http://vimeo.com/55073825
The Overview Effect -
Enjoy some very brilliant thinking on how a person can experience profound changes in their perspective by seeing Earth from space. Well worth the 19 minutes and looks great in HD on full screen!

I expect that many, or most, or perhaps all Future Astronauts will experience the Overview Effect, even if only to a small degree, and I'd guess that seeing Earth from over 100,000 meters would be a part of everyone's reason to fly. Let's hope we can relay our personal experiences to effect some positive change here on Earth.

Thanks to Ron Rosano for posting this on VG FB.

I know I won't get these spectacular views with only a sub-orbital trip but I can continue to dream.

 

Sir Edmund Hilary said:  “Even those who are mediocre can achieve and those who are fearful can have adventure”.  Could he possibly be right about this in relation to me?

I was working for IBM in the 90s and wondering what to do when retirement happened.  Would I be ready for life’s next phase?

Karen, my friend and college guidance counselor was working to get certification in becoming a life coach.  She wanted to use me and Deb, one of our mutual friends, as test subjects to refine her skills and technique. 

One of the first questions she asked was “What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail?.   The first thought in my mind and out of my mouth was “I want to be an astronaut”.  Of course that was ridiculous.  I was 40+ years old and got nauseous on boats and small planes.  I wasn’t a test pilot or a scientist.  I was a project manager with software development for goodness sake.

Then I got to thinking about why I responded “an astronaut”.  Several memories surfaced. 

I sent my nephew, Josh, to space camp at Cape Canaveral when he was young.
I saw one of the first space flights take off from Cape Canaveral... it was in the junior high school yard in Tampa, FL. 
I had become a pilot while living in Alaska and secretly wanted to do more than fly single engine planes.

Well, the words had come out of my mouth and acknowledged them as true.  I finally recognized that  dreaming of being an astronaut was part of my life but never believed it could be achieved.

Fast forward to climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro in December, 2009.  We are sitting around a camp fire the evening before the ascendent and talking about adventures.  I was asked what my next adventure would be.    On the way to Tanzania there was a magazine article in which Sir Richard Branson was offering sub-orbital flights.  That gave me the opening to tell them I had always wanted to be an Astronaut. 

Since I had been to all 7 continents only space was left.  Right away, Dawn, an advertising executive in NYC, said she could put together a marketing plan for me to get corporate sponsors.  I wondered why a company would want to sponsor a middle aged grandmother to go into space?  She seemed to feel that it could be done and mentioned several companies that might fit. 

I continued to think about it off and on for the next couple years.    In 2011 I heard about the Space Port being built in New Mexico and started to get excited again.   My friend, Sue, and I visited it in January 2012.  We spent the night in Truth or Consequences, NM then took a guided tour of the Space Port the next day.

We drove through the desert of New Mexico and the first sighting of the Spaceport was like seeing a space ship on he ground.  My heart was racing and words failed me.

The excitement continued and I finally decided to take the plunge.  I signed the contract and sent the deposit to Virgin Galactic.    There are two types of travelers.  Pioneers are those who pay $200,000 up front and Voyagers who pay a deposit of $20,000 with the remainder due before launch.  I’m now # 682 on the list as a Voyager and wishing it would happen tomorrow.

Standing on the runway at the Spaceport, NM.

There is a three pronged theme to my blog this year...bicycling, hiking and space travel.  I plan to post a couple times a week instead of only when I'm out of town as I did last year.

Jan 1 saw me cycling the Tucson Loop path for 59 miles.  It was one of the coldest days of the year and the ride started at 9 am.  It took a good 4 hours and my finger tips and toes never got totally warm.  With that said I had a great time.  There were about 150 people and I saw people I hadn't seen in quite a while.  I hadn't ridden that distance in over 6 months.  Needless to say my muscles were a bit tired that night.

It was a great way to bring in the new year and I hear they may make it an annual event.   I look forward to seeing the improvements to the bike trail by next January.

