I'm DONE with Work

At 2:26 pm on Thursday December 4th 2025 I left IBM in Armonk NY for home. I called my wife and told her I was DONE with work. I didn't mean I was done for work for this day, this week or this year. I meant I was DONE with work FOREVER!!

I had been thinking about retirement for a while so when my manager told me that they eliminated my position I wasn't really that upset or surprised. I had told my manager that if he had to lay someone off he could pick me. I didn't really expect it to be this soon as IBM normally lays people off in March so was expecting to work a few more months. This year they had a special layoff in December so lucky me. 

Financially I'm fine as I have been planning for this for years. The annoying part now is working through all my options for medical insurance and other benefits and trying to get the most out of the package that IBM gave me as they don't provide a lot of guidance. It's going to take a lot of research and a bunch of phone calls to figure it all out but I got plenty of time now. 

I'm not going to miss the daily grind of going to work. (Although I mostly worked remote). I did enjoy what I did. I had a good team and we had fun together. It still hasn't hit me that I won't be going to work anymore. It will probably take a few weeks or months to adjust. 

It is strange to look back at my career. I did a lot of cool things from creating guidance systems for nuclear missiles to launching satellites to helping create the framework of the internet. It amazes me how much technology has changed in the 40+ years I have been working. Now we are just beginning the age of AI and it is going to make big changes to the technological as well as the sociological landscape. 

This last job at IBM was one of the longest and most satisfying jobs of my career. I was the lead software architect which meant that I took the crazy requirements from the project managers and executives and tried to work with my development team to turn them into reality. This is not easy as the requirements are never clear and you will never have the time or resources to properly research, design and implement the software. I could go on and on about all the problems with software development but that is for another time. 

The scary and fun part of my job is that I was the guy at the top of the hill that people came to for answers. There were some peers I could rely on if I needed some help with a particular topic but most people expected me to have the answers or at least know how to get and answers. AND for the most part my 40+ years of experience gave me the answers. And if I didn't have an answer I just made something up that sounded good and people believed me. 

For the last 6 months my manager had asked me to start working with some of the more experienced developers and architects to teach them how I do things as he wanted to spread my knowledge to them. This gave me a chance to try and define my style and way of doing things. I actually gave a "TED Talk" like presentation to the team a week ago and which was a good summary about my way of doing things. 

My team likes me because of how calm I am in tense situation and the empathy and support I give them. I remember the awkward person I was socially when I left college so I'm glad I was able to evolve to a point where I can meaningfully interact and support the people I work with and care about. I was very touched by some of the messages they left me when I told them I would be leaving. It's good to know I made an positive impact to the people I worked with. 

And I think that has been my biggest strength is that I know how to build and create good teams. I use some psychology from Adam Grant, Malcolm Gladwell, Daniel Kahneman, Dale Carnegie and a few others. I also throw in some "Yes And..." techniques from improvisation comics as well as some techniques I learn from reading textbooks for the blind and dyslexic. And of course a dash of sarcasm.   

Concentrating on making the team work better together instead of my own career goals has made me a better architect and leader in general. When you have a supportive team you can do good work and enjoy what you do. In the last few years I have had to work with a lot of younger developers. I know that some people complain about the younger generation being lazy and self centered but I have found the people I work with to smart, energetic and more forgiving and inclusive than I was at that age. They may be a little more risk adverse and anxious but I think they will do great things and hopefully fix some of the messes I left around. I actually hope to keep in touch with some of them and try to continue to support them as much as I can. 

My bike friends who read this and call me the "lying bastard" may ask who is this caring supportive person. But they know that when I bring them across closed bridges, dirt roads and ridiculous hills that I'm not trying to kill them I'm just trying to build character. (Okay maybe a little of it is taking out my frustrations at work on them but let's be honest they are the insane people that keep submitting themselves to this pain)

Not having a job doesn't mean I will just be sitting in front of the TV waiting to die. I could get another job if I really wanted to but I don't need to. I have a lot of things that I have wanted to do. More biking of course but I also want to work on improving my photography. There will also be more volunteer work now that I have some free time. I still want to maintain my technical knowledge so hope that I can use my knowledge and experience to help people and organizations with technical problems.

It's going to strange to not go to work this Monday or ever again. I'm sure there will be an adjustment phase but I'm looking forward to freedom and possibilities of retirement. 

And eating the chocolate I got as part of my going away present. 

 

 

 

Risk Management

Leading a ride comes with certain responsibilities. The main one is that you want to keep everyone safe. I try to plan my routes on less traveled roads and make sure I point out any hazards or trouble spots along the way. There are always things you can't control but you try to plan for all contingencies. I had schedule a ride for this past Saturday and my main concern was the weather. I try not to ride in the rain if possible but sometimes you have to push the limits a little in order to get a ride in. 

I will not ride if it is raining or I know that there is going to be significant rain during the ride. Of course weather forecasts are not 100% reliable and if you look at the different sites you can get wildly different forecasts. When I looked on Friday night it looked like the rain won't end before noon but when I woke up on Saturday morning although it was raining the forecasts that I used showed rain ending by 9am an hour before the ride would start. The question I asked myself at 7am was did I believe the forecast and are the roads too wet to ride. My first inclination is always to do the ride because I would rather do a crappy ride rather than sit at home and be pissed I didn't do a ride. However in order to make the decision you have to evaluate the risk. 

In my job I have to make a lot of decisions everyday about what is the best design for a piece of software, what technology to use, and who should do the work. Part of making these decisions is doing the analysis to understand what is the best choice that will achieve the goals. Sometimes after doing the analysis the best choice is obvious but most of the time there are so many factors involved that picking the best one is a guess. This is why it is always important to consider the risk associated with any choice. 

