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I touched Jimi Hendrix's foot during a concert. I was 13 and went with my brother and his date. I was a kid so I didn't have a problem working my way to the edge of the short stage. It was so short that when he went to his knees to play there were only about 20 people that could see him. It was only about four feet tall. He was directly in front of me. I said to myself, "I'm going to touch his foot just to say I did." This was nine months after Woodstock and a few months before he died.

Yeah, if this was a mountain bike group instead of a whisky group I'd have a lot more to say about Chattanooga!

Gotta say, we really, really liked Chattanooga when we never expected to. Wife and I did a short MTB trip to raccoon MTN and some stuff in northern GA a couple years ago. Stayed at the Read House downtown and just hit as many of the cool restaurants, bars and breweries we could, and crawled home at the end of the night. Want to go back for sure! What was really cool was, the freaking liquor store had a taproom in it and the guy was giving us samples. We ended up buying some local collaboration of whiskey aged in beer barrels. Was really good but cant remember the name of the distillery.

I'm originally from (very near) Chattanooga 😃! Last time I went home 2 years ago I went to their distillery for the tour and tasting. At the time they were largely using MGP whisky (contract distilling like any good start-up should [don't push out your over priced and underaged bullshit! [[I'm looking at you Peerless and Garrison et al.]]) and were just starting to include their own distillate. I really enjoyed what they were doing and was interested when I found their bottles locally. Still...I'm a "craft" whisky skeptic and haven't yet grabbed a bottle. But I'm super glad to see their distribution expanding.

I recommend: NOT taking bikes = no worries about theft and the constant hassle of bike wrangling when they aren't in use. If you are in a mtn biking destination area, there will be quality bikes for rent. E-bikes and cruisers will be available for rent in more developed areas and you can cruise around as a fam. Just pack a bag with shoes, helmet and gloves and you're set. Thread drift: Rainbow Rim Trail shout out! Note: Spring Break is too early in the year (cold, snow) for the Kaibab Plateau, North Rim. But still, because there are vacations to come and this can be done in summer. The trail outside the national park on the north rim of the Grand Canyon is the Rainbow Rim Trail. We were there maybe 12 years ago and I loved it. More miles have been added for a total of 22 miles one way. It's a very, very long slog to get to the North Rim area and requires being self contained, although the National Park North Rim is relatively close by and has some services. It's not an overly technical trail, but it's a trail at 7,700' on the west edge of the Kaibab Plateau and there's close to 1,800' of cumulative climbing. It's character is that it contours the rim, so you ride out onto one of five points with spectacular views of the Canyon, then ride back into the Ponderosa pines and contour around a drainage, then back out onto the next point with some pinyons, sage and more gobsmacking views. This Trail Forks page shows clearly how the trail is laid out: Rainbow Rim Trail. They rate the trail as Intermediate in difficulty, with a physical rating of Moderate. We camped roughly in the middle, and did an out and back to each end; it was 18 miles end to end at that point and I don't recall that out & back for each segment was that stressful. Although this isn't wilderness and is carved up by numerous logging roads, I've never been in a place in the lower 48 that felt so "out there" remote and I don't know why exactly. We were getting close to camp finishing up the second segment at dusk. Mr. June Bug was riding slightly ahead of me and I got major "I'm being followed by a mountain lion" paranoia. No sighting, but again, just that kind of place. Camping was dispersed -- you just found your spot and set up anywhere, nothing developed, no services. Things have likely gotten more formal in the intervening years since what amazing place hasn't been discovered, trashed, and formalized w/ rules and regs. I very much want to go back. We may do this as a tour with Western Spirit this summer and let them handle logistics. Their four or so photos show a good sampler. The Arizona trail is close by, goes all the way from the North Rim to the Utah border, so that's another riding option. For example, AZ Trail, Passage 40, South Kaibab I hope I've convinced someone to go this summer. You get the Grand Canyon experience without the crowds and can ride a lovely trail that won't beat you up!

Things are about to get weird up in here......

Overwhelming right? I have the 1920 OF based oh your posting. Pretty smooth. Maybe the sweetest bourbon I've tried. I ran out of the Talisker 10. I'm definitely picking up some more of that.

I'm really loving the Rare Breed that you recommended. Opens up the sinuses going in and opens open the bronchial tubes going down, while still tasting incredibly smooth. I liked the the JD SBBP that you recommended as well, but I think the Rare Breed will be more of a regular pour for me, along with the OF 1920. My tendency these days has been having at least something in the 115 proof range in stock, along with something else in the 100 proof range, like the Four Roses Single Barrel (mistakenly referred to it as Single Batch in my last post) or WT Kentucky Spirit, both of which are incredibly smooth sippers. I've got so much to try still though - just added Chattanooga to my list based on a YT report I saw.

I'm drinking neat the vast majority of the time. Although there are some occasions when ice works well for me. A mid-shelf bourbon or rye (WT101 or Bulleit Rye) on ice on a hot evening working on bikes in the garage, for example. I'll even keep it in the garage freezer between sips. Or on a rainy and cool day an Islay malt on ice in a large bulb glass (brandy snifter or Canadian Glencairn) is amazing. It's like a cold blast from an ocean breeze.

Throwback to last Saturday. Ice on the Blanco River. The pic really doesn’t do it justice.

Time for Astrophotography, courtesy of a cool little star tracker.

just ordered a Wahoo. REI dividend + some extra cash I had from selling bike stuff covered it with no problems.

Oh man! That's sweet! It even has space for the LoneStar beer of Washington State (Rainier).

there is an awesome looking trail on the north rim in the national forest. if you want more info, i can dig it up. trail forks shows some trails on the south rim and a greenway: https://www.trailforks.com/region/grand-canyon-national-park-36003/ and flagstaff looks to have a ton of trails: https://www.trailforks.com/region/flagstaff/

order yours today! https://toegopedals.com/

Nice pink fork!🤣

The Dakine Builders pack. Seems good so far! I think I may have created the snowstormzilla with the purchase though😁

I'll ride over with my chainsaw at some point in the next few days and try to take care of what I can. I got to get my oil port running again on the chainsaw

Once you go neat ....... I've been drinking whiskey my entire adult life, which translates to 44 years of whiskey drinking. It wasn't until this year though that I started drinking it neat. Wow! I can't even imagine ice cubes in my bourbon anymore. Sipping on some Four Roses Single Batch right now and it is sooooooo enjoyable.

I know! They haven't even invented BMX helmets yet!

Looks like you had 4. Edit: I mean 5!

Where did you find this? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

79 hours without power and 30 hours (and counting) without water didn't stop me from getting in at least 1 good Walnut snow ride. This was the only time I was ever nervous about the Mark's Art log over! Riding in Walnut Wonderland. Breaking trail on .6. The good news is that all the deadfall from the first ice event and the first snow event (so until Wednesday morning) was cleared. I haven't been back since Tuesday so I don't know what the second ice event brought down.