Thursday, 27
Sept
07
Stereolab
- 'Visionary Road Maps' - Fab Four
Suture
(Elektra)
I
guess I've been pretty lazy about updating the blog the past couple of
weeks. I have been keeping pretty busy though. Besides work and riding
about every other evening last week to get some training miles in, I
did have a pretty busy weekend, and this one is also pretty filled up.
The best news though is that Kelly will be home in less than a week.
Yay!
Friday night the Urban Night Riders (or at least that's what I like to
call the group ride I organized) WERE supposed to have ride #2, but
there was a Tropical Depression in the Gulf that was forecast to bring
us lots of rain and possibly some strong winds. It was cloudy off and
on most of the day Friday, so when it looked as if the rain was going
to start I called off the ride late that afternoon, so we wouldn't get
caught in anything on the tail end of our ride. So, even though I had
brought my bike and gear to work and was all set to go, we cancelled at
the last minute and I went home instead. And what happens? Not a
single, fucking thing. It was cloudy and may have sprinkled some, but
that was it. I was pissed. Stupid weather, but stupid media being a
little bit too spun up about it. Sure, being cautious is good, and it
was better for people to be prepared, but then when nothing happens, it
seems that apathy sets in and when the real thing happens (take Katrina
for example), people stay and the worse case scenario occurs. A
lose-lose situation maybe. Anyway, I ended up staying home doing
absolutely nothing except watching a couple of the World Series of
Poker broadcasts.
Saturday morning it actually had rained and was cloudy with the
appearance that we would get more rain. I went out to get coffee and an
onion at the Diamondhead Grocery because I had forgotten the previous
evening when I had picked up some wine at the liquor store and green
peas at the grocery. I was making risotto for the week and knew I had
forgotten something. I'm not a big fan of onions, but they had some
nice small ones so I picked one out and brought it back home to puree
in the food processor with a couple of the peppers I had grown in our
garden this year. The risotto took about an hour to prepare and a lot
of time is spent stirring, adding broth, and stirring some more. It
turned out really well though with green peas, shrimp, saffron, and a
mixture of asiago and fresh parmesan cheese to make it creamy. I had a
nice big pot of it to last me all week long. While I was cooking Jason
called me and invited me to go to dinner with he, Ellen, and Lyndsay
after Ellen and Lyndsay got finished at work. We decided to go eat at
Shiso in Ocean Springs because we hadn't been there in quite awhile.
After finishing the risotto I proceeded to do some housecleaning
because the kitchen was really a mess with all the dead lovebugs that
had somehow gotten inside and died near the window and were laying on
the floor. I think they somehow came in through the kitty door. What a
mess. When I finished cleaning I watched a couple of anime programs I
had recorded on Friday night, then I had to go back out to the grocery
store because the buttermilk I had purchased a few days earlier had
gone sour and chunky and couldn't be used in the Chocolate Cinnamon
Bread I was going to make (the Dutch Process Cocoa Powder arrived in
the mail that day). Fortunately, they had a small container so I
wouldn't be wasting much if I didn't use all of it. The bread was quite
simple to make, although a bit of a mess. I placed it in the oven and
hopped in the shower. It was still baking when I got out, and since our
oven is kind of crappy it took about 15 minutes longer than the recipe
called for. It also took a long time to cool off, so I watched a bit of
college football before heading out. I had a slice after it had cooled
some, and it turned out pretty well, although it was more like a cake
than a bread, and there wasn't as much cinnamon flavor, so next time I
think I'll add a bit more cinnamon to the recipe. It was good though
and I took one loaf to Jason and Ellen and the other to Lyndsay. As
good as it was, I really didn't need to eat one, much less two loaves
by myself. Jason had a piece when I arrived at their place and said it
tasted good. That made me feel pretty good about my product. My timing
was perfect also because right after I arrived, Jason received a call
from Ellen saying they were almost finished and we should get going so
we could meet them at the restaurant. We pulled up and went inside to
get a table, then they pulled up about 10 minutes later. It was really
good to see Lyndsay since I hadn't seen her in a few months. Lyndsay
had tempura, but the other three of us all ordered a variety of their
sushi rolls. They didn't have any bluefin tuna that evening, which we
really enjoy (and is also more expensive, so it was probably a good
thing), but the other rolls we ordered tasted really good. We ended up
having a few pieces left over, but Jason and Ellen took them home. It
was most enjoyable company and we had some good laughs about the days
working at Be-Bop (Lyndsay, Jason, and I). After eating Lyndsay drove
home and I rode back to Jason and Ellen's. We all had a piece of the
bread and I left them because Ellen looked really tired from work. I
also wanted to get home and go to bed because I was planning to get up
early on Sunday to ride.