The cold and now windy weather continued on Jan 3 when we cycled up Mt. Lemmon.   It was even windier than earlier in the week by the time of our regular Friday hiking day, Jan 4.  We hiked Milagrosa trail on the east side of Tucson and saw this 'fixer upper'.  I wonder why no one in our group was interested in it.  You can see from the beautiful blue sky that it was a gorgeous day.

4th day of cycling

Today's route was the least interesting, high traffic and more cyclists.

The highlight was a winery visit.

Day 3 of cycling

Many murals on the walls in the town of Saludecio. They call murals grafetti.

65 km ride

Yea, that is the Adriatic in the background. I was with the not-fast riders...Howard, Bill, Peter, Marge and Greg.
More later

Sep 9 First full day in Riccione

Walked on the beach at sun rise. More later

Sunny London

Returned the rental bike this am by biking by myself from Canary Wharf across Tower Bridge.  Scary!!

It has been many years since I was in St. Pau'ls so decided to visit again.  Climbed about 500 steps to the very top of the Dome.  Here is a view of the London Eye.  The mural on the left is actually a printed fabric covering construction.  Here are some intereting facts about St. Paul's:

604  St Paul's founded  by King Ethelbert of Kent
1066 William of Normandy invades Englnd
1606  Four gunpowder plotters executed in St Paul's Churchyard
1666  The Great Fire of London devastates St Paul's
1981  Diana married Charles here 

I then retraced my steps across the Millenium Bridge to visit Shakespear's Globe Theatre.  I learned that it was rebuilt only because of an American Actor, Sam Wanamaker.  He went to London in 1949 and all he found of the Globe was a plaque.  He could hardly believe it and had a vision that he should rebuild it in the same manner of the original.  It took many, many years to accomplish.

The Globe was modeled after Roman amphitheatres and Greek Theatres.  The stage represents the world with two trap doors leading to Hell and the ceiling is painted to look like heaven. It has a thatch roof that is open to the sky in the middle.   Do you remember the famous line:  "All the world is a stage and all the men and women are merely players".  I also learned that scenery wasn't invented by Shakespere's time.  That is why he painted word pictures of what the scenery should be.

All the steps and walking today combined with the 8 hours yesterday on the heavy town bike are catching up with me.  I'm leaving very early in the morning for Bologna, Italy so will get organized and hopefully, to bed not too late.

Brands Hatch, Kent

Chloe and I set out this morning on rented, hybrid bikes this morning from Tower Bridge, London.  The good news is that no one crashed and we had fantastic weather.  We meandered, and I mean really meandered along the Thames cycle path then got lost a couple times.  It took us about 4 hours to go what John said would be about a 2 hour journey.  Seems he had never done it and we made several u-turns...laughing the whole way.  He is a relaxed guide.
 
The Brands Hatch venue for the Paralympics was well attended and we were able to stand right next to the spot where the racers were 200 meters from the finish.  Unfortunately, our friends Dave and Clark finished 6th. 

Am heading into London tomorrow for my last day here. 

Wed, Aug 29

View from the gigantic patio at the flat in Canary Wharf. Chloe's friend Emma lives in Cambridge and her friend, John, had two spare bedrooms to share with us. He works for Credit Swisse and recently returned from Singapore.

Greenwich

We saw the Paralympic torch go through Greenwich and Chloe flirted with the cute policeman. I loved walking back along the Thames to the flat in Canary Wharf. Today was a bit cool and rainy.

Dave & Clark

Warming up around the Velodrome.

Fri, Aug 31, 2012

Met up with Dave and Clark after their races. They did the 4K pursuit and the Kilo (1K time trial). Unfortunately, they didn't medal. Their strength is on the road. We have to tickets for the road time trial on Wed.

Sat, Sept 1, 2012

The police presence was every where. Luckily, they were friendly. Most of looked as though they weren't old enough to shave. Yes, I know that was a sexist comment but we saw very few women.
We had to walk by the gigantic Westfield Mall to get into the Olympic Park. Of course, we checked it out more than once.

