Renner Anderson

Osage Scenic Bluff Trail In the summer of 1963, between my junior and senior years of high school, I worked on an archaeology dig at the Grand Osage village site of the Osage Indian tribe. We spent most of the summer locating and excavating the refuse pits that ringed the village. Those pits were a rich source of artifacts, including French coins, catlinite pipes from Minnesota, flintlock rifle side pieces, animal bones, and flint arrowheads, knives, and scrapers. The Osage village we were excavating had been visited by the early American explorer Zebulon Pike on August 15, 1806. Pike noted in his journal that he could smell the campsite from three miles away. Two weeks later, he continued west, seeking the source of the Rio Grande. Straying into Mexican territory, Pike was taken captive by the Spaniards, and his journals and maps were confiscated. Pike's notebooks and maps were later recovered from Mexican archives in 1910 and were used to determine the location of the Osage Indian campsite where I had worked. Imagine my excitement when I learned today, more than sixty years later, that Zebulon Pike and his crew had canoed past this bluff on July 30, 1806, just sixteen days before arriving at the Osage Indian camp where I had worked. Pike noted the "Painted Rocks" in his journal, describing high bluffs decorated with ancient Native American pictographs. These paintings, depicting various animals and figures, are estimated to have been created between 1200 and 1300 A.D. This real-life hike is #35 on our virtual hiking tour of The South West Coast Path from Portloe to Hope, which you can follow at: google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=15FpW086YTKk7-cQigYWNThqwJMcox6A&usp=sharing. Here is a link to our collection of the real-life hikes that we have completed so far on this segment of our virtual hike of the South West Coast Path: komoot.com/collection/3439056/-virtual-hiking-tour-of-the-south-west-coast-path-from-portloe-to-hope. Here is a link to our Komoot collection of all the Virtual Hikes world-wide we have completed so far:. komoot.com/collection/1791712/-collection-of-our-virtual-hiking-tours.uh 6th

As a young boy, my family and I visited relatives in Missouri at least once a year. Our route always took us through the town of Pella in central Iowa. Founded in 1847 by 800 Dutch immigrants fleeing religious persecution in Holland, Pella quickly became a town shaped by their values of neatness and order. As we drove through back then, before any highways skirted its edges, my mother would point out how clean and orderly all the homes were. In later years, when my brothers and I were teenagers, we took delight in finding the rare exceptions to that pattern. Even now, I still love stopping in Pella on our way to Missouri, paying my respects to the values on which this town was built. This real-life hike is #33 on our virtual hiking tour of The South West Coast Path from Portloe to Hope, which you can follow at: google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=15FpW086YTKk7-cQigYWNThqwJMcox6A&usp=sharing. Here is a link to our collection of the real-life hikes that we have completed so far on this segment of our virtual hike of the South West Coast Path: komoot.com/collection/3439056/-virtual-hiking-tour-of-the-south-west-coast-path-from-portloe-to-hope. Here is a link to our Komoot collection of all the Virtual Hikes world-wide we have completed so far:. komoot.com/collection/1791712/-collection-of-our-virtual-hiking-tours.uh 6th

Martha and I are on a road trip to Missouri to visit relatives on my mother’s side. I’ve been making this trip almost every year since I was a little boy. We always stopped in Pella because my mother loved the tulip gardens and the town’s neat appearance. From earlier visits, I remembered a bike trail along the shore of Lake Red Rock just west of Pella, so I decided we would try it this time. The trail runs 15.3 miles from the eastern trailhead at Cordova Park to the western trailhead in Pella, Iowa. I’m convinced we rode the most scenic stretch of the trail, where it runs closest to the shore of Lake Red Rock. This is bike ride #41 on our virtual biking tour of the coast of Britain from Greenlawhill, Scotland back to Brighton, England.. You can follow our virtual tour displayed on a Google Map at https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?mid=1MJ24-HdKi9phI8cGCxBY0pxpkS1FAZw&ll=53.5156732440619%2C-0.8207694999999857&z=6o.. Here is a link to our collection of the real-life hikes that we have completed so far on this segment of our virtual hike of the Coast of Britain:. https://www.komoot.com/collection/3486180/-virtual-biking-tour-greenlawhill-scotland-to-brighton-england-cycling-the-coast-of-britain.. You can see a komoot collection of all our Virtual Biking Tours at this link:. https://www.komoot.com/collection/1791709/-collection-of-our-virtual-biking-tours.

Martha and I are taking advantage of our new home's location to refamiliarize ourselves with the wonderful walks along the Minnesota River Valley.. Back when I really started birdwatching, in 1976, we lived in South Minneapolis, and the Minnesota River Valley was one of my favorite birding haunts. This real-life hike is #32 on our virtual hiking tour of The South West Coast Path from Portloe to Hope, which you can follow at: google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=15FpW086YTKk7-cQigYWNThqwJMcox6A&usp=sharing. Here is a link to our collection of the real-life hikes that we have completed so far on this segment of our virtual hike of the South West Coast Path: komoot.com/collection/3439056/-virtual-hiking-tour-of-the-south-west-coast-path-from-portloe-to-hope. Here is a link to our Komoot collection of all the Virtual Hikes world-wide we have completed so far:. komoot.com/collection/1791712/-collection-of-our-virtual-hiking-tours.uh 6th

The purpose of this ride was to familiarize ourselves with the bike routes in our new neighborhood, specifically exploring the route to Bredesen Park and back. This is bike ride #40 on our virtual biking tour of the coast of Britain from Greenlawhill, Scotland back to Brighton, England. You can follow our virtual tour displayed on a Google Map at https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?mid=1MJ24-HdKi9phI8cGCxBY0pxpkS1FAZw&ll=53.5156732440619%2C-0.8207694999999857&z=6o. Here is a link to our collection of the real-life hikes that we have completed so far on this segment of our virtual hike of the Coast of Britain: https://www.komoot.com/collection/3486180/-virtual-biking-tour-greenlawhill-scotland-to-brighton-england-cycling-the-coast-of-britain. You can see a komoot collection of all our Virtual Biking Tours at this link: https://www.komoot.com/collection/1791709/-collection-of-our-virtual-biking-tours.

