Greetings on the best day of the year ~ Winter Solstice! I am (finishing) writing to you from the Crash Pad where it is cold but beautiful. Light snow flakes are slowly floating toward the ground and Solrig is eagerly awaiting his first play session of the day in the snow. The snow is deep and many trees have snapped and are bent to the ground from a heavy wet snow a few weeks ago, making our first Hok ski a pleasure but also a bit of a bushwhacking event.

Perhaps you have noticed that I have not been here much this year. Still reeling from the loss of Inge, life took many challenging turns as the year moved on. There have been a lot of major life events this year - the last two brought me to my knees.

September was a particularly difficult month for me. On September 24th my father passed away.

It became clear this year that Dad was suffering from dementia and hard decisions would need to be made about his care. With his passing I felt relief for him and our family knowing he had a very good life until almost the very end (he was 90 1/2 years old!) and that he would no longer be suffering mentally or physically. Dementia is something you hear about in the news, but when you become ‘one of those families’, the reality lays bare in front of you. It is hard; if you are dealing with it I feel for you and your family. I am thankful that my Dad was prepared with his end of life decisions, which made the answers clearer and easier for my Mother when questions were asked. For a variety of reasons I was unable to be with my Dad during his last days. I am thankful for my Mom, sister, and brother for being with my Dad during his last days, and thankful for the amazing staff at Hospice of the Valley who do very special work. When I think about my Dad it is not as a light that went out, but one that keeps burning in my heart.

Returning from visiting my mother after the death of my father, one day later my position at the American Swedish Institute was eliminated and the online store I worked so hard on was closed for budgetary reasons. Many of you know me from my participation in ASI events ~ thanks for your support then and still being here!

Both of these major events broke my heart. I lost both my father and my community in the span of a week.

I have spent the last three months healing/recovering, and trying to look at things with a positive lens (not easy!).

Thankfully we were blessed with an AMAZING and long Autumn and I spent many hours at the Crash Pad gravel biking, clearing my head, building a new like-minded community, and focusing on the most important thing ~ recovering; from both back surgery and the hardest year of my life. I was able to have a successful cycling season that although started late (mid-July), went all the way until late November!

I never thought in May that back surgery would be the BEST thing to happen to me all year. I am thankful that recovery from surgery, though tough in the moment, has been successful. Physically I am feeling phenomenal, and for that I am incredibly thankful.

I have a couple of new stories I hope to complete early in the new year after a few more major life events take place. So I hope you will stay here with me. Meanwhile, I thought I would share a few things I have been enjoying lately.

• Chill & Cozy Lofi Christmas music | Playlist is a great background to have on during the Holiday’s. I played it (twice) last night while my neighbors were here and they really enjoyed it, they commented on how nice the ‘humanity’ of it was. Hige & Me is one of my favorite YouTube channels.

• A Very Bradford Holiday. This little dog is someone special and Kara is an amazing pianist. I have been looking forward to these posts daily.

• Dani Connor Wild Vlogmas. We have also been enjoying this daily while Solrig has his dinner.

• The NYTimes wrote a great reference piece on Menopause. If Perimenopause and Menopause are confusing to you, you are not alone. This article is a great place to start! Gift Link: What Menopause Does to the Body. Read it, share it.

• I have spent A LOT of time the last year and a half doing physical therapy. To get me through it, I find something on YouTube to play that I can listen to (since I can’t always look at the screen). Recently I have really enjoyed Fashion Neurosis with Bella Freud (daughter of artist Lucian Freud! and granddaughter of Sigmund Freud!!).

• I recently walked through Dyani White Hawk: Love Language. This exhibition is the best I have seen at the Walker since Elizabeth Peyton in 2009! It is visually and conceptually stunning. Highly recommend; and if you can not visit ~ explore the excellent audio guide and transport yourself there.

• Oh my goodness, I also do not think I told you we went to Copenhagen, Denmark!?! I would 1000% move there in a heartbeat. I will have to share details with you in the New Year! One recommendation for now…. Bento Copenhagen. Make a reservation (or two or three…) and go!

• Speaking of Japanese food, one last recommendation. I have been eating almost weekly at Cafe Yoto, my new favorite restaurant in Minneapolis. My standard order is the Sansai Udon with house broth and a side of Karaage (I bring some home for Solrig and snacks the next day). I think I could write a story on my love of Udon at the Nagoya airport, how Japanese food saved me in China, and how my solo dates at Cafe Yoto have become a much needed respite for me this year. Perhaps I will…

P.S. The screen porch was finished! I do not think I shared, so here it is….

We were able to do a few yoga and mobility sessions out here before it got too cold and immensely look forward to spending much more time in this space in the years to come.

Wishing you peace and rest on this special day and I will see you in the New Year!

~ DeAnn

It has been two months since I was last here and I feel like I have been a world away.

Since I was last here, I had my back surgery on May 23, complied with the surgeon’s instructions to only walk and no other physical activity (no yoga even) for a very long 6 weeks, and got the all clear to return to normal life on July 9. I left my post-op appointment in near tears from the relief that that phase of my life was over, came home and packed, and the next day came to the Crash Pad.

Physically recovery went very very good and I feel great. But my mental health suffered during recovery when my usual outlets for stress relief (biking, yoga) were gone ~ it was tough, really tough, and I will be writing about that in stories to come. Recovery Phase 2 will be returning to my physical therapist to build my body back up to a better place and continuing to see the mental health professional who has been helping me to navigate this challenging time.

I am happy to say that I am back on my bike! When I hopped on on July 12 I could instantly tell the surgery and recovery was all worth it. It was like I had a new body. Another emotional moment on a long journey. I am so thankful for a good surgeon, a good recovery, and to be back doing what I love. Not only physically will things continue to get better, but this is a vital part of my mental health recovery.

In Cabin Stories…

Part of my surgery recovery, but also part of my grieving and healing, has been working on Inge’s remembrance video. This took a long time because I had so many issues with my computer memory and file storage, but also because it was very very hard to work on emotionally. The last week of my restricted movement recovery I also got to the end of the video and many many tears were shed. I miss Inge every single day, she was such a light in my life and such a strong personality. If you are interested…

Watch Inge at the Crash Pad

In GenX Notes…

I will be writing a series of stories, My Back Pain Journey as an Athlete, about what my life has been like the last 2 years. The first story is available for your reading pleasure.

Read Unachievable Goals

So what’s been happening at the Crash Pad you might ask…

• After diligent watering with A LOT of help from my neighbor while I was recovering from surgery and could not go to the Crash Pad, we have grass! BUT, turns out the seed supplier has confirmed it is the WRONG GRASS! I am patiently waiting for the seed supplier and our landscaper to work through this issue, hoping they correct it. The landscaper has confirmed they will be killing off all this grass and replanting with the correct seed.

  

• The front porch is finally finished thanks to a great contractor we found.

  

• We rehired our contractor to complete the final crowning jewel on the exterior of the Crash Pad ~ the Screen Porch, which is being built as I type! This space is about the same as the living room area, it is going to be a game changer! I envision days of dogs laying about here, doing yoga, happy hours, and many good meals. I can’t wait to see it completed when I return in August!

  

• Spring and Early Summer has been alive with the cutest baby deer and mama sightings on our security camera…

• AND bear sightings!

• And as I type today (the last day of July, 2025) the roofers have arrived to finish the roof on the screen porch. We can’t wait to see it!

Recommendations:

• One thing that really helped me through my recovery, and beyond, was watching Amy Hudson cycle the Tour de France route, plus transfers. WAY better than the actual Tour. Super inspiring, and all for a good cause. As someone recovering both physically and mentally, and who understands how important cycling is in my life for both ~ I get it.

• I don’t know about you, but Kurt and I were Oasis fans in college. This brilliant piece of marketing makes me want to go out and buy a track suit and some Samba’s stat.

It is hard to believe August begins tomorrow, but with that will come new adventures. It is my hope now that I am not living daily in excruciating pain I can more frequently share stories with you than I have over the last year.

Thanks for continuing to read and watch. I have always appreciated your kind words about my creativity in all its forms. ~DeAnn

Yesterday it was fun to cheer on my neighbor and other riders at the end of the driveway as they participated in the Hungry Bear, and it was good to see friends at the finish line. I was not able to bike along on part of the course this year, more on that in a bit.

Remember I said I was working on an Inge at the Crash Pad video?

Well unfortunately in February my backup drive with my in process video and all my Inge (plus Crash Pad) videos crashed!! I was devastated. Best Buy told me it could cost me thousands of dollars to recover the drive; luckily for some reason I had the gumption to check the external drive manufacturer website, saw I could submit a claim, and to my surprise they had me send my drive in and would try to recover my data for FREE!!! And that they did!!!! I will forever be a dedicated user of LaCie. The company not only recovered my data onto a new drive, but they sent me a replacement drive for the corrupt one, and I bought another one to make sure I would be fully backed up. Lesson learned - never have videos and pictures in just one place!

