 A former neighbor who lived below me, when I summered in Ohio last year, wanted to know if I was returning. So, I let her know I was but only for a couple of weeks so we agreed to meet in New Albany, thus giving me the opportunity to show Claudia this hyper growth area. It's mile after mile of new data centers opening and of course....  ....the Intel plant. I think I read there are 7 stories below ground and now, the above ground portion emerges. There have been fits and starts with the progress and lots of rumors so will have to see if it is finished or taken over by a different entity. Anyway, had a great time meeting my former neighbor and on to the next day....  ....a visit to the Franklin County Botanical Gardens!  Our favorite section was the butterfly exhibit. Among many biomes, we speed walked through the desert version, lol. Yeah, we're pretty familiar with cactus.  The koi were colorful, as always. It was hot and humid this day so we didn't spend much time outside but....  ....this exhibit that included multiple lego figurines was pretty interesting. We had to hustle away though because we were having dinner at Brio, in Polaris with my old cycling buddy, Kenda Janet and husband Paul. Great seeing them again and getting caught up on the people with whom I used to ride.  Oh and that former neighbor, gave me this gift. Probably next year I can comply. My grandsons need me, at least I like to think so.
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 Claudia's visit continues. We drove south to Old Man's Cave at Hocking Hills State Park. Been a very long time since my last visit. During the drive, we passed many, many roads that I used to ride and it brought back good memories. The quality of the cycling routes and destinations is sublime in this region.  The Park was busy on this beautiful day and around the main attractions like.....  ....Old Man's Cave and.....  ....the Lower Falls it was busy but once we headed to Cedar Falls, the crowd disappeared and we mostly had the trail to ourselves.  Ferns are abundant as we walk over and around many boulders that border the river.  Note the complex root system on this tree.  We passed behind a falls before eventually....  ....reaching Cedar Falls. Beautiful location and hike. Rather than return via the way we arrived, I led Claudia up stairs to the rim and we came back via the Rim Trail.  Several places we could step to ledges and peer into the gorge but not much to see other than more trees. We finished with 7 quality miles and on our return to Granville, stopped at one of the many area wineries for a glass.
 After the hike and the walk through my woods, it was time to show Claudia, Granville. We were going to meet my daughter and her husband for drinks but had some time to kill so walked around the village. Included was a stop in this Mexican restaurant which had a bike hanging on a wall. Kinda strange that this restaurant is next to another Mexican restaurant. In Tucson, maybe but Granville?  A bike shop has finally opened! Rumors of a bike shop opening in Granville have existed for many years but finally it happened. And, not just a bike shop but also.....  ...they serve snacks. I understand their group rides from the shop are well attended.  This post is short cause the next one isn't. Awesome beauty, walking through the gorge from Old Man's Cave to Cedar Falls, coming soon.
 Having shown Claudia the vibrant, upscale Easton, it was time to show her what is a bit more important to me, the Ohio outdoors. Moisture glistened on the grass as we began a 5 mile hike around Denison's Bioreserve. As I have stated many times, here, it is a wonderful place with some of the most mature trees I've ever seen.  Given the rather moist spring, moss and fungus were everywhere.  Sadly, evidence of fallen ash trees abound, still.  See the small, white fungus? That is "dead man's fingers" and not edible.  Claudia gawks at the thick vines that hang from the trees. My impulse, if I had the tools, would be to cut the vines so they don't some day pull down the trees.  And then...a huge surprise. We approached the final climb to the parking lot and what's that??? Goats snacking on leaves????  Wow! Goats were brought in, placed in a temporary pen and then they go to work and gosh, do they work!  We were fortunate that they began migrating toward our location and I counted more than 30 of them.  The bearded one was interesting but so too....  ....this guy with horns. Note the eye. You may wonder, how effective our they at stripping the landscape of poison ivy, grass and weeds....  ....very effective. We stood for a long time and watched their progress. Fascinating! Then we visited my woods and carried on with a fun day!
 What a contrast between bike paths in central OH and those in southern AZ. Shade is different but the greenery and....  ....flowers! About every day I spent time with the grandsons including, once again....  ....the soccer star. He's being coached by a former member of the Columbus Crew and his leg strength has gotten to the point that after a couple of kicks, I declined the duties of the goalie. The kid could take my head off.  I brought my bike and we went for a ride. I coaxed him to climb a hill and then to turn and coast down. He admitted to being scared but stayed upright and was thrilled. I'm sure he'll be doing that more often. Moments like these make me wish I could spend every summer here and I hatched a plan that would allow that, lol.  Stella, my former dog, loves to take a car ride so we drove into Granville and shared a gas station hot dog on the return. Then, the pleasant interruption was the arrival of Claudia. She loves children but her three sons aren't on a trajectory to provide her with a grandchild any time soon. Hmmmmm, maybe I could demonstrate what a great place is Ohio and we could spend lengthy periods here (other than winter...well and early spring and late fall).  I picked her up at the airport and we headed to Easton Towne Centre. It's a marvelous retail and restaurant environment with lego creations splattered around. We had a drink at Brio Italian Restaurant, walked around....  ...ate at Napa Kitchen & Bar, a very wonderful evening and a good start to selling her on central Ohio!