For example should I use some new technology to develop the software or stick with a technology that I know the developers could easily implement. The new technology offers some advantages that allow us to offer some useful features to our users BUT it could take a lot longer to develop and be harder to integrate in to our current system. Is the risk worth the reward and what happens if we fail, is the question you have to ask before making the decision. This is true not only in software development but in life in general. How to I invest my money do I buy stocks or put it in a CD. A CD is safe but may not generate enough return to overcome inflation but stocks have no guaranteed return although they usually outperform any other assets. There are similar questions you can ask about your career or your relationships. In all cases it is important to asset the risk of any situation and try to mitigate it as much as you can.

For Saturday's ride I decided to do it. I knew the roads would be really wet which meant it would be messy and that there would be a possibility slipping on the road lines and leaves but most of the people signed up for the rides had ridden in wet weather before and the route I planned should be relatively safe. A few people who signed up for the ride bailed and I don't blame then for doing it as it was not a great day to ride. 

When I got to the start of the ride it was a little chaotic because there was a Turkey Trot Run in Joseph Lawrence Park which meant we had to park in the school parking lot. There were even some roads blocked off but we managed to talk our way past the barriers. The first half of the ride was a little messy as the spay off the road coated us and our bikes. We did make it down through Robling and into Burlington, without any problems, to visit the Eagle statue by the Burlington Bristol bridge. Chris even got us to go a quarter mile down the road to see the fishing troll

 

After getting out of Burlington we had a quick stop at the Jacksonville Deli before working our way back to the start. By this point the roads had started to dry out. It was still cloudy and not much warmer than when we started but it was much better riding. So this time taking the risk was worth it as we got the ride in. 

 

A Night Under the Stars

Time has been in short supply for me for the last couple of months. Between helping clean out my mother-in-laws home and some other commitments that I have I haven't had a lot of time to relax or do anything fun outside of my normal bike rides. Even thought the weather is turning colder I am still getting out with the posse for some rides. Last week we went to Lahaska and this Saturday we did a short ride to Millstone from Cranbury. We are settling into our winter time routine where we let the weather determine where and how far we ride. This means shorter rides and more rides on the trails. 

This time of year brings longer nights which I plan to use to spend more time looking at the stars. Back in July I purchased a Dwarf 3 smart telescope. This is not your normal telescope where you look through the eye piece to see the stars. This is a smart telescope which has a camera made for astrophotography along with electronics to find and track any object in the sky. Technology has come a long way in the last few years. It use to cost $10,000 to $20,000 to get a setup where you could get good photos of deep sky objects, now for $500 to $600 you can get similar results. 

The way these smart telescope work is that they use multiple short 30sec to 60 sec exposes over hours and integrate them together. This helps gather more light and improve the signal to noise ratio. There is also sophisticated software built into these scopes that remove noise and improve the color and clarity of the image. The image at the top of the post is of the eastern veil nebula. About 15 years ago I have a friend who had a large 15inch dobson telescope and we got a view of the veil nebula. It was very faint and hard to see. Even in his big telescope the best I could see was some cotton like fuss against the dark sky. Now with my Dwarf 3 I can see it in full color and see the twist of gasses caused by the super nova explosion.

Although I have taken some good photos of the sun and moon through my small telescope and camera I never was able to get any good images of any deep sky objects like galaxies and nebulas. Now I can. (See Trifid nebula below)

 

This Dwarf 3 is easy to use. You just install an app on your phone and tell the Dwarf 3 what you want to take a picture of and it scans the night sky and finds it. In my old telescope I use to have to go through an alignment process to get it orientated before I could point it at a target. The alignment process usually required me to manually point the telescope at 2 to 3 different bright stars so the telescope could calculate its position. The Dwarf 3 doesn't need any help with alignment it uses a thing called "plate solving" to align itself. Basically it just looks up at the sky and knows the distant between all the stars in the sky so it can stare at a small piece of the sky measure the distant between the stars it sees then does through some extremely complex calculations know exactly where it is and does a precision alignment. 

The advantage of this way of doing an alignment is that you only need a small part of the sky to do an alignment. This also allow the Dwarf 3 to precisely track a target which is important as it takes a least an hour or two to get a good image. 

I spend August learning how to use the Dwarf 3 and it didn't take too long before I got some pretty good images of the some deep sky objects. Here is lagoon nebula with just over an hour of imaging time.

It's good but with more time I could get even more detail and color out of the image. The thing that impressed me about this image is that I took it from a field wasn't that dark and had a lot of stray light reflecting to the sky. 

At the end of September I got a chance to go to Belleplain state park down toward Cape May. The southern Jersey astronomy club has a weekend each year where they hold a star party. It's not really a party where you eat and drink and dance under the night sky it's more where a bunch of astronomy geeks sit in an open field under dark skies and look through telescopes and talk about astronomy. It's my kind of party which speaks to the geekness of my nature. 

I got to the field in Belleplain state park about 6pm. There were 10 other people already there most of them had some type of camper or tent set up to stay overnight and next to the tent was some type of telescope set up. One of members of the club actually had a small camper with a tent next to it. In the tent he had a couple of laptops set up like a mini mission control center. From the laptops there were bundles of cables going to a large telescope. I talked to him about his setup and it was impressive. He showed me a few pictures that he took. One was the shadow of the moon IO on Jupiter which was as good as any picture I had seen from NASA. 

My setup was not as impressive.

