Moe, Larry and Curly.

Group shot of the four-footed members of the family. Charlie (the puppy) has settled in as though he's been here forever. Gotta love dogs!

Gentlemen, we have ignition...

Launch sequence has been engaged, rockets are firing. After much agonizing and deliberation, I pulled the trigger on a Salsa Fargo today. All parts from the Inbred 96er will swap over with the exception of the rear wheel which I'll need to build. Since I'll use the existing XT hub, I'm only looking at the cost of a new rim, spokes and nipples. Build pics to follow, for now this one from Salsa will do. All you guys out there, here are some words to live by from a man who's lived by 'em through 18+ years of marriage...It's easier to ask forgiveness than to ask for permission.

As fate would have it.

We've always had dogs, Labs specifically. Big surprise, I know. For a while now my wife and I have been thinking about rescue/adoption but hadn't really moved beyond the conversation stage. As fate would have it, the little guy pictured here basically landed in our laps. (We're not certain what his bloodlines are exactly, definitely some German Shepherd, possibly Rhodesian Ridgeback, Viszla or Pit Bull) Charlie, as we've named him was rescued from the streets by Happy Tails Rescue in Morrisville, PA (big props) and fostered by a coworker of my wife. Coincidentally, my kids are taking horseback riding lessons from the daughter of this fantastic lady and as fate would have it, Charlie was visiting the stables during a lesson. There was an instant connection and once I discovered he was being fostered, the wheels began to turn quickly. As fate would have it, Charlie was available for adoption and our application was approved, he's been with us since Monday.Take a look at the pics, in the first taken on October 3 , Charlie had just come off the streets weighing 12 pounds. In the second pic, taken October 26, Charlie had just come home with us at hit the scales at 32 pounds!!! He's a sweet, gentle little guy and he's adjusting to life in the nuthouse just fine...as fate would have it.

No snow.

Well, it didn't snow this weekend past. Just rain. And more rain. Then rain again. You get the picture, consequently we cancelled our ride, went back to sleep and hung around the trailer most of the day. We did eat chili and drink hot cider and I sucked down a few Pumpkin Patch Ales, none for the kid, he's only eleven. We'll try again next time.

Let it snow.

The season's first Nor'easter has hit (where else) the Northeast. Low temps and rain where I live just outside Philadelphia and snow to the north in Jim Thorpe where I have a weekend place. The kid and I are planning a leisurely, 25 mile singlespeed (he on his BMX, me on the MonsterX) jaunt down the Lehigh Gorge Saturday AM. When I say down, I truly mean down, it's a very easy 2% downgrade, perfect for my son's first long ride. A little snow will just spice things up a bit. Speaking of spice, Momma will have chili, hot cider and Pumpkin Patch Ale waiting for our return. Yum, delicious!

Tom Morello

Thanks to the wonders of Youtube, I recently witnessed a performance of "The Ghost of Tom Joad" (quick Steinbeck reference there) from a 2008 Bruce Springsteen concert with Tom Morello of Rage Against The Machine/Audioslave/The Nightwatchman. I've been a HUGE Springsteen fan for over 30 years, undoubtedly he's my favorite artist but to term Morello as "sitting in" would be an injustice. Tom drove this performance to new heights, his passion, with both guitar and voice have left an indelible impression on me. This was my first true exposure to Tom Morello, for some reason his work, both musically and morally flew completely off my radar. Suffice it to say, we're locked in now.

Where did the time go?

Damn, it's been almost 4 months since my last post...I blame my job, sucks up to friggin much time and energy. It also provides creature comforts for me and the rest of the Black Dog Adventure Team as well as a convenient excuse for not writing.

Anyone who knows me, knows the regard in which I hold John Steinbeck, both the works and the man. Ever since reading an excerpt of The Red Pony in a school textbook as a young kid, I've been hooked. That small snippet steered me onto a journey that's lasted close to 40 years, even my honeymoon led me to the the central coast of California, site of much of Steinbeck's works.

Without a doubt, my favorite work of Steinbeck's and quite honestly a book I've grown to love more than anything I've ever read is Travels With Charley: In Search of America. The book, one of Steinbeck's few works of non-fiction, chronicles a trip the author took with his standard poodle Charley, starting from Long Island, NY and basically traversed the entire perimeter of the country in a pick-up truck mounted camper. Steinbeck's observations and reflections on the American condition in 1960 still ring fresh and true, almost 50 years later. If you've never read it, I HIGHLY recommend it.

Pictured here, Rocinante, Steinbeck and Charley's home for 3 months and over 10,000 miles.