Catch up on trips since...

I seem to never have a chance to catch up on my blog. First I had many excuses, such as the wedding and such. Now I can only say that I have been working some and taking lots of trips. I have found that it is easier to just put in a link to a picasa photo album than it is to put up a bunch of pictures here. This blog is only so user friendly then it just gets annoying. So here are some of the adventures since the wedding...

Shortly after the wedding, Pam and I headed to Moab to meet up with 12 guys from the New Orleans area, including Scuba Steve and Cannondale Tim. That was a super fun trip with lots of friends and riding. On their way back to Denver they took a day of riding the Chair Lifts at Keystone. I was just coming from church, dressed vacation church nice and took Tim's bike for a run. That was a pretty fun time.

Click the link below the below picture for the photo album.

Moab over labor day with Scuba Steve

Some time after the trip to Moab, a bunch of friends thought it would be fun to go tubing in Ft. Collins on the Poodre River. It was fun, but it was also freezing cold, even in September. Me being me, I was too cheap to go buy a tube, so I just used a tube from my dirt bike. It worked, but it left me pretty much submerged up to my chin the whole time. So by the end of the float, I was almost suffering from Hypothermia, jaw chattering and chicken skin everywhere. But it all turned out good and it was a fun trip. But next time I will have a tube with larger air volume or a wet suit. I found out that Big Five Sports had $5 tubes, better than $17 tubes at a tire shop. (Below, my sister Elizabeth is on the right in a black top, white skirt.)

The day after the float trip, we went to Elich Gardens Amusement Park. I almost was tossed out of the park for dropping a dime off of the power tower, but I played dumb and didn't own up to it and they moved on. No pics from that day.

Pam later had to go to Maryland for work for a week, so I took advantage and picked up my niece, Claire, and nephew, Lane, and took them up to Mt. Rushmore and Custer State Park.

That was a lot of fun. We went to Mt Rushmore at night to see it lit up then were going to come back the next day to see it in the daylight, but ended up going to see the buffalo and donkeys instead. So we ended up with no pictures of the monument. After Custer State Park, we went south to the wild horse sanctuary to see the wild horses. They really loved that part of the trip. I think feeding the donkeys carrots and the wild horses were their favorite part of the trip. Ohh, that and making ice cream at the camp site both nights. Photo album below...

Mt Rushmore

After I dropped the kids off in Cheyenne, I drove back to Denver and picked up my truck and dirt bike and headed for some riding in Steamboat and later in Rand. That was a pretty fun trip.

Photo album below.

Moto in Steamboat and Rand

The day after I returned from riding in Steamboat, I headed south to Colorado City and to San Rafael National Forest to do some shuttle rides on my xc bike on St. Chuck trail and Snowslide trail. Those were some fun technical trails. I want to go back and ride them on my moto when I get a chance. The trails were about a 2.5 hour drive south. Photos below.

Mt. Bike in San Rafael National Forest

I think I took 2 weeks off from any major trips, then this past weekend Pam was taking a girls Mt. bike trip to Fruita and Moab. So was escaping on a boys dirt bike trip to the same places, but I was stood up and ended up riding 4 days alone. But since camping space was limited out there due to a busy weekend, I ended up camping with the girls, which was nice, they cooked dinner and breakfast. Other than a bunch of girl talk the first day, it wasn't too bad. We had a lot of fun. Photos below.

I should really comment on the trails that I rode. Peach Valley by Montrose has some good trails and some REALLY GREAT trails. Dark Horse and Eagle Vally are really challenging and super fun, well built trails. The hill climbs are pretty sweet too. I think I about wet my pants from excitement all day. It was hard to eat my lunch before riding when I first got there.

In Grand Junction, I went for a short morning ride in Bang's Canyon. There I did the Butterknife trail which was pretty technical and great single track. Then I came up a nasty jeep trail rated a 9 out of 10 for difficulty. That was a pretty hard trail, but it gave me a chance to work on my bike maneuvering skills. Such as stuck in a pile of rock and popping the clutch to put a wheelie and move the front tire where I needed it then bouncing up a pile of big ol' rocks. Fun fun, but it made me work.

Then the 40 mile loop in Rabbit Valley was super sweet, it truly felt epic. A trail I would love to do anytime I am out there. Excellent terrain and views.

And Moab was fun, but not as much as the rest of the trip, but it was fun to check a bunch of trails off my list. I did do Prichett Canyon, a 5 of 5 star jeep trail that is suppose to be just hard. It was challenging but not as much work as the jeep trail in Grand Junction. I think in a jeep it is harder but not on a dirt bike.

Here is a short vid of the first hill climb I did in peach valley, I found much bigger ones later, but this was pretty exciting just off the truck.

Moto in Montrose, Grand Junction, Fruita, and Moab

Honeymoon in Costa Rica

Well, I am finally posting something. It is a link to our pictures from our Honeymoon in Costa Rica. We had a great trip and spent 12 days there. Let me know if this link doesn't work for some reason.

