Travels with Dave Heigle

Build ambulance garage in Copper Harbor, MI | Pepsi Refresh Everything

2010-09-01T16:21:00.001-04:00

You read about Copper Harbor and the Queen there. Just got a request from Princess Karly the Queen's loyal golden retriever... the folks and dogs there are vying for a Pepsi grant to build an ambulance barn. They certainly would appreciate your vote. Takes a few minutes but, hey, if you are ever in the Keewena and you fall off your bike or break a leg you'll be glad you voted so you won't have to wait 45 minutes for the squad to arrive.

Build ambulance garage in Copper Harbor, MI | Pepsi Refresh Everything

Rain, Fog and Other Stuff

2010-08-06T13:22:00.001-04:00

Tomto and I always say we hope the folks along our riding route need the rain because precipitation seems to ride with us on our motorcycling tours. A few years ago on a trip to Everett, WA across US Rt. 2 the rain found us just after we crossed the Mackinac Bridge to the UP and didn't let up until we hit eastern Montana. The rain and mist caused the cancellation of fireworks in Duluth on the 4th of July that year.

This year we seem to have broken the string of wet days. After we left Door County, WI we were dry all the way to Marquette, MI. From Marquette to Copper Harbor we had a few showers but not enough to challenge our GoreTex Aerostitch riding suits. Our stay in Copper Harbor was dry and sunny except for the fog bank and mist that rolled in on our last night there. By morning light the sun had returned and we rode away from the Land of Make Believe with the sun smiling down on us.

However, somewhere between Houghton, MI and Ashland, WI the rain gods found us again. We started looking for a motel in Ashland and finally found one that fit our criteria (cheap, close to food and drink) in Eagle River, WI. The Lumberman Inn also welcomed pets... the owners' standard poodle roamed the halls and the cheerful barks of other canine guests could occasionally be heard. Unfortunately, the "close to food and drink" bar and grill next door was permanently closed and for sale. We had to settle for A&W hot dogs and root beer from down the street. We spent a rainy night at the Lumberman but rode off to Duluth in the dry.

This time our stop at the Rider's Wearhouse in Duluth was dry and undramatic. Last time we had to lay over a day to wait for the Mecca of distance riders to open its doors after a stormy Independence Day weekend. The GPS I'd snitched from Loretta's car when we left Door County led us directly to the store-that-looks-like-a-warehouse in the industrial section of old Duluth. The Wearhouse is not much of a shopping experience, the display area is about the size of a normal family room. The glass cases are haphazardly filled with items from the catalog and the walls are hung with sample tee shirts and other gear riders might want or 'need'. I bought a light weight dry bag and a tee shirt I'd long admired in the catalog... it has a picture of nun smoking a cigarette sitting astride a vintage Montessa motorcycle. The words: "Where there is sin, there I must go". I know, I know, not so funny when I see it here but it struck my funny bone and I had to have it, now I don't know where I can safely wear it.

While we were shopping Tomto struck up a conversation with another customer. As it turns out he is a participant in the famous/infamous Iron Butt Rally held every two years. A kind of uber-scavenger hunt/competitive long distance motorcyle ride thing. This middle-aged ordinary looking guy was telling Tom about hitting a cow during the rally a couple of years ago. He was riding through open range in New Mexico at night and a cow wandered out in front of him and he hit it square in the side. His Aerostitch Roadcrafter suit and his helmet saved him from serious injury but the encounter ended his Iron Butt prize chances for that rally. He says he's still trying to get the cow shit out of his suit.

No more rain until we reach Nipigon, ON. Threatening clouds and showers send us eventually to the Beaver Motel (not cheap, not close to food and drink and the worse possible motel name to phone your wife about).

The town of Nipagon is slightly off Canada route 17 which is the major east-west route through southern Ontario. It has definately seen better times. Lots of closed store fronts. Gritty, weather and time-worn streets. Small groups of teenagers with little to do hanging around the convenience store/Subway near the center of the business district. But, near the center of what was once the main street is Paddle-to-the-Sea Park and Library. The park is dedicated to the 1941 Children's book of the same name. The book tells about a toy canoe called Paddle-to-the Sea built by a First Nation boy near Nipigon. The canoe follows the waters of the Nipigon River to Lake Superior and eventually to the Atlantic Ocean. Follow this link for the full story of the park, the book, and the movie: Paddle-to-the Sea

Morning dawns, at least it is time for the sun to come up in Nipigon. It's raining and worse yet visibility is waning... lots of mist and fog. We ride off with only the room-made coffee in our bellies. The next town with a cafe and gas station is Schreiber, ON (Celebrating 125 Years of being a railroad town). We stop for a real breakfast thinking we'll wait out the rain and fog. No such luck, the rain is steady and the fog is getting worse. We finally leave and ride through Terrace Bay which should be the most picturesque part of the Canadian route around Superior. We see nothing in the town. The fog is so thick we only sense the presence of water on one side of the road and perhaps a gas station on the left. It's so foggy we can't stop for fear of being run over by one of the many semis that run this road night and day. We ride for maybe 3 hours with only the painted lines on the road to guide us. Every few minutes headlights of oncoming vehicles pop out of the fog and whiz past, their tail lights disappearing in the rearview mirrors almost immediately. Fortunately we are able to ride at a pace that keeps the trucks at bay, traffic does not stack up behind us at least. At last we arrive on the outskirts of Marathon, ON. On the right is a trifecta oasis: The Airport Travelodge, a gas station/convenience store AND a restaurant with a beer license. It's only 1:30 but they have a clean room and let us register. Cost is no object for this stop but it's no more expensive than last night's minimalist Beaver Motel.

We are out of the rain and fog with wifi and satellite TV.

Dinner at the Harbor Haus

2010-08-02T11:28:00.003-04:00

Returning from the source of 41 we stop at the General Store for Bell's Two Hearted Ale and some Keweenaw micro brew to replace the stock in the Doll House fridge. We shower and dress in our cleanest dirty clothes to have a final evening meal in Copper Harbor with Phoebe and Sue. The best restaurant in town is the Harbor Haus, a German themed place with a faux half timbered outside, huge copper clad double entry doors (these doors face the southwest and absorb so much heat from the sun the owners have installed a special cooling device to blow air over the doors) with a sign that warns that the doors may be hot enough to burn fingers. Inside we are warmly greeted by the hostess and bartender and immediately escorted to Phoebe's special table by the large plate glass window on the upper level. As guests of the Queen Tomto and I get the seats facing the harbor. While being seated the bartender has been busy creating the Phoebe-tini for the Queen. This special drink (don't remember all the ingredients but it it is served in a martini glass and the shaker is left on the table). The rest of us order drinks and peruse the extensive menu. In addition to fresh fish entrees there are some German items including beef rouladen with red cabbage and German potato salad. Ican't pass on the
German sides and order a German beer to keep the theme going and to avoid mixing alcohol types since we had a beer on the deck after dressing for dinner.

The food, conversation, and service were great but the show of the evening was the weather. As we ate a fog bank appeared out on Superior and slowly moved from west to east across the harbor vista... quite spectacular in the still brilliant northern evening light.

Monday in Keweenaw

2010-08-02T11:07:00.000-04:00

Monday in Keweenaw

Breakfast at the Tamarac... special treatment for the Queen and her court, quick service so P&S can make their meeting. Phoebe and Sue have a 10 o'clock with the Copper Harbor Improvement Association planning for "Thunder in the Harbor" motorcycle rally on the coming weekend. We learn later that Phoebe is charged with soliciting gift certificates from local businesses for the rally raffle. Only the local commercial camp ground fails to donate. Who could deny tribute to the Queen?

Tomto and Dave ride the Brockway Mountain scenic road, We almost turn back after a couple of spectacular turnouts thinking that we must surely have reached the top... but noooo, the summit has a gift shop and great views of Superior with a passing freighter to the west. On a clear day, they say, you can see Isle Royal. To the east and south is a big chunk of Lake Medora. To the north are views of far off Keweenaw Mountain Lodge golf course. The road down the west side of the mountain takes us back again to Eagle Harbor (too fancy for the Queen, but has good dump facilities). South on the coast road (Rt. 26) and eventually to Rt. 41.

Here we decide to look for the birdseye maple outlet we saw featured on the Tamarac place mat. I think I remember it's in Laurium but when we ask in the Laurium lumber store we find it's really a few miles back 41 in Mohawk. In Mohawk we follow signs to a (actually 'the') side street where we find a warehouse building with a small showroom tacked on the front. Inside are an amazing array of birdseye maple object... some art some utilitarian. This business finds and makes things from maple trees that have a genetic defect which creates the characteristic swirls that are the 'birdseyes'. Identifying trees that have the birdseye gene is an art in itself. We learned that sometimes clues in bark pattern are fairly obvious, mimicking patterns in the wood. However, most of the time the bark pattern gives no obvious clue to the untrained eye. The ability to find a birdseye in the wild is a significantly valuable skill. As we learned from Phoebe who is contemplating selling some timber off her 22 acres at Oleanna a birdseye tree can bring as much as $40,000. The wood is used, of course, in making furniture, music boxes and other decorative objects. It is also found in the steering wheels and interior decor of luxuary autos such as Lexus and Jaguar. In the shop were examples of the veneer pealed from birdseye logs... many linear yards of eighth inch thick veneer can be shaved from a single log.

Having spent a non-productive but interesting day touring the Keweenaw south of Copper Harbor we motor back north on 41, through the great tunnel of trees, past the Keweenaw Mountain Lodge and Golf Club, right at the only flashing yellow light in Keweenaw county, east to find the source of Route 41. Past the Fort Wilkins campground, past the recreated Fort itself, and in a mile or so we reach a the end of the paved road and a sign that proclaims "The Beginning of US Route 41".

(see post with link to US Route 41 info)

U.S. Route 41 - Wikipedia

2010-08-02T10:56:00.007-04:00

Here's a link to the Wikipedia entry that explains the route and termini of US 41. Tomto and Dave visited the beginning terminus east of Copper Harbor, MI. Most of us are familiar with 41 in Florida where snow birds drive too slow.

U.S. Route 41 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Queen of The Keweenaw

2010-07-23T20:52:00.002-04:00

In a previous post I may have referred to Phoebe as the unofficial mayor of Copper Harbor... in retrospect I may have understated her status in the North Country. Phoebe's influence extends as far south on the peninsula as Calumet where she ruled over the elementary school of 800 students. As a long time school administrator she has a good handle on what constitutes "best practices" in teaching and learning and is not shy about encouraging incorporating these practices in classrooms. As in most places and positions many folks believe that the current practices are just fine and that what worked for mom and dad will do OK for the kids. She has a scrapbook of articles clipped from the local paper attesting to the controversies strirred up by this southerner who dared to challenge the status quo. She had many supporters in teachers and parents who could see beyond the past and had high hopes for kids of the 21st century but in the end the Queen abdicated that portion of her realm to the citizens who view the future in their rear view mirrors.

Currently she not so much rules but presides over the social and promotional aspects of the upper Keweenaw Peninsula. In the day and a half Tomto and I spent with Phoebe and her friend Sue we were on a whirlwind tour of area happenings, restaurants, and bars. We were regaled with tales of political intrigue, local characters, history and gossip. One of our first stops was at the Eagle Harbor "Junk Day" where even the mundane discarding of accumulated castoffs is an opportunity to meet and greet the subjects (or in the case of a township official who has offended the Queen) to ignore the subject. That tripped to the Queens outpost of Oleanna, her little cabin in the wood on Lake Medora where she is currently doing battle with newcomers who are attempting to bring inside plumbing, electricity, and street lights to what is, and always should be an area of rustic retreats.

After a beer and a climb down to the lake to start the gasoline powered pump to refill the elevated water tank we were off the the Delaware Copper Mine that is operated by a subject who runs the closed mine as a tourist attraction. Back on US 41 we stop by the Keweenaw Mountain Lodge, a miniature Yellowstone Lodge look-alike , for another beer and a chat with a couple of OSU faculty members who spend their summers golfing and goofing around Copper Harbor.

Dinner a the Mariner where Phoebe is 5 minutes getting to the best table in the house while she chats with several loyal subjects. More beer. After dinner we visit Zik's Bar where the Queen once presided as the bartender. At Zik's we meet more locals including Brian one of only 5 people in the world who is qualified to repair Fresnel lenses used in light houses. He just got back from working on the Bald Head light in NC where, on an island of only golf cart transportation, his cart was towed because it was too shabby.

Ross told of how his grandparents played host to the crew of a grounded freighter while they waited for the lake to freeze so the cargo of hundreds of 1927 Chryslers could be offloaded and driven across the ice. They were paid $18 for their trouble.

There are only 72 full time residents of Copper Harbor but apparently thousands of stories. After a frothy nightcap we retire to the Land of Make Believe, the Doll House and a good nights rest.

Looks like it will take another post to finish Copper Harbor.

Catching up... Copper Harbor & Keweenaw

2010-07-21T10:12:00.001-04:00

Still catching up. Dateline Iron River, WI Wednesday July 21.

Tomto & I left Ann & Fred's around 10 on Sunday. Stopped as mentioned before at Kavela's for a pasty and rode on to Copper Harbor. US 41 which begins life at the tip of the Keweenaw and eventually mkes its way to Florida where it is most famous for its slow-driving snow birds leads us directly to the only flashing yessow traffic light in Keweenw county. Left turn at the light, a hundred yards on the left: The Land of Make Believe.

