Our Notebook

Month: December 2017

Biking, 2017

My goal for 2017 was to bike more than 2,000 miles.  I thought it was pretty impressive, but as it turns out, many of my biking friends in the area consider 5,000 miles to be a more ambitious goal.  But then I’ve been biking seriously again only since my motorcycle crash.

Here’s my 2017 results:

 

I achieved my goal in late October, about a mile from our house. 

IMG_20171023_134516

Later, my friend Allen and I rode the “Tour of the Moon”  over the Colorado National Monument.  I was wearing a jersey from a friend I discovered on Strava; he and his wife retired and live  in the French mountains; he was an architect and she was an educator.  He rides about as often as I do, although he’s faster.

[RFG_gallery id=’19’]

Here are some random scenes as I racked up the miles:

With Michael Starks along the Poudre Trail in Fort Collins

IMG_20170819_104355123IMG_20170819_111942334
With Allen along the Rio Grande Trail from Glenwood Springs to AspenIMG_20170727_144755152
  Our favorite coffee stop, Bestslope Coffee in Fruita, Colorado
IMG_20170526_115657019
Ridgway, Colorado
Ridgway, Colorado
Other photos along the route:
IMG_20170502_113811422IMG_20170422_122018275
Reeder Mesa
IMG_20170419_130335233

Merry Christmas 2017

We wish all of our friends and acquaintances a very Merry Christmas and a happy 2018.  Or at least a year that doesn’t have as much dismal national news as 2017.

Georgia and I have spent the year doing the usual things that retired people do; if you follow us on Facebook, you know probably more than we remember!  You can scroll down the posts here to see what some of our activities have included.   I’ve been riding my bike a lot (achieving a goal of 2000 miles this year) and working with my amateur radio (my call is KØGUZ). Terry also has a ham radio license (KEØHNW) and he has had a lot of fun packing it in to mountaintops and contacting other hams, using battery power.  I’m not into climbing a 14,000 foot peak, but if you can drive most of the way there, I’m game.  This is me, my radio and antenna and computer, on an unnamed peak in Utah:

20171125T200011-2

Georgia, with the help of  friends, has learned how to quilt, use her sewing machine and play the addictive and very complex game of Mah Jong.  She hosts regular games with three neighbors. 

And of course we’ve spent as much time as possible with our grandchildren – three live nearby in Grand Junction, and the youngest lives near Durban, South Africa.  Our oldest just started high school.

We took a couple of weeks to visit friends in North Carolina, and a week with Sue and Charlie Fienning and their friends in Pawley’s Island,

IMG_20170629_095350506_HDRP1030643P1030637

and we went to Wyoming to view the solar eclipse.  Paula (Georgia’s sister) saw 90% of it from Cheyenne, but Paula’s husband Michael and I drove north about 75 miles to see the 100% eclipse.  It was awesome.

IMG_0229

Above:  Michael and me just before we we were abducted by space aliens during the total eclipse.

The population of Wyoming more than doubled as hundreds of thousands of Colorado residents streamed northward to view the event.  It was really worth it.

Our year is ending with a visit from our South African granddaughter and her mommy.   After a couple of days here, they flew to San Diego to be with Jackie.

Arrival from South AfricaEnjoying the beach

We hope that this is a sign that 2018 will be a good year.

Steve & Georgia

Bad Behavior has blocked 4 access attempts in the last 7 days.