St Simons Is , GA

We flew overnight west coast east coast (Portland OR to Newark NJ) and connected with flight to Asheville NC. Had only 1 night with Betty at Deerfield , but then had a week with her after getting back from St Simons Is. At 94 she's remarkably fit mentally and physically. Still taking piano lessons from the admirable Karen. The 3 of us with Karen had dinner at the Corner Kitchen but sadly missed the opp to record on camera.  Next time! So no pics of Betty this time.

Drove down to St Simons Is for weekend with Janie , Tim and Laura who was "delivering' Lily while off on a business trip to Africa. A really delightful visit and we were royally entertained as the pics demonstrate.

Had a good breakfast visit with Alastair near Savannah on the way back to Asheville.

Laura and Mary at the front of Jane & Tim's house

An early morning beach walk with Lily. Note the kite in center of pic and the 'surfer' attached to it flying across the water at  frightening speed

Janie, Laura and M on their deck with breahttaking view eastwards

Martha S drove down from Atlanta. Here with M & Janie about to embark on a river trip courtesy of her very kind and hugely knowledgable neighbour

Wish I could describe all the magnificent things we saw that afternoon. A truly memorable trip

Janie and our playing partners on one of St Simonds Is'  best courses.

A most impressive follow through. Janie quite undaunted by the formidable hazard. Result not recorded, but I know the shot was better than mine.

Yep - you got it ! Tee to green.  Didn't want to go looking for your ball here

And a wonderful dinner on the deck. Lily well settled in!

Breakfast with my nephew Alastair near Skidaway Is, GA

Trip to Oregon

Virtually no sooner than we got back to Snowmass from Ireland, it was ' off again ". This time to Duncan,  Katy,  Oli and Maggie in Corvallis OR.  We enjoy this delightful college town more every time we visit. The days take on a certain pattern. Biking to Market of Choice, coffee, some grocery shopping and odd chores , then picking up Oli from his  (new) nursery and going to the play park. Domestic bliss and quality time with Oli. The pics tell the rest of the story including a long weekend in a rented house in Bend OR (way beyond those snowcapped peaks - The Sisters - that you see in the last pic beneath) .

 Bend

V. close to the Mt Bachelor ski area

Canoeing on the River Deschute - not us !

Note the red canoe about to negotiate some pretty terrifying rapids....

....going.....

....virtually gone.  Looked hopeless to me, but he made it.

Terra firma very much safer

Oli making for Smiths Rock

Some remarkable rock formations incl this - the Monkey's Face

Oli the pirate

Preparing for trick or treat outing round the neighbourhood

Nothing like a good hug. Miles and miles of wonderful mountain biking in our 'downtime'

D (with me on this occasion) off to work via mountain bike trail

Looking across the Willamette valley to The Sisters from the woods above D & K's house. We'll pass right through the middle of these peaks on our east west transam phase 3  next year.

10 year reflections : 7. Cycle Touring: The Expereince to Beat All Experiences

In 8 of the last 10 years we've undertaken a long bike ride . Average mileage of these trips apart from (trans am west to east at 4500 miles) must be in region of 1500 miles. We've written ( mostly Mary ) extensively on this blog (or on the crazyguy site) of our trips, so won't go into any detail. We have though become pretty evangelical about this business and I'm going to give another plug here - if only to encourage our kids and future generations to do the same one day. I can think of few better ways of enjoying your retirement if you value (a) staying seriously fit,  (b) seeing new parts of the world and meeting people from all walks of life and (c) living life a little dangerously !

7 of these trips have been in USA and the other in France ((to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary in 2014).  USA because we can get to point A (or get from point B) with relative ease and because costs can more easily be contained. We're currently in midst of transam east to west (over 3 years) and start from Granby CO heading for Astoria , WA in April on the third phase. We can't wait.

For future retirees, and to give the full flavour of the cycle touring experience, I can do no better than quote our good friends Mike and Joan Weingarten from Ohio. This is an extract from his 'final conclusions' post to their excellent blog of their trans am east west trip (at exactly the same time as we were going west to east on the northern tier). I make no apology in doing so, 'cos it brilliantly captures all that we enjoy so much and in a way that I could never describe. And it has Mike's full blessing. Thank you Mike.

