How fast can a teacup run?

So... today I'm ridin' my bike... 15 miles in, it's a beautiful day, sunny and warm, and I'm finally starting to feel like I might be able to do the mileage required on my upcoming tour without absolutely sufferring.

Now in all my riding, I have been paced by a Great Dane (I can't say chased because he would have caught and eaten me if he wanted too), ran over and endo'ed because of a yellow lab, and been chased and/or bitten at by any number of dogs from mutts to Rotties. Being a dog owner myself, I try to give the poor creatures a break. They aren't usually too good at pre-planning an attack, and hence a creature with opposable thumbs can usually avoid getting nipped by sprinting, yelling, or good old H2O.

I ran into a different caliber of dog today.

He must have read Sun Tzu about a weaker force overcoming a stronger.

Because there I was grinding up a climb, when out of a driveway launched a dryer lint ball, a dust bunny, wait... it was a little tea-cup something or other dog. Across both lanes of the road he charged, gaining ground on me and literally nipping at my feet. This continued for a good 50 yards or so. Now, for the answer to the post's headline.... somewhere around 12 mph he either began tiring, or I began to finally outsprint the little bastard and he began to drop back, but not give up, oh no! He continued beligerantly chasing after for another 50 yards or so.

Sheeeesh!

A brand new 'do!

Before


After

For the last month or so, E’s been getting fussy with her hair, wanting it left down, then getting cranky ‘cause it’s in her face; high pony’s, low pnoy’s, hairbands, sheesh!

After our recent camping trips, and her friend’s sleepover, she started saying she wanted her hair cut short- like her friends. We’d been discussing it too, so we decided to take advantage of her initiative and run with it.

I think this was more of a trauma for mom and our trusted hair wizard than it was for Elly and I. All told, the cuts took place over two nights (of course it had to be done in stages!) and took off about 8” of hair. For those worried that she might now have hair like mine, no worries… as the wizard says… “It may be short, but she still has A LOT of hair”

Sleepover

Some friends of ours who haven’t had a night away from their daughter since bringing her home, took us up on our offer to have a sleepover. Now, even though we live quite a ways apart, we have managed to keep Elly and Jo Jo in contact frequently over the last couple of years, so the girls are close, and talk about each other all the time. But sharing a room, toys, and everything else is new territory, so we didn’t know what to expect. We figured it wouldn’t be too difficult though... Ahhh…. I hear everyone out there (or at least the four faithful followers) sighing and shaking your heads right now, waiting for the “How wrong we were” story. Not so.

The girls played at home for awhile, then we went to the park where they ran around like crazy with Jo Jo leading the charge and Elly at her back. Anyone who knows the two of them can picture this I’m sure. We only had one very brief spat over toy ownership/use the whole time.

Elly, being the recent camping expert, showed JoJo how to make Smores over the firepit in our yard.

As we expected, it took them a long time to go to sleep though. Jo Jo had a short but very manageable melt because she missed mommy and daddy, and the hour leading up to the melt was very humorous.

Quote “Tina… Elly’s not talking to me!!!” (Because she was exhausted and falling asleep).

The next morning we headed north, to a bouncy house we know. The girls again ran around like mad and had a grand time. We met Jo Jo’s mom and dad there, had a good lunch, and agreed to do it all again sometime. All Elly wanted to know on the way home was when she could stay with Jo Jo, and what we were going to do while she did.

Vacation!

Since meeting Elly, we’ve taken numerous short trips- an hour or so away, with the longest being for a couple of nights…. but we haven’t taken an extended vacation. So this was the year- it’s been planned since January. Two weeks off with a week of it on the road.

As the dates neared, our original plan seemed too ambitious. Too many hours in the car, not enough breaks and what would be too tight a timeline. Credit Tina with what turned out to be a great trip.

We drove south, with no real destination other than we needed to make Crescent City, CA eventually. In Roseburg, we side tripped to the wildlife safari, got some great organic beef jerky from a place I just happened to see up and off the main highway, and took a leisurely dinner at the only Restaurant, (i.e. not fast food), around. Then we pushed on to the campground.

We stayed in a “Kabin” and used Crescent City as a base camp for several days, which worked well. We did several trips into Redwoods NP (driving and hiking), walked and climbed on the beaches, took in the lighthouses and history, played in the Smith River, went to a Farmer’s Market, and of course had camp fires and cooked on our camp stove.

We met a man from England in the campground. Nice fellow who was on his Harley with his better half on an extended tour of Canada/US. Elly liked him, probably because of his accent. He had recently had several friends come down with cancer, and decided to retire early and travel as a result. He was nearing the end of a month-long tour of the states and Canada. He wasn’t sure what he was going to do on returning home, but said “It’ll work out”. Safe travels Bob!

On the way home, we made a quick trip through Crater Lake NP. I had planned to do some riding or hiking there, but the way it worked out, we got pressed for time. But now I know how far it is, and know what I want to do there next time.

All in all, a great trip!


How big is it?


Fresh and clean... for the moment!


Stout Grove Jedidiah Smith Park

Camping Excursion

What is camping without this?

We went camping at Mt. Rainier with several friends and co-workers. We had the majority of the camping loop locked up. Two nights and days at the campground. We broke out the new tent (HUGE!!) and packed what seemed like half the house. The site that was supposed to be ours had a tent pad that was too small for our new tent, so we put ours up in the group area. That made our site the group site, which actually worked out very well and was quite enjoyable.



I planned to ride from the campground to Sunrise Saturday morning... but I forgot about Cayuse Pass... So I rode from the campground to the east entrance of the Park where I waited for my ride. Not what I'd originally planned, but I still got in 23 miles of riding, most all of it uphill, a real grinder.

Elysa enjoyed the camp immensely and was dirty most of the time.



I totally lost any outdoor cred I might have had. As I was pumping up the football field sized air mattress for Tina, in the bathrooms where there was 110, another guy had to wait to get in the door. He was patient... and in sheer awe of the size of the thing. I could say "I'm sleeping on the ground on a Therm-a-rest" all I wanted...his smirk said it all. For what it's worth, I did sleep in a bag, on a Thermarest! Really!