We got home this morning from Louisiana just before 5am. We left around 8pm from Monroe, made good time, but that hour penalty going back to the eastern time zone is a killer. Driving all night is an interesting problem for me. it’s great in that the stress levels are negative. There are no drivers on the road, no problems, just easy driving: keep the car between the lines, set cruise control, and do your best to make it all fast forward a little bit.

The big negative is the awful next day. I slept for a few hours, woke up at 8, and I’m hurting.

It hurts, but I still think it’s the right call. I hate missing daylight hours to driving, and I absolutely hate getting stuck in traffic on long drives, well, I hate getting stuck in traffic in general. Driving at night frees me of those issues, I just have to do pay my bills to the piper the next day.

I can’t even begin to think how terrible the drive to Colorado is going to be in about two weeks time. That should come in at just under 30 hours – we’ll drive from Athens to Monroe first, switch cars, then keep on rolling.  I just did a quick look on Google Maps: it’s 570 miles from Athens to Monroe (Google predicts 9.5 hours), and it’s 1200 miles from Monroe to Conifer (18.5 hours). Aye carumba. I do know that we can do a lot better than that though – a 70mph average isn’t too tough to come by even including stops if we keep going consistently. 70mph average makes it only 25 hours from Athens to Conifer. That’s horrendous, but hey, better than 28 hours…

I really need to change the subject. Talking about big drives hurts me.

In other news, Monroe was a good time. We’re looking forward to getting back for some more quality time over Christmas. It was pretty hectic this time around. I did get some fun pictures out on the Norris farm a couple days ago. I’ll try and get those edited as soon as possible.

Biking didn’t go so well this past week, but that’s ok, I’m taking deep breaths and telling myself that it’s not a big deal. Because it isn’t a big deal. It’s ok. I’ll get in two solid weeks before our next big bout of traveling. That makes me happy.

Ok, back to work. Narc and Ashley say hi!

Ashley and I have been vacationing slash working over the last few days. I haven’t been able to really get going on the bike, but I’ve been making up for it with extra work with Ashley. We’ve been at the office the last few afternoons and evenings working on getting rid of old patients’ records. Dr. Steve is almost fully retired, but there are a few loose ends that need tying, so we’re helping with some of the knots. It’s fun work. Ashley and I chit chat the whole time and motor through box after box of old charts. 

We’ve come across some pretty wild names over the last few thousand folders, none moreso than one Ms. Stevenisha, daughter of Stephen. That’s just mean. You can’t do that to a little girl. 

When we need a break, we go outside and play with the Catalina Macaw, Wizard. Wizard is beautiful, but he’s a wild child. Well, he’s not really a child, he’s almost 20, but he’s also a bit rough on the edges (read: very). He can be pretty mean and bitey at times, and by bitey, I mean large chunks of meat bitey. We’ve been working with him, trying to get him to be nicer, and that has been working fairly well. We had a great first two days with him…well, Ashley did. She’s working wonders with the grumpy bird – I just stand back and watch. I actually held him the first day. That caused a fair bit of consternation, not from amazement, but in fear for my appendages. It went swimmingly though. He was nice…and really big. He’s so much bigger than Narc. He makes Narc look like a pipsqueek. 

We’re trying to get out to enjoy the awesome fall afternoon, but we’re dragging majorly today. I’m going to make another attempt to drag Ashley out of bed now.

She’s sleeping. Narc is walking on her letting her know that it’s time to get up. He is proclaiming a happy morning with innumerable hello’s.

In other news: We’re in Monroe! We made it. We left yesterday around noon, and got here about 9 hours later. It was a long, long drive. We decided that the drive to Monroe is a lot harder than the one to New Orleans. There’s something about the New Orleans drive that is just nicer. Even though you’re not there, you feel close-ish once you get to Mobile. There are still two hours to go, but it’s along the ocean and the bayous and such. In comparison, the drive to Monroe is a pure, unadulterated monotony of flatness. 

Monroe wins though, because I don’t think there will ever be steak and fruit salad and smiles and hugs waiting for us to walk through the door.  I’m just sayin.

In other news, biking is going pretty well. I’m at the best point that I’ve ever been at this point in the year. It’s kind of weird actually. I’m feeling great.

I was looking forward to a nice long ride here in Monroe this morning, but a combination of crap weather and the fact that I’m just plain whacked from yesterday’s drive and staying up late last night meant that there was no way that I was getting up at 630 this morning to go ride bikes. Just wasn’t happening. Holy moly that was a long sentence.

Narc is really trying to wake up Ashley right now. I don’t think she’s amused. 

That’s all for now, thanks for reading! Ashley mumbles hello.

Hello! 

Jered is busy working, and I should be. Just wanted to post a link to some recent pictures. Leah came this weekend, and we went to the Georgia Guidestones, made pottery in a clay class, ate out several times, went to an old covered bridge called Watson Mill, and walked around Stone Mountain. It was tons of fun. HERE is a link to the first set. Hopefully that works.

In other news, Michael and Marijana made a visit to Athens today for a bike ride and some yummy lunch. It was surreal seeing them… in Athens. We want to go back to Istria!!! 

That’s all for now!

Ashley was looking for the weekend yesterday, it’s upon her now. She’s done with class for the week and her good friend, Leah, is here till Sunday. It’s going to be a great weekend.

As for me, I’m just working and biking. The ride to the Georgia Guidestones was fantastic yesterday. It was my longest straight on through bike ride since February 2008 – 6 hours, 170km. I felt like a real bike rider for half a second yesterday…then the awful tiredness set in. I felt half dead this morning. Ashley wasn’t feeling much better after her long night of studying on Wednesday.

Up next? Lots of fun with Leah and lots of bike riding. Jacob is in town this weekend, so we’re going to ride some dirt roads. Excellent.

I just finished my microecon test… I have a sneaking suspicion that I did well, but don’t want to jinx my luck.

Jered is riding to the Georgia Guidestones today with Eric M & Frank T. We’ll hopefully be driving there this weekend with Leah. I’m excited to see her!

That’s about all I can muster at the moment.

ashley

This is a day of rest at our house today. I just finished my biggest week of bike riding in over two years yesterday – 21! I’m pretty excited about that number. I’m tired now though. I’m taking today pretty easy, then most likely tomorrow will be completely off considering the fact that Ida is coming through Georgia on Tuesday.

Sunday’s ride was a rough one – 7 flats in 3.5 hours of biking. 3 from Eric, 2 from me, 1 from Trey, 1 from Catherine. Ouch. It was just a day of bad, bad luck. That’s all I can attribute it to. Sometimes you just have bad luck on dirt. We’ve been fortunate over the past few weeks to pretty much only have good luck. Ah well.

I was completely wrecked by the time I got home. I turned off to head back to the East Side and just fell to pieces. It was a long 30 minutes home from there.

Ashley, meanwhile, finished up HER biggest week in a long while too. She’s pretty tired today too. She didn’t want to get out of bed to go to school today. We went to the coffee shop to do some work last night, and she fell asleep there. Poor thing. She’ll be good after a couple of days of rest.

The next two days will be all about getting OTHER work done – Ashley has a couple of essays, and I have a couple of reviews that need writing.

Back to work…

Well, that’s not true. He’s just busy, so I decided I’d update for him. We spent the last weekend in Kingsport, TN with my sister Cindy, her husband Sam, and their 3 sons: Bryce, Avery, and Vaughn. It was a lot of fun, and we picked up a few new “isms” of the oldest son Bryce. YIS=yes is a favorite. We took more than a few pics, and you can see them HERE. 

I’m thinking about a bike ride, but we’ll see. More from him later.