We are finally getting settled in here in Omaha.  We’ve officially been here for about 2 weeks. Mason has started school here in the neighborhood and loves it!  The schools in the Millard District here in Omaha are amazing.  They blow away Colorado schools.  I can only hope that Jefferson schools are this good.

We are looking toward the middle or end of May to get started on the property.  By then, we should have gotten our base of operations complete here in Omaha and Rich will be healed from his Lasik surgery.  Of course, we can’t spend long periods of time out there until Mason is out of school.

No Comments »

Believe it or not, I have had this discussion with quite a few people lately. People look at our site or we describe what we’re doing and they say, “You ought to call the Discovery Channel! Or one of those shows that documents this sort of thing. You know, This Old House!”   This Old Corn Crib, maybe. 
I’ve never seen what we are doing here as particularly unusual or noteworthy. However, there seems to be quite a bit of interest in it.  Much more than I ever anticipated.
It is quite interesting to me how our pursuit of a simpler life is so unusual.  I guess most people today are always looking for bigger and better.  We are just trying to find the smaller and better.

2 Comments »

You might have seen that Reagan had posted a Triathlon schedule for the summer, but she’s not the only one racing this year. I thought I’d give bike racing a spin, so I signed up for the Lincoln Plating Spring Cycling Classic that happened last weekend. A few people I met there were surprised that I entered a stage race for my first experience. I thought it would be a good early season sampler, so then I could find which events I liked and disliked.

Saturday Individual Time Trial 13 miles.
The event was at Branched Oak Lake, NW of Lincoln, NE. I was in place at the starting line when I suddenly realized that I’ve never been clipped in, standing still, and having someone hold my bike up by the seat before. I did have that thought of hearing “GO” and just falling over. I took off, saw someone ahead of me and made them the rabbit to catch, Heading North up the big climb, the nice 15-25mph tailwind made for a fast climb. About a mile later, that’s when it got painful. The road comes back at a 45 degree angle to the Southeast. Remember that tailwind? Well, it was in front now. Then South on the dam, straight into the headwind. Ouch. Took everything to stay above 14mph. Around here I ended up passing 3 people. Then there was a long rolling stretch going West. Fast climbs, and even faster descents. The final corner was a blast. You got a good line into a 90 degree corner, and with that wind shifting to your backside, it snapped you into place and accelerated you to 30 to the finish.
RESULTS - 10th place, 0:39:34, 19.87mph avg

The Road Race 38 miles.
The road race was the same course, just 3 laps around the lake. So after some chips, turkey sandwiches, gel and energy drinks; the wind gained more speed. About 25-35mph now. The start was a rolling, neutral start out to the main road. Once there, the race was on. We stayed in a pack, climbing near 17mph and still having friendly small talk. Crossing the dam was a nightmare. The gusts hitting the front of the pack caused some major yo-yo-ing. I was on the windy blown edge of the pack and during the pulsing, starting working backwards in rank. Kept on the back for the rest of the lap and up the hill again. However hitting that open area behind the lake just behind the pack’s protection was bad news. That’s when I lost them. I kept them in sight for a while, then they disappeared. Apparently the pack fell apart near the start of the last lap. The final lap was more of the same. At least I was able to start picking off riders. Made it back up to the end of the peninsula, saw Reagan and Mason sitting on the side of the road and gave what I had left to make the finish look good. Crossed the line, and coasted all the way back to the truck. I laid in the grass and waited for the family to walk over.
RESULTS: 13th. 2:18:30, 16.42mph avg GC:13th place
-I don’t remember passing that many people. I was surprised.

Sunday - Pioneer’s Park, Lincoln Nebraska. 30min circuit race
The course was a 2 mile loop on the Eastern sideof the park. There was a fast 1/2 mile out to a roundabout with a buffalo statue, then back on the same road. The road split here and you dropped down one side of the concert bowl, circled it on dead flat roads with sweeping dogleg turns, then up the “leg-burner” hill back to the line.
I started on the line, and tried to keep even with the other guy who got in front down the narrow stretch. I tried to match speed here, didn’t need to unleash the pack’s wrath yet. I think I was in the lead from taking a good set of corners in and out of the roundabout and back to the split. From here, I didn’t preview the rest of the course. I ended up on the outside of the next few corners, and fell back into the middle of the pack. Then it was disaster for me. There was just no leg left to make it up that hill. I chased down the pack, and was entering the roundabout as they exited. Each lap from there more of the same. I could hold my own until I hit that hill. I saw the pack’s lead grow slightly each lap. It was good, that I could see I was pulling away from the rest of the stragglers too. I just entered the split on the final lap when I heard the winner cross the line. I was about a 1/2 lap back. After the race, one of the guys from an Omaha team came over and said it looked like I had a good race, and asked if I caught them again. He saw my lead over him grow each lap too. I told him, I didn’t have anything left to climb with, then both of them chimed in about killing themselves in that wind yesterday. So, we chatted for a while and I learned which bike shop they were out of. I might have to go check it out and get in on some of their group rides.
RESULTS - 12th place, 0:31:24
Final GC place: 9th. A top 10 finish!
What I learned:
-I could say I was the lead straggler behind the pack each time.
-The pack accelerates near the end of the 1st lap
-I hate the wind
-Need to learn the course, and warm up more
-And I have no favorite event. I love TT riding, the distance of road races, and the crits are fast crazy fun.

