Escape from Cubical Hell

The Beginning (UPDATED AGAIN)

2011-01-01T06:44:00.003-07:00

See "Craziness" for update on my life as of Aug 22nd.

Hello everyone! Welcome to Escape From Cubical Hell where I'm telling the tale of one man's quest to leave everything behind to live out his dreams.
I used to live in central Il where I was born and raised. Since graduating from high school I've always wanted to leave and see what's out there, but never really had the guts to do it. Last year I took off out west to explore and fell in love with the adventure, sunshine, and healthy lifestyle. After a winter of thoughts I have decided to move to Salt Lake City where I have some great friends already. Feel free to read through my post as I embark on grand adventures, rant about all the crazy stuff happening in our country, and who knows what else! Thanks for visiting.

My personal email is located in "My Complete Profile." Feel free to contact me.

Lots of pics on my Smugmug site and Vids on Youtube

2010-12-31T18:38:00.000-07:00

Click the link on the right hand side of this page "My Photo Site". Once there, go to the bottom of the page to "Photo Timeline." From there you can select dates of pictures added. So if you want to see all my new pics from last Friday select May 8th through May 10th and only new pics added in that time will show up and they will be on one page only.
My videos are on youtube (with the rest of the worlds) under my user name 'iambquinn'

Liar Liar Pants on Fire

2010-09-14T16:36:00.002-06:00

I despise liars. Especially when it screws me over. I've been patiently waiting to go out with the experienced guides to learn the ins and outs of elk hunting. After the season has been open for almost three weeks and no trips with our guides I had to have a little sit down with the owner here. I explained that when we talked over the phone (before I accepted the position) I was told that I would be an assistant guide all of bow season and then guide on my own during rifle season. So what's going on here? I've been a certified camp bitch now for 3 weeks barely getting to leave camp to do anything "fun". I haven't heard anything about me going out with the guides and it sure doesn't sound like it's going to happen anytime soon.

I'm not going to bash anyone on my public blog, but the outcome of this talk I had is that I'm leaving this stinkin mountain as soon as I can get a ride down to my car!
It's sad, it's frustrating, but it's the best option at this point.

So, back to Peoria for some family time. Talking with old friends about some work that I hope pulls through. Thinking about going back to school full time in the spring and work part time. Anyways, that's the update for now.

Day ???

2010-09-03T16:10:00.003-06:00

It's amazing how nice it is not knowing what day it is. To be free of civilization, traffic, cell phones, morons...it's absolutely soul cleansing. Waking up at 9,320ft every morning is something everyone needs to escape to for a week at least once in their life.
Lately I've been working my butt off. The best part about it is that my work does not include a commute, emails, phone calls, meetings, coworkers around you that make you pull your hair out...or turn it grey. Instead I'm getting to do work that makes me feel like a man, not a pawn to "The Man." I typically wake up and gather horses/mules, bring them food, brush them, throw a saddle over a few then head into the cook house for a nice warm breakfast. The rest of my day consist of packing mules, scouting, chopping wood, cleaning up around camp, washing my hands a dozen times a day, and anything Larry tells me to do. Yesterday I drove down to Eagle and picked up a few hunters at the airport, a nice break from camp life, but a trip to town is never wasted. I had to take our garbage trailer to the dump first, pick up groceries, stop at the bank, auto parts store...etc.
Today, which is somewhere between Thursday and Sunday (actually I know it's Friday but that's just because my computer told me so when I logged on) we had 6 hunters going out to drop camps, but those were three duos, which meant packing seperately for each one after the other for the first 5hrs of the day. We also had 3 guided hunters come into camp which is great news for me...I should be heading out to guide soon! I believe we have another two guided hunters coming in later today that are going to be taking video of their entire experience to be published on a hunting DVD. How cool is that! I may be lucky enough to head out with them and be "Bob, the guide" one day (unfortunately not the lead guide, but still great none-the-less).
Dream job? Almost. Take away my battered hands that I can't seem to keep clean or moist, and my new tentmate that snores, and the lack of laundry facility, and I can assure you this beats my previous jobs hands down. The money, nice house, fancy car, motorcycles..blah blah blah. What's life if you never live to experience what God put on this earth for us to enjoy? If you have never spend time out west in the mountains, I suggest you do so ASAP so you can hopefully understand my feelings.

I've been posting pictures on my smugmug site. The gallery is not "featured" on the first page so it's easy to find.

Well, a crew just pulled in with 3 horses and 4 mules that need attention. Gotta run!

Day 3, Winter Hawk Outfitters

2010-08-28T21:54:00.002-06:00

Yesterday I went scouting with 4 others for the first time, and first time riding a horse in over 10 years. Good day, nice weather, sore butt...about 7hrs in the saddle.
Today the crew was packing in a camp (taking supplies and tent to set up in remote location). I asked if I could go scouting instead and Larry allowed. Another 7hrs or so on saddle today and lots of ground covered. Saw 3 bull elk, one shooter, got rained on a few times, temps dropped quite a bit today. Was up above 10,000ft all day while scouting closer to the tree line where the elk tend to be this time of year. They will soon come down more and start bugling which will be great.
Anyways, hitting the sack, need to rest so I can do it all over again tomorrow!
Pics are on my photo site, look in "Travel" then "Winterhawk Elk Guiding"

Update from 9320ft

2010-08-26T21:41:00.002-06:00

At base camp, internet connection is weak on the satellite. Had troubles uploading pics and couldn't do the web cam with Carrie :(
Looks like writing in the blog will be by best option.
Not sure how I'm going to keep the updates coming, so for now I'll just post interesting stuff.
Today I went back down the mountain with Larry (owner) and went grocery/suppy shopping. Needless to say it was a bit more than a typical shopping trip. It took us 15 minutes to load the truck up with the groceries there were so many!
Tomorrow I head out on horse back to scout some areas with a few other guys. Should be great.
I'm the only one here that doesn't wear cowboy boots and wrangler jeans and chew tobacco :)
Will keep ya posted.

Craziness!

2010-08-22T03:57:00.003-06:00

So it's 4am and I can't sleep worth a darn. Why you ask? Well yesterday I got a call from Larry Amos at Winterhawk Outfitters saying he needs me this fall guiding elk hunts in the Flattops Wilderness area of Colorado!!! First off, check out his website to see the great business they run(www.winterhawk.com). Total world class operation. That craziness??? Well the season starts next Sat, one week from when he called me. So in the next few days I need to pack up all my belongings, my bro and Mom are going to raid my storage unit back home for my hunting gear and ship it out to me which means it'll get there either Thursday or Friday. Larry wanted me over there ASAP but the soonest I'll be able to leave is Tuesday morning (basically giving me 2 full days to prepare).

So a few details of my 3 month adventure:
- Sept will be my break-in period learning the area, how to hunt/call, packing in hunters on horses to small camps, and following along on hunts with experienced guides.
- early Oct there is a break between archery season and rifle season where I'll have to cut trees, chop wood for fires in the cold months to come, restock base camps..etc. If I prove myself worthy in Sept (which I will) then I might be guiding rifle hunters on my own when the season opens. Rifle season is 5 weeks long and is the end of the adventure. There will be a few days of tearing down and halling everything out of the area then I can go. Might make it home for Thanksgiving.

Lots of cool details like having a few pros coming to hunt on video for tv series, outdoor writers, and crossing my fingers I might be doing some video work for the business for marketing. They are thinking hard about buying a new semi-pro level HD camera and will need a video guy.

Basically this is a dream come true. I came across the job by thinking only a few days ago "what would be a dream job of mine" and it was guiding elk/mule deer hunters in the mountains. I responded to a few adds for guides and even sent a few random emails to outfitters and what do ya know, I get the call!!!! Craziness I tell ya. God works wonders and this is definitely one of those times.

Base camp is going to be 9200ft and most hunts in Sept should be closer to tree line which is around 11,000ft in that area or higher (12,000max). Needless to say I'm so glad I have become acclimated to the altitude and in good shape! No cell phone service. Yes, life can be mantained without them! There is a satelite internet connection in base camp which is the primary source of communication. I will have a few days off during season where I can come down the mountain and go to town for a day (Eagle CO). Sleeping on cots with sleeping bags, hot water, good food, what more can a man ask for?

Anyways, if I can get online during the season I'll try and post up something quick, but I'm not sure if that will be possible. Check out their website and keep watching the blog. I'll try and take lots of pics and vids for everyone to see.

Craziness!!! I'm so excited :)

Nice ride in PC today

2010-07-11T20:40:00.003-06:00

Won't bore you with the details. Basically I wanted to try a new route up the mountain for preperation of my big b-day ride I'm planning. For those who don't know, Park City (PC) is just up and over a narrow mountain range from SLC. Once you get to the top of the ridge you can easily drop into canyon roads or trails and head down to either side. The tough part though, is climbing to the top!
So today I went up the PC side which is about 1,500ft less climbing and quite a bit shorter. Overall it was around 3,100ft in app 6.5 miles that took about 1hr 20min. The route didn't pan out as it was too straight up and therefore way to steep. I never really have to walk any trails and today I did!
At the summit I was right at 10,000ft with a great view. I took a quick vid and some pics, even stitched together some pics but it didn't turn out so good.
Here are the pics:
From the top the view is pretty great:

This was a section of trail that was rather steep! I was riding down it, but this section was just too steep for me. Loose rock and ultra steep trail is a bad combo!

Looking down this steep section. Remember it's always steeper than the pic can show.

So my big b-day ride will be leaving from my house, riding up Millcreek Canyon (12 miles/3,100ft), up to the Wasatch Crest trail (not sure mileage but around 2,000ft), down to PC (3,000ft descent), lunch/break, back up to the ridge and down to my house. Total mileage should be around 42miles with a total elevation gain of app 8,500ft. That my friends is Superman territory!

Here is a link to a short vid of the summit today showing the entire view:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQHPNRudD8g

Lots of riding lately

2010-06-24T22:55:00.002-06:00

Been riding like crazy lately. My endurance is certainly at an all time high. I've been able to ride the last 6 days, today being my first day off. Tuesday I rode my longest trail ride so far, just a tad over 22 miles with roughly 8 miles of climbing. Yesterday rode in Park City to escape the heat in the valley, it's so nice having that option of almost 10deg cooler with only 20min of driving. Been doing lots of exercising at home in the evenings and I must say for little time I spend working out it's so worth it. I spend anywhere from 20-30min doing simple exercises for my upper body and the results are showing after just two weeks. I really wish I could encourage more people to take the time in the evening while watching tv to do a simple workout. After one week you'll feel so much better everything becomes easier and more enjoyable. Finish up with some good stretching and have a small protein drink (8oz of water is plenty with whatever you take, I use some yummy strawberry flavored protein mix from the grocery store).
Here is a pic from a hillside on my ride two days ago:

Moab 2010

2010-06-13T21:49:00.006-06:00

If you don't want to read about it here are the pics:
http://quinnphoto.smugmug.com/MTB-Pics/Moab-2010/12545712_reG7z
Vids are on youtube under my username: iambquinn
I believe they will come up as latest first.

I'll try not to get into too much detail here.
Arrived Friday around 5pm. Rode Posion Spider Mesa to Portal. PSM pretty much sucked. The Portal on the other hand, WOW, what fun. I forgot my camera, but you can watch this vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erk4BR2GNPo of the trail from another rider. This is considered an Expert Only trail and they mean it. Three riders have died on this trail, yes I said DIED on this trail because for a good amount you are riding on a narrow ledge that is about 600ft up a straight vertical rock wall. No joke here people, this is serious. If you fall to the left you will die guarenteed! Unfortunately videos never do a trail justice. When you see a small drop those are typically more than just a little drop, more like 1.5ft to flat, and plenty of those lined up in a row which is harder then it sounds when crawling through them slowly. Anyways, the Portal trail was by far right up there as one of the most fun technical trails EVER!

Next day we were supposed to ride the Porcupine Rim shuttle but rain cancelled it out so we head over to Amasa Back trail. What can I say other than 100% pure FUN. This trail has so many options to hit off to the side and we hit them all! Probably took up twice as long as normal to ride this trails because of all the times we stopped to play. Rollers (steep rock declines you go down that take a good amount of technical ability so that you don't flipped over the handlebars) and drops were the name of the game and we took it into overtime! At the top we went over to Rockstacker which is another very technical trail with two descents that were surely +5 rated (meaning it can't get much harder or it wouldn't be rideable). Very tricky stuff but really fun too. Shortly after Rockstacker we got poured on, BAD! Blowing, cold, hail mixture, lightning, thunder (all around us and super close) and nowhere to take cover. Finally we made it to some rock where we could get under a ledge and it quit raining. 5min later and the sun came out, but by then we were soaked to the bone and really cold. The rest of the ride in was fun but also a little miserable with cold hands and feet that stung on every bump. Did I mention we were riding super bumpy rock trails and were about 7 miles from the trail head? Yeah!

Sunday we finally got to do the Porcupine Rim shuttle although not the full Enchilada due to rain up high in the mountains. Got to ride from UPS down (still about 15miles). I had 2 specific challenges in mind that I wanted to try, one being the "Notch". For those who don't know about the "Notch", it's a short, steep, slippery, basically extremely difficult section that not many people make it down. I would guess of all the riders on this trail, only 10% try the Notch, and of those maybe 10% succeed. If fact it's so difficult there is another trail option that completely bipasses the Notch. It took me 5 tries, but finally I made it through clean and very happy. Here is the link to that video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dowgTYVfcY
The rest of the trail was fun. The 2nd section I was looking to tackle was down at the bottom and I was able to clean it up on the 2nd try. First try was really just a stupid mistake at the top, should've never happened, oh well. Here is that vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yd22J2MXYzA
Believe me when I say these are SO MUCH harder than they look! Trust me!

Here are a couple of my favorite pics of the trip. Still waiting on the pics from my riding buddy Andrew. Once I get those might post some up.

First hike of the year today

2010-06-06T20:55:00.003-06:00

Super nice today, almost 90deg and sunny so I headed up Big Cottonwood Canyon to the Mill D North trail that leads to Dogwood and Desolation Lake. I didn't want to push my knees so I only went to Dogwood which is 2.5mile in.

Saw a deer:

The trail in one area was still covered in snow:

The small lake with some ice still on it:

The view coming back:

I got this prescription gel for my knees that supposedly has great success rate with hikers out here. It's called Voltaren Gel...so give it a shot if you have joint issues.

Tonight we had a storm roll in and what do ya know, a rainbow! Nice way to end a nice day.

Killed it today!

2010-06-03T18:42:00.004-06:00

It's funny the slang terms and how they differ from region to region in this country of ours. Out west the adventure type use words like "sick" and "killed" all the time. So if you make a nice run down the ski slope your buddy would say "you killed it man, that was sick!". So today you could say I killed it on my ride. That broken down means I road just shy of 25 miles, 11 of that was uphill with a total climb of around 3000 vertical ft. Max speed coming back down the bottom of the canyon road was 43mph! Good exersize ride for sure.

Here is a pic when I reached snow on the road:

Here is a pic down the canyon about 7 miles or so:

Never know what you're gonna see

2010-05-25T11:01:00.002-06:00

Just driving down the highway and saw this vehicle...never know what you'll run into and that's why I like to carry my camera with me. WOW!

Lots of exercise last two days! Some vids too.

2010-05-21T18:39:00.003-06:00

Yesterday I rode 15.2 miles on the Enduro, about 7 of that all uphill. Remember when we climb out here you are also gaining elevation which makes it harder and harder as you go. Last night Toby and I went to Park City for circuit training at ~7,500ft. One hour of non-stop full body exercises...uhhggg!
Today Colby and I went down to Sundance Ski Resort and did some lift assisted downhilling for about 3.5 hours then headed up to Bountiful to do some more downhilling. All in all prob around 6hrs of riding today! Should sleep good tonight. The bottom of Bruce's Trail in Bountiful has a nice little rock section. Took a couple vids of me going through it. Trust me when I say this is steep and slippery...I just made it look easy : ) Remember to watch in 720p...at the bottom right of the video box you'll see "360p", click on the little arrow and select 720p
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_14yEBPr-k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jg2kamUIUfY

Been doing some riding...

