Sleeping Is The Only Love

Brennan and I hiked 68 miles on the Appalachian Trail last week. We started at this place, Uncle Johny's and traveled south to the town of Hot Springs, NC. All along the A.T. there are little towns like this that pretty much survive off of people who hike the 2,176 miles of the A.T. between Georgia and Maine. Most thru-hikers (people that hike the whole trail at one time) start in Georgia in early April and finish in Maine around August or early September. This time of year you find mostly section hikers on the trail, or people who are doing any where from a weekend to a few months on the trail.


First few hours on the trail. Notice how clean and energetic we look.


We ended day 1 and No Business Knob Shelter. Every 5 to 15 miles on the trail you will have a shelter that can hold 5-16 people. These are great if you don't want to pitch you tent or if it is raining.


This is what we looked like at the end of day 2 after hiking 16 mile; a bit sweaty and dirty.


Brennan is getting pumped up to climb this big hill in front of us.


We did a lot of climbing but the views at the top of the balds were worth it.




Watching the sunset at the end of day 2 after a respectable 11 miles of hiking.




Brennan was pretty excited about our campsite that night.








Graves of two Civil War soldiers. We hiked 21 miles that day.


Nice off width crack. I'd give that climb a 5.10c rating.




Someone wanted to hitch a ride to Hot Springs with us.


After 11 miles on our last day we had planned to stay in Hot Springs for a night but we discovered that there was a Harley Biker Party going on all weekend in town. They had the entire campsite reserved for their party. We just drove to Asheville for some food and then drove the 4 hours back to Chapel Hill.

Just Give It To Me Honest

Grand Archives @ 506.


www.myspace.com/grandarchives


I went to college with Matt and Ariel at the University of Tampa. They still live in Florida but were in NC to visit Matt's brother. They stopped by Chapel Thrill for an adventure. We munched on LocoPops....


...and stopped by the Auckland Art Museum to see an exhibit on gardens and little creatures that inhabit them.


And everyone must go to the Eno River Quarry when the come to Chapel Hill/Carrboro.


Matt got to show off his doggie paddle.


Climbing is always a nice way to finished off the day.




Lamont spent some quality time with Ariel.


The next day we walked around Duke Gardens. I'm not sure why I only took 3 photos while we were there. This is the best one of the bunch.


Grey and Katie have been planning a bike scavenger hunt for a few weeks now. Today was the day of the grand event.


People were encourage to dress up. Tim dressed up as Grey. Notice the tattoos, the mustache, the short jean shorts (not pictured for your safety), hat and glasses. He even has Grey's picture on his shirt.


Vijay dressed up as yours truly. He has a beard, leaf tattoos on his arm, Native sunglasses, and cycling cap, and even tattoos on his leg. Grey and I were both very impressed.


Tamara and Grey shop at the same stores for their outfits.


This whip won the best bike award. It is covered by bamboo.


This is the starting line. We were waiting for everyone to get ready.


Just some of the many things you had to do on the hunt: ride the buffalo at Cafe Driade.


Dancing in front of The Spotted Dog Cafe.


We wrapped things up with the awards ceremony at Padgett Station.

Next update will be photos from my 68 mile backpacking trip on the Appalachian Trail.
http://www.fred.net/kathy/at.html

Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea

This update combines a few events over the past 3 weeks. In other words, it is a hodgepodge of photos that don't really go together.

Rebecca took me up to Baltimore to meet her mother's 9 siblings and to help celebrate her cousin Josh's graduation. She painted her toes for the occasion.


"Spaghetti? I don't know what you are talking about." Pirate had a little snack but didn't do a good job hiding the evidence.


Rebecca and I took a walk around the neighborhood during Josh's graduation party. As we made our way back to the house we heard lots of yelling and cheering. We found Rebecca's 83 year old grandmother playing beer pong. Nice form!


Grandma's got skillz. She helped win her match.


The Gretch gives us a wink to let us know that her and Steve have this match under control.


A mix of siblings and cousins...not sure who the guy is in the stripped shirt that is looking on disapprovingly.


Upon returning to Chapel Hill I had two weeks before a triathlon in Asheville. Off to the lake with Rob and Katie for a swim...


..and to play with some kittens! Rob's parent's are fostering a mother and her new litter until they are old enough to be adopted.






Speaking of animals, Lamont here is my new buddy for a month or so. He likes to perch on chairs and watch me type away at my computer.


He also loves to play with and sometimes court paper towels. He is named after a character on the classic TV show "Sanford and Son."

This weekend Rob and I drove to Asheville for my triathlon. Since Rebecca is now living out of her van we stayed with some of her closest friends.

This is Amity and James.


This is Sachi.


And this is Holden.

It was nice and sunny on the day of my race with the temps in the low to mid 80's. This was the first time that I have entered this race so I really didn't know how challenging the bike and run courses would be. I knew the swim would suck because that is my weakest event, but I was unsure as to just how hilly the bike would be.

Enka Lake near the Biltmore Estate.


These people had the best seat in the house.


There were about 330 participants in the race that were split up into 4 waves to start the race. I was in the first wave of swimmers, about 80 of us started the 750 meter swim in chest deep water.


The field thins out after about 250 meters. Three minutes after the first wave the second wave starts. Swimming 750 meters is challenging enough for me, then you add 60 some people swimming on top of you and things can get hairy. I finished the swim in a disappointing 22 minutes.


This is me finishing up the swim portion and making my way to my bike to start the 17.5 mile ride. The course had two big hills with fast descents that thinned out the field. I finished the ride in 1 hour and 3 minutes.


I really enjoyed the run portion of the race because 2 of the 3 miles were on gravel and dirt trails that went in and out of a wooded area and circled the lake. Unfortunately, the middle mile was on concrete and contain a demoralizing hill. I finished the 5K run (3.1 miles) in 25 minutes.


Including transition times, my unofficial time was 1:50. After I crossed the finish line I jumped back in the lake to cool off. Thanks to Rebecca and Rob for cheering me on and to Rob for taking photos.