GETTING CAUGHT UP

I've been very negligent in posting recently. So here's an attempt to bring y'all up to date.

Carol and the kids and I have been doing and going and going and doing. And I've been having a ball. In August we drove to a small water park near here to "practice" for our BIG trip to Emerald Pointe a couple of weeks later. It only has one slide. I hurt myself. I've had a life long problem with an 18 yr old living inside of me that just won't leave. "He" tried to do so many foolish things when my kids were teenagers that for 4 or 5 years I listed an Orthopedic Surgeon as my Primary Care Physician. Because I never got sick, I just broke bones regularly.

When my kids grew up and left home, the 18 yr old stopped trying to do stupid things and I've had many years of undamaged bones. But now I have a 12 yr old and a 7 yr old in my life and "he" is back. I saw the sign that said, "Sit upright on the slide" but "he" saw all the young people lying down and going a LOT faster. The first few times I sat up but then "he" laid down and we really flew down the slide. Until the last turn when I banged my knee. Really hard. It hurt so much that I called my Dr. who said that since it was not a weight bearing incident he was pretty sure I didn't tear anything. If anybody offers you a "bone bruise", tell them you don't want it. It's two months later and it still hurts.

Then off to Emerald Pointe. Although the 18 yr old showed up, he stayed calm and reasonable and I returned to VA unscathed. We had a wonderful day. Even thought the lines were long, we got in lots of rides and came home happy and exhausted.


A couple of weekends later we drove to WV to take the kids to visit Carol's Grandmother. On the way back we hiked to Cascade Falls in Giles County. It's about a 2 mile hike along a beautiful stream. The weather was perfect. The were only a few people and they were all friendly.

I don't know if it was the 18 yr old or just my New York childhood, but I went swimming. While almost everyone else, including Carol, Emily and Andrew stood ankle deep or ran through the edge of the falls. SHIVERING AND TURNING BLUE. We didn't get the water temperature but it was either refreshingly brisk or freezing, depending on who you asked.




Well, that hardly made a dent in the last three months. But it's a start and I'll really try to post more regularly.

Life is so good.

WHAT A BEAUTIFUL PART OF THE COUNTRY

I'm settled in with time to go riding! I needed to go about 4 miles to a Goodwill store to buy a suit. But there's a wonderful twisty mountain road that gets you there, and it's just an extra 10 miles or so.

"Twelve O'Clock Knob" was named by farm hands who knew it was lunch time when the sun was over its peak. Our first house, which we purchased in 1969, was the farm house that was built in the 1920's on the farmland at the foot of what became - to us at least - "our" mountain. Lots of good memories and a wonderful sunny ride. I even stopped twice to watch deer. I wasn't quick enough to get pictures of them, but here is a view looking down at Salem.



A great ride, but not as much fun as it would have been if Carol had been on the back.

SO - on a beautiful Saturday morning, WE headed to the Paint Bank General Store, in - of course - Paint Bank, VA. It's a favorite ride for bikers and car drivers as well because of the restaurant that serves buffalo. When I told a friend that we were headed to Paint Bank, he said, watch closely for the overlook about half way up the second mountain. It's spectacular, but the turnoff is very easy to miss. "You'll sit and listen to the bees and an occasional bird." Even with the warning, we almost missed it. What a view - Here's a panorama that I stitched together. Remember you can see a BIG picture by clicking on this image.



For the first few minutes there was total silence, then the bees came back - just like my friend promised. Hard to believe we're less than 40 miles from downtown Roanoke. Really. Look at that picture again.

The restaurant has great food but their forte is definitely marketing, as you'll see if you clicked on the link above. When you arrive from either Roanoke or Lewisburg, WV you don't drive by their farms. But after you enjoy your Buffalo steak, burger, whatever, you can drive down a side road and see the animals who will be on your platter the next time you come.

The big ones didn't have any effect on Carol - they're big, kinda ugly with lots of matted down fur.



But if she'd seen the calves before lunch, I think she'd have ordered a salad.






We continued our ride to Lindside, WV to visit Carol's Grandmother. Then back through Rich Creek to US 460 along the New River, through Blacksburg and home. About 150 miles of some of the prettiest country anywhere.

Here's a map.

The green on the map is National Forest land.

And some Google Earth views -






Life is Good.