SpaceX Tour

I had a rare opportunity yesterday. I had a chance to tour the Hawthorne, California SpaceX Facilities. Some of you may know that I am a big fan of the company. For those of you who don't know who they are.. Look them up. They are very cool.

My aunt got me the number of a nice man who works there. I called him up, asked him some questions and got a tour out of the deal. I also got swag. In this case SpaceX swag consists of mints, post-its, a notepad, rocket shaped paper clips, a mission sticker, and a 64Mb rocket shaped flash drive.

It is a neat place. All of the engineers and support staff work in the same cubicle farm. Even the owner / CEO / CTO, Elon Musk, has a cubicle. They are building a big control room there as well. From there they will launch all of their vehicles whether they are physically on a small island in the pacific or in Florida.

Everywhere there are rocket engines. Most are Merlin engines being prepared for Falcon 9 launches. I was surprised to see how small the engines are. They are not much taller than I am. They are one of the most efficient kerosene / LOX engines ever built though.

The whole building has a cool energy about it. They are practical and doing some big dreaming at the same time. The people there looked like any one of the people I have worked with over the years, but they have a bit of an extra spring in their step because they are working on rockets.

One further point of interest, a small tidbit for my less geeky acquaintances, they have a full size mock-up of the 'Iron Man' on the production floor. Apparently Iron Man 2 was filmed in the building. Coming next summer to a screen near you.

Sam's Summary

• I visited Space Exploration Technologies Headquarters
• I planned an hour driving time
• It took 15 min
• I was early
• So I got to sit in there ultra modernish lobby with a connector saleswoman.
• The tour was good
• They gave me water and swag
• I asked a ridiculous amount of questions.
  

A bit of excitement

My uncle and I rode road the street of Santa Monica after Dark a few Days ago. By 'road' I mean upon our bicycles. It is an interesting habit of his. The road are clear and it is nice and cool. Not a bad idea really. We loaded up the bikes with flashing lights and hit the streets.

The real story begins when we got back. We were hanging out in the office (me on the couch feeling sick, don't ride hard before warming up.) My uncle heard a noise from the front of the building.
"That does not sound right" he said or something like it and got up to go check out what was going on. In the mean time someone tried several times to start a car. A couple unsuccessful times. The engine turned over but would not start.

A man climbed out of a car directly in front of the apartment and started walking away. My uncle asked him if he needed a jump. The man did not answer and just kept walking. Immediately five police cars turned on their lights and swarmed into the intersection. The jumped out of their vehicles with guns drawn. A police dog was barking viciously.

At this point my uncle slowly backed up the side walk and came back inside. He had been behind the suspect and in the line of fire. Enough to make anyone nervous.

This all happened slightly after midnight. Needless to say we were up all hours peeking out doors and windows trying to figure out what was happening. The forensics unit even showed up to lift finger prints and tow the getaway car off.

Twice policemen came to the apartment to take statements from my uncle, a valuable witness to we are not sure what.

We may never know what really happened. It looked like a failed car theft, but how did the cops know to be there? Well that's all I have for now.

Sam's Summary

• Someone tried to steal the car in front of mine.
• It would have certainly made pulling out easier if he had succeeded.
• The cops swarmed him like he was in a movie.
• There were gun drawn.
• I stayed up half the night peeking out my window.
• I got to do flips in a padded gym for the first time in ages (thanks to my cousin who is not really my cousin)
  

St. Louis Wins

My uncle and I went to a merging cars contest this evening. While everyone was stuck there in the parking lot trying to jockey their way to a chance to get stuck on the freeway, the Cards and Dodgers showed up and decided to play a little pick up game.

The game was a pleasant diversion from the sounding car alarms and ladies screaming at parking attendants. They played 4 and a half solid innings (we may have showed up late). I forgot to take my camera. My apologies on the lack of physical or digital evidence of this highly true, if hyperbolized story.

All in all a nice evening. Good seats too. Upper deck on the rail, down the third baseline. To top it off someone up top made a terrific paper airplane that made it almost to the field. Great game.

Sam's Summary

• Baseball
• Parking lot
• aggressive maneuvering (is this word too big for dyslexics?)
• The Saint Louis Cardinals won (as may be deduced from the title of this post)
  

The extended stays

I have been visiting folks at length out here on the left coast. That is the main reason for my long hiatus from this mode of communication. I spent over a month with my good friend in Washington, then it was two weeks with my sister in So cal (I went back to visit my brother who was also visiting), and now I am holed up in Santa Monica with my aunt and uncle.

I have been hopelessly applying for engineering jobs. So far no takers. There are lots of cool things going on out this way, they just don't seem to be able to pick a good resume when they see one. There are rocket companies and electric car companies and everything in between. Back home there are Applebees and Walmarts.

Time is running out though. I should be back on the road soon. I have a wedding to make. A good friend is getting herself all hitched up back in Roanoke, VA. Remember Roanoke? Great bike rides. I have about 40 days to make it there. I will probably leave this weekend, swing a bit north and then head to my sister's in VA.

While this is the same sister I visited in VA before, it is not at the same location. I have been gone long enough to miss the effort of moving. Nice of me. I may have a bit of babysitting to do in order to make up for my laziness. The madness should be over by mid october. I will have been on the road for two thirds of a year by then. I will also be leaving my carefree twenties behind and entering my carefree thirties.

Thanks for read to all you wonderful people who still seem to check this site even though I am MIA most of the time.

Peace

Happy anniversary Appolo 11

Some of you may not know that today is the fortieth anniversary of man's first steps on the moon. Well, it is. July 20th 1969 A.D. It is mind boggling to consider. 10 years before I was born, Neil Armstrong, and Buzz Aldrin had walked on the moon.