I did get up early, although a bit earlier than I intended because one
of the cats woke me up. I think it was Josie being talkitive. I was
kind of leery of what the weather looked like, but decided that I would
still ride even if it did rain. I drove down to Competition Sports on
Courthouse Road and met a couple other guys there and we headed out to
Cowan-Lorraine Road and turned north. We had a good pace of 17-18 mph
going, and I was keeping up for a good distance, then they put on a bit
of speed as the road started to get a bit steeper, and I fell behind. I
had expected them to get ahead of me since I'm not the fastest rider,
plus I have a slight bicycle weight disadvantage. I went out to the end
of highway 615 which goes north of the Interstate and then back down to
the bike shop where we started. 35 miles total in about two and a half
hours was pretty good, and just as I finished it started to rain some.
As the morning progressed it actually rained harder at times, so I was
glad that I got up to ride with the early group instead of the group
starting elsewhere at 9.30am. It's cooler earlier in the morning, which
is much better for me because I really dislike riding when it's hot.
I came home and ate lunch, then I watched Bleach and Blood Plus before
taking a nap. I was going to see Interpol/Liars later in the evening at
House of Blues in New Orleans and didn't want to fall asleep on the
drive home. I drove over a little before 6pm, found parking at a pay
lot, and went to the ticket office to purchase tickets for the upcoming
Poncho Sanchez and New Pornographers shows late in October. I went
inside and found a spot to stand next to the soundboard. It usually
sounds better in that area because they are trying to get the best
sound overall for the band. Liars were pretty good, and the crowd liked
them somewhat. Interpol really got the crowd going (as much as they
could) and standing next to the sound board I was right next to their
tech person in charge of their various lighting displays and set-ups.
They had a couple of light 'poles' on the stage as well as a couple of
screens for visual displays that were all being controlled by a
computerized board being run by one guy. It was really neat to watch.
They played for about an hour and a half and finished off with their
more popular songs (of course, wait until the end). I'm glad I went
because it's good to see bands live that I haven't seen before. It was
even better that it was an early show and leaving the club by 11.15pm,
I was home by 12.30am and in bed by 1am.
Monday night after work I went up to the Coast Motor News office with
pizza from Mellow Mushroom because Peter, Jason, Kevin, Darrin, and Mr.
Erhard were watching the Saints game. I normally would have gone home
to watch the season premier of 'Heroe's, but stupid WDSU (the New
Orleans NBC affiliate) was broadcasting the Saints game, which was not
their own broadcast, but the same programming that was already being
broadcast nationally on ESPN. Stupid pricks. And the worse thing about
it is that the Saints really didn't look much better than they had in
their previous two losses already this season. It was 10-7 with
Tennessee ahead at halftime. I stayed about midway into the third
quarter when the Saints scored and went ahead 14-10, but then decided
to head home since it was getting late. Probably a wise idea since it
was all Titans after that. The final score was 31-14 and the Saints
seemed to be back to their old ways and getting the nickname of shame,
the 'Aints. Sad. Even the announcers were saying it won't be long
before the hometown fans were going to go back to wearing the paper
bags on their heads like they used to when the Saints really sucked ass.
Last night I went to see The Bind(our friends Peter, Paul, and Wanda)
play their first show on the Coast since forming about a year ago, at
the local VFW Hall in Gulfport. The opening acts were Jason Conway (a
local guy who played guitar and sang solo), who was good, and
Lazerhead, from Gainesville, FL who sounded like Dinosaur Jr., but in a
good way(they didn't suck). The Bind were also enjoyable to watch and I
look forward to their next show. It was more fun because a lot of the
old Be-Bop crew had showed up. Matt Schnake and his girlfriend Carrie,
Dwayne, Allen, Lyndsay, Jason, and Ellen. It was good to hang out and
talk with them between bands. I didn't stay for the final band,
Malamute, who played after The Bind, but I'm sure I'll see them another
time since they're from Hattiesburg.
Today was my early day at work, so I was off at 4.30pm. I came home and
rode my bike over to Jack and Kelly's house (they're a couple in
Diamondhead who ride a tandem bike and are riding in the MS150 with the
bicycle club). They are joining us in the postponed Night Ride tomorrow
(Friday) night, but didn't have a light because theirs died the other
morning when they were riding. I'm letting them borrow the newer light
I purchased since I have my other lighting system that I'll hook up for
the Night Ride. Jack also helped me adjust my front brake which had one
pad rubbing against my wheel rim, making it a pain in the ass riding.
