Month: April 2022

It was January 1977 when I got my first taste of genealogy.  A mini-series called Roots appeared on ABC.  It was an 8 episode television program airing every day with viewership estimated at 130-140 million people.  At the time, there were only 221 million people in the U.S., so 60% or so.  It was the… Continue reading Start Tracing

My girlfriend Becky and I were hiking in the Brighton Recreation Area today. It’s a fantastic resource about 3 miles from my house.  We hiked the 5 mile trail that is restricted for bikes, but there are 3 mountain bike trails that total about 20 miles.   We saw this mileage marker and we both… Continue reading The Letter (Update)

I’ve been thinking about doing an epic bicycle trip for a long time.  It’s a lot easier to dream about something like this than actually put in motion everything you need to do.     The first thing I realized I needed was a lot more time on my bike.  The original mileage looked to… Continue reading Getting Ready (aka Training)

I was explaining this journey to two of my brothers, Mike and Greg.  Mike was really excited to go but with only a few months to train and working non-stop as a teacher and tutor, he just couldn’t get enough miles ridden to be prepared for this trip.  Greg on the other hand was all-in. … Continue reading I’ve Got Company

As I mentioned in Planing the Route to New Jersey (Part 1), I didn’t have a lot to go on from The Letter. Since the furthest South and East GW Howell rode his horse was Fremont, OH, that left a lot of open territory to cover on my route to New Jersey.     In the early… Continue reading Planning the Route to New Jersey (Part 2)

I have 7 letters from the early 1800s that my cousin Janel sent me in email.  The first thing I noticed is that they were all typed.  That is really unfortunate because I think the originals must have been hand written.  This means someone transcribed the letters and that can lead to misinterpretations or mistakes… Continue reading The Letter

The calendar says Spring starts in March.  In Michigan, that really isn’t true.  Spring doesn’t start until you can leave your winter coat on the back of the chair (because tomorrow you may need it), go outside and feel the warmth of the sun, and realize it’s only in the 60s, but it feels so… Continue reading Hurray, Spring!!!

BREAKING NEWS: I picked up my new horse tonight.    All right, I know, it’s a bicycle, but as you know, that’s my transportation for this adventure.   The rationale for the new bike is that my current bike is really a gravel road racing bike.  It’s not really made for long distance riding. The tires… Continue reading A New “Horse”