Mankind has accomplished many things. There was the outright bravery, sacrifice, and daring of D-Day, the discovery of America, the circumnavigation of the globe, and the invention of the burrito, but all of it pales next to the story that is Apollo 11.

The trip to the moon did not take as long as Columbus' voyage across the Atlantic, we knew where we were going to within a a handful of miles, and only stayed a few hours, but for the first time in human history a nation came together to build and accomplish something monumental and beyond comprehension, not out of fear or hope of personal gain, but raw and passionate desire an curiosity.

Sure the the politics were motivated by the cold war, but for the people involved it was the challenge it's self and the reward of having succeeded that motivated them. Whenever has the impassioned work of hundreds of thousands of people been joyfully given for two men to place their boot on a distant shore?

For this, Apollo 11 and the following flights stand as the greatest achievement of the human spirit at the same time being the pinnacle of our engineering.

Most of the world is happy to take pride in the fact that man has stepped on the moon, but few are willing to push on to give further such triumphs to their children. For them social security it more important than hope. Myself I will take the risk of losing everything to gamble on a world where anything is possible.

Heading out

Nothing terribly important to say at the moment. My friend and I are heading out to the Cascades to do a couple days of backpacking. We are pros, so much in fact that we had to go out yesterday and purchase backpacks and nose cream. If you are looking for us we'll be the two tall guys with price tags still hanging of our sunglasses.

Sam's Summary

• Goin' Campin'
• Got me a pack fer the haulin O' things
• Sleepin' bag a mostly
• Bags is huge!
• Shore hope dem bears don't show.
  

Seattle... area

The thick smell of smoldering marijuana hung heavy over the woodland trail. Green light filtering through the lofty ceiling of evergreens played upon an empty path. Only glimpses of color flashed between the massive trunks of the stately trees ahead. But, there could be little doubt, the youngster in the red dreadlocks was burning green.

The imagery above, while not typical of the Seattle area, does fit an entertaining stereotype. The strange sureness that when hiking in the mountains of the pacific northwest you will chance upon a lad of Irish descent burning leaves of dubious legality.

I myself take daily a dose of prescription medication. I do so, however, at home as it is a rather inconvenience to be popping pills while strolling beneath the trees and sky. I would like to remind any of you folks out there that the presence of dreadlocks does not in anyway imply that the careful dose, being self administered by the lad, was not strictly medicinal.

My only concern is that, like estrogen in my glass of water, I would prefer if I were not the secondhand recipient of someone else's "health habits".

Humorous encounters aside, day hiking in the Cascades can be quite rewarding.

Sam's Summary

• I have taken several hikes in the cascades.
• A very very low percentage of the other hikers smoke pot on the trail
• ......So breathe deep when you get the chance......
• It is a lush rain forest out here.

Hawai'i

When there is not much to blog about I usually don't write very often. When there is much to write about I don't have the time. Thus I apologize for not keeping you, my gentle readers, up to date. Truth be told I could have written yesterday, but alas I was recouping from the rigors of my last adventure (read lazy here if you must).

Ah Hawaii! They call it paradise. Honestly it is no more paradise than Nome is. It is, however, a reasonable approximation. If you like ninety, sunny, and a bit humid then the weather was perfect. If lush jungle covered mountains are your thing then the terrain is superb. If azure blue seas tickle your fancy then you are in luck. And if happiness to you involves tearing your feet up on the coral, well they have that covered also.

I spent the greater portion of the time in the pleasant company of my friend from Washington, his sister, brother-in-law and parents. Most days involved a short drive, a long hike, and a bit of sun on the beach. I my limited experience I declare the north shore of Oahu the better swimming area during the calm summer months. The beaches are a bit sandier, and there are more inlets and coves.

The best hikes on the island involve mountains. If you neglect to schedule a mountain on your path you will, in all probability be going for a "sweat" rather than the intended hike. The views from the mountains are magnificent. The sides are shear so it is almost like flying. The most entertaining hike we took had rock faces that we had to scramble up using ropes that were handily affixed to the trees.

The rest of my time with my friend and his brother-in-law consisted of good food, losing at poker, and a healthy dose of the video game 'Rock Band'. All-in-all Their house in Ewa Beach has to be the best stay on the island. Where else does friendship flow so free?

My friend, being an important engineer living at the beck and call of the Boeing Corporation, had to fly out a few days early. Thus I found myself, for the last two days, in the company of my cousin. For those of you outside my family, I do indeed have a cousin on Oahu. At least for another week or so. He just graduated. For the moment he is living in grand style in a luxurious, to my humble eyes, apartment building.

From his swanky pad I struck out into the tourist jungle of Waikiki. It is a fine array of hotels, towers, and merchandise. Anything money can buy, if only anyone could come by enough money. Not my style but it was fun to see.

On my final full day my cousin took me surfing. Very nice of him. I got a nice huge beginner board and hit the surf. I would happily report that was haning ten in green pipes all day if it were not a lie. The truth be told I never got fully standing and for the most part was pummeled by the waves. I became exhausted in ver short order. The push of the wave is exhilirating though. I will return. The last time I fell, I got into some rocks. The water was quite shallow and I did a number on my feet.

The gaping hole in my foot convinced me to find other pursuits for the remainder of the session. Luckily the pretty girl sitting on the rocks turned out to be a friend of my cousins. She became both tour guide and free taxi service for the rest of the day. We had a nice hike. We ate lunch, A big happy shout out to my cousin for picking up that tab before I even knew there was a tab. Then we toured a few of the blow holes along the coast. The most amazing was "spitting rock" a feature that when a wave hits it, it spits hundreds of gallons water horizontally 40 or so feet away from the cliff face.