* The sounds: Listening to the crickets chirping in the coolness of the early mornings, and the bird songs and their warning cries as the day wears on. The cicadas outside of Jamestown on this trip were amazing. The sound of the wind. The sound of your bike's tires against the pavement. All these sounds are music in their own ways.

* The smells: They envelop you as you ride -- the heavenly sweet honeysuckle, the freshly cut hay, the pine woods, and yes, the scents of manure from a farm or of the road kill you just passed - less attractive, but still part of the experience.

* Feeling your proximity to the animals, sometimes visible and memorable, but often unseen. You hear them scurrying off into the underbrush as you ride past.

* The wonderful, interesting, genuinely nice and supportive people you meet along the way. People who are curious, who want to know where you are going and to hear your story, and who willingly share their stories with you. People who are willing to give and offer to help. People who restore your basic faith in human beings.

* The dozens of unsolicited waves and nods you get from drivers, pedestrians and homeowners you pass on the road, and the very high percentage of return waves you receive when you are the first to gesture.

* The people and organizations who make it their mission to support traveling cyclists with food, places to stay, facilities for showers and laundry, etc., etc. It is amazing how many such groups and places are out there, and how wonderful they are.

* The good, physical feeling of bike riding. The breeze is in your face, your legs cranking steadily and easily in that perfect gear as you move down the road, generating that good sweat.

* The physical challenges you overcome - the long days, the big climbs, the thunderstorms, the headwinds, the heat - each in its own way causing you to take a deep breath, call upon your reserve, and feel the satisfaction of accomplishment when that obstacle is behind you.

* The utter simplicity of life lived on the bike. It is just you, your bike, and whatever you are able to carry on it. Here and now. All other material things don't matter. The problems of the world are suspended for a while. You keep your focus on where you are, on the life necessities of food, water, shelter, on the people you are meeting, and on safely navigating your way through your current surroundings. I find this simplicity one of the most refreshing things about this kind of travel, something that clears the cobwebs for me.

* The daily sense of adventure, and the unknown. Every morning you arise, with new things awaiting you. New places to go, new things to see, new challenges to overcome, new people to meet. You just never know what the stories will be about today, what today's journal entry will say. Every day seems to be filled with all sorts of possibility. That is exciting, and life feels very full.

* Last but not least, the meeting of traveling companions, others out on the road doing what you are doing. Everyone from a different place, with a different background, in a different spot in their lives, but each sharing the same joys and trials of the biking journey and providing a special sort of camaraderie and support.

So many times we are asked why we do these bike trips. I always find it hard to answer that concisely in 1 or 2 sentences. But it is all of the above that make for the joys of traveling by bike. And when all those words are supplanted by the feelings you have when you are actually out there, well, then you really know the answer.



And from his 'final thoughts' entry



-More than I had expected, this trip connected us in a special way to history. Traveling east to west, in the direction that this country was settled, proved to be a really compelling part of the experience. We watched the years on the historical roadside signs go from the 1600s in Virginia to the 1700s in Kentucky, to the 1800s and early 1900s out West. Having traveled it by bicycle, we more fully appreciate the distances associated with this timeline, and better understand how much effort the westward expansion took. We rode the streets of the first settlements in Colonial Virginia, and past the heartbreaking Civil War battlefields near Richmond. We 'saw' Abraham Lincoln and Daniel Boone in Kentucky, and Boone again in Missouri. We could visualize the wagon trains traveling along the Oregon, California, Mormon, or Sante Fe Trails as we biked our own way across the Plains. We absolutely bonded with Lewis and Clark, starting from when they put their boats in the Missouri River at St. Charles, and we followed them past Beaverhead Rock, over Lolo Pass, and on to their arrival at the Pacific at the mouth of the Columbia. We marveled as we stood in their footprints at Ft. Clatsop and Seaside. We felt the pain and sorrow of the Indian Wars, and the tragedy of how the Nez Perce and other Native American tribes were treated as the masses began moving west. We felt the sweep of American history, the good, the bad, the difficult, the successful, as we never had before.

-We also felt connected to biking history on this trip, the history of the Trans Am. You cannot help but feel that when you visit the Cookie Lady, and spend the night in June's 'Bike House'. We also felt it strongly in Missoula, during our visit to the Adventure Cycling headquarters. Meeting Greg Siple, one of the original 1976 BikeCentennial planners, and being captured by his camera as thousands of others have been over the years, was really special. Witnessing the steady wave of cyclists coming through their office in the few days we were there told us that this is a healthy institution, and that the history will continue. We are happy and honored that we are now a part of it.

