Velomobile!

September 12, 2023

Greg’s not the only CycleBlazer living near the Twin Cities. Ben Parke is here too, and we’re off to see him at his home this morning, where we arrive about five or ten minutes before he’s due to return home from the class he’s teaching this morning so we can position ourselves to shoot a video of him racing in on his velomobile. We’re both ready, me pointing my Lumix down one direction of the street and Rachael facing the other direction with her phone.

I see him first, a small shape rounding the corner about two hundred yards away. We both start shooting footage as he zooms toward us at 20-25 mph and then slows to pull into the driveway. Unfortunately, we both totally blew it. Neither of our video clips is any good at all. Mine is especially puzzling, and looks like I was flipping the camera around and upside down and aiming anywhere but at the road. I have no idea what went wrong. Sorry, Ben.

The one that went to Europe is over there.

Candy apple red! I don’t think he gets the two of them mixed up when he enters the garage.

So that’s a major disappointment. But at least we get to ooh and aah over the sleek, elegant velomobile. And even better, we get to meet up with Ludwig and Johann, Ben’s excellent, super-friendly twin cats and admire his beautiful home with the huge sugar maple dominating the front yard and the lily pad covered pond in the back with wood ducks dabbling on it. Very nice.

Oh, and we got to finally meet up with Ben in real life too and get acquainted for the next hour or so before it was time to move on. Thanks for inviting us over, Ben! Goodbye, Ludwig! Goodbye, Johann!

Ben has cats. This one’s Ludwig I think.

Or maybe this one’s Ludwig and the other one’s Johann. They’re twins, so it’s hard to tell them apart. Not like Ben’s velomobiles.

It’s a match. He likes people, she likes cats.

Ludwig, or maybe it’s Johann, wishes he were an outdoor cat.

I wish I could see wood ducks from my back porch too. Heck, I just wish I had a back porch sometimes.

In other news

Team Anderson has left the country. After leaving Ben’s place we drive over to the airport, turn in the car, check in, and settle in to a comfortable spot to wait for departure. And then wait another hour and a half because our plane is three hours late in arriving from Amsterdam. Very bad news for some of the passengers waiting to board I’m sure, but not a worry for us because we have a four hour layover ahead in Paris anyway.

The MSP airport is wonderful! Other than the delayed flight, everything about the experience is first-rate. It’s the first large airport we’ve been in that we think might be even better than Portland’s. It feels very modern with state of the art features that help speed things along efficiently, like facial recognition software when you board so the agent doesn’t need to see your passport or boarding pass.

It’s been a fine three day stopover here, and I think we’ve answered our question from when we left Portland. This has ended up well for us breaking the flight up like this, and I suspect we’ll do it again.

Oh, wait. There’s one more thing I keep forgetting. Several days ago I challenged you to identify that small brown object in Bruce’s kitchen. There were some excellent guesses - a morel mushroom, a brain coral, a brain! - but all wrong. Sorry I forgot to tell you the right answer sooner. The correct answer, if Bruce is to be believed, is a cantaloupe that he grew in his back yard and let desiccate until it had shrunk to about the size of a walnut. Well, of course. Obvious now that you know, I’m sure you’re thinking to yourself.

See you in Bilbao!

There’s an interesting skit being filmed here, right where I’m sitting (note the mike in the upper left). Mom, the security staff, has a random meetup with her daughter and friend. Warm hug, friendly chatter. This is take three, the keeper.

I didn’t really know what I was getting here when I asked what Surly Darkness is, only because I’m familiar with a few other Surly offerings. He described it as a stout, said it was nice, so I tried one. At 12% ABV, it’s very stout. Here’s how the catalog describes it: “Our massive Russian Imperial Stout contains waves of chocolate, coffee, cherry, raisin, and toffee, plus a non-traditional dose of aromatic hops.” Strong stuff!

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