I can’t really say that one of the reasons my wife and I moved to North Carolina was because of the mild winters. I came with her in March of 1978 and we sun bathed in Moravian Falls, only to return to Michigan a few days later to almost a foot of snow.

She was going to move anyway (we weren’t married at the time) and the invitation to join her was one I couldn’t turn down.

How she picked North Carolina is another story but suffice it to say, we both fell in love with it.

We brought our cross country skis with us and sold them after a year or two because of the lack of snow. Not that we were complaining, it was just a fact. When it did snow, it would often get warm the day after and make mushy conditions for cross country sking at best.

So weather was a part of the process of deciding, but certainly not the top reason. The truth is I loved my wife to be and would have followed her anywhere.

So today, Christmas eve 2006, I refect upon our decsion to move here 27 years after the fact.

My prompting in this direction is that fact that at 12:30 pm today I took a 16 miles bike ride with a friend in almost 60 degree weather. It was a perfect day. People who put their bikes away in September or November are really missing some of the great cycling times.

Today, there was a light cross wind as there always is on Railroad Grade Road. But the lack of traffic and the ease and joy of riding was at a 5 in a scale of 1-5.

Lonnie, my riding buddy is several years younger than me. And although he doesn’t ride as much, his legs have a lot of life in them.  We would often average 16-18 miles per hour on the way out and only 13 or 14 on the way back. Today, he pushed it to about 16 on the way back and it took a real effort for me to keep up that pace.

Anyway, it’s Christmas eve in the high country of North Carolina. Indian summer has never been this good. I am thankful that we have had this day to make another memory in.

It’s almost time for dinner (supper in the south). The kids are coming and I need to put the leafs in the table and make coffee. Maybe I will even have a glass of wine.

This is a good ride. Hope your’s is today as well.

Merry Christmas.