So all that to say… I recommend LaCie for your backup needs, and the Inge Video will be coming ~ but it will take some time because I unfortunately have a lot of other things going on. One of which is…

After months of physical therapy, multiple steroid injections, two MRI’s, many many many visits to medical facilities, and barely being able to ride a bike for over a year ~ I will be having back surgery on May 23. More on all that to come in upcoming stories. But first…

I am going to do some gravel biking here (yes it isn’t comfortable, and yes it hurts afterwards, but I love it too much not to ride) before the only thing I can do for at least six weeks is walk. And yes I’m working really hard not to overdo it before surgery!

I do have a couple of stories for you if you haven’t seen…

In Cabin Stories…

Read

In GenX Notes…

Read

I’ve also got a few recommendations for you I have collected…

Going to Dublin, Ireland anytime soon? I’ve got a couple of tips from a quick trip we took at the end of March:

The Wilder Townhouse

We had an absolutely lovely stay at this hotel. We stayed in a shoebox room which was mostly fine because we were not in the room much, but it barely had room for my travel yoga mat [which is recommendation #2. (Speaking of yoga mats, I also would highly recommend making yourself some of this spray)]. I would 1000% stay at this hotel again. We felt very well cared for and safe with the expertly trained staff. On-site breakfast was a life saver, especially arriving early am from the US. Plus they let us in our room early which was also a life saver that first day (ask ahead).

Yoi Izakaya

We ate here twice the first day and enjoyed it both times. So nice when traveling not to have heavy, greasy, unhealthy food! And I could eat Japanese food pretty much any meal, any day.

The Little Kitchen

We had an outstanding meal here with a great view. We did not have reservations, but even on a weeknight we would recommend having one because this place is not little, it is tiny.

Other recommendations…

Noise Cancelling Headphones

On the flight home from Dublin while watching Conclave I borrowed Kurt’s noise cancelling headphones to take a break from the airline ones and MY MIND WAS BLOWN! The soundtrack to Conclave is what makes this movie, and with better earphones I couldn’t believe how it got even more amazing. As soon as we got to the Boston airport I bought my own awesome headphones while waiting for our last flight home. They were 100% worth it (and still on sale!). These are going to be a game changer on my next flight (after I get cleared to fly hopefully at my post op appointment in July). Do yourself a favor and get some.

Remembrance Frame

After we lost Inge I wanted to get a picture of her in a frame right away. We have done this for all of our dogs, but this time I thought of something that would be more immediate ~ an Aura Frame. My sister had suggested we get one for my parents for Christmas, and during our January visit I saw how lovely it was to have rotating pictures in a digital frame. So I knew exactly what I wanted to do to remember Inge. I loaded up photos of Inge as soon as it came. That first trip up to the Crash Pad without Inge, we brought the Aura/Inge with, it felt really good to have ‘Inge’ sitting in the middle of the room so we could remember all the good times we had together. A real comfort then, now, and always.

Ninja Countertop Oven

Our limited menu options on the induction burner at the Crash Pad were getting challenging, so we upped the ante and got an ‘oven’. This device has been a game changer! Many of you know that I am a big Cookie & Kate fan, and many of the recipes involve an oven. With the Ninja I am making things this week like green curry, by air frying the vegetables and tofu in it. And I have been air frying small potatoes and asparagus to go with the veggie burgers I make up and bring up here frozen (the recipe is in Cookie & Kates Love Real Food cookbook). The Ninja is so awesome sometimes I wonder if we will actually need a stove up here.

So what’s been happening at the Crash Pad you might ask…

• There has been what seemed like a leak in the roof dripping through the top of our stove pipe. We had both the roofer and the wood stove installer out here who both concluded that the issue was not a leak but from condensation in the top of the pipe. I’m still a bit baffled by this, but I guess it is what it is.

• Thanks to our connections at the local pizza place, we now have all the electrical completed in the back of the cabin! This means ceiling lights, outlets, and two smoke alarms!

• We now also have a smart thermostat. This was a bit of a learning curve. When the electricians were here we had them install our Nest thermostat, but later that night realized it was 80 degrees in here and it wasn’t turning off. Kurt did some research and learned that Nest thermostats do not work with Navien tankless water heaters and spent a late night switching wires back to the old thermostat. We then had the plumber come out and put a compatible thermostat in.

• Before we left the Crash Pad on the last visit we noticed one of the small tanks in the mechanical room had a hairline leak. The plumber also replaced this when he was here. Luckily it was under warranty.

  

• Our Landscaping is in! It is pretty simple, rock and what will be no mow grass, but it is SO nice to be at this point! Once the grass grows in it will be low maintenance and we will have less erosion around the cabin and sand tracked into the cabin. The crew did a really nice job and came recommended from our neighbors.

• Before I came up to oversee the landscaping, my neighbor who I now call Gadget Gal, advised me on materials to purchase to make a sprinkler system so that the no mow seed would grow and turn into grass. I purchased some hoses, sprinklers, and the key item a four zone timer. After a happy hour together, we got it all set up and it is running beautifully as I type. I was worried how well it would work because our water comes from our well system, but it is working great. My neighbor has all my log in information to the b-hyve app so she can make adjustments when we are not here and stop by and check on things until our next visit. This is giving me great peace of mind!

• We have hired a contractor to finish our front porch! That work should be completed early Summer. It will be great to finally have all the siding fully completed and get our bike ‘garage’ installed out there. I also purchased Dark Sky friendly lights to replace the temporary ones that were installed last year.

• While our contractor is here, he will be fixing our doors. The front door and the mechanical room door were not installed correctly by our SIP installer. The front door in particular has been a real problem. At times it has not locked, and the weather seal has degraded because the bottom drags too much. We have had multiple people try to fix it without removing it, but it needs to be taken out and reinstalled. I worked with Anderson Windows to get a new kit for the weather seal that our contractor will install before he resets the front door. The mechanical room door is clearly not plumb because in the winter you can see evidence of heat leak at the top. Now is the time to have these fixed as the contractor will have to remove siding and reinstall it to do these repairs and he will already be working on the siding.

• Our new contractor will also be building our screen porch for us later this Summer. This will be huge as it will be the last thing to be built on the exterior and the architect’s vision will finally be complete (minus the front deck which is tbd if we will do that). This will also be a game changer for Summer days up here as we will likely have many happy hours, dinners, yoga sessions, and just plain relaxation time out there ~ bug free. Speaking of bugs…

• The woodticks are out. I’ve found dead ones on the bed this week, which tells me Solrig’s Nexguard is working, and picked 5 off of him on our morning walk yesterday. And it looks like the first mosquito hatch is happening, they aren’t bad ~ yet. This part of being at the Crash Pad scares the daylight out of me and part of why I left the Great North for many, many years! Spring and early Summer are really my least favorite times up here ~ contrary to what you would think having a cabin is all about. I love Autumn here and have come to love Winter too when we can walk to the back of our property, because NO BUGS and sleeping bears. Summer is hard, even biking. I’ve had a few rides where I have literally screamed in terror from mosquito or deer fly hordes on and around me.

• I hope I am not ruining my luck for my morning walk by saying this, but so far we have not seen any bears (Update: no bear sightings).

  

• The robin’s are back! This year they are trying out our new light instead of the dog ramp they used last year. Such a pretty nest.

  

• And the trilliums have exploded. This was the first one I saw, and a couple of days later the forest is covered with them. If you followed our bicycle bag company, you will remember that our last bag intro was the Gräventyr in Trillium green.

That’s a lot, and surely there is more. But as I sit here on my last day at the Crash Pad before surgery, looking at a forest that has gone from bare trees to full green in my week here, I relish the peace and the beauty, and my time here with Solrig.

Before I got here the city was wearing me down. I now feel refreshed and recentered ~ and that is really what being here is all about.

The days ahead are a bit nerve wracking as I head home for my pre-op appointment, and then surgery and recovery. But there is comfort in knowing I will be back.

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Our little family gathered together for this picture on New Year’s Day this year looking forward to a fun year together, with more time spent making memories at the Crash Pad. But January did not end with the hope it started with for any of us.

In the early hours of January 31 we found our precious Inge collapsed at home, rushed to the U of M small animal hospital, and found ourselves saying goodbye ~ all in the blink of an hour. Our hearts were shattered and our world was changed forever.

The loss of a family member is difficult to process. The grieving is intense. Our family has experienced a seismic shift. As I type this, the three of us (Kurt, Solrig, and I) have returned to the Crash Pad for the first time without our little Inge. The absence is profound. We dreaded making this trip. But it became a comfort for all of us. A place to continue healing and a place to start remembering.

Inge came home on December 8, 2012. The center top picture above is her first day with us, getting to know her new big brother ~ Loki. She was part of our family for just over 12 years, since we were in our early 40’s and into our early 50’s. 12 years where both Kurt and I have fundamentally changed and learned to accept what comes with aging. 12 years to very much become best friends and a family.

