The Spokesrider

This is some of what’s left of the Blackhawk mill on the Coldwater River a couple of miles outside of Coldwater, Michigan. There used to be a public road that crossed the river where the dam was, but it has reverted to private ownership. The photo was taken in 1999. It has been several years [...]

. Shabbona Park is on Indian Creek, near Earlville, Illinois. It’s now a place where one can sit at a picnic table to make dinner while watching cows graze near the edge of the creek, or look at the gravestones commemorating those who were killed here in 1832 in the “Indian Creek massacre.”

This is the road past Scott’s Mill Park in Kalamazoo County, Michigan. I often ride within a half mile or so of the park on my way to points to the south or southwest in Indiana or elsewhere. This was a cold day in March 2003 2004 that would have required chemical toewarmers, if I [...]

This millstone was pulled out of Raccoon Creek by a backhoe last year. The miller told me about it on my first ride to Bridgeton, in September 2006. Arsonists had burned the covered bridge down, and as I understand it, a backhoe operator found it when doing some cleanup work in the creek afterwards. Or [...]

The stop at Pipeline road was towards the end of my Monday ride (October 8). At the beginning I got mixed up on my way out of Rockville, and ended up at a tourist place known as Billie Creek. It has one of Parke County’s many covered bridges. But since I was here, I stopped [...]

The Rice Creek dam in Marshall, MI was my 2nd stop after the Ceresco Dam, on a ride to Lenawee County in fall 2005. There is a park here, and a place to make lunch. (I’m posting this now because someone on the Phred mail list is asking about Trangia stoves. What I have here [...]

This photo is from a 3-day ride in mid-October 2004. I was racing the sun to get to the campground on the Pigeon River near Mongo, Indiana before dark. The line of trees along the horizon marks the path of the Pigeon River. Mongo is a town on that river. Mongo is the location of [...]