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The post about Stop #6 promised something creative this time out, and creative is what we got. With all the small-town shops checked off, it was time to step out into the Coffee Shops Without Walls category. On to the particulars:
1. where: Bethel Bike Trails, Desoto National Forest, just north of Biloxi MS
2. date: 11/10/2018
3. what: double helping of black Taster's Choice instant ("just payin' for my sins here on Earth")
4. ride details: a short excursion for coffee and lunch, tacked onto the end of a 24 mile MTB ride
5. mileage: 3.1 miles round-trip
After the Thursday and Friday rains, the first serious cold front of the year moved through leaving beautiful cool weather and wet but not quite soaked woods. It was a great day to be out there in the flat pineys of Desoto NF. After getting the main ride done, swapped Camelbak for the day pack, pre-loaded with coffee gear, lunch, backpacking stove, and – throwing in a twist – a shortwave radio. Here, have some pics, we'll come back to the rest in a minute:
Hm, for some reason those pics didn't stack around too easily this time. Ah well, you can see the main points anyway: a smokey day camp, trying to get wet twigs to burn; the little folding Ti stove and pot, slowly trying to boil water to re-hydrate lunch & coffee; lunch & coffee & shortwave radio (listening to WWL-AM New Orleans at the moment); stove ready to be folded up for storage.
I'd been wanting to try out some of this gear under real-world conditions for a while, and here was the chance. As a twig-burner, the Vargo stove did fine but it would've been much better if I could've found some dry wood. As it was, pine park and cones were about the best things available. The Osprey Talon 22 day pack, stuffed with nearly 15 pounds of gear and water, did great on the trail. I wasn't trying to go light this time out, rather I was trying to push the gear a little bit to see how it performed under load. As for the SW radio, it did well too, pulling in all kinds of stuff including a numbers station, some Spanish rap music, something in French, WTWW playing oldies, and a ham radio talk show. Also dialed over to one of the ham 20 meter band digital text watering holes and listened in on a Canadian talking with a guy in the U.S., using the iPhone as the decoding computer. So that was pretty cool.
All in all, it was a good day on the trail, and a good day to have coffee and try out some gear in the field. But in the end, I was tired after 27 miles of wet woodlands and hustled it home before mid-afternoon. And that's a good, slightly offbeat way to wrap up this year's Coffeeneuring Challenge. But there's no stopping this train now, I'm headed downtown on the CX bike in a bit for the after lunch cup.
Another good opportunity for coffeeneuring while in the FL Panhandle for fun with chainsaws and other implements of recovery.
1. where: Apalachicola Chocolate Company, Apalachicola FL
2. date: 10/27/2018
3. what: another damn latte. What's becoming of me? My sister is a bad influence. Will have to drink at least a gallon of straight black to make up for these whipped travesties.
4. ride details: Another break from hurricane clean-up. Again, rode the '89 GT Karakoram, which I leave in Apalach at my sister's. At least, until my place is finished. Click pics to right to embiggen. If you squint, you can just make out a shadow from the knot from a rough-healed collarbone.
4. mileage: 2.1 miles round-trip. Just slightly closer to my sister's house. Any closer and we'd have had to detour to a park on the way. It's a very small town.
Another beautiful late October day, another coffee break from storm clean-up, and another easy ride with my sister. Saw three cousins having lunch on the way back, so we stopped and talked with them for a half-hour or so. Then it was back to the saw.
It's a funny thing, but this year the Coffeeneuring Challenge is going much more smoothly than last. Even with Hurricane Michael complicating things, the schedule has worked out. Also having an additional coffee house here in Bay St. Louis makes clicking off one more stop all that much easier. No more local coffee houses, so the next – and final! – coffeeneuring stop will have to be a little more creative. Stay tuned.
Over to Apalachicola for a weekend of chainsaw action, but we managed to take time out for some coffeeneuring. On to the particulars:
1. where: Cafe Con Leche, Apalachicola FL
2. date: 10/26/2018
3. what: plain ol' latte, buncha foam on top
4. ride details: Beautiful fall day in the FL Panhandle. Rode the '89 GT Karakoram; that bike's no stranger to hurricane season. As always, click to embiggen the picture.
5. mileage: 2.2 miles round-trip.
