This time of year...

There is no question that autumn is the best time of year to be in Ohio, and Fall 2007 has done nothing but reinforce this belief in me. Last year, autumn was literally three weeks of rain. It was downright nappy. I sought comfort by pretending that I lived somewhere where the rain made it romantic, like Ireland or something. There is no need for that this year, as it has been nothing short of glorious: cool, crisp, and colorful.
I've always enjoyed defending Ohio, so when I lived in Colorado I used to say, "Ohio is just as beautiful, just not as spectacular." Yes, it's hard to beat the azure skies, golden leaves, and snowcapped peaks of the Rockies. But Ohio's pastoral, complex beauty sure gives it a run for its money. Check it out:




The first frost of the year in the foreground, the morning sun has already begun burning it off the slopes of Alpine.

Until I one day reside again in the mountains, this'll do just fine.

Happy Halloween, everybody. Stay warm, and of course, pray for snow!

Happy Indian Summer... errr, Fall

Our Indian Summer, which produced some nappy humidity and scorching high 80's temperatures last week- has left us and Autumn is back. Here's a few photos from Wednesday morning before the rains came... Beautiful Alpine Valley Ski Resort: my childhood ski mecca and current running grounds. My house is hidden in the trees behind the red barn in the middleground.

Moonset over Ohesia- Fall edition

My last entry was my first ever photo-less entry. I sincerely apologize. Enjoy these images of the onset of fall, and don't forget to take a closer look.

I just kept running clear across Greenbow County

Blogs are pretty funny because we just write in and tell stories about stuff we did that's cool. It's a little narcicistic, don't you think? I mean, I never write a post entitled, "All the money I lost for my business today" or "I sat on the couch last night and watched 'Maverick' for the 20th time in my life". Maybe the sparsity of my posts is testament to how many times I've watched 'Maverick' (one of my all-time favorite movies, by the way. Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster, and the dude that plays the Indian chief in 'Dances With Wolves' are very funny together).
Actually, I honestly feel like things happen everyday that are worthy to post. Sometimes the guitar just sounds particularly good and you need to tell somebody, or your coffee machine didn't blow a gasket that morning and burn your imported Hawaiian espresso. Or maybe you decided to go into work early to get some stuff done, and then also had to make an unplanned mad dash to an ARB meeting in South Russell at 6 o'clock, which conspired in an unplanned 12 1/2 hour day but also resulted in pushing back my evening run to sunset, which was far more dramatic and beautiful... kinda like yesterday.
Well, life is good friends. I'll make it a point to write some posts about a few particularly mundane things in the near future and then we can truly judge how rad our lives really are.

In the meantime, here's something else that's cool...
Remember my post from July 2 about my friend Timmy's brother who wheeled himself up a 10,000 volcano in Maui back in April? Well, I mentioned that he had inspired me to ride my bike 100 miles in a day. Saturday morning, my bro Dave and I spent 6 1/2 hours on our bikes, went through 4 counties, somewhere around 18 townships or cities and ended up at 102.6 miles. It was a diverse experience that included such polarized experiences as touring a 2 million dollar home in Aurora as well as an epic trek through the 4th largest Amish settlement in the world in Middlefield. We also got wildly honked and swerved at by some goofball (a-hole) in a Hummer.
In the end, it was strenuous but not all that hard as long as you're well-hydrated and eat some good chow along the way.
So in the end, it's dedicated to Sean the epic wheelchair volcano climber, who recently returned to Maui for a secong attempt of his climb. No word yet on whether or not the park rangers shut him down this time, but I'll keep you posted.
Keep on pedalin' amigos...

P.S. Movie trivia: do you know where the title of this post comes from?