Date: 2008-02-20
From: On the road to Calli...

To: Alamogordo, NM
Miles today: 0.0

I decided I needed to do an update on the "detour" of my AT walk because a lot has happened in a the short time since I left the AT to head out to San Diego for my bicycle ride back to Florida. Vera dropped me off out by I-81, so Mrs Gorp could find me easily. She did find me...but it seems so long ago that I don't even remember the day. :-) It was great seeing her as always. She even mentioned my new thinner self since the last time I saw her last fall when we rode our bikes on the 450 mile Natchez Trace in TN, AL and MS. (She looked the same. Ha! ) We headed over to Mother Nature and Smokestack's home in Clarksville, GA the next day to get my bike.   My bike didn't cost as much as Mrs Gorp's new bike, but my bike is a beauteeful bike! :-) We went out to a really nice Italian restaurant for dinner. The chef used to be the chef for the Atlanta Braves....I think.Another great day on another great adventure. It was raining hard that night, so I got my bicycle ready and all my bike stuff the next morning. I made sure Mrs Gorp's green paint from her bicycle wasn't going to end up on my beauteeful vanilla milkshake colored bike. I thanked Mother Nature and we were off on our road trip to San Diego in a one way rental car that Mrs Gorp picked up in Albany, NY. We had a good ride the first day and ended up in Vicksburg, MS for the night. I emailed Nancy Baker who along with her husband Bob, owns the White Rock Coffee House in Dallas, TX. She had been after me to give her coffee a try on the Trail. I thought it would be fun to stop by Dallas and try their coffee out right there in their shop. :-) We drove to Garland, Tx the next day and I called Nancy and told her we were in the area and I needed some good coffee. :-) We decided to meet at White Rock Coffee later. Mrs Gorp and I drove about 15 minutes and found White Rock Coffee. Nancy and Bob showed up a few minutes later and Nancy made Mrs Gorp a fancy latte or something like that and I had a good ol' cup of coffee. Nancy was right....they really do have GREAT coffee! Mine was excellent! This is one of the really nice things about keeping a journal online. I would have never met Nancy and Bob....and I would have never had the opportunity to go to their coffeehouse and have some really fine coffee. Bob does all his own roasting of all the coffee beans and he was showing me some of the beans from all over the world and telling me about the roasting process. I've got to say it was a fascinating tour! :-) While Bob was busy showing us that part of the business, Nancy was busy grinding me some coffee for the bike trip. She handed me 2 bags and there was 5 whole bags of coffee in there!!.....and 3 bags were "Stumpknocker Private Label" coffee! Nancy made me my very own private label coffee!! That was awesome!! :-) On top of all that, Nancy and Bob took Mrs Gorp and I out to Mariano's....a local favorite for Tex-Mex food. They insisted it was their treat too.This is one of those times when I'm grateful beyond words for the kindness of people I meet through the Appalachian Trail. We went back to their coffee house after dinner and listened to some really good local musicians that come to play on open mic night. Nancy and Bob, all I can say is THANKS! :-) Anyone who would like to see the different kinds of coffee they roast can go to their website at www.wrcoffee.com We headed back to Garland after saying goodbye to some new friends....Nancy and Bob. I woke up and made my own White Rock Coffee this morning and really enjoyed it! :-) We left Dallas in rush hour, but because I had Mrs Gorp with me, we rode in the HOV lane and got through Dallas and Ft Worth quickly. We took a small road and went through some very scenic areas of TX and NM. We ended up in Alamogordo, NM for the night. We have 2 days of driving left and only 700 miles to go before we hit San Diego and spend a couple days with my sister-in-law in Del Mar before heading cross-country on our bikes!!