-The physical challenges and the weather on the trip were so varied. The extreme grades and grueling, repetitive ups and downs of the Appalachians. The waterlogged Mississippi and Missouri valleys, where we had to ford inundated sections of road and beat off mosquitoes. The extreme, oppressive temperatures of 'The Heat Wave of 2011' , day after day in Missouri and Kansas. The occasional thunderstorm in Virginia, Kentucky and Colorado. The long, long climbs into the Rockies, over 11,500-foot Hoosier Pass and a multitude of other significant passes, and over 9 separate Continental Divides. The Wyoming Wind Machine that always seemed to be blowing in our faces, doubling our effort and slowing us to a crawl. The frosty nights and mornings at high elevation in Colorado, Wyoming and Montana. The return to extreme heat in Hells Canyon in Oregon. And then later in that same state, the bone-chilling, windswept cold of McKenzie Pass, and the raw, damp cold of the late September Pacific Coastal Range and coastline. We successfully avoided any early mountain snows. Otherwise, it feels like we saw it all.

-And yet, in spite of all the challenges, all the things that sound like misery, what really stands out to me are the 'Joys of Biking', as I wrote in that entry way back in June. The physical joy, the beauty of nature and the scenery, the act of really experiencing your environment, the wonderful people you meet, the triumphs of obstacles overcome - all of that more than trumps any misery that might temporarily come with the challenges. If you are not sure what I am talking about, go back and read that entry that appears just before Day #36. These are the things that keep us coming back for more.




Some key moments of our trips between 2007 and 2016 and with friends we've made wholly as result of cycle touring

Happy as pie. Somewhere on the Missouri River in remote Nebraska on our first trip in 2007

With Mike & Joan in Cincinnatti in 2008 when they put us and our bikes on a bus to Mobile AL for start of UGRR trip

2009 - Arriving at Owen Sound, Lake Huron, Ontario at terminus of UGRR

2010 With very dear friends Martha & Dick on a section of the Baton Rouge LA to Savannah GA trip

2011 Bar Harbour, Maine at end of trans am west to east

2014 Meeting for the first time Bill & Carol from Columbus OH ( Buckeye fans as you can see and Bill an idotter no less ! )  and Steamboat , CO, at the top of the Gorge du Nesque, Provence. Bill and Carol have subsequently become close friends.

2015 Back tire dipping at Yorktown VA with Martha (and Dick) at start of trans am east - west

2016 Crossing over the Kansas Colorado border

10 year reflections: 6. First Spring and Summer; Still Adjusting

There is a danger with couples who have worked hard and lived semi independently for the whole of their married lives and suddenly thrust together for every waking hour in retirement, of feeling  understandable anxieties. Strike a chord with anyone ?


With our jobs with Skico that first winter, that was not a problem we were faced with.  We cam eback exhausted each night and of course for any part of any day we were not working, we were skiing. And of course we both enjoyed hearing about the other's tales of the day's adventure. Never a dull moment. We were apart , but yet together and always with common interests and activities to discuss and recount.

Spring came and we sort of had that feeling we had to make the most of our new found freedom while sufficiently fit to do so.  Thus the first bike tour  - on which a separate blog entry will follow.

When back from that trip at end of May, we found the true delight of Aspen and realised the truth of the "mind, body, spirit experience' that Aspenites had been telling us about since we arrived. So many people told us ' they had come to Aspen for the winters, but had stayed for the summers ". Of all the many treats we've come to appreciate here,  the 8 week Aspen Music Festival and School is the one we've most treasured. Concerts , operas , masterclasses  and many of the world's leading and budding musicians. We've had a music student stay with us most years (giving us free access to events) and so have cone to know well 8 lovely young people embarking on their professional careers. 3 oboists, a flautist, 2 violinists, a timpanist, and a conductor. Gives us huge insight into the inner workings of the Festival and School and to the world of professional musicians generally. How this has enriched our lives.

