Bike Tour/Camping Extravaganza

Just over a week ago we returned from my "dream vacation." Shortly after getting into bikes and realizing what they were capable of, I have wanted to do a bike tour. When Ashley and I were sans child, we embarked on an ambitious 165 mile trip from Los Angeles to San Diego with our best friends the Nelsons.

It was a great trip, but it taught us a lot about touring and reminded me of how much we didn't know about bike touring.

Fast forward four years, two children later... and I still have the itch to do a multi-day family bike tour. I've read several books on bike touring with small children, and countless blogs on the matter - so I felt relatively prepared for our ambitious endeavor.

The plan was simple. Our family was to team up with Ashley's sister's family, the Cherrys and bike 110 miles in Northern Michigan and see what kind of adventure we could get up to. Four adults, five children under 9, what did the future have in store for us?

Here we are pre-tour. Leaving from the comfortable yet smarmy Econo Lodge in Gaylord Michigan. A variety of cargo mounting and child carrying options are on display here, most notably 8 year old Lane who biked the entire 119 mile trip...

We quickly made our way through the "Alpine Village" of Gaylord Michigan to pick up the Gaylord-Cheboygan Trail which would serve as the backbone of our trip. Looking to get a little local intel the night before, I inquired about the existence of said trail from our server at Bob Evan's. I was a little worried when he referenced it as the "snowmobile trail" with some level of confusion as to why we'd be riding our bikes on it.

I had looked at the trail on Google Earth countless times and read a few old blogs about people's experience with the trail, but to be honest it was still a complete shot in the dark and it could've turned out to be a total nightmare of a route...

It turned out to be completely amazing. From a technical standpoint, I believe the surface is called "crushed granite." A very hard, compacted dirt trail with a light sprinkling of gravel on top. The gravel was a little loose at the entry points, but overall it made for a wonderful riding surface. Most of the time the trail was cutting through the woods, and afforded all sorts of wildlife sighting and shady resting points.

The first day was almost all downhill which Ashley noticed immediately, but was completely beyond me. The downhill trek made for quick times and an inflated sense of pride and the kind of distance we could normally carry under such heavily laden bicycles.

We took plenty of pit stops and there were a few small towns encouraged timely snacking and drink replenishment. Wolverine, Michigan was one such spot.

Here the group recharges with some fresh gatorades and snacks while Ed naps in the back of the Xtracycle.

As we pulled into our campsite on the first night, I was really feeling proud of myself for our good luck and how beautiful our campsite was. I had made all the reservations on the Michigan DNR website, which allows you to look at the campground map and choose your sites accordingly. Without any foreknowledge, I just picked the sites that appeared to be the closest to the lake and in good proximity to the bathrooms.

All the bikes at our first night's camp - Burt Lake State Park in Indian River, Michigan.

Few things feel better after a full, hot day on a big heavy bike than a dip in a lake and a hot shower. Our campground provided both.

Matching Farmer Tans.

The kids loved the lake - obviously.

The other component of the tour that we decided to skip out on was packing all our meals. We did lunch (mostly) on the road, and ate breakfast and dinner in town, or rather - had people bring it to us. Wiser, more experienced family bike tourers might know that once you are in camp camp relaxing and clean, the last thing you want to do is get everyone back on the bikes to get dinner. When we were heading into town the last thing we wanted to do was curtail our momentum for a dinner break. Catch 22.

Delivery to the rescue!

Fortunately we found a place that delivered to the campground. The heavens had parted. What a treat to have nice, warm pizza brought to you while you set up camp! Some hard core-types might take issue with this. To them I say - why are you reading our blog - scram.

Some more highlights. From the first night.

Ed photo-bombing George's attempt to push Ashley into the Lake - backstory, Ashley is notoriously reticent to commit to the "full plunge" but told the kids they could push her in. Great mom/aunt.

Not too shabby Michigan, I like the vibe you are putting out.

Our little "angels" sleeping

There were tons of unknowns on this trip - one of the biggest being "how will the boys sleep?" We have a nice, but cozy three man tent. Prior to this trip, Ed had camped once and the boys had never slept in such close confines. I was sure it was going to be armageddon once night fell. But, after the initial wrestle of getting them to sleep, both guys slept like champions, tossing and turning as expected but not waking up once during the middle of the night, each night.  We really scored big time in that regard. I think we may need a tent upgrade for size, but other than that we were all engines go.

Our second day started off on a high note, as any day should after you slam a "Mac & Donald's" (as George says it) breakfast.

