I told Jacinto I think your photo with Paul Bunyan is better than my photos with the green Sinclair dinosaur, because there's not near as many Paul Bunyuns out there!

We need a nice side shot of Serendipity on the road, please.

I'm not near as good now about bicycling in the rain as I used to be. My bike is so big, it takes forever to wipe it off after. There was a time when I commuted no matter what came from the sky. That was a few years ago.

I hope it's a happy memory for you. I liked his area, from Holdingford to Bowlus.

Ate there on my 2021 Northern Tier ride, and camped in the park across the street. Very accommodating place for cyclists.

Sumac is one of the first plants to show fall colors, and it can really be quite spectacular. And this time of year, you can strip the red berries off, soak them in water, strain out the fragments and sip the wonderfully lemonade flavored drink.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumac

Virginia creeper turns about the same time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parthenocissus_quinquefolia

Hi Bonny-

Thanks! We went by the BoHo (Art in Motion) today (Sunday the 10th) but alas, rode past without going in. I hate that I sometime miss opporunities becase of lack of knowledge, or because of competing priorities. Today was the latter case: we needed to get to our rest stop, where two of our friends had been waiting patiently for us to arrive, for quite some time.

We are certainly traveling with you vicariously with your remarkable writing and photos! One of our "up north" triking friends wanted to share : " I hope they plan on stopping at Art in Motion in Holdingford, they’ll be going right by on the trail. The cafe and rest of the place will be open starting a 9 AM."

Thanks! It was a carpe camera moment, as I crossed the short bridge that carries the trail over the water. Just a lucky moment.

Follow-up on Nettie's bike. Her front wheel is of a type not easily worked on, so the Spicer bike shop recommended that she replace it for the duration of the trip and have the original fixed later.

No other damage, that I know of.

Great shot!

I mostly avoid doing fungus IDs of edibles... They are so variable even in a single species, and many totally unrelated, nearly identical, one can be considered a delicacy while the other deadly. In this case, some coral species are edible like lion's mane species (both belong to a different genus). Lion's mane is being studied for medicinal benefits.

When I lived in Germany (76-78) a German friend I worked with would take me out mushroom hunting at lunchtime. I learned about a dozen good ones and about as many really bad ones, some looking very similar with only subtle differences between good and bad. He said a GI once asked him: "Herr Bohn, what mushrooms can you eat?" To which, he answered "Oh, you can eat ALL mushrooms... Some, only ONCE!" :-)

Evidently they're regulars on this piece of water.

Checking IMDB I realize I've seen it. Apart from being an aviation movie, it bears little resemblance to the book.

However, two other movies have been made that are directly from it, or that draw heavily on it. Both star John Wayne and were produced by BatJac, his production company.

Island in the Sky, and The High and the Mighty. Gann is credited as the writer for both.

Sorry to hear about Nettie's accident. Good that you were there!

If I recall correctly, Gann had been a technical consultant on the movie but was so unhappy with it he pulled out and is uncredited.

But of course!