2010-05-18T17:51:00.003-06:00

Been able to get out a few times for some riding lately. Weather has been on-off since I got here. My roomate Colby has a slightly different background when it comes to riding so he's been teaching me about downhill and jumping. I've always wanted to get into some more extreme riding, but never had the bike nor the guts. This year that will change! I got myself some good pads (it's only a matter of time before I eat it bad) and a bigger bike that can handle most everything I plan on throwing at it. Last night we heading up to the Bobsled trail which is down in a ditch up on the mountain side. There are some cool banked corners and some fairly decent jumps that go over some old cars that have apparently been in there for a long time. I had only rode this trail once last year so this was just a "lets see if this stuff is within reach for me" ride. Unfortunately there were some others down on the trail and I don't do well with others and going big for the first time...just in case I do fall and make a fool out of myself I want to be alone or with friends ONLY. Anyways, here is a link to a short video of Colby jumping one of the cars. Next time out I WILL jump it myself.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3jSmgFioyI

First ride in Utah!

2010-05-15T01:26:00.004-06:00

Well Toby, Colby and I went down to Draper (suburb of SLC to the south) and road some fun little trails today. First time on the VP Free doing stuff it was meant for. Got to do some jumps and hit some nasty rocks. It's so nice on a big bike that can handle the knarly terrain. On our way back to SLC, Colby took Toby and I up to a downhill trail. Right as we got there it started raining and to say the least it was a tad bit muddy. The trail was super fun even though we were getting soaked and mud was flinging all over us (including our faces/mouths..etc). Here is a pic of our bikes after the ride. I think it took about 2hrs to get them completely clean again.

Update

2010-04-28T07:57:00.002-06:00

Well things haven't gone exactly as planned with my departure. I was hoping to leave around April 8th or so, then my bike got damaged which set me back a few days, then my Grandma passed away shortly after. Eventually I made the decision that it would be stupid to head out for a week and drive back for Ian's birthday party and another load of stuff. Now I'm just waiting to hear that I have a place to move into once I arrive in SLC. So far the right house hasn't come up yet, so the waiting game continues. I may drive out, dump all my non-mountain biking gear in a storage unit and hit the road to southern Utah for a couple weeks of riding in St. George and Moab as it's getting warmer there by the week. Many people don't realize how hot it gets in Utah, especially central and southern Utah. Moab, which is more central, sees 90's in May, 100's in June through Sept. Take the fact that the ground is solid rock with little shade and those numbers feel 10deg higher than actual.
Anyways, hoping to hear good news about a house soon. Earliest departure would now be next Monday the 3rd.

Ian's Birthday Party pics/vids

2010-04-28T07:44:00.003-06:00

These kids are growing up so fast. It seems like a year ago Ian was just turning 5, now he is 7! This was a big year because he got his first real gun (redneck children here). A nice little Rossi .22/4.10 combo, perfect for learning how to shoot and hunt small game.
The kids:

Ian with his gun:

Trying it out for the first time:

Vids on youtube of him shooting it (total of 5). Link to first one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NC6wTIPs3aA&feature=related

More bunnies!

2010-04-13T20:06:00.004-06:00

Growing so fast, check out the new pics within a week of the last ones!
and a vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbCNKL8SYSI : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOuLlw4nR1w

Another sign I'm getting older

2010-04-08T14:51:00.005-06:00

At one point in my life I would've done all sorts of bad things to these little guys, but apparently my old age is softening me up a bit cause now I'm all mushy feeling when I see things like this.

I found a nest of baby bunnies at Carrie's house...they are so adorable! Just look at them.

Move update.

2010-04-08T14:30:00.002-06:00

So I was going to leave today, Thursday, but on Tuesday Carrie and I rode to her son's baseball game at Peoria Heights school, and some jerk backed into my bike and bent my rear rotor and derailleur! The sad part is they didn't come forth like a decent human would've, and nobody else would even fill me in on what happened. I guess us mountain bikers are just nobodies and don't matter to the rest of the world. So with parts on their way I've got to wait until I get the bike fixed back up. Probably be heading out Monday, drive to SW Utah around Hurricane and St. George area where the weather is perfect this time of year. Mid 70's every day, sunny, very little rain, and tons of great mountain biking! I'll spend a week or so there before I head to SLC where I'm dumping off my gear and bikes before heading back to Peoria for another load of stuff and more importantly, Ian's birthday party. After that I'll drive back out to SLC for good! So, that equals about 4,600miles in a matter of a couple weeks...bummer.

My Review of Manitou Titanium Rear Shock Coil 230 X 70 2.75 x 450

2010-03-29T09:12:00.001-06:00

Originally submitted at Bike Wagon

Need a new Coil? If you have a current manitou shock you can easily figure out which coil you need. In the current measurement, 230 x 70 x 2.75 x 450lbs, the 230 is the eye to eye measurement that the shock will work with, the 70 is the stroke length in MM, the 2.75 is the stroke length in inches (...

Great weight saving part!

By The Traveler from Salt Lake City, UT on 3/29/2010

Pros: Durable, Lightweight, Easy to Use

Best Uses: Mountain Bikes

Describe Yourself: Competitive Cyclist

Couldn't pass up a ti coil for this price. The steel spring was ~700grams while this piece was only ~300!!! That's a great weight savings, not to mention ti coils are more accurately sprung than steel springs. Can't go wrong at the price bikewagon has them offered at.

(legalese)

2010 Bikes are ready!!!

2010-03-26T16:43:00.003-06:00

Well, this winter was great for my bikes, bad for my wallet! Last year I bought an 08 Stumpjumper even though Toby told me to get an Enduro. To make a long story short, he was right. So I decided to try and find a 2nd bike for cheap on the used market and that would be heavier rig for the knarly stuff, and my Stumpy would stay the same for my lightweight more XC oriented rides. I ended up picking up a used VP Free and swapping some heavier duty parts since it was setup for more light weight AM. The end result is one fun and capable machine! At 40lbs it's ready for anything I'm willing to through at it. The pics on my Smugmug give more details.

Shortly after buying the VP Free I came across an amazing deal on a used S-Works Enduro SL frame, Fox Talas fork, and RP23 shock. I was able to sell my Stumpy frame, fork, and shock for only about $200 less than the cost of the new components, meanwhile increasing the value of my bike about $1,500 dollars!!! Can't beat that. Now I have one really sweet bike, one that many fellow riders will drool over : )

Here she is:

Finally Decided...Moving to Salt Lake City!!!

2010-03-04T09:20:00.002-07:00

After some nice traveling last year, I decided the next step in my life is to relocate to SLC. Everything about the city excites me. Year around outdoor activity!!! Sunshine, sunshine, and more sunshine. Skiing, mountain biking, hiking, rock climbing, heck there's even some great fishing lakes and wonderful hunting around SLC. The economy is good, traffic is reasonable, housing is decent, and the town is healthy! So much more in my eyes compared to Peoria IL, or anywhere in the midwest for that matter.
If you are looking for an exciting place to live with lots of great outdoor fun, look no further...SLC is for you!
I'm heading out sometime in April. Haven't figured out exactly when yet. No going away party, just heading out quietly.
Just wait for all my post once out there, you'll then understand what I'm talking about.

Here Obama, some helpful thoughts for you!

2010-03-04T07:57:00.006-07:00

Our country is screwed up. Here are some ideas of mine that would get us back to a strong country.

- Unemployment: If you aren't a US citizen and employed via a work visa, go home. Americans need your job.

- Crime: Any major crime (murder, rape, child molestation..etc) automatic death penalty. No time in jail, no money wasted, give them one week to say goodbye to their family then kill them, and not leathal injection. It must be a painful death. Any youths (under 18) that perform a serious crime are sent directly into the military and are enrolled into a very strict program. Teach them a lesson by working their asses off and forcing them to obey their elders.
If a criminal is in jail and over 50, death. If a criminal gets a sentence that would put them over 50 after their release, death. And what's the deal with these nice prisons? Prison should be horrible living conditions, not a 4 star hotel.

- Kids: I firmly believe that the vast majority of kids these days are much weaker than their parents and definitely their grandparents when they were children. Why does this matter...they are our future! Weakness now means a weaker country...exactly what is currently happening. How do we change this? Easy, revert back to old ways, what made out country strong in the first place. All kids should be forced to do chores on a daily basis, all kids should be forced to work summers after the age of XX (not sure what is that age, but around 12). Kids need to work even if they don't get paid to teach them about responsibility, respect, initiative...etc. Think back to the olden days where kids were always helping out around the farm. By the time they were 16 those kids were ready for the world. Boys would lie about their age to get jobs and into the military. Now it would be insane for a 16 year old boy to go into the military. There should be an aged defined minimum wage for children. Kids that are 12 and 13 would make, say, $2.50/hr, 14 and 15 year olds should make $5/hr, and then 16, 17 year olds can make $7/hr. Once turned 18 they make standard min wage. I get really tired of hearing kids complain about working all day for ONLY $50...jeez, I'm 28 years old and I can remember my first job at a whopping $3.85/hr. Now they make almost $8/hr which is crazy to me. What really pisses me off are the laws that keep kids from working at an early age. How tough is it to mop floors at McDonalds. Clean tables at Taco Bell. Shadow another worker at Walmart. These jobs don't need to be tough, but getting kids out into the workplace earlier make for stronger work ethics. In Illinois kids can't even work at McDonals until they are 16!!! How wrong is that? We should be uterly ashamed of ourselved for creating such restrictions.

- ALL children must enter the military directly after high school and complete basic training. The basic training needs to be extended to around 6 months and include both physical and mental training. Children with special needs still need to enter the military but put under slighty altered programs, for obvious reasons. Any child that drops out of high school must go directly into the military and will be treated more harshly. This would teach them that there is no easy way out, if you take the easy route it will catch up to you.

- Schools need to include a health/nutrition class early on, like 1st or 2nd grade, and continue this class through high school. Grades will be given on their knowledge but also performance. Homework would include physical activity, eating healthy, and the parents would have to sign off on this for the kids to get credit. Get rid of junk food, get your kids outside instead of in front of the tv/computer. Active/healthy kids make for a stronger child both physically and mentally. They would make for a stronger future for our country.

- Health: Health care is so expensive right? That's because our country isn't healthy! It pisses me off to no means!!! Get our country healthy and health cost drop. Our government needs to step in and regulate the amount of calories, fat, sugar...etc that meals include. Go to any sort of sit down restaurant and look at the menu, try to find healthy foods. It's tough, especially in the appetizers and deserts. It would be really simple, limit calories and such and you essentially have a more healthy meal, people, lower health care costs.

- Fitness: With the success of "The Biggest Loser" many health clubs are creating their own programs of similar nature. One downfall of these is the cost. I think the government should give tax exempts to anyone that partakes AND succeeds in these programs. Even though their health should be enough reason to get off their lazy ass, people are lazy and need incentive. Give them one! You could even go as far as any person that attends a health club 3 times a week, every week of the year (signed off by the health club) can receive an additional $100 on their tax return (or something of that sort).

- Cigarettes: Tax the shit out of them. They are bad, have no health advantages, cost non-smokers money on thier health insurance, and kill others by way of 2nd hand smoke. Tax them until the sales drop so much all the companies go out of business.

- Taxes: Need more money. Here's an idea for you. I believe it's impossible to drive more than a couple minutes without seeing some sort of traffic violation. Where are all the cops to catch these bad drivers? I think every traffic violation fine should be increased greatly. Didn't use your turn signal, $250 fine. Turned left in an intersection when the light was turning from yellow to red, $500 fine. Parked on/over a line at Walmart, fine your ass. What does this mean overall? People start thinking when driving, less accidents, lower insurance rates, more tax money coming in, we all win!!!!

- Welfare and such: If you don't have the money to afford a kid, you should be punished for having them. In fact, China was so smart by limiting the number of kids each family can have to only one. I don't think we should go that far, but maybe a simple finacial ruling system would help. If your family makes less than 30k/year, NO kids. Between 30-60k, 1 kid, 60-100k 2 kids..etc. The sad thing is that this is simple thought process..."ok honey, we only made $45K last year, it probably wouldn't be smart to have another kid at this time. I mean, with food cost, health care cost, insurance, college...it just isn't within our budget to have another." BUT, there are so many people out there that think with their asses instead of their heads, practical thinking just doesn't occur much these days. I also think that insurance should cover women having their tubes tied. If that said person has no insurance then the gov should pay for it. It's a WHOLE lot cheaper than the cost of another child in this world, right!

I can go on and on. There are so many things I see wrong with this country, and it boils down to simple fundementals to raise strong and smart humans. Natures way is this; the heard is only as strong as the weakest member. If you are weakest in the heard, you get left behind for the lions to eat you. The heard no longer has to wait for you. The heard is stronger. We now cater to the weak all the time, which only makes the heard weaker! The heard is the ENTIRE HUMAN RACE!!! We are getting weaker. I think any single person that feels they no longer want to live should have the right to be humanly 'let go.' That would eliminate so much health care cost, and let that person parish in another life (if you so believe in that sort of thing).

Sometimes I think about the perfect little community, where no money exsist, everyone helps out one another. They live off the land, and most importantly, live the life that God intended us to live. We are so focused on money, nice cars, houses, Hollywood...it's really sad.

Done rambling. Off to the gym.

Sorry, not much posting!

2010-03-03T15:43:00.002-07:00

Because there isn't much to talk about. I'm preparing for the big move. Decided to give Salt Lake City a go, heading out sometime in April. Lately I've been working out a lot, building up my mountain bikes after doing some changes. Going a little heavier this year so I'm not beating up my lightweight bike all the time. Picked up a used downhill bike for cheap and will give that a go this year. Hopefully I'll be able to make it up to Washington and British Columbia for a mtb trip this year. That area is known as the "North Shore" and is really the mountain bike downhill capital of North America. Crossing my fingers that I land a decent job sometime soon. Been applying like crazy but nothing has come up. It was sad to be told by a potential job prospect that he receives around 2,000 applicants per position!!!
Anyways, once I get out of IL I'll be able to post more about all the fun things happening in my life. Going to try and spend a few weeks in southern Utah and northern Arizona mountain biking. Gotta hit up Moab, Fruita, Gooseberry for sure.
This year I'll probably give rock climbing a try. My fear of heights kept me off the rocks last year, but the physical aspect makes me want to give it ago.
So anyways, check back around April timeframe for some exciting pics and stories (hopefully). Toby promissed this year we would stop riding and actually take some fun pics instead of haulin balls down the mountain all the time! We'll see.

Am I Crazy?

2009-12-17T07:39:00.000-07:00

So I used to think I was a simple, fairly normal person. Apparently I have no clue what that means, and that ticks me off. Let me try to explain the problem at hand. This is how my brain works; I think about everything, all the time. Simple, right? Yeah, that’s what I thought too. To understand the problem we need to dig deeper. When I mean “everything, all the time” I mean that to the 10th degree, times 100, plus 1. Not quite like Rain Man brain issues, but definitely more than the average human being. What ticks me off about this is that I think my “problem” is actually a blessing that should be embraced. So let’s get into some details.

Here’s an example for you. Darn near every decision in life that is put forth in front of me has an answer. How I get to that answer is what differentiates me from others. There are usually multiple variables/choices/paths to consider, and those variables may have variables that will determine the correct answer. As soon as I’m faced with the task at hand my mind races through all those variables, the outcomes of each, the positive and negative consequences of choosing each, the reactions/responses of anyone that may be involved in the outcome, how to respond to their questions if they have them, how they may react to my response, so on and so on and so on. This all goes through my head in mere seconds and after thinking about it all I open my mouth to give an answer.

This type of methodology happens with just about everything in my life unless it’s something really simple, and even then I tend to over think things. I used to think this was a great trait and that most people would appreciate my ways. Thinking like this means I don’t say something stupid without thought process, I make well educated decisions, and I’m ready to explain everything in detail to anyone concerned. How is this bad? Why would someone not want me to think like this? I’m not 100% sure. I’ve thought about it in every way possible, but I’m still confused. My Grandpa tells me it’s a good thing, but I just need to tone it down a bit. Other people think I need to be on medication for this. A select few understand me completely and think it’s great that I can decipher life’s complications this way (I tend to agree), but most people have no clue what is going on in my melon.
Am I crazy???

ARUBA!!!!

