Travels (and Travails...)

Hey!  It's been a couple weeks since my last post; I hope you haven't missed me too much!  Here's the latest stuff that popped into my head:

We're traveling for spring vacation again.  I have to be honest here: I really don't like traveling.  I mean, I like the stuff we DO when we travel, but I seriously don't like being away from home that much.  I've always been kind of a home body, and as I get older I don't know if that is getting worse or if I'm just more set in my ways.

So anyway, here's a problem with traveling that has bothered me as I've aged: food.  Lots of food.  

If you're a regular reader of these musings, you know I have somewhat of a problem with self-control.  So when we travel to far-off lands (Tennessee, Wisconsin, and this week we add Georgia to our list), it requires stopping places to eat food.  Which is usually of the type that is wrapped in paper or a cardboard box and comes with a side of deep-fried something or other.  Occasionally we will stop at a Subway and at least make an attempt at good food, but usually it's somewhere else.  

I can usually do OK lately; rather than a Big Mac and large fries I'll get a regular burger, and I try to stay away from carbonated beverages on long rides as well.  I also try to balance things out at least a little - a small meal at lunch if I know we will also be going out for dinner, for instance.

Best thing about traveling?  Well, this week the winner of that award is a toss-up between my father-in-law's ability to put a large chunk of some kind of animal in the smoker in the morning and serve deliciousness by 5:30 p.m., OR the fact that I brought my bike and can ride here in the mountains.  

It's a reasonably friendly bicycling area around here - Columbia is about 40 miles south of Nashville.  The country roads are too narrow for my liking, and there's usually a drop-off at the edge that scares me, but I can usually manage to find a beautiful route that takes me up and down some sweet rolling hills, past creeks and over bridges.  Very picturesque.  Except that even in this beautiful country gravity still only works one way...  I long for the day when I can retain enough momentum from a screaming downhill to carry me up the next uphill, but I guess that would be boring.

Want to know the most amazing rides I've ever done?  Along the Natchez Trace National Parkway, a 440-mile linear park that goes from Nashville to Natchez, Mississippi.  It's closed to commercial traffic, the roads are wide and smooth, and there's very little vehicle traffic of any kind.  And the sights and sounds (and lack of sound...) are amazing.  Have a look - I plan to ride these two sections tomorrow, and make it to the Alabama state line:
    Hohenwald - Summertown

    Waynesboro-Collinwood

It will be about 50 miles, and the weather forecast (get this!!) calls for a North wind!  Seriously, a tailwind for 50miles!  That never happens.  Probably shouldn't get my hopes up, I suppose :) 

Anyway, the riding down here is beautiful.  One of the things I'd like to do at some point in my life is ride the entire 440 miles.  I believe it's officially the longest national park- its entire length is part of the National Park Service.

So what do you do for exercise or an eating plan while away from home?  Feel free to share your thoughts here.  Just keep away from the obvious - I'm not going to start eating carrots for meal stops!  I would also like to hear about your favorite vacation spot or activity.  Or you can just finish reading this and enjoy the experience...

It's the end of the month, but the update will have to wait until I get home next weekend.  March was pretty good for the workouts, considering that it is the busiest month in my school year.  For sheer volume of stuff going on it even beats the fall marching season - the fall is mostly one or two things a week, where March this year was jam-packed with daily lengthy rehearsals for the musical, four performances of the musical, two jazz concerts, State S&E, a high school band concert, a middle school concert, and a tour of the elementary schools with the Symphonic Band.  If you're keeping track that is ten performances in a month.  I managed only ten workouts, so it all balanced out, right?  We shall see what the scale has to say next week.  Up for the month of April will be a more concentrated effort to eat right AND exercise.  Rumor has it that the combination of these two things is the key...