Goblin Valley Race and Moab

This past weekend a few friends and i headed for Moab. We had been planning on doing this trail run in Goblin Valley for a while now and decided to stay in Moab and try to make a trip out of it. A friend let us stay at his home in Moab so even though its a ways from Goblin Valley it was nice not to have to get a hotel. The weather was really disappointing down there. Friday it was wet and cold so we didn't do much other than go see a water fall and get some dinner. then we streamed Tosh.O on the computer all night and laughed our buts off. Saturday we got up early to head to the race. Turned out only 3 of the 5 of us were going to do it. I was originally registered for the 15 miler but with ongoing aches and pains in my shins i decided to do teh 10k. It was a cool race. the rain from Friday made parts a little slick but over all i had fun and would do it again. Good thing i dropped from the 25k cause my legs killed the entire time. After that we did a fun slot canyon. Its by Little Wild Horse. Not nearly as pretty but with all the rain and some pretty tough scrambles it was way more fun and technical. we go tout of the canyon just in time for "THE NOTHING" to hit and headed back to Moab. We barbecued for dinner and started a movie. it was only 9 pm but i was out. Next morning we cleaned the place real good and took off for home. It was a fun quick weekend trip. even with the rain.

trying to squeeze into a hole in slot canyon

thank goodness someone left a rope

lots of pools. everyone had to get wet eventually but it was fun trying to avoid it.

misty road to Goblin Valley before race

Faux Falls. man made but still cool enough for a look see.

Just outside the house we stayed at. the clouds were cool all day.

LOGAN EAST AND BACK

For a while now Ive been planning a motorcycle trip to New York. I have a sister in Buffalo, brother in Hershey PA, family in Ohio and a old high school friend in NYC so now its time to venture east. 2500 miles east actually.

Heres the plan so far. June 1st ill leave Logan Utah through Mount Rushmore and The Badlands to Buffalo New York. While there seeing Niagra Falls, Palmyra NY and what ever else. Then off to NYC to see Kelli, lady Liberty, Ground Zero, Fire Museum, Fire Boat ride, run through Cental Park and whatever else i come up with. After NYC Im off to Hershey to visit Trey and his fam as well as Gettysburg, Hershey Chocolate Factory, Williamsburg, etc. Then South a bit to DC. Here i hope Nate Miller can meet me coming up from Augusta GA. Ill see everything i can in 2 days then head back west. On the way back home Ill stop in Dayton OH to visit my moms family and head back to Utah a little more south than the way out going through Boulder CO to gawk at all the uber athletes.

I hope to do this trip in 23 days. I dont leave for another 8 months but theres still so much to do to prepare. The route is set for the most part. I have a lot of logistics to still take care of as well as planning how to see the most sights.

If anyone has any ideas for me please share.

what i did to the recruits today

today i had the new recruits for PT again. i decided to take them to my favorite running spot here in Logan"The River Trail". So i had them wear their turnout coats and SCBA packs and also tie a bowline around their waste and a clove hitch (two basic firefighter knots) around the rope of the guy in front of them. They were organized into 3 company's of 3 and thats how they had to stay. we went 1.5 miles up the trail the n took off the packs. they then did a few hill repeats, then 1.5 back down the trail with packs and tied together again. It was fun for me(i was in a t shirt he he). we did get a few cat calls from girls climbing across the street as well.

thats right tie yourself to each other

running as a company

repeat climbs up the switchbacks. i was nice and let em take off the packs.

Been a while

so ive been lazy lately and unmotivated to blog. so heres a quick update. Im still living in my sis's house in Logan till it sells. I love all the space and having a garage for the car and moto but living in a shell of what was her house is still weird. its too quiet too. usually when i came to visit the kids never gave me a moments peace. i also am working as a fire instructor here and i love it. i get to plan some of the PT some days and i love coming up with crazy exercises and obstacle courses for them to do. helping teach the skills is great as well cause i learn so much by teaching.

im getting back on track with my fitness after losing everything i worked so hard for this spring and summer. Injury, vacation and pure lack of desire had me feeling pretty crappy but im rebounding so thats good. Oct 23rd in doing a 25k trail run in Goblin Valley so im looking forward to that. its starting to cool off after very warm fall here in utah and so in the not too distant future ill be able to break out the xc skis and snowshoes.

other than that ive been experimenting with my baking trying new things like baking bread with spelt instead of wheat. its going ok. a lot of ingredients have gone strait to the garbage but well figure it out.

the recruits 3 new best friends(one i resurrected from the Thunder Dome days)

a few attempts into spelt bread. tasted ok not great. a lot more dense than normal bread.

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

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.