Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Thankful for Good Friends!

I have good friends who are always up for some play time outside.

They are intelligent, self sufficient, strong and adventurous.  As we meet up for our trail runs, mountain bike rides, paddling, bouldering and hiking, I realize this even more.  Our discussions vary, but it is always good for the soul.

AT section from Woodys to Neels.  It was an amazing day for a hike.
Molly and Amy hiking Blood Mountain section of the AT
There was still ice and a little snow on the peaks

Amy's into natural popsicles

Molly brought the beer and doughnuts.  Awesome view, with awesome snacks and great friends.

Mmmmm, beer and doughnuts.
Amy dreaming of queso
Molly politely stuffing doughnuts......or feeling ill over the thought of queso.
We did the complete section, so hit the road at the shop and jogged back to the car.
Amy and Molly headed back to Atlanta and I stayed the night at the Hiker Hostel with Leigh and Josh.  Planning for a trail run tomorrow.
Leigh and Josh  cooking breakfast



Then Ludacris showed up.  Leigh and L. are homies, from way back



I checked on the hostel chickens.

Then went for a run.
Great views
Beautiful Day
Okay, if I keep stopping to take pictures I will never get in 12 more miles.

I have always been thankful to have found my group of friends in Atlanta.  As a young adult, my dreams were of solo hikes with my dog.  Then I gave birth to two boys who love the woods.  Then I sent out a letter asking for any females to join my team for a 24 hour mountain bike race and sweet Aimee replied.  She brought Kate with her, and Alison and Molly, and so many others close behind.  Now Shey is joining in on the fun and hitting the mountains more often with me.  It's such a good life!

Monday, December 29, 2014

Christmas 2014

Our Christmas Eve walk and Christmas Day hike were fun, as always!  


Lots of good stuff was found under the tree.  Shey found new tracking devices to attach to me.  I think he would like to micro-chip me like a dog at some point.  (Although, I did forget to take my SPOT tracker with me the last time I went on a thru hike and I'm sure he wan't too happy about not having any idea where I was.)  Shey got some cool wool for riding and the guys got man stuff.  You know, knifes and tools and things.

This Angle tree topper was the first topper I ever purchased.  I go it from Riches in 1991.  I'm happy to see her every year.

Hiking the wetland area at IHP on Christmas Day.
Too thankful for these guys.
Happy Holidays Everyone!

Monday, December 15, 2014

Going Home

I had the chance to fly home to visit Mom and Dad this past weekend.  I was excited to see the brick with Dad's name on it at the Veterans Memorial Park in Boerne.  


All three of us kids are so proud of our dad and all the things he has done in his life.  He is someone that loves to help people.  He is a humanitarian to the core.  He is not happy sitting still and he has a heart the size of the universe.  (Of course, if we knew the brick would be that large, we would have come up with some smarta** comment to write on it, for sure...).

The extra cool thing is that the park is right across the street from the Catholic Church where Shey and I were married.
They did a wonderful job with the plaques and remembrances.

We hung out at the house on Friday evening, after Taco Cabana, of course.  Then hit the Saturday market in Boerne.
We found a couple neat things, including a rosary bracelet, that I LOVE.  I  went back to pick one up for a very special friend and wondered if Amber would like one.
Just chillin' with my TX homies

Dad drove back from the market and Mom and I strolled the main street in Boerne, had a fantastic lunch, then walked home.  I had picked up an bottle opener for Dad that was made from an antler and I wanted to get him some bottled beer on the way.  So.....Mom and I walked with our goodies we purchased and a six pack of beer.  It turned out that the bottles had twist off caps, but we insisted on using the bottle opener anyway.  Funny!


Me and Mom.
This dude looks just like David Grohl from Foo Fighters.  Ya' know, from the video "Learn to Fly"?!
Anyhoo, I got in touch with my sister-in-law Amber and she said she could meet for breakfast the next morning.  She is a wonderful person and I don't get to visit with her often enough.  I got to spend time with Glenn and Kenneth and Christina on our last two visits, but not with Amber.  So, I was glad she was available.

I got up early and stopped to pick up some flowers for the cemetery, then met Amber at a cafe in Comfort.  The cafe wasn't open yet, so we went for a walk around our hometown and picked up a sweet stray dog along the way.  We could even hear a marching band in the distance, I thought we might be in a parade.  Breakfast was great and it was nice to catch up.  Amber and Donnie have a barn where they host events https://www.facebook.com/pages/Violas-Ranch/494733127250728
and she needed to meet someone to give them a tour.  So, we said "goodbye" and I headed down to the cemetery.

There are a lot of special people resting and remembered here.   My grandfather, Albert Pankratz.  My Aunt Dorothy and Uncle Ace, Uncle Gene, Uncle Bill.  Aunt Tina and Uncle Harry.  Aunt Marie.  Shey's Oma and Opa.  And the list goes on and on and on.  Walking through here and placing flowers brings back so many good memories of my childhood.  They were nearby while we fished, climbed trees, played baseball, explored, danced and so much more.  I'm thankful to have been raised around these people.


