Excitement on Day One

Uneventful drive off the mountain to Greensboro. We came early because a night’s hotel stay is less expensive than a month of remote parking at the airport, and the Marriott will allow us to leave the car here for no additional charge.

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Lover’s Leap Overlook – Patrick County

We had to stop the car en route to allow a hen turkey and her gang of poults cross the road. The little last one was chasing a bug and not paying the least attention to the car or his siblings and mom crossing without delay. He zig-zagged around in front of the car in pursuit of the bug that only he could see. He finally saw our bumper in front of his beak and flared his tail to run and catch up with the gang.

I neglected to get a photo, regrettably, but then née reminded me of my little brother when we were kids. He had a gnat’s attention span, and was always chasing bugs! We are so looking forward to seeing him in Stockholm later this week!

Anyway, while eating breakfast this AM, the hotel’s alarm went off, and we all had to file out of the building, to await the all-clear. Some came from showers and bed. The brave guys in fire gear arrived, checked out everything, and found no emergency. So we only waited about fifteen minutes to be able to return.

Exciting beginnings!

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Countdown 2 The Big Trip

Now we begin the countdown to our Baltic Cycling Adventure.

Yesterday, I did laundry, etc., etc. All the details you have to mind when a trip is ended. We are also in the midst of a rebuilding project that is about a month behind schedule, due to the rains. We are replacing my hawk enclosures with new ones, plus attaching a building to them, where I can store all my falconry gear. Before the hawks were in one place and the gear was partly in our basement, and partly in the old farmhouse that is teetering toward the end of its lifetime.

When I left for WI, the house was in place and we had seeded the slopes of the fill used to level the site. Here’s what it looked like when I got home:

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My honey had erected most of one enclosure, and even had the wire and lattice up! Wonderful. So yesterday, we worked on getting the jump box installed, and I put on the last coat of paint, added the perches, etc.

Today, we took the “first in a long time” training bicycle ride – one of our short runs along the Blue Ridge Parkway heading south to Round Meadow (about a 12-mile round trip). Here are some of the sights along the way:

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