But the road to get there, young US 41! Pretty uneventful for the first 30 or so miles. Tiny villages that appear to be "rode hard and put away wet", lots of old cars and abandoned buildings, here and there evidence of the once flourishing copper mining that loaned its temporary glitter to the peninsula. The largest town, Calumet, has a nice old 19th century high school right on 41, it's now renovated and integrated with more modern mile and elementary schools. The whole connected complex is joined to a wood burning, smoke stacked plant that provides heat for all the buildings. Down town Calumet has recent been redone with the help of federal grants... restored store fronts, new/old brick streets, standardized 'olde' signage. some charm but with a sense of resignation to the inevitable: Almost a Ghost Town.

Ah but the last ten or 15 miles! My most vivid memories of my last visit to Copper Harbor are of that road. It's a tunnel of trees and when the sun is shining (and it was each time we traversed that section) the road is dappled with lacy shadow and light that is mesmerizing. It's the highway itself that is the view, not vistas or grand buildings (there virtually none), only a brief glimpse of Lake Medora's shore and a short run along the stone fences of the Keweenaw Mountain Lodge golf course. Tomto and I have ridden the infamous "Tail of the Dragon" in North Carolina...300+ turn in 11 miles or something like that. Sports car drivers and go-fast bikers come from all over to ride that road which is littered with car and bike parts of over-enthusiastic drivers. The approach to Copper Harbor, while not quite as twisty is more beautiful and certainly more serene than the Dragon. Still, the thrill of negotiating the gentle curves and dips gives one a sense of being one with the machine. All-in-all a more zen-like and satisfying experience for old guys.

More to follow about our visit in the Land of Make Believe and our hosts Phoebe and Sue.

Door County to Copper Harbor and Beyond

2010-07-20T19:38:00.000-04:00

Coming to you from beautiful Iron River, WI this post will be brief because we've been on the road today and suffered through rain and heat. Plus I'm typing on the tiny XO keyboard that makes me crazy. Tomto and Chemo had a great stay in Marquette with Ann and Fred... got to see all their toys and collections, even sailed on the 40+ year old Dutch sail boat in Marquette Harbor. In addition to their vehicle collection (power, sail boats; Cesnna 172, Buel and Ural Motorcycles fred is restoring a classic Triumph MC and a rare Honda trials bike. Ann's collection of Native American artifacts would send our friend Jack's had spinning... everything from porkupine quill baskets to some really nice kachina dolls.

Our overnight stay included grilled fresh Lake Superior whitfish, homemade blueberry pie, a tour of the city and Northern Michigan campus as well as great conversation and accomodations. It was great to see Ann and Fred again, especially in their home environment.
Sunday it was on to Copper Harbor with aa brief stop in Hancock for a past at Kevala's Cafe.

More to follow.

Tom & Dave's Excellent Adventures - No Country for Old Men Tour

2010-06-24T10:31:00.000-04:00

Here's a link to the website that chronicles old guys doing mildly adventurous things. I'll be adding docs and pics from previous trips as time goes by.

Tom & Dave's Excellent Adventures

Some educators question if whiteboards, other high-tech tools raise achievement

2010-06-11T09:06:00.000-04:00

Food for thought. I know many of you have Smart Boards, here's a piece that asks some probing questions. For one, "Do whiteboards just allow teachers to teach in the old way with a new device (is the Smart Board just a glorified chalkboard)?" Good question, I think. One measure of change might be to determine if kids are finding ways to use the whiteboards to teach the teacher or other students. What do you think, Smart Board users?

Some educators question if whiteboards, other high-tech tools raise achievement

Wayne's Day | The Forum for Education and Democracy

2010-06-08T12:15:00.000-04:00

Many of you have mentioned the pressures of preparing kids to take high stakes exams that are foisted on schools and teachers by No Child Left Behind legislation and other misguided efforts to improve education by testing and punishing schools who can't raise test scores. The author of this article is George Wood who 15 or so years ago was a professor of Education Administration at Ohio University. He was teaching his students how to become public school administrators and decided he did not have the experience to teach others how to run schools in these difficult times. He took a leave from his higher education position and became the principal of Federal Hocking High School. He still has that job as well as being the executive of "The Forum for Education and Democracy". I know George, he is an authentic, "what's-best-for-the-student" educator. Hear what he has to say about high stakes testing and pass it on to everyone who will listen.

Wayne's Day | The Forum for Education and Democracy

Wikispaces - Tours

2010-06-08T09:57:00.000-04:00

When instructional time is limited choices have to be made about what to include and what to leave for the next time. Wikis were a casualty of EDUC 675 2010 planning. Several of you have mentioned wikis in your writing and so I've posted a link here to get you started if you are interested. Once you complete the introductory tour you'll find more videos on adding features to your wiki. EDUC 675 2011 will most likely include a wiki project... just have to figure out how to make room for it. Any ideas what to change to make Wikispace? ;-)

Wikispaces - Tours

Education And The Future of Technology

2010-06-07T18:35:00.000-04:00

We've all seen similar videos but this one is a bit more professionally done. Would be a great intro to a discussion on why more technology and Web 2.0 tools in school. Perhaps even a discussion on the topic of a total overhaul of how schooling is done. Creativity, collaboration, and problem solving are the skills that will allow our kids to survive in the world we cannot know.

Education And The Future of Technology

The Bear - Film by Jean-Jacques Annaud

2010-06-07T18:02:00.000-04:00

If you ever need a story starter... regardless of your grade level, here's a great one. Might be scary for younger kids but I think they would love to re-tell the tale in their own words. What do you think?

The Bear - Film by Jean-Jacques Annaud

Sir Ken Robinson: Bring on the learning revolution! | Video on TED.com

2010-05-25T14:58:00.000-04:00

Most of you have heard Sir Ken Robinson's 2006 TED talk on education and creativity. Here's his latest. I don't know how it will come about but his vision of personalized education is certainly one to which I subscribe. Perhaps technology and a new generation of educators (you all) will bring it about.

Sir Ken Robinson: Bring on the learning revolution! | Video on TED.com

Internet4Classrooms - Helping Students, Teachers and Parents Use the Internet Effectively

2010-05-17T14:00:00.000-04:00

Christine Allen posted a link to this site on her Blog... I took a quick look and found it very useful for a wide variety of teachers. Take a look and let Christine know what you think(callen43@wowway.com).

Internet4Classrooms - Helping Students, Teachers and Parents Use the Internet Effectively

Filters: If not me, then who?

2010-05-17T11:21:00.000-04:00

I just re-read a post from one of our classmates complaining about the lack of "flash" software on school computers which essentially blocks the use of ANIMOTO. The overzealous use of filtering is a fairly common problem for teachers. Here is what I suggested to our classmate:

I read this post earlier and missed the opportunity to express my opinion that teachers need to be proactive with the people who control school information technology departments. Find out who is in control and build a case for less restrictive filtering. Use Animoto as an example of good things that are being excluded. Do a demo, get an exception for one class if necessary.

May 17, 2010 8:12 AM

To paraphrase Hillel, "If not me, then who? If not now, then when?"

Simple Techniques Can Make You A Great Teacher : NPR

2010-05-16T13:53:00.000-04:00

Not exactly Web 2.0 stuff but it's about teaching and that's what we do. NPR often has good education segments. I think the book featured here is a starting place for a spirited discussion about what makes a great teacher. See if you agree.

Simple Techniques Can Make You A Great Teacher : NPR

Leonard Waks on "The Web 2.0 Educational Revolution: Are We There Yet?"

2010-05-11T14:42:00.000-04:00

Jill Yonchak put this link on her blog... I'm re-posting it here hoping to reach more of you. Leonard Waks is posing some provocative ideas about the future of teaching and learning. If you haven't tapped into a live online interview this would be a good time to start. Just follow the links at the appointed time. At the very least, read the description of the interview on the Web 2.0 web site

Steve Hargadon: Leonard Waks on "The Web 2.0 Educational Revolution: Are We There Yet?"

Interview with John Taylor Gatto

2010-05-06T21:42:00.000-04:00

Too late to catch the live interview but I believe you can listen to the recorded stream. If nothing else read the quote from John Taylor Gatto in this piece, lots to think about here. Also, note the title of his second book: "Weapons of Mass Instruction". Sounds like a good read.

Steve Hargadon: Live Interview Tonight with John Taylor Gatto, Critic of Compulsory Schooling

iCue > Welcome!

2010-05-06T10:27:00.001-04:00

Another site from my source in Lakota SD (she passed on the HippoCampus site, too). This is also for secondary teachers. Video quizes on current events. Should work well on SmartBoards. Who can resist Tiki Barber at the end of the intro?

iCue > Welcome!

HippoCampus

2010-05-06T10:22:00.001-04:00

Here's a site that may work for secondary teachers... I've heard good reviews and there is not much advertising. In addition to math these subjects are covered:

Algebra

Algebra (Spanish)

Curso de Álgebra IA

Curso de Álgebra IB

American Government

Biology

Calculus

Calculus (Spanish)

Environmental Science

Physics

Psychology

Religion

Statistics

US History

I can imagine the 'Algebra in Spanish' as an interesting site for Spanish teachers.

Could be a link from your web site.

HippoCampus Algebra - Algebra IA - Homework Help

Step Back From the Baggage Claim

2010-05-02T14:45:00.001-04:00

I refer to this book in the presentation that introduces Project #3 in Google Docs. I encourage you to visit Jason's site and at least view the video there. For Project #3 I've taken liberties with his metaphor but the message is similar: too often we are so occupied with our own immediate tasks that we fail to see solutions that could make our work both easier and more productive.

Step Back From the Baggage Claim, Jason Barger, motivational speaker, inspirational speaker, business speaker, speeches, Travel Gracefully, columbus, ohio, Airport book, self-help, self help, motivational consultant, inspirational consultant, motivational consulting, inspirational consulting, Life Lessons

Transcendentalism by Miriam Drew on Prezi

2010-04-30T22:03:00.000-04:00

Transcendentalism by Miriam Drew on Prezi

Here's an example of Prezi done by a teacher, at this location there are some student examples, too. Amazing stuff, sort of Wordle mets PowerPoint.

Prezi - The zooming presentation editor

2010-04-30T21:50:00.000-04:00

This site came highly recommended by a teacher friend in Lakota SD... check it out, does presentations like Google Docs Presentations. May be better with more tools, I have not used it. Let me know if you give it a try.

Prezi - The zooming presentation editor

Heigle Christmas Card (Picasa)

2010-04-21T12:16:00.000-04:00

This is our 2009 Christmas card done with Picasa. Can't you see a class newsletter or end of year card for parents with a collage of kids and classroom events arranged on one page. You can print the page or email it. Kids can choose the pics or make their own.

Picasa - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

2010-04-21T12:09:00.000-04:00

Instead of a direct link to Picasa here's a link to the Wikipedia page about Picasa. Its a great Web 2.0 photo manipulation and storage place. We did our Christmas card with Picasa last year.

Picasa - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Netflix Founder Acquires Online Education Start-Up - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

2010-04-21T11:56:00.000-04:00

I learned about this from Cheryl's blog... if you click on the Dreambox link in the article it take you to the site where you can see a preview of the software. Thanks Cheryl!

Netflix Founder Acquires Online Education Start-Up - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

coweb2intro.mp3 (audio/mpeg Object)

2010-04-18T13:08:00.000-04:00

Example of a Podcast... this one explains Web 2.0. Good for review of what we are about in 675.

coweb2intro.mp3 (audio/mpeg Object)

ABCya! Kindergarten | Kids Computer Games & Activities

2010-04-18T12:57:00.000-04:00

I know some of you are K and pre-K teachers... here are some tools that look like they may work for you.

ABCya! Kindergarten | Kids Computer Games & Activities

The Lodge Does The Canopy

2010-04-16T12:35:00.000-04:00

An Animoto video I made from pics and video clips my wife took on her Hocking County Canopy Tour.

The Lodge Does The Canopy

SchoolTube Videos

2010-04-14T19:28:00.000-04:00

More videos from teachers and kids... there is a games tab, check it out.

SchoolTube Videos

Favorite Links - jonathanwylie - SimplyBox

2010-04-14T18:57:00.001-04:00

More classroom idea links. This is one teacher's list of favorite websites. If you review this site be sure to review the host site "SimplyBox", a place to keep all your favorite links (this is the Web 2.0 tool) not the actual sites stored by Jonathan Wylie in the 'box'.

Favorite Links - jonathanwylie - SimplyBox

The Amazing Web 2.0 Projects Book - The Education Technology Blog

2010-04-14T11:43:00.000-04:00

Jackpot! For those of you who have been wondering if this course was "all hat and no cattle", that is, all theory and techie stuff and not much classroom application here's the mother load of Web 2.0 classroom projects. "The Amazing Web 2.0 Projects Book", Terry Freedman (ed) is loaded with projects that use apps we've sampled and dozens of others. The book is a free e-book that you can download as a .pdf file and (groan) print on paper if you need to. It's cross referenced by topic and age/grade. It would be service to the class if you'd critique some of these lessons on your blog... you can count each lesson reviewed as a blog entry you need to do before the April 21 class.

The Amazing Web 2.0 Projects Book - The Education Technology Blog

Michael Specter: The danger of science denial | Video on TED.com

2010-04-13T22:44:00.000-04:00

For everyone who teaches science or current events... what does science denial and anti-intellectualism mean to teachers and schools? How could you use this video with colleagues or parents... or with high schools students?

Michael Specter: The danger of science denial | Video on TED.com

EG - The Entertainment Gathering

2010-04-13T16:12:00.000-04:00

50 speakers on creativity and innovation... two of my favorites: David Pogue, Technology writer for the New York Times and Mike Rowe the Dirty Jobs guy. These videos may be for your edification only or maybe as an introduction to a creativity push with colleagues or high school students. What to you think? In the best of all possible worlds how might you use one of these as a hook to get the creative juices flowing?