2009-12-13T13:12:00.003-07:00

Ok, so I'm absolutely hating Illinois right now. After spending 5 days in beautiful Aruba with sunshine, warm weather, fine white sand, and clear water, I'm back to boring ass cold IL. Did I mention how much I hate IL?
So way back in the spring of this year I wasted an afternoon at a timeshare deal so that I could get a free hotel in Aruba. This was my first ever tropical vacation (not counting Florida Keys when I was like 8), and I must say it was superb. Maybe not the best idea to head to one of the best tropical destinations in the entire WORLD, but hey, who's complaining (meaning it will be tough to beat Aruba from now on). A little about Aruba if you don't know. Weather is consistent all year with highs typically in the upper 80's to upper 90's, lows never drop below 80deg...all year!!! Very little rain since it's outside of the hurricane belt, and when it does rain it will only last for a short bit. The island is small, only 19miles long by 6 miles wide and is located just 20 miles off the north coast of Venezuela. From Atlanta it was about 3hrs 40min down Oranjestad, the capital of Aruba. One thing you need to know is that Aruba is ALWAYS windy, like you will wake up to 20mph winds and they increase to 25-40mph during the day depending on where you are at on the island. This does help keep those temps feeling wonderful. The sun is intense so you need to drink lots of water and apply sunscreen often. Even with 50spf I still got some burnt areas!
I'm not going to go into much detail about the trip. We went snorkeling, jet skiing, sunset catamaran sail, and rented a jeep for a day to head to some interesting places/sites.
Here is the link to the pics...enjoy and please don't hate
http://quinnphoto.smugmug.com/Vacation/Aruba-2009/10621750_8kFXJ

Jake (nephew) and an unforgetable day.

2009-11-20T17:30:00.003-07:00

So my oldest nephew, now 7, shot his first deer ever tonight. The story is pretty short, button buck at 30yds, quartering towards strongly, one shot and he dropped instantly. I got the text and was on my way up to his house immediately. Needless to say Jake and his little brother Ian were extremely excited. In fact, Ian almost seemed more excited than Jake did!

It was dark so I took two quick pics and called it good:

So proud of you buddy!

Holy Cow, Wisconsin 3X's in one year.

2009-10-27T20:19:00.006-06:00

So we decided to head back up to Wisconsin for the closing this year. Typically I only go up in the summer so I can fish and swim, but considering the free time I've been faced with lately another trip couldn't hurt anything. So Carrie, my Mom, Grandpa, and I drove up on the 17th to wonderful weather, highs in the upper 50's. The first night was really cold though, down into the mid 30's. The cabin has a furnace and big fireplace we kept busy, but Carrie's and I bed was on the screened porch which is uninsulated and the same temp as outside. Needless to say it was chilly the first night.
Each morning we ate at one of the best breakfast joints EVER, Wendy's in Minong. Gramps was always ready for breakfast!
The first day Carrie did some firewood stacking and proved once again strength can come in Fun Size packages ( we won't mention how sore she was the next day).
We took one last boat ride to use up some gas from our summer trips. It was a little on the chilly side.
So what do we do for fun when we can't swim or lay out on the dock (and be warmed by the sun)...we fire up the riding lawn mower and toss a kid (Carrie being the smallest would have to do) into the utility trailer and ride around at dangerous speeds approaching 3mph!!!
Just look at the excitement on her face!
Master wood chopper at work
Relaxing in front of the fireplace
Eating some fantastic ribs at the Golden Chipmunk
All in all it was a nice trip. We got lots of work done and had some relaxing time too. The food, oh the food, is always hard to leave.

What's next? Well, I've got an offer to go fishing in Florida from my uncle Randy. May have to take him up on that one. Carrie and I leave for Aruba the second week of December, then down to Texas the day after Christmas. A quick trip out west for some mountain biking has crossed my mind a few times too. If I didn't have to drive across the plains I would leave tomorrow, but that stinkin 14hrs back into Colorado is hard on me.

Back home for now

2009-09-28T15:49:00.003-06:00

Well, back in Peoria area for now. I was successful on my first ever antelope hunt, and I must say that was by far the HARDEST hunt I have ever been on. Here's a pic of the "goat."

No exaggerating here, I crawled and crawled and crawled after these critters, they are so sharp. They can spot you a couple hundred yards away lifting your head from the knee high grass to range them. After day 2 I was thinking this stuff was for the birds. The ground is so hard, the grass is all prickly, and there are small cacti that you won't see until you put your hand on one, and it hurts bad! One afternoon I crawled to the corner of some fences where many goats seemed to be crossing. It took me 3 hours to get ~1/2 mile!!! The final stalk was 2.5hrs to go 250yds before I shot this fella at 65 yards. Man oh man was this hunt hard. Next trip I'll be wearing protection on my knees, hands, elbows, and maybe forearms. I will also make a ghillie suit with the grass out there to help blend in better. Even my "open country" camo didn't hide me from their 8X eyes.

Been helping out my parents with the grandparent's estate sale, that's just about done and over with for good which will be nice because it's been hell on my Mom. In a few weeks we are heading to Wisconsin to close the cabin up. This weekend is my 10yr high school reunion! Ah, I'm getting old. The following weekend is my Mom's family annual cookout at my Uncle John's house...yeah! The next weekend is a Halloween costume party, then we leave after that to Wisconsin. So October will be fairly busy.

Elk MADNESS!!!

2009-09-13T21:34:00.002-06:00

So I'm out in Colorado right now. I was going to come out on short notice for an archery elk hunt, but last minute I decided there was too much to prepare for so I would just do some scouting instead. After a few days online I decided to come check out the White River and western Routt National Forest areas. After two days of easy going driving I was in Glenwood Springs Colorado and ready for my adventure. I didn't realize that to get up into the area I wanted to hike was another 2hrs north and half of that was dirt mountain roads...oh well, that's part of it. It was around noon when I finally left my car and headed off. I was excited, but at the same time dreaded hauling my pack around the mountains for days. It was by far the heaviest it's ever been, I'm guessing around 60-70lbs. Here's a pic:
After about a mile or so I cut off the main trail on a lesser traveled route and headed up hill. I started at 8,600ft and quickly found myself at 9,500, then 10,000 and with sore legs. I stopped for a few minutes to take a pic of this nice little mountain pond.
After 5hrs of hiking uphill I found a nice place to setup camp for the night, 10,106ft with a view!
That evening I sat overlooking numerous mountain meadows hoping to spot some elk, but the only animal to grace me with it's presence was some distant coyotes howling away.
The next morning I decided to head over a ridge and check the view. I took a 3/4 full bottle of water, my camera, binocs, a map, and my High Gear gadget (altimeter, compass, watch...etc). After rounding the ridge I came upon some nice looking meadows and shortly after heard a distance bull elk bugling. My excitement grew and I quickly closed the distance to a few hundred yards. I was coming up to another meadow when I spotted a cow elk, unfortunately she saw me too and soon took off with another cow. I managed to get a quick pic but she's pretty far away in the pic.
After pushing on a bit more I soon found myself in a dense forest with not one bugling bull elk, not two, but three different bulls. Two sounded young and stuck together moving down this draw while the third stayed up on the hillside more and had a deeper more mature bugle. I decided to get above the big guy and try and get close enough to sneak a peek at him. After maybe 30min I was only 50 yards from the bull, but the thick forest floor kept him out of sight. I was sitting there waiting for him to make a move when I heard running from the left coming towards me. A couple cow elk ran into the area right near the bull. He let out another bugle and started to chase them, right to where I was sitting not 20min earlier...dang! I sat there with excitement and disappointment when I heard more crashing, but this time directly behind me from above. I soon found myself surrounded by a herd of elk running down the ridge. You MUST watch the video (youtube..."Routt_08"). My heart was pounding so hard, it was truly a once in a lifetime experience to say the very least.
That night I had to move down in a valley because the wind picked up so much it was going to be annoying with my tent fly flapping all night up on the hillside. I took a little walk before dark to try and spot the coyote that was howling like crazy not far from me. After a short bit I saw a coyote just before he entered the woods and disappeared. Here's a shot of the sky before I headed back to my campsite.
This morning I decided to get out of the area since muzzle loader season started and hunters were pouring into the woods like drunks to a bar. I was going to head to a new area, but as I was driving out there were trucks at every trail head sign which completely turned me off, so I headed back to civilization and am now sitting in a hotel room in Silverthorn Colorado. Tomorrow I'll start my drive towards South Dakota so I can do some antelope hunting. Hopefully I'll be posting some pics of a successful hunt soon! thanks for reading. BQ

Quick Update

2009-09-10T21:35:00.003-06:00

Well, it's been awhile. I hung around in Peoria for a couple weeks helping out with my grandparents house clean-up and the St. Jude Archery Shoot my brother headed up. BUT, right now I'm in Rifle Colorado preparing for some elk scouting in the White River and Routt National Forest. I was going to come and hunt the archery season but time ran out and I didn't feel comfortable being so rushed, so I decided to just come out and backpack the area for a week or so that way I can come back next year and have a clue where to go. THEN, as soon as I leave here I'm heading to South Dakota to do some antelope hunting!!! I've wanted to do this for so long and now I get to.
So I will post up some good pics and such over the next couple weeks when I get Internet access. I had to get a new camera because I misplaced mine (don't ask), and the new one takes 720p HD video which is cool. Hopefully I can get some video of some elk and antelope. Stay tuned for mountain beauty!

Gotta love Wisconsin

2009-08-11T09:17:00.003-06:00

I had been telling Carrie for weeks how I wished we could make it up to Wisconsin this year since we had such a great time last year up there. My family owns a cabin in Minong WI on the Minong Flowage lake (~1,600 acreas). While we are there we fish, play cards, eat way too good, and relax a lot. This year I took my dad's boat which completely makes the trip for me since I'm used to fishing out of it and there isn't an actual fishing boat up there for us to use.

We took off on a Tuesday evening and drove up to Portage WI and stayed the night at a hotel, then hit the road fairly early the next morning. The weather was iffy for our entire trip, but the day we arrived it was pretty darn good. We ended up heading to the north end of the lake to do some fishing and eat at Pogo's on the water. Although Carrie didn't catch her first fish, we still had a great time ( I caught more than I could handle :p )

The next morning we hit the water again and Carrie caught her first ever Northern Pike, and it was a monster! Well, not really, but still exciting:

That afternoon the rain came so we pulled out the cards and I whooped up on Carrie, like usual. This was the last time she smiled that day.

On Friday my parents came up for a few days of relaxation, so when we got good weather on Saturday we hit the lower damn area for some more fishing. Carrie hooked a nice fish, but it ended up being a sucker!

I caught the big fish of the day, a monster rock bass!!! Check him out...hint, you might have to look close:
On Sunday evening Russ and I headed to Lake Pokegama and caught about 35 fish in the rain over a 3hr period. One was a nice bass I caught on my favorite spinnerbait.

One morning I ventured up to the river which is always fun, and hard work to boot. Fishing was slow, but I did catch the biggest northern to date, a 7lbs ~28in beast.
Russ and I did lots of work in the yard and cleaned it up real nice like. In 3hrs we managed to cut this log pile (it's two deep!)
We finished things off by burning all the brush we had cut which took 3hrs of heavy burning. The coals were still pretty darn hot the next morning too.
All in all it was a good trip. Weather was off quite a bit for early August, but that's northern Wis for ya. Can't wait to head back up next year.

My longest hike, and biggest mistake to date

2009-07-13T14:48:00.004-06:00

So yesterday I decided to push myself a little harder than before, ya know, to find my physical limits. After all, how do you know what you are capable of if you never find those said limits? So I'm in Grand Lake Colorado, about 2hrs from Denver and near Winter Park Ski Resort. Grand Lake borders the south edge of Rocky Mountain National Park, and is around 8,500ft in elevation. I've done some hiking up over 9,500 quite a bit, and spent a decent time close to 10,000ft, but this would be the first time over 10,000ft and also my longest hike by far. In Yosemite I did a 14mile hike which was pretty easy and left me in good shape, so I knew I was able to withstand 20 miles, but the purpose of the day was to push myself further so I could find that limit for future reference. The only map I had was a freebie from the park's visitor center, which was enough to tell me where to go, but not enough detail to let me know exactly what I was in store for.
The morning started off good, I arrived at the visitor center (and trail head) at 6:50am, got ready to go and was off by 7:30 or so. The plan was to hike two trails that paralleled each other with about 5-6 miles between them. Each trail was app 10miles long and to cross over to one another was a nice tough ~7mile hike up and over a mountain pass/flat that would take me near 12,000ft! Sounded like fun! I got rolling and took my time for the first few miles enjoying the scenery, taking in the sights, and snappin a few pics along the way. I saw a couple mule deer which is always nice to see, but still no elk or bears : (

Maybe 6 miles in I stopped for a quick snack and then picked up the pace. Eventually I made it to the last camp site on the south trail which was 9.2miles in and just before the big climb to the pass. I was greeted by a park ranger and we had a quick conversation. He looked concerned, asked me where I was going, what time I started, and didn't seem comfortable with my plan. I asked if I could make it before night fall, but he seemed way more worried about the weather which I hadn't even noticed till this point. Some clouds were rolling in which in the mountains means, don't go up, go down and prepare for the worse. See, mountain storms can come quick and be harsh, dropping temps 20+ degrees in no time and howling 40+mph winds. I decided to keep pushing on and he let me know where he was camping just in case I needed help.
At that point I was over 10,000ft and had a 1,500ft+ climb to get up on the pass. Climbing for me is not a problem, it's the decent that gets my knees calling out for help. Once I got up on the pass I could get a good look at the clouds that were coming my way, and they looked bad, really BAD. I had to make a decision, turn back and head in the way I came (boring), or roll the dice and try and get to the north trail before the storm hit (what a real adventurer would do). With no rain gear, hat, gloves, shelter, and weather worsening by the minute I should have gone back, but I decided to gamble and go for it. Not a wise decision!

The edge of the storm clouds!

Not bad for a little camera : )

I really picked up my pace knowing that getting over this 5-6 mile pass was critical. When you are near 12,000ft and have a storm over the top of you, well, it's not safe at all. Being that I was the tallest feature around, the chance of being struck by lightning was way too good, and with no help around for miles I could surely fall to Mother Nature's wrath with one strike. As I made my way across the tundra like ground I felt exactly what I knew was coming, but hoped and prayed would somehow pass me by. A cold breeze hit my light layers going right through them, the storm had arrived. At that point it was prob in the high 50's, but the temps fell quick along with small rain droplets. I started moving quicker, almost jogging to get across this death pass. As if Mother Nature wanted to test my limits, she started throwing down pea sized hail at me stinging my head, face, and hands, then they grew to marble size with freezing rain mixed in. Soon I was soaked to the bone and getting cold fast. I started to jog on top of the marbles that now covered the ground, splashing on the water that wouldn't penetrate the frozen ground. Rocks become more of a hassle because they were slippery now and begged to twist my ankles. I thought to myself, keep a good pace but be careful, your at 12,000ft and you can't over do it with another 6-7 hours to go, but all I could think about was keeping warm and getting off this stinkin pass! After a few miles I started to slowly descend and the hail turned to freezing rain then to a light rain. The temp was 43deg at that point and I was frozen. My hands had turned deep red and became immobile even though I kept shaking them in hopes to increase the blood flow and warm them up. It was not working and I actually got pretty scared, especially when my finger tips turned purple. I stopped at a sign that said "Grand Lake 12 Miles." I was glad I made it over the pass, but at the same time horrified at the distance I still needed to cover. I just happened to glance to my left and saw a herd of elk about 250 yards away. It was the first elk I'd seen on my adventure, and for a second it took my mind off the pain. I took my pack off, now soaking wet with ice stuck on it, and dug for my camera. My hands weren't working all that well, my fingers could hardly be forced to bend and it hurt to try, but I managed to get a few pics and a short vid of the elk. There was no time to stop, I need to get down in altitude where the temps would warm back up a bit.

The herd of elk off in the distance.

