Dad and Dave Day

Dave and I had been talking about this day for a few weeks.  Sam was going to be gone to Florida College winter camp, so we planned to have some fun at Oak Mountain then go check out some motocycle shops.  Well, the motorcycle shop visit did not work out as everyone around us was closed on both New Year's eve and New Years Day.  So instead I told him I had always wanted to hike up to King's Chair at Oak Mountain...and it didn't take any convincing for him. 

We began our day picking up some picnic sandwiches for lunch at Publix, then once in the park, we started riding our bikes around the lake trail.  It was a cold morning, and Davis and I both realized quickly that we were out of shape.  Hard to breathe in that cold air, and our legs were killing us by the middle of the trail.  At one point I hit a bump and slamed the pedal against my shin, which was PAINFUL! 

After a round trip of the lake trail, we then took our bikes to the BMX trail.  We rode over the trail a couple of times, and it was kind of sad, but Davis during a break told me...I think the hills have gotten smaller.  Nope bud, you just remember them being much bigger.  But maybe one day he will look back on this day and remember it as big and fun as I will always remember it.  But we did share a laugh at how much "smaller" the hills seemed...even though neither one of us could peddle up to the starting line.  haha.  And as we were about to leave, Davis stopped near the van, tipped and then just fell over.

And for the last portion of our journey, we parked at the north trailhead and hiked all the way up to King's Chair lookout.    We had lunch on the rocks up at this view.  Dave found a cool tree that grew against the rocks on the way down the mountain.  A beautiful view to end the year, and a wonderful day with my buddy Dave.  Not many dad and dave days out there, but glad to have captured this one.  And after 3 miles on bikes, laps on a BMX trail, then 4 miles hiking...it was time to rest.