Road Trip - Day 3 (The Official Run and Mixed Feelings)

Today was the actual official event of the Solstice/Sky weekend, Driving "The Tail of the Dragon". I'll get to that in a minute, but first I want to talk a little bit about my mixed feelings today!





FC showed a photo of me washing my car yesterday, getting it ready for today's event, but the photo didn't clearly show the shirt I was wearing. Here's a pictue of both the front and the back of that shirt.











My mixed feelings are that I'm excited about this weekend's event, but at the time both FC and I were posting last night my son was boarding a plane for his second tour of duty in the desert. He is currently answering the call of duty, and for that I am very proud! Unless you are a parent of a child that is actively serving I doubt that you can understand completely the feelings that I am currently experiencing. I'm not going to dwell on that to all of you right now, but I at least needed to get this off my chest. It doesn't matter if you agree or disagree with this conflict, because no matter which conflict there is controversy will always surround it. However, you do need to understand that until there are no more differences of opinion, politics, religion, or what ever any two humans of different beliefs can possibly argue about, there will always be a need for someone to try to keep the peace, and protect those who cannot protect themselves. I'll leave you with this thought, that was provided by one of the nice folks that we've met this weekend: " Thank God we have people like your son who are willing to make that sacrifice for the rest of us"! I just want him to do a good job and return home safely!





Thanks for bearing with me, now let's get back to the event of the day. I'm going to be brief, and just share a few of the phots of the day with caption, and give more details in the next few days (along with more photos).

Here's the map of the route we took
















Lining up getting ready to go. At this point only about half of the group was here.







More folks joined the group. Lightin, don't you think my baby could use this upgrade?










Out ont he road! As the saying goes "If you're not the lead dog, the view is always the same"!



























Or is it?!









To be continued............

Road Trip - Day 2 (What The?)

Let me start by stating that I did most of the difficult driving today, and then turned the wheel over to FC so he could get some practice in with the car before we drive "The Dragon" Tomorrow.

We probably made it about 5 miles when:

"Dave, this road sure has a lot of curves in it, just imagine what the Dragon is going to be like" A worried FC states.

"Hey man we've already passed a couple of Hwy Patrol's, and that dude's taking our picture!" I said. Both in unison: "We're already on it!"

There wasn't much either of us could do at the time, so I pulled out the camera and started snapping pictures! Of course I had to stop to laugh out loud every now and then, typical SNAFU for one of our road trips! FC did a fine job of driving, considering the circumstances, and I'm pretty sure he's capable of driving my car now! ;-)

As you can see I'm a bit more calm, being able to take in the scenery while driving, having put in many more hours with her than FC had a chance to.

Having made it to the lodge, after three trips across the Dragon, we had some time for a cool drink and some scenic photos:

Pablo - I caught him filling up on Unsweetened

FC showing scale to the view from Fontana Village

Me showing "a bit of captain" at Fontana Dam

Oh, and he wasn't after me Lightnin....at least not this time!

Road Trip - Day One (still in the "natty")

Using my good friend FC as an excuse to take some time away from work, I ended the week early today to drive to Indy to pick him up from his flight to the great white north.

In an effort to show that the midwest really isn't that bad (maybe it was a feeble attempt to convince myself) I toured him around to some of my favorite spots to introduce him to the foods and sites of the area.

The photo is courtesy of my friend and soon to be passenger on yet another journey. It not only shows my ability to color coordinate with my car, but interestingly enough you can actually see a bit of the Cincinnati skyline in the background. A bit more information is that the bridge in the background is one of only two of this type remaining in use. The other being the Brooklyn Bridge.

I toured him around my town taking about every curvy and/or hilly road I could think of, just to get him prepared for what we were about to get into. I also needed to make sure he wasn't going to freak out on me in such tight spaces, after all he's used to cruising around in a Jeep in the backwoods of Florida!

We leave at dawn! Our plans are to get up and have breakfast with Lightnin and then hit the road. Hopefully you'll tag along with us for the ride and check in to see the story from two different angles!

Oh, by the way, I'm drinking a Belgian Trappist ale named "Dilerium Nocternum" while writing this so if it makes any sense at all it will be amazing!

