Offenburger.com

Along Our Way

KMA radio in Chuck Offenburger’s hometown of Shenandoah celebrated its 85th birthday on August 12. The station, owned by the May family for three generations now, honored its history of having big “jubilees” by putting up a big tent, broadcasting outdoors throughout the day, giving visitors free pancakes and sausages, inviting listeners to “face dive” in an 85-foot-long cake, airing lots of vintage audio clips, and doing special interviews.
[TO SEE THESE PHOTOS IN LARGER FORMAT, AND TO READ A BRIEF STORY, CLICK HERE.]

A conversation

LIVING WITH CANCER

with the Offenburgers

Chuck Offenburger was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins follicular lymphoma cancer on July 10, 2009, had six months of chemotherapy & is now doing well in a “maintenance” program. Carla Offenburger underwent surgery on April 26, 2010, for removal of a jaw tumor which was found to contain adenoid cystic carcinoma cancer. She underwent six weeks of follow-up radiation in June and July, and continues under close medical observation. We post updates frequently here, including brief insights from Chuck, Carla and at least one of you readers.

“If the sedative makes normal people balmy, I wonder what it’s going to do to you since you have been balmy ever since I’ve known you, except for the last days of your first two marriages.”

FOR THE LATEST UPDATE, CLICK HERE.

What’s the deal with the
black & white saddle shoes?

Click here for the story of our farm in Greene County, Iowa.

Here's looking at life
at Simple Serenity Farm

Carla’s sister & brother-in-law Chris and Tony Woods, of Des Moines, were at the farm on Sunday, August 22, helping Carla do the lawn mowing and other yard work that we’ve struggled to keep up with lately, with all our medical appointments. The Woodses brought along their 18-month-old granddaughter Ari, who was a delight watching all the action from the porch with Chuck, catching up on her reading and then getting a moment on the lawn tractor seat!
Click here for larger format

Earlier photos in this series

Chuck Offenburger's
new book on sports
legend Gary Thompson
gets excellent reviews

FOR INFORMATION ON WHERE & HOW TO BUY THE BOOK, CLICK HERE!

''GARY THOMPSON: All-American'' is the new, 352-page biography of one of the state’s genuine sports icons. From 1950-’53 Gary Thompson led the Roland Rockets to high school sports glory in basketball and baseball, giant-killers from one of Iowa’s small schools. Then he led the Cyclones at Iowa State from 1953-’57, becoming the college’s first two-sport All-American. He’s had major success in broadcasting and business, from his home base in Ames. And he and his wife Janet have a family as solid as they come. “I’m the luckiest guy around,” Thompson says.

TO READ CHUCK OFFENBURGER'S COLUMN ABOUT THE BOOK AND THE ''BOOK LAUNCHING'' HELD EARLY IN DECEMBER, CLICK HERE.

TO READ DES MOINES REGISTER SPORTSWRITER RICK BROWN'S REVIEW OF THE BOOK, CLICK HERE.

TO READ CEDAR RAPIDS GAZETTE SPORTS COLUMNIST JIM ECKER'S REVIEW OF THE BOOK, CLICK HERE.

TO READ AMES DAILY TRIBUNE SPORTSWRITER DICK KELLY'S STORY ABOUT THE BOOK, CLICK HERE.

TO READ DOUG BURNS' STORY ABOUT THE BOOK IN THE CARROLL DAILY TIMES HERALD, CLICK HERE.

TO READ ANDY GOODELL'S STORY ABOUT THE BOOK IN THE OSKALOOSA HERALD, CLICK HERE.

WANT TO SEE AND HEAR THE OLD ROLAND HIGH SCHOOL FIGHT SONG PERFORMED? CLICK HERE!

FOR INFORMATION ON WHERE & HOW TO BUY THE BOOK, CLICK HERE!

FOR PHOTOS FROM OUR BOOK LAUNCHING EVENTS, CLICK HERE!

SEE BOB MODERSOHN'S PHOTOS OF OUR BOOK CHAT AND SIGNING AT BEAVERDALE BOOKS IN DES MOINES!