An hour later I was back down under 10,000ft and the temp hit 50deg, I was happy at that and surprisingly my pants had dried up fairly well, but my socks and shirt were still wet. I knew I had made it through the storm even though rain was still falling lightly, now I just had to focus on making good time to arrive back at the trail head before dark since I didn't have a light source (I was not very well prepared for this hike). The miles went by, but they went slower and slower and each one got harder. My knees were getting sore, my legs tired. I stopped for break to refuel, but the mosquitoes were so bad I couldn't sit in one place, so I walked slowing while I ate and drank water. I made it to a campsite that was 5.2 miles from my car, it gave me hope, but I was drained and loosing strength quick. The next campsite seemed to take forever, as did the next, and the next. At one point I thought I was under 2 miles from the car, but then another campsite sign told me it was 3 miles to go. My emotions started to get the better of me as it hurt to take a step, especially if it wasn't on flat ground. Each time I would take a step up or down a strong shooting pain would come from deep inside my knees letting me know I was done, I couldn't go on, but I had to, I had to make it, there was no other choice but to sit and rest and let the bugs eat me alive, or go on. At times I imagined Carrie waiting at my car for me, rooting me on, giving me hope, but soon those thoughts were once again taken over by pain. I was hungry a few hours back and had to stop to go both #1 and #2, but my body seemed to shut down now as all those feelings went away. I didn't even feel like drinking water, but I knew I had to. At one point I thought I saw a coyote pup, I even took a picture of it, but it didn't move, not a bit. It was a log. Was my vision getting blurry? Was I loosing my mind? Was I going to make it or collapse on the trail?

Back down in the valley:

A sign appeared up ahead. I knew I was getting close, I had to be. It said 0.5miles! A jolt of energy shot through my body and I took some quick steps, but my legs wobbled and hurt to bad to keep that pace up. That last 1/2 mile seemed to take forever, almost 20min if that tells you how slow I was going at that point. As I saw the parking lot I almost felt my emotions surface. It was the hardest physical task I've ever done in my life. I didn't know if I was proud of myself, or wanted to punch myself in the stomach for being such a fool. I was way too weak to throw a punch with anything on it and my brain couldn't fathom anything but sitting down, so that's what I did, in the men's restroom at the visitor center : )
After resting a bit I went into Grand Lake town and ate a 1/2lbs burger and cup of macaroni and cheese, it did nothing for me. My stomach was empty after burning up all the food I had ate throughout the day, but all I could think about was getting in my tent and relaxing. It was just over 10hrs of walking with no more than a 3min break for lunch at 12:15. The best I could figure out was 27miles, between 5 and 6 of that at over 11,500ft, and half of that jogging soaking wet freezing to death...literally.
I laid there in my tent, legs aching, knees burning, and a strong headache, pretty much miserable. For once my sleeping pad felt wonderfully comfortable. I talked to my Mom and Carrie for a bit. She reminded me that I still had some pain killers from my surgery a few months back so I popped one of them babies in and watched Lee and Tiffany Lakosky's Getting Close hunting DVD on my laptop until the battery went dead (ordered two extras today, take that!). By that time the pain killer had kicked in and numbed my pain so I could fall asleep. Early in the morning I woke to horrible pain in both my legs especially in my knees, so I grabbed a few breakfast bars and another pain killer and downed them with water. So far today I've taken three of them to keep the pain away, and it seems to be working quite well compared to what I thought it would be like all day. I've spend about 7hrs at the library uploading pics/movies, downloading songs, buying spare laptop batteries, and a summer tent. Unfortunately the connection here is super slow so everything is taking longer than it should. I did have a wonderful and huge breakfast at Carrie's Corner (I took a pic of the menu and sent it to my Carrie). The pancake was by far the biggest I have ever seen, prob close to 13in in diameter! The sausage patty was about 5in in diameter and close to 3/4in thick. They did some amazing home fries which were freshly cut potatoes seasoned and pan fried with onions and green peppers...yummy!
My brother arrived today with his family. They are staying in a cabin near Grand Lake so I'll go meet up with them soon for dinner and some relaxing. I need to give them some warnings about the great west even though I'm sure they will all blow me off.
So, lessons learned. Be prepared for anything. Take small steps in pushing yourself physically, and if a park ranger shows genuine concern you better listen to him!

More pics on my smugmug page, just click on one above and you be there. Some vids on youtube under my user name : iambquinn
thanks for reading

In search for the ultimate Gyro!

2009-07-10T11:35:00.004-06:00

So it's all Carrie's fault. I'm hooked on Gyros, that's right, the tasty "Greek taco" as I like to call it. Ever since I had some of hers from Fedoras (see earlier post with pic) I've craved more and different offerings from everywhere I go. When I see a sign that says "Greek" I have to stop in for a gyro even if I'm not hungry.

So, I've decided to keep a running track of all the gyros I've had and rank them per my taste buds. I like to break things down to each component of the gyro and comment on each, then as a whole.

The pita is the most consistent part of all the gyro's I've had. It should be soft, not too hot, and easy to tear with not so sharp teeth. If a place screws up the pita, there are in trouble.

Next is the meat, oh the meat! Tender, and full of flavor the meat is the heart of the gyro and for the most part is also fairly consistent which each place. It's important to mention the size of pieces on the gyro. I've had a few where the pieces were too big for one bite, and that's not good. You don't want to have to tear a piece in two, or worse, as you bite and pull the gyro away from your mouth end up pulling extra chunks of meat out falling to the table (if you eat over your plate that is). So bite size meat chunks is a must.

The toppings. This is subject to every one's personal taste, but there are a few things I feel are a must on a gyro. Tomatoes and the sauce are at the top. Onions are a tough one, and the banana peppers, so far only found at Fedoras, are icing on the cake.

The tomatoes are easy, but I'm surprised how many places screw them up. A sliced tomato is a no-no, and big chunks are not good either. The tomatoes should be small bite sized pieces that can be taken in with the bite, not worked in with effort on each bite. The center of the tomato doesn't do much in a gyro (too gooey), so stick with the outer portion please! The placement of the tomato is also a biggie. Many places put them on top, but then you don't get anything when you are on the bottom of the gyro. So spread them around so they can be easily had on each and every bite.

The onions are tough because many people don't like them. The trick to utilizing onions is to add the flavor without jumping out and watering eyes. Small pieces spread throughout the gyro is in my opinion the only way to add them. I myself do not like raw onions, but if used this way I don't really notice them, but they do add some flavor that is welcomed. What not to do, same things as the tomatoes, no big pieces, and not all on top or bottom.

Sauce: WOW, how can so many places screw this up? First off, sauce is a must, whether it's the white or red sauce. I myself prefer the white (cucumber) and feel it's the only way to go. Second, if the sauces flavor does not jump out at you then find another sauce or work on your recipe. I've had quite a few gyros that the only thing the sauce offered was a cool creamy feeling in my mouth, no actual taste. I didn't understand it. The placement and amount is very critical. The sauce should be available on every bite and never over powering. The biggest mistake I've found is having all the sauce on either the top or bottom of the gyro. What in the world are these people thinking? It's so easy to spread the sauce before you wrap the gyro up, so just do it people!

Extras include the banana peppers found so far only at Fedoras. These peppers are so good and I wish everyone would try them at least once. If taken in smaller bites they aren't over powering and offer up a great sweetness to the package. They need to be sliced up in smaller bites and spread throughout for the best effect. I also like to add hot sauce to my gyros, but that's just me. The last is a house dressing type sauce that is so far only at Fedoras. This is good stuff, but be careful because if you get the gyro to go as I do often there, the sauce can soften up the pita too much. This should be applied on top of the gyro to soak down through the meat.

Here's what I got so far in the order of digestion:

Fedoras (Chillicothe and Peoria IL): THE GYRO that started it all. First off, I always get the deluxe which as extra meat, tomatoes, banana peppers, onions, and the cucumber sauce on the side. At $5 1/2 (not sure the actual price but this is close) it's a bargain! The size is the first thing that grabs you, it's huge, enough meat to make an entire 2nd gyro. In fact Carrie and her Mom get the deluxe with an extra pita and share it, and usually never finish their halves. Ok, lets break it down now. Fedoras' pita is just right, easy enough. The meat is tender and good, pretty much on par with everyone else. The chunks of tomatoes are great, the onions are good but sometimes a little to long and stringy, the sauce on the side is wonderful and probably the best so far. They do use both banana peppers and their house dressing which add some fabulous flavor. Overall this is the best gyro I've had mainly due to the size and bargain it is. Perfect, not exactly, but what is perfect anyways?

Yannis Greek Cafe (Salt Lake City): So upon arriving to SLC I was thinking about trying to find a gyro place so I jumped online and started a search which led me to Yannis. "The best gyro in SLC" many people said. I was excited to say the least. What a bummer!!!! The gyro was over $5, and about the size of a taco, like a Taco Bell taco at that. The pita and meat were good, but the sauce was boring and smothered on top like I hate. I left hungry and majorly disappointed never returning again.

Crown Burger (Salt Lake City): Directly after Yannis and went to C.B. planning on having a burger, but when I saw they had a gyro on the menu I immediately decided I better have one. I was rather impressed with C.B. since they don't specialize in Greek food. The downfalls where similar to Yannis though, first and foremost being too small. The meat and pita were good, toppings ok, but just not worth the money for this little guy.

Mad Greek (Salt Lake City): I saw their commercial on TV and went looking for them! Once again pretty typical SLC gyro, not all that big but good. Their sauce was on the bottom of the gyro so the top half didn't get any. Why would they do this? Price was sub $5, but still not near the top of my list.

Greek City Grill (Salt Lake City): I just happened to stumble on this new joint, only 2 months old at the time of my visit. Owned by actual Italians their gyro was the best of SLC, but still fell short of Fedoras. The size was the main difference from their competitors along with a decent price for the added size. The pita had some strange salt size crumbles on it that stuck to my hands, kinda annoying. It felt more dry and hotter than others too. I like my pita soft and just warm.

Greek Soulvakia 1 (Salt Lake City): One of the originals in SLC I was really excited about this visit. The place was packed so I new it had to be good. Again, this gyro could be lumped in with all the others, except for Greek City Grill because of the size. Once again I left hungry because the gyro was just too small. The taste of the meat was good, but they put sliced tomatoes on top along with all the sauce. Not a good combination for me. Disappointing.

Apparently SLC does not know what a GOOD gyro is???

...to be continued

Moving on out of SLC

2009-07-10T11:18:00.002-06:00

Well, my time in SLC has come to an end. I'm now in Colorado, getting ready to see my brother and his family on their vacation. Internet access may be limited to libraries, but now I have my new laptop to rely on!!!! Yeah, finally my own laptop. I got a Sony FW, it's pretty sweet. I built it up online at Sony with a P8700 2.53GHz processor, 320GB HD, 1GB graphics card, Blu-Ray player, full 1080p screen and all the little bells and whistles. I'm actually at a library right now in Denver typing this up. So anyways, not sure how often I'll be able to write in the blog, but I'll try and keep it updated as much as possible.
So last week Carrie (my GF) came out to visit me in SLC. She has never been IN the mountains before, so that was a good experience for her. We camped one night and were planning to camp again the next night but some rain kept that from happening. We went to the zoo, saw Transformers and Public Enemies, saw two moose (not at the zoo either), saw the fireworks on both the 3rd and the 4th, stayed at some nice hotels (and cheap since it's the off season out here), and ate some great food. I don't think I can sum up how wonderful it was being with her again and it only makes me more anxious for our next time together. Love you honey!
So what's in store for me now? Well, the next couple days I'll be up near where my bro's family is staying near Rocky Mountain National Park exploring for fun things that he and his kids can do. I'm really worried about the altitude keeping them from doing much in the way of hiking since it's going to be 8,500ft and higher. I'll look for some rather easy going trails they can hike, and maybe some nice mountain lakes and streams we can do some fishing in. After they leave, well, I don't really know what I'll be doing. I guess I need to figure that out.
I'm going to start contacting hunting outfitters looking for some freebie work in Sept once season starts. I have this strong desire to be a part of something hunting related, so hopefully there is someone out there that will need some help and put me to work. We'll see.

Went fly fishing for the first time, and caught fish!

2009-06-29T17:59:00.004-06:00

So a couple days ago I bought a fly fishing setup, at least something to start with. I went down the street to a school yard to practice my casting since it'd been well over 10 years since the last time I've used a fly rod back in the midwest. It was just like riding a bike! No problem.

So last night I looked on my trail map and found a set of lakes just up Big Cottonwood Canyon that supposedly had fish in them. This morning I woke up early (about 6:45 is super early for me now-a-days), and headed out the door just before 9 to the lakes. It was a 3.5 mile hike up a fairly steep trail, but not too bad. The lakes are 3 in series, each fed by a mountain stream, with about 40ft difference between the first two, and maybe 10ft between lake 2 and 3. The first lake has the most fish, but worse for casting a fly rod. The second lake has fish, but not near as many as the first, and the 3rd seemed to be fairly empty compared to the first.

So I spent a couple hours at the first lake and caught 6 small rainbow trout, lost about 4 flies, and figured out quite a bit about fly fishing lakes. First off, you need clear line, and I have fluorescent green/yellow made for streams, and long leader is a must. The water is clear and the fish can spot the line and YOU easily. Sneaking up to them is very important. Anyways, here is a pic of one of the fish, they were pretty much all the same size varying no more than a few inches. I'm guessing there are bigger fish in the lake but they are probably out deeper and don't feed as much.

Done with my first road trip.

2009-06-24T21:47:00.002-06:00

So a couple weeks ago I took off from Salt Lake City heading south, then west for a couple week trip. To sum up the travel path I headed down to southern Utah, then into northern Arizona, through Vegas, up along the Sierra Nevada's in California, then across Nevada back to SLC...all in 2 1/2 weeks.
- Southern Utah: Zion National Park looks amazing. I didn't actually go into the park, but from what you can see on the edge the scenery looks amazing. I will definitely go back down that way when it's cooler and do some sight seeing. I rode Gooseberry Mesa, one of the more popular mtb destinations in the region. One word to sum up Goose', FUN! Not super hard, definitely not too easy, but a great flow and plenty of technical fun.
- Northern Arizona: Headed to the Grand Canyon, first the northern Rim. The big surprise, the high altitude. You'd think going south would mean going downhill, but the north rim is a oxygen reducing 9,000ft up, and quite a bit cooler than the surrounding low lying areas. After the north rim visit I headed back north to Lake Powell and the Glen Canyon Dam, the third tallest dam in the US. I quickly headed down to the south rim of the Grand Canyon to find a camp site. After quite a bit of driving I managed to get settled and got in my tent rather quick. Woke up freezing the next morning around 5:30, it was 39deg! I checked out the south rim view, watched the California Condors soaring (the largest bird in the US), and then headed south.
- Flagstaff: Well, I wish I could say more about Flag, but it was more of a quick stop and go town. Visually, Flag is beautiful, cool temps (it was 59deg mid day), and seems really down home small town living. Many people walking and riding bikes throughout the town which was nice. I'd definitely like to spend some time in Flag.
- Sedona: I've heard amazing things about Sedona..."the retirement capital of the US," "best weather anywhere in the country," and much more. Well, it was more desert looking than I thought, and much more tourist oriented then expected. I rode with John and James for two days with beautiful weather. Unfortunately I was a little under the weather, but I tried my best to keep my spirits up even with some achy body parts.
- Phoenix: Hot, not cool, sweat inducing, and it wasn't even hot for Phoenix. It was 95deg when I got there, and it never dropped much more than 10deg over night or in the morning. I visited my long lost sister Marilee which I haven't seen in about 10 years. Her dog, Zeus, a Siberian husky, is still making it at 13yrs old although a little slow. We ate lunch at the Elephant Restaurant and I had a wonderful jambalaya!
- Vegas: Stinking place took more of my money. So far I'm down a little over $1,500 to Vegas and I'm not sure I'll try and get it back. Had dinner with my friend Matt, he took me to a wonderful steak house that had the most unique dining style I've been a part of. You don't order off a menu, and it's one set price. So how does it work? Well, there's a salad bar and sides you can get buffet style, and mashed potatoes served family style. The meat, oh the sweet goodness, there are employees walking around with a cut of steak, lamb, and chicken on a sword, yes, a sword, and if you want some they will cut you off a chunk or in some cases give you a piece (small fillet medallions). So instead of getting one type of meat you can sample everything, or just your favorite. My favs were the bacon wrapped fillets and the flank steak...SOOO YUMMY. Thanks a ton Matt!!!! Looking forward to trying some food at Cut when I come back in Sept.
- Sequoia National Park: WOW, WOW, WOW. The trees are amazing, huge, breath taking, spectacular, mind blowing. You have to see them to believe them, they are THAT BIG. Pictures do nothing, take a vacation and go see them.
- Yosemite National Park: Hmmm, how do I top three WOW's? Well, Yosemite beats them and then some. The views in the park, especially the valley are wonderful. El Capitan and Half Dome are awesome, and the numerous waterfalls are majestic. Since it's so close to Sequoia I encourage everyone to take a vacation for a week and see both parks.
- Driving across Nevada: boring
- Salt Flats: cool to see once, would be better if I was racing my ole busy on the track. Driving across them, super boring. The road is STRAIGHT and you can see about 70miles to the other side. Ok to do once, hope next time I go across them someone else is driving and I'm sleeping.

