Keith Morical : Guinness World Record Attempt

Keith Morical is attempting to set a Guinness World Record by riding his bicycle in the fastest time riding in all of the lower 48 states. This adventure is about 7,100 miles long.

You can follow along and track his progress at https://www.actualiz.org/events

On Monday, 06-29-20, I drove an hour and a half out west of the Twin Cities to cross paths with Keith and take a few photographs. I drove out near Greenleaf, MN and found a nice place to set-up. Then I checked his progress and saw that he changed course by turning south from the proposed route. I waited a bit to see which road he would take when he started riding back to the east.

I moved to a new location at Hwy. 7 and County Rd. 1 and set-up. I even had my GoPro along and decided to use it. I would definitely do something differently next time, since I hadn’t thought of doing any video. Now I just waited… got the chair out of the Suburban.

Keith and his support vehicle eventually came by and I got a few photos while Keith grabbed his phone and took a photo while riding on.

My next possible location to set up was in Hutchinson. I drove out and checked out the area. Once again I checked on Keith’s location and saw that it appeared that Keith had stop on the Luce Line Trail as he got into Hutchinson. I got out my chair after looking over the area.

I was just about to walk to where I wanted to get some photographs when Keith popped out from the trail. So instead of getting some nice photos of the front of Keith going up the incline all I got were a couple of him going away from me from a distance.

Well, since I missed that opportunity I decided to drive to Silver Lake to see if I could find a decent place to stop. I liked the location that I found and I had plenty of time to see Keith approaching. Finally Keith’s map was updated with his new location and it showed he was only about 3 miles from my location.

This time Keith briefly stopped and asked me who I was. I didn’t want to hold him up so we talked very briefly before he was on his way.

It was only a short distance to Lester Prairie where I would make my last stop before the lighting conditions would quickly disappear.

Keith Morical took second place riding across the county last year in the unsupported Trans American Bike Race and took 1st place in the North Star Bicycle. He had other biking accomplishments as well.

Killdeer...

Here are a few pictures, although there was some harsh lighting from the direct sun when I photographed them. I'll have to go back ... These were taken in Elm Creek Park on 06-14-20.

Chuck

Cecropia Silk Moth

When I got home after my bike ride on June 8th,  I found a male Cecropia Silk Moth hanging out on the riser to some steps to my house. I could tell by its large antennae he was trying to locate a female by her pheromones. He hung out at least 7 hours that I know. I last saw him at 9:30 pm and when I checked on him early the next morning he was gone.

Chuck

More Backyard Critters... 05-22-20

Here are some images of some of the backyard critters from the past couple days. Yesterday I saw an Indigo Bunting on one of my tube feeders. He was eating on the backside of the feeder so all I could see was the bottom half of his body. I decided not to post an image of just the rump and tail feathers. I sat for a few minutes after it flew off to see if he would return, but I never saw it again. While sitting the hummingbird showed up, but it didn't stick around long enough to get a shot. The hummingbird that I posted was from a couple days ago. I also took down the platform feeder. It simply was being overrun with Red-winged Blackbirds and Starlings. The blackbird pictures were taken before I removed the platform feeder. I felt sorry for the Mourning Dove coming back and not finding his favorite place to eat...other than the ground. I haven't thrown anymore extra seed on the ground...again to discourage the other two types of birds. I'll return the platform feeder in a few days. The squirrels have been kept at bay with the three homemade baffles on my thinner bird feeder poles... the picture of the squirrel is when he was seeing if he could get on the feeder from above.... The American Goldfinch was practicing some security by holding on while getting close to the edge of the top of the feeder.

Chuck

Another Mississippi River Backwaters Walk... 05-18-20

I took a little over 2 hour walk down by the Mississippi River Backwaters near the Coon Rapids Dam. On the way back to my vehicle I saw a couple Osprey's flying over the river. I could hear one making some sounds fairly close to me but I couldn't see it, then this one landed near me. This one has some bracelets :)

Male and female Baltimore Orioles having some disagreement...

It took me a little bit to see this Baltimore Oriole. Finally was able to get some of him in the shot...

Chuck