What a delightful drenching in the rain.  Topped off with a few snow flakes and some Southwesterly winds.  What could you ask for ?  - - - other than Hawaii. 
21 brave walkers did show up and finished the walks (3 for the 5 km and 18 for the 10 km).  The walk was very enjoyable as we were well dressed for the weather and in a good mood.  Only the last 3 blocks when the wind really picked up and made everything seem 20 degrees colder but we hurried to the restuarant or the cars so we were not in it very long.  Food was great and conversation flowing, so everyone enjoyed it as well.
Next week is at St. Helens.  We are planning to have a car pool meeting at the site of the "Our Daily Bread " at the east end of the St. Johns Bridge at a few minutes before 9 am and then sharing raides to the walk.  The restuarant is no longer in business and they use part of it for a construction staging area but we can get 10 to 15 cars parked.  Be there a few minutes early if you would like to join in the car pool.  Better weather is predicted.  --Dick  

It was cold out there, but clear, and the  snow on the mountains looked nice against the blue background of the sky.  The owl must have been out fledging for some food but the geese filled the sky at one point.  We met another walking group out there today and they ended up at the coffee shop just as we were leaving.  Today was a great day to enjoy the sun, because it looks like we are in for another ound of winter weather.  Wednesday we are walking in Lake Grove (Lake O, by the McDonalds at that cheap place to get gas).  Thursday we are walking Hedges Creek with the Albany group, and then we are doing it again on Saturday.   So we don't have to go far, but it sounds like the weather isn't going to be accommodating.

Not a bad turnout considering the weather was supposed to be like yesterday.  We checked the hourly report and realized that the rain wasn't supposed to start till 1 p.m., so we were in the coffee shop by that time, so it worked out well.  Marilyn was the one new person that came to the walk today and she's going to even try to make it to our Snails Group tomorrow.  Thanks to Nare, who led the 10k walkers today.

We were amazed to see that many show up today, and they were brave souls.  We walked in rain, sleet, snow, showers, wind, sun and even saw a rainbow.  Are we mad?  Has volkswalking turned us into crazy people!
Hey, thanks for coming and  tomorrow we get to do it all over again.  I still can't believe the guys from Washington came.  We salute you, well not really, our hands were freezing.

What a turnout.  I think we were done in less than a 1/2 an hour.  Mary decided to try on a new chapeau, but in the end, all the bags were used for the garbage.  If you ever go down Edy Rd., towards Walgreens, you can see the Sherwood Merrywalker sign that the city put up.  Joyce is doing a great job of making sure we are all out there and prepared.
See you tomorrow at Graham Oaks.  Lois is picking up the box so we can get there about 9:45 - time enough to sign in and be ready for the walk at 10 a.m.

My apologies to the Albany club, I have this new camera and I screwed up the banner shot!  If you come to the next walk, and there are two this weekend that are Merrywalkers, I promise to get your pictures up there.  As it is, we have one of Julia and Leroy in the background and a great one of Vicky's brother, Johnathan, who was my walking partner for the day.  He was such a good egg on the walk and said he would take us to the nightclubs in London if we made it over there.  Humm, that does sound interesting.....