EG - The Entertainment Gathering

Arthur Benjamin's formula for changing math education | Video on TED.com

2010-04-13T15:15:00.000-04:00

Four minute video for everyone who teaches math... a modest proposal. What do you think? Even elementary age kids understand probability at some level. While you are in TED check out some other videos and give us a blog entry.

Arthur Benjamin's formula for changing math education | Video on TED.com

Creatively Speaking, Part One: Sir Ken Robinson on the Power of the Imaginative Mind | Edutopia

2010-04-12T23:32:00.000-04:00

Watch this video, step back from your day-to-day work, imagine how you can help the kids you work with live in the world Sir Ken Robinson describes. How would you like to break out of the the boxes that shape your creative efforts?

Creatively Speaking, Part One: Sir Ken Robinson on the Power of the Imaginative Mind | Edutopia

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dpQGaP7sHM

2010-04-12T23:19:00.000-04:00

Your reactions to this video? What do you need for yourself and your classroom to fulfill this vision?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dpQGaP7sHM

A MUST-SEE for Every Educational Administrator in the World - Classroom 2.0

2010-04-12T19:10:00.000-04:00

Just read about this video in Jill's blog... you've got to see and listen. I'd love to see blog posts reacting to the message. While you are in the site subscribe to Classroom 2.0

A MUST-SEE for Every Educational Administrator in the World - Classroom 2.0

''Green'' Activities & Classroom Resources: Environmentally Friendly Lessons (Grades K-12) - TeacherVision.com

2010-04-08T09:44:00.000-04:00

I love when other people do my work for me... some really dedicated folks spend hours surfing the 'net to find web sites on a topic, write brief descriptions and publish the list on a web site for others to use. Your assignment to review 6 web sites and publish on your blog descriptions is sort of the same deal. Anyhow, here's a site with lots of links to "green" activities.

Let others know when you find interesting links.

''Green'' Activities & Classroom Resources: Environmentally Friendly Lessons (Grades K-12) - TeacherVision.com

10 Simple Google Search Tricks - NYTimes.com

2010-04-07T23:01:00.000-04:00

Some more search tricks for Google...

10 Simple Google Search Tricks - NYTimes.com

Web 2.0 Teaching Tools: Top 5 Quiz Generators for Online Educators

2010-04-07T22:24:00.000-04:00

High school teachers take note...

Web 2.0 Teaching Tools: Top 5 Quiz Generators for Online Educators

The One Computer Classroom

2010-04-07T11:36:00.000-04:00

Some of you have written to say you have limited access to computers in your classrooms. Several years ago there was a book published under the title " The One Computer Classroom" that was pretty good for helping teachers use limited technology resources in the classroom. On a whim I Googled "the one computer classroom" and got several interesting sites including the one below. You can do your own Google search... or just click on the link below for some ideas. Let me know what you find, add your finds to your blog or post a document/discussion in Google Groups.

The One Computer Classroom

Google Translate

2010-04-07T09:58:00.000-04:00

Holly Walliser reminded me that she is a Spanish teacher and I remembered Google Translate. If you are a language teacher, work with students who speak languages other than English or just want to add some interest to a social studies class you need to know about Google Translate. You can add Google Translate to your iGoogle page for easy access.

PS. Not sure how it deals with 'naughty' words in case it falls into the wrong hands ;-)

Google Translate

Bubble Making Activities and Recipes

2010-04-06T13:16:00.000-04:00

Maybe some of my recent posts have been a bit too techie for some of you... here's one that is low tech, high touch and lots of fun. Over the Easter weekend we had a couple of family gathering with many kids, most of whom were under 10 years old. On a trip to Walmart I picked a bubble wand in what looks like a giant test tube... the bubble stuff inside must be stronger than the usual stuff that comes in after-wedding bottles because it make some pretty big bubbles... some 8 to 10 inches in diameter. The kids and adults loved it... we all stayed outdoors and chased bubbles for a long time. This sent me on a quest to find recipes to make even larger bubbles. The link below is to a site that has links not only to bubble making recipes but to lesson plans that make science connections to bubbles. Sound like a great springtime activity to me. Let the class know if you do a bubble activity.

Bubble Making Activities and Recipes

What a Difference a Year Makes

2010-04-05T21:55:00.000-04:00

Last year at this time EDUC 675 was struggling to find emails for everyone. This year we are just sorting out which email addresses work best for everyone. The EDUC Survey indicates that many of you are bloggers, have experience with presentation tools, are Wordle fans, many of you are Google Docs users and at least one of us is a Skype user. I'm looking forward to learning so much from all of you... as a former boss of mine used to say, "All of us are smarter that any one of us".

Keep your eye on my blog... every time I see an interesting site I'll add it as a blog entry (you can do the same to your blog). I'll keep documents in the 'file' section of Google Groups. Future assignments/projects will refer to sites (on my blog) and documents (on Google Groups).

I think our class size is stabilized at 18... 6 groups of 3. See the class list in Groups to find your work group partners and exchange emails. You are expected to read and comment on partners' blog entries every week (click on the word 'comments' at the end of each blog entry). Comment on my blog once in a while.

If you get stuck or feel you are not getting all the info you need let me know. I'll do my best to direct you to a source of help (I may not give you a direct answer). Also, use your work group partners for help and email the whole group if you have a question that merits lots of input. EDUC 675 is big on virtual community.

Again, we are about: Communication, collaboration, and creativity. Let's keep the chatter going... do any of you Tweet? What can we add to Google groups to facilitate communication? Try working as a work group on a single document. Look for stuff I don't know about.

As you can imagine I get dozens of emails and notifications about who has accessed what... if you can't access a document or don't seem to have the right permissions and you don't hear from me within 24 hours email me directly at heigle.1@att.net with a clear statement of what you need (what document, what site, etc.).

Favorite Web Based Tools for the Class - Classroom 2.0

2010-04-05T21:32:00.000-04:00

This site lists some interesting educational sites that can be used in classrooms...

Favorite Web Based Tools for the Class - Classroom 2.0

animoto - for education

2010-04-01T11:33:00.001-04:00

Here's a cool freebie... Animoto is habit forming. If you take pictures or movies in your classroom or if you want to promote yourself or a program sign up for Animoto for Education. It's free and I use it for various projects (family events, school projects, etc). We'll make an Animoto video in class at our April 21st meeting.

Dave

animoto - for education

Stuff to do before next time... - "Google Docs"

2010-03-31T19:40:00.000-04:00

Stuff to do before next time... - "Google Docs"

Otterbein EDUC 675 '10 | Google Groups

2010-03-31T19:38:00.000-04:00

Otterbein EDUC 675 '10 | Google Groups

A Science Odyssey: You Try It: DNA Workshop

2010-03-30T09:54:00.000-04:00

A Science Odyssey: You Try It: DNA Workshop

Book Discussions - A Place to Talk about Books and Ideas That Matter

2010-03-30T09:07:00.000-04:00

Book Discussions - A Place to Talk about Books and Ideas That Matter

Classroom 2.0

2010-03-28T18:38:00.000-04:00

Classroom 2.0

Browse Videos - Common Craft - Our Product is Explanation

2010-03-25T11:41:00.001-04:00

Browse Videos - Common Craft

Common Craft is a site that is an excellent source of videos that explain in plain English (other languages, too) how technology things work. Take a look at Cloud Computing, for example. Our Web 2.0 tools reside in the "Cloud" and this video may help you understand the underlying infrastructure of Web 2.0.

YouTube - iGoogle: A Mini Product Tour

2010-03-25T11:35:00.001-04:00

YouTube - iGoogle: A Mini Product Tour

Introduction To IGoogle - Video

2010-03-25T11:31:00.000-04:00

Introduction To IGoogle - Video

YouTube - Google Docs

2010-03-25T11:27:00.000-04:00

YouTube - Google Docs

YouTube - Google Docs in Plain English

2010-03-25T11:25:00.000-04:00

YouTube - Google Docs in Plain English

YouTube - How to create a blog with Blogger

2010-03-25T11:22:00.000-04:00

YouTube - How to create a blog with Blogger

YouTube - Blogger Tutorial - How to Start Blogging with Blogger

2010-03-25T11:21:00.000-04:00

YouTube - Blogger Tutorial - How to Start Blogging with Blogger

15 Awesome Google Search Tips and Tricks

2010-03-23T22:19:00.001-04:00

15 Awesome Google Search Tips and Tricks

Posted using ShareThis

First post for EDUC 675 Sp 2010

2010-03-23T21:22:00.002-04:00

I love this course! I teach it once a year and every year it's almost brand new. "Internet Tools and Practices" what a large, open canvas upon which to dab and dribble bits of color to enliven teaching and learning. As I hope you will come to appreciate, I find teaching one of the most creative of human endeavors. I enjoy the freedom and challenge of meeting individual needs, of using found objects to make new tools, of feeling the flash of intuition for myself and of seeing it in the eyes of others. I see teaching as a journey, one that began for me more than 40 years ago and one which I still find challenging especially in this, newish to me, medium of the internet. Teaching across time and distance deprives us of that instant feedback that in the classroom is comprised of body language, facial expression, voice inflection, and the inexpressible sense of being together in one place at the same time. But, the internet opens so many new doors for us as teachers it makes up for some of the lack of the "personal touch".

I love "new" and "change" and I find the possibilities of a "blended" course the best of two worlds: 1) access to the infinite set of tools and resources found online and 2) the brief but informative face-to-face meetings we have scheduled.

When you respond to this post say a few words about how you, at this moment in time, feel about online/blended teaching and learning. We'll look back near the end of the course and see if attitudes have shifted.

Connecting Students, Not Hardware - ISTEvision

2010-02-04T12:27:00.000-05:00

Connecting Students, Not Hardware - ISTEvision

Foley_contest_Podcast_final.mp3 (audio/mpeg Object)

2010-02-04T12:11:00.000-05:00

Foley_contest_Podcast_final.mp3 (audio/mpeg Object)

ISTE | Computing in the Clouds

2010-02-04T11:58:00.000-05:00

ISTE | Computing in the Clouds

Long Dry Spell

2009-02-07T12:11:00.002-05:00

It's been a long dry spell since the last post... last summer after the big motorcycle trip to Alaska with a stop in Bonneville. I'm gearing up for a new session of EDUC 675 at Otterbein and thought I'd better re-acquaint myself with Blogger and blogging.

Today we are in Palm Desert,CA with friends Jane and Don and will soon be joined by two more couples from central Ohio... Dick and Adele and Kay and Denny. We are all connected by Otterbein/Westerville at least by marriage.

It's a bit after 9 AM and we are just getting a peek of sun after a night of rain. It seems that wherever we go we bring Ohio weather with us... checked the temp in Columbus and it's not much different than here. At least the lows are not as low. Regardless, we will have a great time with friends and of course the scenery is wonderful. Just look over my left shoulder and see a 10,000 ft mountain, green trees, just had a freshly picked grapefruit.

Iron Cheek Association

2008-08-24T21:54:00.002-04:00

You may recall, if you are a regular reader of these posts, that the Quest to ride in all the states had its origins in an "Iron Butt" fete... two riders rode in all the lower 48 states in less than a week. The Iron Butt Association is a real and serious organization that sanctions long distsnce motorcycling events. Without going into too much detail the entry level Iron butt event requires aspiring members to ride and document with signatures and receipts a thousand miles in 24 hours. There is a coast to coast challenge that requires riders to cross the continent on 50 hours or less... that's called the 50 CC. Every two years the IBA sanctions a rally/scavenger hunt that takes two weeks and winners often log 12000 miles and traverse North America from Alaska to Key West as well as the other cornerd and points in between.

Tomto and I have long contemplated the 1000 miles in 24 hours thing but the past few days have put that idea to rest. Old guys need more realistic goals, thus the Iron Cheek. Entry level challenge: 500 miles during daylight hours with two required stops for food-- must sit down and eat and at least one item must be ordered from the 'senior menu'. Riders must be at least 65 years of age. The entry level ride earns successful applicants the "Half Moon" award.... we are contemplating a license plate frame, woven patch, a pin, and a decal.

The next level chllenge... 2 back to back 500 mile days earns the successful rider the 'full moon' award.

We're working on other events such as a do it yourself rally, special awards and titles and trying sot work 'Moon" and "Butt" into everything. We welcome your suggestions and you help in build a FAQ for prospective members.

Last Night Out

2008-08-24T21:21:00.002-04:00

The Journey began on July 24 when Tomto and I left Central Ohio on the Quest for the 49th state. Today is August 24th and we are nearing the last leg of the journey. We are staying the night in a Quality Inn in Greenfield, IN just 160+ miles from where we started. My intent was to chronicle as many of the sights and vistas from the road as possible. A near impossible task as I've discovered. The thinking time on the motorcycle is great for processing ideas and composing thoughts but without a recording device much is locked the the folds of the old gray matter perhaps never to see the light of day. This post will be a sort of brain dump as I ramble on about what may or may not be written about in more reflective posts when I get home.

Some things seen and thought about on the road:

Sign on a wrecking yard wall in Twin Falls, ID: "All cars run on used parts". That's true of us humans, too. Physical parts, mental parts, and spiritual parts. How those parts have been used and cared for, what accidents they've endured, and what repairs have been made all contributed to how well the 'used vehicle' runs today. Not sure where this goes but I'm thinking about it.

Taming a great river. The Columbia Gorge is beautiful and so is the peaceful river that runs through it. However, part of me longs to know the wild river that Native Americans and Lewis and Clark saw and braved before the Bonneville and other dams tamed it. I84 allows fast and awsome views of the gorge at 65 miles per hour, but what were the views from the game trails and even the old route 30 from the seat of a Model T.

