More Photos from MTB Fest

Illiniwek Overlook

Party Platform at Sunderbruch

Sunderbruch Trailhead

Midwest Mountain Bike Festival

This year's Midwest Mountain Bike Festival was in the Quad Cities.  We camped at Scott County Park in Iowa.  I biked at three parks on Saturday:  Scott Co., Sunderbruch and Illiniwek.  Loved Sunderbruch and Illiniwek!  Awesome trails!!  FORC (Friends of Off Road Cycling) did a fabulous job of hosting this event.

A blurry picture of the guys at Sunderbruch.  From the left:

 

Tony, James, Nick, Mike, Andy & Vern

Me after riding the trails at Sunderbruch

Mike & I at Illiniwek overlook.

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Garden Progress

How does our garden grow?  Here's some pictures of my herb garden and Mike's vegetable garden.

Chamomile

Cilantro

Basil

Now, this is Mater Gardener Mike's Garden.

Compost Box

Onions

What's left of the lettuce (not much), Carrots & Broccoli

Peas & Beans

Broccoli Harvest!! Yummy!  And it's all mine.  Mike doesn't care for it.

Anniversary MTB Ride!

Mike and I celebrated our first anniversary of our first date on June 19th!  We did what we did a year ago, we went for a mountain bike ride at Farmdale Reservoir.  It's been a blessed, joyful and excellent year with him in my life.  I pray for many, many, many, many more!!

 

Biking over the weekend

On my way to begin my Nashville trip, I stopped by Kickapoo State Park in Danville, Illinois for a MTB ride.  Trails were awesome, kinda got mixed up with directions trying to find my way out.  I made it out and enjoyed those trails. 

Also rode in my 11th state, Tennessee!  I've got 39 more states to Mountain Bike in to reach my goal of all 50 states! 

Nashville with Stephanie!

Girl Road Trip!  My friend Stephanie & I met in 2006 and took a trip to Baja Mexico with a group of people.  We have been road tripping ever since.  Our travels have taken us to Wisconsin, Michigan, Missouri Ozarks and our latest trip to Nashville, TN.  Little did we know that we planned last weekend it was also the CMA festival of Fanfare in Downtown.  Streets were blocked off and people from all over crowded the streets.

We decided to camp, which is our normal mode of lodging.  We stayed 2 nights at Montgomery Bell State Park which is 40 minutes outside of Nashville.  This campground was mostly chosen on the fact that there are Mountain Bike Trails.  And we checked those out Friday when we got there. 

Our first stop on our whirlwind day in Nashville started at Crema for coffee and quiche http://www.crema-coffee.com/, Then we went and took a tour of the Ryman Auditorium http://www.ryman.com/,

 Hatch Print Show http://countrymusichalloffame.org/our-work,

Nashville Public Library (Yes, we both like visiting libraries), http://www.library.nashville.org/, Las Paletas for gourmet Popsicles.  I had the chocolate with mint chips & for my second, a pistachio.  Stephanie got the Rose Petal & then the Blueberry Lime.  Very delicious, 

We ventured over to the 12 South Taproom for a beer, http://12southtaproom.com/ ,
Went to a place that makes custom jeans tailored specifically for you right there in the store. http://www.imogeneandwillie.com/, Dinner at Silly Goose, http://sillygoosenashville.com/ , ice cream (yes, I'm aware that we at 2 popsicles each early in the day) http://www.jenis.com/.  I got the black coffee ice cream...oh so good!  Then we walked around another neighborhood which I forgot the name of then drove back to camp. 

Over all awesome weekend!  We packed our itinerary but never felt rushed.  Stephanie is a super awesome travel buddy!!

Next trip maybe Minneapolis. MN or LaFayette, IN.  We will see!

New Bike & Lyme Disease all in one weekend!

Hello New Bike!!!!  I've been given a beautiful gift, a 29 Specialized Epic and it's awesome!  I ride and climb with more confidence and the 29 wheels just roll sweetly right over roots.  My fiance is the best!  This will be my birthday, Christmas and wedding gift...but I get to use it now.  And, it's already back in the shop to fix a broken rear derailer, which I didn't break.  Promise. 





The same weekend the new bike came, I found a tick bite on my leg and it was a classic bullseye mark which meant that tick gave me the gift of Lyme Disease.  Not cool.  What am I going to do?  Stop biking?  I don't think so.  So Mike and I got to the doctor and I started taking Doxycycine a week ago yesterday.  Side effects nausea and vomiting which I experienced so I will not be taking this drug on an empty stomach.  Good news, I took care of it before it systemically became a huge problem.  Bad news, one month of these stomach twisting pills.  I'll take the pills.  Mike made me watch "Under our Skin", a documentary on chronic Lyme Disease.  Pretty fascinating and a bit scary.  People have serious illness linked to Lyme Disease.