 

It was just my Dwarf 3 which is just he size of a book on a tripod. But this was all I needed. I spent the entire night taking pictures of different objects. Including the Andromeda galaxy 

 

The Helix nebula

and lastly the Orion nebula. 

 

I spend about two hours imaging each one and Dwarf 3 track and imaged perfectly. It was a good clear night which helped. For the first few hours I hung around with the other astronomy geeks talking about the stars and just staring at the night sky. It was very relaxing. I was glad there were other people with me in the dark field because if I had been by myself I would have worried about some animals or the Jersey devil coming out to get me. As the night wore on and it was past 1am I took a nap in my car between setting up the Dwarf 3 to image the next object. By 6am in the morning the sun came up and I was done. I spent another couple hours napping in the car which actually was pretty comfortable so I got about 5 hours sleep. 

One of the interesting discussions I had with the other astronomy geeks is the fact that some people don't think that these smart telescopes are as good as an experience as looking through a real telescope and seeing the object live. I will agree that looking through a telescope and seeing the rings of Saturn live is cool and it feels more real. I look up at the sky then through the telescope and see the rings of Saturn and I feel more connected to it. When you use a smart telescope you just see an image on your phone or computer after the fact so it does seem as real. However smart telescopes allow you to see a lot more of the night sky in a lot more detail. I can see details I couldn't see before. It's not only the fact that I can get some cool picture it's that I can see reflections of the star light in the nebula or the structure of a galaxy. This helps me understand how these structures formed and gets me thinking of the physics and processes that caused these formation. As I tell people who want to observe the night sky you have to look with you mind as well as your eyes because what you see is cool but the reason for all those object you see is something that will feed your curiosity for years.  

The picture I got at the star party were good but I have barely scratch the surface of what can be done with the Dwarf 3. Some people on the Dwarf 3 forums, I follow, have imaged objects for 8-10 hours and then done a lot of post processing to produce some images that rival the Hubble telescope images. Since we have more dark hours in the winter I plan to work on getting some more images during night with clear skies. With the Dwarf 3 I now have the tools I need to explore the night sky in a new a different way so expect some more pictures of the sky in this blog over the winter. 

Fall Weather

 

I know it's fall when I have to break out the long sleeve jerseys and tights. Although fall can be scenic with the leaves turning it means cold weather is coming. I have been very busy the past couple of weeks not only at work where I have been putting in some over time but also in my personal life. Last Saturday we had a estate sale to start cleaning out my mother-in-laws house and I have been providing some technical advice to  my community on some upgrades they want to make. I really haven't had much free time. 

I did get out last Sunday with the posse on a ride to Farmingdale which felt good after a busy week. This Saturday I decided to go with my other club. They don't have many people that ride when it gets colder so I don't usually ride with them in the late fall. I was planning on signing up for the B ride but when I checked nobody had signed up but I saw a few people I know who usually do the B ride signed up for the C+ ride.  

It was barely 50 degrees when we started the ride and we went out at a relaxed pace. The moderate wind from the west was annoying but the pace was easy so it didn't really bother me. It felt like a recovery ride which is what I wanted after another busy week. The wind got stronger after the break but it was now at our back so getting back to our starting point was a quick run.

Although life has been busy and the weather is getting colder I will always find a way to try to get out for a few miles to relieve the normal stress of life.  

To Ride or Not to Ride

 

The weather forecast is part of any ride preparation. The temperature, precipitation, and wind forecast determine what I will wear the type of route I will do and even if I will go out for a ride or not. I try not to ride in the rain so if it is raining or there is more than a 50% of some heavy rain I won't go out for a ride. I will in some cases push the boundaries to get a ride in which is what I did this past Saturday. 

Laura had scheduled a ride out of Lambertville for Saturday. The forecast was 60 degrees with a 30% chance of rain. Most of the forecasts had the rain holding off until late afternoon. However as I left my house to drive to the ride it started to drizzle. I thought I would drive through it based on the radar but it only got heavier as I headed towards Trenton. I almost decided to turn around. As I went through the tunnel into Trenton the rain stopped and it got brighter. When I got to Lambertville the roads were dry but it was still overcast. By the start of the ride it has started to drizzle again and there were several bands of light rain on the radar. At that point Laura decided to cancel the ride. I might had made the same decision had I been leading as you always want to err on the side of caution. You don't want to worry about keeping 9 people safe while riding on the road in the rain. 

However Pete had suggested that maybe we could just ride up the hill from Lambertville and at least try to get a few miles in. If it started to rain harder we would turn around and head back down hill. I join Pete along with Ricky, Martin and Brad? 

We didn't followed the plan route Pete just winged it as we headed up Seabrook. He kept us heading mostly north along the ridge. We did hit a few patches of drizzle but nothing that actual got us wet or caused us to turn around. We even saw some patches of blue sky and sun especially as we got closer to Frenchtown. As we kept going we didn't know exactly where we were. When we crossed Rt 12 we knew we were above Frenchtown but kept going. Then I recognized a few roads on Laura's route so I loaded the route and followed it as it took us along the ridge then downhill to Rt 29. 

The clouds were getting a little darker then so instead of continuing to follow the route to Milford we headed back to Frenchtown where we had a rest stop at the Bridge cafe. From there we decided to just head straight back on 29 as that would be the quickest way back if it started to rain. 

The rain never came and when we got to Lower Creek road we headed up it and then up over Sandy Ridge and eventually down Alexauken to Lambertville. We ended up with 47 miles and 2100 ft of climbing so more or less what the planned ride would have been. We definitely got lucky with the rain. It could have easily gone the other way with us getting caught in a drenching rain but in this case the risk was worth the reward.

