Journey to Michigan...Gather Home

West Yellowstone, Wyoming was where we found a strong cup of coffee after waking in the frozen van (17 degrees) next to Mesa Falls near the western edge of Yellowstone National Park. It was the first week of October and there was a line of motorcars four football fields long to enter the gates of the park. The overlooks and information pullouts were jammed with tourists throughout. We couldn't wait to arrive at the north exit near Gardiner, Montana. A few miles below Gardiner, we stopped at a rural road bridge across the Yellowstone River for a dog walk and swim. The privacy level was high, only one fly-fisher, so we stripped down and plunged in. The Yellowstone flows to the Missouri River in NW North Dakota so, we followed it's descent in Seymour for the next couple of days. We then followed the Missouri River through North Dakota to Sacakawea Park in Stanton, ND for another quiet night of camping in the van.

Reaquainting With Seven Sisters

As of October 2, 2025 our Escrow was finalized, the building formerly known as Bodfish Bicycles and Quiet Mountain Sports is now called Gather Home. Which is, ironically, exactly what we did. I grew up in Kalamazoo, Michigan and I have seven sisters (including inlaws) whom I seldom see. They all live in Michigan and we're hoping that they will all welcome a visit. We had our Transit van, named Seymour, loaded and ready for adventure. Our van camping expedition lasted for the entire month of October. Our first night was in Goose Lake State Park just over the state line in Northeastern California. Southern Oregon was quiet, desolate and beautiful as we drove Hwy 140 east to Jackpot, Nev. From there the hwy led North back into Oregon where we took a gravel road out across The Alvord Desert which led us toward Jordan Valley and the border of Idaho. A long day of driving, for sure. We headed into the hills east of Jordan Valley toward the mines of Silver City. Dust and dusk were conspiring to send me off on a double track lane for a place to "boondock". Incredibly, only a half mile up this seldom used path we came upon a flat overlook above the small town of Jordan Valley. Our second night out and luck was with us already.

Sitting In An Empty Shop

In a chair in the middle of our empty bicycle shop...after fifteen minutes of feeling my separation from my previous 31 years as bike shop owner, I realize...the most important thing is that I had the best customers in the world. People interested in outdoor quiet mountain sports. People devoted to exercise. People interested in sharing their stories about mingling with nature. People steeped in the positives of everyday adventures. People who wanted to help me get the word out...Life Is Good! What other business can attract these kind of people? We had our 'down and out' characters but we almost always made their day better...with free flat repair or rusty chain improvements. We were 'there' for people, we listened, we empathized and we offered help.

Retirement Five Years Late

I had thought about retiring at 70 years young in 2020. Retirement Vision 2020, I called it. In February, Covid lunged into our world. My sister was in the ICU being intubated, she couldn't breathe. In March and April people were hiding out, afraid to mingle. On June 3 our doctor called us into her office and informed us that Lisa had lung cancer, stage two. My world turned upside down. Meeting customers at the bicycle shop was dangerous but the functioning shop was my anchor. We battled with Covid and Cancer and Fire and Smoke and my own Cancer surgery for the next three years. We were given health "all clears" in 2024. Retirement at 75 is looking promising.

A Good Run

Thirty-two years ago we decided to plan our new bicycle store...Bodfish Bicycles and Quiet Mountain Sports. We had been operating as Outback With Bodfish for ten years before that..."The graduate school of bicycle touring". We had also put a lot of effort and research into publishing our own bicycle guidebooks...Butte Country Bicycle Journeys, Cycling The California Outback, Cycling In The Shadow Of Shasta and California Dream Cycling. I loved hand printing the narrative and drawing maps...very low-tech but satisfying on so many levels. Chester needed a family bike store. We were right across the street from a bookstore and a coffee house and a Saloon...Old Town Chester, an entertaining section of downtown Chester, California. Well, we had a good run! The bookstore, the coffee house and the saloon have been empty for more than a half-dozen years now. The bicycle store has plugged along without them. Not easy, the changes have come on at lightning speed. The new Asian tariffs of '18 ran prices higher, the Covid pandemic scared shoppers and dampened the enthusiasm for gathering at the coffee house, Internet shopping boomed and Amazon was the easiest place to buy books. The 960,000 acre Dixie Fire blew through Plumas County in 2021 radically changing outdoor recreation opportunities. Adventurous cyclists from the more populated areas of California chose to explore elsewhere. Still, the bike shop plugged on...profit was not our main motivation...we were a service oriented business. We wanted to keep everybody rolling on two wheels. Now, age has caught up with us and we are thinking that with the time we have left we would like to play more and worry less. The whirlwind of economic uncertainty continues to play havoc with our 'peace of mind'. so, it's time to fold up the tent and bid everyone 'Namaste'.

Bar Mentality

When I was a youngster my mother and her new man (unofficial step-father) loved to "Go on a drive", the five of us kids (from a variety of pairings ) thought this would include a swim and some frolicking in a park or along a lakeshore...we were excited. Invariably a stop for a drink, a country bar, would come into play. I, being the oldest, was assigned the task of 'keeping the peace" in a hot station wagon amongst the five of us. Kids were never allowed in these drinking establishments. It was never easy and it often left us thinking that we didn't like each other's company. One drink led to two drinks and often three while our guardians got involved in conversations that helped them lose track of time. When they returned to the big old station wagon, never less than an hour, we were feeling beastly and somewhat cheated out of a pleasant family afternoon. The parents were often a little toasted and arguing about some stupid conversation that took place in the saloon. It seems that everyone in the joint was complaining about, well everything...from fishing regulations to road construction to union dues. Drinking and smoking and conversing never made things better.