Fun House

First steps into the house

Every once in a while, really exciting things happen...... This past July my wife and I bought a second home. Before you go calling me a rich prick or some sort of a snob I'd like to dispel that by saying we are far from rich. The house we bought was about the same as buying a new pick up truck. The whole process was a little nerve wracking but super exciting.

I could say something funny here about women and kitchens but I'm not that stupid

The boys claimed this building and painted it a color a little more to their liking . They call it "The Hut" 

 It all started with a trip up north over memorial weekend. We were in Crosby riding the fantastic trails of Cuyuna when.........I picked up one of those real-estate flyers at a local restaurant. Usually these are full of cabins and lake homes priced in the hundreds of thousands and even into the millions. To my shock there were houses right in the city as low as  $12,000 , this got me thinking. Crosby is great and all but the place I feel the most at home is the North Shore. As far as the North Shore goes the real estate is completely untouchable for someone like me and my family.......except for 1 small town.

Our favorite swimming hole 

Hike to the Baptism river  high falls

 One night while Lynn was out of town, (at some running thing called RAGNAR) I began searching real estate websites. They are very helpful......by the end of the night I had monthly payments, taxes, and the down payment figured out, as well as 4 properties I wanted to see. With all of my info written out as well as the website and selected homes book marked, I pleaded my case. Lynn looked it all over and said "sure".....as simple as that we moved forward. The next day I contacted a realtor and my good friend Paul at Single Track Mortgage and the ball was rolling. By that weekend (fathers day) we made the trip north, spent a couple hours with the realtor and decided to put a bid on the last house we looked at. July 31 we moved in, It happened so fast I still have to pinch myself.

 As far as the house goes, we have no lake shore, no woods, no property other than a city lot, and not a lot of privacy. What we do have is..... Really good neighbors, a small lawn to mow, no lake shore taxes, massive amounts of public land right out the front door, miles of gravel riding, four-wheeler trails, the Gitchy Gammi bicycle trail 90 seconds (ride time) away, the Superior Hiking Trail 6 min (walk), a half dozen state parks within 5 minutes to 90 minutes (drive) , Lake Superior boat launch and picnic ground 5 minutes (drive or 4 wheeler), opportunities to mountain bike and rock climb nearby, and best of all, we will never have to get a fucking reservation to camp at a north shore state park. The last one was the real motivator for the whole thing

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In the pic is jonlivesoutside our first official guess whom I just met at the Heck Epic that weekend ....good guy, would have him back anytime 

 The parks are so crowded now it's pretty much impossible to stay over night on a weekend at a camp ground unless you book 6 months or more in advance or show up for a first come first serve site on Wednesday morning. That's fine if you have lots of 5 day weekends at your disposal or you only get out once a year. I like to go north a lot and have found camping on a whim doesn't work. Especially now that a whim doesn't mean "hey, it's Monday lets go camping this weekend" it's more like "hey it's July, lets go camping when the leaves turn in October,,, oh fuck the camp sites are all full, maybe next year".

Christmas card photo ?

 

a little ride on the Gitchi-Gami trail 

 I only mention camping here because that's how we usually roll. I don't like sleeping in beds that aren't my own and I'm too cheap to pay an extravagant amount of money to stay in a room on the north shore. The act of camping, while fun most of the time, is just a means to an end. I camp so I can be close to the stuff I really want to do, the house affords me that luxury and I am grateful for that.

D. Rider.......................out    

Gun Mount

Built this specifically for my 20ga single shot

 I'm not much of a hunter these days. From the age of 13 to about 20 I really enjoyed hunting, and fishing as well as trapping. My interest in being a "sportsman" started to wane when I really dug in deep with  bicycles, and for the most part has been put on the back burner ever since.

carries a 22 bolt action as well...WITHOUT tubular magazine 

  With the advent of the fat-bike and the Cogburn line of hunting and fishing fat bikes, my enthusiasm to get back out there has awakened.  I'm not going whole hog, but if I get out at least once I'll have satisfied my urge. Part of the allure of hunting via fat-bike for me, is simply the notion of carrying a gun on your bike...how could it get much better? This allure also brought me to build my own mount for reasons of economy as well as pride.

camo-ed ...and yes it's called the Muther Fuckin Gun Mount

 From the beginning I wanted my gun on the front end, and I wanted it pointing down. I thought about mounting one of those Kolpin gun boots , but they are heavy and expensive enough that I didn't want to buy one for an experiment that may not work. Instead, I fabricated my own design from a piece of aluminum tubing, misc. sheet material, and some pipe insulation....and a hose clamp. Although not field tested,I think it will work pretty well. My single shot 20ga doesn't weigh much more than a bunch of gear typically carried on the handle bars in a sweet roll style bag. As far as it being secure, the gun fits snug in the insulation and is held "in" by a single, padded, nordic ski strap. My only real concern is if the butt of the gun is out far enough that I will not hit it (with my face)when riding aggressively. In a seated position it is not an issue, and may be the preferred riding position. I'm planning some testing in the coming weeks and will update then.

cock the hammer..it's time for action
-Cyprus Hill-

D.Rider...............out  

Similar

launch

Almost three years ago I did an overnight kayak/fat-bike trip with Vandy similar to the one just completed with my middle and youngest sons. My oldest son G Man, was out with an elbow injury and my wife was going to Spirit Mtn for DH MTB riding so it's not like they were excluded.

It's common to have full sized trees in the middle of the river

Someone else camping....old skool style

artifact or trash ? 

