So, today was Monday and I was back in the office. The day started out cloudy and cold. Warmed up nicely and I was happy it got sunny too. I spend my lunch breaks reading. I have been reading a new book, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. I am kind of struggling with this one. I love motorcycles and I am mechanically inclined. However, he wanders into the Zen part in a little weird directions. I get being centered, but he has yet to get there. I am 100+ pages into this book and yet to find what he is getting at. I am not giving up but if you have read this book, I hope I am not the only one who feels this way. I like it, but I feel he is a little wordy! LoL
I also spent the day getting a quote on a garage. I get a quote on a 24' x 40' with 10' walls. $24,000 will get me the concrete slab, the building, gutters, two 10' x 8' roll up garage doors, two 3' x 6'8" man doors, and two 3' x 3' windows. Its just money right?!?!? Well I guess I will be saving for a little while. I hop your Monday was more productive than mine!
Monday, March 26, 2018
Tuesday, January 30, 2018
Jan 27 Upper Green
It is snowing outside and the temp is hovering around 30f. Sitting here at work my thoughts have been about why I have not done anything with this blog in four years. I am working on an update to let everyone know how I went from Key West to eastern Tennessee, but that will come a little later. For now lets just pretend you know the whole back story.
Friday night, Kat and I were in the garage playing darts when I got a message from Ketlin. She wanted to paddle something on Saturday and was looking for people to boat with. I thought about it for a bit and then asked if she wanted to try the Upper Green. She was pretty excited about the idea. So we made plans to meet up at 9am and head down to Saluda.
Saturday morning was rainy and 45f. We made it safely down to Saluda and met Rick at the put-in by 11am. We did not have to worry about setting shuttle since Kat was gracious enough to come along and shuttle bunny for us. We got on the river at 11:15 and started slowly. Ketlin was nervous but her paddling looked solid. We got through the first couple of rapids and Rick and I spent some time catching up. We paddled up to Bayless Boof and all jumped out of the boats to scout it. Ketlin's eyes got huge when we started to walk up to it. After she picked her line through, we slid back into the river and I lead the way. I got down to the bottom and set safety. The look on her face was priceless when she came down and was still upright at the bottom. I am 98% certain that is the largest thing she has ever run. She immediately started celebrating! Such a great thing to get to witness!
Well, we made it on down through the mountain fog and chilly January water. The paddle was amazing. Great times were had by all. Ketlin aced the run and was so happy. She kept talking about buying a key and going there more often. I am sure you all will see her on the narrows before too long! She is progressing by leaps and bounds with every month. As always I feel blessed to have been in the gorge and it is always great to paddle with my friend Rick.
Friday night, Kat and I were in the garage playing darts when I got a message from Ketlin. She wanted to paddle something on Saturday and was looking for people to boat with. I thought about it for a bit and then asked if she wanted to try the Upper Green. She was pretty excited about the idea. So we made plans to meet up at 9am and head down to Saluda.
Saturday morning was rainy and 45f. We made it safely down to Saluda and met Rick at the put-in by 11am. We did not have to worry about setting shuttle since Kat was gracious enough to come along and shuttle bunny for us. We got on the river at 11:15 and started slowly. Ketlin was nervous but her paddling looked solid. We got through the first couple of rapids and Rick and I spent some time catching up. We paddled up to Bayless Boof and all jumped out of the boats to scout it. Ketlin's eyes got huge when we started to walk up to it. After she picked her line through, we slid back into the river and I lead the way. I got down to the bottom and set safety. The look on her face was priceless when she came down and was still upright at the bottom. I am 98% certain that is the largest thing she has ever run. She immediately started celebrating! Such a great thing to get to witness!
Well, we made it on down through the mountain fog and chilly January water. The paddle was amazing. Great times were had by all. Ketlin aced the run and was so happy. She kept talking about buying a key and going there more often. I am sure you all will see her on the narrows before too long! She is progressing by leaps and bounds with every month. As always I feel blessed to have been in the gorge and it is always great to paddle with my friend Rick.
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
WV - Sept 15 Summer went so fast!
This summer has been a blur. It went by so fast! This morning I woke up to a 46° sunny morning. That is cold in my world. I am just out of practice and I am not prepared clothing wise! I guess I should get prepared but I just don't want to.
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
WV - May 14 Arrival till Present
Leaving Key West was harder than I expected it to be! I had a really good time down there. My send-away party was awesome and I even got Iced! For those of you who do not know what this is, come by the cabin and I will be happy to show you!! LoL I really appreciate the friends and times we all had! Thank you all again!!
On April 2nd I left Key West and headed to my parent's house in South Carolina. I spent about 10 days there doing home improvement projects and just enjoying being back around family. I missed them and Christmas! We started their garden and worked on the garage solar panels. I also got to slip away to the mountains and do some paddling with my old crew! It was a great turn out both days! Got to run a creek and paddle the Green!