So, back in SLC. Feels like home right now. A bed (futon) that I'm used to and sleep well in. Friends to talk to, and a consistent place to shower...much needed. Thinking back on the trip, I'd love to go back to Yosemite and climb up Half Dome and pack it in the park a few days. I still haven't got to do much in Vegas and would like to, just without spending much money. The southwest, well, just not my cup of tea. I like dirt, grass (natural), and seeing fall colors in the trees.

Next up: Carrie is coming out in less than a week (please let time fly bye) and we are going to have an amazing 5 day out here full of adventure. In the meantime I'll do some riding and hiking around here, and prepare for Colorado in July. Looking forward to seeing my brother and his family when they come to Colorado for vacation. I'm so glad I'll get to spend my birthday with family, just wish Carrie could be with me too (and I for her birthday which is 3 days later).

Tons of pics and vids posted. I rearranged my Smugmug page, mainly the Travel and MTB sections which are now divided into States. Good deal of vids on youtube under my user name: iambquinn. Feel free to check them all out. Warning, there are about 500 pics! Don't forget to read the captions on the pics.

Thanks for reading!

Finally got pics/vids uploaded

2009-06-16T22:48:00.001-06:00

Too much to tell, but got pics and vids uploaded to see. I changed up my Smugmug page to separate pics into states rather than just one folder for mtb pics, one of travel...etc. Should be easier to browse now. Enjoy

Quick update on Bob

2009-06-14T22:59:00.002-06:00

Left a few days ago from SLC, headed down to southern Utah and road Gooseberry Mesa, awesome place. Camped that night then headed down to the Grand Canyon on Friday. Hit up the North Rim first, then went up to Page where Lake Powell and the Glen Dam is, then took off for the South Rim area to find a camping spot before it got dark. That night it got down to 39deg! I woke up around 5:15 freezing because I was in shorts and a tee-shirt and in my 45deg sleeping bag rather than my 15deg bag. Whoops. That morning I checked out the view from the south rim then headed south again to Flagstaff. That town is really nice, would like to spend more time there! I felt like crap all day, had a sore throat (still do) and was tired so after Flagstaff I went down towards Sedona but missed the turnoff and ended up heading down highway 17 instead of 89A. I spotted a road on my map that jump between the two highways, but it ended up being a mountain pass rather than a road, so I took it! Up top the mountain I stopped and took a nap in the woods for a bit before heading down to Sedona. I was surprised to find that there is no camping around Sedona, so with night fall coming I heading to the cheapest motel I could find to get some good rest.
Today I rode with two fellas, John and James, both locals. We took a rather epic ride, of about 26miles through the most technical trails I've ever been on. A little too expert rated for me, ended up walking through a few tough sections. My throat was killing me all day, made things less enjoyable. I'll post pics up as soon as I can, but I'm sitting on James's laptop and got tons of pics to deal with that wouldn't be feasible at this time. Tomorrow either heading down to Phoenix or staying here and riding again with these guys, but on a less difficult trail...I hope.

My first somewhat Epic ride left me beat up a bit

2009-06-04T09:47:00.004-06:00

First off, if you don't know, Epic in the mtb community means a long, memorable, ride that is usually out of the way back into the mountains or just way off the road. Long to me means at very least 15miles, but more like 20+ miles and not a bunch of switchbacks on the side of a mountain. That's 20+ miles heading back off the road to a point where you look around and see nothing but other mountains and no sign of society.

So yesterday I went down to Diamond Fork Canyon just south of Provo Utah to hit up a loop there. It starts at Three Forks Trailhead down in the valley, then heads up Cottonwood Creek trail for about 4.6miles of rather easy going single track. This section of the trail has snakes!!! See my youtube vids for my first encounter with a rattle snake (user name: iambquinn). The trail forks and I headed up Second Water Creek trail to Rays Valley Rd (hard road). At this point you can take the hard road north to Fifth Water Creek trail and back down to the trail head for a 15mile loop, or you can be a man and go up further to the Center Trail...yesterday I decided to be a man.

Me smiling getting ready to head up to the Center Trail (no the trail isn't this wide, this is the entrance off the hard road to the trail which was 100% single track and much of it over grown)

At 5.7miles I crossed the road and headed towards Center Trail which is not an up kept mtb trail. It proved to slow me down too, the choppy trail that was recently ridden by a single dirtbike left chunks of dried earth that kept my tires from rolling easily. After a fairly easy climb up to the first fork where you can choose to go to Strawberry Ridge, the trail starts it's series of 'up and overs' to the next creek and fork. For about 7.5 miles you go over a small mountain, down to a creek, then up over another, and repeat this a couple times. The climbs were somewhat tuff, quite a few rocks and long inclines with some hike-a-bike sections.

The mud clogged up the bike a few times and the clay like soil stuck to the tires and added a few pounds that are felt in a big way on climbs. I must say, I was shot and did not make it up some inclines like I normally do. My body was starving for food, and all I brought were two protein bars that did nothing for me. I thought I could finish the loop in around 2hrs, but my lack of energy and slow average speed drug out the ride more than expected. Eventually I made it to the top of the last hill and enjoyed a fun downhill to Fifth Water Creek Trail which takes you another 5+miles to the trail head with a nice moderate downhill flow that made it all worth it.

An interesting find way back in the mountains...still not exactly sure what it is???
All was good until a nice little rock drop off got the better of me. It was around mile 18 on the side of a steep hill when I came upon a short drop of about 7ft in a couple steps. The first two were over roots and no biggie, then over some rocks to a final small drop-off of about 1.5ft. The drops themselves were nothing to write about, and I did a hundred of them just like it down in Moab, but the run-off was what bit me. The landing is slanted to the left and hard packed with a fine layer of dirt and small loose rock which proved to be my deal breaker. As I picked up speed quickly coming down the rock and drop-off (can't break much on drops) my front tire slid out from underneath and my bike and I slid down the hill about 10ft or so, which was plenty far on that type of surface. Normally when you fall on a bike you feel nothing, it's after you get up something starts to hurt, but this fall was different, in a bad way. As I was sliding my thumb was being pressed into the ground by my grip and I could feel it getting bent the wrong way and immediate pain shot into the big digit and sent the message to my brain. I felt the instant throbbing and discomfort and knew it wasn't going to be a short lived event. The ole right knee got a nice little cut too, but my thumb just got worse and worse.

At that point you can do nothing but hop back on the bike and suck it up, so that's what I did for the next couple miles to the trailhead. By then my thumb was swollen and super stiff with no chance of bending it without help from my other hand. I figured it would be ok, but it just got worse. Anyways, my thumb hurts and I'll get over it, it's just so darn frustrating!!!

The day after, good thumb on the right:
On my way out I met a super cool dude at a camp ground I was checking out. We had a nice long talk, one of those conversations that takes turns in all sorts of directions and ends up being three times as long as you think it really was, but in a good way. Definitely the type of person I was hoping to run into on my travel rather than the typical citizen that doesn't have much unique to talk about. Hopefully our paths will cross again in the future so we can continue the conversation we had going.

So back in SLC and resting today. My stinkin thumb kept me from falling asleep last night, so after only 6.5 hours of sleep I've decided to take the day off and rest...much needed.

All in all the ride was OK. It would've been much better with some good food in my belly for some energy and minus the thumb deal. Three hours 24min total, 21.11miles, and prob 12-14 uphill. Do it again, probably not. The Center Trail is just not a mtb trail, but I'm glad I did it once.
Tons of pics on my smugmug site of the ride. Click on the pic below to get into that area, starts on page 5 I believe. A couple of vids on youtube also of some snakes and review at the end.

Check out these little boogers

2009-05-30T12:55:00.002-06:00

So last night I headed up into Big Cottonwood canyon to camp at Willow Springs Lake. The weather was pretty crappy in the afternoon and at one point I decided not to go because of the thunder and lightning. Around 5:30 the skies started to break so I took off up the mountain. The temp down in the valley was mid 70's, but when I got to the trail head it was a brisk 52deg and dropping along with the sun. I reached camp fairly quick and set the tent up. It was cold, but that was my fault because I was wearing really light weights clothes. Gathering fire wood helped warm me up, except for my hands which got a little cold holding the wet limbs. Problem number 1: everything was WET, really wet. I got the driest, most dead fire starting material I could find, but after a good 30min of trying to get it going I had to give up. Everything in the area was still soaked from the rain that fell just an hour or so earlier.
I nestled up into my tent as the temps kept falling. I wrote a page in the journal and opened up Walk Across America Part 2, The Walk West for the first time. I got the book before I left but haven't started reading it yet, until now. I was surprised to find out I had some cell phone service so I talked to Carrie a bit before I hit the sack, literally. My sleeping bag kept me amazingly warm all night even though it was fairly chilly and I was far from dressed for it.
The morning came along with bright sunshine heated up the air quickly. I had some simple breakfast and started to pack the camp up when I got visitors in the form of some curious, furry, hungry, marmots. The locals here call them "potguts", but basically they are a perfect mixture of a squirrel and prairie dog. They live in groups or families, have underground towns, and chirp just like prairie dogs.
So anyways, I'm getting my tent tore down and two of these little guys start working their way towards me. I had some mixed nuts so I go them out and tossed a few peanuts towards one. Eventually he found the nuts and ate them up. Soon afterwards he took off back towards the colony and within a couple minutes he returned with friends! Next thing I know there were around 8 of these fellas searching my campsite for food. I figured they weren't harmful, and definitely not close to a bear, so I kept tossing more peanuts out for them and one by one they ate them up. Little by little they got more brave and wandered closer to me as I sat on a log near the fire pit. At one point I had a few of them within 6ft of me, and eventually one actually walked under the log and sniffed my shoe as it passed underneath. I was able to get some pics and videos that you can see on my smugmug page (click on the photo below), and the videos are on youtube (you can search by my user name: iambquinn).
It was a good two hours sitting there with my new friends and probably the most fun I've had since I got out here (different type of fun than mountain biking). Enjoy the pics and videos.

Video links: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCsPxANxEPE&feature=channel

Went on my longest to date hike today.

2009-05-28T22:46:00.002-06:00

I needed to scout out some potential campsites up the canyons so I headed out late this morning for Big Cottonwood canyon looking for Bear Trap Trail which heads up to Desolation Lake. My map shows a 4 mile walk to the intersection of Bear Trap and a mtb trail, then another 1/4 mile or so to the lake. Driving up Big Cottonwood I had trouble finding the trailhead and ended up seeing Willow Springs trailhead so I decided I would check it out being a really short walk at .8miles. The trail weaves through some really nice aspens (so much better to look at then rocks) and ends up in a meadow with a small lake about 1.5acres in size. A couple nice camp sites available, one of which is right next to the lake which totally pisses me off since this is a watershed canyon and you aren't supposed to camp within 200ft of any water...oh well. Here's one pic, some more on my smugmug site (click on the pic to take you there).

I took off back down the road looking for the Bear Trap trailhead and eventually found the rather elusive gate to the trail. After eating the second half of my nutritional bar I headed up towards Desolation Lake. Not far up the trail I spooked some mule deer that were browsing just off the trail. It was the first time I've seen mule deer not dead on the side of the road...cool. As I climbed the trail back into some pines bits of snow appeared ahead in the shadows. Soon the trail was completely underneath snow I had no way to tell which direction to head. I pulled my map out but all I could tell was that the trail followed the stream, so I decided to head straight up the hill and hope that I would be able to spot the lake. Well that straight up hike was a tad bit harder than I thought. After a solid one mile up a hill at probably around a 30-35deg I reached the ridge line well above my starting point, but no lake was within sight. Here is a view looking back towards my starting point...the road is on the other side of the hill, the trail is down and to the right.

I decided to moved up the ridge a bit more, but first I had to cross some snow

Once across the snow I moved just a bit more up the ridge and spotted the lake down below me, still covered in ice and snow

Needless to say I didn't venture down the steep snow covered slope to the lake, instead I enjoyed the view from the highest point I've climbed to date

The way back down was tough on the ole knees. I took a slightly different route that may not have been the best decision as it was as close to a mountain jungle as you can get between the shrubs and aspens. The visibility was about, oh, maybe 25ft ahead
So total I did about 11 miles, which means 5.5 miles up hill, which is tough on an ole Midwesterner. Tomorrow I hit up the bike trails again in Park City furthering my quest to get into the best shape of my life and ready for the real high altitude summer riding ahead. Life's good.

Getting my legs and lungs back!

2009-05-27T20:54:00.004-06:00

It's been rather frustrating the last few weeks here in Utah. I came here recovering from surgery that proved to set me back WAY further than I thought it would. My first three weeks of riding was pure physical hell for me, by far the most suffering on a bike I've experienced to date. The sad truth is that most of the riding I've done here has been somewhat tame compared to what is out there for me to soak up the rest of the summer. The altitude has been fairly low, anywhere from 4,200-8,500ft, compared to many 9,000ft+ trails that cover the western half of the US.
So anyways, yesterday Toby, his friend Bryce, and I took off up into the hills of Park City on my highest climb to date. Although we didn't have any accurate way of measuring the altitude, we were definitely above 8,000ft for a decent amount of our 5.5 mile climb.

Today I was feeling really good, so I decided I would head out for two bike rides. Yes, you heard me right, TWO bike rides in one day. Why you ask, because that is how I roll!!! Ok, so for real, I headed up Little Cottonwood Canyon this morning for a wake me up loosen the muscles ride. After 11 miles I headed back home for some fuel and took off again up Mill Creek Canyon to the Pipeline Trail. Today, since my legs were warmed up, I decided to head past our normal trail head and go to the top trail head which is another couple miles up the road and almost another 1,000ft higher. Total it was app 7 miles of climbing and I tell you what, it was almost the death of me. I told myself that I would not drop down into my small front chain ring (easiest to pedal), and I was able to do that but not without some serious burning in the ole legs. I made it back to the house after 15.7 miles of riding, and quickly through some recovery food into the stomach before I cleaned the bike up.

The best part of all this is that my legs feel really good right now. Not sore, stiff, tired, just the slightest feeling that I pushed them hard today. This is a great sign that my muscles are getting into shape along with my lungs getting used to the altitude. Another couple weeks and I'll be ready to hit the high trails once their dry and snow free. YEAH. And Nick, be prepared for a major butt whooping this fall when I come back home!!!

Man I'm getting old!

2009-05-25T19:11:00.002-06:00

Old injuries starting to rear their ugly faces on me. Two nights ago, the night of my last climb and the longest to date, my knees got frustratingly sore and stiff. I did quite a bit of stretching but when I woke the next morning the pain from the night before only worsened. All day I struggled with the discomfort hoping time would heel them. Today my morning was much better so I decided to hit the trails on the bike. Most of the ride was good, although the tougher climbing sections made me grit my teeth a bit over the knee issues. As expected both knees, and especially my "good" knee (the one I didn't have surgery on) started to get stiff and sore quick after the ride that even walking up 5 steps made me want to pop a leftover pain killer. I quickly decided I would head out tonight for an easy going ride that would loosen the knees up a bit, but after sitting for a couple hours they are only feeling worse and worse.
So I decided to pop a pain killer, eat some PB&J, and watch Deadliest Catch (which seems to be on ALL the time). The bad part about sitting around is I always want to eat something! Ughh!!!

Saturday May 23rd

2009-05-23T23:16:00.003-06:00

Had another lovely day. Started off with this fantastic home cooked meal that I must say was one of the better breakfast's I've had in awhile.
Worked out at the house for a couple hours before heading to an early showing of the new Terminator movie. WOW, very good. Definitely one to see. Got back home, stuffed some food down me for some energy and took off for a hike up the mountain behind the house. I was feeling pretty good so I decided to try my luck at reaching the peak today. The previous three climbs I stopped short afraid I would get too tired towards the top and pay for it the next day. But today was different, so up I went going for the top. The "top" wasn't quite the top I thought it was. Again I was fooled by the mountains different stages that keep you from seeing past each one. So as you climb and look up, the top you see is just a step in the mountain. To see the actual top you need to drive a couple miles away from the base to see the actual top, but from that far you can't tell that there are multiple 'stages' or 'steps' on the mountain. It's kinda tricky to explain really. So anyways, I did manage to go further today than before, a total of 2,400ft in a little over an hour which is far quicker than previous trips up. It's actually the climb down that gets to my legs more so, or shall I say knees. The accent is tiring for sure, but not hard on the knees like the decent. Anyways, here's a pic of me at the stopping point for today.
On the way down I had my first encounter with a snake. I almost stepped on the darn thing before it moved, scared the living crap out of me since I've been warned about rattle snakes here. It was actually fairly violent when I tried scooting him off the trail as you can see in this pic.
So I eventually made my way back home, made some dinner (taco salad, so yummy), then started loading videos on YouTube under my user name: iambquinn. Mostly family stuff, but check it out if you want.

