The Last of Summer

August flew by!  Took a girl's trip to Plumtree, NC where we visited two waterfalls, hiked, and paddled down the Toe River.  Although the Toe was supposed to be a mild river with walking sections and a lot of portage points, it turned out to have class two and three rapids after a full day of rain. Needless to say it was 4 hours of adventure!  We try to take a trip every year, with last year the Alaskan Adventure and next year RAGBRI.   Late August we headed down to Clemson for a visit the Wood's and kids on the lake.  School is off to a great start and the with end of road season we are looking forward to spending some time in the forest on our mountain bikes.

Wedding Weekend

The first race team Sean and I joined when we moved to SC was Charlotte Sports Cycling with Neal Boyd, who continues to be a great friend.  Also on that team was a young, fast boy straight out of high school, Dave and his delightful girlfriend, Bonnie. Almost 10 years later we're still great friends and see them all over the country at bike races.  This weekend Dave's little sister Allison tied the knot with an awesome guy, who both went to App State as well.  We have been fortunate to be friends of the Forkner family and watch these amazing young folks grow up.  It was an honor to be included in their wedding festivities and we made a weekend out of it staying in a cool lodge and mountain biking in our honeymoon spot, Tsali Recreation Area.

 

 

 

Outer Banks

Visiting the Outer Banks (OBX) has been on our "to do" list since we moved to North Carolina.  I listen to my students rave about it and started to feel like I was left out, or certainly not a true North Carolinian unless I visited. So, this summer a student who's family has a home in Buxton, NC (mile 61 on HWY 12-almost at the end of Hatteras Island) offered a stay.  Consequently, he is also doing his internship at an exclusive resort in OBX, so I was able to work and play.  Words cannot describe the natural beauty of the OBX, although a few come to mind; breathtaking, inspiring, majestic...you get the point. And Sean and I aren't "beach people."  I dropped him off to ride his bike in the 50 mile HWY 12 to the house on our trip in and I drove slow, stopped to take pix, and enjoyed the evening glow on the ocean and dunes (one way in and out).  We tried to pack as much in as possible for four days, so we paddle boarded, visited the Hatteras lighthouse and Wright Brother Museum, rode our bikes to Ocracoke, and ate seafood every meal.  The highlight of the trip was Ocracoke.  We rode 12 miles from our house to the ferry (a 40 minute ride), then 14 miles to Ocracoke.  The lady at the bar said, "Goddamn, you rode that far?"  And although I laughed at her, the last leg of our trip in 90 degree heat when Sean couldn't take it anymore and rode home in front of me, I did start to agree with her!  It was a great day, although the heat got to me (my cryptonite) and I was thankful for a tailwind home because I'm pretty sure I wasn't peddling.  I would highly recommend the trip, it is truly a special place and one worth protecting!

End of Our Summer Midwest Tour

After Tour of Dairyland we spent a few more days in Indiana visiting family.  Unfortunately, we were unable to see the fireworks show at the 4th of July Festival due to the drought and fire ban.  I will admit it was the hottest I've ever been in Indiana with temperatures in the 100's and we forgot how violent storms can be.  The tree below fell on our deck while my Dad was sitting on it watching the storm blow in.  It's a 100 year old black locus tree. The wood is extremely durable, hard, and VERY heavy.  It was sad to the see the tree I grew up swinging on fall.  The storms that night had winds in excess of 60mph and took out our power for the night.  Unfortunately, little rain followed. We decided to head to the local pool (recently remodeled) and cool down with our nephew.  Now it's back to work teaching summer school, visiting interns, and catching up on house work.  Happy July!

 

 

 

Tour of Dairyland

After visiting with my folks for a few days I picked Sean up from the Chicago airport and headed to Milwaukee to race in the Tour of Dairyland.  The race series is 10 days of racing in various towns around the Milwaukee area.  Sean raced well getting on the podium many times...he won a lot of coffee.  The races in Wisconsin, both Dairyland and Superweek, attract the best Master's racers in the country, which made for great finishes and fun competition for Sean.  We stayed with a great host family in Brookfield and was able to enjoy the local Greenway system in town.  We swam in Long Lake at the Kettle Moraine State Forest after the Greenbush road race.  The forest and lake were beautiful, with minimal uggies in the water, enabling me to swim and touch the bottom!  One of our favorite parts of traveling is eating at great restaurants.  You can see below we found a great breakfast spot, where surprisingly at 8am we were the only ones not drinking fancy OJ Mimosa's or beer.   We thought for a moment we had AM and PM mixed up, but I guess its part of their culture.  They had a delicious eggs benedict, something hard to find the southland.  Another night we had dinner with David Forkner at a vegetarian/vegan restaurant, which was amazing!  We had a great time and miss many things about the Midwest, including the beautiful rural farm landscapes, friendly people, and cool weather.  We head back to Indiana to visit family, friends, and partake in the July 4th festival until next week when it's back to work!

 

 

 

 

 

Down Home

Made the trip to Indiana last week as we start our Grand Summer Midwest Tour.  Snapped a few shots of my parents farm, which has great memories. I delivered a barn quilt made in our town, West Jefferson, to my folks.  It took my Dad making a serious pulley system to raise the quilt and it looks great!  Heading to Wisconsin for five days of racing in the Tour of Dairyland.

 

Memorial Day Traditions

Since I can remember we go to the lakes for Memorial Day and in Indiana it was the official start of summer.  I broke that tradition last year when Sean and I raced BURN, a 24 hour mountain bike race in Wilkesboro, NC on the Dark Mountain Trails.  It seemed like a great idea to ring in our 10 year wedding anniversary; however, with a few stomach issues, heat, and lack of sleep I decided breaking that tradition was a bad idea!  So, this year I went to the lakes and stayed at the Wood's Playground in Clemson which includes the Issaqueena Forest, Hartwell lake, and a pool.  We had a great time and I love watching the kids grow up and pick on each other...it brings back great memories!  Sean on the hand raced on a five man team for the 24 hours of BURN race.  Although he had a great time, I think he'll be returning to my tradition next year too!