That is probably enough for now. Hiking about the Seattle area has resumed and I need to start more serious contemplation fo where to go next. Thanks for reading. I will try to get pictures up later.

Sam's Summary

• I was in Hawi'i
• I am not any longer
• 'tis a hot, humid, green place
• I learned how to surf
• I just didn't execute
• I cut my feet on coral
• I hiked quite a bit bot before and after slicing my toes
• The guards at the stores for rich people always stand just to the left of the entrance and slightly out of view.
  

20 th State

Yesterday found me skimming through the air; suspended above thousands of miles of sharks, orcas, and fearsome giant squid prowling the depths far below the gentle waves. The world was a giant deep blue clam shell with only a band of pearly white clouds to mark it's middle. Between up and down there is no difference. The sky a flattened blue dome above and the sea a curved blue basin below.

By some good fortune and better planning my 20th state is Hawaii. The sun is just now climbing above the rooftops I can see from my window. I can't claim that Hawaii is a wonderful state, or beautiful, or friendly. I have not been, done, or seen as of yet. If you give me a chance to stop typing I will be off finding adventures soley so I can relate them here.

Sam's Summary

• I am in Hawaii
• I have not done anything yet
• I just thought you should know that I made it here
• Staying with my friend's sister and her cats
• I am mildly allergic to cats
• So don't be envious
• I guess I wil have to spend my time at the beach
  

General Laziness

I seem to be getting very lazy in my posting. Sorry about that. At last check I was in Santa Monica California. I am no longer in Santa Monica. In fact I am no longer in California. I am not even in a State that borders California. For the past four days I have been in the Seattle area. I happen to have a friend up this way.

Now how did I get here? Well, I drove. I drove the Pacific Coast Highway. I recommend it for anyone who has the time, the car, and skill necessary to navigate such a convoluted route. It is flat out awesome. The road takes you all the way from the urban desert that is L.A. to the lush rain forests of the pacific northwest. In between are rocks, mountains, seas of flowers, a red bridge, tight curves, and the most majestic trees ever planted by the hand of God.

I can't describe every feature that took my breath away or every hairpin turn that gave it back, but I can say that every place on earth that I have so far seen has it's charms and the pacific coast is not remotely in the running, as the exception. I camped at dunes, inlets, and lush jungles. I drove through sun, wind, and driving rain. I visited an aquarium and wandered amidst the trunks of stately redwoods. I marveled at crashing waves and hillsides awash in wild flowers. I have now driven the PCH and would very happily do it again, but there are other wonders to see yet and I am on my way to see them.

After a brief hiatus in Seattle that is. As I said, my friend lives here. He works so he is leaving me in charge of his fifty odd inch HDTV, Playstation 3 and impressive movie collection. Other than that, we climbed most of a mountain (We sort of lost the trail beneath the snow), and we went to the horse races. Luckily I know that I was not born to gamble, having taken statistics in college, so I only lost $4.00 before quitting. My friend came out $4.00 up so I could have just given him the money and stayed home. It was fun though. Carefully reviewing the horses with a practiced eye and selecting the one with the best name or coolest coloring and then watching your horse come in dead last.

I actually only had one pick come in last. My other pick came in second to last. Now I am spending my days working on a top secret project and planning for thrusday when I depart for my next top secret location. Check back friday for details.

Sam's Summary

• I have been shirking my duties as a travel blogger
• that does not mean that I have not been traveling
• I have in fact been traveling
• Up the pacific coast since you asked
• It was cool
• You should do it too
• but only if you are cool
• I am in Seattle
• I am horrible at picking horses
• I am busy doing vacation type stuff
  

A nice start in Santa Monica California

Yesterday I braved the drive from San Diego to Santa Monica to visit my aunt, uncle, and cousin. Today I had the time of my life.

My cousin had events going on all day so my uncle and I decided to set off to find some adventure. The alternative being hanging out at a grade school fundraiser. Earlier I had put google to work finding the nearest Tesla Motors store. My uncle had never heard of the company but it turned out that these amazing all-electric super-cars were being sold not 3 miles from his front door.

We found parking in a side alley and hoped that at least one of the rare beauties would be on display. It may or may not be important to note, at this point, that upon getting out of the car my uncle found not one but two pennies on the curb. They had not one but about 10 or 11 of the Roadsters laying about.

We where looking over a particularly nice copper red specimen when a salesman came out and inquired as to whether or not we had any questions. We did. He gushed on about the car at length even though is was fairly obvious we were not about to drop 109 grand on an afternoon's whim. fourty-five minutes or so later he had shown us under the bonnet and given us a tour of the facilities.

On the way out we thanked him and exchanged a few further pleasantries, which exposed my Michigan origin. Since I had come all that way, the nice man inquired as to whether I would like a ride.

I almost fell over. I stammered. I agreed because I am nice...... So yes Tom, I have gone zero to sixty in four seconds on a side road in a white electric super car. (Tom is the guy I know who will probably experience the most envy while reading this. Alex is a close second and any other guy with red blood in his veins will be in a tight race for third) At first the acceleration feels hohum, then exhilirating, then alarming, then downright frightening. It just does not quit. Pretty soon one is almost wishing that they had not told the salesman "sure go for it". Almost. It's ok to die happy.

I am not the proper person to review the vehicle. There just arn't many comparisons that I can draw between the Tesla and my Escort. I do know that my car can't make a hard right hand turn at 40 mph and survive without even a bit of squeal in the tires. Although I can fit my bike in my trunk. That would never happen in the Tesla without the cooperation of a hacksaw and I would never do that to my bike.

My uncle got a ride as well. I actually have to give him alot of credit. I probably would not have gotten anywhere near that narrow seat with out his sincere interest and people skills.

