Gravel Grinder

While doing some straightening up and organizing the other day at the shop I came across some old bike parts I had from probably 8 years ago.  Not quite vintage stuff and definitely not primo stuff, but good parts.  I used to have a tandem frame that I wanted to build up but never did, and eventually got rid of the frame.   Lately I have wanted to explore some of the old plantation roads that are so beautiful in our area, most of which are red clay and gravel, by bike.  A mountain bike would make it slow going as a lot of the connections are road rides so I am thinking a cyclocross bike, drop bars, knobby tires, but not a pure racer.  I also want to be able to mount a rack on the back and possibly do some touring with it too sometime in the future.  I am calling the idea my Gravel Grinder.  Long rides exploring the rural areas, seeing wildlife and not many cars.  As I started looking thru the parts it became clear.....I could almost build a bike from the parts I have.  All I need is a frame, and a few bits here and there.  Hmmmm, we'll see what happens 

Speaking of wildlife, I ran across these ladies tonight as I was heading to Blast practice.  Beautiful!  As I was looking at how well these deer blend in with the cover ( I drove by them once and didn't even se them) it reminded me of my daily Bible reading from yesterday.  Jacob and his uncle Laban and the spotted, striped and pure white goats.  KK and I were talking tonight about how Jacob got the goats to give birth to certain variants of colors by placing them in front of branches during mating times.  How can you get a stripped goat by placing it in front of branches with the bark striped off?  It was so good to talk to my boy about the stories in God's Word.