 We fitted work into that first summer too - working for Gracie at Pretty Petals. Mary as a skilled gardner/landscaper on whom Gracie came to depend a lot, me as a labourer. Compared to the Mexican crew Gracie uses , I didn't really shape up but I survived and she was good enough to give me the hours I wanted. Mary has continued a close friendship with Gracie ever since.

All the above helped us to integrate into the community. To say that it was a challenging and highly rewarding 1st year would be a major understatement. We had landed on our feet. Office desk and High School classroom seemed light years away. Much as we missed family and pets, we had no regrets.

Benedict Music tent

270 in all its summer glory

Gracie and crew on a ; smart ' job on Red Mtn

Mary in her element

Preferred this leisure activity to the manual labour with Gracie

Next installment - Cycle Touring - The Experience to Beat All Experiences

10 year reflections: 5. "Finding" Aspensnowmass and settling in

We owed our "finding' of Aspensnowmass entirely to Meghan and Jane and what a remarkable place to have lived for the last 10 years. We had intended just to stay for a year (thus the year's lease of Akasha's house). It didn't take us long to realise that we had found, from our perspective and given our love of all the things this valley has to offer year round (on which more later), pretty much the perfect place for us - and crucially a place where our children, and any family they acquired, would want to come and visit. Of course wanting to come and being able to afford to come are two very different things though ! Hopefully this will be a changing dynamic.

That first winter it just snowed and snowed virtually from the moment we arrived. Our good friend Harry Noble came to stay before Christmas. The property next door came up for sale and he gave us what little encouragement we needed to negotiate for its purchase. We easily found new tenants to take over the year's lease of Akasha's house and we moved in to No. 270 in February.  By good fortune we actually had occupation (albeit unfurnished at that stage in the case of 270) of both houses when all 3 kids came out to ski in Feb 2007 with their partners.

The rest of the winter went by in a whirr, both of us working for Skico at that stage. Mary on the mountain doing all the things Guest Services at Snowmass do, and me driving the employee shuttle buses (and importantly keeping a lot warmer!).  Temps regularly going down to -15 degree F.  8 hour shifts working outside often in the shade on Mary's part was no small feat. And she continued to do it for another 7 winter seasons. In 2014 the foot slogging in freezing temperatures paid off and she got promoted to working the Guest Services desk on Aspen Mtn underneath the gondola.  This year 2016/17 she's been given the highly coveted job of concierge Guest Services desk inside the ticket office at Snowmass.

At the end of the season in mid April before heading off on our bicycles, I got a taste of what it'd be like if I had retired without a job to get up for in the mornings. I didn't like it ! Sure I'd have got used to it, but let me assure those that do plan to "retire' at 60, it's not what it's cracked up to be. Depends of course on personality type, and some will adjust easier than others. For me it was the realisation that you suddenly might not be useful to anyone ! Plus the feeling if you've been brought up in the strict presbyterian mindset that unless you have to struggle for it, you've no right to be enjoying yourself. The anto-hedonism ethic if you like. I'm still fighting it 10 years on!

The guest sevices locker room

Cold, but better than 'teaching' recalcitrant teenagers

Same theme - better than sitting in an office.

Harry - our first visitor - December 2006

Yie Mae and Stu from whom we purchased '270' and with whom we stayed friends

Next installment.  Our First Spring and Summer, and Still Adjusting

10 year Reflections: 4. Financial Considerations - No Small Matter

It's easy now to overlook the starkness, from the financial angle, of our decision to retire at ages 60 and 56 respectively. My dear father who was in a nursing home in Edinburgh and in poor health physically and mentally when I announced to him that I was retiring in a couple of years hence, retorted in a flash " Can you afford it George ? Good question !

It's a long story and it would be inappropriate in this media to go into too much detail, but there were issues which, for anyone seeking to do something similar, will be of interest. I'm talking here specifically of a couple in our position moving on retiral from UK to USA. Perhaps one of our kids or grandkids one day.

