Our 4th Summer in Snowmass

1 Straight back to action at Meadow Ranch with M being appointed gardener for the Residents' Association. Not a great money spinner , but fun and it may lead to more independent work. Recession biting hard here though and nothing like the work of previous years. Bus driving got off to good start and a full 2 weeks of driving immediately on return. Slowed down a lot since though.
2 Much time for mountain biking with many new trails in Snowmass opening up . Elk Camp gondola and upper Elk camp chair open this summer for first time . This was taken from cross mountain trail above the ` government trail ` at bottom of Big Burn lift.
3 Katy's parents, Judy and Murray from Australia, en route to Columbus. A lovely visit and the bike ride to Basalt via Old Snowmass ( this one high up the Old Snowmass canyon ) and
4 hike up to Maroon Creek and Crater Lake were highlights in addition to a delightful day biking round Aspen and the gondola to top of Aspen Mtn.
5 Both of us back to violin and oboe practice respectively . Amanda's parents' Figaro duets have been fantastic. M's violin teacher Heidi seen here on her big end of term pupil concert - M just visible behind her young Susuki co-pupils.
6 M & I had a delightful hike up to Lost Man Lake - except that we never made it - despite our having left bikes earlier in day at top of the loop close to top of Independence Pass
7 Thwarted by deep snow at about 11,500 ft - at top of this pic.
8 & 10 These taken on solo bike trip over Divide to Old Snowmass and from there , where road meets Hwy 82, down all the way to Glenwood Springs entirely on dedicated Rio Grande bike trail ( 40 odd miles in total - sheer bliss ) - a) Mt Daly and b)Lower Roaring Fork river close to its junction with the Colorado river at Glenwood. RFTA bus back to Snowmass made a great day.
9 One of the purposes of trip to Glenwood was to explore how we get to Portland Oregon next year for our trans Am bike trip . This is the answer - Amtrak. Means that we can bike right from 270 Meadow Ranch and no need for Uhaul trucks! Glenwood direct to San Francisco and straight connection north . 3 days though and not cheap. May still be the best bet.

The long drive home

1 The start of the marathon 4 day drive from Asheville back home to Snowmass. The first 800 miles in this UHaul truck with Betty seeing us safely off the Deerfield premises. Ridiculous as it may seem , this was the least expensive option of getting back to our car in St Francisville , Louisiana.
2 The Buick , as reliably as ever , cruised back through Texas to Santa Fee , NM where , for the first time ever , it stuttered to a halt with complete loss of electrical power after allowing us to free wheel ( with no power steering ) right into the forecourt of this service station in downtown Santa Fee. Remarkable , after some of the country we had just come through. One of the main leads to the battery had burnt out . A new part ( delivered from another garage within 15 minutes ) and 5 minutes of labour from a very obliging mechanic saw the Buick restored to full health and us happily on our way.
3 & Exploring on bike the state legislature of New Mexico in Santa Fee and a hugely impressive statue of the old pioneering ` covered wagon ` days .
5 Staying the night with tent in garden of an old school friend of M's, Hannah and her husband David and their 2 children Tony and Sophie in Lamy just outside Santa Fee.

The drive next day through southern Colorado and the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park was stunning arriving back at 270 Meadow Ranch in late evening.

A week in Asheville, NC

And what a delightful week it has been. Lots of bridge . Lots of music . Lots of good food . Have adjusted pretty easily to life at Granny's and Princess Aida's pace. Caught up a fair bit with Janey in Montreat. M improved dramatically Granny's deck with fresh pots and a hugely industrious job of sanding and painting an old wicker chair that's apparently been badly in need of restoration for a long time.

Pics from bottom

1 On way to an abortive bike trip to Mt Pisgah - Blue Ridge Parkway for that section closed 6 miles up from French Broad River. V disappointing.
2 & 3 Changed plan and visited on bike the Asheville Arboretum . A remarkable feature was this Bonzai garden exhibition . The finest I believe in North America.
4 & 5 On way to Mt Mitchell by bike on ` The parkway '. Weren't given the name Great Smoky Mtns for nothing.
6 38 down and 3.9 to go . A pretty gruelling 3.9 though.
7 Made it . Av 9.3 mph for trip to top and 11.5 for round trip of 82 miles. 4.5 hours up and a leisurely trip down (except that it was n't so leisurely with significant - i.e 2 drops of more than 500 ft and back up again ) in 2.5 hours. All details for Duncan's benefit who was here a few weeks ago with an Ithaca cycling group and who did the same thing. Presumably in about half the time. Made the mistake of carrying hefty sandwiches all the way to the top only to find a restauraunt there. Fabulous views for much of day , but a cool breeze mostly and ideal cycling conditions. Stopped on way down and a had a lovely chat with a young Californian couple heading for the top fully laden - en route from Calif to Maine and back to Calif. Enjoying themselves thouroughly they were and delightful to see. Little to beat it really.
8 Betty's deck as transformed by M .

Off later today ( Sunday 23rd ) in 14 foot Uhaul truck ( smallest they can give us ) to collect the Buick in St Francisville , La and then to Lamy , NM to stay with an old school friend of M's for a night before getting back to Snowmass on Thursday night.

Spartanburg, SC to Asheville , NC

Made it ! Delightful to be in residence again at Deerfield with ` Granny ` . She was our reception committee as we pulled in 2pm Thursday May 14 - 1460 miles and 4 weeks and 1 day after leaving St Francisville, LS. An epic trip, and bodies and bikes still in reasonable shape .

Bring on June 2011 - an idea under discussion is Portland , Oregon to Portland Maine.