3 Comments »

Well, by all accounts, the house should have officially sold today, and we already moved to Omaha last weekend.

My first thought, which repeated itself many times while unloading, was “How much stuff do we own?” Maybe I should back up a few days to explain. When we got the offer, we started packing. We had a huge pile of boxes. We rented a 4×8 U-Haul trailer and I loaded that, and the back of the truck for Reagan to deliver to Omaha that weekend. I fit all kinds of things in there, even Reagan’s scooter and had to search the house to find more things to load up, even before I loaded the truck.
So, for the official move we changed our mind on the plans and got the largest U-Haul trailer. When I picked it up, I even asked “That’s a 6×12?” I loaded up the kitchen, and had my doubts. So, we rented a truck afterall. We managed to fill that rather well too. What were we thinking?

Unloading must have been a sight for the neighbors to watch. We unloaded the U-haul, then started on the trailer. But the odd part was that we would take a full dolly from the trailer into the house, then return with a full load to place back into the U-haul. Then we would move things from the trailer to the U-haul, and more into the pickup. We had a plan. The empty U-haul was making a second trip to a storage unit that we didn’t need on hand. I filled the truck with items that would survive in the shed out on the farm.

Anyhow, I made the farm trip today. Things were getting a bit green, but not overgrown yet. I did happen to move the 16″ push-reel mower, so I pulled that out and mowed the driveway with it. I was just waiting, perhaps horrified, for one of the neighbors to drive by and see the newbie mowing with something so hopeless. It was fun anyhow, and the driveway and a parking spot was probably close to the size of the former backyard. At least the part you see from the road looked better. I also left a guard gnome standing out on duty.

I didn’t have much planned to do, but had been thinking about the road from Cooper to Rippey. There were some sweeping dogleg corners on it. I don’t need to be riding too much this week, as the stage race starts on Saturday. But I couldn’t resist. 3 states in a week and riding near the farm…sounded good, almost. Our road is dirt, and loose dirt at that. Skinny little road tires don’t handle that too well, nevermind my nervousness about shreading brand new expensive tires. I ended up on the RRVT north to Cooper and hit the road there. The road out to Rippey was decent, fun, and a perfect distance. I did a turnaround lap around downtown Rippey, then headed back with a tailwind pushing me back to Cooper at 25mph. Sweet.

I got to watch a phesant walk around, calfs stood up and watched me ride by, chickens scattered around a yard, and a little rat sized terrier of some sort took chase just outside of Cooper. 1-2 quick turns of the cranks, and the dog dropped back and decided to walk back home. Nothing like the sound of dog nails clicking up behind you. Weather was great, and the farm itself was completly quiet and peaceful.

I’m thinking of stealing the parting quote of Chuck Offenburger from the story he wrote about us. “Oh, this is going to be fun”

I think the ending of this day confirmed it all. Leaving the farm, I hit the eyesore known as Omaha. Something about this town, especially the west side, confirms most of our thoughts, and makes us so happy we bought Two Barn Farm. I did catch my revenge on suburbia when I saw the look of horror in the rear view mirror. I was stuck in standstill, rush hour traffic due to a lane closure, and everyone was blocking the merges from flowing smoothly. Apparently the women in a Lexus did not expect a huge, dirty F-350 to turn sideways and wedge itself in the few feet in front of her. I usually am calm, but once in a blue moon I have to call on the art of merging one learns in Boston. Well, to do a Boston style merge justice, I should have driven down the sidewalk first.

No Comments »

How come you don’t realize how much you truly like a place until you decide to leave? I think it is just a combination of sadness of leaving the familiar and uncertainty about the future. This was our first home and we put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into it (literally!). Even though our leaving is the beginning of making our long time dreams a reality, we are sad to leave our comfy little home, our wonderful friends, and the neat little town of Loveland.

I say this now with much love in my heart for this place. Loveland has all of the trappings of a little city wanting to be bigger and doing a lot of things to the detriment of the true heart of the city. Many of these things are the reason we are leaving. We want a simpler place. However, despite it’s shortcomings and lack of vision sometimes, Loveland is a great little town. Not close enough to Denver to be a suburb. It still has it’s own identity and that’s what we love.

Our home here has been perfect. A little small sometimes, but we need that. It has allowed us to realize what we truly need in our lives. How different the necessary and unnecessary are. It has allowed us to follow our creative vision for a home. We carved out a little bit of sustainability in the city. This home has a heart that I will miss like a friend.

Our friends have been amazing. You can’t buy wonderful neighbors. We just got really lucky here. People you can count on to be there for you, whom you would do the same for. Some people we have known only for a short time, many I met and formed friendships with over coffee at Circle Moon. Maybe it was the caffeine that started them, but these friendships will last far longer than my relatively short time working there. I am so thankful for my time there and the people I met and experiences I gained because of it.

We had a party in our empty house tonight (our last night in Colorado). It was so much fun to spend time with our friends here. We didn’t have to worry about spilling anything on the furniture since most everything was loaded in the truck. No rugs to ruin. Just good friends, good burgers, and good beer. What a way to end our time here.

Time to move on. . . Experience new adventures and treasure the old. We’ll miss you all!!

2 Comments »