Paradigm Shift

Since I started riding I have always uses some type of pickup truck to get to a ride. First is was my Ford Ranger then is was the Baja. It each case I had a rack in the bed of the pickup that I would mount the bike to. It was a fork mount rack meaning I would take the front wheel off the bike and attach the front fork of the bike to the rack. Like shown below in my Baja

 

It worked well and even when I got a thru axle bike all I had to do is get a different fork mount to put on the rack. The new car is an SUV which means I don't have a bed for my normal rack so I had to switch to a hitch mounted rack. I didn't have to do much research on which hitch rack to get as everybody I know has a 1Up rack and loves it.  It's a sturdy rack that attaches the bike by securing the wheels so you don't have to worry about scratching or bending the frame. 

 

Of course this requires a hitch to be installed on the car so I had that done this past Wednesday. I had the Stealth Hitch installed. I chose this hitch because the other hitches I looked out required a piece of the bumper to be cut out and I didn't want to cut up a brand new car. The Stealth Hitch does require a small hole to be cut underneath the car so that the hitch receiver can be attached but it is not visible and the hitch receiver can be removed when I don't need the bike rack so you won't even know that a hitch has been installed. 

As with any rack you always worry that the bike will fall off. With the old bike rack in the bed of the Baja I didn't worry much because worst case the bike will just fall into the bed of the car and I won't lose the bike. With a hitch rack if it falls out of the rack its going to be bouncing down the road. 

I will say the 1Up rack is very secure. As long as you attach it properly to the hitch and make sure the bike is locked in, there is no possibility of losing the bike. When I loaded the bike for this Saturday's ride I left my house then stopped in a parking lot about a mile from my house just to make sure the bike was secure after a few bumps in the road. The new car uses a camera at the back of the car for the rear view mirror and when the bike is in the rack I can just see the rear seat in the mirror so I can monitor the bike as I drive along. 

The rack was really steady and the bike didn't seem to move much driving along. The new car and bike rack are a lot different than the Baja so it is going to take a while to get use to everything. I like the new set up and know the new car, bike rack should be able to take me on any ride I want to go on. 

 

Moments of Sadness

Although my latest posts have been more about my vacation and the lost of the Baja I have been riding. There was just nothing special or interesting about the rides to post. This past Saturday Jeff had a ride to Lahaska from Washington crossing. I had not been in the hills for a few weeks so wanted decided to do the ride. I started with a few other people from the NJ side to get a few extra miles in. 

Jeff didn't put any hard hills on the ride so it was an easy ride to Lahaska where we stopped for a break. Jeff tried a new shop for the stop but it was super crowded so a few of us went to another store. At that point I decided to head back to the start on my own. I had a memorial service I needed to be at in the early afternoon and didn't want to be late. 

The memorial service was for a friend of ours, named Rich, who was one of the first people we met when we moved into our community just over four years ago. He was nice guy who helped us meet a lot of other people in the community and settle in. He became the core of our group and we had a lot of fun together. Because of him my wife now volunteers at a farm for rescue animals which she really enjoys. 

Unfortunately about a year and a half ago Rich was diagnose with glioblastoma an incurable form of brain cancer. He died a few weeks ago which was sad because he was only 65. When we first met Rich we knew we found a good friend that we could hang out. He was a very easy going person and always willing to help us out when we needed something. We had hoped to have him in our lives for a long time so it strange that we will not see him again. We will be ever grateful that he connected us to the other people in the community that now form our group of friends. I will also be grateful for Rich introducing my wife to the rescue farm where she volunteers once a week. It's a place that makes her happy ever time she goes there. We are very happy for the joy that Rich brought into our lives and are sad that he left us so soon.

Rich's memorial service wasn't the only sad moment on Saturday. My mother-in-law also passed away in the early afternoon right before Rich's service. She was 97 years old and her health had really started failing her a couple months ago. She had lived in her house on her own until a couple of years ago when we had to get an aid to help her out. The aid was part time then a few months ago it was around the clock. A couple of weeks ago she was put on hospice care so we knew she didn't have much time left. At 97 her body was just worn out. 

She and my father-in-law were good working class people. My father-in-law, who we lost 9 years ago, was a diamond setter in New York and my mother-in-law was a secretary at the local school in Paramus. They were the typical suburban couple who made friends with all their neighbors. The wife's got together for coffee when the kids went to school and the men got together to drink after work. When I met their daughter and were introduced to them they were nothing but kind. Once I married into the family I felt like part of it and had no problem getting along with them. I'm sad to see my mother-in-law go but she lived a full life. She was really starting to suffer for the past couple of months so her passing is really a blessing at this point that will give her some piece.

Friend and family dying is part of the things that we experience as part of our lives. These are sad moments that make us reflect on their lives and our own. These moments make us sad but they also make us realize and appreciate the people who have been a part of our lives.

Bye Bye Baja

It is with a heavy heart that I publish this post because my companion of 23 years is now gone. It may be silly to anthropomorphism a car but I can't deny that I had feelings for it. I bought this car new in October of 2002 and it has taken me on some great adventures during the time we had together. It got me to and from work on weekdays. And on weekends would either help me haul some dirt or lumber for a home project and/or take me to a bike ride. 

The Subaru Baja was a very versatile car. It was the Subaru Outback wagon with a pickup bed instead of the normal extended interior of a wagon. This meant I could haul dirt or plants or wood and not worry about the inside of the car getting dirty. The wall between the back of the pickup bed and the back seats folded down so I could carry long pieces of wood or other material. I could easily carry 4x8 pieces of plywood or 12 foot long pieces of hardwood. I once even got all the pieces of a shed in the back with the bed extender on. 