We also talked about the MS150 and them possibly giving me a ride home
on the Sunday afterwards. I then came home and watched 'Eureka' from
the other night and the season premier of 'CSI'. I'll have caught up on
most programs before Kelly comes home next week, so she can delete
everything after watching it while I'm riding in the MS150. We'll need
the extra space since opening night of the regular NHL season starts
next Wednesday night, and you know I'll have the Colorado/Dallas game
on when I get home from work.
Before the ride tomorrow night I have a couple of errands during the
day scheduled, Saturday is animefest at Gary's where we're planning to
watch many new shows that Gary added to his server from the torrent
sites, including the first Bleach movie and Zero Louise (I think that's
what it's called), and Sunday I'm riding a Metric Century (62 miles) in
the Crescent City
Century in Abita Springs. No rest for the weary. At least I'll have
one final 'long' ride in before the MS150 next weekend.
-posted
by Chris
Sunday, 16 Sept
07
Yuko
Goto - 'Koi no Mikuru Densetsu' -
Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya sdtk.
(Bandai)
Sonic Youth - 'Silver Rocket' - Daydream Nation (Geffen)
I
put two songs on today because I felt like it. The first one is from
one of the anime series that Gary and I started last weekend, 'The
Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya'. It's the 'theme song' of Mikuru Asahina
in Episode 00 (part one),
(part two), and (part three) which
really stuck in my head. It will probably make no sense at all to
anyone unfamiliar with the series, but it's entertaining to me. Here's
a couple scanned images of the heroine
Mikuru:
The second song is one of the tracks I put on my 'mtbikemix' playlist
for my iPod. Since I took my road bike into the shop for a tune-up
Friday and won't get it back until Tuesday, I went out to the trails in
DeSoto forest today to do a bit of riding. The weather was great. It's
been cooling off the past few days after squally remnants of Humberto
passed through on Thursday. It was probably still in the upper 60's or
low 70's when I hit the trails at 9.20am. There was one other vehicle
at the trailhead, but I didn't run into that individual, however I did
run into plenty of banana spider webs spread across the middle of
various portions of the trail. It's a gross feeling when you have
sticky webbing all over your helmet, face, and hands and can see the
large (about the size of a silver dollar or larger with legs spread
out) spider hanging off the web about six inches from the front of your
face. Eww, creepy. There was also what appeared to be a dad and his two
daughters riding Walmart mountain bikes (decent models with cheap parts
and heavier than bikes at the local bike shop, but affordable for the
average consumer) on the trail for the first time. It's good to see
people out riding. One of my new co-workers rides his bike around Ocean
Springs in the neighborhoods near his apartment and I gave him one of
my older taillights last week because he said he rode at night without
a light and just his reflectors. Tomorrow I'm giving him one of my
older headlights because I recently upgraded to a brighter, more
lightweight model. I like to see others riding, just as long as they
are somewhat safe and don't give bikers in general a worse reputation
than they already have. Anyway, I rode a good hard 12.25 miles and
managed only once to literally eat dirt. I hit a stump/root at high
speed and went right over the front of my handlebars landing face first
in the dirt. Fortunately, nothing broken, my tunes were still playing,
and only a scraped/bruised knee as a result. After riding for two hours
I drove back home, showered, and went over to our physical therapist,
Matt's house to watch some of the football games and just hang out. It
was nice to kick back and relax outside of our house for a few hours.
After watching the Saints play horribly, we flipped to some of the
other games which were more exciting, then I left at 4pm. I went to
feed and medicate Jason and Ellen's cats (they're finally getting to
cash in on all the times we've asked them to watch our girls) and get a
few things at the grocery store, then came home. I had originally
planned to make some chocolate cinnamon bread I had picked up the
recipe for at Starbucks (of all places) in Georgia, but I couldn't find
any Dutch Process cocoa powder, not even at Whole Foods on Friday, so
that idea was nixed. I did place an order for that and more sourdough
starter (mine had died) from King Arthur's Baking Co. though this
evening so I can have a test run before I make a possible final product
when Kelly gets home.
The earlier part of my weekend was also busy with just being on the go.
