Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Chestatee Wildlife Preserve Ride

Today was a ride from Murrayville to the Chestatee Wildlife Preserve. The Preserve is a rescue facility for many animals and the pictures below are some examples of the animals living there. The refuge is seeing decreased funding due to the cutbacks in education with not at many field trips being scheduled. In talking to the staff, they will normally have 5 to 6 field trips a week and this year they have only had about 6 or so. If you feel so led, I am sure a donation to the operations would be appreciated. There web link is:

http://www.chestateewildlife.com/

I have ridden by it may times and it comes as quite a shock the first time to look down the hill from the main highway to see a white tiger watching you go by. You could almost see him lick his chops and thinking what a fine meal that big guy on a bicycle would make.

Kayla did great today and we had some pretty good hills to climb just to get there.
Kayla at the entrance off Old Dahlonega Highway
White Tiger
Buffalo
Peacock in full bloom - he put on quite a show for us
Siberian Tigers - look closely on the left side - that one is snoozing
Grizzly - where is John Wayne when you need him?
Ostrich
Forgot what this one is but he is cute. There are also several monkeys, a lynx, a zebra, burro, and others. Well worth the visit.

Monday, March 23, 2009

Kayla Day 2 Ride - Peach Orchard Special

This ride took place on Sunday, March 22. Today, the 23rd was a rest day for Kayla. I think we wore her out on Saturday and Sunday. She slept in until 10 AM this morning and I had to wake her up then to get her moving. We are riding tomorrow from Gillsville on one of the famous Jennie's Cafe Loops. Hope to get in close to 20 miles but who knows. All I can say, she is doing a whole lot better on her first 2 rides of any distance than I did. My first ride back about 5 years ago was 9 miles and I thought I was going to die. Kayla, as of today, has ridden about 46 miles, not counting whatever she has done on her bicycle.

Had some help on this ride. Debbie aka Grandee went. We rode from Lula to Alto and returned. Did a short side trip along County Line Road as we got into Lula and got a shot of Kayla at the edge of one of the peach orchards which are in full bloom.

Will definitely be back at Jaemore Farmers Market when the peaches come in.

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Kayla Day 1 Ride - Saturday 03-21-2009

We picked up Kayla last night in Blairsville - the half way BP station as it is now known among the Loveless family. We have to get up and go outside every morning for the last several days to this view of our Camelia bush. Pink, red, white mix on the bush. This is probably the most blooms we have ever had.

We loaded up the truck this morning and went shopping at Joe's aka Habersham Bicycles. Kayla needed some riding shorts. Since the temperature was in the high 40's, it was a good use of the time and allowed us to wait until the temp got into the mid 50's before we started.

We started the ride about 2:30 pm from Quillian's Corner. It was still a bit cool and windy with the temp about 55 when we started and about 57 when we finished an hour later. Kayla pushed me 12.12 miles. Tomorrow we are planning a 16 mile or so excursion from Lula to Alto. Debbie will be going on this one so Kayla will have more entertainment than the big man up front.

Click on the title and you can check out the route we rode today.

Friday, March 13, 2009

Get The Real Dirt On Clean




Get the Real Dirt on Clean and Rx for Healthy Living
Saturday, March 28th, 10 am-noon
Georgia Mountains Center Theater, Gainesville
Speaker: Cindy Latham, MBA

Sr. VP of Marketing and New Product Development, Shaklee Corporation



This program kicks off the series of community-wide Earth Day events as we strive to reduce the chemical impact on the earth, reduce landfill waste and reduce carbon gas emissions – lighten our footprint. Shaklee is the ONLY Climate Neutral Company in the U.S. and an EPA World Leader.




Cindy will be talking about Shaklee's commitment to being GREEN – a company that was born GREEN...a dark deep green – way back in 1956 when green was just a name for a color. Shaklee was an Earth Day sponsor in 1990 with Basic H (now Basic H2), the only biodegradable cleaning product ever chosen. With many environmental accomplishments, Shaklee "walks their talk." Come meet Cindy Latham and learn about healthy alternatives to toxins found in common household cleaners which are linked to health problems. Cindy will share other benefits to your family, your home, your community.




You can make a real difference with Get Clean – always safe for the environment and always green plus smart for your wallet. Shaklee has done it right for 53 years!!


Cindy will also speak about the "Shaklee Difference" and "Rx For Healthy Living" – how to live a longer and healthier life. A healthy life starts with you and the choices you make everyday, which leads to a better world. This will be a life-changing experience. So, gather up your friends, family (especially your passionate to care for the environment friends) to come with you. Come "Get the Real Dirt on Clean!" and learn how you can be a part of the solution.


Door Prizes.


Monday, March 9, 2009

Weekend Century Ride(s)

Will also do a bit of catching up. This was sunrise off the back deck a few weeks ago. Have been on the run a bit with the grandkids coming down for a couple of days in mid February. Got in a 10 miler with Kayla on Sunday afternoon before they headed back home. She will be back in March for about a week to work on riding and getting ready for BRAG.

The Redbird trio or for those of you who are proper, Cardinals. Have more Bluejays and Doves than Redbirds. Will have more pictures coming since I broke out the old 35 mm with the 210 telephone lens and have been working through a 24 picture roll of film. I am doing this from a Rear Window but unlike Jimmy Stewart, I don't have a Grace Kelly although Debbie is a good substitute and I can hardly see the neighbors. Nor, am I wheelchair bound. I do have a picture though would remind you of The Birds with the crows perched in one of my backyard trees.

And then, there is the blizzard of 2009. Well, at least 40 miles south of here it sort of looked like a blizzard had gone through. The Athens, GA area got 6 to 9 inches of snow, had a lot of trees down across power lines, and people out of power for almost a week in some locations. As for us 4 miles north of downtown Gainesville, this was about it. Downtown got about an inch and just north of us got absolutely no snow.
Got in 100 miles in the 3 day weekend! I took off early on Friday and rode in the Clermont area. Rode Saturday morning and afternoon with Bernie and Palmer in the morning and then added some more miles in the afternoon solo. Sunday was punishment day with a final 33 miles with much of it against the wind. Reminds me of a Bob Segar song:
Against the wind
I'm still runnin (substitute Ridin) against the wind
Well I'm older now and still
Against the wind
The picture below was taken Sunday, March 8th. This was the windy day of the 3 days of riding. Saw this herd of cows and thought of Texas. Ought to be planning a riding trip for the Tour de Cypress in Mt. Vernon, TX in April but will have to pass this year.