Category Archives: Community

Memorial Day bike ride

MemorialIt’s night No. 2 of turning off the TV, so I’ll sit here and blog for a while and In God We Rustlisten to comedian Lewis Black‘s In God We Rust, recorded in 2012.

And now on to the blog …

Today was Memorial Day. a time for remembering the men and women who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. It’s also usually a good day for long bike rides with friends.  A couple of years ago, I rode 50-some miles on Memorial Day on a ride from West Liberty to Iowa City and back.

But not today. The sun didn’t really come out until 3:30 or so. And by then, I’d already ridden maybe 25 miles under cloudy skies and in some drizzle and sprinkles.

At least I got in a ride. The way this rainy spring has gone so far this year, it’s hard to ask for much more than that. And, heck, RAGBRAI is still 54 days away.

McFate

McFate

A highlight of today’s ride was running into some of the survivors of  Jane McFate, 54, who died of cancer last August. They are building a trail head in her memory on the newest section of Muscatine’s bike trail. The new section runs from Weed Park to Solomon Road.

I met Jane in the Melon City Bike Club,  along with many members of her extended family. They include her sister, Diana Tank, and her family; her brother, Pat Cooney and his family; her husband, Pat McFate, and their family; her cousins, Al and Dave Cooney, and their families.

Many of them were there today, helping build the memorial, which is going to be very nice. It will include a bench and bike racks once the work is finished.

There are many reasons why I’m happy to call Muscatine home. Those reasons include the fact that I knew Jane, one of the nicest people I’ve ever met anywhere. I also know many members of her extended family and I knew what they were doing today when I ran into them.

Former Muscatine Mayor Dick O’Brien used to say good things are happening in Muscatine. And the new trail head memorial is one of those good things.

Speaking of bicycling and good things in Muscatine … They wrapped up the 35th annual Melon City Criterium Sunday at Weed Park.

I wrote this short story for the website, muscatineprofile.com:
Four members of Muscatine’s Melon City Bike Club placed in races Sunday at the 35th annual Melon City Criterium at Weed Park.
Race organizer Greg Harper placed 11th in the Men’s Masters 40-plus race, to lead the way for the Muscatine cyclists. The others included:
  • Caleb Mann, 14th, Men’s Category 5.
  • Jon Sulzberger 16th, Men’s Masters 30-plus.
  • Ian Henriksen, 38th, Mixed Juniors, ages 15-18.
 The four Muscatine cyclists were among the 400 racers who competed in the event’s 15 races, some of which were shortened due to rainy weather.
“Weather was a big part of the race,” Harper said Monday. “When it’s cold and wet there aren’t as many spectators.”
And there weren’t as many racers Some 300 cyclists – coming from as far away as Florida and Colorado – had signed up in advance to compete. But only about 100 registered on the day of the race, Harper said, down about 50 percent from what it would have been on a better day.
Some waited to see what the weather conditions would be like and didn’t enter, Harper said.
“But we do get a lot of repeat racers who come back every year,” he said. “That’s a testament to the quality of the race.”
Adam Leibovitz of Indianapolis, a member of the Kentucky Flyers Cycling/Texas Roadhouse Cycling Team, won the event’s premier 40-lap race for professional category 1 and 2 riders.
Mia Loquai of Hastings, Minn., a member of the IS Corp.Cycling Team, won the 20-lap race for professional women.
For complete results go to here.

Highway 61 revisted

Bob_Dylan_-_Highway_61_RevisitedYes, I know Bob Dylan’s 72nd birthday was Friday.

And it’s Sunday night as I write this.

It doesn’t matter.

For the next week, I have the house all to myself — free to do practically whatever I want. Today, I decided one of the things I’m going to do is not turn on the damn TV for the next week.  So, tonight, I’m listening to Dylan’s Highway 61 Revisited. His birthday, after all, was on Friday.

Considered by many as one of the greatest albums of all time, Dylan named Highway 61 Revisited after the road that connected his birthplace, Duluth, Minn., with St. Louis, Mo., Memphis, Tenn., and New Orleans — southern cities famed for their musical heritage.

It’s worth noting that U.S. 61 also runs through Muscatine — the Iowa town where I have lived since 2007. But U.S. 61 first became significant in my life in 2000,  when I became editor of the Daily News in Winona, Minn.

