Telluride:

Telluride was a guaranteed good time. In the posse was Mike and me, Max (who is always up for a good time), and my parents (who make every experience the best one you’ve had). Of course we started later than we hoped to. I think that kind of thing is inevitable with a group larger than 2 going anywhere. First, Mom and Dad’s key didn’t work in the lock, called me frantically, had to wake up the pregnant next door neighbor to open it for them. Finally, they were on the road to pick up Max and me. Max wasn’t ready and he moved like a turtle. We finally were on the road to pick up Mike. Snacks and we were on our way.

You see, my parents have this incredible gift of always seeing the positive in any situation. They thrive on a new experience or taste. Every mountain is the most beautiful mountain they have ever seen. You could eat at the very same restaurant your entire life and not think much of it. You bring my parents with you and the surroundings are somehow more unique and the music somehow a little better and the food somehow much better. And inevitably because they are there, there is something special going on that has never happened there before that makes it one of your new favorite restaurants. So you can imagine that when the car started to overheat about an hour outside of Grand Junction with a lightening storm on it’s way, it was the best “car-break-down” story you have ever heard. The sky was vibrant colors and the surrounding land was lit up with approaching weather. It didn’t take much away from the fact that we were stranded in the middle of some creepy town and creepy people spraying water on the engine. Dad took off to take pictures! Finally, we got back on the road and ended up in GJ. We looked for a mechanic, a lube shop, anything. Of course on a Friday night, there wasn’t much open anyway. The boys had their theories about what the problem was so they headed to the Wal-Mart, picked up the needed items, found a random parking lot and went to work.

Because Mom and me were tired and pretty much useless, we found a hotel. Dad knows as much about a car as a dog, so he joined us. Side note: the Double Tree hotels give you a warm cookie when you check in, made the whole thing almost worth it. So it worked, well at least temporarily. We took off bright and early the next morning and were in Telluride by 10am. A little hanging around and shuffling of stuff and we were off again to do a little dirt biking. Mom and Dad headed around town for a little hike and some sight seeing.

Dan, Max, Mike and I all loaded up in the Titan and took off for the hills. That weather from the night before must have liked us, because it was back with a little more heart this afternoon. By the time we were all outfitted and pulling the bikes off the trailer, hail was falling on us. We threw our hands in the air and decided to go for it because, well, this was the only chance to dirt bike there was. Off we went through the mud and rain, up and up to the ridge. Boy, was that a fun ride. We had vista views and rainbows and the sun shining on our faces. The trail was just right with the sticky mud but not soggy. The temperature was just right with a little rain and a little sun. The terrain was just right with the single track, a few rocks and beautiful sweeping turns. We didn’t stop much other than to wipe the mud from our teeth as we smiled. I actually kept up with them most of the time. I was jumping the same jumps and right on Dan’s tail. I only wish that I wasn’t in the back, so maybe one of them could have seen how great I was riding.

At one point we came across a mountain bike race. In order to not make a scene, we decided to coast down the trail with our engines off, as not to make a lot of noise and exhaust. I’m not great at this and as I am running along side my bike to get it going in neutral, I swung my foot to jump on, but it hit the rear gear bag. I went crashing to the ground and the handlebar jammed in to my rear end. That smarted a little! So I jump up, like nothing happened, picked up my bike and went on. Finally we popped out to the highway. How long had we been riding? What time is it? Where are we? Dan knew all of this of course but it didn’t matter, that was the best ride we’ve ever had! Follow me guys, says Dan. Ok…

A little ways down the road, we came across the city of Rico. Rico has this old fashioned bar called the Enterprise. So we parked our bikes outside of the bar like Harley riders and swagger inside. Mud caked and grinny, we sit down at the bar. I don’t know if I have ever seen Mike with a bigger grin on his face. He had just had one of the best rides of his life, he was sitting in a dirty bar with a big beer, listening to the Allman Brothers on the jukebox. We ordered up some lunch and chowed down. We could have stayed there forever, but it was time to head home. Well, maybe a little more…

Up this hill we went, behind the bar and up and up and up we went. It was really raining now. We all felt the beer sloshing in our stomachs and wished we hadn’t have eaten so much. This trail was rocky and steep. We got to a point where it was almost impossible to continue and the weather was telling us to head on home. We flew back down the hill, much like the bee that had flown into Dan’s shirt at one point. He stopped and ripped off his shirt. We finally got it out of him that a bee had gotten in there. Back to the road and we had one long, cold, wet ride back to the truck. Loaded everything up and we were back on the road. We were all soaked through the bares.

