Blog Schmog: December 2005

Get Bend

This is what happens when 3 feet of snow falls in 3 days at Bachelor. Delicious.
Making use of my parka to sit back at mother nature's amphitheater.

Andy and Karla Toms routinely tear it up and Bachelor, just a snowball's throw from home in Bend.

Monumental

35 years later, Mom returns to Monument Valley to visit where she lived for a bit with the Navajos. We take the Piper into Goulding's Lodge strip for a fun trip.

Oh, now I get it. The mittens.

Downside right up

On the deck for the Anza Borrego Aerobatic Competition. The Super Decathlon was flown by 9 of us, and only popped 2 rivets...

Flying home from the desert after the competition, Bryan Wernick snaps some shots of Shannon and me while flying his Archer in loose formation. Keep the wings level in this bird, its first loop would be its last.

Summer time living easy

Warm-up climb at Smith Rock, OR

The prusik takes the brunt in a crevass.

A little more to the right...
Perfect weather climbing Mt. Baker, WA Cascades

Life's better at the top

The lake I was forced to call home while earning a Seaplane license on Kenai Peninsula, Alaska.

The trick is to push the self-timer and hop onto a pontoon without falling in to the (cold) water before the picture is taken.

The view out the window of a super cub is worth every bit of it.

Big sis, little nephew

Shelly and Aidan hangin' in San Luis Obispo

Colorado and Bust

Dayhiking the mountains west of Boulder. No need for maps with us leading, Charlene. Let's see, moss grows on the north side of the tree...right?

Leica, turn away from the camera. Good girl.

Climbing Long's Peak, the closest fourteener. Minutes before Jim develops disabling HAFE.

Uh, yeah...your snowmobile we rented is up there somewhere. It quit in a hole.

Just prior to us figuring out a 500 pound sled can launch up a cornice with surprising ballistic.

Go Fly a Kite

David schools me in the art of flying a kite. Just add water. Bruises sold separately.

"Rule #1," says David, "NEVER LET GO OF THE KITE CONTROL BAR"

Jeepers Creepers

Older people always have a hard time understanding which way to point electronic gadgets.
Dad and I have fun 6 ways to Sunday.
Dad's got a new jeep, and it's time to break it in. If there's one thing we like to do, it's thrash each other's toys. These things can go anywhere, right?!

The sign said "snowmobile trail", but where are the snowmobiles?
Depths of the mountains, Idaho.

OK, we need a REAL winch. You could play that strap like a banjo.

Finally, we proved you could get a jeep stuck. Really stuck. We gave up around midnight, and planned to sleep in the jeep before hiking out the next day. About 1AM, we agreed that sleeping in the jeep was a rotten idea. I built a fire, and we dug. And dug. And dug. After many discussions on leverage points and pulley physics, we got out and made it home in time for an early breakfast. Good times right there. Truly Capital.
Hey Dad, cute pink blanket.

You meet the nicest people on a Harley

Biker's famous Hell's Kitchen on the Ortega Highway, enroute to Laguna Beach.

There goes the neighborhood. Kiff fits the look scary good.

The Hog and Me.

Roadhouse stop on the brim of the valley

She's still got it

Flying to brunch on Mother's Day. Big Bear, California

Homeland Security

Jim, Sean, and Shaun under one roof. Things escalate over who's turn it is to do the dishes.

The family doesn't have a chance...

Can we get someone serious to be a role model for Aidan????
Dad David and Uncle Shaun, wiseguys.

Moab and Beyond

Moab and mountain bikes.

Poison Spider bike shop is a cool stop. But don't believe them if they say the high trails don't have any more snow...

The canyons of Fruita, Colorado provide impressive acoustics for the hollerin' type

slickrock extraordinare

Not a bad backyard to our campsite

This is more fun than working.

Morning finally arrives after driving all night. Jim drooled.

Good nutrition is the key to our success as privateer mountain bikers. The fried food diet is up and coming.

I woke up in the dark of night, drove myself from the campsite to slickrock trail, donned the headlamp and took on the blackness until midway thru the ride when the sun came up. Who said slickrock was a crowded trail?!