JDub’s

If there’s a Heaven … I want it just like this.

I should be posting more frequently now that I’ve got a running car again and work should be easing up a bit … 50 hours this week.

JDub

But 8 hour later …

It’s zero degrees and snowing sideways at 30mph ! 

Here we go again.

NOT!

I fire up good ‘ol Trusty Rusty … my 1992 Subaru wagon which has plenty of miles on ‘er, but it always starts, and has a heater that would keep anyone living in the northwoods warm!

She’s also got plenty of radios to keep me informed on the way to work … AM/FM … CB … and police. Oh oh, almost 11pm … time to make the donuts! (or something like that)

The next morning now … I get out of work just a little before 7:30am, so I take the long way home and drive towards Lake Michigan, through Milwaukee’s south side:

There is St. Josaphat’s Basilica on 6th and Mitchel st. just getting the first rays of sun on this C O L D morning.

… and then I drive north toward’s Allen Bradley to see just how cold it got. I’ve got a good idea what it is every time I roll down the car window to take a picture … BRRRRRRRR !!!

Yeah … it’s cold …

From there, I drive over towards Greenfield Avenue to see what’s going on in the harbor. Not much … all frozen in.

and then over to the lake:

From there it’s south towards the South Shore Yacht club … where the water is low …

… and there are plenty of hungry birds …

Don’t feed the birds??? C’mon … it’s 5 degrees below zero!

I had stopped at the grocery store on the way over and picked up some bird food for at home, but these guys look REAL HUNGRY … oh well! …

Video:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSIL4-z-IEg

Boooooo !!

Oh well, I got the “B” car dug out of the snow bank, so I won’t have to ride the bike to work tonight, the first real COLD night of this winter. Near ZERO I guess.

Off into the forest he went … (actually, this was a park just up the road from me). So … raise your Gatorade in salute to the new hear. Here’s to deep snow, tailwinds, and many hours of safe adventure in the great outdoors! JDub

It’s about a 45 minute drive from home, and it’s quite scenic as you approach the forest.

Plenty of skiers here today, and as I got ready, I could hear cheering from the warmup building when the Green Bay Packers scored in their last game of the regular season, so there must have been a bunch watching the game in there.

No time for that though, it’s late afternoon and I’ve got K’s to log. Here’s the layout:

As I was cruising along, I caught a glimpse of someone catching me from behind … well, no way! He’s not going to catch me without working for it so I put the HAMMER DOWN!! Of course, he caught me anyway, and actually we skied the last few K’s together, chatting along the way. He lives nearby in Elkhorn and he knew the trail pretty well.

The hills were taking their toll at about 10k, so I bailed the blue trail and took the green straight back to the trail head (good tip there, Brian). From skiing here before, I knew that the last 5k was pretty hilly, so that was a good detour.

Welcome to Kewaskum!

This was actually the first time I’ve ever skied at Zillmer. I think in years past it was never groomed, but these days Zillmer and Greenbush are both expertly groomed on a regular basis. Having a mental picture of the trail map in my head going in, certainly helps keep me oriented.

THis parking lot is a good place to park for bike rides (on the road) in the area in the summer time like I did last year: HERE (Having an annual park sticker helps for impromptu rides like this).

While the trails in the Milwaukee area have been rather lousy, this looks great! Hey, they’re even grooming!!

What goes down …

Must go up …

No bare spots anywhere, just a nice solid base with some loose snow on top. PERFECT!

Normally, when I’m up this way on a weekday afternoon, I won’t see anyone. It will just be me and the Chickadees or occasional Crow. Today, however, there were a number of other skiers out enjoying the warm winter day.

On the map, you’ll see a notation: “Backpack Shelter” … here it is!

It is a great place to sit and enjoy the warm sun while listening to nothing but the wind … the occasional bird, and the water dripping off the roof. Ahhhhhh …..

Come here on a weekday, park yourself in the sun, and let time stand still …

JDub

Then, later, this guy swooped in for supper:

Yeah, I don’t like it when those feathers get in the way either!

These were taken from my kitchen window.

Anyway, stay warm everybody and don’t drink too much Egg Nogg!

Looks like a Nordic Track day, so time for a

We had just received 6 inches of new snow and the trails were freshly groomed that morning.

There was also a Packer game that day, so skier traffic was less than it normally would be after such a nice dump of snow. So, hang in there fellow skiers, train hard the best you can because good conditions will return !

JDub

This was my first skate session since my crash and broken pelvis 2 years ago. It was good to drag out the 16 year old skate skis (are they THAT old???). I still use these old Swix poles with the “Paddle Grips”. Am I the only person still using these? I just did some easy skating, working on my very rusty technique for 45 minutes (gotta take care of these old knees). I like skiing east of the park road for easy workouts, I call it the ‘practice loop’ … it’s about 1km long. Light rain tomorrow? YUCK! Hang in there fellow skiers, we’ll be skiing right through Christmas this year and that’s all Santa Clause needs to bring me. JDub