Who dared to cross the great salt flats first. Why would anyone even begin to brave such a forbidding salt desert? And why?

Have the maze of islands through which the Alaska Marine Highway wends its way been thoroughly explored... have humans put their prints everywhere in this vast network?

What is it about gambling that draws us to keep trying against all the odds to win the jackpot? Is that the same gene or trait that keeps us alive in hopeless situations.

How are oral traditions different in societies that have no written language (like the First Nation people of the north) our friend John claims that the traditions are passed on word for word not as ever changing 'stories'.

What next after the 49th state?

Bonneville update

2008-08-20T13:37:00.002-04:00

Bonneville Salt Flats, Middle of Nowhere, UT

Wednesday.

After disappointing runs the first few days the racer guys ditched the fuel injection in favor of the old reliable carburetor. The first run today was way better (162 and change) jst about 3 mph off the class record. As I type this the boys are disassembling the carb and scouring the pits for new jets to richen the fuel/air mixture which should push the Nissan over the record. In case you've forgotten the fine points of landspeed racing if a car beats the old class record the record must be 'backed up' the next morning and the average speed of the two runs stands as the new record if indeed the average is higher than the previous record.

One of the finest time on rhe salt is coming out before dawn to back up a record. New light makes the distant mountains to the west light up first, then the salt begins to glow as tne sun rises. We hope to be out on Thursday AM to back up a new record and to experience the new day. Loretta and Marlene are leaving tomorrow and Tom is arriving tonight so Thursday is the best last chance for a back up.

Tomto and Chemo-sabi will probable be back on the trail again Thursday althiyugh we are not sure of the return route.

It's warm again on the salt but not the 100+ we've experienced in the past. Looks like hot but dry travel to the east and I think I'm ready to be back in Ohio after 5000 miles in the saddle plus a 1000 or so on the ferry. We've still got close to 2000 miles between here and Columbus.

Buckeyes on the Salt

2008-08-19T13:23:00.002-04:00

Bonneville Salt Flats, Middle of Nowhere, UT. Parked next to the Buckeye Bullet the OSU land speed electric race car. The Buckeye team have set up a satellite wifi system and it's unprotected so I've logged in.

Other Buckeyes of note are the McMeekin Brothers race team of which we are hangers on. Don and Jane McMeekin are the only family members here but several others are in support. To risk boring most of you I'll describe the race car: Don McMeekin is the chief architect and builder so the car reflects his artistry both mechanically and esthetically. Car number 280 started life in the 80's a a Nissan 240SX, a four seater, semi sporty sedan with exceptional aerodynamic for a production auto. The engine of the year, this is the 3rd in a series of unusual power plants, is a 1947 Buick Roadmaster straight 8... that's 8 (count 'em) cylinders in a row. The more common modern 8 is a V8... two banks of 4 cylinders sort of side by side. The Nissan came with a 4cylinder engine so the Buick is nearly twice as long and fits snugly under the hood necessitating rather lumpy blisters on the hood to clear the taller and longer engine and fuel injection.
The car draws a crowd when the hood is off... this is a very unusual configuration and beautifully executed. The body is a bright orange with silver racing stripes down the center. The engine is painted to match with stainless steel hoses, carefully routed and tied doen wiring and with discrete vintage Buick 8 logos on the valve cover.

The record in the XOGALT class is about 167 MPH and so far the best Don has been able to do is a bit over 150. Today (Tuesday) Don is pulling the fuel injection and replacing it with a carburator which, in this case, may provide more even fuel distribution to that long span of cylinders. As I type Don and other crew members are cutting a hole in that perfectly sculpted fiberglass hood and gringing another hole in the intake manifold to accept the carb plate. All tgus is being don 'on the salt' no electricity except from a small generator, under a make shift tent, all on a bed of salt. Stuff like this is going on all throughout the pit area which extends for more than two miles along the longest of one of three race courses. This whole experience exemplifies America's greatest natural resource: creative inginuity and the persistence to make lemonade from lemons and race cars from ancient castoffs.

Shameless education plug: When will we get back to nurturing the kids who are tomorrows Bonnevile racers, creative scientists, far out mathematicians and brilliant inventors who are not predicted by high-stakes testing. Bonnevile in a sense is The Christmas Past... when will our leaders wake up and see that this culture is fading and without emphasis on out of the box, out of this country, out of this world thinking other countries are going to eat our innovative lunch.

Columbia River Gorge

2008-08-17T09:05:00.002-04:00

Still at Mountain Home, ID

NOTE: Don't be alarmed, your eyes didn't go negative on you. I changed the template for the blog last night when the previous post appeared to have no text in it. I tried to type my post in the little word processor on my XO and it entered some HTML commands that changed all the text in the blog to black (I think) which does not show up well on a black background. So until I figure it all out I stick with the current format.

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The first view of the Gorge was some distance after I left the Portland area, I'd elected to take the Rt. 30 by-pass which took me through the more industrial fringes of Portland, my mistaken thought was that I'd be right close to the river. I wasn't until I joined again with I84 that the cliffs of the gorge came into view. As posted earlier, it had been a long and arduous afternoon. The sun was setting behind me and the cliffs, that appeared to be rather close together on either side of the river, were lit perfectly to emulate a lithograph I recalled of Lewis and Clark surveying their course from a promontory somewhere. I choose to believe that they were overlooking the Columbia River Gorge nearing the westward end of their epic journey.

The light and the hills appeared sort of gold and I had another of my WOW moments (I didn't try to stop for a photo this time). I84 closely follows the Columbia so the river is most always in view. It's broad and not very fast moving. The opposite (northern) shores are visible across the river and the southern cliffs are fairly close to the highway to the right although these are probably newly blasted to make room for the four lane. Being IN the gorge this way is impressive however, the real eye opener occurs when the rider takes the 'old road' cutoffs that are offered.

The original national highway through the gorge is US Rt. 30, known in Ohio and elsewhere as the Lincoln Highway. It's remnants wind not only with the river but with the terrain. Sometimes at the river level, sometimes high above. At points it hugs a more natural southern wall and it's at these points that it reveals spectacular waterfalls. In one 7 mile section of the old road, lined with old fashioned decorative concrete bidge abutments and white painted wooden guard rails, are three spectacular water falls. Each is close enough to be viewed from the road. There are parking spot near each fall and in a couple of cases gift shops and restrooms built of local stone in the charming slate roofed WPA style seen in state and national parks across the nation.

I can't recall the names of two of the falls, although one was nicknamed 'Bridal Veil', one was 'Horse Tail' and one was the third highest fall in the US. This seven mile ride was particularly enjoyable as the light was fading and the day was cooling from the 90's suffered earlier on I5.

Who could resist a side trip over the 'Bridge of the Gods'? I couldn't even though there was a toll. The bridge takes it's name from a Native American legend that tells of a natural bridge that the Great Spirit created in this site and set a woman to guard. She somehow failed in duty and the bridge was destroyed in a battle between waring tribes. In shame she went into solitary retreat and became Mt. St. Helens (not her real name) 90 miles to the north.

The current bridge while not as old as the legendary Native bridge is pretty old. It was originally built before the Bonneville Dam was finished in 1938 and has to be raised about 90 feet to clear the rising water behind the dam. There is a dollar charge for cars, to my surprise I got 50 cents change when I offer my buck for the bike.

The other side is, of course Washington again. I made my way as dark was falling, to Stevenson, WA , a place I'd randomly picked on MapQuest to spend the night. As luck would have the town was celebrating its annual Free Fair and homecoming and this happened to be the one hundredth such event. Quite a picturesque little place, a former logging town now dependant on tourism. As the free fair and the main part of town was fading in the mirrors and as Rt. 14's 2 lanes were growing darker ahead the glorious red and white 'Econo Lodge' sign popped into view. I got one of the last 2 remaining rooms (the Jacuzzi Suite), a AAA discount, advice on how to find the local Subway, a shower, and blessed cool sleep.

More on the Gorge next time.

Week from Hell

2008-08-16T22:38:00.001-04:00

Mountain Home, Idaho

Bellingham, WA to the Columbia River Gorge

Had the week from hell yesterday afternoon. After landing in Bellingham at the end of our 3+ days on the Alaskan Marine Highway we made the 60 miles to Everett and Bernadette and Jay's home without incident. I even remembered the tricky turn onto Friday Street that I missed a couple of times the last time we were here in 2005. The house is situated on a hill that overlooks much of Everett and even give a great view of Mt. Baker when she's out. Bernadette always has home improvement projects in the works. Since the last time the small garden in the front of the house has been enlarged and a covered gazebo has been added as has access to the flat roof in the rear that is now a flower filled roof garden and eating space. After a warm welcome a great breakfast and an upload of blog posts I bid a reluctant farewell to Bernadette, Monica, Mary (another Monica sister visiting from CA) Mary's husband Steve and daughter Lori, and of course Tomto, I hit I5 about 1:15. Four hours and 70 miles later I was still not out of the terrible traffic woods... Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia, military bases and all points in between conspired to impede my way to the Columbia River Gorge. If 70 miles of stop and go traffic is typical of the area I can't imagine how Boeing and Microsoft find anyone willing to strike out for work.... maybe traffic is the secret weapon that keeps noses to the grindstone rather than attempt to get home.

To be fair I encountered 3 well spaced vehicle fires that must have had an impact on the snarl that kept me on the bike in the HOV lane for nearly 5 hours. The first fire was near downtown Seattle, it was a crane truck on a Northbound on ramp... by the time I saw it the fire was out but it was smoldering and surrounded by fire equipment and police cars. Traffic in both directions was stop and go for miles. A teaser of 50 MPH and then another slowdown and then stop. A message board announced an 'incident' at 320th Street. We were now only in the double digits. Days later the 'incident' was revealed to be an articulated municipal bus that was totally burned to a shell in the southbound HOV lane. Rubber necking added a couple of rear end bang-ups to multiply the confusion.

By this time we are in full tilt Friday-get out -of-town rush hour. Endless lines of cars streaming in from every on ramp and pressuring vehicles toward the center where I am staking out my right as a motorcyclist to ride in the HOV lane. However, being in the HOV lane makes exiting, if I'd been foolish enough to get off in unfamiliar territory, very difficult. I must have looked rather cooked (did I mention that the Northwest is suffering a heatwave and the temp was in the 90's and I was in full protective gear that felt so good in the 40's in Alaska). A driver in a red Toyota Tacoma pickup waved a bottle of water out the window at me and I managed to snag it with my throttle hand without coming to a complete stop. Thank the motorcycle gods for flip-up helmets. I upped the chin guard and twisted off the cap with my teeth... I gulped most of the water and splashed the rest on my tee shirt. Probably saved me from a unwise stop in the center berm to get my own water bottle from the back of the bike. Another act of kindness from a total stranger.

The last vehicle fire was near Chehalis way south of Olympia but of course traffic backed and then stopped after only a few miles of 50 MPH.. By the time I arrived on the scene the origin of the fire was nothing more than a car size grease spot on the side of the road. However, this fire sparked a grass and brush fire that spread several hundred yard in all directions from the original burn. Smudged firefighters and their trucks were still on the scene. It appeared that the fire had also spread to northbound lane because there were trucks over there also. Miles of backup in both directions.

Finally made it to the exit that would take me into the Columbia River Gorge. Believe it or not I'd spend that afternoon week from hell all over again to see the Gorge as I did later. I'll save that for another post.

Four Days in Haines part 1

2008-08-15T14:56:00.003-04:00

Note: I'm running behind. I entered some blog material while we were on the Alaska Marine Highway Ferry but there is too much stuff in my head to get it all down. This part 1 of 4 days in Haines may be the only part for a while. At the present moment I'm in Everett, WA at Bernadette and Jay's house. Bernadette is Monica's sister and I've stopped to have breakfast and to catch up on internet stuff. I'll be off on my own later today to connect with Loretta and the Bonneville gang. Don't know when my next internet connection will be but I hope to fill you in on the other 3 Haines days and the 3+ days on the Ferry as well as what happens on the way to Wendover, NV/Bonneville Salt Flats.

Four Days in Haines

As mentioned earlier crossing the border from BC to Alaska was almost too easy. Tomto is concerned that terrorists, at least ones that look like old Anglo bikers riding BMWs could easily sneak into the US at the this crossing. I suspect he is contemplating a call to Homeland Security and suggesting a more rigorous vetting of those crossing into the US. Never mind that Haines is probably 300 miles by road from the nearest US town or that one must pass through parts of British Columbia and Yukon Territory to get to that town which is the very strategic nerve center of Skagway.

Thirty nine miles from the border crossing is the 'Welcome to Haines' sign (we've got pictures). The Haines Highway splits to the right and continues on past the rather modest cruise ship dock to its end at Portage Cove where there is a small state park where backpackers and cyclist (pedalists) camp for $5 per night. The high school is out this way according to a recent grad who served us at the Lighthouse but we couldn't identify it. This tail od the Haines Highway runs along the Lynn Canal which is not really a canal but the saltwater passage that connects the Haines pennisula to larger waters to the south. Also above the end of the Haines Highway and the cruise ship dock rises Fort William H. Seward, once an US Army outpost housing up to 400 troops and dependents at the turn of the 20th century the fort was abandoned by the army after WWII and was purchased by a group of local veterans in hope of making it a tourist attraction. That venture failed, at least as a total entity. Many of the buildings have been purchased by individuals and some are used for residences and others as businesses. The two and three story white wooden buildings are on the side of a slope high above the Lynn Canal and surround a nine acre parade ground. On the street that runs parallel to the canal and the highway are the officers quarters, the commanders home, the surgeons home. At either end of this street are 2 perpendicular streets facing the parade grounds on which the hospital, recreation building, bachelor officers quarters, headquarters building, and the fire department buildings stand. At the base of the slope forming the fourth side if the parade ground is the surviving enlisted mens' barracks (the other barracks building burned in 1980's). All in all a remarkable private effort in preservation, the building all show signs of hard winter and advanced age and a so large that heating them in this climate must be a challenge.

