Where does the time go? I have been traveling quite a bit for work recently and have not had time to write about our adventures. And boy howdy have we had a few of them. On Memorial Day weekend, we went to carb day at the Indy 500 (Friday) and attended the race that Sunday. It was a great race with several crashes. It ended with the closest finish in the history of the Indy 500. Spectacular.
This year, we watched the Wienie 500 live! What a fun day! I was able to go down to pit row during the last practice before the race on Friday. Marty went into the garages and even saw a driver. We watched the Wienie 500 where New York Dog was the winner. New York Dog was booed by the midwestern crowd. After the race, we watched the pit competitions until the rain stopped the events. It is rather neat to see how fast they can get the cars in and out on a pit stop. On Sunday, we sat in turn four and met some great folks. We were higher up than last year, so the view was better, in my opinion.
This past weekend we backpacked part of the Rock Castle Gorge Trail. It is very strenuous 11 mile loop trail. Parts of the trail have a 22% grade and make it quite challenging. We brought the two huskies with us and thankfully on the decent, Marty had both dogs tethered to him. We made the climb through many blow downs and obstacles. Parts of the trail are seemingly washed away — erosion has taken its toll. I would not recommend this trail for newbies.
On the way down, I had one misstep which lead to my trying to stay on my feet. I ended up falling and sliding some 60 ft down the side of the mountain. I thought I would never stop sliding. In fact, as I was sliding, I thought I was going to end up all the way at the bottom of the ravine. I was thankful for no broken bones! Once I stopped, my legs were shaking because I was pretty terrified. Marty, Ghost and Ammy were able to help me back up the side. I had to crawl on my knees a bit due to the slippery slope. I was able to use the handle on Ghost’s harness to help me scramble back up to the trail. Whew. It could have been SO much worse. Even Marty said he was scared to death when he turned to see me sliding down the slope.
If you look at the picture on the left, you’ll see an arrow pointing to a tree. The trail is behind that tree. I was up there and you can see the path of flattened flora where I slid. It was a wild ride! If you hike Rock Castle Gorge trail, be careful!
This was also a reminder that we made the right choice to always carry our Garmin Montana with us! We also have extraction insurance for each of us. We ended up doing 5 miles of trail before heading home. The ticks were not as bad in this area as they had been at the Foothills Trail a few weeks ago. We still had to contend with the ticks, but they were not as numerous. We have been using our essential oil bug spray and have added a second spray of Lemon Eucalyptus Oil (30% concentration) and this seems to have helped. We picked a few ticks off of both Ghost and Ammy.
Ammy hasn’t been on trails as much as Ghost, so she had a learning curve. By the end of the trail, she was hopping over downed trees like a pro. At one point, Marty had to tote her across. Luckily, she is 40 pounds where Ghost is 69!
32 days until July 6th. We may end up starting one day early if we can get to Maine a bit earlier than planned. We are still freeze drying food — the freeze dryer is drying as I type. We have our gear hashed out. I have finally decided that I will be sticking to my Smartwool leggings for this trip. Despite their dark color, they are just the most comfortable for the summer weather. I have tried to find another company that makes lightweight wool hiking leggings to no avail. I do love the Ibex leggings, but the weight is just too heavy for summer hiking. I found a pair of Woolx leggings that are a bit heavier than Smartwool, but not has heavy weight as the Ibex……. but it is Smartwool for the win. I wish Smartwool would offer lighter colors!
As we enter into the weekend, I am thankful that the bruises from the fall are fading and that I have seemed to have worked out the soreness in my back and legs from the fall. My guardian angels were working over time last Saturday!
As you know, we follow a keto lifestyle. Keto has reversed Marty’s type 2 diabetes. My favorite food blog at the moment is All Day I Dream about Food. I have made her cheesecake recipe many times now and let me tell you, it is DELISH!! So delish that after a taste test, Sean requested it for his 30th birthday! It does not taste sugar-free. If you are keto, give her blog a look. Your tummy will be happy that you did.
My Little Red Bike 