Kate's S24O

Up to now, both boys have had a solo overnight camping trip, but Kate hasn't... and she hasn't been shy about reminding me of this fact. Friday was the annual Persied meteor shower campout at Blues Creek Nature Preserve up past Ostrander, and I decided this would be Kate's trip. I got home from work, we had dinner, threw our gear in the trailer, and hit the road:

2015's First S24O, and a Carmargue Update

Sam has been asking me for weeks, if not months, when we can go camping ("Sam, it's snowing outside...") Finally, we had a beautiful forecast for this weekend. I asked Sam if he would like to go camping, and he was so excited he ran right over and gave me a big, long hug. This made my restless, allergy filled night worthwhile.

We had some dinner, threw some gear in the trailer, and hit the road. Sam was happy to be out:

Alum, Alum, Henry's S24O, and Chestnut Ridge

It's been a busy week of biking around here. Wednesday after work, I went to P2 with a few friends. Our first lap was still slick from an afternoon thunderstorm, so it was slower and a bit tentative as we warmed up and the trail dried. But the next lap, I was ready to open it up with my latest bike build:

Still (but not steel) singlespeed, but now with 100% more suspension! I really enjoyed railing this around the twisty, rooty P2 singletrack. For solo rides, I tend to putter around the trail, but group rides bring out my competitive spirit. In this case, I ended getting a bit too far ahead of our group while I chased down a pair of racy looking guys (one had a number plate, even) on what I think of as Midwest race bikes: carbon hardtails, big drop from saddle to seat. In the end, I caught them just before the parking lot, and the quick lap allowed me to get home before bedtime for the kids.

Saturday morning, Brian and I hit P2 again. We took some action shots:

S24O to Homestead Park

This is something of a record for me: three S24O trips in four weeks. This weekend, our local township had their yearly family campout at Homestead Park in Hilliard. We were ready to hit the road on Friday after dinner:

It was about nine miles to the park: I knew Henry could do that kind of distance on his own bike, which is what allowed me to take all three kids... no way I could pull all three with all our camping gear!

Sam's S24O

I was riding a bike with wheels the wrong size, on tires that were pretty much worn out, towing Sam to a "non-designated" camping spot, and hadn't checked the weather forecast.

What could possibly go wrong?

Everything was all smiles at the start:

 

Well, that's not exactly true. There was some frustration even before the start.

Kate's First S24O

Last fall, I took both boys on an S24O to Alum Creek (though we didn't end up there). In the six months since then, Kate's been regularly reminding me that the next time I take multiple kids on an overnight trip, it was her turn. This Memorial Day weekend, the forecast was absolutely perfect for an overnighter: days in the 70s, nights in the 50s. If you don't make an effort to camp during weather like this, just crawl back inside to the couch and big screen TV and give up.

I planned to go to my favorite (and so far, only, but it will be hard to top) "stealth camping" spot. Henry and Kate and I left after dinner, about 6:30 or so. We stopped again at the dam so Kate could see it:

She was impressed! Next time, we'll have to stop on the west side so we can walk down to the water. But we had our camp site to get to, so we rolled on.

S24O to Stealth Spot

When I was out running around with the kids this summer, I kept my eyes open for spots that offered the potential for some stealth camping. I expect if I were to check the Dublin city code, it would prohibit overnight camping on city lands. But I'm not going to check, because I want an alternative to trekking to Alum Creek and paying $28 to sleep on hard ground next to noisy neighbors with an RV.

After a summer's worth of planning for this, we had an unusually warm Saturday night forecast, so Henry and I headed out about 4:00 pm. We made one detour on the way there, to pick up the Riverbox at Amberleigh park:

S24O to Alum Creek, Or So I Thought

I had nothing major planned for this weekend, and with the forecast looking great, I decided to take Henry camping to Alum Creek State Park. On Saturday, I figured I might as well take Sam with us--my niece Marli was staying over, so Kate would have a good time with just the girls at home and wouldn't miss us. Sam has never been on a bike trip with us, but he has been camping, so I figured he would do all right.

I was a little worried that my two man tent would be too small, or that I would struggle up the hills with the extra weight of Sam and his gear. Turns out these weren't the right issues to worry about.

We set out about 4:00. I was riding my newly converted 8 speed Novara Buzz, with Henry on the Picolo and Sam and gear in the trailer:

S24O #1 and Dalmore Park

Every year, our township has a family campout at Homestead Park in Hilliard. This is the second year we've attended--Henry and I ride our back train south from Dublin, leaving right after dinner on Friday night. This would be our first S24O (sub-24 hour overnighter) this year. We had a slow start this time--I had to turn around after a few miles to go back and get a wrench--the bolt holding the trailer to Henry's Picolo was working loose, and I didn't have the correct 15mm wrench with me to fix it.

That issue resolved, Henry celebrated the summit of the highest point on this trip, Overpass Hill:

 

On the Heritage rail trail, we stopped to take a breather. Henry read me a touching story about another father and son:

It's amazing how his reading has progressed after one year of kindergarten. Thank you, Mrs. Knostman!

We arrived at Homestead Park and set up camp. Then it was off to the playground. They had the usual large playstructures:

But Henry's favorite part was a Y shaped tunnel:

After a game of checkers, we checked out what crafts they had for the kids to do:

 

and then we played cornhole and that bolo game:

Of course, no campout is complete without s'mores:

But we did some exercise reps to work them off:

 Then it was time to hit the sack:

Saturday morning, we were up by 6:15 and on the road about 20 minutes later. We stopped at Amlin to have a quick cheese sandwich for a breakfast appetizer:

We also stopped at #15 Dalmore Park to see what they had. Their most unusual feature was a small free library box:

But unfortunately, there were several books left out that were soaked by the overnight dew. Maybe this says something about the price you pay adding value to what you get, or maybe kids are just messy.

We made on more stop, this time for breakfast #2:

Home by 8:45! And we brought the Timbits home for the twins.

One down, 36 to go.