Post Thanksgiving Day Ride

My riding and my blogging have suffered lately due to my kitchen project. Since Alex and I were hosting T-Day Dinner, the kitchen project has consumed most of my non-work and non-sleep time.

Happy to report the project is almost complete. Here's a shot with the cabinets going up.


Couldn't have completed the job without help from the family beast.

Here's the mostly completed kitchen. Still need to put up the trim at the top, light over the sink, and toe board. But, worked perfect for Thanksgiving Dinner prep.

After T-day Dinner and after company left, I headed down to Shoaff Park. Shoaff Park is on the northeast side of Fort Wayne. The city is completing a trail connection from the Rivergreenway all the way to Shoaff. Here is the trail where it meets the Shoaff Park loop road.

On around the soccer fields the trail winds.

After winding for a short while along the St. Joe River, the trail dumps on to Washington Center Road to cross the river, then will travel down the towpath to the Wabash and Erie Canal Feeder Canal. The high-tension towers are located in the canal itself.

On the towpath.

Yours truly. I started the growth when I started the kitchen project 3 weeks ago. A little whiter each year.

At the Hefner Soccer Fields and the Plex, Indiana-Purdue University has installed a couple of these signs.

Here's the cross-country route. The Plex hosts many cross country races for middle schools, high schools, and colleges.

The McKay Family sold or donated the family farm to IPFW for use as an athletic complex. The old forage barn is still standing, the only structure from the farm still standing. I hope they restore it and keep it.

The old moldboard plow which tilled the soil here for years and years now looks out of place.

A little ways down the trail to California Road is a new bridge across the St. Joe leading to the IPFW campus.

I don't know the Ron Venderly Family, but think their bridge is awesome!


Heading back to the Plex and Shoaff Park, I noticed this mass of Asian Bush Honeysuckle spreading throughout the forest floor (the low growing shrubs with yellow and green leaves still on the bushes). ABH is an invasive shrub in this area that grows in forest understories and crowds out natural forest regeneration.

Here's the road entrance to the Plex.

After crossing over the Plex grounds again and riding up the towpath trail, it empies onto Washington Center Road. I don't know how the city is going to safely encourage trail users to cross the bridge here. This is an incredibly busy road most days, especially at rush hour.

I am very thankful to have the opportunity to ride on these new trails, among many other things.

I hope all of you out there had great Thanksgiving Days also.

Happy riding!