my BIKE RIDE alone

Yesterday was my first day alone in Asheville. Had some chores to take care of in the morning then loaded the bike up and went to Bent Creek (its actually a forest/park with lots of trails). I am not quite tall enough to load the bike on the roof by myself so I took along a chair for assistance. I did receive one comment from the unexpecting biker in the car next to me when I unloaded it. I told him, "it's got to be done, one way or another." I had a very enjoyable ride. I stopped a lot. Took these beautiful pics.

[some of the leaves are already changing]

[found stairway]

[waterfall I found beside the road.

Gathered lots of leaves that managed to survive the trip in my pocket.

Got all sappy trying to figure out a way to bring back some big, long pine cones. Never did figure it out, but the sap stayed with me til I got home. It was really nice to go my own pace and not over do it. I am pretty sure I made it to the top, and started going down the other side...then figured I'd better turn around and go back the way I came because I had no idea where I would end up. I'm super excited to get to show this new path to Nick. We have done part of this trail before, but I took a different turn and explored a completely different one. It was a nice surprise to find that the climbs were broken up with some down hill action.