The article that inspired the name for the new blog, Front Porch Republic, tells of a 1975 essay titled “From Porch to Patio”. It explains how homes used to be built with front porches where people could interact with their neighbors. Now we more often have patios in back. They are more secluded and private–places [...]
This rather bleak scene is from my last history ride of 2007. I was reminded of it when riding home from work today, listening to “Demon of the Waters: The true story of the mutiny of the whaleship Globe,” by Gregory Gibson (2003). I started on the book last week. Then I ran into a [...]
Climax, Michigan is on the route for a lot of my rides to Indiana. It’s 13 miles from home, and sometimes I make my first stop of the day here in the town park to make adjustments. On a very hot Sunday in July 2006, I stopped when traveling in the other direction, on my [...]
This was from my first photo stop on Sunday afternoon’s bike ride, about 12 miles from home. The land for sale is on Climax Prairie in Kalamazoo County. I suppose the scene doesn’t look very interesting, but the place is interesting to me because of a much earlier land sale. Andrew Hays of Marshall, MI [...]
This is a piece of OP Avenue, south of Climax, that I had never paid any attention to. It’s paved, even though the old UniversalMap doesn’t show it as paved. Now I can show it on my own maps as one that’s bicycleable. Maybe I can use it as part of an alternate route to [...]
This is a snippet of a type of map I’ve always wanted to have for bicycling. But it didn’t exist, so I had to make it myself. (Next I’ll need to make a legend for it.) It portrays Climax prairie in Kalamazoo County, Michigan. I did a ride through the northernmost lobe of the prairie [...]
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 [...]