Shey's Oma and Opa were very special people.  Opa was funny and Oma always had great stories and neat old pictures to look at.  I loved having them come to visit us during the short time Shey and I lived in Comfort after we were married.


I got back in touch with Amber when I finished up my flower deliveries.  She was free, so we decided to drive back to the market in Boerne and go for a walk.  I had thought she might like the rosary bracelet and she did!  We walked and talked a bit more, with some chocolate thrown in there somewhere.  Very good times!

Next, Mom went with me to pick up Dad's Christmas gift.  As we were driving around and looking at old homesteads and Christmas lights, I put my window down and we heard music.  We found where it was coming from and this guy, Chris Cruz, was playing.  Wonderful musician and the beer/wine was yummy, too.

 We came across this guy, too.  He isn't from the area, but said his Toyota had been hit and he was stuck in Boerne for a while???  It was a little hard to follow his ramblings.  Something about his boots and business cards and he was trying to sell a sketch of himself.  Interesting conversation.

Mom gave me her green dress that she wore for a date when she first met my Dad in California. (just a few years ago)  This dress was in the closet in the upstairs room at our house growing up and I always loved it!  It's my favorite color and I'm so glad it fits!  Probably won't wear the sports bra with it next time, though.
More walking in lovely weather.
And when I got home, this came in the mail.  Mom and I saw them at the Saturday Market in Portland, Oregon.  She found the guy and had him send me an oil lamp.  We are using it every evening and love it!
Here's to many more visits with a great family.

Monday, December 08, 2014

Okefenokee Ride 2014

Once again, Karlos and his friends have come up with something fun to ride.  The ideas are limitless from this guy.  Lots of good riding on each of his routes, for sure!

This time it was around the perimeter of the Okefenokee.

Five of us packed up and ready to go.  Bobby was on his first off road bikepacking trip.  Karlos, Jeff, Shey and I had old dirty gear and brand new reflective triangles!

Karlos has these big triangle reflectors for sale.  Very cool and I keep it on my backpack for all hiking and riding now.  http://www.ebay.com/itm/Safety-Triangle-Cycling-Jogging-Singletrack-Samurai-/191448222719?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2c93340bff


Photo by Jeff Tomassetti



We planned on roughly 150 miles of jeep track with a little pavement.  Shey and I brought lights in case we decided to ride through the night, but planned to camp out with the group and visit.

During the two days, we saw alligators in the water and on the road.  A bobcat crossed our path.  Bear tracks and scat everywhere.  The temperature was perfect and the sun stayed behind the clouds for most of the ride.


Photo by Jeff Tomassetti

Just before we reached the area where we planned to camp, the other three guys who were supposed to be on the ride with us, showed up on the road with promises of pizza and beer.  Yea!  Trail magic at it's finest!  Pizza never tasted so good.


We brought hammocks, but the place where the group decided to camp didn't have easily accessible trees and the ground was sandy and soft, so we hit the ground like the old days.  Dinner was curry chicken with cashews and rice.  Yum.
Another group of three guys met up with us to camp and would ride a few miles with us the next morning.  They made a fire and put up Christmas lights.



The mosquitoes were the size of pterodactyls and there were many.   I finally sprayed myself with deet and the bugs still landed on me, then melted into the bug spray and I had to peel them off.   To sleep, we pulled our beanies down and our jacket up, so only our eyes were showing.  (Bugs were only a problem when we stopped for the night.)
It started to drizzle a little, so we put our ground cover over us and snuggled in.  I don't sleep unless I am super tired, so I laid awake listening to everyone make night noises and watched the moon rise and set.  It was a beautiful night and I couldn't have asked for better scenery and company.
Riding in pajamas?  Why not?
We came across some hunters along the way and Shey and I decided to take a detour and move away from them.  Though they wouldn't be shooting in our direction and we had orange on, it just seemed like a good idea to move on.  We came to a little town with a store that was a grocery store, laundromat, deer processing plant, gas station, and gathering place for the towns folk.  It was entertaining.  After salt and sweets, we hit the road again and got back to the car in enough time to make the 3 1/2 hour drive home before bedtime.

**

I  hadn't been on the bike in months and it showed.  The miles of running and hiking just don't translate to the bike, unfortunately, and it's hard to be slow.  After so many years of putting 10-15 hours in base miles on the bike and riding 6 days a week, I have been so happy to get back to my hiking/running roots, but I'm reminded of that change each time I ride.  Shey was understanding and helped a ton.  The other guys kept the pace slow and happy and the landscape was AMAZING!


Photo by Jeff Tomassetti


Another GREAT ONE from Karlos @ singletracksamurai!  Thanks!!