Sunday, Sept 2, 2012

We watched the US team win bronze in the Mixed C-1 to C-5 Sprint. Joe has no right arm, Sam has no right leg and Jennifer has cerbral palsey.

Monday, Sept 3, 2012

Took the underground to London Bridge Station, walked along the Thames on Queen's Way to Tower Bridge. The symbol for the Parympics is hanging from the middle if it.

Grassi Lake Trail

I'm hiking with Fiona and Denis a littlr west of Calgary. This happened in July and was on of the best days of the 6-week road trip.
I met Denis and Fiona a couple years while hiking/rambling on the Wainwright trail across England

Not such good news

Haven't written much since June because there wasn't much fun to share.  I returned to Tucson earlier than planned because I wanted to see a local hand surgeon about my finger.

Had the splint removed from my pinkie and the tendon didn't reattach.  That means I'll have a permanently bent finger or have the finger fused into a straight line.  I'm going to wait a few weeks to see how much it bothers me before making a decision.

The good news is that it doesn't seem to adversely affect cycling.  I'm heading out in a few days for the Paralympics in London followed by a couple weeks cycling in Italy.  Traveling should give me a good feel for what I will do about the finger.

Oh well,  guess that is what happens when one is physically active.

Good News

Saw the hand surgeon, a cyclist, yesterday and don't need surgery.  YEA!!  It seems that the treatment for a detached excisor tendon is to keep the digit straight with a splint.   After 6 weeks with the splint I can take it off to exercise the pinkie 4x-6x a day for 2 weeks.  Then 2 weeks of night time wear only.  Hopefully, it will be healed.  If I'm not able to fully straighten it then I'll see another doctor.  You know me well enough to know I'll do whatever is necessary to make sure it gets fixed right the first time.

The doc also said I could start cycling.  I'll give it a few more days since it still hurts when I bump into things.  I'm concerned about not being able to handle the brakes well enough.

Rest Day

Today is a rest day.  The days since the accident have been full and a bit stressful.  On Thursday I returned from the RV camp in Hope, MN to Rochester; dropped off the bike and found it needed parts and a good bit of work so will pick it up on Friday afternoon; had lunch at Chester's with Beth then went to her home.  Made several phone calls and arranged an appt with a hand surgeon for Monday.  That means I'll drive to Mike's house in Charleston on Sat.

When I unpacked at Beth's I realized I had left the hanging bag with clothes in it in Tom's RV.  Guess the stress of the past couple days was working.  So, back in the car Fri morning to drive to Apple Valley.  Returned to Rochester to do laundry and repack.  Sat on the back porch for a great salmon dinner.  The temp was perfect and the wind was non-existent.  The most relaxing and fun since Wed.

Easy 8 hr drive to Charleston then out to dinner and a movie.  I was surprised to thoroughly enjoy The Avengers.  It was actually funny.

Went for an hour walk early this morning and then watched London lose to Italy in the World Cup.

Hope for some good news tomorrow...fingers crossed.

Crash

First bike crash...broken little finger and minor road rash.  Will return to Rochester in the morning to get bike repaired.  The finger is in a splint and will need an MRI in a week to see if the extensor tendon needs surgery.  Hope all is healed before the bike rides scheduled for Italy.
Enough for today...need to rest.

Sakatah-Singing Hills Trail

Another easy morning start.  It is wonderful being on holiday with no deadlines and few expectations.  The day started out clear and cool but by the time we got on the trail it was almost noon and getting hot.  We started in Fairbault, MN and had a late lunch in Waterville, near Lake Sakatah. Thought of my old and dear friend, Phyllis.  I went into an old-fashioned hardware store.  It was crammed to the gills with fabulous "stuff".

The wind picked up to about 15-20 mph as a side wind.  The heat/humidity was worse than the wind.  We are now comfortably ensconced in Hope Oak Knoll Campground south of Owatonna.

The plan for tomorrow is to join TCBC, Twin Cities Bicycle Club, for a ride from Owatonna.  The weather forecast isn't good so we will be flexible.

