Paradise found.........at the Strawberry fest.A perfect day

You know, as "The Outsider" I think this town looks a lot different to me at times than it does to the home growns. Sometimes better and sometimes worse. But then there are times when everything lines up and I realize that I have ,for a moment, found paradise.

We went to town to make good on a promise to the boy for sleeping all night. The reward being a trip to a famous local 60+ year old doughnut shop,with the even more famous blue screen door. We made the visit and left with our wonderful cookies, peanut butter macaroons and chocolate milk....... We decided to stroll. As we moved North ,window shopping along the way, in all of the closed, quaint, little shops. We see some activity at the end of 1st Ave. It turns out to be the Strawberry Fest. It appears that this is a very old tradition in this town. The farmers market was full of vendors selling berry's, veggies, local honey and more. I have read about this place on one of the more famous blogs, but had never really stopped in for any length of time. As I watched EC climbing on the tractors, jumpy castles and giant slide, a well known
L. Armstrong song came to mind.
We even bought a fresh loaf of bread from a young Monk who resides at the local Abbey. For the bonus, the museum was free this day! Up stairs they had a video of Strawberry fest parades that dated back to the early 50's. It kind of gave the since of history for this town that had missed before. This place often reminds you of the towns you only see in the movies. It's a wonderful life, Groundhog day, Big Fish,................. Psycho..........gotcha on that one. I crack myself up. Anyway, It was a perfect day.

Birthday and the Bogue

I usually try to crown every birthday with something to remember. Last year it was an Epic trip with Gk,Rk and GC my Bro to Helen for some cycling across Pig Pen and Brasstown Bald. The cycling was awesome, I was glad these old legs could make it. But the epic part turned out to be our attempt to sample all 83 beers at the little "German" local pub. I know I started with 1664 and have no idea where I gave up, but it made for quite a slow start to Brasstown B the next day. We were most entertained by the locals all and I mean all night long. Helen is a strange little town after mid night. It would fit just perfect on an episode of "Insomniac" if you remember that show. Everything from the "German"/hill billy bar maid whose Ex died by falling in his own camp fire ,to the 300 lb guy that we met at Huddle house at 4 am. His claim to fame was setting the world record bottom to top of Brasstown in some kind of motorcycle powered super car. We assumed that he was full of shit............. Then of course, we found it on youtube the next day. Go figure. He claimed to have a Twin Turbo and a Ferrari at home but drove an 85' rusty truck that night. Who knows?





Anyway, This year CC and I went to Mobile to go "Back to the Bogue" An 18 mile Hell Trail through the lower Chickasaw Delta/swamp in North Mobile. When we got out of the truck I was struck by the rush of humidity and heat that I haven't experienced in quite a while. We met GK and RK to ride. CC commented that the Bogue hasn't changed at all since he and I raced the state championships there in 1994 during a tropical depression. Same old run down buildings and sports field. The trail was wild, tight, over grown and full of box turtles. Narrow wooden bridges just inches above the mirror like black water of the swamp. I'm glad some things never change. It was a good day because we didn't spook any gators....... but they are there for sure. If you have never ridden the Bogue, you should try it at least once. Don't expect it to be flat. The Bogue makes the SS pretty hard work.........................Hmmm next year

.......................................Who's up for cycling Monument Valley?