The favourability or otherwise (and long term forecast of same) of currency exchange rates is really the key if, as in our case,  pension entitlements/savings are in pounds sterling. The answer undoubtedly to my father that day was " it all depends on the pound / dollar exchange rate between now and the date we pop our clogs. But he'd have been horrified if I'd said that. I could have redeemed myself though by reminding him that one of the best bits of advice he ever gave me, was that from the moment I went through the doors of 12 South Charlotte Street in April 1976 I should plough in annually the maximum (as a percentage of earnings) allowed by the UK tax authorities for tax beneficial contributions to a pension policy. I did that religiously and of course the position was helped immeasurably by Mary's entitlement to a Scottish Teachers' final salary (defined benefit) scheme to which she contributed (plus AVC's) for the whole 29 years she was in teaching. In addition we both had prospectively our entitlement to the UK retirement state benefit scheme (or in now rather non pc terms - the Old Age Pension  - OAP ). Mary became entitled to that at age 60 ( or just over ) and me at 65.

All good and well so far, but put into the mix the fact that both of us seem to have longevity in our genes, and with children and we hoped in time grandchildren living perhaps in different continents, we were about to embark, pretty much indefinitely it seemed on an expensive lifestyle. Answer quite clearly was that we'd have to be in paid employment in the USA for at least 5 years and for at least 6 months in every year.

We were exceedingly lucky on that score, but underpinned I think by a willingness on both our parts to do just about anything.  I put my foot down on waiting tables in a restauraunt (although I'd have been happy as a baker as alluded to )!

The matter of housing was also of course an important one and here is one of the bits of advice I'd give to anyone following in our footsteps.  The gain on sale of principal place of residence in UK is free of capital gains tax.  Not so in USA. Note well ! We were lucky. It was brought to our attention just in time and as only Mary, at that stage was a US tax payer (I had not yet acquired my green card), we were able to take appropriate action to avoid what would have been a very, very uncomfortable US tax charge on sale of Parkley Craigs.

2nd important lesson for people following our footsteps. IRS do not recognise (as the UK tax authorities do) the concept of a tax free capital sum on withdrawing sums from a pension plan. There's a complicated exception which if you're not aware of it and plan accordingly, can land you with another substantial US tax bill.  On the credit side here in USA, all former contributions by the taxpayer to a pension plan (even a UK one) form deductions against taxable pension fund withdrawals (significantly not the case in UK). Our good friend in Edinburgh and a former teaching colleague of Mary's at BHS, John McIver drew my attention to these issues, while we were making our retirement plans, in articles that he had spotted in the Daily Telegraph. Can't thank you enough for that John. The savings were huge.

One last thing that we were so, so fortunate on and it relates to the point above on currency exchange. When we sold Parkley Craigs we transferred the bulk of the proceeds over to our B of A a/c in anticipation of buying the house in Meadow Ranch (next door as it happened to the house we had rented for a year but off loading the lease some 3 months later at no cost). When transferring pounds to dollars in December 2006, we got an exchange rate of over $1.98 to the pound. Given the sums involved here, I calculated that for each cent the exchange rate changed, it was either costing us, or saving us, $12,500. The math (as they say over here) is not difficult in calculating what we'd have got for our Parkley Craigs proceeds at today's exchange rate of $1.22. Staggering is the only way to describe our good fortune in terms of timing.

Parkley Craigs Farmhoses - sold October 2006

270 Meadow Ranch - purchased Feb 2007

Next installment.  "Finding" Aspensnowmass and Settling in.

10 year reflections : 3. The Reality

Retirement date for Mary from full time teaching post at Balerno HS was mid June 2006 and mine from Anderson Strathern was Aug 31,  26 days before my 60th birthday.  In the middle of all that Mary's dad Jay who had been doing well on his own over age 90 in Houston TX, had a bad fall and died a very short time later on Sept 15.

We had sold the Farmhouse , Parkley Craigs with a distant entry date of mid November , but had cleared out by end Sept , distributing its contents to a variety of destinations, delivering the dogs and cats to their new homes and making our sad farewells to kids, family and friends. Off to the New World. A flight to Houston, a lovely funeral service for Jay, clearing with Jane and Martha his appartment and crucially being given by Jane and Martha Jay's 1999 Buick Le Sabre which has been an integral part of our lives and is still going ( not strong but going ) 10 years later . Thank you Janie and Martha.  I've tended it as if it was a member of the family ! Some of things it has been through though would not have amused Jay.  He would be pleased though that it has served us so well and given us so much pleasure.

From Houston we launched proper our USA adventure.  Our destination was Aspen , but we wanted to visit on the way Betty in Asheville NC,  Mary's nephew and niece Geoffrey and Laura who were at UPenn in Philadelphia, Duncan at Cornell , Ithaca,  NY,  Katy in Columbus OH and I think Mary's cousin Gail in Tulsa OK. Quite a demanding excursion for our newly acquired and precious Buick.

