I found my thrill at Blueberry Hill!

Taking in Mark Twain's House Lovely Palmyra, Mo

Supper at Blueberry Hill
Me, Huck and Tom

What a long weekend! Our friends Kevin, Dirk and Florian from Ersingen, Germany were in town this weekend , so a good time was in store. I nice evening out to Johnny's, McGurks, Square One Brewery and world famous O'Malley's Pub were our stops Friday night. Good times and spirits had by all. Eight A.M. came much too fast! Thanks Reese and Tatum.

My brother Todd, then had an Oktoberfest party on Saturday. He and his brother in law made some very good home brew. He even picked up some most excellent brats from Shubert's Meat Market in Millstadt, IL. Needless to say, we were all very tired and went to bed early.

That led us to Sunday where I had planned to take the guys up to Palmyra and Hannibal, Mo for a Civil War re-enactment. When we got all the way up to Palmyra, the battle had been cancelled due to the extreme wind. What a waste that was. When then caught a small portion of Porter's Raid, but was not really worth the time either.

Our stop in Hannibal was a good one though. They were having a Fall Festival and the booths and crowds were good. We hiked up to the lighthouse and then down to the Mighty Mississippi. The guys from Germany were surprised at how dirty the water was. We then took a quick photo opp at Mark Twain's house and then headed back to the Lou. A stop at Blueberry Hill in University City for supper was the next stop. As usual the burgers were tops and the Heffe was cold! The girls had fun getting their pictures made in the old time photo booth.

The last and most important stop in our day was the World Famous Ted Drewes just off the historic Route 66. My Oreo-cookie dough concrete was tasty!! The girls and guys liked their concretes as well.

Cheers

Harvest Festival at Shaw Nature Reserve

We decided to go out to the Harvest Festival at Shaw Nature Reserve last weekend and enjoy the lovely Missouri Fall weather. Shaw Nature Reserve is owned by the same people that run Shaw's Garden down in Tower Grove Park.

The weather was absolutely stellar. The festival had about 15 local StL eating establishments serving their goods as well as 5 bluegrass bands and the always refreshing Schlaffly Beer. A fantastic farmer's market was also there.

The girls were able to go for pony rides and enjoy a petting zoo. They had a Native American Teepee as well as a pioneer mud brick house for the girls to go through.

The trails at the park are also fantastic. With Reese along, we were not able to hike as much as we would have liked. Oh well, more chances for me to drink my favorite heffeweizen.

Cheers,

Wyman

Tatum's Kindergarten Field Trip

The kindergarten classes at Antonia Elementary School went to Eckard's Orchard in Millstadt, IL last week. It was the first field trip of the year and everyone had a great time. Kirsten went and was in charge of Tatum and her best friend Emma. You can see the girls picking a pumpkin and Tatum ringing the bell for the pig races. Oink, Oink!

The last picture is of Mrs. Wright's Class. Mrs. Wright is the old lady with the kids!!

Cheers

OKTOBERFEST IN THE LOOOO!!!

That is one hot Mom!

The family and I went down to Soulard for the Oktoberfest today. Besides the abnormal 90 degree heatwave, it was a great time. The girls enjoyed the German bands and Kirsten and I took in some Warstiener Weiss and Dunkel Bier. The bratwurst and kraut were good as well. One of these days we will make it to the real one!!

Tchuss!!

Wyman

She's Back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kirsten was gone this week to North Carolina for business, which put me in charge of my offspring 24hrs a day for 4 days. While I do watch them more than most dads, I am not used to getting them dressed and up in the morning. The biggest challenge was getting the hair done. Luckily Donna Kutilek was able to get Tatum's done at school and one of the girls at daycare did Reese's.

I really respect all you single parents out there trying to get things done.

I love my wife very much and never want her to leave again!

Cheers
Wyman

Happy Birthday Tatum!!!!

My little girl turns 6 on Sept. 30th. She decided to have a sleepover for her party, so we had six 5yr olds spend the night at our house! Not my idea, but things went well and all the girls had a good time.

She is a great kid and deserved everthing she got.

I love her so much.

Cheers

It must have been the bibs!!!

Pope County, IL (Of course you know where that is?) native, Casey Dugan (Cat 3), took third place in a close sprint this past weekend in the Tour de Ste. Genevieve road race. As you can tell it must have been the super sleek Assos bibs he was wearing. I am afraid his Vitamin Cottage Team bibs would have held him back. Good job dude! See you sometime down in Kentuck!

He's the skinny guy riding the red Cervelo.

Cheers

That Crazy Uncle Todd!!!!!!!!!

Tour of Missouri, Stage 5, Schluersburg Hill somewhere near Augusta, Mo.

What a day this was! Todd and I got to the hill at 10:30 and staked out our spot. We had the cue pit, washers and a cooler full of adult beverages to keep us warm. The temp was an amazing 65 degrees at gametime. We had a blast talking and partying with all the other mad cyclists from the Show Me State.

As you can see from the photos, Todd had a little more fun than most.

How often does one have a chance to run side by side to the reigning Tour de France winner and 2nd loser? Everyone was yelling at Todd to get out of the way, but he just kept on trucking, swinging his shirt and showing off his manly man body.

Then 15 second later they were gone!

While this does not even come close to being at the Tour de France, it was great that I only had to drive an hour to experience the best cycling in the world.

Cheers

Gotta love Grandma Rapp and Aunt Doris!

This is from the Giro Della Montagna on the Hill over the Gateway Cup Weekend. It meant a lot to have them come watch. I think they are hooked!!!

Cheers

Le Tour de Ste. Genevieve

My buddy Todd Parker decided a few months back that he wanted to do another road race this cycling season. He is a great cyclist and road races really seem to suit his style of racing. He is good at climbing, so naturally a good climbing course is what he was looking for. Well, I had a great course in mind, down in Ste. Genevieve, Mo where my Mom, Juanita hails from.

After spending days and days developing the course, Todd took the idea and ran with it. While I tried to convince him not to do the race after much discourse from the local town idiots, he still plugged on spending a lot of his hard earned money to make this thing happen.

Well it did happen and what a great response he has gotten. The race lost money, he didn't even get to race because he was calling all the shots the entire day. The race was a success with the racers and locals having a great time all due to the extreme dedication of Todd and various family and friends.

I, along with many of the racers in the Lou area hope this race is given one more shot. Perhaps this time around the Criterium will happen as well. (I like criteriums as they are suited more to my style of racing) ie fat guys!

Cheers

Laffayette Square, Labor Day 2007

This was my best finish of the year. You can see how ripped I am!!

The season is over!

My first year as a Cat 4 was a respectible one. While I consistently placed in the top ten as a Cat 5, my best finish as a 4 was 12th. That was at the Gateway Cup - Laffayette Square with 91 registered racers. I can see the improvement over last year and hope to get some high places and move up to the Cat 3s by next seasons end.

Cheers