 

When the Baja wasn't hauling stuff it was a very comfortable car that could fit 4 adults. It was nimble enough to be fun to drive on windy country roads but could also cruise at top speed along the highway. It's 4 wheel drive took me without fear through snow storms and to ski slopes. I knew what every the weather or road conditions the Baja would get me where I needed to go. It was just fun to drive.

 

 

The car was garage kept since day one and I kept it cleaned and waxed. I did all the regular maintenance and never abused the car in any way. The car was very reliable and I only had a few unexpected problems over the years. Unfortunately the last year the car started showing its age. Last March the water pump needed to be replace as the original one cracked. Replacing the water pump was not cheap as they had to take part of the engine apart to replace the pump. At the time I debated whether I should do the repair or get rid of the car but the car was otherwise in good condition so I thought it was would be worth it if I could get another year or so out of the car. 

Over the past few months a clamp on the fuel line failed and I had a problem with the lock on the passenger door. I had to push really hard on the stalk to get the left turn signal to work. The final straw was a fluid leak of unknown origin. I could not find the source of the leak but guessed it was some seal in the engine that would be an expensive fix. Age had finally caught up to the Baja and there was no denying that it was time to put it out to pasture. 

I had been to the NY car show this past April to check out the new cars just to get and idea what was out there and what my options would be if I needed a new car. I took a look at a lot of the cars and tried to find the best EV and the best hybrid car that would fit my needs. Cars have changed a lot in the 23 years since I bought a new car. You now have a choice of the type of engine for a car, gas, hybrid or electric. Electric cars have come a long way in the past few years and are a viable alternative in certain conditions. If you are a two car family and have a home you can add a level 2 charger to then EVs can make a lot of sense. Most of the trips people make today are less than 50 miles so an EV can be your main car and handle most of the trips you need to make. 

That is why we decided to get and EV for the new car. We have always had two cars. My car and my wife's car. My car would be for hauling stuff and getting me to my bike rides. Her car would be the one we use for our road trips. Now we are going to have an EV which will be "THE CAR" we both use for all our local and short distance trips and my wife's car will be used for long distance trips and for times when we need to leave the car in a location like center city Philadelphia or an airport where you won't want to leave a new car. My wife's car is a 18 year old Nissan Altima so it's not a car anyone would want. 

So what car did we decide to buy. It is a 2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5.

 

When I went to the NY car show I found three EVs that I really liked. The Nissan Airya, the Chevy Equinox and the Hyundai Ioniq 5. The Airya was my favorite followed by the Equinox then the Ioniq 5. I was looking at a SUV instead of some type of small pickup like the Baja because at this point of my life I don't have a big yard or need to build as much so I don't need a pickup anymore. An SUV will have enough room to haul what. I need now. 

So after making the decision that we needed to replace the Baja we spent a Saturday going to a few different dealerships and driving a bunch of cars. We tried to drive the Airya but Nissan didn't have one we could drive but we did look at it. We then test drove the Ioniq 5 and really liked it but wanted to check out a couple of other cars. We then tested out the Kia Niro and Chevy Equinox. We were really disappointed with the Equinox. It didn't drive well and although the interior was very comfortable it looked cheap. The Niro was okay but not as nice as the Ioniq 5. Then it was back to Hyundai to make a deal with a 21 year old salesman who was younger than the Baja ;) The good thing about my wife and I is that for big ticket items we have similar tastes in what we want and like so there was no doubt about the decision. 

So we made the deal and on Monday the 15th parted with a large amount of cash for the new car. The car is very different than any other car I have had. Being electric it is quiet, smooth and without any transmission has amazing linear acceleration. We ended up getting the all wheel drive model. I would have preferred the two wheel drive model since it offers more miles on a charge but they do not stock those models in states that have snow. However the all wheel drive model is faster and more agile so it should be fun to drive. 

The new car has a lot of new features. The Ioniq 5 was totally redesigned for 2025 so has a larger battery and updated electronics. I thought about getting a used EV to save money but the new features of 2025 especially the larger battery make it a much better car. The car has some self driving features like adaptive cruise control and lane keeping. It's not as sophisticated as Tesla's self driving but it is close enough for most of the driving we will do. 

It's going to take a while to get use to the new car and all of it's features. I'm sure I will like it once I get more familiar it but I don't think I will like any car as much as I liked my Baja. When I drove the Baja for the last time driving to the dealer for the trade in I felt like I was taking my dog to the vet to be put to sleep. I will miss the Baja but it was time for a change. 

There will be no funeral services for the Baja let's just remember the good times we had with it. In lieu of flowers I would suggest you make donations directly to the Baja memorial fund (i.e. me) This fund will be used to help the families who lost a Baja recover from the financial hardship of having to buy a new car. 

R.I.P. Baja you served me well and will be missed.  

 

 

The New England Coast

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After a couple of days in the far reaches of Lubec Maine we started to make our way south. The first stop was Bar Harbor. We hadn't been to up this was since 2005 so we thought it would make a good stop as part of our trip. It took a little over 2 hours to get to Bar Harbor and we arrived around noon. It was a cloudy day but warm. Since we couldn't get in our hotel yet we decided to take a drive around Acadia. We stopped at the Hull Cove Visitor's Center to check in and get our pass. To get to the visitor center you have to climb 52 steps to get to it. Not sure why they didn't put it level with the parking lot.

Once we got our pass we drove around the park stopping at different scenic vistas and other points of interest. There was Sand Beach, and Thunder Hole

 

 

as well as some good views of the rocky coastline 

We spent a little over 3 hours driving around the park. The only part of the park we didn't see was Cadillac mountain. The cloud ceiling was only a few hundred feet so there was no point. 