Tomorrow I hit the bike trails again. Going to start pushing it harder each ride to get into the shape I need to be in. We'll see how that goes.

Made it back from Moab, although a little beat up.

2009-05-22T12:11:00.005-06:00

Well, Moab UT. Possibly the #1 mtb destination in all of the US. Located in basically a desert region of Utah, Moab offers a variety of mtb trails from the Slickrock area to some higher elevation rides up in Hazard County area. The most notably trails being Porcupine Rim and Slickrock proved to be interesting in different ways.
Toby and arrived in Moab on Monday May 18th to 97deg temps, ouch! We headed to a campsite that Toby had stayed at before, down near the river in some shade which helped, but the $12/night fee didn't help out the wallet so we headed to the Poison Spider Bicycle shop for some advice on free camping. The ever so friendly guys at PSB pointed us UP to a free site in the national forest area to the east of Moab. The drive up was long and slow in the ole Acura as the washboard dirt road was rough going. After an almost 40min drive up the mountain we found the side road to the campsite. The road, or shall I say trail was deeply rutted and not what I'd call car territory. After some careful maneuvering we made it to the campsite which turned out to be really nice, sporting a picnic table, fire pit, and even a bathroom just 40yards away! Not what we expected. Oh yeah, just up the trail another 80yards or so was the rim of the canyon that offered an amazing view! We were going to camp there but the picnic table sold us on our spot. Here's the view of the canyon.

The rainbow that graced us with it's presence

That night we rode around the trails that passed by the campsite, the UPS/LPS and down to the start of the Porcupine Rim Trail (PRT). The small section was amazing, offering up some of the most challenging single track we had both ever ridden, and this was just a small portion of what Moab had to offer.

Tuesday morning brought cloudy skies and cool temps, YEAH. We ate some grub and headed down to the Slickrock trail at the bottom of the mountain. The Slickrock trail is one of those 'must do' at Moab. It's unique because you basically ride on solid rock for about 2 hours. There are painted dashed lines on the rock leading you in the right direction so you don't ride circles in the never ending sea of rolling rocks. Honestly, I hate to say it, but I didn't care for this trail. With nothing around you it felt boring and even though there were some technical sections that kept your mind focused, it just seemed boring to me. So on we go...

Slickrock area

After the ride we went into town for a bit, grabbed breakfast at the Moab Diner then headed over to Milt's for a chocolate malt. We eyed the burgers they were cooking and decided we must come back to try them out. Oh yeah, the malt was excellent.

That evening we rode up from the campsite getting on the Kokepelli trail which is a double track (two bike widths wide, usually used for more than just biking). The trail is pretty easy and not to exciting especially when climbing up and up and up, BUT when you turn around and haul major butt all the way down it, the trail becomes super fun. It was about a mile or so of ultra fast (prob around 25-30mph average) dirt track with just enough terrain changes to keep you very focused. We decided that night to hit up the big route on Wednesday, so we rested up in preparation for that.

Wednesday morning we drove down into town to the PSB shop and caught the shuttle that takes you way up into the hills for the most epic ride possible in Moab.

The drive up was about 50min and ends in a nice meadow in Hazard County.

The start of the ride is on the Hazard trail, which consist of a short climb and then a very fast and technical single track that meets up to the Kokepelli trail. During this section I had a nasty fall that could've put me in the hospital with ease. I was leading Toby through a sea of aspens hauling the mail, prob around 20mph, when in mid turn my rear wheel caught an exposed root and whipped the bike out from under me. My momentum took me over the handle bars and nearly flung me into two large aspens that had broken bones written all over them. Luckily I missed the trees by a foot or so and landed rather softly in some bushes. After a quick inspection of the bike and my body, we took off riding again.

I noticed in the downhill section of the Kokepelli that something felt a little off on my bike, but I was unable to put a finger on what exactly was wrong. Once onto the UPS trail which turns into a very technical rocky section I kept having steering issues and every time I braked the bike would pull to the left. I was trying to keep up with Toby so my focus was mostly on the trail ahead of me, but after a couple near falls I began loosing my focus and ended up eating it bad on some rocks resulting in some nice cuts on bruises on both my left knee and right ankle. After I picked myself up off the ground I noticed what exactly was wrong with my bike. The front tire was going flat AND my steering angle had gotten tweaked in the fall up the hill in the aspens. That explained a lot! Since I was close to the campsite I walked the bike down the hill about 1/4mile to get things fixed up. After about 30min and fixing two flats (patched the tube but it didn't hold air), we got back on the trail once again.

At this point we were still on UPS trail and about 10min from the PRT start. I had lost all rhythm and was now going pretty slow which actually can be a bad thing in the rocks. Without some momentum the small drop-offs can be harsh on both the bike and body. Eventually I started getting my groove back and picked the pace back up.

There are a couple ways to describe the PRT. One is LONG. The other is BRUTAL. The rocks are pretty much 90% of the terrain, they range from small loose rock to large boulderisk sized, and in some sections you ride on solid rock with gaps that are big enough to roll down into, so you pretty much have to ride fast on those and let the bike soak up the bumps. This may not sound bad but believe me when I say it, those sections are hell on both the bike and your arms and legs! It's like riding over a sea of speed bumps, or like riding down a railroad track without rocks between each tie. It's just plain harsh.

The fun parts of the PRT are the short sections of larger rock that you must weave through usually followed by some drop offs. To better explain, the lenght of these sections are about 10-20ft, you drop down on average about 8-10ft total in that length, and that usually means you go downhill through rocks, then drop off a rock at the bottom onto the semi flat ground. Focus is the key in those sections. If you fall you are going to get hurt. There are probably around 20-25 of those in the top 3/4 of the PRT.

The trail then turns into single track and gets a little harder. As you enter the canyon area the rocks get bigger, the trial becomes much tighter, and the fall become much more serious. Basically put, if you fall to the right on this section you will more than likely end up in the hospital or 6ft under. The scary part of this section (other than the canyon down below), is the sand on top of the rocks. It's everywhere and makes things very slippery. Even the simple descents can be tricky because of the slippery terrain. There are a few sections that require walking the bike over obstacles, and a few sections that very qualified riders can conquer, but would surely result in injury to novice riders.

An example of a tough section of the trail. Yes, plenty of rides go through this with relative ease.
The bottom of the trail dumps you into the Colorado River canyon followed by a few mile ride on paved roads into town. Overall it took us 3hr and about 20min to complete. Take away our 30min stop to fix my bike and the 4-5 stops for water and pics, we might be able to complete it in 2hrs flat with some trail knowledge under our belts. The downside to riding it faster is the risk you take in falling at speed. Simply put, there are VERY FEW spots on the PRT that you can fall without hurting yourself. Rocks are not soft!

That night I took the evening off to let my tired and bruised body heal up. Toby rode a quick loop around the campsite before calling it a night. Thursday morning we heading down into town for the last time and hit up the PSB shop for advice on our last ride. They sent us to the Sovereign trail just north of town near Willow Springs. The trail is low altitude (4,000ft) and very technical, but not quite so harsh on the body and bike. It was definitely fun, but between my beat up body and Toby's rear hub going out on his bike, we made it into a short day and road for maybe an hour or so before calling it quits. I would definitely like to ride that entire trail system though.

Soooo, back in SLC, slept 11 hours last night. Bike is in shop getting rims trued (poor girl). Going to take the weekend off to recover and rest up...maybe. Later

The differences between SLC and Peoria

2009-05-17T10:29:00.002-06:00

First off, the scenery is obviously much better here. With mountains on either side you always have a view here. The weather is quite a bit different here too. SLC is actually in a valley so down here they get little rain throughout spring/summer/fall averaging only 1in each month. The temps are hot averaging above 90 in both July and August, but the big difference is the strength of the sun. Winter average temps are highs around 40 while snow fall in the valley is about 60in per year. The Alta Ski resort averages around 500 inches of snow per year!

Sunshine, sunshine, and more sunshine. That's the story for 5 months out of the year here and it's wonderful. Knowing when you wake up that more than likely it'll be sunny out is very nice.

Lifestyle difference. SLC is a diverse city, and remember it is a big city. The center of the city, down in the valley seems to be the more average living with smaller houses and yards in a rather dense forest, but with smaller trees than in Peoria so they aren't so overpowering. The closer you get to the hills the fancier it becomes with houses easily soring over 1 million dollars each. The difference between home prices is also huge, with some house sizes doubling in price here over Peoria. For example, just down the street from my current living place, a ranch with 2500sq ft between both levels asking price is $350K. That same house in Peoria I would consider around 150-170K depending on the location.

While we're on the subject of money, there is quite a bit of it here, and I imagine many of them are doctors with 5 major hospitals here in SLC and millions of people to take care of. It's not uncommon to see many really nice cars (Porsche's and such) in a rather short drive along the hillsides. But with money also comes poverty, and there is plenty of that too here. It's been a long time since I've been asked for a few dollars for "food," but it's happened here twice in the 9 days I've been here.

On to the single biggest difference I've noticed about SLC compared to Peoria. The lifestyle people live here is incredibly different. When people get off of work they head outdoors. Bicycling, hiking, rock climbing, skiing, rafting, boating, you name it and someone is doing it. The weekends are crazy busy outside with cyclist everywhere on the roads in hundreds, and not just putting around neighborhoods, but riding dozens of dozens of miles a day and many riding over 100 miles a day for leisure and training for racing. Every hiking trail has all sorts of people on it and each well known rock climbing face usually has someone climbing up it. Before you say people go for walks in Peoria too, remember the difference now. A hike here can consist of walking up mountains for miles and in high altitude which compared to a practically flat walk at sea level, well it's a HUGE difference. To sum things up, people here embrace the outdoors like I've never seen before and it's wonderful to see.

Because of the active lifestyle of SLC'ers, they are noticeably healthier too. When you walk through the grocery store everyone seems fit. I guess I never really knew how unhealthy Peoria/midwest was until I came here. I saw the mayor of SLC on tv the other day and it was great to know that unless it's snowing out he rides his bike to work EVERY day with his suit on! That's just the type of people that live out west.

One thing that drove me nuts back home was when I asked someone "what's new," or "what did you do over the weekend," I always got the same boring answers which didn't conclude to much of anything. Out here it's completely different, in a much better sense. Friday evenings it seems like every camp site in the area is full of families that are staying the weekend. People take off on major hikes (multi day routes), go ski mountaineering (usually an all day activity)...etc. They don't sit at home wasting their lives away.

Ok, you probably get the point by now. I'm also getting tired of writing about this, so I'm ending it here. Here's a pic of what I did yesterday when I had 2 hours free before going to a movie (not what most midwesterners would do with 2 free hours):

Friday May 15th Adventures

2009-05-15T21:56:00.002-06:00

Another beautiful day here in SLC, about 70 degrees and a little cloudy. Toby and I took off from the house back into Little Cottonwood canyon and met Future at some boulders to do some climbing. Time quickly went by and we eventually called it a day at lunch time. After a quick bite to eat we jumped on our bikes and headed up Millcreek to the Pipeline trail. I paid a little better attention to the odometer this time, and by the time we got back to the house is was right at 14 miles, and that's 1/2 uphill!!!

I was feeling really good today so after another quick bite to eat (gotta keep the body fed) I took off on a hike up the mountain behind the house. After one hour and five minutes I reached a good place to take a break and write in my journal for bit. It was such an amazing feeling sitting on the mountain, over looking Salt Lake City with Mount Olympus across the canyon to the south. I had to question why I have been living in the midwest for so long???

After a long hike down, which can be just as tiring when traversing loose rock and steep hills, I decided to take the evening off and relax. Taco salad again for dinner, man I'm hook on this stuff!

Here are some pics for ya:

A spider with a fresh catch

My cozy little writing spot

And one of the MANY piles of deer poop you come across while hiking

Getting skunked rock climbing style

2009-05-14T18:26:00.004-06:00

Well this morning we were up early (7:30) and heading out the door to climb with Future in Little Cottonwood canyon where a section broke out of the mountain leaving and gnarly face to tackle. From the road it look awesome, and as we approached through the trees it looked even better. About half way up the hike Toby picked up on some bear tracks, another first for me! Luckily the bear wasn't near by, or at least that we could tell. When we got to the boulder that was the section that broke away from the mountain we were in awe at the state it settled in. As it broke off, apparently in sections, the rocks collided and left a nice little passage between each other (see pics). This offered a really cool spot to climb with the right gear, but unfortunately we didn't have that said gear with us today.

So a short bit more and we reached the opening and were staring at the massive face, a solid 100 yards long and a good 35-40ft tall at the climbing point. There was a semi steep face that went up to a shelf that was somewhat manageable to walk on granted you kept your footing in mind. Toby skimpered up that so he could take a look at the route that we were told existed on the far left of the face. After looking for a couple minutes we realized there was no route! A couple phone calls got us nowhere and we all looked at each other in amazement and disbelief wondering "what do we do now?" We just hiked up this hill quite a ways through some nasty brush to have nothing to climb? We hoped that maybe the route was on one of the sides just out of view, so we checked those out. Nope. Dang!

So down the hill we went, around the boulders, through the woods (this time we found a slight path that had been traveled recently), and eventually back to the cars to call it a morning. Why not go somewhere else you ask? The light was the main reason we headed up rather early, when the light is on the climber it's just not the perfect scenario, and for a climb like this we need the light to be perfect. Oh well, this evening will have to do.

The gap between the fallen boulders, notice the size of the rocks compared to future climbing up into them:

The climbing face from the boulders:

Toby climbing up to the face:

Where the section was supposed to be:

...and the walk of shame...no climb this morning : (

More pics on my smugmug site under the "Climbing and Hiking/Hiking" section. Since we didn't actually climb I figured it would be false advertising putting it in the climbing section.

Once home Toby and I ate some food like we usually do all the time, then rode out bike down to Tanner Park to check out the dirt jump scene. It was slightly out of our league! So we came back and both of us crashed. I woke up when Toby was leaving to go bouldering with Future, and am now writing this before I go see Star Trek (can't believe in a million years I am going to a theater to watch Star Trek!). Good night all.

My First Real Hike

2009-05-13T18:53:00.003-06:00

Well, had some down time this afternoon and was feeling good so I took off from the house and headed UP! There is a good size mountain directly behind us, not sure how tall it is, but it's up there far enough for a midwesterner like me. To make a long story short the accent took a little more than an hour and about 40min to hike down. The view is always breath taking (or maybe that was the altitude getting to my lungs), and it just makes you feel great to make it up to the top...well almost. From the road the 'top' is not actually the top. Once I got on the rocks that appeared to be the top of the mountain I found out it was far from it. Probably another hour hike to make it all the way and not what I could handle this early on. Here is a pic of me at the highest point I made it to.

The house is down there in the first neighborhood. Trust me when I say it's a LONG ways down!

The actual top is this:

Picked up another hobby today!

2009-05-13T15:38:00.005-06:00

So what do people do that want to rock climb but are scared to death of heights? They "Boulder." That's right, it's a sport of climbing these huge boulders. Some are only 8ft tall, some are 20ft. Some are easy, some are extremely difficult and offer an excellent challenge to even the most experienced climbers. Either way it's a lot of fun and a heck of a lot cheaper than actual rock climbing since you don't have to have all the gear associated with hanging off cliffs.
Anyways, today Toby and I went bouldering for a bit this morning. It was my first time, and I must say it was rather difficult, especially on my sensitive office working hands. The strength needed to hold your entire body by only your finger tips or stand on just the tip of your toes is far greater than expected. Here is a pic of the first boulder I climbed.

Here is a pic of Toby climbing up a more difficult boulder.

Getting Ready For Some Camping!

