ANOTHER NICE MORNING FOR A BIKE RIDE…AND SMELLS:))

Another fine summer Sunday morning for a relaxing slow bike ride in the countryside. I often mention the beautiful rural scenery but have not mentioned the many smells one encounters on the open seat of a bike.  The sweet smell of roadside flowers can be picked up as well as the fresh smell of new mown hay. A freshly harvested field of wheat has a pleasant aroma as does a roadside apple orchard. The smell of a dairy barn is one of my favourites & a group of horses along a fence line by the road have their own special horse smell.  The scent of Pine trees is always pleasant as well as passing through any kind of a forest.   A gravel country road making it's way through a swampy area opens up a whole new set of olfactory delights as does a herd of cows plop plopping their way across a grassy meadow.  Pig enclosures can be a challenge & not all smells are pleasant.  One learns to take a deep breath & hold it while passing by a ripe road kill. Yep, just another great morning for a mighty fine bike ride it was:)).

Stopped by the Clinton hospital on my way home to visit a neighbor lady. It was a sad visit because it was likely a final good-bye. The lady is very ill & is not expected to make it home again.

WANDERING THROUGH OUR RURAL COUNTRYSIDE

And, it was with sadness I read Peggy McDonald’s post at RV LIVING.NET this morning. With 27 full time years under their belt it was time for one of RV’s best known couples to say their final good-byes. John McDonald passed away Saturday morning after a brief battle with cancer. I had just blogged about Peggy & John a few weeks ago…27 YEARS. My reference to Peggy & John begins about half way through the post.

  

Reading Sue's post this morning from BIGDAWG AND FREEWAY** I could feel her excitement as she & Doug headed out from Coquitlam BC with camper in tow & touched down many hours later in the State of Idaho. I have always found blogging is far more pleasurable while traveling. Changing sceneries are always a natural high for me & it is far easier to keep myself focused on the present instead of past memories & future speculations. Like they say, one foot in tomorrow & another foot in yesterday generally leaves one flat on their ass today. I find that can be disturbingly true. Very rare for me to get down in the dumps while we are on the move either heading for or leaving a place. Always that anticipation of seeing what is just up the road, around the next bend, or over the next hill. Always that apprehension mixed with a touch of fear to give one just that right magical mix of adventure.

Nothing I like better than pulling out my Atlas's after being somewhere for a couple weeks or so & deciding on a new area & location. So nice to be able to change one's surrounding scenery at a whim.

READY FOR MY SEMI-ANNUAL HAIRCUT SATURDAY MORNING:))

I may have mentioned this before but we did find we were getting into a habit the last couple years of re-visiting over & over again some of our favorite places from our first few Snow Birding years. Nice to do that except we we had lost our 'newness excitement' for each of those places. Last winter we kind of hit many of the same old spots with Wickenburg & area being the exception. However, we did hit some new places in New Mexico at the front end of our trip. Two years ago we had some exciting firsts like Joshua Tree National Park & Lone Pine California. Especially liked that whole Lone Pine area & experience. Travelled across Death Valley to the Valley Of Fire in Nevada. Wound up our trip with a first time visit to Canyon De Chelly in Arizona. For me, my favorite part of traveling is seeing new places for the first time. And, you know what, there sure are a lot of new places out there just waiting for us to drop by. Oh how I love that 'WOW' factor:))

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And, in Monday’s post I will tell you about a great movie I saw tonight…………………..

GROANER'S CORNER:)) Two guys were roaring down the road on a Harley-Davidson motorcycle when the driver slowed up and pulled over. His leather jacket had a broken zipper, and he told his friend, "I can't drive anymore with the air hitting me in the chest like that." "Just put the jacket on backwards" his friend advised. They continued down the road but around the next bend, the driver lost control and wiped out. A nearby farmer came upon the accident and ran to call the police. They asked him, "Are they showing any signs of life?" "Well," the farmer explained, "the driver was until I turned his head around the right way!"

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- Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.

- Home is where your pet is:))

- "If having a soul means being able to feel
love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals
are better off than a lot of humans."
(James Herriot)

- The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails -William Arthur Ward

- The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.
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