Here we are in the McD's parking lot. I must admit, one of the amazing things about this trip was the sense of pride and accomplishment that came from being a part of this massive, impossible to ignore, family-bike spectacle.

The second day of riding was more scenic than the first - giving us a great view of small tourist towns and lakes to the east of us all day. Made for some wonderful "break time" where Ashley most likely stepped into poison ivy.

Me, the boys, and the rig - the Xtracycle. A modern marvel.

Our first campsite was very close to the trail, but that was not the case the second night. The second day was much hotter, and two plus days of riding had caught up with us. We were getting mobbed by mosquitos, tired, hot, and wanted to get to our campsite.

Fortunately, our campsite again was close to the water - though it wasn't exactly sandy beaches. More of a swamp. Not the stinky malaria ridden kind. Maybe more of a "marsh" might be accurate.

Our campsite was on Duncan Bay, of Lake Huron. It was unlike anything I've ever seen. The entire thing was incredibly shallow, no more than a foot and a half deep as far as you could see. The result is really warm waters, and the largest child pool you could possibly imagine.

Fun for the kids, not quite as refreshing as the first day. Here George and I are about 100 feet out and I'm still only in 5 in deep water.

Safety First Ed, Safety First.

Ashley has never met a Kayak trip she wasn't interested in testing out. The campground had some for rentals and the gals took the kids out on a pleasure cruise. I walked through the bay.

I should mention that prior to this, every single blog I had read about family bike touring and camping  - the family's always encounter a "why are we doing this/let's go back/the trip's over" moment. Foolishly, I thought we weren't going to get to that point. Though, starving, being eaten alive by mosquitos drove us close.

The second night George and my nephew Henry were fooling around by the campfire. They were chasing each other and Henry ran away from George, without looking, right up to the edge of the fire pit. It was horrifying, and he was in a lot of pain. After a very confusing, stressful hour or so, we got Henry into town (thank you smart phones, taxis) to the ER. At that point, we weren't sure if the tour would go on. Henry's health was obviously the priority.

We ordered out again, from the same chain (BC Pizza), this time opting for their sandwiches. The sandwiches, by and large were unsatisfying if not atrocities to the sandwich genre, we got thousands of mosquito bites, and tucked in for an early night.

The news the next day was good. Henry had only a few 1st degree burns, and one 2nd degree burn on his arm. If properly bandaged and kept clean, the doctors said we could finish the tour. After some medication for the pain - Henry was feeling up to it so we all decided to continue on, though our spirits were slightly crestfallen after a hellish latter half of the second day.

The third day started off well with some freshening up, and a hearty breakfast at Bob's Big Boy.

Ashley spotted a turtle - the kids were so excited. Other animals we saw included: fox, deer, snake, hawk, squirrel, chipmunk - and I had a duel with a raccoon that was totally not afraid of me until I threw my hatchet at it "Who else want's some of Devo?" I was so mad that the dumb racoon wasn't cowering in my sight and I was half sure that I was going to get rabies and also furious that I was up in the middle of the night and getting eaten by mosquitos. All the pent up aggression came out in a furious throw of the hatchet. David 1. Racoon 0. 

The third night we found ourselves back in the friendly confines of Burt Lake State Park. This time, we planned ahead and ate in town. I will say this about our eating during the trip - we ate decadently. It was glorious. Food tastes so good when you are starving and you've been biking all day. After playing in the lake, and showering we just narrowly avoided a torrential downpour.

Because we had no where to go, we just waited out the storm by the showers. We were tracking the storm that soaked our campsite to the bone - and saw another,  massive storm just a few miles out. Rather than risk the most miserable night's sleep possible, we high-tailed it for a local motel that was honestly more rustic than our tents.

I don't recall if you remember this factoid, but Ashley was the only one keen enough to sense that we were going downhill entirely the first day. Since our route was a simple up and back, that meant that our entire fourth day, the last day... was all up hill. It was a long slog. The solution, lots of stops, lots of snacks, and get in a low gear and just crank it out. 

As we neared completion, spirits began to soar. We really had accomplished something.

This was what most of our view was like. So scenic. Not like many bike paths I've ridden where you are in sketchy  neighborhoods or in an industrial wasteland. We had amazing views and allowed for a lot of time of appreciating the outdoors and this beautiful world we live in. I am so grateful for that.

Ashley shows her key to rounding out a grueling bike tour - fresh "dietas".

I think this picture sums it up perfectly.

