A New Direction Riding a Tiger in California

After many years of road touring my husband and I decide to go a completely new direction and get an adventure motorcycle, trading our 2009 CVO Ultra Harley for a 2020 Triumph Tiger 900 GTPRO, with an added 52 Litre Trekker Top Box. The Tiger fits in the 6 1/2-foot bed of our Ford F150 pickup truck and allows us to explore more remote locations. Compared to the Harley, I am a more active passenger on the Tiger, comfortably experiencing more of the ride (and more locations) than ever before. 

Our month-long stay at an Airbnb in Morro Bay is the perfect place to trial the new bike. Here we are close to our sons and many outdoor recreational opportunities. For us, this is a great way to safely vacation during the COVID pandemic. 

Although the California Butler Motorcycle Maps provide us many great riding options, it is the impromptu suggestions from local adventure riders that send us new directions and on our best journeys. Follow our route described below on this Google Map link.

Another Triumph rider at the gas station near our house said one of the best road rides in the area is State Route 41 between Morro Bay and Parkfield. Route 41 is a smooth paved road that winds through avocado and olive groves. Between Atascadero and Creston, we witness amazing vistas, including steep straw-colored pastures and dense groves of trees. Just past Shandon we turn down Cholame Valley Road towards Parkfield. On this paved, but bumpy road we ride through farm fields on either side, while trees dot the hillsides farther away. 

"Jerry's Corner" on the San Andreas Fault 

At the end of the straight Cholame road, we meet another biker on his KLR 650. Jerry enthusiastically informs us that we are stopped right on the San Andreas Fault line and suggests several area roads to explore. 

We follow Jerry’s advice and wow! We ride through the quaint town of Parkfield, which has eclectic, fun looking – but closed - establishments that we need to visit once COVID is over. The Parkfield-Coalinga road winds us up into the mountain. As Jerry warned, the road turns into the hard packed dirt of the Parkfield Grade with incredible mountain views. The Tiger’s off-road mode performs perfectly, providing grip and traction on the steep, dirt road. Although the road is uneven with occasional debris, the Tiger absorbs the bumps well for both driver and passenger. The steep slopes and hills below us look like velvet shining in the sun, with shades of tan, green, and blue.

Parkfield Grade

As we climb higher in elevation, the scrubby trees turn to taller evergreens, with large pinecones covering the road in places. We pass many cattle gates with open range cows grazing along the roadside. At Route 198 we stop at a roadside pull-off for granola bars and water. Although the weather was warm and sunny until this point, from here we have a windy, cold ride on U.S. Route 101 back to Morro Bay. The Tiger’s instrument display records the day’s ride at 195 miles, over 4 ½ hours, averaging 42 mph. 

Jerry also suggested we ride Peach Tree Road, so we head back there another day. This time we take Old Creek Road from Morrow Bay to State Route 46, which passes through Paso Robles wine country. Grapevines fill our view on both roadsides. In San Miguel we stop for pictures at the mission, then take Indian Valley Road to Peach Tree Road.

San Miguel Mission

At this point the landscape turns to cow pastures on treeless, steep slopes with short sage-green plant cover. Well-rounded hills roll one after another, often looking like camel humps. 

Peach Tree Road

Peach Tree Road is a paved road that climbs along the San Andreas Fault line. At the top, we stop for a snack and water break. Three other adventure bike riders and a farmer ride by, but otherwise we are all alone. It is so quiet here, with the birds serenading us as we soak in the beauty around us. The fault area is a steep cut in the ground with a small stream and a flat grassy area near the bottom. 

Peach Tree Road takes us to State Route 198, which we ride back to Parkfield Grade. Riding the other direction this time, the Grade’s pavement is rougher and the dirt road bumpier than before. The Tiger’s off-road mode helps some, though there are a lot of “wash boards” in the dirt. We snake up and around the mountain and down again, all next to a steep edge. Some of it is good scary and all of it is spectacular. At one point a cow calf on the road stares at us as we ride by. 

Parkfield Grade

After passing through Parkfield again, we stop at “Jerry’s corner” for a snack rest before finishing the ride home. This corner is by a creek with a nice blend of large oak trees and open pasture. We watch many birds there, including red tail hawks mating, cute little acorn woodpeckers, magpies, and a bald Eagle souring overhead. 