Here he is, with the nice saleman. I think if you click on the image you get the full effect. Keep a napkin handy to wipe the corners of you mouth.
Sam's Summary

• Boo-
• Yah
• !!!!

The Vista Experience

No this post is not about a Microsoft product. It is about my past week in Vista, California. At last look I was about to go Kayaking in the pacific ocean. It turns out that I actually did Kayak in the pacific. We started in the little town of La Jolla. Apparently "La Jolla" is pronounced "La Hoya" as in Oscar De.

After we had paid our $23 and selected the blue personal flotation device (or PFD or Life jacket if you are a normal person) we headed to the beach. Getting out on to the water is great fun. You pull your kayak out into a foot of water, get in, and then.... the water disappears and you are on dry land again. All you have to do is wait until the next big wave and you are free. Free to try to get through the breakers dry.

I failed in this regard. I got quite wet getting through the breakers. I blame it on the silly open kayaks they gave us. Eskimos would never approve. Once out on the waves it was pretty easy going. Sure the ocean rollers are huge, but they are far apart and not very steep. Lake Michigan is actually much scarier. We paddled about and saw seaweed, sharks, and the famous La Jolla "sea caves". These caves are not at all impressive and I can recommend that anyone waste a neuron thinking about visiting them. They certainly are not worth the $50 for a tour.

The Sea lions were cool though, if a bit smelly. They were piled up on the rocks sunning themselves. Don't they know the dangers of over exposure to the sun's harmful UV rays?

The highlights of the trip were, my sister's friend falling in, and riding the waves back into the beach.

Other fun stuff? My nephew turned one. It was a great party. There was basketball, volleyball, a beanbag toss, a tiny pool, and cake.

For Vetrans day I left my phone where a sprinkler could get it. It no longer works in any capacity other than a chew toy. A new one is in the mail. That does mean that, whoever you are, I no longer have your phone number. Feel free to call me at random over the next week or so.

Sam's Summary

• I went Kayaking
• 'twas great fun
• I visited an old friend
• I ate cake
• My volleyball team won.. most of the time.
• My phone is no longer a phone.
• More like a perfect skipping stone really. Too bad I have to send it back.
• I hiked Torrey pines
• I am headed up the coast this weekend.
  

Back in the Saddle

Wednesday brought me back. Back to California and ,more importantly, back to my car. It was good to go home. I did, however, sleep too much when I was there. Thus it is good to be back to work. Work being the act of employing the U. S. of A as a play ground.

I did not get any exit row seats on my flights back out. The planes were chock-a-block full of travelers. At least no one tried reclining their seat into me.

One odd thing was that while I was most certainly wedged into coach class seating the guy next to me was enjoying first class amenities. He was laying back with his feet up, elbows out, and reading a novel. Ah to be five foot nothing again! He was a Vietnamese transplant. We had hours of terrific discuss wherein I pretended to understand his accent and even replied at appropriate times using context clues to guess roughly what he was talking about.

I did learn that in Vietnam the fish live on top of the trees, at least that is what I think he said.

Anyway I am back and the plan is to go kayaking in the pacific this afternoon. Should be fun. I will attempt to take my camera, but that could be inviting disaster.

Sam's Summary

• I am back in California
• The flight was good
• One pilot did, however, enjoy turning the plane on it's ear.
  
• I think he confused a flight to Minneapolis with the Le Mans
• "If you look out of the left side of the plane you can see Minneapolis and to your right is the Orion nebula"
• I am going Kyaking
  

Of airplane seats and greener grass

It was a Wednesday afternoon. The pain in my knees was becoming a blessed numbness. Having rammed into the seat in front of my for the past two and a half hours I was beginning to wonder if I would need to amputate.

Please understand that I am not too tall for coach class seats. In fact when I sit up straight my knees only lightly brush the seat in front of me. As long as I don't demand comfort I am fine.

I am fine, that is, until the bozo in front of me wants to recline his seat by that whopping 2 degrees. At this point one or the other of Newtons various laws states that I will not be moving an eyelash until the captain demands over the PA that everyone return their seat to a more upright and humanitarian position. How the over large fellow, who sits in front of me on every single flight, finds comfort in having my knees boring into his spine is beyond me.

Fortunately a couple hours and a big burrito later, I found myself on a plane that was half empty. ("Half empty" is the optimistic view for tall airline passengers) I was able to talk my way into an empty exit row. I had no idea flying could be so wonderful. I could have been happily on that flight for days. Legs stretched out to full length, slouching in my seat with elbows out as far as I liked, Wonderful!

At any rate, I am back home for a few days. It took me all of five minutes to rectify the situation that brought me here. It was even cheaper than I thought it would be. I felt just a little like I should have to do some kind of heroics to get my license. They had me come all the way back in person so I could what? sign my name on a little piece of paper and frown at a camera? I suppose they did do a five and one half second check of my eyes. It turns out that they are still in my head.

On the bright side. My new picture is better than any I have ever had before. That alone is worth every penny I am sure. I also got to see my niece Ava, who can walk now even though she does not admit it. I also got to win at Catch Phrase. This can be difficult with you little brother trying to embarrass you at every chance.

Since the title of this post says something about green grass I should mention something on that. Michigan does not simply have greener grass than most places I have been. It actually has grass. I am looking at you Aridzona. It is amazing to see so much green and so little brown and tan. Water, what a concept.

Sam's Summary

• I got stuck in an airplane seat
• The captian demanded my release
• I ate a Burrito
• I got to Luxuriate in an exit row seat
• Turbulance
• I have my eyes
• I have my license
• I do not, however, have the $25 they charged me
• I visited the above mentioned "Sam"
  

Arizona

In case anyone was wondering I did make it to the Grand Canyon. I suppose that it is called "Grand" simply because it is huge.

