Good Friends and Weather

Got a call that Cullie was in town and wanted us to come for dinner on Friday evening. His daughter Sara made a great dinner and some good conversation was had over the meal and for several hours afterwards. It was good to see him; he came back in country because his Mom had a stroke- please pray for her.

On Saturday we enjoyed a visit from "Uncle Gary" who rode across the country with us this summer. He was accompanied by Sharon his wife. Mike and Cayce came we enjoyed lunch and supper with them. Gary and Sharon are in Florida till the end of March before they head back to Wisconsin.

With the weather so nice we were unsure what mode of transportation to use (see the sign) -- although the horse one would have been difficult since we do not have a horse.
We headed out on a nice leisurely ride on Friday morning and it stretched till lunch as we meandered some of the nice back roads in our county; passing lakes, horses and some cows.
Marion County is noted for its horses but there are some cattle as well. They were so excited someone was paying attention to them they came over to say hello.
This one wanted his nose scratched and a close up taken.
As this picture denotes we are not above asking if we can take a photo should an interesting subject come along. These were some fancy golf carts for sale in Summerfield. He had a wide selection and I took several shots of them.

On a closing note.... we have had over 2,000 visitors to the site and only a handful of comments... I changed the settings so you just have to click (comment) and type. If you do it that way sign your name so we can tell who you are.

Have a great week

Ahhh.... this winter weather...

This morning it was about 60 degrees out and we had 5 of us who got together for a road ride. Pictured here Derek, Bernice, John, Don & Me. We rode 42 miles and it was a delightful ride. Just a tad cool to start then sunny with a light wind.

The azaleas are in bloom which makes everything in town very pretty. They are all over the town. here are just a few of the ones in our yard

We bought ours years ago and they were marked with the color bloom they were to produce but I think we did not see that as we have all different colors in the yard.


I was a little short of photographic material for this week so I am going to feature my hometown of Johnstown NY. Here is the house I grew up in... my Dad has lived there most of his life and he will be 84 in March

This is the Junior High School I attended. It was funded by a grant from the Knox Gelatin family hence the name Knox Junior High School.

This is the church I attended as a youngster. It was a Presbyterian church that was huge and had lots of cool passageways in it.

These last two are a little snack shop in town. My paper route used to end here and I would sometimes get a treat.

This is Jean the proprietor she was there when I was 14 & 15 and was still working there part time when I visited and took this picture last September

Back in Sunny Florida

Our flight back home was uneventful which is just what you hope for when you fly - On time and luggage arriving when you do. It was nice to get back to Florida.


We had a nice sunny day with temperatures in the mid 70's. After church, lunch and a nap I straddled the FZ6 and fired her up. I then headed out for a leisurely ride through the Ocala National Forest for about and hour and a half. It was a great afternoon for a ride.

I took this picture of my helmet and exhaust. The white sticker is from the Tail of the Dragon a road that sits on the TN / NC border with 318 turns in 11 miles.

It is good to be home and see the boys and sleep in my own bed. I am looking forward to going to work tomorrow.

Utah .... last day Friday

Had a great day at Powder Mountain skied ALL day hitting a lot of untracked powder. It was clear as the pictures will show but it was a bit breezy on the chairlifts.

With the sky blue and the Powder pretty decent (it was a tad wind blown in places) it was a great day to ski



I spent most of the day skiing with a guy named Brian from Manhattan Beach California and then at lunch met up with Eric & Kitty and the 4 of us skied the rest of the day together.



This is Kitty & Eric from Seattle they were staying at our hotel and we enjoyed dinner together several times. They are both very good skiers and pushed my limits in the powder. I told them they were cheating since they had rented FAT powder skis (grin)

They were having a Kite skiing clinic and competition on the mountain yesterday. Not sure how they did it with the very strong winds we had yesterday

Looking forward to getting home this evening and seeing the boys and our dog pepper.

Utah Thursday Feb 7th

The lodge at Snowbasin is not your normal ski lodge. This is the chandelier in the massive ceiling there. We had a good day of skiing there today despite skiing in a blizzard most of the day.

Here are a few pics taken in our hotel. There are no outdoor shots today as it was basically a blizzard... I have not seen the snow totals yet but it was coming all day and very windy.

We skied at Snowbasin because the have gondolas to get you up the hill without having to be in the elements which is a good thing when it is blowing. This is a pc of the loft in our hotel.

Here is a view out our window. It is so pretty here everywhere you look it looks like a post card.

Finally tonight we enjoyed an excellent meal with BOTCH. A guy I met from a motorcycle forum I am a member. We had a great meal and conversation with Botch and his girlfriend. Nice to meet you BOTCH.
I am not sure how tall he is but remember I am 6'1" myself.

Another day in Utah

Yesterday I hooked up with a mountain host named Jerry. He took me some places on the mountain I had not been to before. He made the morning very enjoyable.
Today we took a day off and visited the Hill Aerospace Museum in Ogden. It was a nice break from all the skiing.
We saw planes from the Wright brothers up to modern times.





Tonight we went to a little restaurant called Eats of Eden.. the food was OK but the snow in the entrance and the icicles were really cool.
be sure to ckick on this pic to enlarge it I have never seen them bend like this one.
We have been really in awe at the snow and mountains... I think God has a really diverse sense of beauty and we are enjoying it.

I have changed the settings as to comments .... now it should be very easy to comment so please leave a comment.

Bonus Post ... vacation will do that for you

We have had 3 good days of skiing so far. They have had over 50 inches of snow since we have been here. If you look in this pic you can see the phenomenon of the sparkly snow they have here.

Today was a sunny day and we were able to ski at Powder mountain. The snow was almost TOO deep for our normal width skis. You should see the width of locals skis. I had a blast today and Bernice skied today up till after 3pm.


The snow is stuck to all the trees... and everything in is a virtual winter wonderland.


We are now a day or so since the last storm and there is still a BUNCH of untracked powder.
I will try to post some more in the next couple of days as I have Internet available


BY THE WAY ,,, as I hoped... the GIANTS are now SUPERBOWL CHAMPS... YIPPEE

Eden Utah

Well it is time for our winter ski trip and this year it is just Bernice and I. We flew in yesterday and the it has been snowing since. We are staying in the Red Moose Lodge in Eden Utah.

This is a car from out parking lot this AM... they arrived when we did. I was ready to take the shuttle to Powder Mountain this AM and then came the word that the MOuntain was closed --Too Much Snow

I instead drove to Snowbasin-- very glad I rented and AWD vehicle. This is a pic of some of the mid-thigh powder I was skiing in today.

THe views at the mountain were very pretty unfortunately it was snowing so hard I did not shoot many pics there.

I did make some new friends today when the Powder shuttle was grounded I gave Lisa and Michelle from Wisconsin a ride to Snowbasin. They proved helpful in cleaning the car and conversation.

The views at our Hotel are just breathtaking. Piles of snow, icicles, snow laden trees. This is the pretty side of winter.

Here are two videos I shot this afternoon.