JFK

Today, I am going to go off-topic.  I believe I have good reason:  This is the 50th anniversary of JFK's assasination.

I was five years old when it happened and have no memory of it.  Perhaps that says something unfavorable about me: I can remember a lot of other things from that time, but I can't even recall having the day off from school or the throngs of grieving people.

Still, I can't help but to wonder how different this country and world might be had he survived and served a second term as President.  He did some things that were misguided and politically-motivated, but I somehow think he had a more ideal, if romantic, view of people, his country and the world.

Perhaps the US military still would have been in Vietnam and we might have been involved in other wars.  After all, the man was a Cold Warrior, as nearly any politician elected to any office above the local or county level was in those days.

Also, he didn't act as quickly on Civil Rights issues as some would have liked.  However, he did lay the groundwork for the laws and policies that his successor, Lyndon Johnson, would sign into law.  And, somehow, I don't think it would have taken prodding from his vice president (as it did, ahem, with a certain President who fashions himself as JFK 2.0) for him to declare his support of same-sex marriage and other LGBT rights.

Whatever else we can (or can't) say about him, we "gotta give him props" for saying, "Nothing compares to the simple pleasure of a bike ride."

Beating A Tick

Normally, I try not to give Fox News publicity.  I try not to even dignify them by mentioning them at all. However, one of their affiliates in the middle of Pennsylvania actually reported favorably on a cyclist.

Then again, how could they not say anything positive about John Donnally?  In late September, he got on his bike in California and started pedaling to New York City, his hometown.  

 



Some undertake such rides because they can.  Others, like Donnally, ride for a cause.  In his case, he's part of the Tick Born Disease Alliance, and he's riding to raise awareness of Lyme Disease, which afflicts his parents and sister.

With yesterday's stop in Lancaster County, he has about 300 miles of riding to New York. He expects to arrive home on the first of December.

Late Fall Trail Ride

I was dragged kicking and screaming to the Internet.  Now look at me--I'm a blogger.  Still, I'm not a "first adapter" of technology:  I tend to stick with things that work for me until I have no other choice.

That means I probably won't ever ride with a webcam in my helmet.  Had such devices been available back in my off-road riding days--and I had been more of a technophile, I might have made a video like this:







Thanks to Ruben Guibert for this!