One Month Off

It has been almost a month now since we parked our bike in Puerto Vallarta. Since then, we've spent our last few 5 day sections in Ocean Springs, New Orleans, and Salt Lake City. After coming back from PV, we spent our time adjusting to the cold weather here in MS while Eric worked his 5 days on. Our first 5 day of cycle we spent in New Orleans with Eric's brother (Kevin) who flew in for a mini vacation from San Diego. The day Kevin arrived the weather dropped to an abnormal 18 degrees low and 30 high, but slowly progressed to higher temperatures after that. We did our best to make the most out of our walking and bike tours we had planned for Kevin's visit, but the weather could have been a tad warmer to make his trip more enjoyable, I think.

We spent 5 days finding food and drink happy hour specials, exploring the town outside of Bourbon st. including the Garden District, Irish Channel, Bywater and the MS river. We also took an hour and a half drive to White Castle to see Nottoway Plantation. All in all the trip was cold but fun; we went to 27 bar/restaurants in 4 days, and got to spend some quality time with Kevin. We may have ate and drank way too much, but isnt that the purpose the the existence of Nola?

With the cold weather during and before our trip to New Orleans, I developed a cold/flu that lasted a good 2 weeks. Also, from biking around New Orleans I developed a small case of tendonitis with no help of all the alcohol consumption, I'm sure; so I found myself resting for Eric's entire 5 days back on. Our next 5 off we jumped on a plane to Salt Lake City for some skiing with our friends Rob and Eileen. This was my first time ever skiing, but we had a blast anyway. I spent three days taking lessons and working up the courage to get on the green slopes, and stayed there the rest of the trip, but the sense of accomplishment I felt after finally making it down the green slope for the first time was enough to hook me in. Skiing is hard work but thrilling!

We walked around Salt Lake City, tried some restaurants around the area, walked around Park City during the Sundance Film Festival, saw Chris O'Dowd in person, and spent a few nights in the hot tub before heading back to Ocean Springs for Eric's 5 back on.

We are off to PV to pick up our bike in 2 days. In the mean time, Eric is working, I am trying to get as much school work done as possible, and we are packing to head off again. I can’t wait to get back into some warmer weather. The thought of even packing my bathing suit is more than I can stand as I type this bundled up in sweats and warm socks in my own house! My only fear is any complications the bike may have after sitting in the same spot for a month now. I guess we’ll see how it goes!