2009-05-12T20:55:00.005-06:00

Got most all of my camping gear (don't ask how much it all cost). Been setting up/tearing down the tent so I can do it with my eyes closed some day. Here she is all setup in the back yard. I was going to sleep in it tonight, but since I've been drinking tons of water while getting used to the altitude I end up needing to get up at night about 3 times to hit the restroom!

Heading to MOAB!!!!

2009-05-12T13:51:00.004-06:00

Well, tomorrow Tobias and I are taking off to Moab UT, which is known as one of the best mountain biking destinations in the US, if not THE BEST (EDIT: postponing the trip a couple days). It's only 4 hours away which is nice, so we'll be able to ride tomorrow afternoon for sure. The weather will be a little on the hot side, mid 80's which will feel like 100 because all of the rock and no shade, but if we don't go now we'd have to wait until fall.

Took a drive around SLC today visiting bike shops. The city is very packed in. Small yards, tons of shops and restaurants, and people out everywhere. One really nice thing about SLC is how the people are geared towards being outside and enjoying nature. You see people riding their bikes all the time, and not just for leisure. Many people ride to work, to stores, or out for lunch. The atmosphere is also a lot more laid back and it shows in the way people talk to you. So far I like it a lot more than the environment back in the midwest. Another example; when people get off of work they rush home to head right back out the door to go cycling, rock climbing, hiking, skiing, anything to do with being active and outside. Exactly the type of lifestyle I was looking for. I can now see why Toby likes it here so much.

So after Moab I'm going to start camping here and there. Not sure where the next trip is going to be. The weather here is perfect right now so we may stick around and hit up the trails around here before it gets too hot. Once mid June comes around, Toby has to start working again and I will plan a few week long trips to some other well known mtb areas. Will keep you updated!

Another super day in SLC

2009-05-11T21:28:00.002-06:00

Weather here is perfect this time of year. Sunny and around 70, which feels more like high 70's because the altitude intensifies the sun's effect. Toby and I rode to a nearby park in the morning, then went to I Street Trails which is a dirt jumping park. See the pics on my smugmug page under MTB/Trail Pics. Here's one of Toby going off a jump.

My body is tired, sore, trying to keep up with the activities but not doing so well. I'm taking tomorrow off from riding and may go 'bouldering' with Toby which is like rock climbing but just on large boulders (10-15ft tall). It's a way for people like me with a fear of heights to have some climbing fun.

Short update

2009-05-10T18:43:00.002-06:00

Still in SLC. Been riding each day and it's kickin my butt. In Peoria a ride is usually only 5-7 miles and not much in the way of hills. Out here you start your ride by climbing up a mountain (not walking, but riding) and that is anywhere from 2 to 6 miles of uphill terror. From that point you actually start the fun stuff. I have been struggling to recover from each day's ride, so every day it's been harder and harder for me, and that doesn't include the altitude difference.

Today we rode in Park City which is a beautiful town just 20min east of SLC. The ride was a bit more mellow on the climb which was nice, but the rest was flat out fast. By far the fastest single track I've ever ridden and way cool. I did have my first fall today and even nicked the bike up a bit : ( along with some cuts and bruises on my right side which took the hit on some rocks. That's riding for ya though.

Supposed to head down to Moab in a couple of days so I'm taking a few days off from anything crazy to hopefully get back to 100%.

Few new pics on my site...see above post on how to find those.

Day 2 in SLC

2009-05-08T22:48:00.005-06:00

Jeez, what a wuss I am. I woke up a little sore, especially my knee, so I threw on the brace before we took off for some more rock climbing with Toby, Mike, and "Future" from Dallas. Future is a young climbing, only out of high school for a year, but is already very well known for his crazy sick climbing abilities. When he came out to SLC for some climbing him and Toby hooked up to do some climbing and photographing for Future's sponsors. Needless to say these guys convinces me that they are crazy! Check out the pics of Future climbing this overhang, look for the little guy in blue shirt (more at my site).

I actually got a little bored of looking up and my neck was giving me hell too, so I wrote in my journal for about an hour on the side of the mountain while they put their lives on the line. I started to get a little hot from the scorching sun so I took a short hike up the mountain we were on. Another first, not the hike, but I came across some moose poop! It was like 30 large grapes in a pile : )

Got to see a neat little waterfall, but unfortunately my camera battery was flashing red so I didn't take it on my hike. Right before we left I took a self portrait overlooking the canyon we were in.

Once Matt got home from work we took off up the canyon road to ride the same trail I did the day before. Toby was being fairly nice to me knowing I wasn't in super shape, but Matt had none of that pity for me and was soon out of sight climbing the long accent. Needless to say as I sit here typing this my legs are sore! But I'm glad I pushed it because that is the only way I'll get in shape quick.

Next week we might head down to Moab if it doesn't hit 90 degrees, so I need to be ready for that.

I'm sore, tired, ready for bed...I'm out.

The first day!

2009-05-08T22:37:00.004-06:00

Couldn't have been better. I got to SLC around 11:30, Toby and I took off to some local bike shops and a REI to look for some camping equip and biking shorts. When we got back we took off from the house up a canyon to hit a fun trail. The climb up the canyon wasn't so fun, about 5.5miles all uphill!!!! My butt was not ready for that, yet alone handling it in the altitude. At one point on the road a sign said 5,800ft and I tell you what, that makes a big difference especially for someone coming from ~400ft. Once we got on the trail it was pretty easy and fast. The trail basically runs alongside the mountain and slightly downhill, enough that I was on my large chain ring the entire time except one short uphill section. At the end of the trail there is an overlook of the city that offered a splendid view of SLC.

The downhill section was crazy fun! Had to ride the brakes basically the entire time and maneuver around lots of rocks. Definitely not like the short downhill sections back in Peoria.

After we got back home Toby, Matt, Mike, and I went rock climbing (ok, so I didn't actually climb but I watched). It was super cool seeing them scale up the rocks like I've never seen before, and these were considered easy!

Right before dark Toby tried climbing a more difficult rock but light quickly faded and he had to come down.

Another first was I saw a moose! It was just a baby, but none the less super cool. Even the baby was huge compared to the deer back home.

The drive west

2009-05-08T22:12:00.005-06:00

Well, the day finally came. I left Wednesday May 6th at 3:30am from my friend Nick's house heading for Denver to stay at a family members house for the night. The drive was the longest I've ever done by myself, and actually the longest period. Total it took 14hrs 20min with 4 very quick stops for gas and lunch.

The drive itself is rather boring. I mean, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, and eastern Colorado can't get much worse than that. I was bored enough I took a bunch of pics while driving and posted them under the "Travel" section of my smugmug page (look at the links on this page for that site).

It was nice getting to Denver with plenty of light left. There was some decent overcast that hovered over the mountains, but in a few you can barely see them as I approached from the far side of Denver. The first time I actually saw them I was 88 miles from my destination which is a good 10 miles from the base of the mountains, so I could see them from app 100miles away! It sounds weird, but I got a little choked up when I first saw them. I felt like Clark Griswald when he saw Wally World in the first Vacation series movie.

The next morning I left at 4:40am for Salt Lake City Utah. The first hour or so was in the dark, but as I approached Cheyenne Wyoming the sun very quickly rose to light up the rather barren landscape. One cool thing was all the antelope I saw on this section of the trip. I guessed I saw close to 1,000 total in Colorado and Wyoming!

One thing I didn't realize was the altitude difference heading up into Wyoming. Denver is app 5,000ft and just 90miles north Cheyenne is around 7,360ft and the pass up to Laramie is approaching 8,000ft! The car definitely doesn't have the power at the altitude to make it up hills without downshifting, and it kills your gas mileage too!

After Laramie Wyoming becomes a high altitude desert offering very little to the eye, at least along highway 80. There were a few straight sections of road that seemed to disappear into the horizon, and it felt like nothing cruising at 90mph : )

Once I approached Utah the Wasatch mountain range showed it's snow covered caps in the distant. My excitement grew as I got closer and closer. The drive down into the valley to SLC was fun, a bunch of twisty roads that offered plenty of fun for enthusiastic drivers. Like many cities nestled away in the mountains, you basically come around a corner and there it is. The city is surrounded by mountains on both east and west that still hold some deep snow. You can't really see the Salt Lake unless you are on a hill, and the city seems to go off into the farthest stretches of your eyesight. Overall it's beautiful to look at. Lucky for me Toby's house is right at the entrance of 80 into the city and just 1/4mile off the highway!

You like Gyros? Check this one out!

2009-04-30T07:04:00.008-06:00

Ah, one of my favorite things to do, EAT! And one of my fav things to eat is the gyro from Fedoras (along with the Spicy Italian sand which)! Check out this baby, this is the gyro deluxe, comes with extra meat plus the tomatoes and onions, and the super delicious cucumber sauce. EVERY person that has had a gyro from Fedoras claims it is the best they have had without a doubt. If you are every in the mood for some great authentic Italian food, check out Fedoras in both Chillicothe and Peoria IL. Great food, great service (father & son family owned)!

Sorry for lack of posting

2009-04-16T08:13:00.003-06:00

Things are just really slow for me right now. With the trails muddy I can't ride, so my typical day lately is work, go to gym or for walk in the woods, then head over to the GF's house and watch some tv. I don't have a computer at home anymore and we lost our internet card at work so I can't bring the laptop home anymore. I'm slightly bored.

The good news is that we have some nice days here before more rain so I'm heading out for a ride tonight and tomorrow, then maybe Saturday before it rains. I've heard the trails are drying up fast so we'll see. I did get my Yakima bike rack yesterday so I'm excited to have that now. Will make hauling the bike around sooooo much easier than slipping it into my trunk.

Not sure about getting a laptop before I go, so may not be able to keep this up-to-date like I thought I would. We'll see.

Going Away Parties

2009-04-15T13:26:00.002-06:00

Friday May 1st at Tomcats on Pioneer Parkway from 3:30-???
This is open invitation party, mainly work friends.
Sunday May 3rd in Bloomington for family at John and Sheri's from 12-3

Why do we degrade our lives?

2009-04-03T08:51:00.002-06:00

Another thing that came to me last night while at a bar with some friends. If there is not one positive result taken away from doing something, then why the hell do we do those things?
I've been thinking for awhile about quitting drinking. It's not like I'm an alcoholic, I very rarely even get a buzz when I'm drinking, and I hate going to bars (unless it's like an Old Chicago or BWW type place). I've asked myself this numerous times, why do I keep drinking at a social level? What is it doing for me? What positive outcomes stem from drinking alcohol over water?
The answer: NONE
Then why do I do it?
Why does anyone do it?
And here comes the difference in the typical person and myself. Last night, April 2nd 2009 I decided to quit drinking alcohol. Indefinitely, I don't know. Maybe a toast of champagne at a wedding, but at a bar, a friends house playing cards, a cookout, DONE FOR, NO MORE. It cost more, is un needed calories, negatively effects my health, does nothing for me, and I will be a better person for it.
Ask yourself today what you do in life that gives nothing good back in return, and challenge yourself to quit it.

Thoughts "Over my dead body"

2009-04-03T08:23:00.002-06:00

Last night I was writing in my journal and came up with something. What would you want said about your life on your funeral day? Think about this for a second. Say a brother, a friend, a child, is standing over your grave getting ready to give a short speech about your life. How do you want that to go? The answer to that question is the simplest way to set priorities in your life and live your life to the fullest.
For instance, if all you want is for someone to say "He was a great person, loved his family, and do nobody wrong," then you could live a pretty simple non adventurous lifestyle and be happy. What if you wanted the acknowledgements of your achievements to carry on into the night and inspire each and every person tossing flowers onto your casket? Then you would have to carry out a different lifestyle compared to the average Joe. So which person are you? I figured out last night that there is no f*ing way I'm going to be that average Joe with nothing interesting to be told about.
So what brought this on you ask? Sitting at a bar last night I looked around and wondered to myself, if I were to ask everyone in this place to share an exciting story of their lives with me (that happened in the last month or so) I can bet that the vast majority would have nothing to tell me. "Well, I work, eat, sleep, hang out with friends...etc." WTF kind of life is that? How long can one person continue that lifestyle before they realize that they are wasting away the (possible) only life they have? It's no wonder the depression rate in the US is at an all time high.
So back to my original question, are you living the life that would provide the type of stories you want to be told over your grave? Or are you just another person out there letting life fly by one day at a time?

It's so warm and I can't do squat! Grrrr

2009-03-16T07:58:00.002-06:00

This is killing me. I'm sitting in bed, typing this, looking outside at the sunshine and can't do much of anything to enjoy it. Typically on nice spring days I'm walking through the woods, riding the bike (mtb or motorcycle), but no, I am far from 100% and get so wore out just walking down the street and back it only makes me frustrated. At times it's tough to stay positive, especially when your life revolves around being active and adventurous, and you're stuck sitting around doing jack squat. As much as I hate technology and wish the inhabitants of this planet weren't so dependent on all the gadgets, I am glad I have a computer on my lap and am broadcasting this post to the entire world.
I can't wait to be back to 100%!!!

Recovery begins : )

2009-03-12T12:25:00.002-06:00

The day after surgery (had a hernia fixed). Never a great day in my mind. The pain, discomfort, swelling, anticipation to be back to 'normal', it's just frustrating to me. I like my life to be controlled, by me, and when something keeps me from doing what I want to do I get upset. Since I don't have to be at work and have Carrie as my home nurse things aren't too bad. Got served breakfast and lunch in bed, have an excuse to fart in front of her, and all I have to do is call her name and she comes running. Ok, maybe this recovery deal isn't too bad. It's just too bad she has to work tomorrow.
The worse part about this all is the time for full recovery will be 6 weeks, which puts me right about at my departure date when I have my restrictions lifted. I had planned on using these weeks for intense training to prepare for the higher altitudes I'll be hiking and biking in. I'm worried now that the first few weeks are going to be really hard on me physically. Oh well, I'm all fixed up and don't have to worry about this again...hopefully.

Devil's Offering

2009-03-10T20:40:00.002-06:00

Ok, here's a test for you. Guess what I am.
- Women want me
- Humans lust over me
- I feel so good in hands
- Men want me also
- I create greed
- I am dreamed about
- I have the power to drive people mad
- People believe I am the path to happiness
- People travel from afar to win me
- I am not sexual
- I stem from large stems
- I am recyclable
- I control lives
- I destroy lives
- Friendships are ruined over me
- I am killed for
- I am a killer
- I am evil

I am money.

Grrrr, COPS

2009-03-09T14:01:00.002-06:00

Ok, nothing personally against police officers. I know a few, they are good people, BUT it seems every time I follow one when driving they completely disregard the law by not using turn signals, speeding, not stopping completely...etc. How are we supposed to conform to the laws and be good abiding citizens if the folks that are hired to uphold those same laws can't follow em themselves? This past weekend I followed an officer for a few miles through the city and he never once used his turn signal, ran a constant 5-10mph more than the speed limit, and rolled through stop signs like my grandpa ("because nobody else stops"), and this car had a brake light out. I wish us 'normal' citizens had the ability to pull over officers and write them citations for this stuff. I could waste an entire weekend doing so!

"Redneck Moving Day!"

2009-03-09T13:54:00.002-06:00

I had to share these

Check Out My Fortunes!

2009-03-06T09:16:00.002-07:00

So I go to a Chinese buffet once a week for lunch and since I've decided to pack up and leave boring ole central IL my fortunes have aligned with my decisions and thoughts in a scary fashion. Check them out:
#1 - This one was just funny, so I had to keep it. "Among the lucky, you are the chosen one.
#2 - This was when I started dreaming about the mountains, fresh air, no alarm clocks. "The dream is within you.
#3 - Then I started to question giving up a good paying job and living with only the bare minimums "No need to worry! You will always have everything that you need."
#4 - "Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out."
#5 - I was starting to get a little worried about the house not selling when I got this one. "Time and patience are called for, many surprises await you!"
#6 - I started talking to fellow mountain bikers online and get this "The time is right to make new friends."
#7 - "Find release from your cares, have a good time." Ok, will do.
#8 - "You will soon witness a miracle." I'm still waiting on this one.
#9 - Then I get this one, "Travel is in your future." Duh, but fitting.

The funny thing is that everyone I eat with at this place gets plain old boring fortunes that aren't worth reading twice, let alone keeping and living by. So I guess this is all meant to be!

Gas Prices, What's The Deal Folks?

