I bought a road bike a week ago. I drove up to Tacoma with my friend Jordan in my new car, and then bought a road bike and roof rack. I have been spending a lot of money lately, that isn't going to last much longer.

Today I took that bike on a great ride up into the hills near McMinnville. It was very cold, foggy and ominous, but it ended up being an amazing ride. Until the last couple of weeks I don't think I really appreciated where I am at in Oregon. I always thought of McMinnville as a nice base camp, not too spectacular in it's own right, but close to some beautiful areas. Now that I have been out and riding throughout Yamhill county I am beginning to appreciate its beauty more and more. Endless logging roads meander their way through dense evergreen forests, often stopping at a dead end, with nowhere to go but backwards, after twenty miles.

I have heard people describe Yamhill county and the Red Hills as an American Tuscany. Vineyards and great food tucked away in small cottage like establishments abound. Gently rolling hills continue west of this area until you reach the Oregon coast, which in itself is breathtaking. I would like to ride from here to the coast sometime soon, but I have to wait for the floods to go away.

The hills aren't fourteen thousand feet high, like the Rockies, which I am used too, but it is possible to seclude oneself in them. I experienced that today. The smell of dense mossy evergreen forests is new to me. We don't have moss in Colorado like we do here. The forests in Oregon are thick, green and seemingly impenetrable, unlike the brown dusty ponderosa pine forests that I grew up in. Sadly it took three and a half years for me to reach this realization, but I am glad that I reached it now.

I am excited for the endless opportunities I will have in the spring to explore this area and this state. But before then, I am going to be driving to Colorado, hopefully before the forty inches of new snow melts at Winter Park. I look forward to seeing the fourteen-thousand foot hills outside my window.