On the way back to Morro Bay via Route 41, we stop at a Taco place outside Atascadero for supper. It has COVID safe, outside dining and the best chili-relleno I’ve ever eaten. All in all, another great moto day riding 189 miles, almost 5 bike hours, averaging 38 mph. 

Our new Tiger motorcycle is the perfect addition to our retirement travel adventures. In the past, we’d often been at a road intersecting gravel and pavement and wondered what’s down the gravel road. This adventure bike takes us a new direction, down dirt and gravel roads, where we see breathtaking views and experience exhilarating rides. We can’t wait to see what direction our bike will take us next. 

GOOGLE MAP

Green Plants Improve our Health

St. Patrick’s Day reminds us to look for green. Green is the color of peace and serenity and important for our psychological wellbeing. Plants play a big role in filling that psychological need. Much research has been done on the importance of plants in our lives.

Have you ever noticed how people choose seats next to plants when given a choice in malls or parks? Our world is busy, and we are constantly bombarded with noise, movement, and chaos. Plants help relax us. Because of their simplicity, plants, or natural scenes, reduce physical and mental excitement and improve our health.

Research has found that in offices with plants, employees are more content and comfortable. Plants in an office result in higher office morale and less absenteeism. Employees exposed to plants were more creative and productive. This, in part, is why you find plants in most business settings and other interior settings. The federal government has strongly endorsed the use of plants as an integral part of office interiors.

Shamrock plants in the University of Illinois Conservatory

As St. Patrick’s Day approaches, remember how important plants are to our psychological wellbeing. A popular St. Patrick’s Day plant is the shamrock. Although there are several types available, the most popular is the Oxalis due to its shamrock leaves. The leaves are in threes, with each individual leaflet 1½ to 2 inches wide. Available with purple or green leaves, this plant is easily grown for table tops or hanging baskets. An added plus is the white or pink flowers that open in winter and spring and continue all year round with sufficient light.

The shamrock plant is a bulb or tuber. After flowering, leaves may die down and the tubers benefit from rest in drier soil and cooler temperatures. As new growth resumes, move it back to a warmer location, increase watering, and resume fertilizer applications. The plant prefers bright light without direct sun.

At times I have seen other plants sold as shamrocks. These include ordinary lawn clovers, weedy oxalis plants, and other clovers. However, the shamrock described above is the only one that makes a nice, long-term houseplant.

Another good green St. Patrick’s Day plant is the green carnation. These are white carnations dyed green. Use them in a vase or as a corsage. These are usually readily available this time of year. If not, you can easily dye a carnation green by letting it drink green colored water. White flowers can also be painted green with special floral paint.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Originally Published in Canton Daily Ledger Column on 3-13-1999

Gardening with Kids

Gardening is for everyone but is especially important for children. I cannot over-emphasize the importance of gardening with kids. It encourages personal growth, environmental stewardship, hands-on learning, improved nutrition, community involvement, and family interaction.

During my 25-year career with Extension I’ve attended many programs on how to garden with kids. Each time I come away even more convinced that every child must have an opportunity to do hands-on gardening. It is vital information they will use for a lifetime.

My sons had fun gardening in our yard. 

Make gardening fun! Here are some ideas to consider.

• Play detective and investigate the site. Look for sunny and shady spots. Dig in the soil and discover its characteristics. Run water and watch where it runs away or sits.
• Do an art project to draw out the planting. Have them measure, graph, create shapes, and count outside. 
• The fun part is preparing and planting. Let them do it! Granted, it might not be perfect and it might not be the way you would do it, but to a child it is great.
• Maintenance sounds dull and hard to most people but make it a game. Play a watering race using spoons, cups, watering cans, and the like. Go on a weeding mystery mission to find the “dreaded bad weed of the day.”
•  Develop awards for the best flower, vegetable, weed-free bed, etc. Let everyone win!