My initial plan was to drive out Tuesday evening, camp at the rim of the canyon and then hike down in the morning. It is a mile deep so I wanted to give myself plenty of time. My car had other plans. As can be seen from the previous issue of V.V. my car broke down. This forced me to have a good time at Zion on Tuesday then drive down early Wednesday morning.

I needed to be at the bottom of the canyon by 5:00 P.M. for dinner. The drive was slated to take five and a half hours and the hike down, four to six hours. Needless to say I left early and in a bit of a rush. I need not have worried. Arizona, it turns out, aside from being a desert, is one of those rare and wonderful states that don't use daylight savings time. As such I had an hour extra when I showed up.

The extra hour was quite nice, which you may know if you have ever tried to find parking at the grand canyon at 10:00 am on a Wednesday morning. I would hate to try a Saturday in the summer. Anyway they have a nice slow set of "free" buses (it costs $25 to get into the park). By noon I was on my way down.

The trail just falls into the canyon. The path I took in is about 7.5 miles long. It descends 4600 ft. I really should not have worried about getting to dinner on time. As some of you may know, I am tall. What this means in practical hiking-down-a-canyon terms is that I can use the ties across the path as steps. They are about three feet apart and are placed to keep the path from washing out. Assuming it ever rains. It takes most folks two or three steps per tie. That means I can go at a leisurely pace that is about twice as fast as your average bear. I arrived at Phantom ranch at about 2:30.

With all that extra time before dinner I was able to hike around the canyon floor. Take a nap and eat a snack. The bottom of the canyon is 20 - 30 degrees hotter than the rim. It was about 100 degrees. It was thus a good thing that I packed shorts. It was not, however, a good thing that I packed a long sleeve shirt and a sweat shirt. Completely unnecessary, both of them.

I hear that if you ever visit Phantom Ranch you should order the stew. I wouldn't know, I ordered the steak. It was big and fairly rare. I normally like my steak fully dead and thoroughly brown. When civilization has to be packed in each day by mule, you don't complain about the food and you enjoy it. It really was good. The meal was huge and I needed every calorie for the following day.

Dinner was also delightful for the company. I ate with a Danish couple who envied our not-yet-socialist government and two women from New York who envied Denmark's socialist government. Myself, I am perfectly content to pay less than 50% in taxes.

Hiking back up is supposed to take twice as long as coming down. It didn't but I can see why it should. My legs will be weeks in the healing. I took a longer path out. 11 miles long, 4600 ft up and somewhere between 100 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit. The temperature depends on altitude and where along the path you are.

Most folk left the ranch at 4-5 am. I know because they thought everyone in camp should be awake and made sure that we were. I left at 6:30. Now I know why they left so early. It gets hot. Going up is not bad until you get there.

Once back on the rim.... 4.5 hours later.. I realized I could no longer utilize my calves, my legs were caked a solid 1/8 in thick with the finest red dust you ever did see, and eating french fries was the right thing to do; to replace my lost sodium and depleted energy reserves.

After climbing out and cleaning up I headed to this little place in western Arizona. That's right. The London bridge. It's on lake Havasu. It was a mere 104 degrees there. I took a drink and it came right back out of my forehead. Oh but it's dry heat. I think that means that it is still hot. The bridge was nice though. The little tourist trap of a city around it was kind of hilarious. Texicali with a nice English flavor.





Sam's Summary

• I stepped into the grand canyon.
  
• It was quite a drop
• The heat at the bottom is amazing.
• The deer are spooky friendly
• I ate a rare steak
• I spoke with a Danish
• He was a doctor
• I hiked back up
• It was not a race, but well you know me, I made it into one.
• I passed all the 4 o'clock hikers
• I ate at Wendy's
  
• I saw the London bridge
• I camped in the frying Mojave desert.
• I am at my sister's place in Vista California.
  

Drive to the Grand Canyon

The idea upon leaving Fort Collins, was to work my way to the Grand canyon over the course of a few days. I was hoping that I could find some interesting places to stop for the night. Thankfully things rarely go as planned.

The first night I wanted to simply drive to Grand Junction, CO. I got there well after dark. I was hoping to find any ol' campground for the night. I followed signs for something called Colorado National Monument. It looked promising as there was a little green tent marked on my map.

After a few hours of driving in circles I found the self help booth for late arrivals. I found a nice uneven camp site and set my tent just in time to duck out of the rain. It was 11:00 and I was exhausted.

Since any ol' camp ground would have done just fine you might imagine my surprise to discover that my campground was within a few hundred yards to the edge of ...

...........This!!!

I spent a "Just wow" morning driving about and taking photographs.

In the afternoon I set off accross Utah with a mind to stay Monday night at Zion national park. I expect Utah to be desert and little else. a hundred miles of beautiful desert did little to change my mind. Then I ran into "The Reef"

Please keep in mind that these little boulders are actually over 500 ft tall. There is a chain of these things running north to south for a hundred or more miles. The road had to cut straight through them. Utah kept throwing new surprises at me. Canyons, Mountian ranges and what ever the heck a "reef" is. They even had a bit of green here and there.

I spent this afternoon at Zion and was forced to expose my eyes to wonders such as....



This is just a little taste of Zion which is to date the most awe inspiring place I have been. On a grand scale anyway. It is a green garden set at the bottom of a deep canyon in the southwest desert of Utah. If you want more pictures.. ask. I have plenty.

Tomorrow is the grand Canyon. I am hiking to the bottom so I need to get some sleep. Hopefully it is not anymore awesome than the things I have seen the past two days. My head might actually explode. It's not just a cute metaphor. I really am in danger of overloading my perceptions of what is awesome.

