I Like Normal.....

And Bar-be-Que!! It seems my new normal the last few weeks and the next few weeks to come will be the mountains! No complaints here, I am enjoying the heck out of it. Yep we went last weekend and I got in a great ride at Bent Creek.


Right now my car is loaded and I am spending the night in Saluda, and eating bar-be-que! Green River Bar-be-Que is my new vice. Plus I can walk to it from the house and then right down the street to a really nice bar. Right back up to the hill to the house.


It won't be a late night I am riding today as soon as I get there and then I am getting up early to ride all day tomorrow. With a quick couple of hours on the bike before I come home Sunday. Saturday night I am staying at the Bent Creek campground with a group, the same group I am riding with tomorrow.


That will be basecamp, although DuPont will be the trail of choice Sunday on the way out of town!

The Motion's ,,,,,,,,,,,,

Yep, we did the beach and had a great time. No golf cart worked out just fine. Actually it was really nice, we ended up riding out of the travel park and exploring the surrounding neighborhoods. That was really fun. Plus we did a bar crawl on the bikes. That worked out great.


It could have been a little warmer but we knew the water would be to cold to swim anyway so no big deal. We will be going back there again. But this week I am heading to the mountains. I need to do the yard work and I might as well spend the night and ride the mountain bike!


Plus I am gonna take the kid and we will see some live music Saturday night. I am looking forward to that! Right now we are in a groove it seems like, we come home on Sunday and throw the suitcases in the corner. Thursday we pack and Friday we hit the road. Next week we are heading to Atlanta again, one of these days I am gonna spend the weekend at the house.

Time To Cull ,,,,,,,,,,,,

The garage! So we are heading to the beach for the weekend and of course we are dragging the camper. Usually we rent a golf cart while we are there. That is the big thing at the campgrounds, everybody has a golf cart to ride around. Of course we always join along. It's a vacation, a trip to relax! Why would you want to walk?


We also try a different campground about every time we go. One of these days we might find the ultimate campground! Until then we search. This time we are staying at the Myrtle Beach Travel Park. First time we have tried it. When I made the reservations I inquired about a golf cart rental, and then I found out they don't allow golf carts!


That's was a shock! But after giving it some thought we decided it would probably be kinda nice not to have to look both ways before we walked anywhere. So what do we do! Well we, as in me, cleaned and got 4 bikes ready. As I was doing that I wondered if everybody had that many extra bikes laying around. These are extra too, I am not taking any of my good mountain or road bikes.


Just bikes we have bought over the last few years. One nice one the wife rides and my commuter beer fetching bike, along with a couple of others for the kids. As I was doing that I looked around and that still left a few extra ones that never get ridden.


Those are the ones that need to be "Culled". I believe it's time to head back up to the bicycle thrift store Trip For Kids. Last time we went I donated about 5 bikes and I now have 3 more that need to go. All this pondering led me to think about how I continue to accumulate so many bikes. Yes we buy a few here and there but then I am always "inheriting" a few also.


It's amazing how many people have a bike laying around that they don't use and are more than willing to get out of the garage. I always here the same story, how they figure I can use it, or might know someone who can. Of course they are usually so old they are of no value to anyone who really rides bikes. But I never have the heart to tell them that. So I end up with extra bikes that need a little TLC and are usually good to go.


                                                      Go straight to the Trips for Kids program!

I Need It ,,,,,,,,

I need a damn break! And this week I will get it. Thursday we are taking a short break at the beach. I am looking forward to it. So far I have only taken 1 day off this year, not that I am saving my days for anything. I just haven't had the need to use them.


Last year we had Cody in Pennsylvania and I was going back and forth every few weeks. I went through my days and a few extra last year. This year the kid is in Georgia and he is coming home every few weeks, instead of me going to Georgia. that works out better.


Besides I liked Pennsylvania, the Pittsburgh area was really cool. Atlanta, it sucks! Just ask Cody, he even liked Pennsylvania better. He could ski and had all kinds of outdoor activities right outside of town. It won't be long he will be back in the Carolina's. Not a moment to soon either!


As I talked about Friday I was kinda bummed I didn't make the trip to Illinois but having the kid home for the weekend made up for it. Now follow it up with a beach trip and I should be back in action!

The Bright Side !!!!!

So even though I am not headed to Illinois right now I am still in a good mood. Last week totally sucked! I let work interfere way to much with my personal life. I let one person drive me nuts and then every night I had a hard time sleeping. It just wore me out.


