Go check out www.thepioneerwoman.com. I love her photos of cows and horses and the punks. Surf around on the site. Scroll down and see the photos and oooh and ahhh. Horses have beautiful eyes, no matter whether you're horse crazy or not. I'm seriously considering buying a digital SLR now and spent time at work discussing the virtues of Canon Rebels vs. Nikons with Craig over Gtalk. Imagine the cool pics I can spam you with if I got one of those cameras!

Saturday is IDIDARIDE http://www.suwanneebike.org/ididaride.htm and Shane's already pegged it IDIDN'TARIDE because the weather forecast is pretty yucky: 80% chance of rain and a high of 59. I really want to make it the entire 50 miles, but I've not been on the bike in over a week. I've got lots of excuses why I won't finish, but I'm hoping that I can spank my inner 3 year old and do it. However, if it's pouring rain at the start, all bets are off. I'll be in the camper.

Today I got the ok for 3 days of leave without pay, which means that I won't be spending $1,000 to change my Delta frequent flyer ticket. We're leaving for Brazil on 26 February and will be returning on 13 March. I'm short 20 hours of annual leave, so that's three days needed. I found out today that I can ask for up to 15 without any problem. I only asked my boss for the minimum needed, but I think I might ask for four days when I turn in the paperwork so that I can take a day on 25 February to pack. No, wait, I just pulled out or e-ticket and we fly out of Atlanta at 7:35 p.m. on the 26th, so I will have plenty of time that day to get packed. We land in Atlanta at 7:35 a.m. on the 13th, so I can go into work on the 14th, which is a Friday, so I will ease back into a life of smiting cosmetologists and then have Saturday and Sunday to bemoan the return to reality. Three days without pay. Why are we going to Brazil? To visit Jann and Stefan, who live in Porta Allegra and will be moving this summer to some other foreign place, unless we're lucky and they get posted to Atlanta, which is still foreign to Stefan as he's working for the German Foreign Service, which is what took them to Brazil. Jann has a gorgeous, Lusitano gelding and access to one for me to ride, so we're going to play cowgirls the entire time while John and Stefan go off and do manly things, such as drive a car on dirt tracks and get stuck and then get themselves out of it. Jann also sends options that include lots of beach time.


Now, off to pack for IDIDARIDE. Warm cycling clothing and my flannel blue jeans and polarfleece and chai tea concentrate. The weather there will be better than Saturday's weather here: 100% chance of precip and very cold and very windy. I'm not sorry to be missing Thomson Day at all. John leaves first thing in the morning with the rest of the fun crew, while I'll work all day and come home and feed the animals and then drive down. It's only 3 hours, or so they say. I'll be listening to Hardcore History on my iPod. www.DanCarlin.com