Just ahead is Carver Rapids. Doesn't look like much  now, but when the water is down is a continuous chunk of rock stretching all the way across the river

Vandy and I had such a good time kayaking ,camping and riding , I've been thinking about making it happen again ever since. In case you didn't go check out out the link first....Our first trip was on the Minnesota River from Belle Plaine to Chaska, this was a little long for my youngsters so we opted for Jordan to Chaska (19mi vs. 8.5mi).

we've arrived

Standard issue Imperial Venture Corps eating utensils 

Dinner

We could not have asked for better weather, it was warm and sunny during the day and cool at night...........great for a camp fire and comfortable sleeping. Our camp location will remain a secret here, but is a well worn site that can be easily located if you pay attention. After paddling for approx. 2.5 hours we arrived at our location about an hour before dark, this gave us lots of time to set the tent, find wood and get our cooking underway.

You can bring a lot of stuff when camping out of a sea kayak

dueling spoons 

 Hidden cache of fat-bikes for our return trip   

  As far as peace and quite goes , this  may have been the noisiest place I have ever camped. None of the noise was man made, instead it was the animals. As the day turned to evening the birds seem to turn up the volume just before the lights go out. About the same time the birds quite down the coyotes begin howling, not just the kind you here in the movies but horrible screams and high pitched bellowing. All the while this is going on large fish, presumably carp , are jumping and splashing in the river just below the bank we are camped on. Along with the fish jumping all night are the numerous beavers that are constantly slapping their tails on the water. Getting to sleep that night was a bit difficult as my mind often wanders from what the noises actually are. My kids on the other hand thought it was completely normal and left me to fend for myself while they quickly nodded off.

24inch  Framed, Mini-Sota

 Fortunately, nothing attacked and killed us while we slept, morning came , we ate breakfast and we were off. We had about an hour of paddling before reaching our bikes to complete the loop and get back to our vehicle. I choose to use the fat-bikes because the trail is often sandy and fat-bikes are awesome. Also I paid a shit ton of money for them and I want the bikes to get ridden before they need the next size. The ride was just as good as the kayaking. Sometimes the trail gets very overgrown to the point that it can't be ridden, apparently people are cycling/hiking/horse back ridding  down there enough that the trail was good to go. By the time we got back the boys were tired out and hungry, we loaded gear and bikes, shuttled boats, and then finally topped off the weekend with large meal at a local Mexican restaurant.

Thanks boys, for hanging out with your old man....G Man....I wish you could have made it...Lady DR....I know you had more fun riding your bike down hill, so I'm glad I didn't keep you from that.

D. Rider ......out

Gravel Conspiracy 2015

 

The Gravel Conspiracy........To me, is...... three days of riding amongst the best terrain in Minnesota with your pals.

Stamper doesn't mess around.... he's got a big box truck and real deal motor coach set up for the race 

A quick stop in Grand Marais for lunch 

Grand Portage...getting ready to roll out

Just over their shoulder's in Canada

  I signed up for this race so long ago I forgot if I even paid for my one way bus ticket to Grand Portage. This was the only race/ride I had on my calendar for the year that was etched in stone, I missed it last year and was pretty bummed and determined not to miss it again.

BOney is pretty much a total bad ass 

1 flat from Chuker for the entire ride 

Vandy

 The race this year was....Day one, ride from Grand Portage to Grand Marais, just over 50 miles. This part is my favorite, it's very remote, and the trail-like roads are rugged, if you get a chance, check out Rengo and Firebox.

In front of the Gunflint Tavern ...day one 

smooth sailing down the Sawbill Trail 

  Day 2 is just over a hundred miles, goes from Grand Marais to Silver Bay and is a little smoother than day 1. The route is extensive and just plain freakin' awesome. Most of the time I had no idea where I was and I liked it, the hills on the other hand were tough....Bally Creek as well as Honeymoon comes to mind. Although it was a hard ride I was glad to share the gravel and work together with friends. From start to finish I rode with Vandy, Chuck, and Best in Schow, for some of the ride we hung with ONeil, BOney,NowSports Dude, DG and Salsa Pete.

New bridge

Good eats await inside 

One last beaver dam to cross

grocery shopping....Silver Bay 

  While we were out riding, the race director was having a challenge of his own. The rental truck containing everyone's gear was not running properly and was ultimately replaced via a wrecker from the twin cities. The exchange went down in front of my house (my wife, kids and I call it the bug-out) in Silver Bay while a bunch of us grilled and cooked dinner. Nine of us stayed the night there and I may open it up to more next year if I think the plumbing can handle it. The rest of the racers stayed in near-by Beaver bay or the American Inn just down the hill.

The Bug-Out

get this truck outta here 

steak 

Oneil.....being Oneil 

  Day three.....Beaver Bay to Duluth..51 miles. Feeling quite sore and tired a 50 mile ride compared to the hundo we had done the day before seemed short. I wasn't that enthusiastic about finishing it up and going home and then to work the next day either. It was such a great weekend of fantastic weather, adventurous gravel routes, and hanging with friends I didn't want it to end so soon.

almost got ran over getting this pic of Chuk

The last check point 

  If you want in,(and you should want in), on this fantastic race/ride next year......pray that Mr Stamper is gracious enough to run it again, and get yourself signed up. You may regret the saddle sores and leg cramping, but you will not regret the incredible experience navigating, under your own power, the back roads of the Superior National Forest.

D Rider....out