When a furry family member comes home into our arms we know these hard days are ahead, but we convince ourselves somewhere along the line that perhaps this loved one will be different. Perhaps they will live forever. At the least, we thought Inge was well on track to make it maybe to 17! But we all know that what ultimately lies ahead is heartbreak.

We did not know Inge was struggling with illness until we returned from Arizona on January 14th and noticed loss of leg control on her right side. We learned at a vet visit on January 21 with consult from a neurologist that Inge likely had a tumor in her neck or top of her spine, or something going on with her brain. But with some new medication and improvement we expected to have many more days with her. We did not expect 10 days later we would be saying goodbye.

We have learned since from our wonderful team at the UofM that Inge likely had hemangiosarcoma and they believe on January 31 she suffered a critical tumor rupture. We will never know for sure, but it is comforting to know we did our best to help her in her time of distress and she did not live through a long drawn out period of suffering (like we have been through with our last two GSD’s (Dunker and Loki).

Inge was omnipresent in our lives, constantly there to hang out with us, snuggle with us, adventure with us, cook with us, monitor the household comings and goings, ride front and center between us in the Jeep, and tuck her head around the corner to come check on us if we were apart for too long. And although her barking was also omnipresent, the silence without it is deafening.

In memory of Inge, I am setting aside the next Crash Pad story I was working on (water and heat) and will be making a video story of Inge’s time at the Crash Pad (after I sort out the issue of my laptop drive being full). I have so many hours of video, so many happy memories. I look forward to sharing Inge’s Crash Pad story.

Thank you Inge for so many good years! You will forever be missed and forever be in our hearts. We love you with our whole being. ~ Mama, FK, Brother Soli

Season’s Greeting’s and Happy Solstice! That was not what I intended to say when I started working on this newsletter. I started writing this newsletter in September during my first solo week at the Crash Pad, while Kurt was in India for the first time on business. I planned to finish up my next Cabin Story ~ ‘Water’, and send some Summer recap’s. But…

Life since September has been an example of how you should enjoy each and every day because you never know what the future will bring. More on that below, but first back to September…

During my first solo Crash Pad week I was the happiest I have been all year. The Autumn weather was perfection, I went on many wonderful gravel rides, I found out I was FINE on my own in the middle of the woods (with Solrig and Inge by my side), and I felt the best physically I had felt all year. After months of physical therapy I was finally feeling almost myself. I felt strong on the bike and I was experiencing almost no pain. So let’s go to where I intended to start before I update you on today…

This year Summer feels like a blur. I vaguely remember it starting late. I definitely remember it raining A LOT. And I remember that when it began, we didn’t have a shower at the Crash Pad.

It is now officially Autumn. To indirectly celebrate, I came up to the Crash Pad on the first day (September 22) to check on things, but mainly to bike. THIS is the time of year we wait for ~ I call it the Golden Time. The bug factor is low, warmth is still in the air, and the trees start putting on a magical show. Without a doubt my favorite time of year.

This trip to the Crash Pad is my first solo trip here, something I never thought I would do. But when your husband is in India (on your anniversary no less), and you know it is the Golden Time ~ you go so you can ride. And ride I did.

Summer started off a bit rocky for me. Physically I was having issues with my right leg that I have been in physical therapy for all Summer for what appears to be a pinched nerve in my spine (a story for another day). Not only physically was it a bummer, but emotionally it was hard.

Kurt wanted to be at the Crash Pad a lot more than me both to ride, and move the cabin forward (he has been working on the interior walls all Summer). I found myself wanting to be in the city more and connecting with my colleagues at work. But interestingly as Autumn begins, I am finding myself more comfortable here and my priorities shifting.

At the beginning of Summer the Crash Pad really was not very comfortable, but here we are in Autumn enjoying the progress made over the Summer (see the last newsletter).

And I survived the great mouse invasion of my car after a three month saga! My end conclusion was that the mice got in my car here at the Crash Pad, not at home as we initially thought. This was validated when on trips up here in the Jeep in August mice got inside of it too! The invasion of the mice in our Mini Cooper was so disruptive, I thought I would make a video to share what we are doing now in hopes of keeping them OUT of the Jeep (stay tuned). And at least for now, I am not driving my car up here anymore ~ I can’t mentally take going through an invasion again.

In GenX Notes…

I published a story about my experience with a sports nutritionist.

Read

Side note on this story: I just had my bloodwork done, so posted a short summary:

Bloodwork Update

I was asked to be on a Podcast! Not just any podcast, but the most important podcast I have ever listened to ~ it changed my life.

Read

Listen

And most recently I shared my experience of feeling lonely and isolated during the MPT, and now dealing with a pinched nerve in my back.

Read

For those of you wondering what happened after the MRI…

After a lot of effort on my part (‘healthcare’ sucks), I finally got a steroid injection in my back. At my follow up appt on Dec. 2 with a wonderful woman, we discussed the need for another injection at a different spot in my spine. It was scheduled for Jan. 6, but thanks to a cancellation I received my 2nd shot on December 9th. I haven’t slept through the night since sometime in late October. More updates in a story later.

It has been a difficult journey going from that high point of my solo gravel Crash Pad week to today. I can only hope for better days ahead again in 2025.

So what HAS been going on at the Crash Pad you might ask!

Well, not much - but sort of a lot. Kurt was not able to do much work this Fall due to his work schedule and I have not been back up since early October due to work and my back challenges.

• Kurt has been at the Crash Pad this week for a vacation week which has included more wall bracing and more wood on the walls and ceiling.

• Walls and ceilings continue to go up! Kurt almost has the back of the cabin complete.

• Kurt has been priming and painting the bathroom door and drumroll…. We now have A DOOR on the bathroom! It is a pocket door that we had to assemble the wall kit for and it works! FINALLY PRIVACY in the bathroom! Whoop Whoop!

• Once the back of the cabin walls and ceiling are complete, a call will be made to the electrician to get them back out to at least complete all the work on the back ‘zone’. This will mean full lighting and outlets in the Office/Cycling room, Bedroom, and possibly more.

  

• In October we were lucky to see an amazing Supermoon, hard to capture, but beautiful to see!

• We finally made it to the back 10 to retrieve our camera trap. Above is a screen grab of a visitor.

  

• Kurt has been seeing scenes like the above on his fat bike rides this week. We can’t deny we are living in someone else’s home…

• Kurt has reached out to Rick, who did our exterior siding, to start lining up getting the Screen Porch done in 2025 (fingers crossed).

• We have a landscaper lined up for June 2025. We will have gravel around the perimeter of the Crash Pad, no-mow grass (like our neighbors have), better drainage channels for the roof downspouts, and possibly more. And along with this, hopefully MUCH less sand inside the cabin.

• Mice have continued to now get in the Jeep, but we have a new deterrent that mostly seems to be working. We call them disco lights. More on this once I get a Story together.

  

• We have called our neighbors over a couple of times…. Once because we had some trespassers on the property we could see on our camera (maybe our architect sent them over?? they seemed to just be normal people looking at the cabin) ~ they were gone by the time our neighbor arrived. And once because we were worried there was an open window or something because we were using so much propane. In both instances our exterior and interior camera cams have been great to see what’s going on and I now know how to talk to people through the exterior camera (I didn’t know I could do that when the trespassers were there). We are thankful again for such great neighbors (and technology)!

  

• And one of the best moments of the year, and why we love the community around the Crash Pad…. We were a driving force in getting signatures from our neighbors earlier this year so that we could have the road we bike on out our front door designated as a Rustic Road ~ which means keeping it a gravel road. We are so happy to share that it worked! Listen to this if you want to learn more about Rustic Roads in Wisconsin.

When will there be another Cabin Story?!

For those of you wondering when our next Cabin Story will be posted…. I will finally be at the Crash Pad again during mellandagarna (what Swedes call the time between Christmas and New Year’s). My plan is to wrap up the next story I have been working on ~ ‘Water’, and to start working on a new story. I’m definitely not a frequent story-teller as I had hoped to be, but my hope is that when I do share a story you find it worth your wait! For now you can click on the button below to see any of our Cabin Stories.

Cabin Stories

Now for some fun…

Mountain Bikers will know that the Crash Pad lies in the heart of what is known as Chequamegon 40 territory. We were reminded of how lucky we are to be here with this beautiful footage taken literally in our back yard earlier this year (our property may be in this video somewhere). Professional cyclists come here to ride, we live here to ride!

Happy Happy Holiday’s to you and most importantly from our viewpoint, HAPPY SOLSTICE! The Winter Solstice is our second favorite day of the year because it means we start turning to our favorite day of the year ~ Summer Solstice.

Thank you for reading and for all your kind comments ~ it means a lot to me, and YOU are why I keep writing/telling stories.

This May we celebrated one year of habitation at the Crash Pad (May of 2023 was the big push when we finally ‘moved in’)! This year we have had the big push to get the Crash Pad comfortable while we are in habitation. We are far from done, but we are closer to done than we were a year ago! I will tell you more below, but first and most importantly…

The riding has been good.

