Tandem Pair: 2011 fall color tour

It might be fall, but our weather was more like summer today. We rode in shorts, short sleeved shirts, and sweatshirts. Took our sweatshirts off at about the 8 mile mark. Temps were in the low 70's, very nice for riding.

I packed our lunch, (didn't need any hot chocolate today.) and we were off. We are starting to be more mindful of when we leave for a ride. The days are getting shorter and we don't want to be riding home in the dark.

Took our usual route to Dighton, stopped and took a picture of the little building that is being built in front of the self milking barn. The workman were up on the roof working today on the barn, maybe the roof will be done the next time we ride by. I find myself still wondering about what they are going to use the little building for. It looks very small in comparison to the huge shell of the self milking barn.

The woods are full of color, and make a striking contrast against the green meadows.

We stopped at church and had our lunch. Our church is built where an old school house used to stand. When the school house was condemned and torn down, the school bell was salvaged, and our church had a bell tower built to house. it. The bell works and is used on special occasions.

Here is what is on the church sign that is by the road. There is a different saying on it each week.

Button was happy to be included in the ride today. He jumped in his carrier when I put it on the floor. Once we got going, he still "chittered" for a very long time.

From the church, we headed up to TV tower hill. Took this picture of what I saw in the bike mirror, shortly before we reached the top. It took us 38 minutes to make it.

The colors on that hill are especially pretty, there are a few gravel roads nearby that host a prettier color show, but our trike doesn't do very well on gravel, so we stay on the paved roads as much as possible.

The show went on and on. Such a display and we are blessed with wonderful weather to get out and enjoy it. I found a good description of why leaves change color on the website, Science Made Simple.

Here is what it said;
Leaves are nature's food factories. Plants take water from the ground through their roots. They take a gas called carbon dioxide from the air. Plants use sunlight to turn water and carbon dioxide into oxygen and glucose. Oxygen is a gas in the air that we breathe. Glucose is a kind of sugar. Plants use glucose as food for energy and as a building block for growing. The way plants turn water and carbon dioxide into oxygen and sugar is called photosynthesis. That means" putting together with light." A chemical called chlorophyll helps make photosynthesis happen. Chlorophyll is what give plants their green color.

As summer ends and autumn comes, the days get shorter and shorter. This is how the trees "know" to begin to get ready for winter. During winter, there is not enough water for photosynthesis. The trees will rest, live off of the food they stored during the summer. They begin to shut down their food making factories. The green chlorophyll disappears from the leaves. As the bright green fades away, we begin to see the yellow and orange colors. Small amounts of these colors have been in the leaves all along. we just can't see them in the summer, because they are covered up by the green chlorophyll.

Wow, how can plants do that? They don't even have a brain. Only God could create something so complex. When I look at a tree during the winter I often think about how the tree is not only surviving, but building new buds and leaves for the spring. It really is amazing, and only a small piece of what God is capable of. If he can take care of the trees in the dead of winter, he can certainly take care of us.

Once we got to the top of the hill, we stopped for a rest. since we didn't really want to go down the other side of the hill, and then go back up again, I decided to walk a ways and take some pictures. There is a section where I could look down at the trees, it is such a sight to behold with all the colors.

I walked about a half mile, stopping to take pictures as I went.

It didn't take us very long to get to the bottom of the hill after we turned around, but the road is in such bad condition, that I have to really watch where I am driving and keep my speed at 20 MPH or under. I keep hoping the road is slated for repair, and each year it gets worse and worse.

We saw lots of these caterpillars crossing the roads today. I call them orange and black woolies, but they are really known as, the Wooly Bear caterpillar. In the fall of 1948, a curator of insects at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, went on an outing with his wife, 40 miles north of the city. They went to look at wooly bear caterpillars. Dr Curran collected as many as he could, looked at the average number of brown segments, and through a reporter at the New York Herald Tribune, he forecast the severity of the coming winter. His experiment continued for 8 years. He attempted to prove that there was a scientific connection between the stripes of the caterpillar and the winter weather. The publicity that surrounded it all, made the Wooly Bear caterpillar the best known caterpillar in America. As far as I know there is no connection between the caterpillar and the type of winter we have. The caterpillars turn into a tiger moth.

We decided to take 20 Mile Rd. to Tustin, and then take the trail home. This spot was to pretty to pass without getting a picture.