Today we rode this loop—one of our favorites—in the opposite direction from usual. This is bike ride #39 on our virtual biking tour of the coast of Britain from Greenlawhill, Scotland back to Brighton, England.. You can follow our virtual tour displayed on a Google Map at https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?mid=1MJ24-HdKi9phI8cGCxBY0pxpkS1FAZw&ll=53.5156732440619%2C-0.8207694999999857&z=6o.. Here is a link to our collection of the real-life hikes that we have completed so far on this segment of our virtual hike of the Coast of Britain:. https://www.komoot.com/collection/3486180/-virtual-biking-tour-greenlawhill-scotland-to-brighton-england-cycling-the-coast-of-britain.. You can see a komoot collection of all our Virtual Biking Tours at this link:. https://www.komoot.com/collection/1791709/-collection-of-our-virtual-biking-tours.

Twenty-mile round-trip from Welch to Cannon Falls. Perfect. This is bike ride #38 on our virtual biking tour of the coast of Britain from Greenlawhill, Scotland back to Brighton, England. You can follow our virtual tour displayed on a Google Map at https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?mid=1MJ24-HdKi9phI8cGCxBY0pxpkS1FAZw&ll=53.5156732440619%2C-0.8207694999999857&z=6o. Here is a link to our collection of the real-life hikes that we have completed so far on this segment of our virtual hike of the Coast of Britain: https://www.komoot.com/collection/3486180/-virtual-biking-tour-greenlawhill-scotland-to-brighton-england-cycling-the-coast-of-britain. You can see a komoot collection of all our Virtual Biking Tours at this link: https://www.komoot.com/collection/1791709/-collection-of-our-virtual-biking-tours.

We set out on this bike ride to explore the Mid-City Bikeway in Bloomington, Minnesota—a route I discovered while searching for nearby options on the Komoot map. The bikeway spans roughly 7 miles, stretching from Hyland Lake Park Reserve in the west to the Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport in the east. Unlike a single, dedicated paved trail, it mainly follows on-road routes, blending marked bike lanes with shared streets. During our ride, we followed the Mid-City Bikeway east to Cedar Avenue and then turned north onto the Lake Nokomis–Minnesota River Regional Trail. From there, we pedaled west along the Nine Mile Creek Regional Trail before making our way home. This is bike ride #37 on our virtual biking tour of the coast of Britain from Greenlawhill, Scotland back to Brighton, England. You can follow our virtual tour displayed on a Google Map at https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?mid=1MJ24-HdKi9phI8cGCxBY0pxpkS1FAZw&ll=53.5156732440619%2C-0.8207694999999857&z=6o. Here is a link to our collection of the real-life hikes that we have completed so far on this segment of our virtual hike of the Coast of Britain: https://www.komoot.com/collection/3486180/-virtual-biking-tour-greenlawhill-scotland-to-brighton-england-cycling-the-coast-of-britain. You can see a komoot collection of all our Virtual Biking Tours at this link: https://www.komoot.com/collection/1791709/-collection-of-our-virtual-biking-tours.

The purpose of the ride was to explore a bike trail I had never heard of, the Mid City Bikeway, which I discovered while inspecting the komoot “Plan new” map in our neighborhood. This is bike ride #36 on our virtual biking tour of the coast of Britain from Greenlawhill, Scotland back to Brighton, England. You can follow our virtual tour displayed on a Google Map at https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?mid=1MJ24-HdKi9phI8cGCxBY0pxpkS1FAZw&ll=53.5156732440619%2C-0.8207694999999857&z=6o. Here is a link to our collection of the real-life hikes that we have completed so far on this segment of our virtual hike of the Coast of Britain: https://www.komoot.com/collection/3486180/-virtual-biking-tour-greenlawhill-scotland-to-brighton-england-cycling-the-coast-of-britain. You can see a komoot collection of all our Virtual Biking Tours at this link: https://www.komoot.com/collection/1791709/-collection-of-our-virtual-biking-tours.

Another bike ride in our new neighborhood, starting from our apartment in Friendship Village. This is bike ride #35 on our virtual biking tour of the coast of Britain from Greenlawhill, Scotland back to Brighton, England. You can follow our virtual tour displayed on a Google Map at https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?mid=1MJ24-HdKi9phI8cGCxBY0pxpkS1FAZw&ll=53.5156732440619%2C-0.8207694999999857&z=6o. Here is a link to our collection of the real-life hikes that we have completed so far on this segment of our virtual hike of the Coast of Britain: https://www.komoot.com/collection/3486180/-virtual-biking-tour-greenlawhill-scotland-to-brighton-england-cycling-the-coast-of-britain. You can see a komoot collection of all our Virtual Biking Tours at this link: https://www.komoot.com/collection/1791709/-collection-of-our-virtual-biking-tours.