Meghan and Jane ( whose advice it was to go to Aspen in the first place ) had said ' If you're serious about getting jobs in Aspen you have to go to the Skico job fair at the end of October ' .  We took this advice seriously and when in Philly seeing Geoffrey and Laura, we left the Buick at Philly airport and flew out to Aspen for the weekend.  Seemed an extraordinarily extravagant thing to do at the time, but it had exciting and very rapid consequences. We hired a car, spent Fri night at the the Snowmass Inn, drove to Buttermilk the following morning for the job fair, were greeted in most welcoming fashion at the top of the steps on arrival by a lady who introduced herself as Head of Guest Services , Snowmass. Within minutes she announced that we were just the sort of couple she was looking for  and hired us on the spot to start work a month later on Snowmass Mtn. Susan (Cross) was her name and she and her partner Mark have become good friends. She's since been promoted within the company to Mountain Manager , Buttermilk.

The breakfast next morning at Main Street Bakery I've already commented on.  It was while reading that paper in whose pages we appeared, that we spotted an ad for a house in Meadow Ranch Snowmass. We phoned the number, agreed to meet the owner Akasha (who has also become a friend in the intervening years) 15 minutes later, and signed there and then a lease for a year at rent of $2,200 per month. Within 24 hours of arriving in Aspen we had jobs and furnished accommodation lined up. We had a happy airtrip back to Philly, continued our road trip with successful visits to Duncan , Katy, and Gail and subject only to a rather scary blow out in a back tire in the fast lane of I.70 close to Vail, arrived with Buick safely intact at Snowmass to start our jobs on Thanksgiving Day 2006.

Our hero Benjamin Franklin in museum in Philly

This was taken right beside Main Street Bakery on that first morning we had in Aspen at the end of Oct 2006.

Next installment - Some Financial Considerations: No Small Matter

10 yr reflections: 2. - The Dream

The Dream

If you don't dream it, you don't do it !

Since one of " my loyal readers ' has kindly commented ( thank you Janie ),  I'll keep my word !

Mary and I had been discussing retirement plans for at least 5 years before my 60th b'day ( the date I had given my partners for my intended retirement from legal practice ). Having as we did, with M's citizenship, the oppurtunity of giving USA a shot, we house swappped with a couple from Boulder and pretty much decided then that we would plump for CO. There was no question of this being a straightforward retirement - neither of our pensions or savings were nearly large enough for that and paid employment for at least part of every year for the next 5 at least was always in the plan.  Meghan and Jane ( who had both worked for a spell in Aspensnowmass ) said " Mum and Dad, why don't you try Aspen - you love skiing and the outdoors and you'll easily get jobs " .  What sound advice.

So the important step of getting a green card suddenly assumed major importance. And what a process.  A medical with a Harley St , London physician ( if I'd lived in Orkney it would still have been Harley St ! ). Reams of forms and paper and the completion of 5 years of back tax filing with IRS for Mary all preceded an interview at the US Embassy , London ( whole day affair ) and eventually - just in time even though I started the procedure two years ahead of time - green card came through.

Various things all materialised at the right time to make this possible though. My dear parents had both died ( in their 90's ) in the previous 2 years,  each of the kids had their own houses ( flats ) and reasonably secure jobs ( and were off our hands financially to the extent that they ever are ! ); we had found brilliant homes for our adorable dogs and cats ( Tess and Spice, and Molly and Patch ), we had sold Parkley Craigs at a good price. if any of the above had not ' been in place ' , it couldn't have happened.  Not at that stage at any rate.

It was a hugely exciting, not to say slightly scary, prospect. But I've always liked an adventure and still perhaps had the wander lust acquired on my gap year trip to Australia at age 18. And Bill Bryson puts it nicely in his sequel to Notes from a Small Island - ' That is the great thing about being a foreigner - that you get to live your life with a whole new set of cultural attachments in addition to the ones you inherited at birth'. I think I subconsciously knew this and in any event Mary had put up with me in my country for the previous 32 years. It was my turn to do my bit.

Patch

Our beloved west facing conservatory at Parkley Craigs, Linlithgow

Next installment  -  The Reality