Coffeeneuring No. 4- Coffee Shop Without Walls

This coffeeneuring trip I decided to take advantage of the nice weather and head just a few miles out of the city limits. The leaves have not fully turned but they are working on it. My destination was a cemetery that I ride by all the time but haven't really stopped to check out.

It is possibly the only Jewish cemetery in our city and I was blown away by it. First, I didn't expect it to be so large. It doesn't look that big from the road. You can see the mausoleum from the road, and that is impressive but I had not expected rows and rows of intricate, beautiful, giant headstones.

Most headstones were at least 6 feet tall & were ornate. I had a hard time getting pictures because well...I'm not a photographer, but also the position of the sun made lots of shadow. I recognized many family names but the one that stood out to me was the Abeles family. We have a football field in town called Abeles field and there is a huge, archway at the field. Very similar to their headstone! This headstone is 15 feet tall.

Abeles Grave Stone

Next to it was another family members headstone/bench. I was at a loss on this one. Is it disrespectful to sit on someone's grave?

I explored the graves for awhile. Then, I sat on the sidewalk, brewed some Black Silk Folgers on our homemade camp stove and appreciated the beauty of the cemetery.

Coffeeneuring No. 3- Starbucks Lame

My third Coffeeneuring trip was made on Columbus Day via the "Tara Rule". I took an afternoon break and road over to Starbucks.

Our Starbucks is inside a grocery store. I ordered a Chai Tea Latte & it was good but the trip was lame-o.

It was just stopping and grabbing coffee. None of the relaxing, enjoying the environment, with a thrill of adventure getting coffee like the last two. Obviously I did this one wrong!

I tried to make it look more enticing by taking pictures of my coffee with the pumpkins. :)

Total Mileage 6

Coffeeneuring No. 2 Daylight Donuts

The Coffeeneuring challenge officially started on October 5th, the same weekend as our Katy Trail ride. Feeling like I was a bit behind I decided to coffeeneur twice in one weekend.

Sunday, I convinced Lance to get out of bed early before church & ride with me over to Daylight Donuts. Being the good husband that he is, he obliged and we also convinced Quentin to get out of bed and join us. We left the house about 8 am and it was cold! Well not freezing but 50 degree cold. My windchill when riding is about 10 degrees cooler so I dressed for 40 degrees.

I layered myself up with wool & silk (longjohns) and we road to Daylight Donuts. The kid working the counter was hillarious. He had seen we road up on our bikes and he said, in a concerned voice "Was it treacherous out there?" Ha! We live in LV. There is nothing treacherous about Leavenworth! He was impressed to say the least.

We all ordered coffee & cinnamon rolls & were too overdressed to eat inside so we ate on their patio. It was the perfect Sunday morning. Being the nutcases that we are we even video taped a little of our conversation.

Total Miles 5

Coffeeneuring No.1 Scooters

Patio at Scooters

Last year I missed it! Saw it too late, but this year I'm in it to win it.

Coffeeneuring is what I'm talking about! I've typed that word so many times in I phone that it now recognizes it as a word.

Saturday I took a break from a little housework to ride my bike to get coffee. That is basically what coffeeneuring is. Stopping what you are doing, find some time for yourself, and ride (not race) to get a cup of joe.

View through the "drive" through window

I chose to go to Scooter's in Leavenworth. They have a nice patio & wifi. I even took a book along for some real R & R.

Path to the Patio

I sat for awhile and decided that it was cold in the shady patio. Over to the river I went. I sat on the grass and read 2 whole chapters in this fantastic book!

Missouri River

It was nice to get out and do something I wouldn't normally do.

Total ride was 3.8 miles. It was nice...

Picture Proof

Coffeeneuring at Missouri River

October 2013 Katy Trail Weekend

Ahh...the Katy Trail. Just when I think I'm over this trail, I ride it again and fall in love.

Tunnel By Rocheport

I had no intentions of riding the Katy Trail this year. In 2010, Lance & I road the Katy for our honeymoon. It was my first long distance riding experience and I loved it. We've gone back each year since and road a different section each time. We've pretty much covered this trail and I thought it was time to move on.

Large Intern making breakfast

Then the bike club decided to host a weekend trail/camp ride. Since the bike club's intern lives with me (nephew) it seems wrong not to join in on the fun.

I never know where to look at when taking a selfie!

I am so glad I did! I had such a good time. A fantastic time! Our bike club invited the KC Metro club to join us and I got to meet several new people. I feel like we had such a crazy adventure that I cannot recount all that happened in such a short time. There was camping, pumpkin spiced coffee, dinners out in Booneville, riding, beautiful landscape, rain!, flash flooding, shivering in a Taco Bell, great conversation, wine & pizza on the trail, and so much laughing. I got to thinking on my way home just what made it such a good time & I quickly realized that it was the people! Every new person I met was interesting & a few a bit eccentric. Not one complainer in the bunch, just a great group of people looking to have fun. I didn't collect anyone's email address or contact info but I sincerely hope that I meet each and every one of them again. They were that good!

I road in these all day Saturday thanks to the rain.

Dirty Bikes!

Deluge of Water, We were trying to hide out from it but got caught up in the storm system flood!

The Missouri River

Night Riding

Several times in the past week I was "out past dark". Last year, in late October I stopped riding as much because it was cold and dark. Mostly the dark made commuting not so much fun. I was not comfortable on the streets.

This year I feel a shift. When I leave the house in the morning I think about my evening activities and if I think I might be out late I grab the flashlight. Interesting how time can shift your perspective and comfort. I enjoyed riding home in the dark last week. It was quite late, past 9 pm so it was very quiet, peaceful, and not cold! Any chance I could get all those on my 5 pm commute home in late December?

Right now I take a small flashlight and attach it to my handlebars. It works! I probably should upgrade to something else but I've yet to find the lights that I really want to buy. Many seem overpriced. Until then my flashlight works just fine. It gives me enough light to be seen and to see where I'm riding. Granted I assume no one can see me at night and ride accordingly!