"Ya'll come back now, ya hear?"

I guess that in the Dick Cheney world of "intelligence", what Jeff and I have received over the past few days has been "increased chatter". Our chatter has focused on one beautiful thing: a new piece of paved road whare previously there was dirt road. Now, what we had been hearing was that Indian Grave Rd. was freshly asphalted and ripe for two-wheeled traffic. Today turned out to be the day we were gonna go see it for ourselves.

Seeing that today was the day before the day before Christmas, it is entirely understandable why our group ride turned out to be HUGE! Everybody was there: me, and Jeff, and Shelly..... did I say Jeff was there? Oh yeah, Shelly was there, too. Oh, and how could I forget that I was on the ride? Anyway, the three of us set off to check out the new pavement.

We (I) decided to take Indian Grave from 321, rather than going up to 268 and cutting over. The first part has been paved since I've been here and then it turned to dirt in the usual spot right at the top of the climb. Huh... Well we descended the dirt (it's primo dirt road; you can rail it on a road bike) and got to experience a big slice of Caldwell County. First, we passed the narrow, steep gully that all of the locals throw their big garbage down. You know, appliances and furniture and such. ("We've been dumping here since my grand-diddy was a little boy!") We passed a really attractive trailer/shack with a rebel flag and "Southern Justice" painted across the gateway. A little bit later, we passed a touchingly idyllic scene of a grandfather out walking with his grandson. Touching, until you noticed the pearl handled revolver grandpa was toting in the holster he had strapped on. Then, we popped onto fresh pavement and I saw a woman in a BMW SUV talking on her cell phone and turning up the road. You may or may not know that our county motto is: "Where progress meets tradition". They leave out the last part: "and they don't get along." Honestly, we are living in the 21st century and there are still a bunch of ignorant rednecks out here pining for the "good ol' days". I can't believe I'm actually supportive of developers buying everything up, but it seems to beat the status quo alternative...

Anyhoo, we turned up Steeltown Rd. and rolled all the way to 268 abouta 1/2 mile shy of Ft. Defiance (it's just an old house, not a single cannon anywhere). Indian Grave Rd. is indeed freshly paved from Steeltown Rd. to 268. We rolled to Riverside and then rolled in on 268. Total ride time was about an hour and forty-five minutes at a sedate base pace. Now, I have to start harassing people early. This spring, when people come out for a ride after having been firmly planted on the couch all winter, they start complaining about "You guys ride too fast" or "You guys don't ever ride slow". Well, we're riding slow now, but you can't beg some people loud enough to come ride. The weather was beautiful today and has been all winter, so far. There is no reason NOT to ride! This winter is the time to start making deposits into that endurance account that you're gonna want to make withdrawals from this spring and summer. Come out and ride some slow base miles; you might just have some fun...

A little trivia question: what is the origin of the term "Hillbilly"?