Friday morning I got up and took my bike to the shop in Gulfport and
stopped by the coliseum in Biloxi to get Friday only tickets for
Voodoofest. We're going to see the Seawolves on Saturday and Sunday
nights, so we're selling our 3-day passes, but still want to go check
out Rage Against the Machine, MIA, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, and
Kings of Leon that Friday. After running those errands I came back home
to switch vehicles and drove over to New Orleans. The traffic was
absolutely horrible in Shitairie (Metairie). Worse than usual for a
Friday afternoon. I had lunch at the Sake Cafe, which had a roll lunch
special, so I got miso soup, a spicy yellowtail roll, and a spicy
salmon roll all for $7.95. Not bad at all. After lunch I went to Whole
Foods, the main reason for this trip to the city, to pick up some
groceries. After shopping I was back on the road and managed to beat
the rush hour traffic out of town. I did stop by and pick up Powerball
tickets for myself and Gary, however I haven't checked the numbers yet.
I got home and watched 'Ace of Cakes', then went out to get cat food,
coffee, and meet Jason at their house because we were later meeting
Ellen and Lyndsay for a late dinner. We ended up meeting them at the
new Hard Rock Cafe at the casino in Biloxi. It was busy and kind of
loud, but they had gotten a table before Jason and I showed up since
they only had to travel a couple of miles down the highway from the
Grand Casino where they both work. The food really wasn't that great at
all, but I did take my leftover salmon with me for a meal tonight
(Sunday). It was fun hanging with the three of them. Afterwards they
all had ice cream at the Ben & Jerry's shop in the casino (right
next to the Starbucks), but I pretended to be good and not have any. I
didn't even get more coffee either. We got back to their place a little
before midnight and after they showed me how to give Zoe the antibiotic
(syringe down the throat, just like Josie) I came home and went to bed
after reading a bit.
Saturday morning I got up at 9am and started to clean the bathrooms.
After finishing that task I got coffee at The Jumping Bean, then came
back and watched Ergo Proxy and Tenjho Tenge. I also watched some
college football before getting dressed and headed over to Mobile. Last
night was the first match for the Mississippi Rollergirls who had a
bout against the Mobile Rollerderby team, who were also having their
first bout. I got there early and was talking with one of the locals
who was at the will call table. He was a pretty nice guy. I went in
when the doors opened and found a seat near the MS team. One of our
friends, Rachel, is on the team, but not currently skating due to other
time commitments, and I talked with her for a few minutes. The bout was
entertaining, although the MS team were not at all pleased with the
officiating. Most of the refs were locals from Mobile, so it seemed as
if there was some bias towards the Mobile teams. They ended up winning
the bout 190-99. Ouch. After the bout I grabbed dinner at IHOP in
Mobile, then came home to geek a bit and watch the end of the
Colorado/Florida State football game, which Florida State seemed to win
easily.
I'm keeping myself entertained while Kelly is gone, but it still does
get a bit dull in the evenings not having interaction with others. NHL
preseason has started though and the regular season starts in less than
3 weeks, so I'll have plenty to bide my time, as well as more training
rides before the MS150 in 3 weeks. Yikes, that's coming up soon.
-posted
by Chris
Sunday, 9 Sept
07
Mogwai
- 'Friend of the Night' - Mr. Beast
(Matador)
I've been pretty lazy
today, doing a bit of housecleaning, watching Tivo recorded programs,
and reading. I was originally going to get up early and go biking, but
I didn't sleep well and instead decided to sleep in until a little
after 9am. I've had a busy past few days though, so sleeping in was
probably a good idea.
Thursday night after work I went up to Beef O'Brady's in D'Iberville
and met some of the guys from poker to watch the NFL opening night with
the Saints taking on the Colts (last year's Superbowl winners). Oregon
State was also playing against Cincinnati on another channel, so I
watched some of that as well. I also wanted to finally present the
playoff picks cup to Peter since I had received it in the mail from
Andy the previous week. I took a few photos, which aren't great, but
the Cup sure does look good. Peter will get to keep it to show off and
gloat until the end of the playoffs next year and will then pass it on
(unless he wins again). Here are some of those photos:
The photo/card that Andy made
for
Peter
Peter taking a sip from the Cup
It was Peter,
Dwayne, Allen, Nunzio, Jason, Darrin, and myself who had taken over two
tables and were watching the game. The place was pretty packed with
both Saints and Colts fans. Honestly, I'm not a real huge NFL football
fan (more a fan of college football), but it was cool just hanging out
with the guys laughing and talking, not being too serious like we are
when we play poker. The Saints looked prett good in the first half,
keeping the score tied at 10-10, but in the second half it was all
downhill for both the offense and defense. I stayed until the end of
the 3rd quarter when the Colts were ahead 24-10 and it was 10pm. The
final score ended up being a dismal 41-10. It wasn't much better for
the Oregon State Beavers who got trounced 34-3. Sad night score-wise,
but fun to hang out with friends.