All in all there are some things I would do differently, but not much. On my other bike blog (long neglected) I'm planning on getting into some more of the nitty gritty technical stuff that I've been thinking about (gear, planning, etc.)

All in all, this was the trip of a lifetime and I hope that it is at least an annual event for our family. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Camping and a Birthday

This past weekend we took a stab at two-child camping. While George is a seasoned camper (he's been camping since he was probably 5 months old), Ed has never been. Adding to this, we only have a (albeit roomy) three-man tent. I guess on paper George and Ed technically make up one person, but in reality they both require the space of 1.75 full grown men, meaning that we now need at least a six-man tent for the four of us.

We headed north to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin with some friends from the ward. Four couples, each with two children ranging between three months and three years. If memory serves... George was the oldest. It is so much fun to have friends who are in the same boat as you, and see other parents deal with the same issues you do (e.g. defiance, picky eating, timeouts, potty-training, etc). Most parts of camping were a total success, though Ed could've been a better sleeper between the hours of 3-5 am. We still have some kinks to work out but all in all we had a great time.

Without further ado - the pictures:

Ashley and Ed. Ed is a seriously needy  sweet little guy. It amazes us to think of him at George's age. There are many similarities between him and George, but mostly differences. It is a lot of fun to see them develop and become little people. 

One thing that worries us is George's lack of personality. It always seems like we are trying to goad him into acting silly/like a little boy. We are very worried about our "little wall flower" as we like to call him ; ). 

Ed likes to be held. Unless of course, I'm holding him around Ashley. Then he ducks and dives for her. Ed loves to be held, except when he doesn't. Then he hates it. Confused? So are we. 

George is growing up into a little boy. He is a loyal and caring older brother. One of my favorite recent stories involves George at the playground. George had befriended an older boy (as he frequently does) and they were playing super-heroes. They spotted Ed who was crawling around happily. The other boy said, "let's shoot that evil baby." George, struck with a brief moment of crisis/peer pressure looked at the boy - then ducked down and hugged Ed and leaned over to protect him and said, "no, he's my brother!" It was so sweet, and I was so proud of George. As an older brother, I hope George follows the most important rule of older brothers, "Under no circumstances can you ever allow any one to pick on your younger brother. Except you."

Ed was much more efficient than George when it came to eating cake. George tepidly leaned in, frequently coming up for praise/clapping between half bites. Ed took both of his hands and manhandled that cake, licking his fingers clean. I was very proud. If I wasn't concerned with morbid obesity, I would encourage Ed to use his talents to become a competitive eater (parallel universe dream of mine).

 Cliff Edward Pulsipher - clearly inherited the dominant "Potter" Cake-Affinity gene.

We love this little guy so much. We feel very fortunate that he has an older brother that loves him terribly. Despite a preference for being held as opposed to playing on the ground, he has proven to be a pretty low-maintenance baby. Keep up the good work Ed, we love you.

I'm sure many of you parents can agree - watching your children grow up is amazing, but also sad. It is sad to see them evolve out of phases that you love so much. Sad to see their bodies change from soft doughy chubbiness into lean, musclely molds of toddler.  Good bye to your first year of life Ed.  May you have many many more and I hope that we can say good bye to them every year with you. With that in mind, I present the following:

pt III: respite

We came to Colorado Springs with heavy hearts, compounded by the anxiety of myriad unknowns.  Quickly though we were wrapped up in love by our family.  Ashley and I are both very fortunate to have an extensive network of parents and siblings that love us and our boys. This was affirmed to us through out our time in the Springs.

 One of the first events that allowed both our families to get together was George's birthday. Ashley's sister Amie and all her kids came, as well as my sister Blythe, her family, and my brother Eli and his family. Not to mention both our parents. It was a cousin, aunt, uncle, grandparent smorgasbord.

 It was great to have so many familiar faces around for George's birthday party. He loved being the center of attention and getting lots of playtime with cousins.

George loves the happy birthday song. Though I'm afraid that he's convinced that his name is a permanent fixture in the song and cannot be used for other people.

George got outfitted by stylist for the stars and all of my children, Aunt Blythe. 

George got some much needed/welcomed help opening his presents from his cousin Jada.

Life settled down a little bit after his birthday party, and we discovered another love of George's, dirt. 

Coal miner - nope, just dirt enthusiast. 

Of course it helps to get some new trucks that play oh-so-well in the aforementioned dirt. 

Any time George came in looking like a depression era field hand I knew he had been in the dirt for at least 13 seconds. It didn't take long for him to work his magic. 