Our hotel was on Mount Desert Island in the Northeast Harbor. It was a decent hotel with a view of the harbor. 

The plan for our second day in Bar Harbor was to do a whale watch but it was going to be foggy and rainy all day so we bailed on the whale watch and instead checked out some of the stops of Bar Harbor and the Northeast Harbor. Although it was Sunday we managed to get a parking spot on the street in the middle of Bar Harbor. We walked around town for a couple of hours. We spent half of our time in the Atlantic Brewing Company sampling some of their beers. The last two times we were in Bar Harbor we have eaten at their restaurant and enjoyed their blueberry beer. It doesn't really have a strong blueberry taste but it is a very smooth beer. I had a flight of beer so I could try some of their other beers but the blueberry one was still the best and as good as I remembered. We didn't eat there this time but had one of the best large pretzels I have even had. 

The next day we left for the last stop on our trip which was Cape Cod. We took a scenic side trip on the way to the town of Rockport. Why Rockport? To see the Andre the seal statue of course. If you don't know the story of Andre the seal you can check out the this article or watch this video. 

The short version is that Andre was a seal who was and an abandon pup rescued by the harbor master (Harry) of Rockport. Even though he set him free when he grew up Andre always came back in the spring. Eventually Harry taught him some tricks when he fed him each night and people watched. This became a nightly event that drew crowds in the summer. One of those people in those crowd was me back in the early 70s. So the trip to Rockport was trip down memory lane. While we checked out the statue of Andre we actually met a few other people from NJ who also saw Andre so it was fun to talk to the and exchange memories. There was also a local teacher there who tells the story to her class each year. She actually recorded a video of me telling my story of when I saw Andre. It was fun to visit a place of one of my early childhood memories. I took a few pictures and then we headed on to Cape Cod.

Cape Cod is one of our favorite places to go and relax. We have been there enough to know our way around and have some favorite places to go. The first stop is always at Capt Parker's or the Lobster Boat for a bowel of claim chowder. We got some claim chowder in Maine but it doesn't come close to anything in Cape Cod. We don't have a favorite hotel but we usually stay in or around South Yarmouth. This time we stayed a little further to the east in Dennis Port in a hotel with a view of the ocean. The room was nice, large and comfortable. The day after we got to Cape Cod we had good weather so we spent most of the day relaxing at Corporation Beach.

It's a quiet beach used mostly by the locals and is never crowded. Then it was on to another good dinner and ice cream of course. The next day wasn't as warm so we check out some of our favorite craft and artistic shops then spent a couple of hours by the pool and beach of our hotel. 

It was then time to come home. I have been extremely busy at home and work for the past month so if felt good to get away for a week and relax and do some sight seeing.  

The Points of the Compass

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We did it. Not that it really matters or that it was ever a goal of ours, but we made it to at least one of the northern, southern, eastern, and western extreme points of the US. This past week we traveled up to Maine on vacation. And when I say up to Maine i mean we went as far north and east as you can get before hitting Canada. This was to get to West Quoddy Head lighthouse which is the eastern most point in the continental US. We had already been to Key West which is the southern most point in the US and to Utqiagvik(formally known as Barrow) Alaska the northern most point in the US and to Cape Alava Washington the western most point in the contiguous US, so we have completed all point of the compass.  

Of course, we didn't go to Maine to complete the points of the compass it was to get away for a week and relax and find some interesting things to see. On the way to the eastern most point we stopped for a night in Portland Maine. On the way out we stopped at Portland Head light which is probably one of the more picturesque light houses. 

Then it was a 4-hour drive to Lubec Maine the last hour and a half of the ride was on narrow county routes with more and more woods and less and less houses until we got to Lubec which is a small fishing village across the bay from Canada. We stayed at West Quoddy Station which was right next to the light house. It was an old coast guard stations whose building have been turned into cabins you can rent. It was a nice quiet place to spend a couple of days. 

The cabin we stayed in had a large porch with a good view of the bay and surrounding area.

Being next to the lighthouse made it easy to go see it a couple of times. I got a few pictures in the daytime when we got there and then went the next morning to try and get a good sunrise shot. 

Heavy fog rolled in right before the sunrise so although I saw some rays of the sun on the water I never did see the actual sun. 

Besides visiting the lighthouse, we took a day trip to Campobello Island in Canada. It's a small island just across the bay from Lubec and is filled with a few fishing villages and lighthouses so we thought it make a scenic drive. The other reason we went there was to see the Roosevelt Campobello park. 

This is a place where Roosevelt's father had a vacation home and FDR spent many summers. The park is now run by a committee that is made up of both Canadians and Americas. It contains a few houses that have been preserved in the original state. There are also miles of roads and hiking trails where you can see the surrounding forests and coastlines. We took a tour of the main house and drove to Liberty Point for some scenic views. Then went on to explore the rest of the island. 

There isn't really a lot to see on Campobello except the coastline which is nice. There is also a very interesting lighthouse called the Head Harbor Light station. This is a light house on the northern tip of the island that you can only get to at low tide. I timed our arrival an hour and a half before low tide. To get to the lighthouse you have to first go down a set of steep stairs and cross a bolder field covered in seaweed. There is a path between the rocks but you still have to be careful not to slip and fall.

 

Then you have to walk across a gravel beach and up a very rusty set of stairs to a second island.

Then you walk a quarter mile across the island then down another set of step stairs and across a beach through another bolder field covered with seaweed before you get to the actual light house

 

It took me about 20 mins of carefully hiking to make my way. It was a little slick in places and I had worked up a good sweat by the time I got to the lighthouse but it was worth the trip.

