Decompression chamber.....

We only had a small window of opportunity to get out on friday night for a short winter backpacking trip. With a slightly stressful work week behind me and rain on the radar for Saturday evening,Hambone,Tyler and I strapped on headllamps,packs and trekking poles and headed up Averys Creek. Pisgah Ntnl Forest is one of my favorite places in the world,great camping, mountain biking and flyfishing all just a 15 minuite drive from home. All in all it was a great trip,we had a nice camp spot, great fire and good food.
We took Hambone's son Tyler on his first winter trip, he did great and had a good time. We also took Lucy,my 1yr old bull terrier.....that is a whole other story.I'm sure she has some sort of mental fault somewhere.She was insane from the time we loaded her to the time we unloaded her.Hambone said it best "It's like camping with the Tasmaian Devil".
I'm super blessed to have grown up and live where I do.The mountains,trails rivers and lakes of this area help me decompress from all the things of work,my kids screaming at the TV while playing Xbox and the everyday pitfalls of life.I am truely thankful to have these "old mounatins" as my back yard and good friends to explore them with.

Will the preacher need to lie at your funeral?

I have a sticker on my guitar case that reads"Live so the preacher wont have to lie at you funeral". Now, most folks take that as a faith based statement and it is but it says so much more to me.I really hope someone can say more when they flop my old bones in the ground then something like "He liked to watch TV". I look at the scars on my body from various mishaps on a mountain bike and other activities and remember how alive I was when I got them. The lines in my face from too much sun and wind while having a big pack strapped to my back or a flyrod in my hand reminds me of good times with friends and family.I look at the second part of John 10:10 and if nothing else thats what the Lord has granted me.
When the sun heads behind the mountains and the cold of the evening creeps through the valley at the end of the day I look back on what I've done and ask myself "Will the preacher need to lie at my funeral"?