Ed continues to grow, almost exponentially. He seems to be much chubbier than George. He is very happy most of the time (as long as he's being held).

Easter came - and Ed and George really loved getting to spend the day hunting with the cousins in Grandma & Grandpa Potter's backyard. The eggs were abundant and so was the unsupervised consumption of chocolate.

Ashley's sister Amie is a fantastic photographer. She did the bulk of our wedding photos because we got married in a blizzard and our photographer punked out big time. I love this picture of George.

Ed is a happy guy and its really easy to make him smile. George was much more of a "poker face". Which coincidentally was his favorite song when he was born.

Just look at these friggin guys. We are lucky parents.

Easter was a grand success though it was difficult staying one step ahead of George in terms of moderating his candy intake. He is very sneaky - this is a firsthand account from Grandma Potter.

Grandma - George, do you like candy?

George - Yes, I hide it in my room.

We've also started George on his big boy bike. It's a harder transition from his little scootbike because he's just so skilled at it. It's like asking a grand pianist to take up another instrument.

In summation, we have had a great stay in "the Springs." As some of you may know I was offered a job in Chicago and will be moving out there this week to start and find a place for us to live.

Stay tuned for more pictures and adventures of Ed, George, Ashley and David.

pt II: escape

In early January our neighbor Tyler came over to our house with a fiendish look in his eye. I could tell something was up but I wasn't sure which direction his mischief was going. He then asks us, "How would you like to go to Atlantis?"

I was a little, dumbfounded. I wasn't sure if Atlantis was a new seafood restaurant in Bozeman, or if he actually meant the legendary lost city.  Turns out both of my assumptions were wrong, he meant the paradisiacal resort of Atlantis.

My response was... "uhh... is this a joke?" Tyler's wife Chelsy finally intervened and said something to the effect of, "Tyler quit goofing around and tell them what's going on."

Tyler then goes on to explain that because of his incredible sales acumen, he was awarded with not one but TWO, all expenses paid trips (for two) to the Atlantis resort in the Bahamas and they were inviting us to come with them.  We really couldn't grasp what was going on, the enormity/generosity of it all. Prior to this we were kind of down in the dumps and I must say that having this trip on the horizon was a huge blessing.

We had an amazing time with our friends and neighbors, the Barnwells. We basked in the sun, buffets, and gluttony/extravagance of it all. Here are a few of the highlights.  Not pictured are highlights from clubbing, and yacht admiring.

This is at the entryway to the resort. Ashley was totally decked out in resort gear the entire time and looked like she was a well-seasoned resort hopper.  

 Alas, Ashley's cover was blown by her husband who drank about 5 glasses of chocolate milk a morning and four pieces of coffee cake. Violating the first rule of resort living, "act like you've been here before." ;)

 One day we left the island and went to downtown Nassau. The Bahamas are a part of the Commonwealth of the United Kingdom. They had just finished celebrating the 60th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth's inauguration. God Save the Queen!

Chelsy and Ashley are serious shoppers, so "it was a mighty duel" to dissuade them from buying these creepy dolls to bring home as souvenirs. 

 We then went to the market and bought mostly a bunch of knick knacks. The best part about these places are the vendors. Their sales pitches are hilarious, "slow day special", "I made these myself", and our favorite, "come here, lean closer, closer, don't tell anyone, how much do you want to spend on this?"  Ashley is a world class barterer and should not be trifled with. 

 Spring break for a lot of Florida University Students. We thought about joining the booze cruise but wanted to be in bed by 7:30 ; ).

 Chelsy and Ashley on the little boat that took us back to the Atlantis resort.

 As Tyler and Chelsy's guests freeloaders, we were treated to free dinner every night. It was amazing. I would guess that that perk alone allowed us to gain approximately 10lbs.

 Ashley got these rad shoes (pictured above) that added approximately 4 inches to her height, bringing her within an inch or so of me. I loved it. She looked so beautiful the whole time and there's just something about a tall, beautiful woman. ; ). Show stopper.

 The resort was basically on par in terms of lavishness with a premier Los Vegas Casino/Hotel. No expense was spared. The aquariums, water rides, beaches and other amenities were top notch and we really felt like we were in a dreamland.

Us and the Barnwells having our last breakfast before we departed. We were truly blessed to have the Barnwells as neighbors, not just because we were their vacation stowaways, but because it was so fun to have friends right next door that we could have bonfires with, parties, dinner, and watch garbage tv together.  We will miss living next to them so much.

This sums up our Bahamanian adventure. Next up will be a post about our live in Colorado Springs.