Want more ideas? There are many reference books available for reading by adults and children. There are storybooks for children, videos, smart apps, and computer programs. Have kids join 4-H and do one of their many plant-related projects. Search the Internet. University of Illinois Extension has several interactive horticulture sites for kids, including The Great Plant Escape, The Adventures of Herman (the worm), Let’s Talk About Insects, Secret Life of Trees, and Trees Are Terrific.

Teach kids about plants. While doing so, we will teach kids fundamental science principles that are necessary for life.

Originally Published in Canton Daily Ledger Column on 9-16-2000

Earthworms ...Not just good fish bait

One of my fondest childhood memories is dew-worming with my Dad (Ron Simmons). We’d go out at dusk with a red lighted flashlight, sometimes after Dad had watered an area earlier in the day. I don’t remember ever buying worms; we just “harvested” them ourselves. Even as a child I learned the best way to grab a worm without breaking it before it escaped back into its earthly home.

Dad and me fishing on Anderson Lake

Most people know that earthworms (also called night crawlers) are very beneficial for our soil. They daily consume their weight as they grind large organic materials into smaller ones. The University of Illinois Extension Herman the Worm website) calls the earthworm “one of nature’s top soil scientists.”

Worms benefit the soil in many ways. The add air and water, which produces a perfect growing environmental for most plants. They essentially “turn” the soil as they bring organic matter down and mix it with the soil below. When they eat, they leave behind castings that area very valuable type of fertilizer. The equivalent of about one third pound of top-grade fertilizer is produced per worm each year. As the website says, “Having worms around in your garden is a real good sign that you have a healthy soil.”

A fact about earthworms that most people don’t know is that they are not native to North America. Early European settlers brought them here during the 1600’s and 1700’s. They tagged along in the soil of plants brought from their country. Fortunately, this foreign critter has proved to be mostly beneficial.

Here are some other interesting facts about worms. In one acre of land, there can be more than a million earthworms. The slimy excretion of earthworms contains nitrogen, which is required for plant growth. Baby worms hatch from cocoons smaller than a grain of rice. Worms don’t have eyes, but they can sense light (which is why Dad and I covered our flashlights with clear red covering). The number of rings or segments of the body is species dependent: the common earthworm has about 150 segments while the red worm has about 95.

Obviously, worms are an important component in any composting process. An increasingly popular form of worm composting –vermiculture –uses worms to turn kitchen scraps into compost. It is easy and cheap. This process uses a red worm, not the larger earthworms. Take a plastic bin with holes drilled in it, newspaper, soil, worms, and fruit or vegetable peelings and you’ll soon have “black gold” to use in houseplants or outside.

So, the next time you thread a worm onto a fishing hook, remember that they are much more than fish bait. Good luck fishing and Happy Father’s Day!

Published in Canton Daily Ledger Column on 6-15-2013

NOTE: Since this article was written, the invasive jumping worm has been found in Illinois. View this Invasive Species Alert: Jumping Worms for more information. 

The Bald Eagle

Today (2-2-2002) is Eagle Days in Havana. Numerous eagles spend their winters right here in central Illinois. Many can be easily seen from Riverfront Park in Havana. If you’ve never seen a Bald Eagle in the wild, I encourage you to take a drive to Havana this morning.

On January 13, the Champaign County Audubon Society did its annual Eagle Count along the Illinois River from Havana to Beardstown.  They counted 206 Bald Eagles (95 adult, 111 immature) and one adult Golden Eagle.  The Golden Eagle was at Emiquon refuge across the river from Havana.  There were also lots of Bald Eagles at Lake Chautauqua, just north of Havana, where there were also thousands of Canada Geese, many Snow Geese, and 21 Swans.

My family has really enjoyed watching Bald Eagles this winter. I find this really awesome especially knowing that the eagles came very close to extinction. The story of the Bald Eagle comeback includes an important lesson for us all. 

The Bald Eagle was originally classified as endangered in 1967. Shortly after World War II, the use of chemicals such as DDT and other related compounds (including Chlordane) became widespread. These chemicals last a long time in our environment and started to accumulate in Bald Eagles due to their natural feeding habits. The DDT impaired the eagles’ eggs, resulting in thin eggshells and reproductive failures. Since that time, the US-EPA has banned such chemicals and conservation and breeding efforts have brought our national bird populations back.

