North ... south ...any which way

Flying into Montana

It's not easy to reconcile two totally separate and different trips to Montana and Mexico in one post, but I just try: They both were so much fun!

Beautiful Missoula

I hope that the use of "fun" as an adjective is finally permissible, but even if it hasn't cleared the hurdles yet, screw it. Ever since Sabine left a mere three weeks or so ago I have been enjoying life at a frantic rate, and it's sometimes scary. But WTF? It's all PG rated and nobody is getting hurt.

Shuttles to the start of the Downhill

Early-morning sun on Montana's tamarack

Before the start of the Team Relay

College students bring any fan they can get a
hold of--even great-great-grandparents

A day after Sabine had left I locomoted to the airport, once again, and got on a plane to Dallas and then Missoula. Since our not-so-presidential president was also to arrive that same afternoon for a brief visit I hurried up to avoid seeing him and his entourage of red-hatted cronies in a nearby airport hanger--that's where they kept him to avoid too many conflicts with the local intelligentsia. You know, those people out west are the true villains, what with brewing beer and having socialist notions like bike lanes. The welcome sign on the hillside said it all.

Ah, forget about politics. Missoula showed itself from its prettiest side, with fall hitting full-bore and the sun loving us. I had been dispatched as the Assistant Vice Chief for our National Collegiate Mountain Bike Championships, not being in charge of anything yet being ready to jump in. It was a superb crew, USAC's top people, and key local folks who helped make it all happen. I spent several days on the mountain and had a blast. Thank you, all riders, for playing with us!

With Amy F. and Emily G., shuttling back down after the DH

Missoula's microbrew scene is second to none, and I found a beer worthy of a place in my top-three pantheon: of world-class beers. There's this liberal, bleeding-heart community center-type brewery called Imagine Nation Brewing Company, and apart from fomenting social unrest they also brew up a superb beer called Lupujus 8, something that's apparently brewed just twice a year--similar to Russian River's Pliny the Younger, which has a once-a-year birthdate. Well, we lucked out as Lupujus 8 happened to be flowing. My roommate and new friend Ben from Houston helped me explore lots of breweries, and fortunately other members of the crew (hi Emily!) were like-minded.

Apart from this memorable brew-scene, Missoula will stay with me for a sight I had never seen in the US: This part of the world is home to large swaths of tamarack, a deciduous type of larch whose needles turn a bright yellow in the fall. First I thought that all those yellow splotches on the mountainsides were either sick trees or maybe aspen, but soon I realized my mistake and thanks to explanations by the locals I learned about tamarack. I hadn't seen those trees since growing up in Germany many decades ago. In-town fall colors were more traditionally based on leafy trees.

There are still some Sinclair service stations around!

If fall was in full swing in Montana, Lubbock started to show the first signs of seasonal change when I came back for two or three days before leaving for Puerto Morelos on the Riviera Maya--and down there it's always green and verdant. With all of 2018's races behind me it was time to indulge in some serious R&R. I had booked a week of all-inclusive fun in my home resort, the H10 Ocean Coral & Turquesa. I had packed the Ritchey to give me some company because all-inclusives are a pretty lonely place when you're a solo traveler. But thus is life--some folks have a mate who travels with them, and I have a bike.

I share my room with my bike ...

The weather down there in Mexico was close to perfect, with lots of sun and moderate temperatures that were warm enough to dine at night by the water, without the need for a jacket. One day was rather grey and blustery, with intermittent rain, but that was it for the yuck-factor. Nice weather meant that I was able to go for (almost) daily excursions on the bike, and even if the riding is not as scenic as what some other places have to offer, it presents a nice contrast to the 24/7 debauchery that an all inclusive dangles in front of you. I had a chance to continue working on my Spanish, read a whole bunch, and soak in the last of summer. And thanks to American's upgrading me on all five flight segments to First Class even the travel was fun. (The trip to Missoula had also seen a 100% upgrade success rate.)

The Aztecs were great at building pyramids, and the modern Mexicans
know how to build grandiose adventure parks

  

Worker bees cleaning up seaweed on miles of beach

It's also possible to use a machine ...

After the storm everything looks a bit different

I've been back in Lubbock for about a week, and after a few days of Indian Summer autumn is now coming upon us with a vengeance. The trees are a few days beyond their colorful prime, and today a nasty cold wind blew in from the northeast--not only is it November, it even feels like November.

Without any immediate plans for forays to distant locales I get to do a few things around the house, work on some projects, and get to do what most normal people do: sleep in my own bed!

We'll see how long all this will last ....

Jürgen