Yes he and I have talked this week and no we are not going to work together anymore. He asked if I would reconsider and he did apologize - I also apologized. But I am a little to far over this to back up now. I might feel a little different in a few months when I see it on my sales report, but that's no big deal. It will all balance out in a few cycles.


With that I have said enough. Time to move on and get back to what's really important in my life. Work does not really even make the list. The family comes first. Speaking of that, Cody is coming home this weekend. If I was gone I would miss him, as I said a few posts ago. I was kinda dreading that. Funny how things work out!


Plus I had a good week on the bike and the weekend looks nice. Yes it will be cold but no big deal. Besides now I have a short week coming up with a few days at the coast to finish it out. I am ready for a break!

Dissapointment ,,,,,,,,,,,,,

I hate that word! You only use it when it occurs. Right now after watching the weather for the last few days it looks like my trip to Illinois is gonna be cancelled. I was planning on leaving Friday am and going up it all looks good. EXCEPT, Friday they are gonna get snow showers! Followed by Saturday am with a low of 20 and a high of 40.


Not that bad right? But the problem comes in on Sunday for the return trip, again low 20 and high 40. BUT, rain showers moving east all day. East would be the direction I would be traveling. The cold is not that big of deal but the rain and that type of cold would really suck! Being 700 miles from the house and having no option but to ride in the rain for 12 hours, not fun!


This trip is something I have looked forward to for quit awhile and to now have to opt out just blows. I got my new suit and have had my motel reservations for months. Now I am staying home. Life sucks but it is what it is. Now I just need to find something else to plan!

Glad That's Over ,,,,,,,,,

Glad the week is behind me and we are on to another one. We had inventory Friday and Saturday, I have to work two weekends a year and I just did one. Six months from now we will do it again and then the year is a wrap.


Last week was rather eventful so I am hoping my drama level will drop considerably now. So for now back to riding!


Saturday I spent half the day here at work and the other half in the woods at Sherman Branch. The wife went with a few friends to a dog show so I was clear. It was a little bit muddy but not to bad. I still got in a decent lap under an hour and then went for a short second lap. For second lap these days I like to go to the entrance of the roller coaster section and then head down the hill to the lake loop and then back to the parking lot. It works out great.


Yesterday I decided to head south and I went down to Cheraw State Park. I hadn't been there in a few months and I figured it would be nice and hard packed from all the rain. As in fast! Wrong! with all the wind we had Saturday afternoon the sand was as soft as it could have been. That my friends makes for a very tough ride.


I let the air down as low as I felt I could get away with and hit the trail. When it's that soft you fight for every pedal stroke! Two 7 mile loops and I was beat. It's slow go when you can't carry any speed. Even on the downhills, you had to hit the turns so slow at the bottom you got no benefit from the downhill. Although it was fun, and I got to ride trails I usually don't ride I was tired.


Home and the weekend was done! Now we have the motorcycle trip coming up the end of this week!

Long Week ,,,,,,,,,

99 percent of the time I walk out the door here at work and never give it one thought till the following morning. That's always been one the plus's of my job. No stress! Customers may take it more seriously than I do but I haven't had one die waiting on his stupid lumber.


Well this week has been a bitch! One customer in particular, he and I had to part ways this week. I decided he needs a new lumber salesman. We are in the middle of a job and it hasn't went as well as it could have. The old proverbial saying, when it starts going down hill it just picks up steam. The snowball effect!


I knew when we about came to blows over a mistake from one of suppliers it was time. I lost sleep over this job this week and listened to way to much mouth over this. I usually don't have problems like this but when it happens, it happens. This guy has gotten a little to comfortable chewing people out.


As I said we about came to blows Wednesday. I warned him Monday he needed to watch his mouth, He wasn't going to talk to me the way he was. I think I caught him off guard with that, but he changed his attitude at that moment. Well then it must have bothered him because by the time Wednesday rolled around he really started jacking his jaws and that was it.


I lost it! Like I really lost it! I haven't went off on someone like that in years. I can't even remember the last time I was so mad. He thought he was gonna go over my head and get things done, along with get me fired. Well my boss stood behind me, much to his surprise. So now he has a new lumber yard along with a new salesman.


I hope he's happy! Really happy! Because I know I am. I learned a few things through out this little ordeal. At some point some customers just reach a point that it's no longer worth the effort. When you spend 60 percent of your time on one customer and you have 20 plus! It's time to cut'em loose!


                                                                        Have a good weekend....