Spring Break - Day 3

April 20,2011 - Today was our first full day at Jacksonville Beach and we packed a LOT of activity into the day. One of the nice things about the area that Nick and Sam live in is that you can ride bicycles just about anywhere. So Miranda and I started the day by riding bikes up to Dunkin' Donuts for our morning meal. It was more like lunch because it was 11:30. After eating we rode our bikes down to the beach. We rode up and down the boardwalk and then parked the bikes and went for a walk on the sand. It was a really beautiful day. Low 80's with a light breeze. The water was choppy at high tide and there were lots of surfers riding the waves.

After hanging out for a while we went back to the house. Nick was coming home from work and we wanted to get together and hang out with him. We ended up loading the beach cart and going back to the beach for a couple of hours. I must be getting old because it took me about 15 minutes from the time my feet touched the water to the time my chest was submerged because I was going so slow. The water had a refreshing chill to it but it was fine once you were all the way in. I fell asleep under the umbrella a little while later. We ended up staying for a couple of hours and then went back to the house to get cleaned up.

Also within bike riding distance was Ichiban Japanese Steakhouse. Miranda loves hibachi restaurants so that's what we chose for dinner. The food was delicious. I had steak and chicken. Miranda and Nick both had steak and shrimp. It was our waitress' first night. She forgot our steamed rice so it came out late. No matter, we had plenty of veggies to satiate us.

After our hearty meal we ended up going to Adventure Island to play putt-putt and go to the batting cages. Miranda's putter was hot and she handily defeated Nick and I. After the long day, we came back to the house and turned in early. I slept like a rock.

Spring Break - Day 2

Monday night Miranda and I played Pirates of the Caribbean pinball at the Holiday Inn arcade. She thoroughly kicked my ass. I'm a disgrace to my generation. It must be all of that practice she has at pirating from the school musical. I woke up at 6:30 Tuesday which is pretty ordinary for me. I made coffee in the dark so as not to disturb my slumbering offspring. We got breakfast at the hotel, went back to the room and packed up. We were on the road at 11:00. It was a late start.

The rest of the ride through North and South Carolina was nice. We crossed over Strom Thurmond lake and into Georgia and were in the middle of a pine forest. It smelled incredible. Throughout the almost 12 hour ride we stopped about four times. Two 30 minute breaks and two 15 minute breaks to unnumb the butts. We were not able to see much of the landscape of Florida because it was dark when we entered the state. We did cross one BIG ass scary bridge. When we saw it lit up in the distance, I thought it was an amusement park roller coaster. When I realized we were about to cross it I got REALLY white knuckled but we made it over without incident.

888.1 total miles later, we arrived at Jacksonville Beach. It was about 10:30 when we got there. Nick and Sam had dinner waiting for us and it was delicious. We hung out for a bit and turned in around midnight.

Spring Break - Day 1

April 18, 2011 - Miranda and I left Columbus this morning headed to Jacksonville Beach. It's Miranda's first long distance motorcycle trip. We actually got on the road at 10:30 this morning. Ohio went by pretty quickly and we crossed the Ohio River into Kentucky near Ashland. The Ohio River was ANGRY today. It was really high and moving fast. The ride through the Bluegrass state was pretty uneventful. We rode US-23 "The Country Music Highway" all of the way through the state. After Kentucky we were briefly in Virginia. It ended up being about 6:00PM when we

made it to Tennessee. Miranda and I had a decision to make. We could either call it a day and not quite get to our intended mileage goal (the 10:30am start time was about two hours later than I wanted) or we could hop on Interstate 26 and fast track our way to Asheville, NC. Asheville had been my intended goal. We decided to go ahead and ride the Interstate and I am glad that we did.

Even though I-26 is and Interstate Highway it didn't go through any major metropolitan areas. We still got a really good view of the mountains in TN and NC.

Tomorrow we'll h

ave to adjust our route a little bit but I'm hoping to get an earlier start. We'll see what happens. As I write this I'm really exhausted and ready for bed.

On a personal note, Miranda was an absolute trooper. Not one complaint all day and she's an awesome travelling companion. The only thing that would make the trip better would be Laela on a scooter with Indy in a side car to go with us.

States that we visited today:

Spring Break!

Miranda's spring break starts this afternoon at 2:00! WooHoo! We're really excited because she and I are embarking on an adventure Sunday afternoon. First we're going to celebrate my Mom's birthday by taking her to the Reds vs. Pirates game and dinner. Then on Monday morning, we'll be travelling via motorcycle to spend a few days at Jacksonville Beach, FL. We'll be traipsing through the back roads of Kentucky, Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. It should be a fun and interesting time. I'm really looking forward to spending the week with Miranda. We'll be blogging and tweeting from the road so keep an eye out for updates. Look out South, here we come!

39 Reasons Why

39 Reasons Why Laela is awesome

1. Great mother
2. Great wife
3. Cincinnati Reds Fan
4. Loves books
5. Gets my stupid star wars jokes
6. Not afraid to get her hands dirty
7. Beautiful eyes
8. Always willing to lend a hand
9. Wondertwin Powers!
10. She's the first one to call me on my bullsh!t
11. She smells good
12. She's persistant
13. She's empathetic
14. Not afraid to tackle a home project on her own
15. Can quote the Simpsons with the best of them
16. When she's called off, got a sawed off, squeeze the trigger and bodies are hauled off
17. She's one hot scooter mama
18. Always puts others first
19. Can make a great cup of coffee even though she doesn't drink it
20. Loves dogs
21. Hates scary movies
22. If you need anything, she's only a phone call away
23. Hates the Pittsburgh Steelers
24. Always down for a road trip
25. Always upgrades the hotel room
26. She loves Top Gear
27. Her beautiful long hair
28. Not afraid to rock
29. She's a ninja
30. She's bringing Wizard back
31. She IS two tickets to that thing that you love
32. Two words: Story Time
33. She has a projector ;)
34. Loves going to the movies
35. She's creative
36. She's relentless
37. She's thoughtful
38. That dimple on her left cheek when she's smiling really big
39. She's got 39 birthdays under her belt today!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAELA!!!!