I left Winona — a town that felt more like home to me than anywhere else I had ever lived until that point — in late 2005. It wasn’t the best career move I ever made and I’ve often wondered what fate had in store for me since I was pushed by my own foolish ambition to leave such a great place.

The answer, my friend, isn’t blowing in the wind — something for which Muscatine is sometimes known in a not-so-positive way. But I’m pretty sure I was meant to move to here in 2007. I’m even more sure I was meant to go to work at MCSA, which I have done since late October. There are people at MCSA and elsewhere in Muscatine who needed me as much as I needed them. It’s as simple as that.

To the outsider racing along on U.S. 61 to get through my little town on the Mississippi River as quickly as possible, Muscatine’s appeal may not be readily apparent. Heck, its appeal even might be debated by many of the natives who have grown up and moved away.

But I like it here. And I”m pretty sure, it was preordained that I’d be learning about myself and writing this blog in Muscatine. I’m as certain of it as I am of the fact that if you go far enough on U.S. 61, you’ll wind up in Duluth, Minn., the birthplace of Bob Dylan.

I’m back … for now

Blogging this morning from Elly's Tea & Coffee House, the secondary home for Brome Hill.

Blogging this morning from Elly’s Tea & Coffee House, the secondary home for Brome Hill.

This blog’s handful of regular readers know I sort of disappeared for a while.

I’ve heard from some of those who live in Muscatine. “What happened to Brome Hill,” they have asked when I’ve seen them around town.

The answer is pretty simple. Last year, when I really dived into blogging, I was out of work, had time on my hands and plenty of things I wanted to say.

Much has changed in the past year. I am working at Muscatine Center for Social Action and I’ve been busy with a couple of projects. One of those is a fundraiser we are calling Adopt-A-Day and I’ll be posting more about it in the days to come.

Svatos

Svatos

Also, worked picked up a little in the past week as I filled in for my boss, Maggie Curry, whose father, Bob Svatos, 84, died on May 17 in Tipton. His funeral was held Monday in Iowa City.

Curry

Curry

I didn’t know Mr. Svatos. In fact, we never met. But I’m sure I would have liked him. For starters, his daughter is perhaps the nicest person I have ever worked for or with. And there is a reason she grew up to be that way.

The reason I am convinced I would have liked him, however, has to do with his funeral. He was buried in casket made by the Trappist monks at New Melleray Abbey in Peosta, Iowa.  The casket was custom-painted John Deere green and yellow by the monks. It was one of the neatest things I’ve ever

seen at a funeral.

But the John Deere theme didn’t stop there. The casket was pulled Tuesday to the cemetery in Iowa City in an old farm wagon by a John Deere M. At the cemetery, a John Deere flag flew at the gravesite, where the funeral director had painted the burial vault in John Deere green and yellow.

No matter their age, it’s the kind of story that appeals to old farm boys.

2

Speaking of work: I wrote this blog post on the reconditioned IBM ThinkPad purchased for me by MCSA. I wanted to see if I could make the wi-fi work if nothing else. And since it was a rainy morning, Elly’s seemed like a good place to experiment.

I’ll try to get back into a regular blogging routine. But I don’t want to over promise anything because it is bicycling season and I need to keep getting ready for RAGBRAI.

Until the next time …

Breathing life into Muscatine and an old pair of shoes

Red editedIn the far corner of my closet there is an old pair of wingtip shoes that I am going to get resoled soon.

And then I’m going to put red laces in them.

That was the look being walked around downtown Muscatine this morning by author Dan Buettner, who created the Blue Zone movement. He was in Muscatine for a walkability tour given by Dan Burden, executive director of the Walkable and Livable Communities Institute Inc. There was a lot of media there, so you should be able to find some news coverage of the event somewhere if you are interested.

I got to visit for a minute or two with Buettner, who seemed like a nice guy. And I’m really interested in the ideas he and Burden both promote. I really hope their movement takes off in Muscatine.

But it was later during the walking tour of downtown that I spied Buettner’s shoes. I can’t help but think my old wingtips are going to look pretty cool decked out like that with some bright, red laces.

Blue Zones author Dan Buettner visits this morning in Muscatine with Mary Odell, Muscatine director of public health.

Blue Zones author Dan Buettner visits this morning in Muscatine with Mary Odell, Muscatine director of public health.