 Ahhh, the woods. But it wasn't all about that....  I met daughter Olivia and grandson Anthony to hit balls and play putt-putt. It was a lot of fun.  I too hit some balls and gotta admit, the form is looking pretty solid, lol. Then, we played putt-putt and unbelievably, Olive beat me by one shot. WTF!!!  Hoover Reservoir and what a difference a few months of rain makes! Last October, there was a mere trickle flowing through but not now. Got in a couple of good group ride with Westerville BC. Saw some old cycling buddies too.  Drove past the Intel factory and have received various news on its progress.  My gosh! Last year's drought decimated farm output and now a very wet spring has put the farms way behind. The old saying, "Knee high by the Fourth of July" was never accurate for this climate as being only knee high meant the corn was behind schedule. This year, hope they get to knee high by the 4th.  Several ash trees that were hanging on following the emerald ash borer infestation succumbed to last summer's drought so I've been cutting dead ash and burning the branches.  My Stilh sits triumphant over another batch of pieces.
 Whew, been a very active couple of weeks! Sunday morning and the 3rd game of the tournament, my first. Win and it's on to the championship. The parents are very, very quietly intense and into the game. The opposing team's parents share the same sideline so everyone remains respectful.  Anthony is 9, playing in an 11 and under league. He's very skilled and loves soccer. His team won, setting up the final game about 3 hours later.  We ate lunch and pent time throwing a ball around. The parents were apprehensive as last year, they played in the championship game but lost in OT.  Anthony on the left. Both teams played well but....  ....our team won!!! The players run by the crowd in celebration. The game was very enjoyable and I'm really glad I was there to watch.  The winners! The kid, back row, far left has a cannon for a leg and can launch the ball from near midfield with shots that arch over the goalie. Back row, second from the right, that kid plays defense and can run down any ball, steal it and turn it back. I'd say they were the MVPs.  And then, I drove the remaining 90 minutes to check in on the woods. Sigh, my happy place.
 New Mexico and the Organ Mountains. I've hiked in them once. NMSU brought me in a couple of times to lecture about the design and performance of golf clubs. They have a golf training program for aspiring golf professionals. I liked Las Cruces during my visits.  White Sands NP. Literally, you could mistake the sand for snow.  I got off to a late start so only drove about 5 hours before staying....I forget where actually but it was a nice Fairfield Inn close to a good restaurant. The next morning, ugh, had to make up time because I promised to attend grandson Anthony's final day soccer tournament.  Eleven hours of driving through some pretty boring scenery but THEN!!!!!!  Between last October and now, not one but two Buc-ee's have sprung up on my drive route. This was my first visit. Definitely a destination when traveling. Place was enormous.  Third morning, I've arrived in the land of humidity as the windshield had a healthy coating that took awhile to remove. It soaked a towel I had brought for this purpose.  Groggy, I approach the Ohio border and thankfully, rather than head to Granville, the soccer tournament is in Dayton so that cut about 90 minutes from the drive. As soon as I alert the family that I had arrived....  ....my daughter called and said Anthony wanted to see me. We played catch until one of his throws missed me and impacted a picture! He thought that funny. We headed to dinner with Steph's husband and my second daughter. The soccer tournament attracted teams from several states. Anthony's team won its first two games and if they won tomorrow morning, would advance to the finals. I told him I didn't drive 26 hours for just one game, lol.
 Coasting down Sabino Canyon Road I saw a woman, painting. I see this frequently and have thought, once age incapacitates me, I could do that too!  I thought this a great pic. I had to stop to allow a group of javelinas to cross the road and just then, a mother and child did too and I was lucky enough to catch it.  As previously stated, I visited a condo on a Thursday or Friday, made an offer on Saturday, offer accepted on Sunday, the final walk through a couple days later and since I was headed to Ohio, moved up closing so it's finished. Frankly, it's a relief to get out of this place which has this view from the patio....yikes! Next was buying furniture so....  ....my real estate agent and girlfriend, was invaluable for this and everything else associated with the acquisition. Really glad she was along for the furniture buy so things matched!  Then out for a ride that included this nice pic.  And, I spent my first night in my condo. Alas it was only one night as I.....  ....packed the necessities and began the drive to OH! Lot of traveling on the agenda in the next few months.
 Yet another 40 mile ride that included a ribbon of new asphalt among the very dry hills. Amazing but on June 1, the remains of a tropical storm rode into southern AZ setting a daily rainfall record of about half an inch.  Ingenious! Along Sunrise Road, someone used rocks and limbs to raise the car enough to remove a flat tire. The note stated the owner was out getting a new tire.  Two coyotes transmitting through a wash.  There is a widening project going on Valencia Road. I asked if I could put a hand print on the cement and they said "Sure".  The patio on my new condo has a curious opening at the bottom of the north and east facing walls. All the condos have this "feature". What possible reason could there be for giving snakes, lizards and other ground based critters access??? I did a final walk through and set the closing date, which has since arrived and all went well. Now on to buying furniture!  I rode Sabino Canyon Road to the turnaround point, at about 4 miles. Fantastic views. Cyclists have to be off this road by 9am. Undesirably too early in the winter, no problem in the summer.  Ping pong. I really enjoy spending about 2 hours, a couple of days a week, playing with a core group of 12-16 people. It's a very competitive environment.
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