The Headquarters building and the BOQ have been joined to form the Halsingland Hotel, probably THE hotel in Haines even though it needs paint and the chimneys are few bricks shy of a full stack. The hotel lobby is frontier shabby but the restaurant has quite an upscale menu at reasonable prices. Tomto and I shared a Swiss flatbread that was quite good and my haddock with sweet potato fries was OK (not up to the gold standard haddock and chips at the Bamboo Room). Locally brewed porter and Alaskan Ale on tap in the former officers room made for a pleasant last dinner out in Haines.

I seem to be writing the 4 days in some sort of reverse disjointed order. Tune in for more.

Haines Junction to Chilkat Pass

2008-08-15T14:52:00.001-04:00

The Haines Highway

The mountains and the big tip over distracted me from the first part of tne Haines highway. Our new friend John of The First Nation said we should see two things not far out of Haine Junction: the First Nation villiage of Klukshu and the Million Dollar Falls. Before we even got to Klukshu we stopped at the lower end of Dezadeash Lake for photos. We'd been riding near the east shore of the lakr for several miles and the view were beautiful... the lake appeaes to be a few miles wide with just a few vacation homes visible on the eastern side and none to see on the other side. The southern tip where we stopped was rocky with scrub to the shore line with endless evergreens to the horizon. The Haines Highway bends slightly more directly south and its paved surface becomes a bit more rough and prone to gravely spots. Before long we find the cuttoff to Klukshu and wind a mile or so down a gravel road passing some small rundown but still used modern cabins with rusted vehicles in what passes for yard in these non-grass growing parts. Eventually we enter the village of perhaps a dozen buildings. These for the most part are made of logs and are very low to the ground. The road makes an elongated loop and in the eye of this needle is a log structure that has a "Gift Shop" sign on it, the gift shop is closed. To the left is another home-business announcing "Tea and story telling" this one has an 'open' sign. Behind this building is some derelict old road grading equipment and if there wasn't smoke rising from some of the buildings one might mistake the village for a ghost town. We didn't see one person, nor did we see much in the way of newer automobilia. The architecture was distinctly of another era and culture and the village's dearth of modern artifacts gave proof to John's description as being, "...how my grandparents lived." Tomto and I made eye contact enough to say, "let's move on down the road". Perhaps on a day with more sunshine or if we'd seen a warm face or two we'd have stayed for some tea, but on dreary day with no people in sight we felt that we were intruding on some private place.

The next stop on John's suggested itinerary was the Yukon Government campground named, for a reason that was never explained, Million Dollar Falls. The campground was built next to the falls and there were a few RV's visible but most sites were empty. Protective chain link fences and a system of stairways led to a series of cascades... very attractive but not the high falls I'd expected. A light drizzle shorted our visit and soon we were again making the still gradual climb to the Chilkat Pass.

We would bid a fond farewell to the Yukon Territory and return to British Columbia before we crossed the pass. As we began the more evident climb to the pass I began to watch the altimeter on my little GPS, we hit something over 3800 feet, Haines Junction according to John was just 800 feet above sea level, so we'd risen over half mile but very gradually. Once 3800+ ft. was registered we dropped a bit and the road flattened across a high plateau. There was evidence of ranching (horses at pasture, a 'hay for sale' sign, fences, and even a ranch gate with a weathered sign over a rutted dirt road). No cattle or sheep were seen. There was a very incongruous large windowless building standing 100 yards to the right of the highway with a porta-john sitting next to it... we could only guess that it was a road maintenance facility. Such was the scarcity of remarkable scenery on that that flat, high stretch that a pole barn with a privy deserves mention.

Distant mountains were coming into view and we stopped for some photos but were totally unprepared for the downside of the Chilkat pass where a previous post chronicled the WOWs and the big Tip Over.

The Legend

2008-08-15T14:44:00.002-04:00

The Legend of Tomto & Chemo-sabi

Some of you may be too young to recall the thrilling days of yesteryear when lawlessness ruled the plains, when the Lone Ranger and his faithful sidekick Tonto fought evil doers wherever they were found across the west. Every evening at 7:00 for half an hour our ears were glued to the Crosley as the radio exploded with the William Tell Overture and "a hearty Hi,Ho Silver away...". The Lone Ranger was the "must hear Radio" nightly entertainment of our childhood. Before "timeouts" or "grounding" were invented by parents "no Lone Ranger tonight" was the most feared punishment of the era.

The Lone Ranger was a former Texas Ranger (a lawman not a baseball player) who was the sole survivor in a band of Rangers which was ambushed by the notorious Cavendish Gang. Tonto, a Native American, found the wounded ranger, took him to a secret cave location and nursed him back to health. Tonto addresses his new friend as 'Kemosabi' which in some Indian language means 'friend' or perhaps 'Lone Ranger'. Together they determine to find and bring to justice the ultra-evil Cavendishes who brought down the rangers. Fortunately for the two the cave in which they hide is also a rich silver mine. The mine explains some of the mysteries of their lives such as: How do they pay for food and lodging? How does the Ranger pay cleaning bills on his all white cowboy outfit? How to explain the silver studded saddle and harness? Why call your big white horse 'Silver'? Why shoot silver bullets? And finally answer that age old question:
"Who was that masked man why did he leave me this silver bullet?"

All this is background for the present day legend of Tomto and Chemo-sabi. Tom Moore (Tomto) and Dave Heigle (Chemo-sabi) first met 50 years ago at a Pi Kappa Alpha rush party at Ohio State. Both were products of small then rural high schools outside Columbus, both were commuters not campus dwellers, and both were unsophisticated enough to pledge the first fraternity that asked. They became friends, Tom married one of Dave's high school classmates and Dave became a sort of extra parent to the Moores' new son Mike. Over the years Tom and Dave took Mike and his friend on camping trips, rode dirt bikes together. Tom was the best man when Dave and Loretta were married. However, as life conditions changed and Dave and Loretta moved across town the families lost contact with each other.

After a period of 10 or 15 years they were reunited and and the friendship continued where it had left off. In the 'lost' years Tom had become a Harley Davidson rider and Dave still harbored the embers of motorcycle lust. It took some time but in 1997 after Dave had survived a bout with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma and the associated chemotherapy both bought used Harleys from Tom's brother-in-law who had purchased 3 bikes when Harleys were scarce. The boys rode locally never doing more than a couple of hundred miles and never staying overnight.

The next milestone came in 2001 when Dave's cancer recurred and he received a bone marrow transplant that required more chemo and an extended stay in hospital isolation. While confined Dave read about a couple of motorcycle riders who had ridden to all of the lower 48 states in less than a week... this type of riding is known as an Iron Butt fete. In Dave's mind the idea of riding in all the states transformed into a new reason to survive, the idea included a new kind of bike for Dave, a long admired 2 cylinder BMW, the favorite of long distance riders. In early 2002, not long after he was released from post-transplant care Dave bought and outfitted his dream cycle, an R1150GS. Vague plans of riding, over a period of years, in all the states formed in his head. Original plans called for Loretta to follow along in a car but after one trip to eastern Pennsylvania the logistics of that arrangement proved the plan impractical.

Into the void steps Tom. He volunteers to join the quest, buys his own BMW and the ride is on. Part of the original plan had Dave chronicle the rides as an inspiration to other cancer survivors. Past trips have been recorded in emails to friends from public libraries around the country. This years epic is being recorded on Dave's blog at drheigle.blogspot.com.

Since 2002 Tom and Dave have ridden to and in all 48 of the lower states. This summer's ride to the 49th state is the culmination of a quest which we hope gives credence to the power of having a survival goal when faced with a life crisis. It's also a tribute to enduring friendship and the power of just being with, or riding with, a person who is in need.

This should bring you up to date with Tomto and Chemo-sabi. We hear many are reading the blog but few are commenting. At the end of each post you may click on the word 'comments' and window will open to allow you to leave a message. The boys would love to hear from you

We're Here!

2008-08-09T17:22:00.002-04:00

Haines, AK. The Last Frontier and the 49th State.

We made it. Crossed the US-Canadian border and to the disappointment of Tomto we were not frisked, browbeat, or even harshly questioned by the guys at the US Customs station. We chatted, one was a Buckeye fan and they glanced at our passports and sent us on our way. Haines is so not its twin city across the water Skagway. Skagway is the product of the cruise lines, a faux frontier town with floozies in the street and flashing gift stores. Haines in a gritty, winter-worn, slightly hippy-dippy commercial fishing village. The greeter at the information center was surley and the hotel deskman was less than cordial. Clerks in stores look up and grunt when you come in. Not really true in all places but enough so as you notice that this is not a town built on tourism. Kind of refreshing really.

Dinner at the Lighthouse Cafe, on the water overlooking a harbor of mostly fishing boats, both commercial and for hire sport fishermen. Halibut and salmon, very good fish and OK veggies and salad. Next AM after a night in our suite at the Thunderbird (we got a 10% discount for not using the kitchen), we had breakfast at the Bamboo Room (really, there are very pale live bamboo plants growing in each window). The natives were friendlier including folks in the motel parking lot... one young Californian told us his sister was being married at Chilkat in the afternoon and he was very excited to be here. A Canadian gave us advice about the two main state parks... there are bears at the Chilkoot Lake Park. The Californian had actually seen them catching fish out of wiers along the rive up there. The Canadian said the fishing is not so good at Chilkat so we elected to head that direction.

Seven miles along a very picturesque bay and then about 3 miles on an unimproved gravel road and there we were. Wooded sites, only one other site occupied so we had the pick of sites. Found a nice level site not far from the trash cans and the pit toilets. Lots of bear warning stuff here too so we took precautions. Packed all food and toiletries in the Jesse Bags, the bear would destroy the bike before he could get in those boxes. The only thing left was our beer stash. We'd purchase a six pack and a bag of ice in town and had two cans and a leftover Canadian plus lots of ice in our cooler bag. There was no room in the Jesse's for beer! Tomto is nothing if not a rule follower, I wanted to hid the cooler in the weeds but NO... Tomto had been burned a few years ago when we camped at Glacier, someone in our camp had left an empty Moose Drool bottle on top of the bear box and the camp host came by and sternly admonished us to keep our bear attractions in safe keeping. Tomto wasn't going to let that repeat so he determined to make a tree anti-bear beer cache by throwing a length of nylon line over a tree branch and hoisting the cooler into the tree. We were tired, had had a couple of beers and more halibut so this project took longer than it should have. In fact I was in bed before the project was completed. It must have taken Tomto at least an hour to find the perfect tree and branch and to get the line over the branch. But this morning the cooler was still in the tree and we were not eaten by bears or hasseled by rangers.

Yesterday was perfect weather. I rained last night and it's cool and damp today. One more night in the camp, then blessed motel and shower Sunday night.

Ferry on Monday evening.

WOW! WOW! and the Obligatory Tip Over

2008-08-09T16:58:00.002-04:00

Tomto is directionally and map challenged, that's probably the main reason he has ridden all these miles with me over the years. However, he can tell you within a few feet the exact spots where my bike has tipped over on our many trips. There was Maysville, KY in front of a young mother and her child, at the end of the long gravel road that follows the Amtrack route through the Rockies, near Teluride, CO on a dark and cold night. He missed the one at the motorcyle safety course before I even got to class. The require tip over on this trip occured after we had climbed from the 800 foot elevation at Haines Junction to the Chilkoot Pass which levels out at about 3100 feet and crosses several miles of a relatively flat plateau. Lovely views on the up-side and across the flat top but on the down-side...! As the Haines Highway descends you round a curve and there is one spectacular black snow covered mountain, and then another is revealed and then more! All I could do is shout one WOW! after another into my helmet.

I couldn't wait for the next pull out area, I had to stop for photos. The road was wide and empty, the berm was paved and gravel free but we were on a steeper than I realized downhill slope. I stopped the bike, unfolded the sidestand and prepared to hop off with my camera. The slope was really steeper than I'd realized, the Beemer rolled just far enough forward to fold the stand back under the bike and it went down like a horse shot in a B cowboy movie. She rolled on her side, two wheels off the ground. I jumped clear and within seconds Tomto came to my aid. My big (strong) Jesse aluminum bags held the backside and the crash bars held the front... the bike was in a two point stance just not on its wheels. I pushed the tires back to earth and the two of us lifted her back on the rubber being carful to hold the brake so she wouldn't break free and run down the hill. No damage to the Jesse, just a few scratches on the crash bar and the left side mirror. However the left turn signal indicator was sprung loose, a screw hole was stripped, and the lens was cracked. I immediately recalled the hiding place of my miniture roll of duct tape and fixed the light on the spot. No luggage was lost, no cargo had shifted.... we were back on that fantastic road in a few minutes. For sure I'll remember the WOWs of the Haines Highway and Tomto can probably give you the GPS coordinates.

First Nation Encounter

2008-08-07T12:18:00.004-04:00

Haines Junction, YT. Thursday.