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Iowa Hall of Pride
netINS, Inc.
Butler House on Grand B&B
Sam's Barber Shop
Douglas T. Bates III, Attorney
KMA Radio's ''Chuck & Don Show''
Barack Obama story & coloring book
The Monks of New Melleray Abbey

My View from the Porch

Here are 10 very good reasons why she wants to return to Wisconsin for more bicycle riding

By CARLA OFFENBURGER
August 9, 2006
COOPER, IOWA

Send me back to Wisconsin for biking anytime!

Chuck and I just returned from one of Wisconsin’s state bike rides, “SAGBRAW,” or “Sprocket’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Wisconsin.” The “sprocket” comes from Wheel & Sprocket, a Wisconsin bicycle shop. They provide all the mechanical support for the ride, otherwise, the ride is privately owned and operated.

This year was the 29th year for SAGBRAW, and I think it’s a stretch to characterize it as “across Wisconsin.” This year’s route traveled down the east shore of the state, along Lake Michigan, then up and around the Door County peninsula, then continuing south on the lakeshore. In other words, we did a very small section of Wisconsin – but it had to be the best section for biking.

We had a wonderful experience. There are many reasons why, so I thought I’d do my “Top 10 List for Heading Back to Wisconsin for Biking Anytime.” Here we go:

1) There are no gravel roads in Wisconsin. At least in our week of biking near and in Door County, we never saw one. I mean it – NO gravel roads. What this means for bikers is you can be on the most remote back roads, where nearly no traffic is, and you are still on well-maintained asphalt or concrete roadways. Fabulous!

Carla Offenburger was among the cyclists who pedaled into Green Bay, Wisconsin, just in time to watch the tall ships docking during their annual summer sail around Lake Michigan.

2) Very light vehicle traffic. Chuck and I estimate that in the first four days of biking, we might have had 100 cars pass us – in either direction. It was incredible. Oh sure, when we got into the overnight towns, or the more popular tourist spots in Door County, there was traffic. But on average during the long stretches of riding during the days, we could literally bike several miles and never see a car. A biker’s dream.

3) It wasn’t RAGBRAI. Oh don’t get me wrong – we love the Des Moines Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa. But we’ve done it plenty of times (23 for Chuck and 17 for me). For the most part, we are now on the every-other-year plan of biking on it. Chuck did one day of this summer’s RAGBRAI, but I opted to sit it out. It is always busy and crowded. Going to other states – the rides are always much smaller and less crowded – makes for a nice break. SAGBRAW was our fifth state ride. We’ve done GOBA (Great Ohio Bike Adventure), Cycle Montana, Bike Virginia, Cycle Zydeco (a Lafayette, Louisiana, ride), and the two of us have done informal touring in Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee.

Carla Offenburger is shown here sitting on one of the massive rock promontories at Cave Point County Park on the east shore of Door County in Wisconsin.

4) Few knew our name. I don’t mean to imply that everyone knows us, but with Chuck being the Des Moines Register’s “Iowa Boy” columnist for 21 years, and co-host of RAGBRAI for 16 years, a lot of folks in Iowa do know us. For the most part, we can escape to other states and blend into the crowd. Oh, undoubtedly folks with RAGBRAI or Iowa connections are on these rides, and we find out that we know quite a few whom we enjoy seeing, but there’s an awful lot of cyclists who don’t do RAGBRAI, and it’s nice to ride with them, too.

5) Wisconsin could be called the “Garden State.” Oh, I know New Jersey uses that line, but I haven’t been to New Jersey – and I’ve never seen such lush and beautiful gardens as I did last week. It seems as if every country home in Wisconsin is home to a gardener or two. And, wow, do they know how to make the flowers bloom! It was one spectacular view after another. I’d be hard-pressed to choose just one “garden of the week” in Wisconsin, so I’m giving the whole state my “Gardens of the Summer” award. Nothing is better than biking on deserted roads and seeing fabulous flowers blooming on every acreage.

