Wild Turkey has nothing to do with drinking. On the side of the Blue Ridge Parkway this morning was group after group (gaggle? flock? bevy?) of wild turkeys by the side of the road. Just strutting around like they own the place. Which perhaps they do. . . . But I wanted to encourage them to get out of sight, what with Thanksgiving around the corner. But I'm used to seeing deer all over the place on the parkway. . .but wild turkeys? Very cool.
Now compulsions are interesting. Everyone seems to have a compulsion of some kind. And they are ingrained, and involuntary. For me it's eating. But I'm not going to go into that. For the Biker Babes it's Biking. . . . especially for Mary Dudley. She HAS to bike. It's in her soul. She's not right unless she's biking. I could not be farther away from her on that continuum. I can SOOOOOO not bike. Especially around this area of the country when 95% of the time you are either struggling to grind the bike up a frickin mountain, or defying death with a free fall down the other side. Neither of those scenarios appeals to me in anyway. But they love it.
And today my 4 Biker Friends hauled ass all the way to the top of Mount Mitchell. . . the highest point east of the Mississippi. . . over 6,000 feet. I was bursting with pride and admiration for them all as we saw them struggle their way into the parking lot at the very top. Amazing. . . not one of them under 50 years old. Sandy and I had the nerve to pose with them at the pinnacle. We had boldly driven the cars up those miles. YAWN!!!!!
And speaking of compulsions. . . . Sandy has a compulsion to hike. She cannot sit still for a moment if there's a trail in sight. She convinced me to try a trail at the top of Mt. Mitchell. The ranger intimated that it was fairly easy. Sandy's pace of walking is about 3 times mine. Part of that is that her legs and stride are longer than mine. Part of it may be that she's hauling around less weight. Part of it might be that she actually wants to hike whereas I'm being dragged along. Anyway. . . off we went. Within about 4 minutes she was so far ahead of me she was out of sight. I was plodding along this absolutely beautiful, but NOT EASY (as a matter of fact the sign said "very strenuous")trail. It started by having you walk down about 100 stone steps to the bottom, only to climb back up on the other side. I gave it about 20 minutes and then turned around and climbed back out. For me it was a great 40 minute hike full of cardio vascular goodness. I'm guessing my heart rate was in the 180's a couple of times. Sandy made the whole walk, but said even for her it was a challenge. Two other times today, as we were waiting for the girls, Sandy disappeared on a random trail. She just can't stop hiking. Which is why she can hike circles around me. . . . 10 years her junior. SIGH!!!!
We stopped at the wonderful Folk Art Center on the Blue Ridge Parkway right outside Asheville. Haven't been there in years and the craftsman ship of the products is breathtaking. So glad to have had the opportunity to stop there again.
Tonight we were joined by MD's son Carter who lives in Asheville with two buddies from college, who also joined us. What lovely, smart, personable young men. We all had a delightful late supper at the hotel having genuinely interesting exchanges with these guys. A multi-generational love fest. This does not happen often in life. A lovely bonus of this trip!
On my own home-front, I had a lengthy exchange via text with Casey. Always a treat. He starts his new job with IBM on Wednesday. Despite the Redskins imploding again early in the season, he seems upbeat about his life right now.
We have one more biking day left. Sandy and I have little to do tomorrow. We will explore the Asheville area as the girls tackle 27 miles of straight uphill biking. WHO DOES THIS VOLUNTARILY??????
So onward to tomorrow. As I type Sandy is working with her latest compulsion. . . her new IPhone. This one I understand at least. . . . . . . . . Sending you all the best from North Carolina!
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