REALLY, really good.

In May our Crash Pad neighbor asked if I wanted to ride the last bit of the Hungry Bear course with her (we called it the ‘Pirate Bear’), she picked me up at the Crash Pad driveway (where I saw a bear while waiting!) with her friends, and I had a lot of fun riding the rest of the course together into Cable, WI. I don’t ‘do’ event’s, so sort of doing one was more my speed. Kurt finished the Snacking Bear (60 miles). It was a great day ~ wonderful weather, wonderful people, seeing a lot of my cycling friends at the finish, and wonderful gravel biking!

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After two years of dealing with the MPT, I finally feel SO MUCH BETTER. My rides are much better than the last two years. I don’t always feel like, or look like, what I have known as ‘me’ for my entire adult life, but the most important thing is I can ride my gravel bike and feel good on a ride, even perhaps kicking it down at times and nailing some tough runs. THIS is what the Crash Pad was built for, and it feels good, very good, to be in a place to enjoy it.

Working on Cabin Stories took a bit of a back burner this Spring as I got myself back up and running, took some really great classes that I will be writing about, there was work going on at the Crash Pad that took a lot of time and coordination, I started months of physical therapy (a story for another day), and as we adjust to what split time at the Crash Pad is like (still working on that one). But I have managed to get a story together.

I will be creating a ‘mini series’ for the next few videos on the Crash Pad Systems. All the need-to-understand stuff for a cabin build in the woods ~ like what we use for electricity, water, heat, and the septic system. Here is the first one:

*I had so much footage of the Robin’s, I made an addendum video. If you enjoy ASMR, this is for you.

In GenX Notes…

I share my journey the last two years of dealing with an iron deficiency as a selectarian MPT athlete.

In June I had the honor of being an 'alumni' guest speaker in the latest cohort of a menopause class I took through Feisty earlier this year. Yup, that's right ~ a menopause class!

Everything I know about navigating menopause started because I am an avid gravel cyclist; to be in a room with one of THE Gravel Cyclists, Selene Yeager, was truly special.

I can’t wait to share more about this class in a future GenX Notes!

So what HAS been going on at the Crash Pad you might ask:

Great things, and pure chaos! It definitely gets worse before it gets better! First the great things…

• We have a real bathroom!

  • We now have a SHOWER!!! (You can see some glimpses of it in the new video). The locals all sang the praises of Terry and we couldn’t agree with them more; Terry did all the tile work in our shower and did an artisan job at a very reasonable price.

  • Kurt assembled and installed the bathroom vanity and wall cabinet.

  • Kevin the plumber was back. He moved the utility sink to the kitchen area, installed our shower hardware, and installed the plumbing for the vanity sink.

  • Kurt put up the cedar ceilings in the shower and bathroom area.

  • Terry installed our ceiling fan in the bathroom.

  • I painted the bathroom.

  • The electricians were back and installed the lights, outlets, and switches and connected the ceiling fan!

There is nothing better than coming home after a ride and taking a hot shower washing away the gravel, suntan lotion, bug spray, and sweat!

• The electricians were back twice. They are not finished, but they made good progress.

  • They finished wiring for the ceiling fan

  • did a lot of cleanup work and finishing touches,

  • added a few more outlets

  • Installed our outdoor lights and security camera

  • And most importantly installed a battery backup system (more to come on this in the mini-series!).

• We sheathed the front porch area where the bike storage will be. The next step is to install the siding over the sheathing. But we’ve had a work stoppage from the Eastern Phoebe’s and Robin’s (see Crash Pad Nature Report).

  

• It feels quite chaotic in the interior where there are things waiting to go in place everywhere.

  • The Tongue and Groove wood for the interior finishing was delivered and installation has begun! Our living room was the staging area until we could break down this pile, which now is dispersed all over the Crash Pad (feeling a bit crowded in here).

  • We now have an actual wall between the toilet and the bedroom!

  • We brought up our closet system from Ikea. But we can’t install it until the ceiling goes up in the bedroom, so the big boxes are laying in the hallway.

• We are excited to have a full sized refrigerator and washer/dryer unit. Both make spending extended periods of time here so much more pleasant!

• Kurt now has an office desk and chair, and I have a nice office chair (working on the desk idea) ~ all of which are big upgrades to our live/work situation.

• After having a mouse emerge on my leg on my way to meet Room & Board at the Crash Pad, we now have a new comfortable couch.

• We also have a new comfy living room chair.

• We have a tv on a rolling stand which has made our Shetland watching much more enjoyable.

  

• We took two trailer loads to the dump full of building debris and our old patio couch we were using as our couch for a year.

In the moment it often seems like we have SO far to go and the chaos of having big piles in almost every square inch can feel exhausting. We wonder if we will ever finish this place. But at the same time, when we look back at all the work we have done, we are amazed we have gotten so far!

But the end goal always remains ~ we are here to bike. And along with the work we are sure to spend time here doing one of the things we love most.

Solrig and Inge were/are quietly sleeping after a content filled morning/day of exploring the property, and of course for Solrig ~ spending time doing his most favorite things in the world, running after his toy in the snow and ‘helping’ me with tasks like cleaning up tree debris from the initial excavating (winter is the BEST time to do yard work in the woods ~ no bugs!).

This winter at the Crash Pad has been the polar opposite of last year. We arrived in January to snow melting OFF the roof (not through it), temperatures in the 30’s (F) and very little snow (as opposed to always snowing), a warm cabin (radiant floor and wood stove in full working order), a LOT less stress (because we can be here for a weekend, not just a single day), the whole family here together (as opposed to last year where only Kurt and Solrig came up here every weekend in January, and Inge and I didn’t come at all), and most importantly this year ~ a full roof (which was not the case this time last year). February has remained the same.

This time last year was one of the most challenging years of our life, and our relationship, and it took months for us to emerge from it and move forward. There is still a lingering scar from a difficult time, but it has begun to heal.

Looking back and editing the next story, I am thankful we made it through and can finally spend time at the Crash Pad doing fun things. Like walking the dogs to the back of the(ir) property (they LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it), playing with Solrig (and not shoveling at the same time), running into neighbors on fat bike rides (Kurt) and building community, and having time to sit and write and edit stories (D).

This is much preferred to last year where our time here was spent sucking up gallons of water from the floor that came through the roof after the cabin went up, completing construction tasks inside the Crash Pad on a freezing cold slab of cement and being constantly cold, shoveling ALL THE TIME, and hoping every day that the Crash Pad makes it through the winter.

But in order to move past, you have to move through. Join us on that adventure by reading and watching our next story, Six: The Roof

Watch: The Roof

In GenX Stories…

I share what it felt like for me to accelerate into the MPT (Menopause Transition) in late perimenopause after finally calling myself an ‘athlete’ in 2022.

When the Wheels Fall Off

*Reminder: If you do not want to get GenX stories emailed to you separately, please adjust your subscription. Starting with the next story, I will start emailing updates in real time for GenX stories to those who are subscribed. So if you don’t want real time emails for these…and just want updates through the Newsletter, go here:

Manage My Subscriptions

So, what is happening at the Crash Pad lately you might ask…

Well the biggest news is we PASSED the Rough-In Inspection! Now we can start to cover the walls inside (which we have)!

Passing rough-in also means we can finally close up the last exterior wall on the porch (which we have) and side it. After siding we can install the lights, and lastly a hanging system for the bikes.

AND the electricians can start coming back and doing their finish work. They have been here working on our backup system that will keep our heat, refrigerator, and a few lights running if when the power goes out. We are excited to have them come back and install the final lighting on the exterior of the cabin next.

Our plumber has installed the shower pan and all the piping for the shower. We have picked out our shower head fixture. The tile for the shower is arriving imminently and we have an installer lined up as soon as it arrives!!!

We purchased our wardrobes for the bedroom, Kurt’s desk and new office chair for his office, and an office chair for me (I’m going to have my own little spot!). The big boxes are all currently taking up part of our living room in Minneapolis. We will be headed to IKEA soon to pick out a temporary desk for me as well as an interim couch we hope will be more comfortable than our old patio couch we have been using. The plan is to rent a U-Haul next week (Fat Bike Birkie week) and take a big load up.

We have picked out our interior wall finishes. We have begun to install one type that will go behind the wardrobes and be used at the front entry, and the rest is on order.

The septic tank is almost full again (last emptied in October), so we will call to have it emptied after our next visit.

Despite my love for gravel biking and Autumn, the last two months have been my favorite at the Crash Pad so far. Although it is Winter, it has been extremely mild (my kind of Winter!) with very little snow. Winter is the best time to go on walks to the back of the property because there are no bugs and no bears! I am savoring every moment, while anticipating what I hope to be an early gravel season starting in March (fingers crossed).

The future holds so much possibility! But I am working very hard to live in the now.

Thanks for reading and watching äventyr.cc, and supporting my creativity! ~DeAnn

Happy and Joyous Solstice Everyone!

