Instead, they got to look at Bryan's beautiful bikes, including the Randonneur we are collaborating on.
Those curious about framebuilding got to see a frame in progress, with filing marks visible and flux still caked onto it.
Icarus shared the stage, the delicate details stunning anyone who examined the flawlessly fillet-brazed frames.
The finishing on Icarus frames is just amazing.
Tiny stainless steel feather details in unexpected locations on the frame and fork are his trademarks.
Folk Engineered displayed a very memorable bicycle that was designed to look like it was stitched together.
Like this!
The seams are not painted on; this is a fully tactile experience. And I believe that's a rendering of New Jersey on the seat tube.
ANT had some new mixte basket-bikes built up, with lots of nice custom touches. A few of us rode one of the bikes and I will write about that at some point in the future.
An aerial view of "ANT Bike Mike" (the framebuilder Mike Flanigan), looking very cool in his shades and cap.
And another local framebuilding legend, Christopher Igleheart.
I was impressed with the Igleheart bicycles we saw on display - in particular this unique Randonneur, built especially for Paris-Brest-Paris.
Notice anything unusual here? Hint: Look at the handlebars. There are two sets of shifters, enabling the cyclist to shift both while on the hoods and in the drops, without changing hand positions. You would think such a set-up would be clunky, but here it is executed so elegantly, that nothing even seems out of the ordinary until you look closely.
Two sets of shifter cables, neatly routed.
Another interesting feature this bicycle had was this button built into the stem. It's a switch for regulating the headlight beam. I want!
More Igleheart work. How about these dropouts!
Dynamic chainless bikes were giving presentations.
These bicycles use shaft drives and have enormously wide bottom brackets. People were test-riding them outside, but we didn't have a chance to.
Alongside the framebuilders and bicycle manufacturers were makers of cycling accessories. I really liked the Alchemist wool jerseys.
2nd Suit cycling caps were on display, made of thrifted garments.
I found the colour and textural combinations they used appealing.
Very popular at the Expo was this belle of bicycle helmets. Belle helmets are handpainted in acrylic, with the coolest motifs. Although you may have noticed that I neither promote nor wear this particular accessory, I can't help but want to promote a fellow artist.
There is one painted like an apple. An apple!
An apple(!!) The ridiculously realistic rendering is just awesome. It makes me imagine some giant accidentally biting off a cyclist's head.
Speaking of edibles, Zipcar was at the expo, giving away mints. I reviewed my experience with Zipcar here earlier.
And a cafe was set up by the entrance, selling coffee and surprisingly healthy food.
Lots of people brought their own interesting bikes to the show as well.
Owners of the above Bullitt- Brian P. of Bummels and Jaunts, with family.
Interesting wooden trailer, belonging to another family.
Vintage cruiser advertising a gas and oil company.
And a true piece of history - an 1895 Eaglewith curved seat tube.
Wooden grips and spoon brake. There are many more picture of this bicycle here, if you're curious; it's really something.
Expo organiser, Rob Hill. This was a great event he put together, and I hope it continues for years to come.
If I have to assess how the expo turned out, I would describe it as small, friendly and low-key. The upside of that, is that the atmosphere was comfortable, open and inviting. The downside, is that it was perhaps too small and low-key for what the name of the event suggested. Frankly, I think the expo could have been promoted more extensively, and could have benefited from more media coverage. Boston has a huge cycling culture, and I saw only a small fraction of it reflected among the attendees. Many people I told about it locally simply did not know it was happening, but would have loved to go. Perhaps that is something to consider for next year - and I hope very much that there will be a next year! This was an exciting and promising beginning that I would love to see become a local tradition.