A Little Bit of that Ole Chomp Chomp

All he was doing was trying to get across the shady paved road, somewhere outside of Monticello Fl. He was minding his own business when along comes this group of Lycra clad devils on machines. "Gator!" someone hollers as they zip by.  "Damn" he must have thought, "This just ain't gonna be my day."

They all stop and gather around him.  They are not afraid, after all he can't be more than 3 feet long, what harm could he do?  "We should move him off the road" one of them says.  After all, they are all basically nice people.  All with good intentions.  Still, not many cars pass this way.  One of them approaches.

Out come the cameras as the bravest (or dumbest) one circles him, trying to grab his tail so he can fling him to safety.

His face is not shown to protect his children from embarrassment

Please notice how he is reaching across, exposing his arm to the little mouth full of very sharp teeth. Moments after this was taken he grabbed the tail, the little fellow grabbed his arm, he yelled, flinging the gator, not towards the road side but towards the circle of people gathered to watch.  Much screaming and jumping around ensued.  The group rolled away, leaving little gator to continue his march across the road, and with a new found taste for human flesh.

Tupelos

On our little crew road ride last Saturday we stopped in Monticello at a little pastry shop called Tupelos.  All of the items are homemade except the drinks.  I had a huge piece of lemon bar cake and a root beer.  We all sat outside and got a sugar buzz while watching Silk howl at his video of the incident described above.

The Kid and I sprinted for yellow signs, county line signs, and city limit signs.  I kept having to change the rules to keep up with him.  I just don't have that extra kick that his 19 year old legs have. Imagine that.

New Tire

I put a new tire on the front of my MTB.  New rubber is awesome.  I was feeling froggy last Sunday, rolling down the multi use at Tom Brown.  As I leaned into a corner I found the limit of my new tires traction.  Sand over clay is a hard surface to lean into.  No major damage except for a new lack of confidence in my brand new tire.

Hey Colorado

We leave this weekend.  Highs in the low 70's, lows in the 40's at night, 0% humidity.  It's gonna be tough to stand that type of weather.  I'm taking a jar of gnats, I'll stick it over my ear, just to make it feel more like home.

I have the whole week planned out, it's a weakness of mine.  Monday we have hired a guide and rented MTBs.  Last time out there we spent most of the morning trying to find the trails, then when we did, it started to rain so I hope this goes better.  I've never done any type of a guided trip before.

Tuesday is the day we try to summit a 14'r.  I have no misconceptions about how hard this will be. The Lovely Wife has been training for months but it's hard to train for lack of oxygen.  If she falters we'll just give her a can of bear spray and a whistle and pick her up on the way back.  Heck, I'm not sure I can make it.

Wednesday is a recovery day, The Kid wants to do some rafting but we'll see how we feel.  I have a couple of easy hikes mapped out just in case.  Most likely it will be a tourist day, eating and shopping.

Thursday I have planned another cycling day, this one self guided and much easier than Monday.

Friday we fly home.  I know, I would have liked to stay longer but all the flights headed east were red eye.  I hate flying.

PS: There are two song lyrics in this post.  The first is the title which is from a Molly Hatchet song, Gator Country.  The second is the subtitle of this paragraph.  It's from a Gram Parsons song.  I bet only Wrecking Ball knows who he was.

Anyhoo, I'll see ya'll on the next page.

Gator Cycling at the TDF