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Quote from max.patch: “. ” Timed out on the post clock?

Funny how things work out. My son just called to tell me that his last travel PT assignment is in...Franklin, NC. He'll be there from June to mid August. So now it's almost a requirement to head down and do some hiking over the summer. Sox gave me his blessing for me to hike as many miles down there as I can.

My closest WH is two miles away and I can hit six more within a 10-mile radius. Breakfast and a show. I mean...where else are you gonna get your server's complete family genealogy and hear all about the drama from cousin Ada's out-of-state wedding while waiting for your sausage egg hash brown bowl to be prepared? I'm still trying to fully decode the communication from the servers to the cooks. The cooks would make good air traffic controllers the way they can receive and act on so many different…

Currently, we have a 10-mile Delta between us. He toughed out the hike from Winding Stair Gap to Wayah Bald while I took a half day off to resupply and soak my feet. So I can hike that guilt-free. He also gave me special hiking buddy dispensation to finish the section from Stecoah Gap to Fontana Dam without him. Nice guy. After my son's wedding, I'm headed to the beach and he was thinking of hitting that section before heading to another wedding in Pittsburgh. That plan was supposed to get us bo…

Quote from StalkingTortoise: “My goal for 2023 is first to finish the ~75 miles in and around the Smokies. That will complete my AT section hikes from Springer to Gorham NH. Then if I have time, I'd like to hike from Gorham to at least Grafton Notch to finish New Hampshire. Vacation time might be tight as my son's wedding is in September. The AT will still be there in 2024. ” Aw Fiddlesticks! Smoking Sox done messed up his knee while skiing. Complete tear of the ACL and partial tear of the MCL a…

Quote from odd man out: “one minute to play. FDU#16 up 5 over #1 Purdue. ” Youtube TV offered a quad screen where this was one of the four games. I switched to just this game over the last two minutes and watched the upset. There's gonna be a lot of sad Boilermakers at work on Monday.

Nice comeback win for local team Xavier. And Pitt made the most of their play-in opportunity. And coincidentally, they get to play each other in the next round.

3/12/2023 The last stop on this hike was the Bardstown Bourbon Company. In contrast to Kentucky Peerless, there is no multi-generation history in the bourbon industry. The distillery was designed to be a showcase of technology, glass, copper and steel. BBC distills 50 different mashbills for customers like Total Wine, Calumet Farms, Log Still, etc. As a result, they use a sweet mash process where the cooker, fermentation tanks and still are all cleaned between runs. No sour mash starter here! We…

Hike #8 2/11/2023 It was finally time to check out some of the Louisville distilleries. I passed on the big guys - Evan Williams, Angel's Envy, Michter's, Old Forester and Rabbit Hole - and chose to start with two of the craft distilleries. First up was Kentucky Peerless. appalachiantrailcafe.net/index…eafe495ba17d6cad7783c001e appalachiantrailcafe.net/index…eafe495ba17d6cad7783c001e appalachiantrailcafe.net/index…eafe495ba17d6cad7783c001e Peerless is a relatively new distillery but their roots …

The last stop of the day was at Limestone Branch Distillery. One of the smallest distilleries on the Bourbon Trail but they do have the distinction of donating a portion of their profits from their Yellowstone Bourbon to the National Parks Conservation Association. $250,000 for 2023. Drink up and support our National Parks. appalachiantrailcafe.net/index…eafe495ba17d6cad7783c001e appalachiantrailcafe.net/index…eafe495ba17d6cad7783c001e appalachiantrailcafe.net/index…eafe495ba17d6cad7783c001e The…

1/14/2020 I pulled off a triple tour to end this hike. First up was the Log Still Distillery. They have a hand sketch of an original still made of logs in their visitor's center and I saw a real version on the show Moonshiners. Pretty much a poor-man's version of a copper still - no reason to use this technology other than if you're flat broke and want to distill spirits. Fortunately, Log Still uses modern equipment. appalachiantrailcafe.net/index…eafe495ba17d6cad7783c001e appalachiantrailcafe.n…

Wilderness Trail had been on my tour list for a while. It's the most southern distillery in the eastern half of Kentucky so the drive home would be close to three hours. But man... it was worth it. appalachiantrailcafe.net/index…eafe495ba17d6cad7783c001e The back story is very unique. Two friends are playing in a heavy metal band. Someone tells them to do something useful with their lives so they form a yeast analysis business. And after years of helping to pinpoint the root cause of bad bourbon…

Hike #7 1/7/2023 Another year, another trip to Kentucky. Four Roses And Wilderness Trail were on the itinerary for this hike. Four Roses is different than most distilleries as they ferment and distill on-site, but truck the distillate to another location for barreling, maturation and bottling. They offer a separate tour at that facility - I might check it out if I'm in the area and have time to kill. The fermentation tanks are made of cypress and show years of leak repairs. It's definitely a wor…

I had a work road trip to Detroit this week and did a bit of bourbon hunting. First stop was Total Wine near Chesterfield where I scored a bottle of the Garrison Brothers Balmorhea double-oaked that I sampled a few weeks ago at their distillery. It's every bit as good as I remembered. My co-pilot did a fantastic job of checking the Ohio Liquor website to look for retailers offering allocated bourbons. We hit four places on the drive back to Cincy and I scored three bottles of Weller Antique 107.…

It's only a matter of time before forum software developers add a function to add preferred pronouns to the 'as-displayed' screen name. StalkingTortoise (it) I noticed that my last beg-a-thon letter from the ATC didn't mention anything about white hiking privilege or JEDI principles. Just some crazy talk of supporting the Appalachian Trail. Too late Sandi...too late.

I echo Astro's advice. My old guidebook and maps for the Smokies (purchased ~2010) were a bit out of date but showed the side trail and road information that I wanted. I do review trail updates on the ATC site before my sections to look for new information and I'll compare my guidebook data to Guthook's database before hitting the trail. I have purchased the entire guidebook/map set from the ATC over the years. I find paper maps very satisfying - especially when my hiking partner's phone battery…

I like the new program where the REI Mastercard rewards are available immediately while the REI Co-Op Rewards come out in March When I make a purchase from REI, I have the ability to used 'banked' Mastercard rewards as part or all of the payment method. The default is to use the banked reward. So I have received items for free through the past year - some by accident. The good part is that purchases that use the Mastercard rewards still qualify for the Member rewards. $275 in rewards this year, …

My son has the difficulty of rooting for his undergrad team Pitt and his grad school team Duke. His heart leans towards Pitt as he used to volunteer to rebound for the players during practices. Pitt has put together an impressive season. I'd like to see them get deep into the tournament just to have a different name in the mix. And maybe a little satisfaction for all those checks I wrote.

Tornado touched ground about 10 miles north of me yesterday afternoon. I was in my home office with music playing when my wife came in and commented on the sirens she was hearing from the front of the house. Turned the TV on to confirm that they were tornado warning sirens. Short, intense rain squall followed by sunshine. We have to get used to living in the Midwest. Back in Pennsylvania, the sirens were for evacuation from the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant fallout zone.

Pushed hard to get to Mountain Crossings on the second day of my Georgia section hike. Winton closed early - no Coke for me. I forget what I paid in 2008 but it wasn't offensive. The shower felt good.