So, the"Skull Ghost".

This is a primer on how to bamboozle your kids into riding. It includes the story of Rupert Thompkins, a.k.a The skull Ghost. I tell this one to the kids when we're riding in Ft. Ord. It's a good way to trick them into thinking bike riding is fun. The stories keep them innerested, and it helps to have a destination for them to keep in mind. We tell stories at Commanche's grave ( another story- it's the gravesite of a ghost horse). Destinations, stories, and snacks...got to have snacks to make it worth their while. Preferably sweet sticky things they don't normally get.
Stories about ghosts are best told at twilight. And allow me also to point out that these are ghost stories...not life-is-safe-and-boring stories, so blood and guts and bad behavior are required. My kids like it gory. (So do yours, you just might not know they do.) And Ft. Ord is mostly maritime chaparral, close to the sea, and full of old latrine holes (which are typically treasure chest sized); hence the piracy theme we have running thru our lies. So pick your story to match the surroundings, and your kids will make themselves believe your outlandish yarns as they "discover" the corroboration. Use of local history and known names (like they might see as parks or ball fields) helps, too. They want to believe, so throw them a bone- let them have some magic and wonder in their sanitized Halloween-at-the-mall-world.

Our man Rupert Thompkins was an honest and hardworking lettuce farmer in the Salinas valley in the days before refrigeration, and he sold produce to seamen looking for scurvy prevention. (Does lettuce even have vitamin C in it? I have no idea, but neither do they and it sounds credible. I don't even know if this is the way it always starts, but they don't pay attention so much unless I miss a gruesome detail) One evening at twilight he delivered some veggies to a crew of salty dogs, and they accused him of stealing their treasure and cut off his head. When full dark arrived and his ghost rose up, his head was long since washed out with the tide. Naturally, this upset his ghost and it promptly set out to find his missing dome. Upon encountering the drunken pirates, he tore off their heads and tried them on one at a time. None fit. Turns out pirates have giant heads on account of their being really good at math and stuff ( you know, all that loot multiplication and division really pays off in the brains department). So the headless ghost put the nearest-to-right head on and followed their tracks inland until it came to another group of pirates. This was the group of thieves, digging up more buried treasure. Which wasn't theirs. Well Rupert Thompkins' angry ghost treated this gang to the same head wrenching, with the same unhappy results.

At this point, the ghost has become a fixture in Ft. Ord. It has never found it's head or a suitable replacement. It is still out there, it will be looking...tonight. There are lots of treasure holes around to "prove" the pirates were there. And the hook in all this is that the "Skull Ghost" (he just leaves the last unsatisfactory head on until it turns to bleached bone or he finds a better specimen...) has figured out that kids have small heads, and would make fine replacements.

So. Something to think about. There're several more interlacing stories, and props to match- it is an abandoned army base. Each tale braces the others, holding up this house of cards until someone gets too old to buy in anymore. In the meantime, we're literally getting miles out of them. We can ride to the various spots mentioned and look at factual evidence. You have something just as scary and bonafide near you.

Spent an hour on the rollers watching East of Eden. James Dean, Burl Ives, a puddle of my own making, what? Told you bitches. Look out.

Finally, there's this:

I had a real fine time last year at Old Caz in the pouring rain, and hope to do the same this year. It was cold and inadvisable. I recommend it. If you're in this neck of the woods, it's very well organized and a strong/fun peloton. This does change the Blowfly plans, as Lake Sonoma- also a very fun ride- is that day. Looks like singletrack there, then on to SF for the show. Now who's with me?