How did I let six months go by?

It has been almost six months since I have posted, and in that time, I have had a new granddaughter born, ridden my bicycle many miles, and enjoyed life with my awesome husband! Life is good and I cannot say that I would change much in my life. All my boys are doing wonderfully. Ben loves retirement and I am cycling, quilting, gardening (in season!) and enjoying my volunteering. It is hard to believe that I have been at the hospital nearly 17 years, and over 4500 hours. It has been fun and I plan to continue, for sure.

Ben and I went to FestiVELO in Charleston, SC last weekend and had a great time with old and new friends. It was fun. ...but a bit like riding on the trainer for 6 hours in a row! ...FLAT. We rode a century, a half century, and then a 3/4 century in three consecutive days, all the while camping out in the cold, and learning about cycling in the cold. We met some great people, rode with our good friends Randy and Seba and had lots of laughs, lots of good times.

Today I received a check in the mail from RoadID, who gives 10% of sales via my website to Hospice. I do not even know who has bought something but it is wonderful to receive a small check for Hospice each quarter.

Next summer, we plan to ride Bicycle Tour of Colorado with two of our sons. It is an epic ride with big miles and lots of climbs. I feel very confident that I will be up to the challenge. I would NEVER have said that two years ago! Cycling has been the most wonderful addition to my life and health in the past few years. I hope I can continue for many years. We have several rides planned in the spring as a lead up to the Colorado ride. Bring 'em on!

Wishing anyone who happens upon this blog a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Wellmont Hospice House Honor

The newspaper had a wonderful article this morning and I was honored, along with Ben to have the newly renovated lobby of the Hospice House named for us. I have not kept up this blog as I am not doing long rides, only 30-75 miles in our local area! However, do not give up!! I do plan another long ride and this will be where you read about it when the time comes!!! Thanks to everyone who has supported me during the last three years with donations to hospice. They have used the funds well and the Blue Ridge Quilter's Guild has made the most amazing quilt for the house as a tribute to my journeys and to the journeys that are made in the lives of the many people who pass through the Wellmont Hospice House each month. I can never give credit to everyone who has been so generous to hospice over the three years. It has been a humbling experience.

THANK YOU!

January

Well, I have not been very good on the blog this month. From Thanksgiving and the death of Ben's mom, it has been a whirlwind of visitors and family. We had a quiet (?) Christmas, hosting Laura, Robert and their twin 3 yr. olds, and their 5 yr. old for dinner. Laura is the new Hospice and Palliative Care physician for Wellmont, and Ben is totally retired. I cooked food from the 26th to the 31st in preparation for the arrival of all the Cowan clans.

On December 31st, Blair and Reid arrived after driving from Colorado together with Nash, the chocolate lab, in the back seat! They had a layover day in Nashville and swapped cars with the Cowans in Nashville, getting their big van and bringing the four cousins to Bristol. Graham, Sherri, and Morgan also arrived the 31st. This was the first year in over 10 that Hans and Mary were both on call in Nashville and could not come up. The kids would have none of it, so the pickup-carswap plan was hatched! Mary sent a complete dinner with them so I did not have to cook for the whole crowd. Thanks, Mary, that was such a treat!! We loved it.

Aggie arrived late on the night of the first with her two boys and we had our big New Year's Day dinner on the night of the 2nd after Mary arrived from Nashville in Reid's Subaru. Everyone enjoyed the usual puzzle, only this year it was a very hard 2000 piece one with lots of SKY!! Graham brought some movies which the kids enjoyed and we all went for a hike to the spillway.

On Sunday afternoon, the long awaited piano moving took place with Graham, Blair, Reid, and Nicholas putting it in Ben's truck, all of them padding it and tying it down and then driving it to Knoxville. We got to keep Morgan in Bristol, though! Later, Mary left with her kids, and Sherri drove her car back to Knoxville. They unloaded the piano in Knoxville with more help from Sherri's cousin and Blair, Reid, and Nicholas came back in the truck after pizza and a movie!

My boys really enjoyed Morgan and really had a chance to get to know her. After all, it was a full year ago that they saw her, as a one year old. Now she is a potty-trained, talking, walking, and delightful two year old!

It was a delightful, if crazy weekend, but we all enjoyed each other and everyone had a blast. Each year, I get so nervous about having such a big crowd here, but each year it gets easier. The kids all help, Morgan is older, and Ben was here 24/7 and willing to do anything and everything to help me.

Cowan update and Ben's mom's passing

It has been a while since I updated this blog, mainly due to many events happening recently. Ben's mom passed away in the wee hours of Thanksgiving morning and we have been very busy since then with all that an event like that entails. It was a blessing for us that her life has ended as she would never have wanted to live the way she has been in the past three years and especially in the past year. We have received so many cards and notes, food, and donations to her favorite charities. We will continue to provide dinner at our house for Ben's dad, as we have been for these three years. I am now doing his grocery shopping for him as it is just too hard for him.

Most of the family came in for the visitation last Monday night, and went home the same day! The Nashville Cowans had a very long drive that day, coming up and driving back. Graham and Sherri came from Knoxville and Sherri got a bug that had been going around her family so she went back early with her cousin who kindly drove up for the visitation and her son stayed to drive back with Graham. Thanks, Michael. Then I went down to pick up Morgan on Tuesday morning from Sherri's parents so that Sherri did not have to deal with Morgan while being sick. Morgan already had the bug right after Thanksgiving!!