Haines Junction is really a junction, the sign outside our motel sends travelers to the right for Fairbanks and Anchorage and straight ahead to Haines, AK. It's 9AM and most of the travelers have moved on from the Kluane Park Motel. Tomto made a run (slow walk) to the Village Bakery for a bran muffin and reports that there are good looking possibilities for packable lunches. The mountains are misted over and a heavy dew is creating droplets on my bike cover. We are in no hurry to leave, Tomto is off again to check for provisions at the amazingly well stocked General Store... therapy for his aching back, too.

Last evening we walked to the store with a lone Goldwing rider from North Dakota, Bismark, he said. If anything he is at least as old as your faithful coorespondents, but perhaps it is only the appearance of his teeth. They would have been at home in George Washington's wooden collection. He'd been to Fairbanks and was on his way back home. Reported an oil boomlet on reservations in ND and quickly made his views on racial and political topics known. We parted ways at the store. Prices are generally high here and after scoping the cost of a summer sausage, cracker and cheese dinner we opted for a light meal at the the Northern Lights Steak and Seafood restaurant. After viewing the menu we opted for salad (our camp has been light on greens) and a couple of appetizers. Also, a glass of not so good Chilean cab/merlot, our first non-camping wine of the trip. A satisfactory meal but for $50 we could have stuffed ouselves for several day on cheese and crackers.

Tomto and I are fans of the motorcycle writer Peter Egan who is a regular columnist for Cycle magazine. Tom has read his books and I check out his column from time time and especially like his travel stories. Tomto has taken to asking when faced with a lodging, entertainment, or eating question, "What would Peter Egan do?" or WWPED? Peter is a fan of all things local so after dinner we were headed back to room 7 when the WWPED? arose and we stopped by the motel bar for a nightcap. They had real draft beer here but we were unfamiliar with the brands so I asked the man next to me what he was drinking... it was a darkish brew and he informed me that it was a local 'red' brewed in Whitehorse. That brief encounter set off a chain reaction that lasted for a couple more beers and a wide range of topics.

Our bar companion is First Nation, probably later 30's or early 40's. He'd been to Ohio (as well ans most other states) in his youth as a "Dead Head", a follower of the Grateful Dead. He asked if we'd heard of a place called Buckeye Lake, he'd seen the Dead there in 1989.

He is a native of the Haines Junction area but had been adopted by a family in Ontario and grew up there. He eventually returned and is now immersed in First Nation culture. He has guided tour groups for Holland America in the summer and works as an archivest in the winter preserving recorded native oral histories, transfering older tape recordings to digital media. As beer will do, our conversations ranged to politics, touched on religion, and flirted with solutions to world problems. At some point an older man wearing a Rolls Royce baseball cap came behind the bar poured himself a beer and listened. He eventually joined in and we had a lively talk about the Iraq war, US politicians, the coming US elections, and the comparitive merits and dismerits of our respective forms of governance. The Canadians are remarably well informed about US politics and history. We, on the other hand know little of their politicians and form of government... they get CNN we only see "The Red Green Show" on PBS. Not a fair cultural exchange.

It's nearing check out time at the Kluane Park and Tomto is methofically packing his many bags so I'd best sign off. More later about oral native histories, frozen artifacts and solutions to world problems.

Mountains Beyond Mountains

2008-08-06T18:56:00.002-04:00

Haines Junction, YT. We're sitting at a picnic table on the deck outside the Village Bakery across a dusty lane from the Kluane National Park Visitors' Center. Tomto is finishing his ricotta and spinich quiche and I'm eating a slice if greek pizza. We'll top this with a fresh apple and cinnimon fritter and gormet coffee... typical biker fare.
The day began at the Whitehorse Public Library where we had only 20 minutes to dash off a post (BTW, I've updated that one and finished with more Wild Things).

Haines Junction is only 97 miles from Whitehorse but here we are IN the mountains. For a couple of days there have been rumors of mountains, even a few really big rock things with streaks of snow on the north slopes but now we are IN the mountains. Somewhere along the AK Highway today I notice that the mountains ahead had more snow on top and that there were mountains to the right and to the left. Then there were mountains in the mirrors. We were IN the mountains.

............................ Later Wednesday...................
We loved Haines Junction so much and we lingered so long at the Village Bakery we decided to buy a piece of the town, well rent a piece for the night. We are within 150 mile of Haines, AK and there are no inside overnight facilities between here and there. By 3 PM we were settled in the modest (read slightly seedy) Kluane Park Inn. Another trifecta of moteldom: relatively cheap, has a restaurant with a bar, and is within easy walking distance of the Village Bakery (bonus kicker of wireless internet).

The road to Haines Junction was remarkable in ways other than the mountains. It's relatively straight and there few discernable hills. Yet it feels like we are higher than Whitehorse, it's cooler and when the sun is out the rays are intense. Woody Guthrie sang of "that ribbon of highway..." and that imge surely fits this stretch of the Alaska Highway. At a few places along the way there are glimpses of 'the old road', parts of the highway that have been abandoned in favor of straighter smoother new road. I was able to see, at one point, a piece of old road that was several hundred meters long. It was paved but crumbling and resembled a length of discarded Christmas ribbon lying on the living room floor... really wavy. Then I noticed that the new road was wavy too, not to the same degree as the old but by watching the white edge lines I could predict the dips and rises in the highway. The road is shouldered at intervals by sandy dunes and it appears that this section of the highway is built on sandy valley soil. At many places dips in the road have been filled by road crews, the old road's dips and rises are so pronounced that a motorcycle or car would go airborne at the peak and crash into the dip. It seems that this ribbon of highway, left to nature would fit the contours of wind driven sand. Road crews are in a perpetual struggle to fight nature, nature that also varies from 40 degrees below zero in winter to 80 in the summer. At the end of our day it was a short fine ride to a surprisingly beautiful location. Film at 11.

Wild Things

2008-08-06T13:09:00.003-04:00

Whitehorse, YT

We've been camping for the last couple of days until last night at least. The Family Hotel here in Whitehorse was our resting place. Whitehorse is, again, not your imaginary frontier town. It's a busy modern small city of about 23,000 hardy souls. It's so large that it has two Starbucks! The previous night we spent in the most difficult to find campground we've been in... it was so hard to find that it's not even the one we were looking for. Where we stayed was Watson Lake Government Campground, we were looking for Big Creek Campground. The distances here are in kilometers, of course, and the maps are marked in K's but the K's on the highway did not match the K's on the map... no reason I've found. We were trying to match K's and wound up riding an extra 30 miles or so before we gave up and settled for Watson Lake. Really a very nice campground and almost empty... could be because it was 3.5 miles from the highway over a very rough gravel road and the entrance off the AK Highway was very poorly marked. It was so rough that one of Mr. Safety Pants' (Tomto) many rear view mirrors shook loose and swiveled in the wind.

Once set up and heavily dosed with 100% DEET to ward off the hungry mosquitos we immediately made friends (we thought) with a local squirrel who must have noticed our can of peanuts. We tossed him a few and he became even more friendly, eventually hopping on the picnic table and knocking the can over with his tail. He became such a bother that I had to throw a small piece of wood at him to discourage his begging.

More wildlife: At the same camp in the morning there were these black and gray birds, smaller than a crow but larger than a jay, that hung around the table. I'd opened a two-pack of granola bars and had left one in the wrapper and started packing the tent. When I returned the bar was gone and the wrapper was on the ground. Don't think it was our friend the squirrel, the bar was too big. Tomto immediately christened the bird "Great Northern Bar Thief".

We did see some larger wildlife. The previous morning just after leaving our camp at Liard River Hot Springs we encountered a herd of 50-60 Woods Bison happily grazing along the highway. We'd seen signs warning of their presence but had not seen any until then. Peaceful looking with many calves, a few lordly bulls and many cows, however we did not risk a stop to take pictures. Later we saw two solitary bulls galumphing along the road.

Saw a couple of immature elk or maybe they were young moose, also just along the road. The only close encounters, like in Ohio, were deer who dashed across traffic... no really close calls here but it was in full daylight (that's a long period of time up here).

Two families of mountain sheep were grazing on the berm of the highway, mother father and a lamb in both cases. They were a bit skittish but looked as if they might stand for a portrait if we had stopped.

Then there was the bear. In the early afternoon we sighted a big ol' brownish bear about 20 meters, eh, to the right of the road. I'm sure he (she) was a black bear but (s)he WAS grizzly brown. Tomto, He-Who-Lives-In-The -Woods-By-A-Pond, passed on this bit of bear lore: he says that mother bears just love to show off their cubs and that if we encounter a family of bears he'll let me show my love to the cubs while he waits in the wings and takes pictures. It's great to travel with such a naturalist.

Bear Attack!

2008-08-03T09:39:00.003-04:00

Well, not exactly. It was more like the "Attack of the Rubberneckers!". At our first gas stop on the Alaska Highway in Wonowon had finished gassing and we enjoying a very nice homemade egg salad on thich wheat when to well outfitted BMW 1150 GS Adventures pulled to the pumps. The riders were dressed in full European looking riding suits with BMW flip up helmets, these were obviously serious long distance riders. Their large aluminun side cases are the ones you see on the bikes on the TV series Long Way Around (the show where movie star Ewen Mc somtning ride around the world with aTV crew in tow). Large German flags and a bunch of other stickers were plastered on the cases. What we didn't notice at first was the 90's era Taurus station wagon that came in behind the bikes.

The leader came over to us and started a conversation with us in very good but obviously German accented English. Asked us where we were from and where we were going... the usual biker ice breaker. We asked the same of him and before long the folloeing story unwound:

There were three German couples, not two as the number of bikeswould indicate. They had shipped their 3 Beemers from Germany to Alaska and were now riding south on the Alaska Highway. I foolishly asked if they were riding to the east coast and shipping their bike back to Germany. Oh no, we are going to ride the 101 down the west coast and then on to Baja California in Mexico. Their eventual destination: Terra Del Fuego in Argintina! The route includes a ferry from Baja to the Mexico Mainland, Panama City, ferry to Bogota. In Bogota they will store the bikes, fly homefor 3 months, fly back and continue on through South America... the whole trip consuming at least a year. Makes our month long jaunt look like a milk run.

The mystery of the 2, not 3, bikes and the Taurus wagon. Near Watson Lake, where a military man on his way to Wright Patterson had not only warned us of multiple animals near and on the road but shown us pictures on his digital camera, the Germans had encountered a bear near the highway. As the rider of the noe missing third BMW turned his head to look at the bear he struck the right rear case of the second bike. The impact sent both cycles to the pavement injuring both riders and their passengers. Emergency workers came and cut the riding suit from the offending rider and treating his broken hand and scaped arm. Both riders suffer either broken or seriously bruised ribs and the third bike was beyond immediate repair. Fortunatly in Watson Lake they found a "very clean and efficiently run" bed and brekfast next to the RCMP station. "It was so clean the owner made us remove our boots before we could come in." The B&B was of cours run by a German expat whould would also oversee the repair of the damaged 650 GS. The journey was continuing on with the Ford wagon ferrying the damaged rider two women. A side case from the damaged bike had replaced case destroyed on the second bike and all looked well with the exception of a few scrapes on the crash bars.

The other stickers on the bike indicated they had been to Africa. Two hyears ago the crew had shipped to Cape Town, South Africa and riden back home. We are such pikers.

The Kindness of Strangers

2008-08-01T23:59:00.003-04:00

From our first stops at Provincial and community information centers we've been impressed with how helpful the (usually) young women have been. Their friendliness and obviously genuine desire to help has been refreshing. Perhaps we've been accustomed to phone help and have been away from places where you actually interact face to face with help givers. Or, maybe Canadians are a bit different in their approach to helping others. At any rate information folks, servers at restaurants and even the guys and girls who pump gas have been delightful. Susie the waitress (and future teacher) at the Family Cafe in Russell delighted in telling us about how the Russell Arches came to be and how when it was discovered that the arches which were originally designed to support the INSIDE on a hockey rink were deteriorating the city maintenance crews had to varnish them and the varnish made an unpleasant smell outside the restaurant for several days. She and the restaurant owner seemed to see the humor in the incident and not the inconvenience. The two women also took pleasure in educating two yanks in the names of the one and two dollar coins (loonies and toonies).

At campgrounds and gas stations and restaurants we get questions about where we're from and where we're headed. There are always thank yous for held doors and pleasant greeting in parking lots and stores. At one campsite a college group was examining the campsite we had just reserved, it was next to a friend's site and I think they had planned to go back to the check-in booth to take it themselves... no problem, just a friendly comment that it was a great site. The man came back in few moments with a plastic bag to pick up some poop their dog left behind.

In Upsala, ON where we nearly ran out of gas (the first time) we were parked at the pumps when a trailerless semi tractor came rolling in, the driver was waving something out the window and almost before Tomto could recognize the object, without stopping, the driver tossed him the Eddie Bauer cooler bag that had dropped off his bike some miles back. The driver had stopped to pick it up and caught up with us. His truck just rolled back on the road and he was gone.

At Williamson Provincial Park in Alberta Carla walked into our campsite with a plate of six warm battered, walleye filets the best fish I think I've tasted... her kids had caught more than the family could eat that day and she was sharing with the neighbors. Later in the evening she came by with her two sons and one of their friends each with an armload of dry firewood, "We brought you some smaller pieces because we didn't know id had an ax," she said. We learned that she and her husband Don live just 15 minutes away but bring their trailer and more or less live at the park for two weeks at a time fishing and enjoying the beach. As we were waiting for the rain to abate the next morning she sent Brandon over to invite us for coffee and shelter. We discussed our quest to ride in all the states and she mentioned the movie The Bucket List which Loretta had told me on the phone just the previous night that she was watching with her friends Marlene and Kim... coincidence? Who knows. Anyhow, I told how the Quest came to be after my bome marrow tranplant and how my good friend Tomto has pledged to ride too.

