St Patrick's Pizza

Great Pizza tonight. Dough was half regular flour, half hard red flour. We used puttanesca sauce, goat cheese, chanterelles, ground beef, spinach, artichoke hearts, tomatoes and fresh basil I have kept growing inside all winter. I didn't like the goat cheese and will try a "no cheese" pizza next.

March 15 High Bridge Bicycle Ride

This 30 mile trail, opened within the past couple years. It is a unit of the Virginia State Parks and is designated as a State Trail. The main town to access the trail is Farmville, a recently revitalized town with a very attractive downtown area. The trail goes roughly 15 miles in either direction from Farmville. The main attraction is the high bridge over the Appomattox River. The river is little more than a creek. The bridge played an instrumental role during the civil war. As the Union bore down on the Confederates at the very end of the war, the Confederates made it across the bridge and attempted to destroy it. The Union crossed the river on the old wagon bridge located below the railroad bridge. Things happened very quickly and the Confederates were very low on supplies at this point. It was just a day or two later, General Lee surrendered.

The trail surface was easy enough to ride on. The scenery was quite nice in the vicinity of Farmville and the High Bridge, but other areas were less scenic and seemed to be very straight and nondescript.

I rode about 20 miles on the trail today and enjoyed the ride but don't think this is of the caliber of many of the other rail trails in the region.

March 15 Dan River Float

PHOC leader and personal buddy, Will, led this float on the Dan River from Danbury downriver. There were just seven of us on this float. It began rather chilly  and warmed up a bit but not as much as the forecast called for. There were a number of class 1 riffles and rock gardens to negotiate. We managed to stay to together as a group the entire way. Lunch was on a scenic side creek. I enjoyed a nice tuna salad sandwich. 

Just past the lunch stop we had this great view of an old bridge over the river. No longer in use and on private land, this bridge would have been a great place to cross the river on the MST.

Everyone passes through this rapid without incident. Not everyone was so lucky on the final rapid right at the take out. I misunderstood the instructions and took the easy route while everyone else went through the mildly techinical side. There was a strainer her that required a quick turn and one member of our group failed to make the turn in a timely fashion and got wet. Nothing more than ego bruised. 

Mar 10 Bride is Baptized

This paddle is on the Uwharrie River from Lassiter Mill Bridge to Low Water Bridge at Ophir. My new Daggar kayak needed a good workout. So I enticed my bride to accompany me on this section. She got to ride in the hunk of plastic I used to call a kayak. I could not keep up with her, She paddled down that river without a break. I struggled several time to catch up as she had gone out of sight.

The one rapid on the trip in which you must do a  bit of maneuvering, I managed but the bride did not. The kayak got caught on a log and turned. I heard her yell but didn't see the event take place. After seeing what happened, I can't believe she wasn't injured. Just wet and probably won't paddle with me again. Oh well.   

We did paddle through the native American fish weir toward the end of the float. That was a treat. Water level was low so you could easily see the rocks.

Feb 29 Pizza

Once again, we used half regular white flour and half hard red flour. Lots of chanterelles, some ground beef, tomatoes and some nice mozzarella. This was a delightful pizza.