Riding the Roads in God's Country

Rick surprised me this morning by stopping in around 7:30 a.m. eager on going for a bike ride.  First we drove to Richmond, Ky. and had breakfast there at the local McDonald's.  It was just like having a snack and coffee.  It was already too hot to eat anyway.  We will eat later this afternoon probably at Harold and Callie's house in Paint Lick, Ky. after more riding.

Rick and I must have run into over 200 bikes today out riding, most in groups, but some all by themselves like we were doing.  We stopped in for a rest stop at Dairy Queen in McKee, Ky. and soon about 20 bikers and their girlfriends or wives came in behind us.  The restaurant was a buzz with all the noisy bikers talking and exchanging stories.  Sometimes it's nice being in the midst of all that frenzy.  On the way back towards Berea we crossed paths with JoAnn Leger probably on her way to work.

Rick had a rough day at work yesterday, which consisted of a lot of heavy lifting, so he is very sore and very tired today.  He is resting for about an hour and then we will be off again on our bike journey in the opposite direction.  We will stop at Harold & his mother Callie's house, visit, eat and be merry for a while, and then we will do some night riding.  That should be fun.  Haven't don't that since last summer.  

I hope to have more pictures later of our bike ride, but for now I just took these three pictures as we were traveling up Big Hill Road in Madison County towards Burnt Ridge Road in Rockcastle County and then on into Jackson County, Kentucky.

Night riding:

I love riding or being a passenger......doesn't matter to me!

 I want to get my bike fixed

                            So that I can ride with crazy people 
                                            like this guy 

                                      To see these people 

                               And these other things too.  
                     (There's a baby bunny in the bottom picture)

1st Ride After Surgery

Jimmy decided that today he was going to ride his motorcycle no matter what anyone said.  He left here feeling confident and VERY HAPPY.  We've been having such beautiful weather here, that it just seems fitting that Jimmy should be out riding and enjoying the day.

HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!!!

It's January 1st of 2012 and it's been a very long time since I've seen such nice warm weather in December and January.  The last time I saw weather like this was the year that Jimmy was released by his urologist after his cancer operation to be able to ride on Christmas Day....and that's exactly what he did that morning before all of our children and grandchildren arrived.  That was in 1994.  Not that we haven't had good weather days in winter since then, but this is a remarkable winter that we are having so far.

Here are pictures taken today before Jimmy set out to ride for a little while, first on his bike, then he will come back and take mine out for a spin.  I'm waiting for Brian and his family to arrive in a little while or I would have joined Jimmy for a ride.

Can you believe that they are saying that snow flakes are on their way in a day or two?  It's hard to believe on such a pretty day as today, our first day of the year of 2012.

How we spend our days

Today I ran an errand to Richmond on my bike.  I had to take my CPAP machine in to be re-calibrated.  I don't usually run errands that way, but it was such a pretty morning that I thought, why not?  Jimmy runs errands on his bike all the time, so why shouldn't I? We left really early while it was still cool out.

 After I took my machine back home, we decided to go riding for fun.  We've been riding every day now that it's cooled down a bit and I'm beginning to enjoy some of the old roads that we haven't been on in a while.  I sort of forgot how beautiful Kentucky is and all the shady, winding roads we have to ride on.  I'm also trying to build up my stamina for that long ride we may take soon.

 We like to stop at State Parks or shady areas to rest every once in a while, and the cost of spending the night in one of those parks is something we like to do as much as we can, because the price is about the same, there's not that much difference, but the scenery is by far much better in a State Park.

Jimmy and I drive more now than we ever did going back and forth to work everyday, but this isn't driving, it's riding and there's a big difference.  Riding is for fun and we go to out of the way places.  Just the other day Brian led us on a very beautiful ride.  Brian, as well as Jimmy, know all the beautiful scenic roads which I'm just learning to find.  As a passenger for several years I didn't pay much attention where we were going.  I just sat on the back seat and enjoyed the ride, but now Jimmy lets me lead the way and I have to pay attention and always be aware of my surroundings in every direction, and I have to know how to get back home even though on some days I'd like to just keep riding and not go back home at all.

Every Day Is A Vacation Day

I lost my internet two days ago and it suddenly came back on a few moments ago.  I don't know what I did, but it's on and I'm very thankful for that.  So before I lose it again I'll just post some pictures.  I don't take as many pictures as I used to so lots of activities get missed.  The other day we went to eat at Sir Pizza in Lexington with Brian and Reva and today we ate at Golden Corral.  We always have this joke while riding, and it doesn't matter how many miles we ride and in which direction, but we always laugh and say, "All roads lead to Golden Corral."  The one thing we all love to do is eat and we never pass up an opportunity to do so.

Here Reva and I are relaxing on Suzanne's porch.
Not sure what day this was, but it was one day
this week.

After we left Suzanne's we rode to
Lexington to Sir Pizza for a Royal Feast and brought one
back to her.