I don't tell the whole story often and this chance encounter felt like a right time to share and celebrate good fortune and a friendship. Carla took our email addresses and the blog address... I hope she reads this.

Mile Zero

2008-08-01T18:46:00.003-04:00

We are in Dawson Creek, BC... not the quaint little frontier town I'd pictured but a passerby took our pictures at the mile 0 monument downtown. The information center served us well once again... guided us to the trifecta: cheap (relatively) motel, wireless internet, and a cafe next door with beer. We even got a private parking space for the bikes next to the first floor room. And to top it all the motel is called 'The Lodge' (of special signicicance to Loretta, Pat, Rosy and Joanne).

This was by far our shortest day mile-wise, only 140 or so. Just after we had our coffee in camp (Williamson Provincial Park on Sturgeon Lake Near Valleyview, AB) the rain started and we didn't get away until 11, then in a drizzle with occasional downpours. Had lunch in our first Canadian McDonalds... no dollar menu here, in Grand Prairie, AB. There so many bustling towns on our route, we had a long wait to be served at Mickey D's just like the one at Tim Horton's in Whitecourt yesterday. Not so many people in Canada but they all take lunch at the same time.

In addition to finding the perfect room for us the young woman at the info center here gave us a list if all the gas stations on the AK Highway with distances between and hours of operations, pure gold! Tomorrow the long road begins, info girls says the weather looks good for the next week, let's hope.

We exchanged some more of our plain old USA dollars for the very colorful Canadian currency. Didn't get any of the very cool one and two dollar coins because the exchange rate was even today. BTW, the Canadians call the one and two dollar coins loonies and toonies (I've actually seen the words printed on a sign in front of a car wash). The loonies are named for the loon pictured on the back of the one dollar coin and the toonies are called that because they are worth two dollars (seems like they should be twonies, eh?).

To backtrack a bit... We stopped for breakfast in Allan, AB or SK (can't remember which) the other day. Tiny town but a cafe with several pickup trucks parked in front, always agood sign. The place was called The Family Tree and when we entered the place seemed to be empty... no workmen, miners (there was a huge potash mine outside town) or farmers. Just empty tables and a young woman who said she was working alone and that we could get our own coffee refills while she fixed our bacon and eggs. After we ordered we could hear laughter and card talk coming from a room off the main dining room. Soon a rather rotund older man came out of the room carrying a pot of coffee he explained the daily cribbage game in the next room and offered refills and we struck up a conversation. Seems everyone knows we are 'not from around here' because we are dressed in our Aerostitch armor and probably look more like Michelin Men than we'd like to admit. The conversation turned to hail storms, there had been one in the area the day before, and our new friend had formerly been an insurance adjuster. He told of a man who had been riding his horse out on the open prairie when a 'sheet' hail storm cam up. As he explained it sheet hail is formed in layers in the atmophere and when the sheets break up they form big chunks of ice that fall to earth as softball sized hail stones. Anyway, the horseback rider could find no cover so he decided to get off the horse, take his saddle for cover and let the horse fend or itself. The horse had other ideas and as soon as the rider dismounted, headed for the barn using the saddle for his own cover. The man covered his head under a small bush but his back was black and blue for weeks. There are dozens of stories in Allan (note the spelling Rees Allan Heigle) and this just one of them.

Finally, the Alaska Highway. Tomorrow.

I Wonder as I Wander

2008-07-29T18:54:00.004-04:00

I've always wondered how those big trucks the railroad has, you know the ones with the train wheels between the front tires, are really used. Today I saw a couple in use on the rails along route 16, The Yellowhead Highway. The trucks were really on the rails, just like a train... looks like the front train wheels are on the tracks and the back truck tires are on the rails pushing the truck. Doesn't seem there would be much traction on the rails but then I saw a big truck actually pulling 5 gondola cars and a flat bed car with a large power shovel on it. Really something.

I wonder if a immigrant family operates the Jolly Lodger Motel we saw advertised on a billboard along the highway.

I wonder if the guy who named Saskatoon, Saskatchewan knew what a cool sounding name he created. Can't wait to get there.

Do you suppose that the wag who coined the phrase "flaxen haired maiden" ever saw flax growing? Here is Saskatchewan there are miles and miles of cannola growing along the roads as well as many fields of flax. Well, the cannola is so yellow I think of it as false sunshine, even when the skies are gray the fields are as bright as if the sun was glaring down on them. On the other hand the flax fields are pink/purple with lots of green showing through. So, a flaxen haired beauty is more likely to be a punk rocker and a cannola-head would be legally blond by Saskatchewan standards.

We are in Wynyard, Saskatchewan for the evening. We've had a great day on the road, just a bit of rain and lots of great plains scenery. Had lunch in Russell, Manitoba in a delightful family restaurant where we chatted up the locals and learned that the dozen or so huge arches over every Main Street intersection were salvaged from a skating rink being torn down in Dawson (where ever that is) and some one got the bright idea of putting up the laminated wood structures in the town. Quite spectacular, and I couldn't help thinking of the arches in the Columbus Short North that cost millions and didn't light up for years. I bet the Russell folks just string some Christmas lights on theirs in December and run some extension cords.

On to Saskatoon.

Canadian Humor

2008-07-29T08:57:00.000-04:00

What a country! We've been impressed by how friendly and unassuming most Canadians seem to be. Their natural sense of humor and acceptance of what most US citizens would see as oppresive or intrusive or just plain wrong is quite amazing. I mentioned the cost of insuring a motorcycle here as an example of what in the US would be a deterent to owning a bike ($2000 a year for a cruiser). Gas prices are another issue, $5 seems the norm for regular, even higher in remote places. Food and lodging are not cheap and beer is at least a dollar a can for the cheapest at a liquor control store, not a bar. And, it's not even winter yet!

I've collected some examples of humor that seem to exemplify Canada. First is a rather grim but in some ways humorous warning I found on a discarded cigarette package (it's in a category that does not even exist in the US: governmental humor). WARNING: TOBACCO USE CAN MAKE YOU IMPOTENT. Cigarettes may cause sexual impotence due to decreased blood flow to the penis. This can prevent you from having an erection. Health Canada. The really humorous part of this dire warning is the picture of a very curved (wilted) burning cigarette next to the warning.

At a gas station near Winnipeg we encounted a Smart car, you know the 2 seaters built by Mercedes just now going on sale in the US)... the car had a huge decal on the rear bumper that read "Baby Hummer" and the license plate read "Itti Bitti". The driver invited me to sit in the car and when I started to get in there was something like a foot stool on the floor in front of the driver's pedals. She said, "Oh, I have a prosthetic leg and I take it off to drive and that's where I rest the rest of my leg."

At the same gas station I found and bought a tee shirt that has some many layers of humor I couldn't resist. On the front it asks, "What is a Canadian?". On the back is the answer, "An unarmed American with health insurance." Follow by, "heh, heh, heh...."

Rushing River

2008-07-28T18:30:00.000-04:00

Monday, Neepawa, Manitoba.

Just 6K south of Route 17, as the Trans Canadian Highway is numbered in Ontario, is this beautiful provincial park known as Rushing River. We saw it on the map and it's location happily coincided with our rapidly declining stamina. Tomto checked us in and for a measly $3 extra (on top of the standard $29.50) got us a waterside campsite. A reasonably level site, big by most park standards, huge flat rocks where we could dry out tent and other gear that got wet in the previous night's downpour led down to the peacefull broad river (the river must rush elsewhere). Friendly chipmunks who obviously had been well fed by campers kept us company with their constant chatter. Bold crows who also had found a bonanza of camp scraps dropped in hoping for some good luck. It was still sunny and warm when we arrived and we relaxed a while before setting up camp. I dipped my hot and shriveled feet in the water for a while and it felt soooo good.

While I set up the tent Tomto prepared dinner: fried Spam (whatever the Canadian version is called) with maple flavored baked beans. Really, not as bad as it sounds when eaten with a six pack of Lakeport Premium Lager.

Sometime during the day we had slipped over into the Central Time Zone and it was still pretty bright outside when we hit our sacks. After the Lakeport and bean dinner nature called sometime after midnight and I headed to the privy ("washroom" in Canadian) I was greeted by a fantastic canopy of stars and a sliver of new moon. The sky was refleced in the still waters and if it wasn't for the hungry mosquitos I would have moved my sleeping bag outside and slept on a rock.

Still on eastern time I was up early and walked to the end of the campground and caught a shot of the rising sun through the trees. The camp wakes slowly and we had coffee and granola bars as we packed before much of anyone else stirs. But as these things go packing and leaving take longer than one would expect. Before we left a mustacheoed man stopped by again, he had stopped to ask about our bikes when we pulled in, and we were drawn into a long discussion about his bike collection and the cost of motorcycle insurance in Manitoba where he is from. Seems that his Kawasaki cruiser costs $2000 per year to insure and his Bergman Scooter costs about $600. Would make you think twice about owning a bike in Canada. Maybe my membership in the AMA does some legislative good in the USA.

Other encounters along the way: Guy in a Jaguar convertible with Manitoba plates headed to Niagra Falls, "There is a new pipeline in Alaska and the roads are all torn up, don't even think about going there. I saw it on television"

Old guy at Grandma's Cafe after dinner. "Got to go to Casper outside of Calgary... beautiful mountains, great roads. My son lives in Kodiak at an Army base, you know, where the big bears are. But don't miss that road to Jasper."

First Nation gas station attendent at a crossroads west of Winnipeg, "You guys are going to ride 8 more days, wow. Eight more days. To Alaska!"

On to Saskatoon.

Priceless

2008-07-28T18:22:00.001-04:00

Breakfast at nameless cafe attached to a gas station at a crossroads in western Ontario: $16.58 CDN. A campsite at Kakabeka Falls Provincial Park, $29.50 CDN. Premium gas @ $6.00 per gallon in Upsala (in the middle of nowhere)Ontario with 10 miles left in the reserve tank: Priceless.

Doors with Grandmother Faces

2008-07-26T15:21:00.002-04:00

Day two: wet and beautiful, at least the Superior views. Our destination was Wawa, Ontario and we were early enough to have ice cream and pop corn in the Cooper General Store and dinner at the North if 17 restaurant before we checked into the Mystic Isle Motel. The Mystic is above 17 south of Wawa... when I say above I mean up a sand road about 100 meters (note metric reference). I hit a soft spot in the road and did a bit of off-road fish-tailing before hitting the top, Tomto profitted from my error and made the top without incident. Once at the top we found a'restored' 40's era motel with a log exterior and even log walls on the inside. A German lady was at the desk and when we inquired abot discounts we got the equivalent of, "You vill pay the price or ypu vill not sty". We paid and stayed. Very clean and orderly as you'd expect from a German Motel. The flags of many nations were flying in the considerable breeze but that didn't keep the determined mosquitos from buzzing in our faces as we unloaded. By the time we were settled the np vacancy sign was lit and I was grateful for Tomto's foresight in reserving a room on the internet before we left.

Oh, The Grandmothers. In downtown which looks a lot like other northern North American towns... lots of closed storefronts, gritty streets, and other evidence of harsh winters and a less than booming economy, there stands a most remarkable display of public art. Dozens of used hollow core doors are mounted vertically every 3 meters or so, attached to the side walk near the curb with steel stakes. On each side if each door is a work of art depicting someones grandmother. Each doorside has a life-size Xerox copy of grandmas face and some artistic representation of a body...one had a real grandma dress with real sneakeras at the bottom, another an apron, another clothing made of newspaper pages. Every dorr had a writtin story of the grandmother, "Grandma came to Wawa from Nova Scotia in 1934 and had 8 children..." Some boards had multiple photos showing the subject over the years. Some were oviously the work fo young children, oters the work of artistic adults.... all celebrated the obvious affection the artist hold for their grandmas. The overall effect of the display was to make one forget the grittyness of a struggling town and to see only the love and beauty of its residents.

Day One: And then some other stuff happened...

2008-07-24T17:14:00.003-04:00

Tomto and I met at the McDonalds at routes 36 and I71 at 9AM. We talked for a while, for some reason neither of us were itching to hit the road for real. Once we got underway we got trapped in a traffic jam in Delaware... the main road in was closed so all traffic was routed over a secondary street. So much for detailed planning. US 50 is called the loneliest road but the road to Toledo, routes 23, 15 and I75 qualify as the "boringest" roads, therefore nothing to report. I475 around Toledo dumps us in Michigan, the only sign that we had in the state was a speed limit sign announcing 70 MPH, and of course the total absence of cars built overseas. More boring highways, we elected to take 223 to 127 which as Don Jameson promised was less crowded than 23 or 75 but still boring. Road kill included a number of deer and a yellow cat. Lunch at Wendy's in Jackson where we did chat with a couple other riders, one seemed impressed that such old guys were actually riding to Alaska. He asked where we started and when and when we said Columbus, today he seemed somewhat skeptical that we were actually going to Alaska.

The other rider was on a 1975 Honda CB 360, a close relative to the Honda 350's Tom and I had in the late 60's. He gave us a brief history of the bikes (his Dad had purchased two bikes in '75 and the bike he was riding was the remains of the two original). His stupid brother had run the orange one without oil so the blue one was left with some orange parts. And with that he was away like a flash.

Days Inn in Clare. Not a bar in walking distance, picked up a six pack of Molson blue to get us in the mood (I wonder if the labels in Canada say "Imported"? )Well, off to dinner and the Dollar Store. Into the great Canadian North tomorrow.

