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members network
We’d like to hear from you.Write to “Members
Network,” Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, 2121
Ward Ct., NW, 5th Floor,Washington, DC 20037.
Or email: . Letters
may be edited for publication.
As RTC celebrates its 30th
anniversary, we thought it
would be fun to pull some of our favorite
Members Network letters from over the
years.
We kick things off with part of a letter
from a Saratoga, California, member titled
“Hats Off,” published in the Summer 2001
issue. We agree with Ginny and wish to
extend the magazine’s gratitude to the entire
RTC community for 30 years well done.
Hats Off
[to you, RTC!] Summer 2001
Hats off to the RTC team for an out-
standing and most inspiring endeavor.
You can be extremely proud of what
you’ve accomplished. You deserve to go
down in history for making a significant
difference in the quality of life today and
in the future.
Ginny Babbit
SARATOGA, CALIF.
Tiny Trail Builder Summer 2004
My 5-year-old grandson, Justin, and I
love riding on Grant’s Trail in Missouri.
Justin also loves trains and construc-
tion sites. The other day he was playing
with his Thomas the Tank Engine toys
and Bob the Builder toys. As he was
scooping up a rail track with scoops,
he looked up to me and said, “Look,
Grandma, I’m building a bike trail.”
Nancy Collis
ST LOUIS, MO.
Making Trails Ready
for Homecoming Summer 2007
I am a huge fan of Rails-to-Trails
Conservancy and can’t wait to get back
to the States to enjoy the new trails
being completed while I’m gone. Having
served in Germany, my wife and I spent
countless hours enjoying their intercon-
nected bike trails that connect every
single neighborhood in Stuttgart.
Since returning to the States, we
enjoy watching as the trails around
our apartment become more con-
nected every day. We also appreciate the
legislative push that got bike lanes on
new federal roads and bridges, which are
often a block to connected trails.
However, in 11 months in
Afghanistan, I haven’t ridden a bicycle
one time. We’ve been on a small (100
yards x 100 yards) forward operating
base in the Dasht-e Margow (Desert of
Death) with little room to ride. I can’t
wait to get back to the States where you
can ride anywhere you like on rail-trails,
and enjoy the countryside without war,
mines or 130-degree heat. Thank you
very much for improving the trails so
they’ll be ready for my family and me
when I get back home.
Irving Gray
HELMAND PROVINCE, AFGHANISTAN
Yea for ‘Neigh’ Spring/Summer 2008
While riding in Noxubee National
Wildlife Refuge in Mississippi, I
encountered some horseback riders
approaching me. Even from a distance
of some 100 yards, the horses became
agitated. I got off my bike and moved
slowly, walking like a regular person, to
let the animals settle down. Perhaps this
might be considered worrying about
nothing; but I did not want to risk a
rider being thrown and cracking his
skull on a rock. So, I took my rest break
early and had a very pleasant five-minute
conversation [with the horseback riders].
The riders explained that their horses
had never seen a cyclist before and were
understandably fearful; my new friends
were quite appreciative of the courtesy.
This brief moment of goodwill cost
me nothing. There are many reasons to
be neighborly and a few reasons to be
antagonistic. We can get along with each
other and share the trail.
Sean Harrington
STARKVILLE, MISS.
50-State Salute
Spring/Summer 2010
As a public school teacher I had free
time in the summers, so I started
bicycling in the summer of 1983. I
was 40 years old, and that was shortly
before RTC was born. My first ride
was a Chequamegon National Forest
loop in Wisconsin, carrying gear in
panniers and covering 190 miles in
three days.
With inspiration from RTC, the
miles I bicycled, roads I covered and
trails I rode increased each year. On
retiring from Rosemount Middle
School in 2001, I continued to increase
the miles I bicycled and ventured
farther from the Midwest—including
taking my bicycle on Amtrak trips
to California, Florida, New York and
Utah.
During the last eight years, I
have bicycled more than 3,200 miles
per year. In 2003, on the 110-mile
Mickelson Trail in South Dakota’s
Black Hills (featured in the inaugural
[1998] issue of Rails to Trails), I
celebrated 20 years of bicycling and
completing the equivalent of a bike
ride around the Earth—24,890 miles.
When I realized I had bicycled in 18
states, I decided I would bicycle in all
50. I researched trails in Rails to Trails
magazine as well as in RTC guidebooks
and online at
I am excited to report that as
of January 2010, my mission is
accomplished! Earlier this year, I rode
the River Mountains Loop Trail in
Boulder City, Nevada, making Nevada
state number 50.
Douglas Oines
NORTHFIELD, MINN.
Over the
years, some
pretty cool
covers have
graced Rails
to Trails
magazine.
Here are a
few of our
favorites.