Sam's Summary

• I left Fort Collins
• I admired the Rockies (very nice by the way)
• I got lost in Grand Junction, CO
• I was found by Colorado National monument
• I achieved over 35 miles per gallon driving 80 mph across Utah
• I broke my timing belt
• It cost money to replace.
• It's all better now.
• I spent the day in Zion National Park
• It's very cool so I am posting some Sam's Summary Bonus pictures (don't get used to it)

Everything is going smoothly

Everything is going smoothly. It's just not going according to plan. I intended to do a lot of biking in the Fort Collins area. That was before I caught the plague. The plague consists of running a very slight temperature, a mildly scratchy throat, a light cough, and a general feeling of blahness.

I am still going to do some biking. I will be leaving in a half hour or so to pit myself against Rist Canyon Road.

The big thing that I did not plan is a flight back to Michigan on the 13th of May. I will be back home for a week. No, it's not because of a funeral or even a court date. Really it is more an effort to avoid a court date. What I have known for two whole days before you is that I am driving around the country on an expired drivers license. It took a highly trained security guard at Intel to discover that.

Thankfully Michigan gives out of state residents a six month extension in order to give them time to get home. Unfortunately, six months expired three days ago.

One would think that the State would have sent me a letter letting me know it was time to renew back in October. Well, they did. Trouble is the envelope looks exactly like the "Renew your license plate on your car" letter. I distinctly remember wondering why they sent two of them within a week of each other. Like a good absent minded professor with a touch of ADD, I was quite proud of myself for going into the secretary of state, in person and on time, to renew my plate. Mission accomplished and expelled from my memory.

So the car is good to go, but I am not. Should I get pulled over, they can let my car go on without me. I want to avoid this as my car really has no ambition and would probably just sit around without me there to push it's buttons. So I am going to drive somewhat carefully to San Diego so my sister can watch my vehicle whilst I fly home to take care of this little issue.

I know it sounds a bit extreme, but it's better than the rash a stickler like me would get sweating every second I am out on the road. In all truth it will be good to spend a week at home. I need my spine adjusted (Hi dad), I could use another round of prolotherapy treatments for my wrist (Hi again dad), and I really should catch one of Tim's baseball games, baby sit Ava (My niece), and give a certain Brit a big pat on the back for surviving both high school and the family household.

I do have reservations to stay at Phantom ranch at the bottom of the Grand Canyon next week. I am thus, not exactly rushing off. I have been a bit illegal for six months, whats another week? I will be quite happy to not have that to worry about though. I figure with the (hopefully free) medical treaments and weeks worth of home cooked meals (I miss you mom) this unplanned bit of smoothness will pay for it's self.

Now to find a way to board an airplane without a valid photo ID...

Sam's Summary

• Sam already knows all this
• However, there is some delightful word play here that was not in the phone converstation
• He would have to read the whole thing anyway to appreciate it
• I actually have already taken care of the ID for the plane problem
• I am pretty good at taking care of problems when I know what they are
• As this is my most embaressing post I am sure all of you will find it the most entertaining
• Meanies!
  

Here are the pictures that I promised so long ago. It is a bit of a mishmash.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is the Garden of the Gods and seen from above and northwest

At it's center is this little neat formation

It really is very garden like

There are many cool formations in the surrounding hills. These have fewer climbing restrictions.


I spent the afternoon at Pikes Peak. Here it is seen through a formation at the Garden.

This is the tree line. I personally know people who have never been above it.

The View to the west

The View to the east.

Sam's Summary

• I took a long while to post these pictures
• I was sick so lay off me
• It was not avian flu
• It was not bovine Tuberculosis
• It was not chicken pox
• or cow pox
• or horse tranquilizers
• or any other animal related sickness
• It was, however, similar in symptoms to swine flu, just not really swine flu.
• How's Ava?
  

Colorado Springs

This is going to be a long one. It amuses me how I will sit around for weeks with very little to write about, then in one day I do enough to justify a few more weeks of sitting around.

Thursday, April 23 2009 AD. I did it all today. At least I did all that could be hoped for, short of falling in love, and I am not sure I didn't do that as well. It all started with the most important part... sleeping in. I could not find a campground in the Colorado springs area so I got a cheap hotel. The Colorado welcome center even gave me a nice coupon for it. I am not complaining. I have not slept in a real bed since Virgina, nearly a month ago. Thus I slept in.

The next item on my agenda was to come to a screeching rubber laying halt at a stop light. I needed to test the break job I did before leaving home. What actually happened is that I was trying to find the Garden of the Gods. You try driving an unfamiliar road in the mountians while trying to filter out tourist trap signs. I can hardly be expected to see every red light with all that foolishness assaulting my senses.

Well the good news is that I did see every red light, if perhaps a bit late, and my breaks work splendidly. Highway 24 does have a nice new set of 40 ft matching black rubber marks now.

I did find the park. It was, and I presume still is, awesome. It is a big naturally formed play ground. It features endless Daniel sized climbing opportunities. That simply means rock formations that if fallen from would result in serious injury but remain short of death. It also sports numerous larger formations that are good for other, crazier people to climb, and me to look at.

The "Garden" is enclosed by three giant stone walls sticking sever hundred feet out of the ground. In the center there are perfect juniper trees (at least I think they were some sort of juniper) placed artfully about as it by some wild genious. It really does look like a garden. It just has a bit of a wild feel to it.

I hiked all about and around the park and played on all the rocks. I took every trail, a few things that were decidedly not trails, and a few other places that were not, strictly speaking, sanctioned visitor areas. I probably put 6-7 miles of hiking, wandering, and bouldering. I some times (not often) wonder what all the other genteel tourists think of the tall skinny guy skipping about like a mountain goat.