I tell you this because I think it is a great story of how humans can fix a problem we created. Think of this story each time you use a pesticide. Pesticides are anything used to control a pest and include insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, etc. Almost all of us use them. When you grab the ant killer under the kitchen sink, you are using a pesticide.

To assure you apply pesticides in a safe and effective way that will obtain the control you want and still protect your family and our environment, you simply need to read the label. Reading the label is extremely important and it is the law! Labels change frequently, so you need to reread them each time you use the product. Carefully follow all directions on that pesticide label.

Whether you use pesticides or not is a personal decision, but if you do use them with respect and READ THE LABEL!

Published in Canton Daily Ledger Column on 2-20-1999, 2-2-2002, 2-1-2003, 2-5-2005

Worm Composting

Composting is not just an outdoor activity. It can also be done indoors to get rid of those food scraps in your kitchen.

Worm composting involves using worms to turn food scraps, newspapers, and cardboard into a rich compost, which can be added to potted plants, lawns and gardens. It is convenient, and you can do it indoors (even in apartments) or outdoors.

Don’t worry! When done correctly, worm composting will not cause an odor or have worms crawling all over your house. The worms are quite small, but could still be used for fishing.

Worm composting (or vermicomposting) is one of the easiest methods for reusing fruit and vegetable scraps from your kitchen and yard. All you need is a container filled with moistened bedding, worms, and food scraps.

Even in cool winter weather, where outdoor compost piles lie dormant, you can compost your food scraps indoors with worms and reduce the volume of your household garbage by as much as 25%. The end result is unsurpassed as an organic soil builder and plant fertilizer, containing high amounts of nitrogen.

Worm composting is easy, rewarding, and fun! Given the right environment and a little routine attention, a handful of worms will multiply rapidly and digest your kitchen scraps.

Worm composting is a great way to recycle food scraps indoors all year long. 

To learn more about vermicomposting make sure to read Oregon State University Extension’s “Composting with Worms"

Published in Canton Daily Ledger Column 1-28-2006

New Plant Hardiness Zone Map in 2012

This has certainly been an unusually warm winter so far. Many people are concerned that the warm temperatures will results in plants sprouting too soon or in heavy summer insect problems.

Some people wonder if our climate is changing due to various factors, including global warming.

Source: Illinois State Climatologist  

The USDA released their new Plant Hardiness Zone map recently. The 2012 changes show that we are indeed experiencing overall warmer winter temperatures.

The USDA hardiness zones are based on average winter minimum temperatures. According to Jim Angel, Illinois State Climatologist at the Illinois State Water Survey, “This is certainly an improvement on the old USDA map that was based on data from a relatively short and cold period from 1974 to 1986.” Angel says that the new map is based on a longer period that includes the milder winters of the 1990s and early 2000s.

The new map can be found at http://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov.

To reflect these milder winters, most zones have shifted northward. Angel says, “Here in Champaign I used to be in the middle of Zone 5 according to the old USDA map. Now I'm almost in Zone 6.”

These maps are a useful guide. Most garden catalogs list the hardiness zone rating for their plants. The hardiness zone is an important plant selection guide, but it is only one factor in determining if a plant will survive the winter. Other factors, such as moisture levels and critters (voles, rabbits, and mice), also affect a plants chance of winter survival.

Speaking of critters, will this mild winter affect insect populations this summer? According to Phil Nixon, Extension Entomologist, mild winters or cold winters have little effect on the number of insects that people typically notice.

Nixon says that it is true that in a mild winter, more pest insects survive, but so do more predatory insects, parasitic insects, and other natural enemies. Contrary to popular belief, Nixon says that the most important impact on insect numbers is spring weather. Cool, damp springs encourage the development of fungi that attack insects and slow the development of insects. The result is fewer caterpillars and other insects surviving through the spring.

And finally, if you have daffodils sprouting or plants leafing out early, don’t fret. Although some of the early growth could experience freeze damage later, the plants should be fine overall once our official spring finally arrives. You can add a layer of mulch over the sprouting plants to provide additional winter protection, but it is probably not essential.

Published in Canton Daily Ledger Column 2-4-2012