UGRR detour

To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee being about the all time favourite book of both of us , we couldn't resist making a 30 or so mile detour to Munroeville where Harper Lee was brought up and still lives. Her father was a lawyer in this town when she was a child and the book is based on places in this town including of course the famous courthouse which is now a museum . Fascinating. Thus we're now at another Best Western on outskirts of Munroeville and plan to spend tomorrow night where we should be tonight - Grove Hill or Coffeville if we feel strong enough.

To regress, the USS Alabama and submarine USS Drum ( both now museums ) were truly remarkable . Total personnel of the Alabama in her day was 2,500 men including 125 officers. Built in 1942 it must have `state of the art `in every respect at that time . Phenomenal design & technology. The self guided tour takes in virtually the whole ship . The tour of the submarine was equally impressive.

Day 2 - beautiful cloudless sky with cool breeze ( against us most of the day though) and we reached Stockton to find the only restauraunt closed on Mondays . The owner - Joyce - turned up as we started to leave and to consider plan B ( not an attractive one ) - and not only opened the restauraunt for us , gave us a wonderful cold meat, salad and desert meal in late afternoon , but refused to charge us. Picture attached . Big recommendation for anyone coming here - but avoid Mondays. Cyclists are particularly favoured - `I just love all y'all` was a first for me. Thank you Joyce for your warm and generous hospitality. She also gave us the idea of the Munroeville detour.

Another 5 miles or so to Hubbard's Landing and a really delightful campsite - see pic. In same family ownership since 1700s. We met 3 generations shortly before leaving at 7 this morning . The 12 year old grandson of the owner and his dad had just come back - yes come back ! - from ` hunting ` and in time to get changed and go to school . No charge for the campsite , he insisted on giving us free coffee and milk for our real oats cereal - I'm carrying about 6 pounds of it ( home made by Mary in Asheville ) in one of my panniers! About same weight as the cooking gear I carried last year. Allows us to make an earlier start in morning without fiddling around with stoves.

Got to Munroeville at 3 . 53 miles and wind more against than with , but good road although busy with logging trucks at times. All car & truck drivers ( excepting perhaps 1 in 100) very courteous and give wide berth.

The Court House and museum well worth the visit and the long detour. Also the home of the writer Truman Capote ( childhood friend of Harper Lee's and generally recognised as the character on whom Dill is based in ` Mockingbird `) .

Beautiful ride today and bikes and bodies holding up - for now anyway . Early days though. Last pic of a beautiful old mansionhouse and freshly blossoming Magnolia tree in Uriah . The rocking chairs on the shady balcony looked very inviting.

photo upload success

UGRR - on our way.

Huge thanks first to Mike and Joan in Cincinnati. They gave invaluable guidance, advice and encouragement on a whole lot of issues by email before we even left Asheville, and when we arrived in Cincinnati we had the most delightful evening with them at a charming Irish pub/ restauraunt just across the Ohio river from downtown Cincinnati. They had collected us at our motel ( recommended by them - it's sited just a few hundred yards from the UGRR trail and will be ideally placed when we reach there hopefuly in a month's time) - and helped us put the Buick, with all our non cycling gear, safely into self storage - again recommended by them and only a mile or so from our motel. Then the next morning they arrived, in a car AND a van, on the dot of 10 to ferry us and our boxed bikes and gear to the Greyhound bus station in downtown Cincinnati. Bus was there for scheduled departure at 12.05 , but no driver ! Eventually we left over 2 hours late and so missed our connecting bus in Atlanta. Thus a 4 hour wait in the rather grim Atlanta terminal from 1.30 to 5.30 am . But we laid our sleeping bags on floor in a corner and slept soundly , would you believe, despite the heaving mass of other travellers and 24 hour CNN news blaring above our heads. Next bus for Mobile left at 5.30 and we finally arrived in Mobile almost exactly 24 hours after leaving Cincinnati. Assembled bikes ( without hitch to our huge relief ) in the presence of amused fellow travellers at Mobile Greyhound depot . A young African American waiting to get on another bus asked us if we carried protection . What sort did he have in mind we asked . Well `a gun of course` he said and and then went on to express amazement that we weren't carrying at least a knife. Not an encouraging start.

Up and away fully laden ( 2 back panniers and light sleeping mats on Mary's bike) and 2 back , with tent on top, and 2 front panniers on mine. Plus of course easily removable front handle bar panniers for us both. An easy 5 mile ride down into downtown Mobile , saw the site of the old slave market at the corner of Royal and St Louis streets, and then over the bridge to the site of the historic USS battleship Alabama and world war 2 submarine. Had a fascinating tour of both and then booked into Best Western motel with a good fish restauraunt next door.

