And Now for Something Completely Different. . .

Almost forgot! Just to give all of you Grand Duchy of Stollen visitors a good laugh. . . Here’s a photograph of yours truly and the Grand Duchess Sonja just before starting the first day of the annual Hilly Hundred over in Bloomington, Indiana last weekend. Two days of riding 100 miles through beautiful rural farmland with some of the most monstrous hills you’ve set eyes on.

A few hills were quite steep and over three miles in length by the time we reached the top. The Grand Duchess was amazing and charged up each hill with reckless abandon. Unfortunately, by the end, my tired old legs gave out, and I had to walk the bike up the last few “gentle rises”. As Hans and Franz might say, “Vat a little girly man!"

Still, it was great fun with lovely, cool fall weather. I also had the chance to tour the university campus where Sonja did her undergraduate degree. Indiana University is beautiful! And of course, the Afghani dinner we enjoyed with a few fellow cycling club members, who were also there, on the first evening in campus town was pretty amazing too. The best part about a big ride is that you can eat as much as you want and then burn off all of the calories the next day. It doesn’t get much better than that!

Comments

Bluebear Jeff said…

Stokes,

I'm a little bit miffed. Yes, it was good to see a photo of you . . . but why didn't you grace the page with a photo of the lovely Grand Duchess as well?

I'm glad that you two enjoyed your bike ride. I'm one of those unfortunates who never learned how to ride a bike (and now that I'm almost 60 and getting a bit breakable, I'm not about to try to learn).

-- Jeff

3:48 PM

WSTKS-FM Worldwide said…

Hi Jeff,

Well, let's see what I can do! ;-)

Best Regards,

Stokes

4:08 PM

Bluebear Jeff said…

Stokes,

Ah, much better.

-- Jeff

12:32 AM

Frankfurter said…

Bloomington?
We used to have a family estate in Bloomington, but my great uncle let it go when the town council passed a special tax ordinance aimed right at him ... in the 50's it was hard to fight that sort of b.s. alas.
Also, know those hills well ... got my B.A. from St. Meinrad's and did my research in Bloomington ..,.
:)
Arthur

7:09 PM

Frankfurter said…

Bloomington?
We used to have a family estate in Bloomington, but my great uncle let it go when the town council passed a special tax ordinance aimed right at him ... in the 50's it was hard to fight that sort of b.s. alas
Also, know those hills well ... got my B.A. from St. Meinrad's and did my research in Bloomington ..,.
:)
Arthur

7:11 PM

The 18th century? What's the Fascination?

Hessian musketeers by All the King's Men Toy Soldiers of Snellville, Georgia, U.S.A. Just a quick post post today, but I thought the above question might be interesting food for thought. Obviously, there is an array of possible periods, theaters, and conflicts that might catch our eyes. But what is it about the era 1700-1799 -- either real, or imagined? Is it the commanders and politics? The fairly straightforward tactics? The myriad of uniforms and flags? The variety and scope of the conflicts? The patchwork of various and sundry petty states, (at least in Central Europe)? I'm very interested to learn your thoughts. Don't be a lurker! Please leave a comment -- or even two or three. Have a nice day everyone!

An Early July Hussar Update. . .

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Basic Reds Done at Last. . .

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