October 31st 2014

The girls are: Elsa, Dorothy and Clara from the Nutcracker.  The boys are Spider-Man and Iron - man.

Charleston Halloween

This has been a busy week. Jenny's dad visited us in Beaufort for a few days, Lindsay and the boys were there also. We are now in Charleston prepping for Halloween. Jamie is in Scotland on a business trip so I carved what I think might be my 30th jack-o-lantern. I did have some help.

Grand daughters, in there PJs

Last ride

I leave tomorrow. I rode today on some property owned by a resort located in Lajitas. I would guess there are many square miles of property. There is an airport, a golf course an equestrian center and an RV park, in addition to the actual resort. I rode for 15 miles so it's a big place. Jenny is now in Sedona with her dad and a couple of brothers. Some recent rains washed out some of the trails I rode today but caused the wildflowers to bloom.

BBRSP

Went to a different trailhead in the state part today. I feel like I've seen a pretty good chunk of the southern part of the park. There is one more trailhead but it's a 2 1/2 hour drive on a dirt road. This is a big park. Here are a couple of examples of park trails.

River Road

Today I drove across BBNP and rode 25 miles of the dirt road that parallels the Rio Grande. After yesterday's technical ride this was a ride in the park. I did have an encounter with a park ranger. He was driving by and saw my car parked at the beginning of the dirt road. He saw my empty bike rack, and one track leading off into the outback so he decided to check on me. I thought that was pretty cool. I was out there by myself and if I had bike trouble I would have had a long hike. Here are a couple of pics I took today.

Big Bend Ranch State Park

Terlingua is about 15 miles from the first entrance into the State Park. I got my permit ($3) and headed into the unknown.  It took a while to get into the swing of things. There is some pretty focused attention that has to be given to the trail 10 feet in front of the bike. A lapse will frequently end badly. I did have one face plant. Luckily it was into some loose gravel so my face was spared. I came upon an old ranch building near a spring. Here's a pic. Tomorrow I think I'll ride in the National Park.

Still in Texas

As occurs frequently,  Jenny and I have split up. I drove 7 hours west and I'm now in Terlingua Tx. That's a few miles west of Big Bend NP. I made that drive so that I could ride my mountain bike in the mountains. There is nothing remotely approaching a mountain anywhere near Beaufort. I am now a mountain biker so I figured that maybe I should "just do it." Jenny is about to fly to Phoenix with her dad and 2 brothers for their yearly trip to Sedona. I will be here for 6 days. Big Bend Ranch State Park (370,000 acres) is just down the road. I will begin this adventure there. I rode a little on a dirt road across from the hotel this afternoon. Here's a pic.

Future Biker Babes

Reunion weekend in the can.

It was Douglas MacArthur class of '70 and A & M class of '74. Hal Vagtborg, a friend from high school, who has been MIA for 40 years is in the 1st pic. The second pic was taken at the A & M reunion. These are some of my Corp unit buddies and their wives.