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Tour de Okemos 50 Miler

Posted Tuesday, May 24, 2022

TOUR de OKEMOS STAGE 3 - 50-MILE by Joe Dzenowagis class of 1974

Independence Day July 4, 2021; 100-105 degrees asphalt level

I have been trying to bike every street in Okemos over the last few years on my old school, one-gear, newspaperboy bike with coaster brakes. I go as fast as I can the whole ride with no stopping except to pull from a stash of drinks in our mailbox at mile 30-something. That will explain why my voice sounds a little overly animated, loud and breathy--I am going full-tilt for 5 HOURS.

My ride begins around 5 thirty, ends in the dark. Wanting to get home by midnight, I had no time to pop wheelies, burn rubber, squeal tires or lay down a patch…well I did patch out our old high school parking lot, not captured on video. And I forgot my street chalk at home—I would have marked our high school lot, as our turf, for the Kewanee Gang. And finally, I did not get blasted by the 4th's fireworks nor get bit by those mean-sounding German shepherds.

I didn’t spend much time in downtown Okemos, although I really wanted to, because it was dark and late around mile 44 by the time I got there. I will hit downtown and a lot of trails on the next big ride—that will be more exciting. My series of Okemos rides are part of training for my running, but also because I want to have a lot of fun riding every street and trail in Okemos. I want to note that I am not a cyclist and don’t enjoy little biker shorts or a helmet.

While I have a Schwinn Continental 10-speed I prefer the Blue Bike so I can go off-road and because I missed out riding it over the years. Stolen in late high school, my bike was dumped off decades later at night in a blizzard in two feet of snow at the top of our driveway. Perhaps a morally-challenged person seeking redemption. Dad sure was surprised when he found it while shoveling.

I try to work up to a century every summer—20, 30, 40, 50--but have only gotten up to 62 before summers run out. I don’t plan my rides, I just go. This 50-miler took me through the streets in Okemos south of Grand River, west of Cornell and east of Hagadorn. Previous stages of the Tour included Okemos streets north up to Haslett Road and east out to Van Atta and Powell and west to Hagadorn. I usually would catch a lot of East Lansing, MSU, Haslett and Williamston on some of them. In this tour you will see 8 Okemos schools, 4 cemeteries, a couple of mean German shepherds and lots of neighborhoods. I have never recorded a ride before, but wished I had.

I used my Phonecam, not a Go-Pro, which made some riding a little challenging with one hand on the wheel. I had a lot of adventures on this ride but I wasn’t rolling all the time, only an hour of the 5 hours. Important to note that I often couldn’t see what was in my view screen because of brilliant sun or darkness.

I want to acknowledge that I was inspired to capture one of my rides by fellow Okemos alums’ Sky Tribell’s driving tours of Okemos and Mark Jay’s story of how he would think about riding his bike through old Okemos to help put himself to sleep. Don’t sweat it if you snooze off in this 50-miler, it’s mostly lovely Okemos neighborhoods on lots of asphalt roads. I hope you all have wonderful rides this summer. Joe Dzenowagis

A Driving Tour of Okemos Neighborhoods
Posted Wednesday, May 20, 2020 02:39 PM

In 2014, Sky Tribell class of 1969, loaded his new GoPro camera into his Jeep and created multiple videos of Okemos neighborhoods. Thanks for your work Sky!

- Cedar Bend Heights

- Chippewa Hills Drive

- Forest Hills

- the Four Corners of Downtown Okemos

- Grand River Ave

- Indian Hills

- Navaho Ridge

- 2nd Okemos High School (open1960)

- Ottawa Hills Drive

- Tacoma Hills

Produced by HOMTV - Reflections is a talk show program reflecting on Meriian Township's history with longtime residents, business owners and Township employees.

October 1, 2019 - On this episode of Reflections, host Jane Rose [Executive Director of Meridian Historical Village] speaks with author and historian Heidi Madsen about the Northwind Horse Farm owned by Sam and Nona McKinley [parents of Joan McKinley, grandparents to Sam, Jorja and Tom Hughes] which was located at River Avenue and Northwind Drive in Okemos and is currently a shopping plaza. This farm was home to legendary American Saddlebred Stallion, Oklahoma Peavine, which went on to sire many prize winning horses. A small gravestone still marks where Oklahoma Peavine still rests in the parking lot of the plaza. Heidi's book is "Gaited in the Great Lakes" about the American Saddlebred horse.

HOMTV provides information about Meridian Township government and events. It provides original programming each year to cable subscribers on Comcast Channel 21. HOMTV is the exclusive source of official township meetings. Meridian Township includes all of Haslett and Okemos, as well as a small percentage of East Lansing and Williamston mailing addresses. To learn more, visit our website: http://homtv.net/

Produced by HOMTV - Reflections is a talk show program reflecting on Meriian Township's history with longtime residents, business owners and Township employees.

February 7, 2018 - On this episode of Reflections, host Jane Rose [Executive Director of Meridian Historical Village] speaks with Ron Wheeler class of 1969 regarding his Proctor family's rich history in Meridian Township. The specific building they discuss is the Tollgate building that had been moved multiple times to its current - and final - resting place in Meridian Village. Also to note: the Proctor farm was sold and became the site of Wardcliff school.

Produced by HOMTV - Reflections is a talk show program reflecting on Meriian Township's history with longtime residents, business owners and Township employees.

HOMTV "Throwback Thursday" Program, where we dig into the archives of our older programs and bring them back to life. On this episode, we toss back to 20 years ago with one of Meridian Township's pioneer families and feature a "Reflections" interview back in 1996 with John Grettenberger class of 1955 interviewed by Lorry Everhardus.

Produced by HOMTV - Reflections is a talk show program reflecting on Meriian Township's history with longtime residents, business owners and Township employees.

HOMTV "Throwback Thursday" Program, where we dig into the archives of our older programs and bring them back to life. On this episode, we take a look at a "Reflections" interview back in 1993 with Ted Wonch on Meridian Township's purchase of Wonch Park.

Produced by HOMTV - Reflections is a talk show program reflecting on Meriian Township's history with longtime residents, business owners and Township employees.

This is an interview with Bill Hicks, developer of many of Meridian Township's developments. Meridian Mall comments begin: 7:40

2015 marked the 50th anniversary of the Okemos class of 1965. As part of the celebration, the class toured the "new" High School built in 1961 and now a middle school. That fall, the middle school play "Annie" was scheduled. Staring Annie, was 7th grader, Olivia Terry. 50 years earlier, the class of '65 was greatly involved with the first Okemos musical, "Bye-Bye Birdie". To commemorate the occasion, Olivia performed several selections from the upcoming "Annie" and other tunes. Later that year, Rod Ellis '65 took Olivia to a sound studio and had her record those tunes. He then had the sound track put together with pictures from the performance and in the recording studio. Olivia also sang all the parts by dubbing over the chorus. Rod Ellis

Dr. Walter Schreiner, Okemos class of 1959, tells about his career odyssey through physics. Nov. 2019 Interview with David Chapman, Okemos Biology

The Okemos Alumni Association donated $10,000 to the Okemos Education Foundation as a lead match fund for Science Enrichment at Okemos Public Schools. The fund was named after much beloved and respected biology teacher, John Bjorkquist. Nov. 2017

Joel Peterson class of 1965 receives the Alumni Award for Outstanding Achievement from the Okemos Education Foundation. Joel is a 1965 graduate from Okemos High School in Okemos, Michigan. Joel was nominated for the award by his OHS '65 classmates. Nov. 2016