This is the day, particularly as cyclists, we celebrate ~ because this is the day we begin to turn to the light and can allow ourselves to start dreaming again of gravel rides to come.

A Solstice ‘hej hej’ (hello!) feels right to us this year; for all of you who we are unable to send cards to, for all of you who were here for our Solstice Letters when äventyr was a bicycle bag company, for all of you who just need a little spark of light in your day today.

This is always a special time of year to us, as it is a time of reflection on the previous year, and looking forward to the next year to come. Analyzing what we liked about 2023 and what we would like to do better. Honestly it was kind of a crappy year for us on both personal and professional levels. As we worked to heal our minds and bodies from a trying winter with the Crash Pad, we also spent far too much time working and not enough time doing special things together. We realized this week that it also feels like the first time since the pandemic that we can start dreaming and scheming again, not only about the New Year ~ but the future. We are tired, very tired, and we look forward to a lot of rest and relaxation.

As I type this, Kurt and the dogs have just left for the Crash Pad for the first time since Thanksgiving. Either work or weather has not allowed us to make it back up, and I remain home for work. For a close family like ours, we dislike being apart. And as I watch everything that matters to me leave together in a red Jeep, my heart knows there is nothing like home (and for me that is wherever Kurt, Inge, and Solrig are). The silence makes me feel very alone, something I have been trying to figure out how to feel less of as I get older. Perhaps it is all those days spent by myself traveling places for work so many years ago, I enjoy the aloneness less and less. And in a sense, that is why I am here; trying to knit us all together ~ even if loosely.

Kurt and the dogs are keeping all fingers and toes crossed that tomorrow the electrical team arrives to finish the final work to allow us to schedule the inspection. They have also been having a great time wandering in our woods, seeing all the stars, and are being cautious of all the wolves barking nearby. Tomorrow our family will be reunited, hunkering in for end-of-year celebrations with our small little group, heading back up to the Crash Pad for a few days creating new traditions and memories (and hopefully doing final prep work before the rough-in inspection). We for sure will be having many hearty happy hour conversations by the glowing wood stove, and begin charting our course for the New Year.

Reflecting on the last year, so much has changed for us.

• A year ago today, we closed äventyr bicycle bags.

• A year ago today, I relaunched äventyr here on Substack to be our new shared ‘home’ and to be a place to continue to build community.

• A year ago today, this is what it looked like at the Crash Pad:

  

• A year ago Christmas week, we were checked in to the Holiday Inn in Hayward so we could attempt to get some work done on the Crash Pad ~ it felt like we were very far away from being able to stay in it. We were stressed and tired.

  

After the gravel cycling season ended for me and the winter vibe started rolling around again at the Crash Pad this year, I will be honest ~ it was hard for both of us. I in particular just had this feeling of wanting it to all go away. My mental space about the Crash Pad was not in a good place after such a difficult year and I have needed some time away to recover.

And the next story I will be working on, “The Time of Despair” is likely going to be the hardest one of them all. But I have found that story telling has indirectly become healing. I know once I get done writing and editing, it will be easier to put one of the toughest times in our lives, and in our relationship, behind me.

Although not all Crash Pad stresses will ever be gone, they do feel like they have gone down. I definitely feel that once we get the final electrical work completed and the rough-in inspection done, there will be many, many better days ahead.

If you have had a difficult year of your own, may you find solace and healing in reflection and use this dark time to turn towards the light and rebuild.

From our Crash Pad to yours ~ Happy Solstice! ~DeAnn, Kurt, Inge, and Solrig

For those of you gifting during this time, even if to yourself, I thought I would share just a few of our favorite things as cyclists and Crash Pad dwellers…

• Chilly Dogs. Inge has been wearing a Chilly Dogs coat since 2013 (she came home to us in December 2012!). This year we purchased new Harbour Slicker coats for both Inge and Solrig in orange (for all the hunting seasons in the vicinity of the Crash Pad), and a bit more light-weight as we want to use them during slush and mud seasons, on chilly (but not super cold) days, and when it rains to keep their bellies dry (LOVE the full belly coverage on these coats). Inge has been LOVING her new orange coat, Solrig tolerated his (barely) [German Shepherd deep chests are so hard to fit well].

• Love Real Food. We have been using this cookbook since 2018. As cyclists and as GenXers learning to adjust our food intake, this cookbook is exactly what we needed. Get one for yourself, and someone on your list. We specifially value the attention to balanced meals (protein, grains, vegetables, etc.) that are so important to us as aging athletes.

• Manduka Pro Yoga Mat. This was a big splurge for both of us, they are the best of the best. We keep these at the Crash Pad and look forward to using them more in the years to come. I got the Pro for the extra thickness on the cement floors at the Crash Pad, and because Kurt is over 6 feet tall, he got the Long option. We started doing Yoga with Adriene together in 2020 and haven’t looked back. We take Adriene (and Benji) with us everywhere we go.

• Agatsu Kettlebells. The 10 KG is a great place to start if you are starting to “Lift Heavy Sh*t” (and at time of writing they were on sale). I have one at home, and keep one at the Crash Pad for my virtual classes with The Fix (who recommended Canadian friends Agatsu to me). The right bell makes ALL the difference. I will be talking more about what I do with these in an upcoming GenX Notes in 2024. Suffice it to say I am going to be adding the 12 KG in 2024.

• Whiskey/Bourbon for the Whiskey/Bourbon hater (me). I NEVER used to like Whiskey/Bourbon until I started drinking Japanese Highballs with Japanese Whiskey. But Japanese whiskey is expensive, and not local. We recommend Røknar (D) and J Henry (Kurt) + these glasses (which years ago we bought only two of, maybe you can split a set with someone to get the cost down).

• Coasters to put down said highballs on. I met Anniken through my day job and found these on her Etsy site. We customized them for the Crash Pad and are so happy with them. Always happy to support someone local!

  

• Headlamp of choice. Because it is DARK in the woods, especially when you only have 3 working lightbulbs inside.

This was all off-the-cuff, I think I may have to make this an annual tradition!

Well friends, the time has come for me to focus on the wind down, so I will sign off for 2023 and look forward to seeing you here in 2024!

Thanks for reading and watching äventyr.cc, and supporting my mental health and creativity! ~DeAnn

It happened, despite our best efforts ~ Summer ended and Winter keeps trying to push in.  During this time of transition I have been working on the SIP Build stories (written and video), and with that comes a lot of stressful memories.  I have found that these stories are a therapeutic way to face the trauma of a year that really started hitting us hard last October.  While writing and editing, I find myself taking much longer than I would hope because sometimes I need a break and mental distance after ‘living’ back in the moments again.  As I began to write this, the emotions were especially raw because it was unseasonably cold in mid-October and after a far too short few months, there was snow on the ground AGAIN.  Don’t let anyone ever tell you you can’t build a cabin, but also know that it is not all fun and games.

But alas today the sun is out and at The Crash Pad the forecast is focused on sun and temperatures in the mid to upper 50s!  We relish all the moments to create new happy and positive memories at the Crash Pad, like this view as I type.

Last October began our SIP build, and with that a rollercoaster that has thankfully slowed down and smoothed out more (but has not fully stopped).  If you would like to journey back to the SIP Build with us, and learn more about what is involved in the process, you can watch and read our latest stories:

Watch: SIP Panel Building

So, what is happening at the Crash Pad lately you might ask…

Well, first and foremost there is great comfort in knowing this year will be different than last, because the exterior of the Crash Pad is completed (except for final landscaping), and we have heat!

Last week the final excavation work was completed after months of delays due to unseasonably wet weather (our excavator is shown in the video talking to us on August 7th and we all thought the work would be done shortly thereafter). We are relieved to go into the winter with an extended and completed driveway that goes right to the front porch, proper grading that takes water away from the Crash Pad (instead of into it as was the case in many spots), and a muddy swamp that is now gone and no longer creating mosquito habitat for next Spring.

We have been building the framing for all the remaining (non-load bearing) interior walls all Summer, which needed to be done for the final electrical work to be completed. You can see us doing some wall building in the latest story intro.

Our electrical team was over again in September for a couple of days and made a lot of good progress. But we are still waiting for them to come over one more time to get the electrical completed so we can finally have our rough-in inspection. We still have only three working lightbulbs, two working outlets, and no exterior lighting.

Our original goal was to have electrical completed by the end of October 2023, get the rough-in inspection done, start closing up the walls, and to finally have full indoor and outdoor lighting for the winter. Deer hunting season has now come and gone, and the temperatures have chilled, so we hope this frees up schedules for our partners to stop by.

Rick, who did our siding, has agreed to do our bathroom for us over the winter. Although we love stopping by ROAM and are thankful for the generosity of their showers, we look forward to having our bathroom finally completed so we can have guests over!

We are picking out a shower head, light fixtures, a bathroom vanity, and also all interior wall and ceiling finish materials (which we will test out first in the office). We also have designed a closet system for the Primary Bedroom that will go up immediately after we get that elusive rough-in inspection done.