Douglas Trail

It was another hot/humid day in MN....90 degrees with 90+ humidity.

Have you ever come face-to-face with a front end loader on a bicycle trail?  It was a first for me yesterday on the Douglas Trail from Pine Island to Rochester.  It was hard at work clearing downed trees off the trail as the area had experienced severe winds for a couple days.  We didn't have to carry our bikes over trees but there was still a lot of small branches, twigs and leaves.

Had a great dinner with my god-daughter.  She has grown into a lovely young woman and will graduate from HS next year.

The Cannon Valley Bike Trail is closed due to flooding...bummer.  We will head out tomorrow to bike the Sakatah Singing Hills Trail in Fairbault.

Tourist in Tucson

Sunday started out as a beautiful, sunny day.  Went on an easy ride on the bike paths around Rochester, MN.  I felt like a tourist.  The town has changed experienced a gigantic increase of buildings.  Can't believe the number of relatively new apartments.  Not much doesn't change.  It was encouraging to see that the drivers were still "Minnesota Nice".   

Of course, I had to visit my favorite bike shop...Bicycle Sports. Here is Bob Gritman, owner.  

One of my favorite things is a picnic.  Essex Park in Rochester was sparsely populated with children having a grand time and we had no problem finding a picnic table.   The weather dramatically changed, as is usual for a summer day in Rochester.  Threatening but beautiful, purple and grey cloud formations were moving in from the west.  By the time we got back to Bob's house the heavens had opened and gave the green trees/plants what they need.  

We are now in a the Hidden Meadow Campground in Pine Island.  It is aptly named as it is on the dead end of a dirt road.  I hope I'm going to like camping in an RV.  I'm looking forward to an equally good tomorrow.  We plan to ride the Douglas Trail from Pine Island to Rochester and return.  

2012 Two month road trip

It is now Sat, June 16 and I'm in cool, rainy Rochester...68 degrees with 86% humidity.   I have been not on a journey the last 4 days but on a path to reach a destination.

I left Tucson on Tuesday after having dinner with my nephew, Chris, and their family Monday night.  Annabelle, age 5, is a delight to be around with her extensive vocabulary and interest in everything.  Charlie, almost age 3, has to be on the move all the time and is a fantastic cuddler.  Spent a lovely hour visiting with Sue at AJ's Tuesday morning.  She travels more than I and the conversation never flags with both of us telling our tales.  Stopped in Phoenix to visit Josh, Amy and 3 day old Emmett.  He is beautiful, of course, and I'm looking forward to seeing how much he grows in the next 2 months.

Spent the night in Show Low at Pat Jame's house then headed to Colorado Springs early Wednesday morning.  I'm looking forward to cycling with her in Italy in September.  I had several books on CD so the time spent on the interstate flew past.  Jannie and Dave were gracious hosts and after drinks on the old-fashioned front porch we walked to a Bistro for dinner.  One of my favorite activities....walking to an outside dinner.

Left Colorado Springs early Thursday morning heading east.  After driving through some bad weather (beautiful black/purple clouds with lightening) and around a couple accidents on a stretch of road with construction I arrived safely in Omaha.  My friend, Diane in Tucson, introduced me to The Evergreen Club, and I spent the night at a lovely 'B&B' with Dave and Joy Schaal.  Dave is an ex-IBMer and they have traveled extensively.  It was fascinating to hear about their many trips to Kenya and their financial support of several children in their pursuit of an education.

The drive in to Rochester was the shortest day and I was ready for a rest.  I'm staying at Bob and Joan's house.  She had already left for Iowa to help her father celebrate his 90th birthday.  Bob and I went out for dinner then he headed south. 


Now that I've caught up with the present I'm going to try to keep this blog current.  Went to a very warm, but not hot, yoga class this morning and as I'm typing it looks as though the rain is stopping and the clouds are moving on.

Tom arrived in his RV this afternoon and we spent a couple hours driving around Rochester scouting bike trails.  He was impressed with Assissi Heights and the Canadian geese around Silver Lake.