Appalachian Brewing Company

Nice day today.  Snowy.  Cold.  Scenic.  Rife with adventure.  Debbie and I took a drive up north, past Gettysburg, to Chambersburg, PA.  I needed to pop in to Gander Mountain to pick up something I had on lay-away (More on that at a later date) and we wanted to just drive around and see the sites while everything was so beautifully covered in snow.  I threw my growler in the truck, because I like to stop by Appalachian Brewing Company whenever we pass through Gettysburg.  We ended up grabbing lunch at the brewery and filling the growler with their Hoppy Trails IPA (so tasty!).  In addition to great beer, they also make fantastic food there.  I do not know why I always order the honey habanero wings.  They hurt soooo good.  After lunch we pushed on north through Michaux State Forest and into Chambersburg, checking out the sites and popping in to antique stores to look around.  It was a great day.  

Plowing forth

Yesterday was fun.  Lots of snow.   Lots of shoveling.  Lots of looking out the window, wondering if it was ever going to stop.  We ended the day with two feet of snow.  This morning, we woke up to another five inches (Mother nature’s valentine’s gift to me?).  Seeing as how the roads out in the boonies where we live were so bad, I decided to drop Debbie off at work on my way down to DC.  It’s a good thing I did.  Her Honda CRV handles great in the snow, but there is no way it would have made it through some of the un-plowed roads that she takes to work.  That snow really did a number on the roads and dropped a whole bunch of “beautiful” everywhere.  We stopped several times to snap pictures out the windows of the Tacoma this morning and had a good time doing so.  They way that bright red sun punched through the plum colored morning sky was really quite striking.  

Westminster gets 2' of snow

Well.  Based on yesterday’s post, some of you may be saying “Be careful what you wish for”.  I say, “My wish came true!”  I woke to a foot of snow outside.  Another foot fell this morning.  So we've got two feet of the white stuff surrounding phattire headquarters today.  Unfortunately, the weather is quite warm and our precipitation has now changed to sleet and rain.  Pity.  As such, it’s a damned good thing Debbie and I put the shovels to work early this morning before this nasty stuff fell and made it a hell of a lot harder.  Our driveway is clear and lined with nice tall banks of snow.  I love how it looks.

As usual, when we get nasty snow and ice I like to take the Tacoma out and see how bad things are.  After shoveling, and a bagel & coffee, we hopped in the Taco and explored.  The roads in our neck of the woods (the boonies) were not plowed but the truck pushed right through it in 4WD.  I’m so glad I put mud tires on this truck.  At one point we were blasting through 3’ of drift snow, common on our roads that meander through open fields.  I’m glad to know that even in this snow; the truck will still get us where we need to go, if we need to go.  

Oh, I almost forgot; work was cancelled today.  “Snow day!”  So I got some more reading in.  I really love this Kenneth Roberts book:  Arundel.    Though, most schools have already closed, I’m sure I will be back to work tomorrow.  

"Road Trip!"

This morning I'm driving down to Jacksonville, NC to visit my little brother.  Patrick is a Corporal in the Marine Corp stationed on Camp Lejeune at the New River Air Station.  I haven't seen him since he finished boot camp a couple years ago. This trip just, kind of, formulated out of thin air last night as I sat on the couch texting back and forth with him.  I'm off on Monday and so is he, so it works out perfectly.  I've just got to throw a mountain bike in the back of the Tacoma, fill up, and hit the road.  Can't wait to catch up with Pat, take a bunch of pictures of him and hopefully, get some riding in; just like we used to years ago.

Enough chitter chatter, time to hit the road.  Google Maps is telling me it'll take six and a half hours to get there!

Snowy morning drive

Westminster has been hit with some hefty snowfall lately. We received about 8" on Sunday, which made for some great football watching (Much to my dismay, the Ravens still managed to beat the Vikings). And today we got another 3" before I left the house for work this morning. I love driving the Tacoma in the snow. The 4WD really hooks up nice! I keep a shovel and a tow strap in the cab with me in hopes of rescuing people who wind up spinning off the road, but this morning's drive in was, sadly, uneventful. Nevertheless, Maryland is entirely peopled with horrible drivers, so I'm sure I'll get my chance if this snow keeps up!

Toyota Tacoma

I never “officially announced” my new vehicle that I bought this past fall. Yes, I traded the jeep in towards a more economical vehicle; a 2013 Toyota Tacoma. I drive 110 miles each day, from Westminster to Greenbelt MD where I work, and the jeep just wasn’t the best daily driver for that kind of commute. I’m loving my Tacoma. For what I lost in my 3” lift and 33” tires, I made up for with fuel efficiency, comfort and practicality. The truck bed is so handy for those trips to the Home Depot, the dump and will, hopefully be put to use hauling a big buck home from the Frederick Watershed this coming deer season. I miss driving stick, but an automatic transmission is a blessing in stop & go traffic around the beltway. I haven’t had a chance to get it off-road until this past weekend during a camping trip with my buddy Hoopsie. We met up in Wellsboro, PA and spent the weekend mudding near the campground we stayed at. I was pleased at how the Tacoma did on some super steep climbs and the deep mud. Although I did get bogged down in a large pit that was as deep at my 31” tires. I just put some Definity Dakota M/T’s on, but it was just too soupy for me to get out of. Luckily, I was able to toss a toe-strap to Hoopsie helped pull me out with his JK. 

This weekend in pictures

This weekend was a busy one.  I was happy to get out deer hunting on Saturday in Frederick, Maryland. I didn't have any luck, but still enjoyed being out in the woods. The weather was rainy with lots of fog which made for quiet navigation through the forest but I still didn't see anything.

After hunting, I took a trip over to Valley View Farms in Cockeysville and picked up some really great/funky ornaments.  I'm a big fan of retro/Dr.Seuss-looking ornaments.

On Sunday I cut down and brought home a Christmas tree from the farm located a half mile down the road.  The owner was really nice.  It was neat to learn that he sells trees, only three weekends out of the year as a side business.  His backyard, albeit huge, was filled with beautiful rows of evergreens and adjacent to that, a large field of grain.