ALL TRAILS LEAD TO ICE CREAM

Once Daylight Saving Time comes...the race is officially on.  This isn't a race with another competitor...but with the sun which, as Autumn fades into Winter, sets earlier and earlier each day.  If I'm going to ride after school during this time of the year my afternoon calendar has to be free...I can't be scheduled to work at the bike shop...I can't have any appointments...and, heaven help me...there can't be a faculty meeting.   I was scheduled to work on November on this particular day...but Jay ended up giving me the afternoon off.  I had just enough daylight to squeeze in a ride at Rocky Ridge.  -- November 12, 2019 Best case scenario this time of year...I get home, throw the Stumpjumper on top of the Cruze, and get a good hour of riding in at Rocky Ridge (the best option because of the park's proximity to where I live)...or, more conveniently, get on the Roubaix and tool around Manchester and Mount Wolf for as long as I can.   Bas...

There was a fresh dusting of snow on the lawn when I went outside this morning.  That is the reality of living in Pennsylvania in December.  Technically, it is still Autumn...but the cold has pretty much set in...and even if it is not official yet...winter is here.  All this...making the sunny, seventy degree weather that Robin and I experienced last week in Florida...seems like a distant memory already. Robin and I designated our last full afternoon in Florida as our beach day.  -- December 6, 2019 Every few years I'm able to save up enough personal days to join my wife, Robin, on her yearly, post-Thanksgiving Day trip to West Palm Beach, Florida.  The years that I can't go, she will fly down...but when I can...we make the 1,100 mile long drive from Manchester, Pennsylvania to South Florida.  The two of us found out a long time ago that we travel well together and...when we make this particular journey... we enjoy choosing a new place to stop ...

Robin and I took a hike at Rocky Ridge County Park on Saturday.  Typical of my usual self, I started us on a path that lead into the valley and away from the more populated part of the park.  Purposefully, I chose to lead Robin down some of the more technical trails to avoid other hikers and bikers.  Not too far into our trek we were commenting on both the beauty of the exposed forest and just how careful we needed to be as we made our way down the rocky trails which were now covered by all of the recently fallen leaves. Taking a hike with Robin at Rocky Ridge County Park. -- November 23, 2019 Fall in Pennsylvania is absolutely beautiful...probably my favorite season of the year.  The color of the foliage...the low sun angle...and the crisp autumn air are all things that I love and look forward to.  Fall is also a time for those who hike and mountain bike in Penn's Woods to tread just a little more carefully. As beautiful as those freshly fallen leave...