In which I pedal a bicycle, find a pleasant spot off paved roads, try out my new hand-crank coffee grinder, enjoy some freshly brewed coffee by the lake shore, and find that spring has sprung.
Duluth, MN – 1088 miles…that-a-way.
A little morning shimmer on the lake surface.
Always visually refreshing to transition from dusty gravel roads to open expanses of water.
Some brown grass.
And some green grass.
A path in the woods.
So this is where the trail leads.
Now that we’re near the water, let’s find a suitable brew-up spot.
I’ll bet down yonder would be good.
Indeed it is.
I’m liking the way this tree makes a fine table.
Now what am I missing?
Oh yeah, the aeropress.
Thanks to a recent birthday gift, I get to play with a hand grinder.  Now I have something to do besides stare at the kettle waiting for water to boil.
Magnificent Camp Hobo.
The pour.
Oh that’s fine…mighty fine!
The table doubles as a back rest.
Following the fresh new grass to find my way back to the road.
Playing with coffee toys is fun, and riding a bicycle to/from makes it special.
I had to peel and stash a bunch of layers as it warmed up today.
Another little hill, but with a tailwind.
More evidence of spring in Texas.
And more of me plunking along on gravel roads…as usual.
Pondero 
Great report on a spring ride, Chris.
I am now curious about the coffee grinder and I am going to look it up.
Thanks for the picture of the bluebonnets.
They are still close to my heart and will likely stay that way.
Peace đŸ™‚
Thanks, Chandra, the grinder is the Porlex JP-30. I have no prior experience with manual grinders, but it seemed sturdy and worked quite well.
Coffee snob meets bike geek
Chris, is this the same general area you and I rode out at Johnson’s Branch?
Yes. But I stayed off the DORBA trails today and took the fire road all the way because I wanted to see what it was like. Wish you were there.
The fire road that says no bikes? Yeah, I road today but it was no Pondero ride. Wish I was there today too.
you were on the fire road that says no bikes? REBEL coffee snob meets bike geek
Oh no Chris, I fear I’ve outed you to the Mrs.
No bikes?! Really?
I don’t remember restrictions on bikes on the fire road. But then again, my lack of sign reading had us going the wrong way on a one way trail.
I’m sure it was all good, maybe I read the sign wrong.
1088 mi to Duluth and 1089 mi to my house. Mind boggling that one ribbon of four lane highway will take one from Tx all the way to Northeastern Minnesota. It’s far enough the seasons would change as well. There’s still nearly three feet of snow on the ground with a winter storm watch up for Monday.
Wonderful post Chris. I thoroughly enjoyed all your rebel-ness, coffee snobbery, and bike geekery. Thanks.
Thanks, Doug, I was thinking of you as I stared off in to the vast north. And I was thinking it would be a lot of miles, and a lot of digits off the thermometer, to your house.
I really enjoyed your post, Chris. It’s so nice to see the green coming back. I had a similar but probably much shorter outing today. I got to use my Aeropress for the first time; really enjoyed it. As you say, “fine…mighty fine!”.
I like the aeropress because it is easy to use, easy to clean up, and hard to not result in a fabulous cuppa.
Texas bluebonnets. Yes!
Another vote for the pretty Bluebonnets!!
Thanks for sharing your beaut of a ride
Ahhh, I can almost smell the coffee and spring in the air from those great photos. I can’t wait for more favorable conditions here. Actually did a brew up a few weeks ago in the snow and high winds of 8500 ft. Wasn’t as pleasant as your trip looked like. Aeropress looks cool, I kind of regret giving mine away before really trying it (the misses gets tired of the coffee paraphernalia taking up her kitchen space). Thanks for sharing!
I’ve had a few “Texas Bluebonnets” comments on the photo with the blue flowers. They are good on the eyes, but are not the classic Texas Bluebonnet. Search for image of lupinus texensis.
I haven’t yet been able to identify what it is, but thought I’d take a moment to set the record straight.