We have been enjoying the working wood stove, but have learned we went just a smidge too small (more on that later).

And lastly, we have had many many really good bike rides together. That was the dream, and that is now the reality. It felt like we were just getting going and then the seasons changed, but Kurt has been out riding in the cooler weather.

Looking back in time to when we released our last story in August, there are so many good moments! Thanks for sharing them with us. ~DeAnn & Kurt

In GenX News…

We really have not felt like ourselves since the SIP build last year, and both put on a lot more weight than we would have liked due to giving up far too many rides for the Crash Pad, and being in a state of constant mental stress. And my body has taken me on a wild ride which I have a lot to share about coming up.

Since we have been riding more, our waist circumferences have gone down, but we both will be doing a lot of work on our trainers this winter and hoping to shed a few more pounds. Losing weight in your 50s is not easy and requires an adjusted lifestyle and exercise routine, more of which we will be talking about in future GenX stories.

One new Crash Pad addition is a new style (to us) Wahoo trainer that Kurt put to good use on a solo trip up here for a week in October, and I tested out Thanksgiving morning. I had to invest in power meter pedals in order to do my virtual cycling classes, but it is already worth it. Although our time here over the winter will be shorter, because the cabin interior is still a glamping space, this investment is worth it.

In November showers have been in the sink since ROAM was closed all month, but they open back up in December AND sometime between now and April (knock on wood) a shower will exist at the Crash Pad! Definitely better shower days ahead.

Additionally, after over a year of a lot of new unanticipated physical challenges due to late perimenopause, I am most grateful to have educated myself, and because of that I have been able to find the right help and finally emerge from a double fog of a year. I am happily feeling MUCH more like myself again. You likely saw that I released my first GenX Notes story:

If not, I encourage you to, and to share it.

Read: What I Would Tell This Girl

I also just published my second story:

Read: Where Do I Start?

*Reminder: You Can Customize your äventyr subscription!

I think it is good for ALL people to be educated on the subject of women’s health at all life stages. BUT, I didn’t realize when I hit publish on my first GenX Story in October that it would be sent to my entire mailing list. Sorry (but not sorry)!

When I started GenX Notes I did not realized you all would automatically be subscribed to this new section. Maybe you DO want to know every time I post on GenX Notes, but maybe you just want to hear about it in the newsletter. It’s YOUR subscription!

So, if you want to change your subscription (I won’t take it personally), I have made notes on how you can do that here.

Change Subscription Options Here

Lastly, can you believe it has almost been ONE YEAR since I closed down äventyr the business?! Winter Solstice 2022 was the day. I actually thought it was two years ago until I was writing ‘Where Do I Start’ and remembering the photoshoot I did (pictured here) while listening to Hit Play Not Pause.

I miss äventyr the bag company, but I am okay with having let it go. And I am loving äventyr’s transformation as a place for me to write and stay connected with you. I hope you are enjoying it too. I welcome your comments and likes here and appreciate you being part of this new community.

Thanks for reading and watching äventyr.cc, and supporting my mental health and creativity! ~DeAnn

I am writing to you from The Crash Pad where we are were celebrating Midsommar and now a long July 4th weekend , okay ~ the second half of August. Life is busy, and when it is not, we are trying to make sure it slows down and enjoy it. As all Minnesotan’s know, especially after a veeery looong winter, Summer is short and we have to make every minute count. I think I knew at the outset of writing this it would really take me until Labor Day, and that’s almost exactly where we are. All people in The North are wondering how the Summer went SO FAST, but we know ~ we’ve been having as much fun as we can, riding as much gravel as we can, and absorbing all the hard work we did on the Crash Pad over the last year. We are thoroughly enjoying much anticipated hot Summer days, soaking it all in to our core. The woods are lush and green, and best seen from the middle of a gravel road on a bicycle.

So what have we been up to since our last update?

On May 9 we drove up to the Crash Pad with a moving van of old furniture, some of it we had set aside years ago ‘in case some day we have a cabin’ .

It felt amazing to finally be at the other side of what we had been planning for weeks ~ THE BIG 6 WEEK PUSH (featured in our latest story), and to no longer have to constantly be on top of coordinating contractors (for what has turned out to be the briefest of pauses). It was time, after months of hard and trying work ~ to pack up the bikes, and go for a much needed ride!

My fourth story highlights all of the amazing partners it took to make our cabin build happen. Kurt and I sat down Memorial Day Weekend on the ‘some-day Screen Porch’ slab at the Crash Pad to discuss the step-by-step process we went through over the last year and also highlight our project partners. Without so many truly good people helping us every step of the way, there is no way we would have a cabin built right now, let alone be staying in it. We have a long list of ‘cabin miracles’ that we will likely turn into a story later on. Meanwhile, we have the story I have been working on for months ~ I hope you will enjoy reading & watching as much as I enjoy the process of creating.

Four: Process & Partners ~ Watch Now

A full list of our partners is listed in the written Process and Partners Story.

This is a long one, but for people interested in what the steps are to build a cabin, love HGTV and anything Home and Design related, or who want to simply know what we have been up to, it is worth a watch. If you fall in the first group, I will be adding this story to our YouTube channel and chapterizing the video so you can go to specific areas of interest (i.e. Excavating, Plumbing, Electrical, etc.).

Thanks for your interest and sharing in our aventyr!

On another note, I am adding another dimension to my stories….

Introducing…. GenX Notes

For at least four years, I have been writing these stories in my mind, and I have also attempted to start writing them a number of times.  But writing about many of the things I will be writing about feels a bit daunting, personal, a moving target, and yes I hate to say it ~ at times embarrassing.  Which is a case in point of why I need to do this. Because others are sharing, my life is better. My hope is that because I share, maybe the life of at least one person will be better.

Want to know what exactly GenX Notes will be about and what I will be sharing here? Head on over to my first post to learn more. My goal is to really buckle down over the winter and write stories about so many of the things I talk about in my introduction.

Read GenX Notes

If GenX Notes is of interest to you, you can subscribe separately to the feed.

To clarify the options for subscription options to my writing, hopefully this helps…

On the website you will see the navigation options have changed. There are now three avenues for entry:

1. Cabin Stories: This was formerly ‘Blog’. You can subscribe specifically to this feed to receive updates about new posts on our Crash Pad build.

2. GenX Notes: This is the new section I discussed above. If you are not interested in Cabin Stories, but are interested in GenX Notes, you can subscribe to just this feed to receive updates about new posts.

3. Newsletter: This is what you are already subscribed to. You do not need to separately subscribe to the other feeds unless you want to. The Newsletter will always include a summary of the most recent posts in Cabin Stories and GenX Notes so you can head over and read at your leisure.

4. ALL THREE. Of course you can always subscribe separately to everything to be in the know as soon as I share.

5. Substack App.

   The Substack App is free to add to your phone and a great place to go to see all your subscriptions. Maybe you’ll find some other writers you like and choose to subscribe to. Ah, writing, so old fashioned and analog, SO SO good for the brain…

Lastly…. What’s Happening at The Crash Pad you might ask?

• The roof is 100% complete!!! 9 months in the making, this was THE biggest thing on our checklist and feels fabulous to finally have done. We are so thankful for Paul’s Sheet Metal in Rice Lake, WI. The Roof (aka The Time of Despair), will be it’s own episode.

• We now have internet connection! Vital in a rural area in case you need to contact someone for help. We tested our Starlink last Summer and it wasn’t great; we were a bit worried. But a lot can change in a year and both us and our neighbors have it and it is GREAT! We have better service than we do in Minneapolis, and the price went down from last year. Although we aren’t fans of the guy who started Starlink, we are thankful for Starlink.

• An epic snowfall, turned into an epic mosquito hatch in May, which turned into an epic carpenter ant invasion in June. We now can add Plunkett’s Pest Control to our list of partners (the carpenter ants instantly retreated - phew!).

• On our first bike ride after our first night in the Crash Pad in May, we turned left and shortly to our right saw our first black bear of the season. Luckily it kept moseying on, as did we.

• We traipsed to the back of our property (before the big mosquito hatch) and downloaded pictures from our trail cam. Definitely wolves, bears, deer, and more are here!

• Speaking of animals and our first night, we didn’t get much sleep because of all the wolf and/or coyote howling. Wow was that something else.

• We had a huge dumpster delivered (thank you Woodland Rolloff!) and filled it Memorial Day Weekend with construction debris on our property. It feels SO good to have all the piles finally gone! Pro Tip: Debris on your rural property instantly becomes great habitat for mice.

• Right before July 4th we had our first septic tank empty. I’m starting to feel like the septic tank and all thing related might be its own mini-episode.

  

• Rick, who did our siding, stopped by to discuss helping us potentially finish the interior walls so we can get a building inspection. But Rick is so busy, Kurt keeps plugging away at the work and is making good progress! We are eager to get the rough-in inspection done so we can start closing up the interior walls and finish the front porch. This will also happily mean no more using the toilet without any privacy (good thing we know each other well…).

