Day 85: Saturday, August 7, 2010 - Mike

Even though I still have light back spasms, ran the back route anyway.  After getting cleaned up, went down to the downtown parade.  Home for lunch, laundry and vacuuming.  Ros and I went down to the Celebration in the afternoon, caught up with William and Alex eventually, and watched a bit of Lou Graham's performance (of Foreigner fame).  Came home to call it a night.

Day 84: Friday, August 6, 2010 - Mike

One of the last of the meaningless weekends.  Wonderful weather.  Rode the bike ten miles, then went up to work for awhile.  Came home for lunch and just stayed.  Early in the evening went down to the Decatur Celebration, to work for the Mac Booster Club for a couple of hours.  Had a beer afterward, then Ros and I ate at Mi Pueblito.  Came home to watch a Psych episode.

Day 83: Thursday, August 5, 2010 - Mike

A little cooler this morning than the last few days.  Ran the back route.  Went up to work to get some, uh, work done.  Had some back spasms and don't know where they came from.  Home for lunch.  Ros went to her movie class in the evening, so Will and I stayed home and watched an adult, sort of, Superman cartoon, called Doomsday, about the death of the big guy.

Day 82: Wednesday, August 4, 2010 - Mike

Biked ten miles this morning.  Very hot.  I was late because I was figuring out that my laptop had some malware which was very nasty.  Took it to IT and did some work in the office before coming home for lunch.  Napped some and played around on the computer.  Had chicken sandwiches for supper, then our last EOW of the season.  Lyle, Jim and Becky, Michael H., and Eric showed up.  Called it a night around 11.

Day 81: Tuesday, August 3, 2010 - Mike

Got a run in, around 7 AM.  Already quite warm by then.  Cleaned up and went up to the office to work on fall advising and other delightful details.  Came home for lunch, then went back to the office until 3:30.  Will had a teen-fest appointment at the Mall, so Ros and I went out for supper at Pho Golden Bowl, a new Vietnamese restaurant in town.  I had the Shrimp Pho and some spring rolls.  Then we came home and watched last year's Crazy Heart, a quite good movie.

Day 80: Monday, August 2, 2010 - Mike

 A slovenly day.  Or at least, I was slovenly by not exercising today.  Spent the morning manipulating and adding photos to this very blog. Ros went off to work at Millikin. By mid-morning I ran to the post office (a couple of times) and did some grocery shopping.  Ate lunch at home, then did a little vacuuming with the robot.  Ran up to the office in the late afternoon.  I cooked a supper of eggs, sausages and biscuits.  Afterward, watched a old STNG episode.

Day 79: Sunday, August 1, 2010 - Mike

A relaxing Sunday, with quite beautiful weather.  After coffee, did some laundry and played a little WoW.  We all ate lunch at Panera's then I took a little nap.  Mowed the lawn in mid-afternoon, then made a pizza for supper and watched the second part of Tin Man.

Day 78: Saturday, July 31, 2010 - Mike

Travel day.

Up later than the sun this time. Packed our bags, said our goodbyes and spent the day on the road heading home.  We took the Nashville route this time, and other than occasional refreshment stops just kept going until we made it to Decatur.  Unpacked, then back to the old routine.  Watched an episode of Psych and called it a day.  

Day 77: Friday, July 30, 2010 - Mike

Our last full day in North Carolina.  And a fine one it turned out to be. Drank coffee all morning, and Tom and I took a walk down the hill and back,  then headed for Asheville for lunch, where we ate at The Bier Garden (one of my favorites on the trip).  From there it was on to USA Adventures in Marshall and an afternoon of whitewater rafting.  We donned helmets, grabbed our oars to took the bus for a 15 minute ride to the put in point.  We had a good crew in our raft and an experienced guide.  From their morning run on the French Broad River, the water level had dropped a foot or so, making many of the chutes more challenging.  Tom took a spill into the water half way through the trip, but emerged with just bruises.  Made it through about five or six level III rapids.  Quite fun, overall.

Afterward, we cruised back to Black Mountain for some pies at My Father's Pizza.  Took our desserts home with us a re-cooperated from a long day's paddling.