I'm looking at an afternoon high of 23 degrees F in Raleigh, NC, and an expected low tomorrow morning in the low single digits if not all the way to zero. Some of my Blue Ridge Mountains haunts will not reach zero today (Beech Mountain and Sugar Mountain having real-time readings in the single digits below zero today at about 3pm, Grandfather Mountain topping out at about 8 below, with 27 mph winds gusting to 41). The 10 day forecasts show overnight lows in the 20s to teens, daytime highs in the 20s to 30s, and more snow every few days. Long story short--winter isn't over in the East. No Pineapple Express in these here parts.
Our first 2015 excursion is governed more by tax season work deadlines than weather. We'll be going to Washington, NC (known regionally as "Little Washington", nestled on the banks of the Pamlico River, a splendid estuary). Dates are April 17-19 and the event is the annual Cycle NC Coastal Ride. We'll be setting up the pop-up in the Town of Washington among hundreds of other campers, tenters and RVs of various types. I'm taking our kayak and some spinning tackle to hunt up some speckled trout and puppy drum while my wife rides (I don't do road cycling). Evenings cooking out and hanging out with the visitors and locals. Big trip much later in the summer will be NC to Montana and an 1,100 mile mostly gravel and sand cruise through western MT, Idaho, Wyoming, and Nebraska before getting on the slab near Lincoln, NE. Really looking forward to it.
Foy
) -but I'm getting ready for some serious adventuring late next week. Let's see put the VCR on record so I don't miss Bill Marr, and make sure I watch the first new Viking program of this year tonight 