After Midnight

2008-07-24T00:32:00.001-04:00

Am I excited or what? Couldn't sleep last night and tonight I am still up at 12:30 AM typing this post to test the email posting capabilities of Blogger. If all works as it should this email will become a blog post. Should make posting from the road a lot easier with the little XO and its tiny keyboard and minimalist browser. The bike is packed the maps are cut and labeled, I've mutilated the Milepost cutting out just the pages related to our part of the Alaskan Highway. Hope to report again when we reach Clare, MI tomorrow PM. Tomto and I are meeting up near Delaware today at 9 and we will have a 300+ mile day ahead of us. The weather looks great and I'm ready to go.

PS Had to cut and paste to get this into the blog... the email function does not work as I had hoped :-(

The Long Ride

2008-07-23T22:47:00.003-04:00

The Blog is shifting gears. Up to this point I've been talking education, now it's motorcycle time! Tomorrow Tomto and I are heading off to Alaska on the Beemers. Alaska will be our 49th state, we've bagged all the lower 48 since we started the quest in 2002, the last two (MD &DE) and Washington, DC Tomto picked up this spring. We're headed to Clare, MI tomorrow, from there we will cross into Ontario on Friday. Our route takes us across the top of Lake Superior to Winnipeg, then to Saskatoon, to Edmonton and then we pick up the Alaska Highway in Dawson Creek. The only firm date we have to make is August 11 in Haines, AK where we will take the Alaska Marine Highway ferry south to Bellingham, WA. We'll split up for a few days and join back up in Nevada to ride the "Lonliest Road" US 50 back to Ohio. The whole trip should take about a month.

I will attempt to add to this blog via my little XO (the One Laptop Per Child computer). Failing that I'll email Loretta and ask her to forward to as many of you as she can.

Got to finish the maps. Stay tuned.

What I've Learned in EDUC 675

2008-06-02T13:18:00.010-04:00

There should be a word in the English language that combines TEACHING and LEARNING into just one word because I don't think you can have one without the other. Case in point: I've learned more stuff than I can count this term and much of it comes from your projects, assignments and questions. I'd like to dwell on just one example in this post and then attach a piece of work that is the result of a student comment during one of our face-2-face meetings.

Danica and some other women, as some of you may recall, were giving me (and I think other men) a hard time about remembering birthdays and other things that some guys don't pay as much attention to as they might. Danica suggested somehow, I'm fuzzy on the details, that one might solicit birthday wishes from friends of one's wife and put them into a Powerpoint presentation and give them as a birthday gift. The idea stuck with me and I did just that... sent an email to Loretta's friends (I secretly copied her email list) and asked for birthday wishes, stories, photos, etc. The response was overwhelming. If bandwidth allows I'll post the resulting video here.

There are two points I'd like to make about this incident: 1) I learned from you all, and acted on what I learned. Students of all ages know things and have experienced things that we teachers have not and can benefit from learning. As a result of the project suggested in EDUC 675 I pushed myself to learn more about Powerpoint, iPhoto, converting .ppt docs into movies, adding a sound track, converting the whole thing to a DVD format, and burning a DVD that I'll send to our kids to prove that their mother is indeed a remarkable woman (see cow jumping over the moon cartoon).

2) On a whole other level/topic I learned that we all need to tell the folks who we care about and the folks who care about us how they have affected who we are. I've come to think about the project of gathering comments about Loretta as a "Eulogy For The Living". Too often we save the best for the last. That is we save all the good things we have stored up to say about significant others until after they are gone. By gone I don't necessarily mean 'dead' but gone from being an everyday person in our lives.

Let me suggest sending a note or email right now to a person who you admire or who has had an impact on your life. Be that person a parent, a student, a teacher, a preacher, a friend or a mentor... let them know they made a difference, made you think, made you laugh or made you the person you are today. If you get really inspired I'd be real happy to share with you the process that I used in making Loretta's Happy 16th Birthday video.

Hawthorne Effect

2008-05-12T10:06:00.004-04:00

The Hawthorne Effect, that is a short-term improvement caused by observing worker performance, was most likely observed last week when I took my little RCA EZ201 video recorder to the class where my daughter Sarah is doing her student teaching. Sarah warned me that this particular class was her most lethargic and unresponsive. She was attempting to wake her students up with a role play in which Sarah and her cooperating teacher played the roles of talk show hosts and the students were guests on a show examining the points of view of parents, experts, and those who profit from the Barbie Doll culture. The students had assigned rolls and researched points of view about how Barbie has impacted the view/self perception of women in todays culture.

Not to take anything away from Sarah's preparation or her execution (there is no substitute for good teaching) of the plan but I observed what seemed to be a rapt attention to the camera and to what was happening on the 'stage'. I can't be sure but my experience tells me that students are quite aware of being recorded and that being recorded is somehow different from being merely observed. In today's media rich world there seems to be a pervasive sense of 'quiet on the set' as cameras roll.

The Hawthorne Effect as its definition states is a 'temporary' improvement. Therefore, setting up a permanent camera to watch big-brother-like probably will not improve engagement in the long run. However, occasional use of video or still cameras as well as other 'gimmicks' to capture student attention is probably a valid and useful teaching technique. Once student engagement is established it may be easier to maintain.

Just some thoughts on using techno-gear in the classroom.

Eric and the RCA ez201

2008-04-24T21:00:00.003-04:00

On Wednesday of this week some of us met to go over projects and assignments in Roush 330 next door to the room where my wife Loretta teaches the undergrad social studies methods course. She mentioned a week or so ago that one of her students had written and performed a song advocating for the integration of the arts in regular classrooms. So while we were working on 675 projects Eric came by and I set up the little RCA ez201 and we recorded. I downloaded, edited, copied some of the music and put it under the title I created and uploaded it to YouTube. Not exactly piece of cake but not brain surgery either.

I think Eric did a great job and can you imagine the reaction you'd get from your, perhaps unmotivated, student, when she/he see a video of him/herself on YouTube? I used iMovie on the Mac but the same result is possible with MovieMaker that comes with Windows.

The YouTube movie is called Paint and Write.

Notes from a Meeting

2008-04-18T09:23:00.003-04:00

The following post is from the email I sent to our class after the 4.16.08 meeting. This seems like a good place to preserve its contents.

Some stuff from last night's meeting:

A new Word doc with revised email addresses. Please replace your "class list email" with "revised class list email" doc that is attached. Katie uses her gmail account and I've added my gmail address. When you have time please re-invite Katie to your Jackdaw using her gmail address.

There seems to be an issue with gmail being hijacked by Otterbein when a gmail account is being established or perhaps accessed from an Otterbein account. I will try to get to the bottom of this. Keep me informed if you believe you are not receiving invitations to Jackdaws and other docs from everyone.

Denise bumped into the ceiling for upload size with her Jackdaw. Learn how to see your file size and pay attention to this size when uploading files to Google docs. This size limitation may influence your choice of media for your Team Project.

I appreciate the willingness of all of you to help each other and to ask for and accept help from your peers. This spirit of community and the patience you all demonstrate in working through the fits and starts of breaking new ground is a tribute to your devotion to the teaching craft. I've always believed that one of the best markers of great teachers is a high tolerance for ambiguity. In some ways being a teacher is like having selective amnesia... everyday is a new experience.

From the beginning I've viewed EDUC 675 OL as a "hybrid" course, mostly online but with a face-to-face component. The problem with that is once you meet face-to-face it's difficult to go back to totally online. In that spirit, and for those of you who have had difficulty making the first 2 meetings I will be available in Roush 204 next Wednesday April 23 from about 4:30 until 8 to discuss projects and assignments and to work through tech issues with those who choose to show up. We'll look at future Wednesdays as time goes by.

Speaking of days of the week, I believe I committed to posting new assignments and projects by Sunday evening a couple of weeks in advance of due dates. I will post these on Blackboard and notify you of postings via email. Also, it is possible that assignments and projects may be modified from time to time, if you are adversely affected by changes (if you've already completed the task) let me know.

One other thing, on Friday I'm severing my long term relationship with my ISP, Time Warner Roadrunner. We've drifted apart, I crave speed and reliability and the bird has lost in few steps in her old age. I've taken up with the glitzy fiber optic newcomer ATT. What you need to know is that my columbus.rr.com address will no longer work and that you should be using my heigle.1@osu.edu address. I will attempt to insure that my 'reply to' address in future email is the OSU address but double check.

Hey, I think I will post this message on my BLOG...

Keep speaking to me and to each other... there may be such a thing a virtual community.

The Virtual Syllabus Video

2008-04-11T17:11:00.003-04:00

I've been saving this video to share, I just can't wait any longer.

What we take for granted

2008-04-10T22:31:00.003-04:00

When Clare Kilbane and I taught 675 last spring we made lists of things we would change if either of us taught the course again. Two things were at the top of the list: "Get everyone's preferred email address up front" and "Use an standard naming convention for papers and documents emailed to the instructors". As Bobby Burns said (if his English was a bit more up to date), "The best laid plans of....". Technology is wondrous when it matches our needs and understanding. When there is a disconnect there is frustration and a tendency to revert to older ways of doing things. Some of us are gifted with super/sub-human patience (depends on you point of view whether you consider patience a higher order skill or just dumb laziness). At any rate, we take for granted things like light switches that work almost all the time, toasters that toast all the time, refrigerators that are remarkably reliable, etc. Computers and the internet are not yet at that level of no-brainer take-for-grantedness.

Back in the 80's when I worked for Apple Steve Jobs spoke of the computer as appliance, something that was to become so intuitive that it required no more thought to use than a toaster. While great strides have been taken in that direction we are not much closer to that goal than we were in 1988. The problem is that the toaster was pretty much perfected back in 1950 when the pop-up feature was added. Those geeky guys and gals in Silicon Valley and Calcutta keep adding bells and whistles to the basic computer at an alarming rate. The appliance analogy is no longer appropriate to describe our relationship with technology. The only existing analogy that springs to mind is the old one about changing parts on a flying airplane. "Let's try this new wing design, we'll install it at 30,000 feet over Kansas, piece of cake."

This new analogy requires an even greater tolerance for ambiguity than the significant amount of tolerance good teachers already possess. To make technology work for the good of education we all need to be prepared to fail, to employ vast amounts of trial and error, to re-think, to admit we do not know all the answers, to let some problems rest for a while, to be willing to ask direction even from our students. What we've taken for granted in the past is a world that had a lot of static features. Touchstones and landmarks anchored our thinking about the world and how it works. The rock solid premises in many subject area still hold, what does not hold is who has access to knowledge and how it is passed from person to person. Technology and the Internet have reconfigured the conversations between teachers and student. Content and the keys to knowledge are no longer in the sole possession of teachers. Students can uncover more content in a few minutes than could be 'covered' in a year long course a few years ago. The role of the teacher is becoming, must become that of a provider of order, an asker of significant questions, a skeptic about the provenance of truth, a risk taker, a creative light. In some ways not a lot different that what good teacher s have always done, however, the shift is away from 'knowledge' provider and toward all those other things.

How did we get from email addresses and naming conventions to teaching philosophy? Simple, we (as teacher and students) have got to be willing to try and fail, be problem solvers, sharers of solutions while maintaining some conventions that prevent total chaos.

Tonight, tonight

2008-04-02T22:57:00.005-04:00

Tonight was the first meeting of EDUC 675 at Otterbein. All hands were present or accounted for and we picked up our 18th participant to make 6 teams of 3 for the course. So many interesting stories and levels of experience. I can't wait to see/hear blog entries and Jackdaws. It's my desire to help folks make use of all the pieces of knowledge they possess link to Web 2.0 tools. This is just a short post to try out an idea I have for modeling a new blog element: video. Here's a minute and a half video about the RCA video camera I showed in class. We'll see if it can be transfered to the blog as an element.

Try to comment on my blog so I know you are out there.

Dave

Saturday Morning

2008-03-29T10:15:00.001-04:00

It's Saturday morning and I'm messing with my computers thinking about 675 and how to structure the course. One of the exciting parts of teaching about the Internet is, as I said in the last post, it is always changing. My thoughts this morning are that I need to be a facilitator more than a teacher in this course. That is as the old saying goes, 'A guide on the side, not a sage on the stage'. The role I hope to take in 675 is to point you in a direction that fulfills your needs in the course and let you explore and create products that are useful to you in your work. When I looked at the responses to the Blackboard survey (11 of 17 have responded) it was almost everyone's first choice of what they wanted to learn was material that could be used in the classroom right away. In order to meet that mandate I must depend on you to take the raw material we discover on the Internet and massage it into classroom ready lessons. This work will take a joint effort... my knowledge and creativity in knowing and finding what I think is interesting stuff and your skill and creativity in making it classroom ready.

My hope is that 675 will stretch you outside your comfort zone, grow not only your Internet skills but energize and engage your creative instincts to go where other teachers have not gone (at least not very often).

I didn't mention it in the text of the first blog post but at the bottom of the post is a link to a video about creating your own blog (that will be Project #1).

I'll add info about our meetings here but will also send an email:

To: Candidates Enrolled in EDUC 675, Spring, 2008

CC: Office of Graduate Studies
Office of the Registrar
David Heigle, Course Instructor

From: Katherine Reichley, Professional Education Unit Coordinator

Re: Meeting Dates

Date: October 29, 2007

Message:

Although EDUC 675-OL is an online course, the instructor, David Heigle, has elected to hold two sessions on campus. They are as follows:
Wednesday, April 2, 2008, 7:00-9:00 p.m., Roush 204
Wednesday, April 16, 2008, 7:00-9:00 p.m., Roush 204

Mr. Heigle can be reached at dheigle@otterbein.edu if you have any questions about the course.