I woke up after a good sound sleep.  A probable result of the natural relaxant qualities of the secret recipes of the Scots. God bless them.

A couple pots of home brewed coffee followed by efforts to focus on pushing out the blog.  Tried but nah..  We needed to become one with the countryside.  Warriors of the retired if you will.  Places to go.  Houses to look at.   Curvy roads to conquer.

We rode down to the Post Office to see if some meds arrived.  Nope.   We will live another day.  We headed to countryside.

Saluda, Tryon, the backwoods of South Carolina…  Places not in the Michelin guide. They probably should be.  But also reasons why they are not.  Very pretty.

A quick turn in the mountains brought us into South Carolina.  All of a sudden, the pavement became like a 3rd world country.  As if it have not been maintained since the 1950’s.  Speeds went way down on the bikes.  The front wheel slides or wavers oh so slightly as if the asphalt is crumbling under the machine.  It did not of course.  Just enough to get your attention and make you wonder.  Time to check the underwear.

It was, in actuality very pretty.  Remote country unto itself.  Up and down the mountains.  Tight curves.  Jungle forests.  Few houses.  Zero commerce.  Tight, tight curves.  Blind curves.  In this part of the country the vegetation grows right up to the asphalt.  Sometimes trying to cover the asphalt.

Another turn brought us Back into NC.  A stop in a remarkably quaint little town called Tryon.  Some iced tea out of a small shop.  Enjoying it under an umbrella at an outside table.  Simple pleasures.  Smiles on faces.

Up a mountain to Saluda.  Lunch at Green River BBQ with a couple of beers..  Excellent.  Full and back on the bikes.  Looked at a few houses.  I could live in any of them.  All different with their own qualities.  Some with great vistas.  Some with nice flat property.

It started to rain.  It didn’t look like it was going to last long.  We decided to forego the rain gear.   We stopped under a bridge for a few minutes while the clouds did their thing and passed.  When it looked like the brief shower had passed, we rode on.   Another few miles and all of a sudden it started the big rain.  With my rain gear safely stowed behind me we scooted to the cottage.  10 minutes later we arrived.  We were soaking wet, but thank god the rain gear was fine.

So what does one do mid-afternoon?  I refer to paragraph number one.

I got the blog pushed out from yesterday where I was too lazy to do this morning.  Dried the clothes.  It was big.  Actually nice.  Quiet.  relaxing.  You get the picture.

A trip to Ace Hardware, the State Liquor store, then to a Mexican restaurant for dinner.  The evening culminated in stories of ancestors, big plans of the future, camaraderie and bonding of the brothers. Actually it was a very low key evening.  I was out by eleven…  I was ready… Life is good