As with last year's trip to CcL, rode with my sister this time. You can see her 100% stylin' Schwinn in the background. Apalachicola's looking a little rough after Hurricane Michael, but nothing like our neighbors to the west, Port St. Joe and Mexico beach. Still lots of clean-up going on, and I was glad to have a break with some real coffee to speed along the chainsawing.
ps: If you click on the picture, you can see where the coffee shop's railing along with its supporting bricks have peeled away from the porch. Just on the other side of the railing is Water Street, which was flooded about 4' deep during the recent hurricane. Coffee shop and its neighbors stayed dry, while a friend's shrimp house across the street didn't. Neither did the row of shops on the next block north. Also, on the left in the distant background, you can see the Hwy 98 Apalachicola River bridge.
The prettiest fall day we've had so far. Here are the particulars:
1. where: Cat Island Coffeehouse, Pass Christian MS
2. date: 10/21/2018
3. what: double macchiato (real kind), with a chocolate-and-orange torte on the side
4. ride details: perfect high-60's fall weather for the ride; took backroads and the Bay bridge there & back; CX bike
5. miles: 16.6 round-trip
It's one of those stunning fall days here on the MS Gulf coast, one of those days that makes up even for hurricane season. Here, have some pictures:
Clockwise, from top left: Henderson Point seen from Bay Bridge; Pass Christian Harbor, from coffeehouse porch; yes, and way too much carbs; and finally, CX bike waiting patiently by coffeehouse railing. Click on any to embiggen, because these thumbnail pics don't do justice to the beautiful day we're having here.
And with that, we're off to a good start on this year's Coffeeneuring Challenge. This also covers all of the actual coffee shops within about a 20 mile radius of BSL, so for the next few we're going to have to get creative. Stay tuned.
Just a stop for coffee right at lunchtime – shoulda saved this one for a breakfast, but I'll be back.
1. where: The Buttercup on Second Street, Bay St. Louis Ms
2. date: 10/20/18
3. what: plain ol' black coffee, probably Community brand. Free refills! Chocolate chip cookie too.
4. ride details: a warm, sticky mid-October day; CX bike; more below
5. 5.5 miles round-trip. It's next door to PJ's, but I took the beach route home.
Cold front's on the way through, so things were kind of muggy and in the mid-80's. The Buttercup's nice, but it's more of a breakfast and lunch place, less of a coffee shop. Like I said, should've saved this one for a breakfast time run.
Had to stop for a train coming through downtown on the way back.
Finally, it's the third coffeeneuring stop within a single block of downtown Bay St. Louis. The milages are all about the same, but because I took the beach route home that added another mile. They're approximate mileages though, because I'm having to pull them from google maps. What, no cyclometer? Well, this one:
It's that kind of a bike.
Right on schedule, the madness continues. Today's particulars:
1. where: PJ's Coffee, Bay St. Louis MS (it's new, not a lot at the link but it is there)
2. date: 10/14/18
3. what: 16 oz medium dark roast "Grind 35" or some such. Had a chocolate cake ball with it.
4. ride details: warm October day in the mid-80's. Took the neighborhood backroads there, took the railroad gravel shortcut back.
5. 4.5 miles round-trip.
CX bike can be seen leaning against stairway railing.
Other stuff... finished reading Always Another Dawn with my coffee. Expect a post on that book soon.
Also... I know at least some the scoop on this PJ's. I don't want any crap from friends about this trip. Just taking a look-see while getting another easy coffeeneuring stop in. The coffee and cake were fine though, the staff was friendly and efficient, the place looked really nice – new, clean, & well laid-out, and I even saw a few people I know while there.
As with last year, this madness had to start with the Mockingbird. Here are the particulars:
1. where: Mockingbird Cafe, Bay St. Louis MS
2. date: 10/13/18
3. what: triple macchiato (the real kind)
4. ride details: a nice September-ish day in mid-October; CX bike
5. 4.4 miles round-trip
(if you're wondering what all this is about, here's the intro page)
CX bike can be seen behind stairway railing, at the right. Click to embiggen.
Other thoughts... Took along the kindle and read another chapter in Always Another Dawn. 75% through, will post a few wrap-up comments here at the blog when done.
Here's the kick-off post over at The Official Coffeeneuring Web Site. You can read more about it there, but in a nutshell this is about deliberately riding bikes at least a mile each way to seven coffee shops over a seven week period in the fall, documenting it, and getting a patch ($5, cheap) to commemorate the event. Coffee, bikes, of course I'm in. I was in last year too, and was making good progress, but life and weather got in the way; you can read about it here. Meh, here's to more success this year.
The event runs from Friday October 12th thru Sunday November 25th.
BTW, today is National Coffee Day. This would be noteworthy, but as far as I am concerned, every day is National Coffee Day.