The afternoon found me driving up Pikes Peak. They charge $8.00 for the chance to test the first 2-3 gears on your car. The top of the mountain is over a mile and a half above the city. Quite the rock. At about 8,000 ft I stopped a turn off and noticed a horrible boiling sound from my hood area. A check revealed that coolant was bubbling into my resevoir and some was flowing out the over flow vent. A few calls to a coworker, my dad, and my mechanic verified that since my fluids were topped off at 600 ft they were over flowing at 8,000ft. Other than that one panic moment my little car performed beautifully. I did not even get blown off the mountain when the wind picked up. Man that was a bit freaky.

I had to stop a few miles short of the summit. They recently had 19ft of snow dump on the peak and were blasting through it with TNT. I did however get above the tree line. Which is more than some people I know can say. I am looking at you Mr. Otto. The trip down was quite exciting. Basically you just put your car in first gear and coast. Using the breaks too much will cause them to over heat and fail. I am sure the guy that found that out must have had a lovely trip.

Back in town I treated myself to dinner, watched an episode of Cold Case, and prepared for one mare adventure before the sun set. What I did not mention about the Garden of the Gods before is that they have a lovely road weaving in and about the park. That road has a ten foot wide bike lane.

I won't go into much detail, but suffice to say that I biked it... twice.. It was the first time that I had ridden since I burned my breaks on Roanoke mountian in VA. I noticed that my breaks had way too much play in them this time. I really did smoke them in the mountians. I used them liberally again this time. I really need to get some beefy breaks if I am going to continue on like this.

If you made it this far you are a champ. Thanks for reading. Next up, Fort Collins CO.

Sam's Summary

• I am really and truly out of Texas
• I left rubber on highway 24
• I had heap good time at Garden of the Gods yah!
• I drove my li'l car from 6,000 ft to 13,000 ft
  
• my coolent expanded
• I got above the treeline
  
• I feared for my life
  
• Gaurd rails are apparently for sissies
• I road my bike. Yeah!
• I have mixed feelings about continental breakfasts.
• Pictures to follow, since I have to check out now.
  

My Yesterday

How was your yesterday folks? Mine was borderline terrific. Kinda caught between fabulous and awesome. I Started out bright and early (10:00 AM), caught some breakfast at the trading post, and hit the trails. Here is a sample invintory of what you should pack along on your next 12 mile trek through the parched south west.

In the pack

• Roughly 1 gallon of fluids. Water/Gatorade.
• 1 protein bar
• 1 Beef stick
• 4 Rugged Bandaids (thanks mom)
• 1 Hunting knife with 5in blade
• Emergency pair of socks
• SPF 30

On the Utility belt

• 1 digital point and shoot camera
• 2 fox and 3 beaver pelts (ok maybe not)
  

0n the head:

• one industrial strength outdoorsman's hat (thanks Matt)

On the feet:

• One pair of rugged sandals. Not my first choice but I managed to make a mess of my normal sneakers the night before. Mud.
• Two Bandaids. Again thanks mom.
  

In the eye:

• Beauty

Now for the photo story.

The Path

The scenery

The Road Runner (sorry I only heard the cyote. I did, however, sign for a delivery of ACME products)



The Trail Again


Just some more Random scenery

All in all it was pretty good. I met a nice man at the campground that ranted about how he was off to see the country before it all went to the dogs... or the commies... I met another nice man on the trail who invited me to come peer at the heavens through his giant telescope. So I spent the evening oogling saturn's moons and rings and various nebulea and star clusters. The guy was amazing he would find objects in a few seconds and step back to let everyone else look. He had probably $20,000 worth of equipment set up. The images were amazingly clear. It all worked out. I got a chance to look and he got a chance to talk. Plainly a priority for him.

Thanks for reading. I am off to Colorado Springs next. So the pictures should keep coming.

Sam's Summary

• It's Pictures Sam. Lots of pictures
• You don't need no stinking summary today
• I did, however, see a badger (picture did not turn out too well) you do need one of those.
  

While you are working

I thought that it might be good of me to let you know where I will be while you jockey with your desk this morning.

Palo Duro Canyon that's where. A friend of mine recommended that I stop here and hike. That is precisely what I am doing as you hit the dregs of this morning's coffee. Hopefully I will have enough energy to ride the canyon road this evening. It is awesome. I will be here another night before heading up to the Colorado Springs area.

At any rate, this should be good. I got delightfully muddy climbing a peak overlooking my campsite. Who put that slimy creek there anyway.

Sam's Summary

• I am at Palo Duro Canyon State park near Amarillo, TX

• I climbed a little peak

• I got muddy

• I am braving miles of beautiful hiking trails while you watch for five o'clock

• I wish you were here.... Whoever you are.

When it rain, it floods

It rained yesterday. It was not a heavy rain; just a normal rain. Texas, however, was designed to concentrate and focus all runoff such that the water does not actually run off. It does not soak into the ground either. It simply piles up. How a little spring shower leaves four inches of water on the roads is beyond me.

Luckily, Texan have spent a inordinate amount of time preparing for the occasional rain. They build runoff features into everything. The neighborhoods have nice attractive concrete spillways built through them. They are dry 95% of the time. When it rains they become raging torrents that could sweep away unwary children and pickup trucks.

One the other hand it is fun to make a wake with my car. I was throwing out eight foot high waves to either side on my way to see a friend. Great fun if you are an averaged kid like myself.

In other news, I wrote this company offering to work for free. No bite so far.

Sam's Summary

• It rained
• The flood drains filled up
• No reports of missing people or objects... so far.
• I got to splash through the puddles they call roads.
• I am the Dallas king of 21 tip-in. After 5 games.
  