Back at the house, we all showered and snacked, ready for some dinner. Mary Beth prepared us a hot meal and we reminisced about the day. Mom and Dad went on a hike and took a million pictures. They toured the town and had a great time. The next day we went for a fourwheel tour of a ghost town above Telluride. I got to drive up the bumpy road in the new truck. Unfortunately, our nightmare of the return trip was only starting. The car overheated again and we bumbled down the mountain to try to figure out what we were going to do. In the end, we made it home fine. We stopped again in GJ and then again in some random town in southern Utah. It was midnight when we got home, but we got home. Turns out the Jiffy Lube put the wrong anti-freeze in the radiator.

As we had predicted, it was a great time. Max was his usual comical self, and of course my parents had us all wishing that every trip could be as beautiful and enjoyable. Mike still talks about that day being one of the best in his life. He couldn’t have asked more from a day, beautiful scenery, great dirt bike ride with no injuries or mechanical problems, a great local bar, and a fun day with the people he loves the most. I enjoyed this trip as well, though the bruise that ended up developing on my right butt cheek had me sitting funny for a week. I’m not sure that a bruise could look so spectacular, with it’s many colors and incredible size. The ride home was intere

New roof and awning:
I put on an awning and a new roof on our house this fall. I noticed a small leak in the roof and soon after replaced the shingles with 30 year trango shingles.
The awning was an impulse move that I thought would be nice to have for the winter time. It only took me 3 trips to Lowes, about 150 dollars, and 2 days to complete. Hopefully this will help to keep the house cleaner by tracking less snow and rain into the house. Now if we could just get London to wipe his paws before he enters the house.

I have been thinking about some things and I want to ramble on about them now. The subject is social poitics. I think I have identified some causes and effects. Cause: Sometimes people believe that they can do what someone else is doing beter than them. Therefore they judge the manner in how that person is doing their duty. Another one is when a group or act is compared to a standard the either has been seen in the past, or is an unreal expectation. Effect: The judgeer will sometimes then believe that the other is doing a bad job or does not know what they are doing. the judger will then sometimes undermind, or go behind the back of the other to get what they think is right.
The reason that I think this is a problem is because of a weak relationship. If I have a problem with someone in leadership, I must have a strong relationship with them in order to air that problem. If the relatoinship is not strong I will not tell the leadership how I really feel in fear that the relationship will disolve.
At what level of relationship can we have disagreements? How can we measure where we are in a relationship? How can I tell what truely offends?

I like to call it backcountry skiing with a purpose. I have had many opportunities to help folks in need. One night around 5pm we got a call out. We sprang into action Meg and I. We tossed our ready packs and tele gear into the Pathfinder and headed towards Powder Mountain Ski resort. When we check in with the Weber County Search and Rescue, we were notified that the lost skiers had skied out Wolf Creek Basin.
The adrenaline had run low by now and we noticed the skies had a dark cold crispness to them. We started back down the canyon with much to say to each other. When we pulled into the Valley Market for a snack, another call out to Powder Mountain. Again the race is on!
In the pre-deployment briefing we were told that the skiers that skied out Wolf Creek Basin were only one lost group, by this time another lost group of skiers had been reported.
After getting our assigned teams and our gear ready, we skied off the north west side of the Hidden Lake lodge in hopes to find the lost skiers. At the beginning of the search we skied in a large team of about 10 skiers. We reached a point where the team split into 3 teams. Meg and I were on the same team with 2 Powder Mountain Ski Patrol. The skiing this time was slow and a lot of traversing across some sketchy slopes. We skied them one at a time and all safe guards were taken. With in about an hour’s time we see off in the distance a faint blue light, it was Toms Ipod. Tom was one of the three guys in the lost party. When we met Tom and the two others we assessed the condition of all three guys and asked them all kinds of questions. The youngest had broken a ski and had started to dip into hypothermia. The others had all of there equipment in tack, but were very cold. We gave these men some water, A little food, and got them on their way. The ski out from here was not to bad, a real mellow down hill, we had to cross the creek a few times and at some point Tom had fallen in the water. Tom was a trooper however, he was able to ski the rest of the way out to the road. It took us about another hour to guide these guys out to the road and get them a ride up to the upper lodge where the incident command was stationed.
Later that day Meg and I woke up late and spent the day at the cabin drinking hot drinks and telling the story to our friends and family. Mean while Tom and the guys were headed back to New York, to tell the story to their friends and family.
Sometimes when the phone rings I wish it was Tom to tell me how he remembers our night together in Right hand fork.