Road Trip: Preparations - The best laid plans....

I had hoped to post a few pictures of me getting my sweet little two seater ready for a fun road trip, but you know what happens when you wash your car!

At least the weather changed before I wasted my time!

The least I can do is offer up this older photo of her when she was looking good!

She's the sexy little grey number next to the red 'Vette. That's me (in the boonie) talking to the owner/restoration-artist of the powerful full-scale version of mine.

I still remember that day............. We talked and traided compliments: "Whoa, what's that?", he asks. "A Solstice", I return. "Is that one your's?", I ask. "It's in perfect shape", I add. "Yep, restored her myself!", he proudly states. "Nice", I say and banter a bit: "Well you know your's has the muscle and mine's the toy version, but mine might have it the curves". "I bet she does", he continues, "sort of like a Go-cart on Steroids isn't it?" We both have a bit of a laugh, and decide to come in out of the heat and enjoy a cold one!

Go-cart on Steroids, hmmm, that's actually pretty accurate! I'm guessing we'll find out this weekend! The "Tail of the Dragon" is a section of US-129 in North Carolina, just across the Tennesee state line, with 318 turns in 11 miles. Oh, and it's on the side of a mountain!

Did I mention that I'm not going alone? Nope, my good buddy FC (http://www.pureflorida.blogspot.com/) is flying in tomorrow afternoon to join me on this quest for the open road.

We'll be joining up with at least 30 other Solstice or Sky owners for a get-together at the Fantana Lodge, and running the Dragon over the weekend. From there we'll head southward back to his homestead, where I'm hoping to find our (Lightnin's and mine) little slice of heaven too!

By the way FC I took the high road here and didn't post any forbidden scenes of lunacy from our misguided youth (Ok, it really wasn't that misguided!), however, the trip ain't over yet and we may see some evidence of a misguided adulthood before it's all said and done! If I can just figure out how to hide my laptop in the shoebox of a trunk that we've got I may be able to post while we're on the road, and you know you've got to sleep sometime! ;-)

To Be Continued:..............

Lobsterfest! (in Ohio?)

I wrote about The Farm in an earlier post (something about cheeseburgers and motorcycles). Well yesterday was the Lobsterfest so of course Lightnin and I couldn't miss that!

It's all about good Food, Fun, Friends, and music.

Yep, that's me displaying one of the star attractions for the day, no silly it's the 1lb lobster I'm holding. They sell tickets to the event in advance so that they can have the lobsters flown in fresh. The 1-1.5 range is actually about the best for eating. Although the 12lb brut that Chris (one of the owner's of the establishment) is holding is pretty impressive!

The mood was set by the Cajun sounds of Robin Lacy and de'zydeco. The music combined with 90F temperatures and 80% humidity, the smell of the boiling seefood, corn, potatoes, etc. almost made me feel like I was back down along the Gulf coast. I open my eyes only to realize I'm still in Ohio.

That's Kate, testing the watermellon to make sure it's ok to serve.

I was able to catch Lightnin clowning around with Chris. You have to be fast to capture her on film.

With our bellies full, a cold beer or two (ok who's counting?) under our belts, and having laughed with our friends while enjoying good music, it was now time to call it a day and roll back home.

Happy Birthday Lightnin! (belated by a few days)

Well, Lightnin has officially made it past a half century! It actually happened this past Saturday, which makes me happy because I'm now a year younger than she is!

We actually held a much bigger celebration for her a month earlier, on my birthday, by having both of her sister's come into town and going to dinner with them and several of Lightnin's friends. So this past weekend we celebrated rather quietly with just ourselves.

I cooked up a meal at her request, which consisted of Fajita's, Mango Margarita's, Mango Salsa, and Spanish rice.

Yes, in the center of the table is located a USDA Grade A Choice Flank Steak, which was expertly prepared by resting overnight in a Chipotle, Lime, and Tequila marinade. It was then grilled over a mesquite wood fire, allowed to rest for 10 min, and then thinly sliced on the bias (at an angle across the grain) for easier "chewability".

The Mango Magarita's help complement the heat from both the chipotle influence on the meat and the jalepeno in the salsa.

