Wednesday, October 14, 2009

The Beach Trip 2009

Our usual vacation is a trip to the beach and a few day stay at the Springmaid Resort and this year was no different. We drove down Sunday morning and arrived about 2 PM and check in and got settled in our room.

View from our balcony
After a little rest and a short walk around the grounds and on the beach we headed for our favorite restaurant Sara J's in Garden City http://www.sarajs.com/ and by the way unless you are a big eater and you order the fish plate choose the senior plate it is more than I can eat for one meal . We always choose a table inside but there outside tables on the  porch and the view of the inlet and buildings in the back ground are breathtaking . Just to the left of the restaurant is also a great place to take pictures  here are a few .


The next day after a buffet breakfast at Marlins restaurant we headed for the beach. As usual we did not come with the chairs and umbrella , because we had always rented one on the beach which is easier than setting one up and taking it down ever day and washing and drying it off before putting them back in the car. Well to our surprise the rental service on beach at the motel had closed for the season. So day one and two we sat on the beach sand and Delores spent time looking for shark teeth while I walked to Myrtle Beach State Park pier and back several time each day. We decided to spend the last couple of days around the pool where there was plenty of chairs and nice cool water. Stopped in Columbia at the mall on Harribson Rd.on the way home at streached our legs and did a little shopping . We had a great vacation and can't wait till next year .

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

The Last Ride


Ride on my Friend.
My friend took one last ride today. A lonely ride , a solo ride.
I was not there but, I am sure he rode it easy in the saddle with his hand strong on the bars and his head high and firm facing the road ahead. John was that kind of a man . He faced the battles of this world like he did the rides that he rode. He had fought the good fight now he is riding to his reward. The bible tell us of all the beauties of heaven , the gates of pearl, the walls of jasper , the crystal sea, the many mansions, the streets of gold and so many treasures untold. The bible also tells us it will be a place of complete happiness . Happiness is doing what you love to do, so I am sure that happiness for John is to have that street of gold lead to a high mountain with hairpin curves so he can spend all eternity doing what he loved to do Ride… Goodbye my friend, and Ride,Ride,Ride

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

My Friend

The night air was becoming chilly and we slowly made our way along the narrow winding road. It was dark and the only light was the moon and stars that appeared as the sky would open occasional between the trees overhead and the bright red tail and head light of the bicycle shining on the black \top road ahead. There was a silence that was next to total deafness as we were biking some where in the mountains in western North Carolina around Cashiers/Highlands area . The only sound was the slow hum of the chains as it slipped through the derailleur of our bicycles. We had left Spartanburg earlier in the day and were on two night and two day counterclockwise trip into the mountains and back into western South Carolina around Oconee and then by the back roads though Greenville and home to Spartanburg. It was a very challenging adventure for me but not for my riding companion. He was a burly man about six foot two inches tall with legs like pistons on a steam engine. He was a very experienced cyclist having rode the Paris / Brest / Paris, The ride across Missouri and The ride across Ohio. Once he rode from Chicago to Denver for his vacation. He was the best long distance bike rider that I have ever known. Put another way I guess what I am saying is he was the best that I have ever had the pleasure of riding with. On one of his long daily ride I was forced to quit the ride. Once we had left early in morning and were to ride to Union and down old 176 though Whitmire and to a small town of Pomaria and across to Prosperity to Saluda to Clinton and back to Spartanburg. All was going good until somewhere around Saluda I bonk out big time. After a call to my son in Spartanburg, my companion and I decided he should go on ahead and finish the ride so he left and later my son got there and we headed back to Spartanburg we saw him sitting on the curb at Hardees in Clinton having a tea. After a short chat we headed home with the promise that I would, after a shower, backtrack and make sure he was doing ok, which I did. He was just about 17 miles from home and greeted me with “Boy sure wished you had brought me a Coke“I went to the nearest store which was about ten miles away. Back with coke in hand he was now about ten miles from home. After making sure he was ok and that he was riding on in I left. The next day he informed me that he got back to the departure point just as it was getting dark. Total mileage 160+he rode that day.
Through the years I rode many miles with my friend with out ever having a disagreement with him. I recall sitting out side of many country stores on all the back roads that we have cycled, the churches that we walked around looking for a faucet to resupply our water bottles,the road side picnic tables that we sat at and laid on just for a moment of rest in the shade and feel the breeze blowing,if we were lucky. Time that is forever gone, never to be reclaimed, vanished as the morning dew.
All these times and more I thought about as I looked at my friend that is now just a shell of the man that I knew. Sickness and the treatment of cancer have taken its toll on this man among men he is no longer that man. I don’t know what will happen in the days ahead for my friend of all the years, I hope they will be easy and good, without pain and suffering. I know one thing talking to him I still see that ever so dim glint in his eye and I know that he also thinks about that night long ago as we traveled up that road with the stars shinning, the humming of the bicycles chains and water running down the side of the mountain and I hope these thoughts brings him some comfort and pain free moments in the days ahead.

Sunday, January 18, 2009

A Cold Run at Croft State Park
















January 17, 2009...6:02 pm
Running at Croft State Park
Running or jogging which ever you want to call it, is something that I have done for the last twenty years . I was already in my early 50 by that time. Was somewhat athletic out of high school and continue to play sports mostly baseball and softball till my late twenties , but was very inactive for the next 20 years . So started running and cycling as a way to get back to my younger days.
So today was a trail run in Croft State Park. We have had some rain in the last week or so and some of the trails were a little on the damp side to put it mildly. Ran about 6 miles and took a few photo shots along the way and here are a few.




Steve ahead on the trail

Saturday, January 17, 2009