6) And the wildflowers! Oh my! If there weren’t planted gardens in my view, there were fabulous roadsides and fields of wildflowers. The roadside wildflower program in Wisconsin is by far the best and most well-maintained I’ve ever seen – miles and miles of them, over and over again.

7) My new friend, Mary Goonan. Yes, it is easy to make new friends on bike rides, epecially when folks are friendly and pedal right up next to you and start a conversation. That’s exactly what Mary Goonan, from Bellville, Wisconsin, did on the first morning of SAGBRAW. And the three of us rode together the rest of the week. We had a wonderful time exploring Wisconsin together. Mary gave Chuck and me several “must-do-while-in-Wisconsin” things, and then she made sure we got them done. The best advice was to eat the Door County cherry desserts. And that we did. Mary and I had a lot in common, and then there were a lot of things that made us total opposites. It was a wonderful mix and I think I found a friend who I’ll be biking again with in the future. Making new friends on rides is a part of riding that I like best.

Carla and Chuck Offenburger struck up a new friendship with Mary Goonan, a teacher from Belleville, Wisconsin. Here Carla and Mary are shown picking some of the famous cherries in Door County, and also enjoying a break sitting at a busy crossroads in the small town of Egg Harbor.

8) Door County cherries. Oh, how sweet it is! With apologies to my mother, who makes a darned good cherry pie, I ate the best cherry pie of my life last week – at Perry’s Cherry Diner in Sturgeon Bay, the county seat town of Door County. And I tried many more pieces of cherry pie, or other cherry desserts, but Perry’s Cherry Diner is my winner. Besides cherry pie, I also enjoyed the cherry vinaigrette dressing offered several places. And we stopped at a cherry orchard and picked our own sour cherries, which were far too sour to eat and in need of some serious sugar!

9) Lake Michigan. The view was awesome when we arrived at our campsite on Friday night in Manitowoc. We were staying on the University of Wisconsin-Manitowoc campus and our site was right on the shoreline – well there was a beautiful field of wildflowers between us and the beach. But the evening view and the morning sunrise will be forever ingrained as one of the best experiences of my biking career – and I’ve had a whole lot of great biking experiences.

10) Shuttleguy. Never again will Chuck and I be able to go on a bicycle ride where we plan on camping without Shuttleguy. It’s a bicyclist’s dream – and we had to pinch ourselves a few times to make sure we weren’t indeed dreaming. Shuttleguy, LLC, is a fairly new service offered by one fabulous entrepreneur, Tym Allison, and his crew. It’s a full-service camping outfit. For a mere $50 per night, Chuck and I had a four-person tent put up and taken down for us, we had a very heavy-duty air mattress to sleep on, two fine campsite chairs, and daily towel service. And don’t let me forget the cold beverages when we arrived at our campsite in the evenings or the hot coffee available to us every morning – served in real cups! Our baggage? Delivered to us every night, and taken from our campsite every morning. So, there was no finding our own campsite, putting and taking down our own tent, trying to keep towels clean and dry, or schlepping our own luggage. We were left to sleep later in the mornings, and stay out longer on our bikes in the afternoon – knowing all the while that our camping needs were being taken care of by Shuttleguy. What more could one want while camping?

Of course, I didn’t mention the one terribly hot day we experienced on the bikes, or the 2½ inches of rain we had one night, which resulted in our tent site becoming lakefront property by morning. But really, those are the only two things I can think of that I’d be able to tell you made the week a bit challenging – and they were so long ago, I’ve nearly forgotten them by now.

I could go on and on about the wonderful experience we had last week, but I think I can best sum it up by telling you that I came home in a wonderful state of relaxation. So relaxed in fact, that for once on the return trip from a vacation, I didn’t find myself impatient to get home and start on my “to do” list – rather I was wishing there were a few more biking days left.

I struggled to get back to the real world – and find myself still struggling to come to terms with the fact that Door County, Wisconsin, is oh so far away from Simple Serenity Farm.

Now, those are good signs of a great vacation – and a wonderful bicycle experience, don’t you think?

Send your comments to carla@Offenburger.com.