Diamonds and Gold / Birthday Ride

I did my "Birthday Ride" today! (My birthday is actually tomorrow, but I'll be at work).
It was a beautiful warm day, it must have been around 45 degrees when I left at 10:30 and was hitting 55 by the time I rolled into the yard. I did a Cartoogechaye-Skeenah-Addington Bridge-Clarks Chapel loop of 27 miles. It felt great to be on the road bike after the deep-freeze temps we've been experiencing.

It was a perfect day for a ride, not a cloud in the sky, I saw three deer, lots of squirrels, and rabbits. All of us critters seemed to be enjoying the springtime weather.

As I was cruising through the county-side, Langhorne Slim came on my MP3 player to sing:

You can have all the diamonds, you can have all the gold,
But some day you're still gonna get old
You've got to learn to get happy, along the way

I couldn't agree with him more!

Here's some pics from the ride:

From Drop Box

From Drop Box

From Drop Box

From Drop Box

5th-Graders assault Siler's Bald

On Siler Bald (5216ft)

• Today was the big hike day for the 5th grade class at Cartoogechaye Elementry School. It turned out to be the most beautiful of Spring days, a great day for a hike.
• We broke the 70+ kids into groups of 5 and hiked on the Appalachian Trail for the 5-mile round trip to the summit of the grassy Siler Bald and enjoyed lunch surrounded by the stunning panorama of the beautiful Nantahalas of Macon County.
• The kids did great, they are lots of fun to be around. I wish more folks would spend the time taking kids into the outdoors. They really did enjoy it and maybe some seeds were planted for future hiking endeavors.
• Man, we are so lucky to live in such an awesome place!

The 5th graders at Cartoogechaye

I gave a presentation the the 5th graders at Cartoogechaye School this morning about my Appalachian Trail thru hike. As part of their P.E. program they learn about the A.T. and actually go for a day hike. (The hike is to Siler's Bald.)
So, Hometown was invited to come and talk to the kids. It was actually very enjoyable. I brought my backpack and passed around my gear. I used a question and answer format, which from previous experience with kids works real well, keeps them from being bored, and is pretty entertaining overall.
I would say that the animal questions topped the list, and I told them of bear, moose, and snake encounters. One kid actually asked me, "what hardships did you endure on the trail?" I think he may be destined for a career in journalism. Of course I had the obligatory "did you carry a gun?" and "where did you go to the bathroom?" questions also.
What can I say? It was lots of fun, they invited me to hike with them to Siler's Bald. I may just do that............