2009-03-06T09:08:00.002-07:00

Are the people in the country being screwed by higher levels and laughed at over Tuesday tea at the local country club? How can gas go from $1.79 to $2.09 in just over a week? WTF??? If Obama really wanted to win over some skeptical citizens he would pass a law that states gas can't not rise more than "X" amount per day/week/month, whatever. This is total crap! Who is controlling the gas prices, how do they determine what they should be, and how come the government isn't looking out for the tax payers (whom pay their salaries)? What ever happened to the "We the people, by the people, for the people...?"

I Just Don't Have The Time!!!!

2009-03-04T09:07:00.002-07:00

Have you ever really stopped and thought about this? How can it be that every one's lives are so ridiculously busy these days, that we don't even have time to talk to family/friends, go for walks, fix a nice dinner, take a nap, enjoy life? Has it always been this way, or have we evolved into this lifestyle over the years? It seems like every time I try to arrange a dinner, party, shopping trip, whatever it may be, I get the typical response about having something going on, or "I'll have to see, things are just so crazy right now." I don't think our fore fathers had this problem. Life had to be more simple 'back in the days'. Are we going to look back on our lives at one point and think, "gosh, I never really stopped to enjoy life like I should have?"
I've had a ton of people ask me how I've lost my weight and the first thing I like to say is "I made it my priority in life." Which means, I left work and went straight to the gym or the mountain bike trail. I didn't run errands, I didn't rest for a bit, I put my health first. After all, we only have one body right?
So what happens when you live this crazy lifestyle where you are constantly on the go giving yourself no time to 'stop and smell the flowers?' Will you be the one to look back on your life and wish you would've lived a bit differently? Do you want to take that risk? What if you die at age 50? On your death bed would you be sad that you didn't live your life to the fullest? Why wait for retirement to relax and enjoy life, after all there are no guarantees that you will make it to that point in your life. Right? What are you waiting for?

Our Extremely Unhealthy Country!

2009-03-04T08:09:00.002-07:00

Another rant here...I have a McDonald's only 1/4mile from my home. I pass it on my way to work, I pass it on my way home from work, and usually when I run out for errands. EVERY time I pass by this McDonald's, they drive thru is full. It can be at 5:30am, 12pm, or 9pm...doesn't matter.
Have you ever watched the movie Super Size Me? I watched it once and since then have ate McDonald's 3 times, and two of those times were for a breakfast sandwich when I was traveling for work and had no other choice than starving. There is really nothing on the menu that can be considered healthy, although they make things appear to be healthy all the time. Take for instance a grilled chicken sandwich. Yeah, a piece of grilled chicken is healthy, but what about when you add cheese and sauce to it? Those two can add hundreds of calories and dozens of grams of fat and bring the health level of that sandwich down considerably. And the salads! Don't get me started on them. Do you know a grilled chicken caesar salad from Chili's has over 1,000 calories? Cheese and dressing people.
So, back to my rant topic. Is it just me that looks around and sees that well over 50% of the people in this country are overweight, and that many of the "ideal" weight people are still unhealthy but luckily have great genes or super high metabolism that keeps their figures in check? I mean, how many people can run a mile without gasping for air? 1/2 mile? 1/4 mile?
Before you go thinking I'm crude about this, let it be known that at one time I was one of those overweight fools that found the drive through so pleasing to mind and body. The feeling of a quarter pounder with cheese sliding down my throat was so satisfying, and way too frequent. After watching Super Size Me I quit eating fast food except for an occasional Taco Bell visit (far better than burgers and fries), and quickly found my energy level increasing along with my weight dropping. The next step was to give up soda(now only water), which yielded another 10lbs seemingly overnight, add in a little exercise and what do ya know, I'm back to a healthy person again. It's that easy people!!!! Give up the crap food and soda, start going for walks instead of watching TV, and you WILL feel a difference.

Picked up the NEW MTB!!!

2009-02-28T04:19:00.005-07:00

Well, yesterday I picked up the new MTB (Mountain Bike) from Little Ades in Pekin. First I need to throw out props to my boys at Ades, they are the best! To find a shop that has real MTB enthusiast with great mechanical knowledge and be very competitive on prices is super hard to find these days, and they fill that role amazingly well. Special thanks to Mike Antonini (owner) for his patience and making the phone call to his Specialized rep which may be the deal maker on a job for me at Spesh'.
Now on to the goods...the bike is awesome. The color is growing on me at every glance. I need to post of pic of the beast! On mtb's the weight is critical and directly effects your overall performance. My old bike was a whopping 42.5lbs, which is really heavy, but this new Specialized Stumperjumper Expert tips the scale at a scant 28.5lbs. To drop 14lbs off a ride is going to be amazing and should increase the overall performance greatly. Nick will stand NO chance in keeping up with me now! :p
I can't believe I'm typing this at 5:20am on a Saturday morning...WTF? I woke up at 3:30 and couldn't go back to sleep, so here I am. Whatever.

Positivity In a Negative World

2009-02-26T19:27:00.002-07:00

I'm just blown away at the positive responses I get when I tell someone what it is I"m doing with my life. To see people's eyes light up with excitement gives me the strength to keep this ball rolling with hurricane like force. I think if the responses were just the opposite I would be questioning my decision and possibly cancelling my plans, but this just ensures me that this is for real and it is the path I am destined for. So thanks to everyone that has blessed me with positive enthusiasm over the last few weeks.
I posted a thread on mtbr.com (mountain bike forum) asking for help planning places to ride during my 4-5months of traveling. Once again I was blown away at the responses I got. A few people wrote some very long detailed replies that must have took 15-20min to type. That just confirms to me that this is the right time to begin a new adventure and use my experiences to inspire others to give up materialistic items in life and find out what brings them TRUE happiness. After seeing the excitement on the forum I am surely writing a book on my adventures for my fellow mtb brothers to read!
Then you get assholes like the people that were supposed to come look at my truck tonight!!! I drove 30min so their drive was cut down a bit, then they didn't show, and couldn't even call to tell me. I ended up visiting my good friend Jay Riddle and telling him my plans since I hadn't yet. As expected he was all for my change and wished me the best. Jay's so cool, I wish he could be president for a term or two. He's the type of person you need in control of this country! You are the man Jay!

Finally, ordered my new MTB

2009-02-23T21:11:00.002-07:00

Some of you may think I'm crazy, immature, have no life, whatever you want to think, but I haven't been this excited about getting anything new since my 12th birthday. Consider this, ride a bike from Central IL to L.A. up and down mountains, over rough terrain, sometimes through the night, and then tell me it's not an important factor in the happiness of your life. I plan on riding well over 1,000 miles on this bike in a whopping 4 months. And to measure that I'm putting a 'computer' on the bike before anyone gets to ride it so I can know for sure exactly how many miles I rack up. This little 'computer' thing is amazing too, it has two parts, a brain and a sensor, and they talk to each other wirelessly. The sensor attaches to the frame on the bike facing the wheel to gather speed, then the brain can measure current speed, distance, average speed, altitude, time...etc. The entire package weighs only ounces and is about 1inch square! Tiny little devil it is.
So I will hopefully have the bike by the weekend which would be totally knarly dude! I will post pics when I get it...you'll love the color...it's, well, kinda bright : )

Another Rant Session

2009-02-18T21:51:00.002-07:00

So how is it that we now just accept wrong doings because that is just what people do now-a-days? For instance, every intersection I sit at I watch people run through red lights while turning left. It's like this is entirely acceptable to do with no circumstances what-so-ever. WTF? This act does slow traffic down, it pisses people off (well at least it does me), and only causes chances for more accidents. To me there are plenty of times when you can get away with breaking the law and not negatively effect anyone. I admit to doing this quite often, but I always assess the situation first before making that decision. Example: coming up to intersection and the light turns yellow. I quickly glance in all directions especially behind me, then determine if I go through the intersection when the light is turning red if I will slow anyone down, cause someone to wait for me...etc. Typically in the case where I do run through, by the time the light is green for the perpendicular traveling motorist I am already passed through the intersection and have caused no damage to anyone. But this turning left while the light is red really aches me. Pull some coppers off the highway and put them at some busy intersections to make the state/city some money. Those people on the highway doing 10 over aren't hurting anyone!
Oh yeah, do the majority of cars not come with turn signals anymore? Really, how hard is it to push the stalk down or up before turning? This is such a simple act that we all did at one time when we first started driving, so why are so many people not doing it anymore?
It's the little things in life that matter people. Do what's right and things will work out for the better...I swear, they will.

Counting Down The Days!

2009-02-18T09:39:00.002-07:00

Well, I plan on leaving the first week of May, and the more I think about it, the closer it is to reality. So far I've sold just about everything big in the house except for my dining room table set. So now it's just the house and truck being the two main ones I need to sell before I can leave. I tell you what, if you have ever thought about relocating and starting over, don't hesitate one bit! The feeling is exhilarating to say the least. Yeah it may be tough to find a job, and if I do find a place to settle down in it will be costly to purchase more furniture and such, but to go after my dreams and look for a truly satisfying job that I actually like, all the while focusing on doing exactly what makes me happy...why not? My question to you is, what are you waiting for? Someone to hand you the perfect life? It ain't gonna happen my brothers and sisters. You have to go make it happen.

I Want To Hear Your Thoughts

2009-02-12T12:16:00.003-07:00

You, the reader, the visitor, the follower of this blog, can share your feelings by selecting that little comment tool at the bottom of each post of mine. Keep in mind any negative comments will be deleted immediately, unless they make me laugh.
Maybe you already know, maybe you don't, but I'm going to write a book while on my epic adventure. I'm undecided about exactly what format it is I want my book to follow. The most important outcome of this book is to share my feelings and adventures with the world, but also express my views and opinions I have of this world, even if I offend people while doing so. I will be taking many pics everywhere I go and I've thought about creating a largely pictorial book to expand my market. Another thought was to write the book in journal form, kinda like Nikki Sixx's Heroin Diary's.
I've been going back and forth about this and it's driving me nuts, so I am asking you to leave a comment on the type of book you prefer to read.
Straight forward story of my adventures
Pictorial book with short stories of each place I visit
Journal Style
No format, just write down everything and go from there

Maybe I should make this a poll? Did you see my other poll on the right side of the page?

Am I Crazy, and The Rest of The World is Normal?

2009-02-12T07:28:00.003-07:00

Ok, so get ready for another rant and rave session. I have a feeling these will be numerous on this site. I can't help but think about all the incredibly ridiculous random acts of retardation that happens every day in this world. Lets start simple...
So a few weeks ago CTC and I are looking for a parking spot at the grocery store and as we turn into an aisle two kids (prob mid to late teens) are walking down the center right towards us. Now I know there is this "law" about yielding to pedestrians, but there is absolutely no sensible reason for anyone to be walking DIRECTLY down the center of an aisle that is designed by some half way intelligent person for the use of vehicles! As we approach the boys they act like it's their right to stay exactly where they are I should be the one pulling out of their way so I do not interrupt their mindless stroll. Thinking back 10-15 years ago I can imagine if I was walking in the same place as these mindless 'yutes', my mother would have grabbed my arm and yanked me, probably forcefully enough for my feet to leave the ground, out of the way and sternly talked some sense into me. Ok, the sadder part of this simple example. The other day I find myself behind two women, probably in their mid 40's, doing the exact same thing. I so wanted to pull right up to them, roll down my window (ok, push the button for the window to lower), lay on the horn to get their attention, and continue to scream at them like a mental institution patient does when his green beans touches his mash potatoes and gravy.

So that is my simple example. Lets look at something more serious that plagues out country. Since we are in a slight economic situation here in the US I'll shift my focus on that topic. Individuals managing their finances: Here we go, I live in a very modest neighborhood with the average home hovering around the 100k mark. For central IL that would be below average (average being around 140K). In my neighborhood I have noticed a few households that regularly have very nice vehicles parked in the drive. When I mention regularly, I mean they own the vehicle but for some odd reason they don't park them in their broken door one-stall attached garage. Now the crazy part is when I mean nice I mean NICE. One of them is a Porsche Cayenne Turbo rolling on some off the hook 24's ("deuce 4's" for those speaking the lingo) which also means that the cost of their vehicle far exceeds 1/2 the value of the house. If they bought that Porsche new then it did exceed the value of their house! Am I missing something.
Shifting over to buying homes. When I started looking at homes my target monthly payment was 20-25% of my gross income. That would allow me to put extra money down on the house when I desired, pay extra on my truck payment, and still give me some comfort for taking my girl out for a nice dinner at say Red Lobster (if I had a huge lower lip I would've gotten the role of Bubba in Forest Gump because of my love for shrimp). I was absolutely blown away when my loan officer mentioned there are some people (obviously falling short of making any viable financial decision on their own) that are in the 60% range! Wait, did I type that correctly? Ok, yes I did...60% of their month gross goes to their house payment. Typically taxes are in the range of 20-40% depending on your salary, so how do they pay for food, clothes, utilities, up keep...etc? Don't get me started on first time home buyers! Too late, I'm there. I know of multiple people that are first time home buyers that are purchasing homes over 200K. Do these people not have parents that have an influence in their lives? I think there should be a law that disables first time home buyers to purchase a house over 100k, unless they make double that each year. Can I get an Amen? Where's my neighbor when I need him (inside joke)?
So who is to blame? Apparently the banks/loan officers aren't because the government wants to bail them out which basically is like handing a 'I'm allowed to be a dumb ass and make a solid living out of doing it" card. Screw that, any bank that has made horrible financial decisions should go under and we should be able to roast marsh mellows on the fire then pee on it the next morning to put out the still glowing coals. They messed up, they should take the fall, nobody should rescue them. If there are smart people working at that bank and they have the initiative in life to do something for themselves they will start up their own bank and do things right, for a change.
Ok, enough of my ranting....for now : )

The Big Move

2009-02-10T13:07:00.000-07:00

So, the reason I have started this blog is to document what is happening in my life, and why I am doing exactly what I'm doing as some people think I'm crazy. When I finished high school I had the desire to travel the country and explore what is out there and what each area had to offer someone like me. I had never really left central IL, my home since birth, for more than a week here or there, but the burning sensation to leave was ever present and always in the back of my mind.

Like many others I quickly fell behind due to poor business and financial decisions. I had a decent job, but my hobbies and greed to take those to the next level put me in debt far past a comfortable level. Before I knew it I was stuck. I couldn't leave my job because of debt, I couldn't sell off stuff because it wasn't worth nearly as much as I paid for it new, and besides I was having a great time playing with my toys.

Years went by and I dealt with my situation, but that desire to explore the country side never left. In the last year or so I have got my debt down to an acceptable level and the light at the end of the tunnel has become brighter by the day. Within the last few months I have started to have dreams about hiking in the mountains, riding my mountain bike on seemingly endless trails, and waking up to the sunrise and song birds. The desire to have a nice home, vehicle, fancy dinners has escaped my mind all together. In return I ask for true happiness and my health...nothing else.

So it begins. My journey for true happiness with no regrets.

Same Ole Routine?

2009-02-10T10:35:00.000-07:00

Tired of waking up as Bill Murray in Groundhog Day?
Eat breakfast, go to work, come home, eat dinner, watch tv...
How would it feel to wake up and ask yourself "hmm, what should I do today?" and have an endless array of adventurous soul cleansing possibilities.
Is that lifestyle even possible in today's environment of $5 coffees?
Are you going to sit around and dream about it for the rest of your life wondering if you could possibly follow your dreams and go without the "necessities" we now depend on to live? Wake up people, we are missing out!

Feeling Stuck?

2009-02-10T08:39:00.000-07:00

Have you ever gone into work, sat down, and said to yourself "what the heck am I doing here?"
Do you ask yourself if you can withstand another 20years of this crap day-in day-out?
Do you feel no matter how hard you try in life you are getting nowhere?
Ever get the feeling there is something better out there for you?
Have you ever wanted to pack up and leave, start over somewhere with more opportunities?
Can you honestly say that you have done everything possible to live life to it's fullest capabilities?
Are you stuck?
Have you ever heard yourself say "In a couple years once I get squared away I'll do this." Or, "once I get this loaned paid off I'm going to do..." What about "Once I get my raise I'll be able to..." or "I'm going to use my tax return to..."
It took me awhile to realize this, but all those artificial thoughts of happiness got me nowhere in my life. Yeah I was able to buy this toy or go on this trip, but did that mean I was happy?
I was stuck.