Daniel Masters Bike Riding

 

This year’s camping season opened with a trip to Monte Sano State Park for the Memorial Day weekend, and it was undoubtedly the best time we have ever had there.  Our site was great, the weather worked with us, and Number 1 son learned how to ride his bike during the three day weekend.

Last year’s camping season closer to Tims Ford was supposed to culminate in Daniel learning how to ride, but I had sprained my ankle rather badly the week before we left while cooking chicken for our Sunday School class, and was unable to run along side of him after his bike’s training wheels were removed.  The weather stayed cold after that trip, so the bike was just put away.

In the meantime, Jared had received a new bike with training wheels for his birthday, and opportunities to ride it in warm weather on level ground had been few & far between.  Monte Sano’s roads are inclined just the right amount to help new bicyclists appreciate hills without exhausting them in the process.

 

 

But alas, Daniel found out that cuts, scrapes, and bruises are peppered throughout bicycling’s learning curve.  The Overlander’s well-stocked first aid kit, however, was able to accommodate everything that happened.

Notice the 10-speed bike in front of the Airstream?  It’s vintage too!  Back around 1974 or so, my older brother and I both got Vista bikes; his was brown, and mine red.  Andy got his driver’s license within a year or so of getting his 10-speed & quit riding.  I wore out my bike, and started riding his.  Unfortunately for Daniel, I blew a tire after only a few miles.   While I could replace it, plans are to get a new bike more suitable for trails.

Candy runs to the campground’s general store are much faster now with the Boyz on wheels.

Daniel takes inventory of his scrapes & bruises before the next outing.

Check out the new, folding, canvas stools Mema & Papa Joe gave us for Christmas.   Now we can all comfortably sit around the table.

Many minor modifications to the Airstream had been made since our last trip to a campground, and I was pleased to find that all of them made life a little easier.  A little bit of severe weather threatened us one afternoon, but after checking the new weather radio, Kim decided it would blow past us.  But just to be on the safe side, she checked the television wired to the external UHF antenna with new quad-shielded RG-6 coaxial cable.  RG-6 is suitable for satellite TV or a cable modem should we ever want either.  None of the [now] crystal-clear television stations had anything to report.

There is a funny side story to the cable jack added to my 1967 Overlander to accommodate the new coax.  As the interior’s American Cherry is somewhat dark, I felt that a standard ivory or white jack-plate would stand out too much.  But that was all the local home stores were selling.  Finally it dawned on me to check with a local electronic parts supply house which I knew had been in town for forever.  “Yes, we have those”, the man behind the counter said.  “We probably haven’t sold one since the sixties since they are so ugly”.   I smiled & reminded myself that beauty is in the eye of the beholder…

The new WFCO converter tended the battery quite well with no supervision on my part.  I did, however, notice a bit of background noise on the AM/FM radio though when the converter was under heavy load.  But I think a little extra filtering at the radio end of the power line will clear it up.  It is nothing I can not live with.

I was also happy that the new Solardome did not blow off during the trip.

It was just a fantastic outing.  The only change planned for the next trip is to get a bicycle carrier for the front of the Suburban – Between the bikes & the full-sized Weber kettle grill, we almost had to leave someone behind just to get all of our stuff packed!