Those of you that know me realize that even though I prepared the meal at Lightnin's request as a special gift, the enjoyment I got out of cooking was probably equal that of her's from eating!

Again, if interested in this or any of the other recipe's that I have shown in my previous posts just let me know.

Salud!

Modern Comfort food (and a new camera)!

I love weekends because I finally get a chance to actually cook a meal, not just hurry up and get fix something to eat.

Sunday was Chicken Curry. It's sort of one of our staples around here. Kind of a modern day comfort food, as my title revealed. Well, I also thought it was a perfect way to test out our new Digital camera.

Here's all the ingredients (yep, I'm giving up one of my recipes):

Back row (L-R) - Fresh cracked black pepper, Salt, Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO), Chicken Stock.

Middle Row (L-R) - Coconut Milk (1 can), Garlic (1 tsp.; I was out of fresh), Curry spice (3 TBsp of my own home blended), Butter (2 TBsp. real dairy butter).

Front Row (L-R) - Finely chopped jalapeno peppers (about 6 medium sized, sans seeds), Finely chopped fresh cilantro, Finely chopped onion, chopped fresh tomato, Chicken (4 chunked no bigger than 1" cubes).

By the way that spoon used to be white, but my curry turned it yellow on the first batch many years ago. It is now referred to as "The Curry Spoon".

First - Heat your pan on about medium heat and add about 2-3 table spoons of EVOO, and the butter. When the butter starts to bubble add the Jalapeno and cook (stirring occasionally) until it looks like it is softening. Stir in the onion and cook until it starts to look clear. Then stir in the tomatoes. Salt and pepper to your liking (keep in mind that the curry spice is a bit on the spicy side). Cook this mixture, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes basically turn to mush (this is the base of a curry paste).

Second - Stir in the curry spice and cilantro. Cook, while stirring, until it's a paste like consistancy. Add the chicken, turn up the heat to about medium high, and stir until the chicken is just browned. Third - Add 2 cups of chicken stock stir and bring to a simmer. Turn down the heat and place the lid on the pan cocked to one side so that moisture can evaporate. Allow to simmer for 1/2 hr stirring occasionally. (It should look like the photo below at this point)

Next - Stir in the can of coconut milk and allow to simmer for an additonal 1/2 hr, stirring occasionally.

Finally - Serve on saffron rice

We use Basmati rice and usually add carrots and peas to it for some extra veggies in the meal.

If you're interested in my curry spice blend, or the secret to perfect rice, please let me know and I'd be more than happy to share that too!

Bon appitite!

Beer Judging (Hey, at least it's not about hops!)

For those of you that don't know, I started judging beer as a novice in 1995 (ok for those of you that do know me, I was unofficially judging them for a long time before that), and have been a licensed judge since 1997. All of the competitions that I judged in the past were amateur competitions, judging home made beer for free. Well this past weekend I joined the ranks of professional judging!

It was at the Indiana State Fair Brewer's Cup competition. I was able to judge commecially brewed beers, rather than homebrew. Now don't get me wrong I enjoy tasting, comparinghome brewed delights, and part of our job is to give pointers on how they can further improve, but this is the big time!

The money wasn't enough to pay for the trip, but it's the principle. Plus the real thrill was to actually be a part of keeping commercial brewing on the right path of preserving real beer styles!

Pros't, Sante, Salud, Strochen, Skol, Cheers! No matter how you say it, enjoy!

Again with the hops?!

Yep I'm talking about the hops once again, but hey with beauties like these I can't help but show them off!

If you noticed the date stamp on the photos (accurate this time) you'll see that I took these a few weeks ago. I had every intention of posting these at the time they were taken, but life sort of got in the way.

Over the past few months alot has happened:

Our oldest Son has been accepted into the Masters program of Christie's College of Art (Sorry if that's not the correct name or spelling) in New York! I'm sure you've heard of the famous Christie's Auction House! He's scheduled to move to the big apple in August. Of course we're very proud of this, and have no doubt that he'll make it through the program with flying colors!

Our Middle Son's construction business is booming and it looks like he's going to be hiring more employees. Again, very proud parents here! And his Son, our Grandson, is of course still the cutest little guy on earth, just ask Lightnin!