Only 1 hr 30 mins of cycling ( albeit against wind for much of way ) and a quiet 15 miles on 1st day . Being late on a Sunday afternoon the traffic was beautifully light. A gentle ` warmer upper ` . We head for Stockton tomorrow ( 35 odd miles ) and hopefully a campsite there. Then a longer day ( 70 miles ) to Grove Hill on Wednesday. We should be stronger by then . Hoping for South wind.

Mike spent some time ( some MORE time ! ) explaining how I can upload photos on to a motel computer . Will try , but early signs don't look hopeful . If not will get the help of librarian at some future small town stop .

PS to Season Draws to Close

The season ended on April 13 after a week with yet more brilliant powder skiing. On last day I cycled up Brush Creek Road in late pm and the photos above show the snow base still there with the ski slopes behind.

Official stastistics show 40 days of fresh snow falls of over 4 inches in the season - the celebrated ` powder day ` criteria.

We both finished work on Saturday night . Big relief for us that we got through season without incident either on the slopes ( albeit with a couple of close calls ) or at work . Particularly the latter as far as I was concerned. A lot of portential for ` incidents `.

Since then we've been clearing 270 Meadow Ranch and have been up to our necks in cardboard boxes -- builders move in tomorrow for 3 months. 6 feet of frozen snow at side and back of house where the work begins will cause a problem though. A lot of work behind us in terms of getting plans for remodel drawn and through planning and the condominium assn. We've taken a let of a studio flat just across the road from us for June and July . We hope to be back in Snowmass by June 1 . Work should be finished by Aug 1 when hopefully we can move back into 270.


We were due to get 4 or 5 hours towards Kansas tonight , but got 8 miles to El Jebel and were turned back - Hwy 82 closed in both directions due to a bad bush fire - remarkable given the amount of precipitation ( but of snow ! ) over last 5 months. Large scale evacuations , etc , but no fatalities we hear. Eventually, after returning to Meadow Ranch for a couple of hours, we set off for 2nd time to Glenwood Springs ( normally 1 hour and it took us 3 ) at 9pm only to find Interstate 70 east bound closed. Here we are in motel outside Glenwood with still 25 hours driving ahead of us.

Next entry hopefully from Asheville, NC.

season drawing to close

The 400 inches of snow in the season mark was reached on last day of March since when there has been an additional 2 feet of new snow. One more week of work and then the resort closes down ( despite the fact that there will be complete cover on all runs right down to base village and brilliant spring skiing). It's the US way - it's just time to get on with other things ! General consensus though that it has been one of the best seasons on record.

Bus driving has been terrific and suits me well . Interesting people , challenges on the road, gave 5 days a week to take advantage of fresh powder if I wished to , lovely team colleagues and a well run organisation with good and efficient supervisors. I aim to repeat next year.

Mary has also had a good season workwise and enjoyed being outside and having a wide variety of different jobs to do. Her whole department were taken up in a snowcat to Lynn Britt cabin ( quarter way up the mountain ) last night for a ` thank you dinner` where there were presentations etc . Most impressive. She hopes to be working for Skico again next year.

We had a good visit from my niece Nicola and her boyfriend Paul which included trips to the Hanging Valley Wall in Snowmass and ` the Bowl ` at Highlands. It was a rough day for Highland Bowl ( v windy and slabby snow ) with v testing skiing conditions. They won't forget the experience though. Reminded them a little of Glenshee at times I think. Goodness they did well . Altitude can be a serious problem for people coming for a week only and not many attempt the Highland Bowl trek after only a day or 2 of acclimatisation. The photo of Nicola from the top of Aspen Mtn looking across to Highlands and the Bowl ( taken on the day we skied with them on Aspen Mtn - otherwise known as Ajax ) gives an idea of what is involved.

Additionally a few of photos of the Town ( of Snowmass Village ) race and picnic for employees are attached. A delightful day - not the sort of office outing I have been accustomed to ! The first photo of the couple serving drinks at ` The picnic palace ` show what Mary does at least once a week . It could have been her serving but she was on corral ( ski storage ) duty that day. The second photo shows ( just ) me on the left coming out of the starting gate. Beaten soundly by one of my supervisors Johnny Boyd on the right. Another of my work colleague Rusty in her trademark `tuck ` position.

Preparing now for departure to North Carolina and then the UGRR . Major house remodel of our condo wll be going on while we're away so all our furniture being moved out and we'll need to find somewhere else to live when we return in June.

Next blog entry will , hopefully, be `en route ` from Mobile, AL to Cincinati, OH.