I spent about 15 minutes walking around the lighthouse and taking pictures. It was an interesting lighthouse. It really gets beat up by the weather and I could see a lot of damage to the walls and some of the structures around it. It must require a lot of maintenance to keep it standing. Then I slowly made my way back to my wife and the mainland. 

After that we stopped for dinner at a small place by the water before heading back to the US and back to our cabin. It was a fun couple of days at one of the most rural and extreme places we have been. Next stop Bar Harbor and some more scenic coastlines.  

 

 

 

 

Gettysburg in the Summer

 

I have been to Gettysburg 5 times since 2012. This is not because I'm a civil war history buff but because there is a lot of good bike riding in the area. Most of my trips here have been in October with the Philadelphia Bike Club. They run a ride out here every year where they fill up 2 hotels in, Hanover PA, with bicyclist who ride all the roads in and around Gettysburg. It's always a good trip and it is fun being part of a weekend which is all about biking and nothing else. 

I have always wanted to come out in the late spring or summer instead of the fall so we could ride in warmer weather. I have been trying to do this for a couple of years but weather or other commitments kept me from doing it. I tried this past June to get a trip going but the weather didn't work out so when I saw an opening of good weather at the end of August I sent out an email out to see if I could get enough people on short notice to do the trip.

Luckily 5 of us were able to do. Since I had been planning this trip for over a year I had all the logistics of the trip already work out, mostly. For this trip we always stay in the Hampton Inn in Hanover but the price was kind of expensive this time of year. I looked for discounts and while looking at other alternatives I found a house on Vrbo that would work so ended up booking that instead. 

So this past Friday off we went to Gettysburg. After driving to Gettysburg and meeting everyone at the starting point we start the ride off around noon.  Our first ride was around the battlefield. I had mapped out a 23 mile loop that hit all the different areas. Most of the ride was inside the park. There wasn't a lot of people at the park or in Gettysburg itself so we didn't have to deal with a lot of people or cars getting in our way. There are a lot of interesting monuments and statues here as well a a number of scenic overlooks so we took our time. I have rode around the battlefield a number of times but I always find some I haven't notice before so didn't mind doing it again. 

After the ride it was back to our house.

I have stayed in a number of Vrbo houses and am usually able to find a good place to stay. The only concern I had about this house was there was no reviews but it had 5 bedrooms (one for each of us), was on the route of our Saturday ride and was half the price of the hotel rooms. The house was on a 100 acre farm at the end of the long driveway. It was few hundred feet from the other houses on the farm and in the back corner so it was very private. 

 

We had great views of Lake Marburg and the rolling farmland. The house was larger than I expected with two large living rooms in the front (one of them became the bike room). A large eat in kitchen and dinning room as well as 1 bedroom on the first floor. Then the second floor had 4 bedrooms. The furniture was old but comfortable and the house was clean. However the best thing about it was the porch with its rocking chairs where you could sit out and watch the lake and farm. It was a good place to relax after the ride. 

Dinner was at a local dinner then back home to watch Jeff passionately root for the Eagles. 

On Saturday we did a ride to Loganville to visit a farmers market. This ride was through an area called Seven Valleys. Do you know what surrounds valleys?? That right HILLS! and depending on who's GPS you believed there were between 8 and 15 climbs on this ride. The first part of the ride was through the valley although this is Pennsylvania so it was more rolling than flat with a couple of annoying short bumps. On the way we ended up passing Hanover Junction train station

 

This is the train stations that Lincoln passed through on his way to Gettysburg to give his famous speech. Today its one of the trail heads for the Heritage Rail Trail which goes from York PA all the way down to the Mason Dixon line in Maryland. We stopped at the train station for a bathroom break and also got a history lesson from some of the union soldiers who were there as part of a family event. 

Then it was onward and mostly upward as we climbed out of the valley and to the farmers market. Brown's Farm Market is like a country version of Delicious Orchards. It has all the usual produce and baked goods as any normal farmers market would as well as a nice set of tables outside to sit at. It also had a good view of the valley we had rode through.

 

From there is was back down through what is call a town around here and then on to a dam on Lake William. Last time I did this route in 2018 they had drained the lake and were working on the dam. At that time there was a bridge out sign across the road but the we were still able to ride across the dam. I was curious to see what the new dam looked like. 

The new dam is very nice. They just forgot to add the bridge. DAM!! 

That was unexpected. If we were really adventurous we would have tried to walk down the hill and across the spillway but that would be a bad idea. Instead we had to go back up the hill from the dam and find another way back. I did plan for this contingency as when I mapped out the ride the road to the dam was marked as dirt so I made sure I had a way around. 

The way around ended up adding about 5 miles and 500 ft of climbing so what was going to be a hard 3200 ft 43 mile ride just turned into the hardest ride I have done if a few years. 

The weather was warm but not humid and we kept the pace easy but the way back had some long slow climbs.  We did manage to find a small farm stand along the way back for a second break. Since we added 5 mile to the ride we decided to try to cut off a few miles if we could. However because of lack of road signs and because I don't have a lot of experience in this area I missed the road that I was trying to use to shorted the ride. We ended up doing most of the planned ride. I cramped at 44 miles climbing a small hill so had to take a couple of breaks to stretch out my legs. 

I used my cell phone to find the best way back and made a few wrong turns but we did all make it back. I ended up with just over 47 miles and just under 3700 ft of climbing. I had definitely pushed myself to the limit which caused cramping for the next few hours but was none the worst for wear my legs were just really stiff. 

