Monday, September 6, 2010

Colombia part 2

A few more pic from the nature preserve




9 1/2 years later

Aug 19th i returned to Colombia where i served my mission after being home 9 1/2 years. Right when i got off the plane i knew my spanish was all but gone. I could speak for the most part but not hearing it for so much time i didnt understand a lot and they had to speak slowly to me. So this trip was not at all about being a tourist. It was about getting in touch with the people i taught and knew during my time as a missionary. And thats exactly what i did. I was so stoked to have found so many people i had lost contact with. It was a great trip and by the end my spanish was a lot better but still frustrating that i could speak it so well and lost so much.

nature preserve
Bishop Barona who i lived underneath while on the mish
First family i taught and baptized
Gotta visit the Fire Station
Chief and everyone came out and wanted to give me their two cents
This should be in a museum but its a reserve

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Idaho Moto Trip

My buddy Eric and i started taking motorcycle trips this year the first one being a trip to Oregon. This time we planned a few days going through Central Idaho going both on and off road. We got off to a very late start since i had to work the night before and had a busy night so i took a nap before heading to Boise. So the first day we road from Boise to Mcall and ate dinner and stayed in a friends cabin that was great, especially since it rained pretty hard that night. We had an awesome breakfast which took forever as well and made us behind schedule again but it was good.

We then headed off for Grangeville via dirt roads and it was the most challenging riding ive ever done. More than one time i thought id dump the bike but didnt luckily. It was great to see the back country on a moto. We arrived to Grangeville had dinner and as luck would have it Eric had a friend with a cabin there as well. It was locked but we were able to camp out in a garage behind the cabin where the mice and other critters crawling around all night kept me anxious and dreaming of mountain lions and stupid stuff. kind of funny now.

We set out towards Kooskia and the riding once again was amazing. Since we were so far behind we stayed on paved road to make up some mileage. We took HWY 12 over LOLO pass and at eh beginning the was a sign that said...S TURNS...nest 99 miles...you kidding me? It was great riding, just incredible with the Lochsa River on our right. We pushed all the way through to Stanley Idaho and camped near Stanley Lake. We ate at a restaurant on the Salmon River and it was great. 30 minutes after going to bed it began to rain. This time camping in tents the rain was very much unwelcome. We woke up to everything wet but clearing up. As we went to take off Erics bike battery was dead and we were unable to keep it running after jumping the battery.

So day 4 ended up being a day stranded in Stanley a Eric raced around on my bike looking for a new battery. We set off at 7am originally and after having had Erics wife bring a battery from Boise we got out of there around 430pm. I called work and took an extra day off of vacation cause of our delay and so glad i did. We got back to Boise pretty exhausted and stayed the night with Eric. Then the next morning cruised to Logan. Next time im trailering the bike to Boise no matter how much more expensive it is. That ride is awful.

Burgdorf Idaho, a ghost town and hot spring
in between Stanley and Boise somewhere.
The KTMs mishap. Dead battery.
camping near Stanley Lake
When we were kids we couldnt pronounce my sisters name(Lauree) so we called her LoLo. Kind of funny.