Friday night after work I had coordinated a night time bicycle ride
from Cyclist Choice bike shop on hwy 49 in Gulfport, along the back
streets of Gulfport and Biloxi to Hiller Park, then back. The group of
6 of us started at 7pm and rode in a pack of flashing headlights and
taillights at a good pace of 14-15mph. On the way the rest of the group
wanted to stop for a beer at this bar/restaurant called Bernie's near
the mall in Biloxi. I really wasn't one to say 'no' and spoil the fun.
After a short break we were back on our way. We finished our loop and
were back at our vehicles before 9.30pm. Not too bad for a 24.5 mile
ride. I was hoping to go a further distance, but this was pretty decent
for a first time event. There's talk of this becoming a regular event,
so I'm pleased with that and hope that more riders come out. After
riding I went up to Jason and Ellen's house where I took a quick shower
and chatted with Jason until Ellen arrived home. They even let me mooch
some of their food for dinner. Jason grilled salmon and we had a good
green salad. Both tasted great after my ride. We ate pretty late
(almost 10.30pm) and I stuck around until 11.30 before I headed home. I
stayed up for awhile then finally went to bed around 2am.
Saturday morning I woke up early and got ready so I could head over to
Gary's house for animefest. I'd been looking forward to this for
awhile. We started with Shakugan no Shana and finished off the final
two discs in that series (well, season one at least. Now we can look
forward to the release of season 2 which will probably be sometime next
year since it's just beginning to air in Japan.). We also watched two
discs of 'Black Lagoon' and the much talked about series 'The
Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya'. Both were also great series, and
although Haruhi was much different than expected, it was still really
enjoyable and interesting. We had pizza from Mellow Mushroom for lunch
and finished watching around 10pm. I stopped by Wal-Mart on the way
home to pick up some groceries for the week as well as new windshield
wiper blades. I got home and tried to go to bed early, but didn't have
much success. Now it's Sunday evening and I haven't accomplished too
much, although I did dust and vacuum, plus I installed new windshield
wipers on both vehicles. I may go biking in a little while or I may
just wait until tomorrow evening then go on a long ride next weekend
since it'll be my off Friday and right now I don't have any plans.
We'll see.
-posted
by Chris
Tuesday, 4 Sept
07
The
Rolling Stones - 'Paint it Black' -
Forty Licks (Virgin)
So, after being sick
last weekend and into the beginning of the week, I was feeling much
better on Wednesday, then on Thursday morning I heard this story on the
radio in the morning about a spinach
recall. I had already thrown out the package because I wanted that
shit out of the house, but it makes me somewhat suspicious, even if it
was a different brand maybe a few 'bad' leaves got into the package
that I had. Who knows? All I know is that I probably won't be eating
spinach again for another week or so. It's a mental thing.
Friday morning I was up early and headed to Brent's house to load my
gear and my bike on his car and head up to Georgia. It was a long trip,
but traffic really wasn't that bad until we got outside of Atlanta. We
stopped at REI and Einstein Bros. Bagels on the outskirts of town, then
headed on a clogged back highway to his cabin between Ellijay and Blue Ridge.
We arrived at the cabin around 7pm and Brent attempted to grill, but
the charcoal must have gotten wet because he wasn't having much luck.
We brought the chicken and turkey dogs inside and fire grilled them in
the gas oven. The cabin is at the end of the road, but there are other
cabins nearby. No cable at the cabin, which is kind of nice although
almost a bit too away from civilization, but they do have a television
with a dvd player. He put in some show from the 70's called 'The
Streets of San Francisco'. A cop-drama show that was supposedly Kirk
Douglas's first starring role. It was kind of funny in a early 70's
way. I half watched while I was reading. Brent went to bed early so I
grabbed my Creative mp3 player and listened to music while reading. I
finally went to bed around 1am and had some bizarre dreams about racing
around some big city on a motorcycle and almost flying off the huge
highway overpasses a few times. Very strange.