Morgan stayed all week and then Graham and Sherri came on Friday. Sherri and I had a ladies night out in Johnson City, with dinner and a trip to a craft show/sale being run by some friends of mine, and then the computerized light show in Bristol, which we loved. On Saturday, we had a great trip up to Whitetop to cut our Christmas trees, then back to decorate ours. We had a 2" snow and Morgan had a blast playing, throwing snowballs and making a snowman. Later in the day on the 5th, some of their friends and two daughters from Knoxville drove up for dinner and then went to Bristol Motor Speedway for the Fantasy in Lights show. It was four miles of Christmas lights. It was wonderful but the wait was really long for the three little girls. Once in, it was fun and the guys driving the two car loads loved speeding down the dragway and around the racetrack and up on the banked turns within the track! The friends left to drive back to Knoxville and we started home and then decided to go to the "other" light show here in Bristol which is all computerized to music. It was terrific (2nd time for Sherri and me!) and all the adults seemed to enjoy that one much better than the lights at the speedway.

It has been a busy and emotional two weeks and I am barely thinking of Christmas. But having Morgan for the week last week made me get out the decorations and she helped put them up!

Happy Birthday, Granddad Cowan

Two of Ben's siblings and their families, as well as Graham, Sherri, and Morgan, and several friends came to dinner last night (Thanksgiving dinner for us) to celebrate Granddad Cowan's 90th birthday. Since he was born close to midnight, he is not sure which day is really his birthday. His birth certificate says the 21st, and his mother told him it was after midnight, so the 22nd! It doesn't matter which day...we celebrated on both! It was a delightful day yesterday, with tons of food, and almost everyone staying here at the house. It was a zoo, as it always, is when all the family is together. The food intake by 6 teenagers is unfathomable! Most of them are coming back for New Years. Plus, Blair and Reid will be here, too.

Today we ate all the leftover Turkey and dressing, cranberries, etc. Yum. Lots of plans brewing on how to get the Nashville cousins to Bristol for the New Year, with both their parents working that weekend. We will work it out. It will be another crowd here!

Warmshowers.com and 4000 miles

We have been long time members of two websites for hosting visitors to our area, with warmshowers.com being specifically for cyclists, and couchsurfing.com for other visitors. We have hosted several people from CS and know a couple from Bristol who also host. Last night, we had a young (25-ish) Polish couple, Ania and Kris, stay with us. They had ridden from Toronto, Canada, leaving there on September 1st. They contacted us a few days ago and needed a place to stay for one night. We read their profile and their story and welcomed them here yesterday afternoon. (We had just arrived home from a ride ourselves!)

What a delightful pair! We, of course, had a lot in common as cycle tourists ourselves, and were happy to see their bikes and gear. After a huge meal, we talked late into the evening. This morning, after much discussion, they determined their route was going to be 11W all the way to Knoxville. (they are headed from there to Nashville, Memphis, New Orleans, and then back to Florida, the Caribbean, and South America. They will do the Western half of the USA on their next trip. I decided to ride out with them, through the downtown Bristol sign and then out State St. to 11W. I rode about 15 miles west towards Kingsport with them before turning around. Their bikes were really loaded but they are prepared for all weather.

On the way back to Bristol from riding with them, I realized that I would pass my goal for the year, 4000 miles. Wow! I was not sure a week ago if I could do it but five straight days of gorgeous weather and 175 miles and my goal was met! I am really pleased with that total. I love to ride and don't know when my next trip will be. It has been hard watching Ben planning for his Southern Tier ride, knowing that I probably will not go. I will have to ride alot of miles to catch him next year! The year I did the ST, my total was over 6000 miles!

 

Ania and Kris at the Bristol sign

Trip Journals

My three major trip journals are now easily located with the links on the right sidebar. Just click on the trip you would like to read about and it will take you to that journal. You can also look at this year's trip journal on this website by clicking on the blog archives for August. Thank you for your interest in reading my journals.

Donations to Hospice are also easily accessed by the links on the sidebar.

A gorgeous weekend!

With Ben being gone since the 31st, it has taken some motivation to ride by myself. However my friends came out in force this weekend and I racked up 90 miles in two days! I rode from my house yesterday and found that the extra 14 miles to the ride start were very nice. It makes me crazy to DRIVE 7 miles to the start of our ride! The route is nice, a good warm-up, and not a bad return home after the ride, provided it is light enough.

Today, two of my friends had 25 and 35 miles each to get to 3000 miles for the year! It was fun to see them make that goal. This has given me lots of motivation to ride the last 200 miles to make it to 4000 miles for me this year. While adding the extra miles to finish, Randy and I rode up the Holston River 6 extra miles and I broke a shifter cable at the far end! Fortunately, the road back to the car had only moderate rollers. I did have to stand on every hill, though, as the chain was stuck in the little ring in the rear! A trip to Boyd's Bicycle in the morning will have me back on the road by tomorrow afternoon when I plan to ride again. Then the prediction is for rain for two days. I volunteer at the hospital on Tuesdays anyway, so wouldn't be riding!

Last night, I went to the Kingsport Bicycle Association pot luck supper as I am now a member. It was a nice evening and Bob and Ellen did a great job on the photo presentation of their bicycle trip in Montana and up to Banff, Lake Louise, and Jasper. The pictures of Glacier were awesome and really brought back memories of the fantastic trip Ben and I made out there in 2005. We hope to cycle there in the near future as our last trip was a hiking adventure!

New Total for this year...

My new total for this ride is now $20,505!!! Many thanks to everyone for their support.

- Posted very slowly using BlogPress from my iTouch.