Stopping to rest on our ride today at a little
country church called Climax 

Brian was our leader today and he took us on some of
the prettiest roads in Rockcastle and surrounding Counties.
They were curvy and shady but very cool to ride on
  on a hot day.  Can you see how tired I was?  My bike is a real
workout, but I loved every minute of riding on these roads.

Reva & Brian

Suzanne has some of the biggest ants I've seen
crawling on her porch.  This particular ant
(bottom right) came here all the way from
Arizona, and he was tired.

This picture also involves eating.
Reva and Brian are going to make fried apple pies
from Suzanne's apples.

Brian sees some better and bigger apples on the tree

Even Suzanne tries to shake some down for them.

.

The shaking didn't work, so everyone tried hitting
them.  Can you imagine that great big beautiful apple
being beaten by a stick.  I bet it didn't look so good
once it hit the ground, LOL.

Jimmy even tried his luck in beating the apples up :))

Brian takes his bag of apples and leaves

Jimmy is still at the tree wondering where everyone went.

It's back on the porch to tell a few more tall tales.

A little country church
in a place called Climax.

Reva was my passenger today
and she rides so well that I couldn't even tell
that she was even back there.

Some big black clouds rolled in and it started thundering
and then the rains came, so we went into a little
grocery store and waited the rain out.
Just us and our ice cream cones.
I don't know the name of the gas station, restaurant,
grocery store, but it was in Tyner, Ky.

It didn't take long for the roads to dry off
and we were on our way again, but something didn't
feel right about my bike.

My bike started acting funny, so I stopped and Brian
and Jimmy gave my bike a once over and decided that
my back tire was a low on air.  Once they aired up
my tire, my bike started behaving itself again.

We're all happy....
there is nothing wrong with my bike
so we can continue on with our ride.

 
All of us had a great day today.  The weather was perfect for a ride, even that little rain storm didn't bother us.  We know to duck into some place and wait the rain out and as warm as it was today, it didn't take long for the roads to dry off.  I love spending time with my family.  I tried to get Sharon and Ron to join us but Sharon had to work and Ron had other plans.  Maybe they can join us on another day.  I'd still like to take Brandon to Chilis for some Chili Cheese n Bacon Fries because they make the best ones there and I know he'd like them.  There are so many things I'd like to do and so many places I'd like to go.  For us, every day is a vacation day no matter what time of year it is.

Jimmy likes it hot

Even on these extremely hot humid days Jimmy has taken his bike out and gone riding.  Nothing seems to bother this man and the hotter it is, the better he likes it.  I wish I could tolerate the heat as well as he can.  It might be because he worked in a factory for over 35 years where it wasn't unusual for the temps in there to reach 120 degrees.  They had fires burning making all kinds of light bulbs from start to finish and in the factory only the office personnel got the air conditioning.  The factory workers could have fans blowing at their legs, but no wind around the fires, because it would change the temperature of the flames or just blow the fires out.

It was Jimmy's job to make sure that all the machines were in perfect running order and turning out perfect bulbs...he took care of the maintenance and his factory sent him to Germany twice for training on new machines that they had purchased.  As the plant was closing in 1994, and making it's move to Brazil, they asked Jimmy if he would go as a consultant to train the people there how to run and maintain the machines.  He gave it some thought and declined their offer.  I wanted to go, but Jimmy was upset that they were moving the plant out of the country and many of his friends were losing their jobs.  It didn't affect Jimmy because his union had a clause about the plant closing and moving out of the country.  It said that if you were close to their retirement age and were at least 57 yrs old that you could retire with full retirement benefits.  Jimmy was 57 and he didn't need any prodding to take an early retirement.

Today our ride led us to Sharon's house

After working all day Megan stopped in to visit her mama.
Megan has 8 weeks to go before the arrival of
baby Myles.

My daughter Sharon Walker and granddaughter Megan Malear.

My sweet granddaughter Megan Malear.

Today our ride was short.  We rode to Irvine, Kentucky and ate at Cedar Village then I decided to visit Sharon in Richmond, Kentucky.  We also rode to Walmart to look for about a 16 gallon cooler to carry on my bike.  Right now I carry one that is 28 gallons and sometimes also a really tiny one that only holds 6 cans of pop.  I want one that is in between those two sizes, one that will fit nicely on my passenger seat and won't be too cumbersome.  When I find the one I want I'll buy it, but until then I'll keep searching.

Jimmy, Zac and I are thinking of going on a ride together.  If Sharon can get off work by 12:30 p.m. she can also join us and we can all meet Megan for lunch and then continue on our ride.  Sounds like a winner to me.  It's about time the family gets in gear and we start riding together again.  Life's too short to waste any more time.

We started riding on Sunday and haven't stopped...

But unfortunately we have to come home every night.

Jimmy standing on the wooden bridge we just rode over.

Jimmy Wallace

Sandy Hatcher-Wallace

Me again (Sandy), standing in the parking lot of Golden Corral.
They serve some of the best beef enchiladas that
I've ever eaten.  I talked to the manager and he said
that they were now serving them everyday.

We rode 320 miles on this day and all roads led to the enchiladas.....