• We have reached out to our electrician so he can complete the electrical work this Fall after the rough-in inspection.

• We have decided on finish surfaces for the interior! This was a big decision that came together and seems perfect. We will be starting with a test area. I can’t wait to share more of the design fun in later stories!

• Last week we had our excavator back over to discuss the final grading. We can not wait to get rid of the mud pit and make things look more finished on the outside (landscaping comes next year).

• The Anderson Windows Rep stopped by to look at our front door [incorrectly installed by our SIP installer] and gave me advice for correcting the problem. Now to find someone to reinstall it…. (gurrrrr…..).

• This week we came back up to sign off on the propane tank moving to its final location and had the BEST referral to have a tree removed that should have been taken out in the initial excavation.

• We have known none of our temporary cabin furniture is comfortable, so have decided to purchase at least one office chair for up here while we are here working. We are waiting on final furniture until all the interior work is completed.

• We have learned that the organic produce section at Walmart is better than the local grocery store and can get us through a few meals.

And lastly, we are figuring out what life looks like in this new phase. The reasons why we did this are still 100% true and we have found being here (after we got through the first rough patches of mouse and ant invasions and the epic mosquito hatch), to 100% meet our need for a break from Minneapolis. We are starting to wonder what the word ‘home’ will mean for us over the next few years, it definitely feels like it is expanding and shifting.

Thanks for reading and watching äventyr.cc, and supporting my mental health and creativity! ~DeAnn

In contrast, at The Crash Pad there was a winter storm warning, and inches of snow have covered the ground.  An exasperating end to an exasperating winter in Cabinland.  But there is hope.

While I sat outside on a patio in AZ, right before the snow up north, my wonderful neighbor (who you will see in my latest video story), was sending me pictures of the epic melt.  Luckily The Crash Pad had not floated away.  It was a dramatic “end” to a dramatic winter.

We are looking forward to the end of ‘unlocking’, the arrival of Summer, and hopefully many dryer, and less stressful days.

My third story shares with you why we chose to work with an architect and what the process was like for us.

This story was a hard one to get to the finish line. Looking back isn’t always easy, and forces one to confront some challenging emotions; and Winter’s grip is not letting go this year and I find myself exhausted and drained. But I did it! And I am so excited to share it with you.

Read/Watch Story 3: Why An Architect?

In other news, I did finally come to terms that it was time to sell my Juki.  I guess I just needed to give myself time.  The Juki went to a very good home and I couldn’t be happier for all of us.

And many of you are familiar with our Silverhytten. 

We created many good memories thanks to this camper ~ including many good gravel biking ones.  But last fall we knew it was time to move forward.  We spent a MONTH living out of the camper during the cabin build last Fall, during some very stressful days.  Our last night together was a cold Halloween night and we knew we were ready then to let it go.  And, we had a cabin roof to pay for….

Saying goodbye is never easy, and in this case although it was hard ~ I was ready.

What I have always found is that I need to let go to move forward. I know this from moving many times, and I know this from selling many many great memory making ‘things’.

And now we are ready to move on to the next chapter, and with that…

So what’s happening up at the cabin you might ask?

May is booked with our Trades scheduled in quick succession so that we can ‘move in’ and start enjoying the cabin in about 1 1/2 weeks.

• The well is hooked up!

• The (temporary) propane tank was delivered and hooked up!

• Final plumbing work to ready the systems is scheduled for tomorrow (Happy May Day!) and will be tested.  This means we will have running water and working radiant floor heating!!! And that means…

• The concrete floors will be polished after the heat and water are on ~ May 2.

• The long delayed wood stove installation is scheduled for May 22, which means we can afterwards complete the roof.  [Speaking of the roof we saw it without snow for the very first time yesterday, YES it went on in October and yesterday was April 29! (but today it snowed again!!!)]

• The siding that continued to be delayed by weather will hopefully be going up starting tomorrow!… because ~ it needs to be finished before we can complete the roof.

• The roof is scheduled for completion immediately after the stove is installed the week of May 22.

• Today we ordered the refrigerator!!

PHEW! What’s next you ask? Well ~ then we are going to try to just enjoy the cabin for the Summer without working on it too seriously. It will not be completed in the inside, so we will essentially be ‘glamping’. We will have a toilet, but now shower (hello again ROAM); and we will have a temporary living and dining area. BEYOND EXCITING!

Meanwhile in Minneapolis…

Sometimes a place isn’t about a place at all.  It is about a memory of a place, and a feeling.  That’s how we felt recently at a new spot in our neighborhood ~ Dutch Bar.  Walking in, I was instantly reminded of a Brown Café we hung out at one afternoon in Haarlem in The Netherlands.  Sipping a drink, spending time together, hearing new music that would forever capture the moment for us (Zuco 103).  The last three years have changed many people’s perspectives on travel, including ours.  We have for many reasons ended up staying close to home.  I realized after our visit to Dutch Cafe that I am lucky to be able to create new memories ~ Dutch-style now here at home.  We can’t wait for better weather and many bike dates to this special spot that transports us, but firmly plants us home.

I would like to say “In April I will be working on…”, but that month is already gone and I am mentally very behind on my personal goal of one Story a month. But what is important to me is that this remains a creative outlet for me, and that there is quality over quantity. So…

Between ‘moving in’ to the cabin, gravel riding to my hearts content, my part time job, taking care of my family commitments, taking care of my health, and taking up a new hobby, I plan to start working on our next Story. As all Minnesotan’s know, Summer should be a Statewide Holiday ~ so things will definitely be slower over here for awhile (is that possible?!), but I will be back.

Thanks for reading and watching äventyr.cc, and supporting my mental health and creativity! ~DeAnn

You see last October, the week of the Cabin build started out as a beautiful Autumn 70 degree day.  And what was supposed to be the night before the last day of the build, instead turned into a Winter Storm in which us, and our builder, all packed up in the darkness of night and drove home. We waited anxiously for days to finish the build, and all had to return with snow on the roof and the chill of winter in the air.

Again and again and again and again…

Here we are in March, once again we headed up to the Cabin yesterday with a grand plan.  To see if the electrician had indeed been there, to build some walls for the plumber, to perhaps do some shoveling (Again and again and again and again…), and maybe even have some…fun….  Instead, while we were at the lumber yard in Cable, a Winter Storm Warning popped up on my phone inevitably shortening our stay, and therefore accomplishing very little more than shoveling (which we couldn’t even finish because there is so much!).

On a positive note, the electrical team had indeed been at the cabin.  In fact they were there when we arrived.  Seeing progress always feels good (even when you are navigating fear of your roof caving in from snow).

We are hopeful Spring will come sooner than later, and if it doesn’t we know without a doubt Summer will come.

“What comes next? Not spring. ‘Unlocking’ comes next. What else could cruel March and only slightly less cruel April be? March and April are not spring. They’re Unlocking.” ~ Kurt Vonnegut

All this to say, I have uploaded my second story.

In The Plan I tell the story of putting together The List of what we wanted out of a property and the Design Specifications document we put together to share with our architect.

Read/Watch Story Two: The Plan

So what else is going on now at the cabin you might ask?

• The electricians are partly done! We have ‘juice’ and three ‘live’ outlets! But, we aren’t sure when they are coming back to finish the work…

• We are going up again this weekend to finish the work we were meant to do last week before we got snowed out: Building walls so our plumber can put in the combi-boiler!

• Shoveling. Hopefully this is about it!

• Siding was supposed to go on this week and next, but our partner has been delayed due to SNOW. Still hoping to get this finished by the first week of April. He also said he would help straighten our doors (they were not installed properly by our builder).

• Lining up all the trades for the end of April, early May to:

  • Finish the electrical work.

  • Finish the plumbing work so we can turn on the water and heating system.

  • Install the wood stove pipe so we can finish the roof.

  • Finish roof.

  • Finish the floors.

  • Install the wood stove.

• Once we get good weather, we have to go up to Ashland and pick up a window that the manufacturer had to remake because they made it wrong. It has been sitting there since November and we couldn’t get up there due to the weather!

It’s been a LONG stressful winter, we can’t wait to get to mid-May and hopefully have things checked off our list and start spending time at the Crash Pad (with heat, and for more than a few hours).

Fingers, and toes crossed….

In March, I will be working on our next story about The Architect. We will share what our experience has been like, and how we became people who now say “Our Architect”, something we never expected to be part of our vocabulary.

I turn 52 this week (St. Patrick’s Day to be exact). I am not quite sure what I expected out of 51, but that said ~ it wasn’t quite what I bargained for. In that regard, I have been working on a story since last Summer I want to share with you. The working title is “GenX Notes: When the Wheels Fall Off”.

I keep thinking pretty soon I will be ‘done’ with the story arc so I can share it with you, but I have realized there is no ‘done’ in this story. I anticipate being ready to share this story sometime this Summer (and hopefully writing part of it at the Crash Pad).

