I was excited for this year’s Race To The Dome. Its one of the last races of the season. Yes, there are a few others, but in the Midwest, this is pushing your luck for decent weather to get a race in for the masses. I’ve participated in most of the large races this year … Continue reading “Race To The Dome – 10/4/2025”
Warm weather means time outside. I said I would unicycle 100 miles this year and it was time to start loading up the miles if I was going to meet my goal. I put in almost 1 mile a day this month! During the monthly Sunset Race, Jon Marble tried to go up the narrow … Continue reading “September – 2025”
This week’s 5K at the lake was fantastic. It started off be my loading two boats on the car. Danelle decided to come out and paddle with us. Tonight was the first time she paddled the Landick II. The photo below is here paddling away from me. She looked comfortable. If she loved the boat, … Continue reading “Weekly 5K – 9/30/2025”
The weather was warm and I wasn’t burnt out on paddling after lots of races the past month! Sonora came out to try the weekly Creve Coeur 5k race with me. I brought my two fastest boats. Sonora would be in the Epic V7 which is more stable. I would paddle my Northstar Landick II. … Continue reading “July – 2025”
Sonora and I are both very into a game called Top Heroes. It is a role-playing strategy game, a multi-player online dungeon adventure, and a great way to meet and chat with players from all across the world. We have gotten to know several other players pretty well online and decided that it would be … Continue reading “Gamers of HLL Meet Up – 8/29/2025”
This year is the 5th year of my 10-year freshwater mussel monitoring project. This is an effort to collect, identify, tag, measure, and photograph the diverse group of mussels (see photos above with 4 or 5 species in each tray) living in the Sangamon River in Illinois. While I call it “my” project, there … Continue reading “Mussel Monitoring Project, Year 5 – 8/16-17/2025”
Today we left for my third MR340 river race. Don’t worry, I would never do this solo, I’ve enlisted Hogan and a second couple, Scott and Dot Merritt. If you have been following along, we’ve been doing races together this year preparing for the big race. We packed our trailer with all of our gear … Continue reading “2025 MR340 – 7/8/2025”
We started our holiday celebration on the third. Danelle was invited (with the family) to the Audobon Center to view Alton’s fireworks. There was a nice gathering there. We started by viewing the sunset over the river and it didn’t disappoint. I was busy teasing Sonora while we waited for the fireworks to start. It … Continue reading “Fourth Of July – 2025”
We took lots of cat photos this month. Coatrack looking exhausted is my favorite. We also continued our paddle training. We had a trip to Minnesota to start our team out. We also tested out the sleeping arrangements in the boat during our weekly 5k race. We each took a turn for about 200 yards. … Continue reading “June – 2025”
Nearly three years ago, we went out and paddled the “Dalbow Loop“. This 9 mile loop around an island on the Mississippi river was a wonderful way to paddle and swim a bit near the end of the paddling season. Today felt like a great day to recreate that adventure. We brought the same C4 … Continue reading “Dalbow Loop Fail – 6/29/2025”