Saturday evening we headed out to explore Lake Marburg

then headed to the Utz pretzel outlet. Hanover PA is the pretzel capital of the world. There are manufacturing plants for all the major brands of pretzels include Utz, Hanover and Synders. 

Then it was on to dinner at Atland House. This is a restaurant and brew pub and the place the Philadelphia Bike Club usual has their Saturday night dinner during the fall weekend so the food is good. Dessert was at Brusters Real Ice Cream in Hanover. I had discovered this place in 2018 and always stop here when I'm in the area.

The forecast for Sunday before the trip had been for isolated morning showers that would be gone before sunrise but they ended up staying around a little longer. We got ready to leave the house on Sunday and waited around an extra hour for the rain to mostly stop. I decided to start the ride at the planned rest stop in New Oxford. The drive there would give more time for the rain to pass through and the roads to dry. When we got to New Oxford the rain had stopped and a check of the radar said we have a few hours before it would rain again so off we went on a slightly shorter version of the original ride I had planned. This ride was rolling with only one real hill. The roads we did on Sunday is more representative of the better roads in the area. Lots of farmland, low traffic and enough scenery and strange sight along the way to keep it interesting. For some reason there is an elephant status in the middle of the field next to a lake just south of New Oxford. I also saw the copy of the Scooby-Doo Mystery Machine along the road.

There is just a certain about of weirdness around here. My legs where still sore from the previous days ride but the tightness got better once I got a few miles in. It was cloudy but the rain stayed away. The best part of starting the ride in New Oxford is we got to end at one of the best rest stops on any bike ride Deja Brew. It's a coffee shop in the middle of town on a circle with good coffee and great baked goods. I always end up taking some stuff home from here because it is so good. I think if we did this ride again then we will always start from New Oxford because hanging out at Deja Brew is a good way to end a ride. 

And with that the quick three day weekend of riding was over. I don't know when I will be back to Gettysburg again but I know I will be back as it is just a great place to spend a few days riding around.  

 

Lying Bastard 2025

Believe or not I have been doing some form of the Lying Bastard ride for almost 13 years. This ride started out as a ride around Lake Nockamixon based on a route I got from the Philadelphia Bike Club. The original intention was to explore some new roads around the lake but this ride has come to define me in a strange sort of way. You can see the origin of the ride in this post. The short version of the story is that when I lead a ride around Lake Nockamixion, in 2012, I mention that the ride would be a little hilly but nothing too long or hard. Then in the first 7 miles we went up a 1 mile hill that had a 10% grade and an short but really steep 20% grade of 400 feet. At the top of the second hill one of the people on the ride asked if I'm often called a lying bastard. After that even though the hills and riding were a lot easier the other people joined in and at the moment my reputation was cemented. 

Some people may have been embarrassed by this moniker but I leaned into it and in subsequent rides put in a occasional unexpected steep hill or other surprise in the ride. This has led to a healthy sarcastic banter between me and my so called friends. In fact this is why the people I ride with on a regular basis are called the Insane Bike Posse because even though they jokingly say they hate my rides they keep coming back for more so they must be insane.

Over the years I have an annual ride I lead along some of the same roads of the original Lake Nockamixon ride that I title the "Lying Bastard" ride just to reinforce my identity. It has changed over the years to become a little shorter and easier but still is one of the hardest rides I do. As I will maintain until I die there is no one hill that is a real killer but I think the fact that there are no flat or easy spots in this ride is why it always feels tougher than it looks. 

This year I had to start the ride from Tinicum State Park as we couldn't start from Frenchtown because the walk way on the bridge is closed. This meant we started the climbing a mile sooner. I had some of the usual insane posse join the ride and a few new comers. 

The ride starts with a long slow climb up Headquarters Rd. It's only 2-3% so its not hard. The road has also been closed for at least 5 years as the bridge at the top of the road is closed and from the way it look (see picture at top of the post) the bridge is not going to be fixed anytime soon. In fact there is more junk across it every time we come this way. This makes for a nice no traffic road but the added tree this year did make it a little harder to get across. Dave bumped his chain against his leg going over the bridge so he needed a bandage for his leg and an adjustment to his chain before we could move on. 

Then is was a little uphill before we road along the ridge toward the southern part of the lake. On the way down the hill Dave got a pinch flat. I helped him change it as the rest of the people headed to a boat ramp for a quick break.

 

We join them a few minutes later and then headed up around the northern part of the lake and into the neighborhood above it. As I had mentioned in other posts about this ride this area is a little weird as there are some alternative medicine rest homes, a Greek temple among other strange things.  There is also a covered bridge hidden here. It was then down to the marina by the lake. My routes for this ride in recent years didn't go by the lake because it would have added too many miles but I found a new road that is paved that got us there.

It was a nice downhill going down to the lake. Once there we rode out to the point to see the view and watch a few sailboats on the lake. The day started out cloudy and humid but was in the mid 80s so it didn't feel too bad. It did clear a little but was still mostly cloudy. It was still good to see the lake although it meant a little climb to get back to the road. Then is was on to our rest stop. Its a Turkey Hill which is a slight step down from a Wawa but there are not a lot of options out this way. 

The rest stop is on a 611 which is a busy road and my old route stayed on 611 for a mile or so I tried to find a different way back for this years route. Of course the new way back had an extra hill that was a steep 200+ foot climb. So we traded traffic for climbing. It was a tough rude hill to add to the ride but it felt like the right thing to do for this years ride. Then it was mostly downhill and back to the start. 

This is tough ride but it is always interesting and something I will continue to do keep up my reputation.