Honeymoon Photos

December

December in Colorado was a little more disappointing than usual. There was just enough snow on the ground to make dirt biking and mt biking not too fun, but not enough snow to offer any good skiing.

Usually, we have a B-day ski day for Wayne's birthday, but this year it was a B-day hike day on Bergen Peak outside of Evergreen.
From the peak I could use m 8x zoom and see downtown Denver.

From the same place without any zoom, downtown is behind the dark ridge in the middle. Pretty crazy zoom.

Then after Christmas, Pam and I headed to Winter Park to meet up with her Aunt and nephew and niece. Her Aunt fell and twisted her knee pretty good and took the ski patrol toboggan ride down. I think she is mostly ok now, she was suppose to get an x-ray today to make sure things are as they should be.
Today brought 8" of new snow to Winter Park and we were lucky enough to get a piece of it. We didn't even know it was suppose to snow, so it made for a great surprise.
We made our way into the trees to find that it was almost waist deep, but with no bottom but rocks and down trees.

Wayne, working his way down over the rocks.

Pam, showing us how to keep our tips up in sketchy terrain.

Me. What happens when you don't take notes from Pam's technique.

For Sale.

Pam's neighbor has had this car under a tarp since before she moved in 5 years ago. The tarp has been flapping in the wind since day one. It is a '77 Roadrunner that he used to drive back in the day. Today the tarp ripped open in all the wind. He sold the engine years ago and had plans of restoring it someday. I'm not sure someday will ever come. So I was thinking of putting up a Craigslist ad to maybe help the neighborhood out.

Finally...

Edit...as of 11PM Wednesday night, 17 inches and still falling. I took a tape measure out in the yard to check it. It has been real fun driving around in the truck.


We are finally getting some good snow here. There was at least 10" by lunch time and much more now. Over a foot at my house and it is suppose to keep snowing til thursday evening. Then 50 degrees on Sunday to take it all away.


White hat for my Truck.

Bed is full up to my 2x10 rails.

60 mph ice crystals on my hubs.

Dougie Fresh...

That's who's on page 57 of my new Bike mag!

Ohh, and I saw this on one of my excursions a while ago.

Where did September go?!

Well, it has been quite a while. I guess I can sum up September as another good month of getting around. I spent 15 of 30 days gone on the road. 10 of which were on a rode trip out to Oregon with Pam to visit her brother. I had 15 days on the bike, only one day moto, 2 days hiking, and 3 days of work. Here are just a few pics to sum it up.

Sold the Honda.
Sold the trailer.

House I am currently working on painting the exterior of.

Hanging Lake in Glenwood Springs. Pretty cool hike just off of I-70. These falls come down into a pond in the middle of a huge canyon. You can see fish all over.

Walking out on a down tree on the lake.

Falls in the Columbia River Gorge, Oregon.

Free ride stunts and trails at Black Rock in Oregon. Pretty fun stuff, but most of it was too big for my XC bike.

Sweet step up.

Tree too big to bunny hop on Mary's Peak outside Corvallis, OR. We also road in Bend, OR. We only had one evening there, but it was a fun trail that was cut short by sunset. But I didn't get any good pictures there.

Fat tree's. Skinny kids.

Pam wins the race at the Pacific Coast.

Pam's nephew, Josiah, showing off his new tricks while wearing blackberries on his face.

Bishop's Castle outside Colorado City. Hand build by one man over the past 40 years. It is quite the place to see. The sweetest part is that here I think he put safety third. Definitely no codes that he has to follow here.

BBQ!!

Steve, Melissa, and Banana in Fruita, CO.

Joe's Ridge.

High above Steve's loop. That loop you see below on the cliff line was a lot of fun. Good trials all over here.

Rainbow Trail in Grand Junction. There is lots of slick rock on this trail. I took a good tumble head of heals down a good steep rock face that I was trying to traverse. My bike came tumbling behind and ended up on my head. I wish I had a picture of that one.

That is a pretty good summary of my September. October may be a little slower with the cooler weather moving in. Plus, I have a few jobs to work on. Finish the paining, build a barn and chicken coop, kitchen remodel, and pour a back patio. I keep you posted.

Never Trust Women

So...my sister, Elizabeth, moved out a few weeks ago into a house with 3 other girls. They were having a house party with a Mullet theme. They encouraged mullets and said there would be wine and cheese in the front and beer in the back, along with some flip cup stuff.
Well, I get there to find that I am the only one in a mullet and the girls are all dressed up and the pony keg is in the front and they don't even know how to tap it. What kind of mullet party is that?!
In the true form of my family, even the youngest members show up to keg parties. My sisters grew up doing it and now my nieces and nephew are learning the same. (Actually, they just happened to be there for a bit in the beginning but not the whole night. And they didn't try to steel the keg and run off like on of my sisters did back in the day.)

My family of little Joe Dirts.