I am also hoping to start writing some gear reviews of things we are using/loving (unsponsored, just my two cents).

So stay subscribed (it’s FREE). I am just getting started in this space….

Subscribe now

And one last thing I thought you might enjoy that I found this week.

This is definitely making it in my “When the Wheels Fall Off” story, part of which involves protein. This genius trick is going to make my life SO much easier! (A cyclist went viral with this tip on TikTok Kurt told me, but I found this video).

Genius Protein Hack

Thanks for reading and watching äventyr.cc, and supporting my mental health and creativity! ~DeAnn

Thanks for sticking around for äventyr 2.0! Since we last communed…

I have learned that closing a business was a bit more of an emotional journey than I was expecting. Shutting down everything I worked so hard to figure out in the early days of äventyr as a new small business owner was full of mixed feelings; it reminded me of the hope and excitement we both had at the start, how hard it was to figure everything out, and sadly how quickly you can tear it all down and move on. But it also felt like a release so I could move forward.

Transition is never easy, but it does feel like the right decision.

One of those loose ends to close was supposed to be selling my big industrial sewing machine. The first week of January I had an interested buyer, but at the last minute I just couldn’t part with it. I guess it meant more to me than I thought. I guess it was another one of those things I worked so hard to figure out that I was closing the book on, but not emotionally ready for. When I realized it could be gone forever, I also realized I was never really able to sew anything for myself, so I am taking some time to do a few last projects (hello extra special Gräventyr’s) before saying goodbye (I think I will still be able to do that…). I also thought about all the new design ideas in my head; it is hard to acknowledge that they may never be realized. But perhaps I will find a way, Juki or not.

On the upside of January, äventyr 2.0 has been working out exactly how I had hoped. My new creative journey of making stories has kept me busy when I am not working, and distracted during one of the hardest months of the year. I have loved being in ‘flow’ while working on our first story, and I am excited to share it with you →

The first story explains Our Why of building a cabin/part-time home in the woods through my writing accompanied by my first video.

Head to the Blog to Watch

In February I will be working on the second story - The Plan. This will take you behind the scenes of what buying property and getting ready for a build is like. I will also share more about our design process.

So what’s going on now with the Cabin you might ask. Because our videos are well behind where we are actually at, here is a sneak peak and update

This is what the cabin looks like right now. Now imagine working in a cold parking ramp for a day! Not quite the hygge you think about when you head ‘up to the cabin’, but we’ll get there. On that note…

• We have been designing and laying out the kitchen, building walls, marking electrical spots for the electrician, and shoveling (a LOT of shoveling!).

• Our electrician is supposed to be on-site in January (fingers crossed that is happening this week)!

• We laid out our 2023 budget and schedule of work to be done and are lining up our trades. We are learning that both budget and schedule can be limiting and require some creativity in decision making. Ah…. so fun being our own GC’s.

• In March the siding will go up.

• Once the snow melts our wood stove will go in, and then our roof will be completed.

We are ready for Spring, and soon thereafter not only heat in the cabin, but to start spending more time there and get to some serious gravel biking finally! Meanwhile, cold cabin days, and sweaty indoor training classes will have to do ~ putting in the work always pays off!

Wishing you a great end to January and an even better February!

Thanks for reading and watching!

Watch & Read Story One: Our Why

~DeAnn

This is a bit long, so sit yourself down for a fika and please do us the honor of reading on…

Some of you may know the story…

We moved to Minneapolis from San Francisco with a dream to start our own business.

• In 2017 we decided it was time to pursue this dream.

• In 2018 we launched äventyr.

• In 2019 we started our first ‘year in business’.

• In 2020 a pandemic began, and we fell deeper in love with gravel biking in Northern Wisconsin

• In 2021 another long standing dream we had began to take shape ~ we bought some land to go to to take a break from city life.

• In 2022 we started to build the Spider Lake Crash Pad, and with that a vision for the way we live and work began to change.

This is where the story doesn’t end, but changes.

This will be our last newsletter for äventyr bicycle bags. But this is not our last newsletter.

AND…. This is not the end of äventyr ~ but a new beginning!

We have decided to shut down the retail side of äventyr for a multitude of reasons.  The main one being, we will be splitting our time between The City and Far, Far Out of The City (in fact this lifestyle has already begun).  This makes running a business that involves being at a big heavy (not transportable) sewing machine, being at weekend events, and having time to do ‘all the business related things’ no longer possible.  That, and our sales just are not what we had hoped them to be.

I’ve known since last year this would likely be the trajectory of äventyr, but I also knew that it has been a great outlet for my creativity, and I didn’t want to let that go.  Our intent with äventyr has always been that we would be able to grow it and evolve it in ways that may, or may not, specifically be about selling bicycle bags.  Now is that time.  From day one, we decided on a brand name that was flexible ~ äventyr = adventure.  And wow have we been on one!  

Before I get into our next adventure, I need to take care of some business. We need to sell our remaining inventory, shut down our online store, and then once that is done our domain (www.aventyr.cc) will move over to Substack, our new platform where I am writing to you from.

So lucky you ~ We are having A SALE!  You all know we don’t do sales, but we are now ~ through December 21 (while supplies last)!  40% off all in-stock inventory, free shipping/free local delivery, all sales final.  No need to enter a code, just go to the website and shop!  I would love for you to start your äventyr, and also divest of the small amount of inventory taking up closet space in my design (or should I now say ~ writing) studio!

*If you purchase before November 16, your purchase will go towards our last Give to the Max Day charitable Donations from äventyr on November 17.

• Free Local Delivery

• Free Local Pickup (I can arrange an in-person pickup with you at ASI or Eastside Coop, just let me know in the comments at checkout)

• Free Shipping

Shop The SALE

Our next äventyr…

With the opportunity to evolve äventyr, I decided to stop doing the parts of äventyr that were not ‘bringing me joy’, and continue with the parts that were.  Mainly, crafting stories through writing, photography, and technology.

I will be keeping our website (aventyr.cc) as a personal blog to share our cabin building process, our life in nature, our cycling adventures, aging as everyday athletes and how that plays into everything we do (rest, nutrition, exercise, etc.), and more, with you ~  friends and family.

I feel like I am going back to where things began for me when we first moved to Minneapolis in 2006 - a personal blog with no metrics (or money) tied to success.  And I am excited about that.

I love to craft a good story.  Many people (many of you) have told me I am good at it.  Some of you don’t even bike, but have told me you like to read our newsletter (high praise!). So…

With this newsletter you are already subscribed to our Substack newsletter. You will continue to receive our newsletters (no more than once/month, likely less). [Not interested, of course you can unsubscribe (but we will be sorry to see you go for sure)].

äventyr Substack

I also have a separate blog feed on Substack ~ if you want updates every time I post, you can subscribe to the blog separately. Even better, you can download the Substack App that acts as a reader on your phone. I have been subscribed to Feedly for years, which is similar - you subscribe to blogs you like and go in at your own leisure to check for new posts. If you do not want to subscribe directly to the blog, you will be on the newsletter list and get a summary email of our going’s on, so you can stay updated and not have a flooded inbox.

Back to that technology part…  Over the last two years I have developed an appreciation for people who are creating ‘slow living’ videos on YouTube that have helped me relax and destress.  People like Jonna Jinton, Gorogoro Kitchen, Becki and Chris, and Dani Connor Wild.  

And as we shared with you in previous newsletters, we have been building a cabin.  It seemed like the perfect path to follow to combine our Spider Lake Crash Pad Journey with this new äventyr.

All Summer and Fall I have been filming the process of building our cabin (Spider Lake Crash Pad).  I LOVE watching home shows, and something tells me you might too.  Over the winter I will be creating videos (and updating our YouTube channel) to share videos that compliment my writing.  I am excited about learning new skills in film editing, and sharing what has been a very personal journey for Kurt and I with you.   We don’t plan to be YouTube ‘stars’ or ‘influencers’ (far from it), but it would be neat if you stopped by and followed along (you can subscribe if you want to get notices when we post new videos, and if you do maybe we can get our own name as our address instead of: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcCmTNYfeHvK4H8rztPkOFA).

äventyr on YouTube

äventyr YouTube

Closing the first chapter of äventyr to start a new one feels right, a bit sad, a relief, and honestly a bit fun.  I have always been conflicted about making more ‘stuff’ to put out into the world, and because of that I believed structuring the business responsibly was important.  But now I get to make ‘stuff’ in a different way, and I am excited about that.

Kurt and I want to thank you for all the support you have given us every step of the way.  Your purchases have allowed us to support good people doing good things.  

~ DeAnn & Kurt

P.S. The last post in my three-part series ‘How A Cyclist Eats:  Aging” is still in my head, a bit on ‘paper’, and an evolving work in progress because it is based on some real world experiences I am going through.

I was not able to finish it before I sent this newsletter, so this will be one of the first posts on the new blog. I hope you will stick around to keep reading!

Reminder: Don’t forget to shop our 40% OFF SALE!