The next morning I slept in until 9am, then got up and helped Brent
work on the bikes for a bit before we went for our first ride. We went
down the winding dirt road the cabin is on, back to the highway and on
some back roads to another dirt road that started climbing quickly
until we reached some disappointing waterfall, then we rode back. It
was a climb back up to the biking trailhead on the road from the
waterfall, but the downhill back to the main road was pretty nice. I
managed a top speed of 33mph on the dirt road descent. Crossing the
highway and riding back up the hills on the road to the cabin was a
drag, but overall we did a healthy 23 mile ride. We each showered and
changed and went back into town to have a late lunch/early dinner at
Ruby Tuesday's. With no cable at the cabin, I wanted to go somewhere
that had a variety of food plus a television set where I could catch
some college football games and scores. After lunch we stopped by the
Appalachian Beverage Center (a liquor/beer store) so I could pick up
some of the state's local microbrews for Jason and Ellen since they
were checking in on the girls over the weekend, plus we stopped by Cartecay Bike Shop in Ellijay
so Brent could ask about a 'locals only' trail that connected off of
the Bear
Creek trail (which I actually rode on about 5 or 6 years ago when
Kelly was out at sea and I wanted to try out my new bike; the whole
area has grown a LOT in population and urban growth since then). The
guy he usually talks with at the shop wasn't there, but a few other
local bikers were there and were more than happy to tell about the
trail. Some odd characters. Next we went to Blue Ridge where Brent
drove around the downtown area and we stopped at a nice local coffee
shop then went to a great grocery store called Ingles that had
everything that I needed to make pasta the next night (fresh herbs,
artichoke hearts, parmesan cheese, olive oil, whole wheat pasta,
garlic) to go with the loaves of Italian bread I had made on Thursday
night. When we got back to the cabin we watched another episode of 'The
Streets of San Francisco' then I read some more.
Sunday I got up a little earlier, although still later then Brent,
because we wanted to hit the trails a little earlier in the day. We
loaded up the bikes after eating breakfast and drove to the road that
goes up to the Bear Creek trailhead. We parked and rode up the gravel
road to Bear Creek and started up, then veered left onto the Pinhoti
trail. This was a gruelling climb up a single track path with many
switchbacks and took us to 500 meters (1640 ft. and 5.03937 inches),
but then we had an exciting downhill for about a mile before starting
the climb back up again. The next climb was a little less challenging
with a little more room on the trail and a more gradual incline up to
our highest point at 600 meters (1968 feet and 6.04724 inches). When we
reached the top it was a short break before we got to enjoy the fruit
of our climbs for the day with a lengthy 'rollercoaster' downhill that
had small moguls, tight turns, and just an overall perfect, fast
downhill ride to the bottom. An 'epic' ride for sure and probably the
second best downhill trail I've ridden on (the first being my two rides
down Pikes Peak, one on the winding road from the top, the other down
Barr Trail starting near the summit). After we got to the bottom we
came out onto a completely different road and started heading in what
we thought was the right direction, but after Brent flagged down one of
the locals (some old guy driving by in his truck) we turned around and
headed back to the car from the opposite direction we had started from.
It ended up only being 13 miles total, but it was a challenging 3 hour
ride. We were pretty beat when we got back to the cabin, but after
showering I felt a bit better and started on the pasta (Kelly's special
recipe). It took a little while, but it tasted really good with the
freshly warmed bread. I even had plenty leftover to take home for the
next few days. No 'Streets of San Francisco' tonight, but instead Brent
put in the 'Mission Impossible 3' movie. I hadn't seen this (or Mi2 for
that matter), but didn't mind half watching it as I read. I stayed up a
bit later and read some more after having hot chocolate and some
popcorn.
Bikes sitting outside the front
door of the
cabin
View off porch looking at mountains in distance
Monday we got up
early, did a bit of cleaning, packed the car, and hit the road. Traffic
was heavy again when we got to Atlanta, but not as bad as going up to
the cabin. It flowed really well, even past the speed traps in Alabama,
until we got into Mississippi when it was almost stop and go traffic
from just past the first exit all the way to D'Iberville where it
changes from two lanes to three. There were some really shitty drivers
on the road, but at least we didn't get caught in the traffic going
north up I-65 between Mobile and Montgomery, AL where traffic was at a
dead stop for 6 or 7 miles (people were getting out of their cars whiel
waiting) and the police at one exit south of the stopped traffic were
directing drivers to exit the Interstate and take some alternate route.
Suck for those drivers. I made it home around 6pm, gave the girls some
tuna, unpacked and put away some clean laundry from the previous week,
then had leftover pasta while catching up on Bleach and Blood Plus.
Overall a really good weekend. I'm looking forward to going back with
Kelly so we can do some hiking and explore some of the other waterfalls
and rivers in the area. We're planning a trip up over our extended
Veteran's Day holiday weekend in November.
-posted
by Chris