Pics from bottom
1. Bob - friend of Herb & Dagmar's - with his pick up truck . We were hugely grateful to him for driving us 6 miles or so to the north side of Spartanburg thus saving us some nasty traffic roads. Bob is a keen local cyclist - the traditional kind though who had difficulty - as do many - understanding the ` enjoyment` of biking with such a load . Bob , we need to convert you !
2. Black Beauty ? For Meghan's sake ! We never passed a horse we didn't admire. Each one had some admirable quality - I think !
3. Arriving at Lake Lure - site of a happy family holiday in late eighties.
4. The view from deck of our dinner restauraunt where we watched happily an anxious pair of ducks, with clutch of 5, ever alert to the lurking danger as night approached .
5. Last campsite of the trip at top end of lake. Reasonable , but much more expensive at $35 than any to date , but a resort town and prime location with cool breeze coming in off fast flowing river. Small ( and we understood `harmless` ) snake curled up at entrance to our tent on returning from dinner was a little unnerving.
6.Chimney Rock - elevator `inside ` takes you to the top . We stayed away.
7. The following morning we had our only significant climb of whole trip - up to top of eastern continental divide . About 8.5 miles and 2,000 ft of climbing. But it was cool in early morning and we'd played safe by having large cafe breakfast at start. This is M grinding her way to top in low gear. What a trooper .
8. Crossing the Divide .
9. The reward - fabulous views looking west towards the Mt Mitchell and the Smoky Mtns.
10. Arriving at Deerfield , Asheville, NC with Mary's mother Betty to greet us .
11. Mother and daughter in Betty's appt . How beautifully relaxing life is with ` Granny `. She has still to put the clocks forward .

Savannah to Spartanburg, SC

Pics from bottom
1. After biking the 12 or so miles from A & K 's, we picked up this U-haul ( smallest we could find and the only practicable and least expensive way of achieving objective ) to take us , our bikes and 6 panniers to Spartanburg, SC - 250 odd miles away and home of Herb and Dagmar Lindsay. Herb and Dagmar have worked for Guest Services at Snowmass for about the last 15 years and spend every winter there. They work with Mary.
2. They live in a beautiful house overlooking the river outside S'burg. Herb helped me return the U- haul truck. This , and the top pic, show Herb's quite remarkable model railway which occupies the whole of their basement and reflects 35 or so years' hobby work. Phenomenal. Can't be many like it anywhere I would have thought. All in perfect working order and hugely complex electrically with no detail omitted modeled on an actual railway town in Pennsylvania.
3. The old cornmill right beneath their house which Dagmar used to operate in early days with the original water wheel. Another remarkable feat.
4. Standard procedure early each morning except this time we were caught at it !
5. With Herb and Dagmar shortly before our departure the following morning.

Savannah and The Landings

Pics from bottom
1. The river front at Savannah with its remarkable early settler history.
2. Out of the 24 downtown squares designed and built by Ogelthorpe, 21 or so remain. This is one of them and a cool spot for lunch on a hot and humid day.
3. We biked the 13 or so miles from downtown to Alastair & Kristin's house at The Landings. This was a good ` catching up ` lunch close to A's office the next day.
4. The view from A & K' s house looking south and east to the Atlantic.
5. Drinking to Barbara's health on that `special event day` soon after arrival.
6. A & K with Rutherfurd and Annabel after a dinner out on our 2nd and last evening.
7.Making an early office visit to Alastair before setting off for Uhaul pick up and drive to Spartanburg , SC.

Callaghan to Savannah

A pity that of the 3 days cycling Martha and Dick had with us , two of them were the heaviest traffic days we had on the whole trip.

The highlight of the 52 mile trip to Folkston was the 4 mile detour into the Okefenokee State Park. We took the 90 minute boat trip right into the heart of the swamp . Fascinating. Saw dozens of sleepy alligators v close to the boat. An easy ride on to Folkston and a resonable motel.

Next day was always going to be long one. Fortunately wind in our favour for most part and we reveled in the dearth of traffic. A quite delightful day's cycling and plenty opp to ride in pairs and chat. Still a long 86 miles though with only the barest camping facilities at the end of it. Campsite had closed but the proprietor generously allowed us to set up our tents at no charge. The shower facilities were rough to put it mildly , but it was good of him to heat the water for us at all and we hugely appreciated it.

We left v early next morning and parted company with Martha and Dick after a disappointing breakfast in Odum M and D heading straight for Savannah and M and I continuing on the AC route via Reidsville and Statesboro where we found superb campsites in both. Two quite delightful days' cycling with wonderfully quiet roads and mostly favourable winds ( except where I overshot a crucial route change and we had a 2 plus mile retrace back into stiff wind - understandable huff from M ).

Today , yet another near perfect day' s riding , a lot cooler and wind nearly at our backs. Got to Port Wentworth - 13 miles from downtown Savannah in mid afternoon. Tomorrow 25 odd miles to my nephew Alastair Cairns and his wife Kristin and their two kids via tour of the historic downtown Savannah in am.

Both of us pleased to have made it . 1300 miles in 24 days including 2 rest days - one with Stu and Yiemei and one in St Augustine. We'd have liked more but time didn't permit.

M still riding high on comment from Scot in the bike shop in Gainesville when looking at her loaded bike " some men would kill to have a wife who carries that much ". So say I !

Pics from bottom and see also pics for previous blogentries now added

1.Martha and Dick join us at Little Talbot Island State Park. ( should be in previous blog - Jacksonville Beach to Callaghan )
2. A couple of bee keepers who gave us much needed energy between Callaghan and Folkston.
3. Martha giving us a botany lesson.
4. The object of her, and our attention - sarahceena ( sp ? ).
5. Our campsite at the beautiful Gordonia State Park , Reidsville.
6. Our tent and equipment dwarfed by our RV neighbour.
7 & 8. Our arrival in downtown Savannah and a much needed breakfast at the historic antebellum railway station.