Look what I found

Had some time off from work so I decided to tour around on some less maintained roads.  While riding along a township road (with grass growing in the middle no less) I ran across this train bridge and tunnel.  Nice find just a few miles away.  Came home and spent the afternoon wit the boys and did a little reading, guitar playing, and picking Brock out of the creek.  Something about boys and water...

 

 

 

To the beach.

Vacations just don't seem to happen at my house.  Kids/work/church schedules, weather, injury/illness, etc always get in the way.  Well the weather finally got better so I took off last Friday to go to the beach!  (Beach = swimming area at Lake Hope Sate Park).

Loaded up both 10' kayaks and off we went.  Shelly and Ethan kayaked while Brock and I hung out in the sand and surf.  Had the lake to ourselves.  Finished it off with lunch at the Lake Hope Lodge (highly recommend).

 

Ready for adventure now!

It seemed like a simple idea.  Put a rack on the roof of my topper so we could haul whatever up there and still have the full bed for storage and/or truck camping.  I did my research into what roof system I wanted and settled on the Yakima setup with 66" load bars, control towers and landing pad 1's for a track system.  The longest Yakima track is 60 inches, so I ordered a set of Rhino-Rack tracks (RTC18) that are 71" long (and as it turns out, I must of got the last set in the USA as they discontinued the long length due to lack of demand).

I had the chance yesterday to install the tracks.  After careful measuring to make sure they were on axis, parallel, centered, etc, I drilled the topper while trying to keep Brock from climbing the ladder or drill a hole in my truck.  Finished it up this morning and tried to install the landing pads only to discover the plastic spacers were missing making the bolts too long.  Luckily, I found a stash of plastic spacers the same size at work.  Finally, with blisters on my fingers the bars are installed.

It was and is a good idea, but certainly more work than it should have been.

 

Had a nice visit to the Donkey coffee shop this week.  I love Athens before the town wakes up.  Felt like I had the place to myself.

Last thought for the day... It is 30 Mile Meal month in Athens Co.  This is a movement to encourage you to source your food within 30 miles of you.  I spent what seems like half of my childhood at the neighbors sheep farm.  Seemed appropriate to enjoy some lamb chops from them.  (Check them out if you are in Athens or Columbus, they sell at several Kroger grocery stores).

 

Water goes the path of least resistance.

And the path of least resistance tends to be my driveway.  Seems like I cannot get ahead this year and this weekend proved it.  Two rounds of rain gutter overflowing down pours made a river of the driveway and covered some of the roads in the area.  Even one of the chickens (the crazy one) headed for higher ground when I found her roosted on the deck umbrella.  At least I got out for a good and long back road ride on Saturday.  Advantage of living in the sticks I suppose, miles and miles of sparsely populated and traveled minimal maintenance roads to explore, especially when the trails are too wet and blocked with downed trees from the weather.

 

 

 

20 years and a Change of plans

July 4th marked 20 years since Shelly said yes when I asked her on a date.  We celebrated by skipping the fireworks with a 3 year old that was done by 8:30 that evening.  Instead, we got out for dinner at Rickshaw Thai over the weekend.  Lovely place with lovely owners/operators, I highly recommend you make a reservation and eat here.

This past week also brought back my heart arrhythmia.  Something needs to change apparently, I just haven't figured out the trigger.  I am now on a beta blocker to try to treat the symptoms.  I did go for a ride this week though and the effects of the meds were apparent.  My heart rate was a good 20 bpm lower on some of the climbs than in the past.  Still don't know if I will be on these meds long term or what the future of any racing will be.

I have been seeing a doe and her twin fawns hanging out in the front yard a lot lately.  Fun to watch the little ones.

Oh look, it is raining again...

 

An Out Of Office Expereince

Some days you just can't sit in the office. Lunch time motorcycle therapy with a cappuccino break. Hey, I was scouting new roads to bike...

Magical land of blackberies

Managed two runs this weekend.  Slow, short, but runs none the less.  First runs since the round of migraines I had last New Years!  My right foot is sore.  It amazes me how I didn't even notice my left foot, but could feel every movement in my right foot as I ran.  I will add that I really like my new shoes (Inov8 Road X 255).

Shelly ran with me on Sunday and on the way back to the house we found a "magical land of blackberries" as Shelly called it.  Picked a couple of gallon freeze bags worth and there were more to be picked.  It was a nice date.