And last but not least our youngest Son is still proudly serving our country and is still currently stationed over in Europe.

This is where I need to add a bit more filler. He and his long time (3+ yrs) sweetheart have sort of parted ways. The funny thing is that he realized that really wasn't the reason that he is wanting to stay on Europe once his call to duty has been fulfilled. He's actually going to try to make a go of it living abroad, while maintaining US citizenship. Not an easy task, and again we're proud of his determination.

To add a bit more intrigue to this whole story: As most of you who bother to read my dribble know I travel to Europe quite a bit, and have tried to let you follow along on my trail whenever I'm able to get connected to the web. We'll we may be taking this a step further. An opportunity presented itself about 3 weeks ago for a temporary position (3yrs), with my present employer, over in Europe.

I decided to throw my hat into the ring and go for it! What have I got to lose? I absolutely love what I'm doing right now, so if I'm not picked I'm really not out anything, but what an experience if I'm lucky enough to be the top candidate and make the move! Not to mention the potential for further upward movement in the organization.

Of course nothing's really that simple. Lightnin has a booming career going too, and the loss of her salary would be a significant hit to our bottom line! Not a trivial matter for consideration. There's also the reality that we'd be moving so far from all of our family and friends, well we would be closer to one of our Sons.

On top of all this it's currently the end of our fiscal year, and of course work is at it's peak as everyone is frantically trying to spend what is left of their departmental budgets before the end date. Oh, did I mention that it's also evaluation (ratings and rankings) time for myself and all of the folks that work for me! So, as you can guess I've had a bit on my schedule, and on my mind!

I have my first interview for the position on Monday morning. Wish me luck, I think!

Sunshine and Cheeseburgers

The weather was simply too nice to stay at home on Saturday, so I washed and waxed the car and we headed out to The Farm. The Farm is a not so little dive, out on Route 27. I used to pass this place whenever I took the back roads from here to Lima, Oh, and almost always said that I wouild stop in sometime to see what it was like.

Well here we are 4 years later and we have not only stopped by, but have sort of become regulars. They do have one of the best cheeseburgers in these parts, and that's what we were interested in on that day.



While we were there they received a phone call from another little joint up the road that The Farm was about to be over run by over 150 bikes as part of a charity ride. Of course 150 bikes translates into over 200 people!

When they started coming in it was an awesome sound bike, after bike, after bike until the place was packed!

With only Tom behind the bar and Kate in the kitchen a couple of veteran servers kicked into gear and helped out!

Oh not me, after all someone needed to take some pictures, I'm talking about one of the ex-bartender's and of course Lightnin. Tina, the ex-bartender kept repeating, as she served cold refreshments, "I don't work here anymore" and Lightnin pitched in running food out to tables.

So, like I said I went out to take a few pictures.



Bikes,













Bikes,















and more bikes!













They ate and quinched their thirsts, and then were gone as quickly as they had appeared!







We stuck around and talked for a bit longer and then we headed on our way back towards home too!

It was a beautiful day for a drive with the rag top down or a ride on a two wheeler!

Fat Cat, Skinny Cat!

One of the sure signs of spring in Ohio is the appearance of the skinny kitty!

For those of you who have met Spot (AKA: Stinky Cat, El Gato, Dumb Katze), you know that at about this time of the year she begins to try to shed, or more like slough-off her winter coat, looking much like a miniture Musk Ox! So when spring comes along she gets a nice shave, bath, and what ever annual shots she's supposed to get.

Oh yeah she looks a little funny, and it's hard to keep from laughing, but we can tell that she definitely feels much more comfortable now that temperatures are on the rise.







We tried to get a shot of her in the same pose, but she wouldn't cooperate. True to the cat code!

Another Hops Update!

Well, it's only been another week, but just look how well they're doing!

The lead vines are almost up to my shoulders already, and we're still in April.

We've had both good rain and sun so they are about as happy as they can get. Another couple of months and we should be in for a good harvest!

Hops Update!

