Asheville

Ben and Jack are now in Asheville and staying the night in a motel. They have met a guy who is cycling the Parkway and his wife, who is sagging him. He rides with the agreement that she will meet him at a certain milepost at the end of the day. She is hiking the 6000' peaks in North Carolina! Sounds like a workable plan! They are going to eat dinner together this evening.

Tomorrow, they will ride to Balsam Gap or so to finish on Saturday morning. I am excited to see Ben. It is amazing how many people have asked me how retirement is going for Ben (and me, too!!). Funny, I have not had any time with him since he retired so I don't really know how it is going to be! I DO know that there is alot of work that I depend on him for, things that that I have been doing myself, like rototilling the garden, which took me 3 hours this afternoon. That Troybilt is a big machine and loading it into the truck, taking it to the garden, and tilling, then planting, is a JOB! Thank you, Ben, for the past times when I have not appreciated you enough after getting the garden ready! At least now I know that I CAN do it myself if I want a garden!! Good stuff to know! ...and the confidence that I can load, start, and handle the tiller is great. Thankfully, the second crop of corn is up and going and the peas are flowering. The rest of the garden is ready for the warm soil crops...okra, cantaloupe, and beans. They will go in this week.

It will be a cooking, mowing the yard, short bicycle riding day for me tomorrow, and I still need to harvest the spinach. I have some more tomatoes to plant here at the house (it is always nice to have a few right here). On Saturday morning, I hope to get to Cherokee early enough to ride my bicycle North on the parkway to meet the guys. They will come back to Bristol and Lee will pick Jack up on Sunday. I am looking forward to starting retirement with Ben. Should be interesting after being by myself for the past three and a half weeks!