This is a shot from near Greenville, SC!
My visit to SC was cut a week short, due to me being need up here to start helping in the shop and on the campground. I got up here in April 23rd and started getting things together. I picked out my home for the summer.
The Gear shop work is pretty nice. I work part-time in here on Tuesdays and Sundays. It gets me a solid 20hrs a week and I will start guiding trips on a set schedule right around Memorial Day. For now, the Shop and campground maintenence has been keeping me pretty busy. I like it. It is good work.
Fun, is the reason I moved up here. I have been taking full advantage of my surroundings! I have been paddling about ten times, played disc golf for the first time, I went hiking, and checked out the local park. This town has something for everyone. It really is the Coolest Small Town in America! I have been very blessed to be able to live so freely. I really never thought it would happen! Enjoy the snapshots from my hike!
~RF
On April 2nd I left Key West and headed to my parent's house in South Carolina. I spent about 10 days there doing home improvement projects and just enjoying being back around family. I missed them and Christmas! We started their garden and worked on the garage solar panels. I also got to slip away to the mountains and do some paddling with my old crew! It was a great turn out both days! Got to run a creek and paddle the Green!
This is a shot from near Greenville, SC!My visit to SC was cut a week short, due to me being need up here to start helping in the shop and on the campground. I got up here in April 23rd and started getting things together. I picked out my home for the summer.
The Gear shop work is pretty nice. I work part-time in here on Tuesdays and Sundays. It gets me a solid 20hrs a week and I will start guiding trips on a set schedule right around Memorial Day. For now, the Shop and campground maintenence has been keeping me pretty busy. I like it. It is good work.
Fun, is the reason I moved up here. I have been taking full advantage of my surroundings! I have been paddling about ten times, played disc golf for the first time, I went hiking, and checked out the local park. This town has something for everyone. It really is the Coolest Small Town in America! I have been very blessed to be able to live so freely. I really never thought it would happen! Enjoy the snapshots from my hike!
~RF
Monday, March 18, 2013
KW - March 13 Cooks Island
On my days off this week, I tried to get some friends to go out to Cooks Island. A plan was formulated for Wednesday to head out and party for a few days. In regular Key West fashion, on Tuesday evening everyone backed out. I decided to spend Wednesday hanging with Tim here in town and head to the island on Thursday. I got my Friday shift covered at the bar and so I decided to spend Thurs-Sat out by myself on island. Do some reflecting on life and just enjoy the sea.
Peter was kind enough to offer me the use of his boat and the cabin on Cooks. I would be dumb not to take advantage of this opportunity when my schedule permits. So I made the call and it was definitely the right one!
The last time I was out there, Peter said there were key deer on the island. I laughed and thought he was crazy. I looked for signs of them but never saw a track or anything to indicate he was correct. This trip by myself was a different story. I don't have any photo proof but there are three key deer that live on the island! They came out after sunset each night and would eat the grass and palm fronds next to me and my fire. They were quite the entertainment each night.
Here are the pictures from the weekend!
This is the toilet room. It has to be above flood level to pass code!
Sunrise the last day on island!
~RF
Monday, March 11, 2013
KW - March 9 Day of Fun
This Saturday I woke up to an absolutely gorgeous day! Crystal clear skies, temps in the mid 70's, and a slight breeze that just begged me to be outside. I made some coffee and sat on porch reading a Hemmingway novel, when a thought occured to me. My friend Josh had mentioned sailing today, earlier in the week. I sent him a text to see what his plans were and sure enough her was still looking to sail in the afternoon. This was beginning to look very promising! I was planning to meet Brad at Vito's for lunch and to hangout with Rich, the bartender, so I threw an invite to Josh and we all planned to just meet there. Here are some pics of Rich and Brad at Vito's outdoor bar! It is really chill spot and they have the best pizza on Key West!!
Josh met up with us a little after 1pm. On my way to Vito's I ran into Erin and Tim. I invited both of them to lunch and to go sailing. Tim was working but Erin was very excited about sailing. After finishing up lunch with the guys we headed for the dinghy docks and I called Erin to arrange a meeting location. We all loaded up into Josh's 9' dinghy and headed out of the marina. He moors his boat about a mile out of the marina. Here are some shots of us leaving the marina and headed out to the boat!
Erin
B-rad
The following shots are from inside the boat as we all got the tour and met Josh's cat!
Sails up and away we go!
Captain Josh
Chilling on the deck!!
Sails up, great wind, and clear skies! Told you it was a beautiful day!
Sunset Key
The Jolly Rover
Erin had this expression the entire day!
I commandeered the vessel for a little while!!
Boat leaned way over!! Great wind!!
Brad was all smiles, but hung on for dear life most of the trip!! LoL
And the sails are back tied and we were back on the mooring!! I could have stayed out forever!! So peaceful quiet! I can not wait to go and do this again!! Thanks again Josh, for the awesome trip!
~RF
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