Doing my best to help green up the Earth! Well, ok I admit the hops do most of the work. ;-)

It looks like they have survived the freeze that we got over Easter and late this past week too. Unfortunately the Creeping Phlox that we planted didn't fair so well. It survived the frost, but the rabbits dug every one of the plants up and ate the roots! Little do they know it, but they're pretty lucky they don't like hops. If they did, rabbit stew would be on the stove while I'm writing this!

We were lucky that the storm, the same one hitting the East Coast right now, moved over us too quickly to turn to snow last night.

As the storm passed it brought high winds, but warmer temperatures. We actually made it up to 50F today, and are expected to be up into the 60's by Tuesday!



With all of the rain we've had, the warmth and sunlight is all that these lovely little vines need to get going again.

Hopefully I'll be ready to lift a carboy full of liquid by the time they're ready for harvest!

Wicked Weather This Way Comes

This past Wednesday we were hit with a pretty fierce storm on our way home from work. It just started to rain when we reached the driveway, but as soon as we were in the house it let loose. We had heavy rain and high winds, but that was about it. The folks East of us got that plus hail!

As the storm passed Lightnin got the camera out and snapped these shots.










As you can see in this photo, it was a pretty classic Thunderstorm "Anvil" cloud!

House-sitting and Deer

This past week we were house-sitting for some friends while they were out on vacation. So we kept their cat company and in the process met a couple of the neighbors, sort of.

While I was cooking dinner these two deer wondered right up next to the patio. As you can see the one got a bit concerned when it saw me with the camera, but it wasn't concerned enough to stop eating the ground cover.


The cat sat at the patio door looking at the deer and then looking at me as if to say, "Let me out and I'll bring home some dinner". I looked down and said, "Yeah right, whatever Simon". They stayed around until just about dark and then disappeared as quickly and quietly as they arrived.

Second Official Hops Update of 2007

Here it is April 6th, Good Friday, and it's currently 31F at 9:00AM! I thought this was supposed to be spring, Oh that's right I'm still in Ohio. We should actually feel fortunate to have a spring this year. It was up in the 80's last weekend and we took advantage of that.

We not only got out to see that the hops were coming up, but we also planted some creeping phlox. Let's just hope that they both survive the current backlash into winter!

I'm not sure if the photos can show scale well enough for you to see how tall the hops are already, but hey are actually up to my waist when I stand next to them. An excellent start for the season! Unfortunately Lightnin had to work today, so I didn't have her available to model next to the vines to give a better sense of scale.





I did want to try to get this close-up to show the frost that is on the leaves of the vines that sprouted up away from the rest of the main plant. This poor unfortunate may not pull through, but I can only hope that there is enough good growth on the main plants to survive the heavy freeze we're going to get again tonight.




I think the photo below shows the height of the vines a little better.














Well, like I mentioned we're in for a cold one tonight. We're expected to get down to 18F, setting yet another record for cold. We beat the old record of 23F last night by dipping down to 20F. On top of the cold we're also expected to get a dusting of snow. If that happens I'll try to get some photos of the hops against the white fluffy background.

I haven't checked on the Phlox yet to see how it's doing, but if the hops can make it through this I'll be happy!

1st Official Hops Update of 2007

Just a short update since Spring officially arrived at 8:07PM Tuesday night. The average daily air temperature is finally on the rise, but unfortunately the ground temperature has not made a significant enough increase to signal the sprouting of the hops. So I'll let them sleep awhile longer and just keep checking on them. I do need to clear away last years growth though, and will try to get that done this weekend.

Speaking of clearing away last year's growth: With the coming of Spring I removed my personal Winter foliage and am trimmed back down to my minimal Summer facial hair. I've also prepared a selection of hats to protect my noggen from the sun while tending to the hops!

More updates to come!

Tips on Following My Trail of Posts This Trip

Since I've had some issues with Blogger that have caused some photos and posts to sort of come out of order I would suggest that the best way to follow along on this trip would be to go to the earliest post of this series "Greetings Von Deutschland" dated 2/27/07 and work your way backup to here.

I hope you enjoy the trip, I have!

Well, back to work tomorrow. Three more days of meetings and then I head for home! I can only hope that the last leg of my trip is smooth and uneventful, that'd be different! ;-)