The Board of the Directors of the National Audubon Society has voted to retain its name, despite its namesake’s role as an enslaver and slave trader — On March 15, 2023, the National Audubon Society (NAS) announced that its Board of Directors had voted to keep its name. They did so despite the fraught legacy of its namesake, John James Audubon.

March Six Word Photo Story Challenge: “Movement” — Movement is the best medicine indeed. I want to ride my bicycle I want to ride my bike I want to ride my bicycle I want to ride it where I like Queen, lyrics from Bicycle Race Jim recruited me as a Cub Scout leader when our boys were first graders. …

End the hassles of running out of ink and shopping for printer inkjet cartridges, too — I purchased my first computer printer, a Japanese Juki model, in 1985. I used it to print my short-lived ComFax computer equipment price comparison newsletter. The printer was heavy-duty, well-constructed, and printed high-quality text. It clicked as it printed at a rate of forty characters per second. Its hammer struck…

Can a person get carried away with pet names? — “Hypocorism: to call by pet names.” I remember reading an article about pet names years ago. The writer said couples who addressed each other with pet names were childlike. He insisted that his readers call their partners only by the name their parents assigned them at birth. I thought his…

After completing Air Force basic training and technical school, I started work at Moody Air Force Base in Georgia. But my bicycle remained parked in my mom and dad’s garage back in Minnesota — I dragged myself out of the sleeping bag. Then, I emerged from the tent as the sun rose, yawning while I stretched my arms upward. The sky in Minnesota’s North Woods shone a brilliant blue. The date was Friday, July 5, 1996. I imagined the 400-mile bike route ahead as…

Sometimes, cheap wine tastes good — On a summertime visit to Monterey, California, the look of an outdoor brewpub enticed my wife and me to stop for a pint. But after we glanced at its beer list and saw that it charged twelve dollars for a pint, we gasped and did an about-face. …

Wind, calm, clouds, and the art of photography. Opportunistic and planned photography can both pay off — “Sometimes I arrive just when God’s ready to have someone click the shutter.” — Ansel Adams

Spanish Missions in California — Born and raised on the Iberian Peninsula, Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo (1496 or 1497–1543) became a conquistador in his youth. His name is recorded in the ranks of the army of famed conquistador Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro Altamirano (1485–1547), commonly known as Hernán Cortés. …

My first long bicycle camping trip started up north in Minnesota’s North Woods. Memories of its adventures, boredom, triumphs, mishaps, and joys live on in my mind — Chapter ~17 Prologue You might wonder why I published this chapter before chapters 1 through 16. The outline for this series of bicycling stories contains more than fifty chapters. As I write more chapters, that number will change since I insert new story ideas as I reminisce.