Dallas News Issue 1

Does anyone out there know how to clean a shoe soaked through with blood? Feel free to comment if you do. This question is not so random as one might think. I do in fact have a bloody shoe. I will now pause for a few moments to let you conjure images of horrible accidents and draft dodging...

Ok, is your imagination quite finished? Now I can tell you how lame the real story is. I was playing basket ball, and someone (I won't mention any names) stepped upon my previously traumatized big toe. I looked down and noticed that blood was seeping out of that area of my shoe. Did I stop? Oh no not I. I played through the pain. This was a fairly easy accomplishment as there was no pain. Shaquille O'Neal take note. It is possible to play basketball for free with a bloody toe, much less while getting paid millions.

Really it was just blood from the last time I hurt it. It was trapped under my toenail. Now it is not. I think I may have a fighting chance now of keeping my nail. Vanity I know. Anyway, paultryness of the injury aside I still need to clean my shoe. Anyone with crime scene cover up experience feel free to contact me.

Sam's Summary

• I have a bloody shoe
• It's not my blood
• It was my blood but I have no use for it now
• I want it out of my shoe and out of my life
• I am tougher than Shaquille O'Neal
• Apparently the only point of interest in Dallas is the spot on the road where Kennedy was shot.

The goat is dead!!

I have been waiting till after the big Easter meal to relate this story. I wanted to make sure that I had it in it's entirety.

The story begins, like so many other stories, with My friend Doug asking me "Do you want to help slaughter the goat on Friday?" I am sorry if you are not familiar with this time honored Easter tradition (I wasn't either). I am not sure why this seemed to anyone to be a normal thing to do. I did not even know that there was a live goat out there somewhere.

Such an opportunity does not come up every day, so naturally I exclaimed that I most certainly did not desire to take part in their barbaric rituals. I did however end up digging the pit the day before.

It turns out that it was to be a pit roast..... In the middle of town.... on rented property. When in Texas as they say..... They dig a 2-3 ft deep hole, start a fire at the bottom, then when it burns down to coals they throw in the carcass with some seasoning and bury the whole affair for half a day. I did the digging the hole part. The good news is that the ground was not entirely solid clay; only the bottom foot or so was. At the end of my labors we had the six foot by two foot hole and two and a half feet deep.

I have to admit that the demanded dimensions were indistinguishable from any number of shallow graves dug in the heyday of wild west lawlessness. Even though I did not know the people with whom I was working at all, I was not at all worried. You see the hole was six feet long and I am 6'4". Nothing to worry about at all.

After this point, and a tall glass of the foulest civic water I have consumed in a long while, I went back to my friend's. I did not return the next day for the killing, skinning, or marinating. I did not return the day after that for the cooking. I did, however, return for the Sunday Easter feast and declined any and all polite offers to try the innocent fury creature. Instead I ate brownies, lots of brownies.

Sam's Summary

• I dug a shallow grave
• Some Texans cooked a poor li'l goat in it.
• I was not party to the slaughter.
• I did however go to a party.
• I did not eat the under cooked goat flesh.
• I indulged in deserts instead.
• I am now in the Dallas area
  

Happy Easter

Dare to hope, dare believe, gamble on love, and venture to dream.

Making life sound good

The great thing about a blog is that I get to make all the decisions about how you will see my life. Really I am just killing time at my friend's place in Texas and lazily planning my next move. But it has been fun. I went swing dancing. They all do Lindy out here, but the girls who begged to dance with me had to settle for some smooth east coast. East coast is a little more playful anyway.

On Saturday we traveled to Austin to visit our friend who has made something of his life. He is married, has a nice house, an Xbox 360, a job he loves, a cute daughter, and a huge TV; but he still lives in Texas. Anyway we spent two days there doing horribly boring things. Things such as grilling delicious shishkabobs, disc golfing, playing rock band, playing darts, playing board games, and most importantly reliving all the memories in which I humiliated him during college.

The biggest event of this week is that I went to the Texas A&M Rec center for some pick-up basketball. I have never seen a larger sports facility. The place was amazing. They had 30 or so racquetball and squash courts. They had 8 basketball floors. It was, and I presume still is, quite huge.

I did not play particularly well. I tend to eat very little when I travel and low blood sugar levels do not facilitate great game play. This is without even mentioning proper hydration. I held my own on defense but could not make a lay-up to save... well insert your own trite expression here. It will probably hold true. People always end-up stepping on my feet in pick-up games and I think that I am probably going to lose my left big toe-nail as a result. Darn kids. They are all so young now.

Was I ever that young? Or, ever that hot headed. Luckily I only had one meat head swear on his honor as a neanderthal that he would hurt me.... in retaliation for boxing him out. It all worked out in the end as his goal of running me over clouded his memory that the point was to WIN the game.

I will probably be here through easter. I have will be able to attend all the various rites and rituals that way. Did I ever mention that I love easter. Best holiday ever.

Sam's Summary

• I am still in Texas
• I visited a long lost college chum over the weekend
• I am derilict in my duty to take pictures of everything I see
• I danced
• I danced well
• I always dance well
• I played basketball poorly
• It was good enough because we kept winning
• There are a lot of bullet points here
  

Chilling in Texas

I the somewhat dubious case that anyone wonders what has become of me the past few days.. I am in college station Texas chilling with a couple college chums. They are brothers. Not much is happening. Just a few philosophical discussions of earth shattering import and more than a few episodes of Far Scape, an incredibly improbable and scientifically insulting bit of sci-fi drivel. However, it is quite entertaining. Sometimes that is all that I ask.

Some observations on Texas so far. My apologies to anyone who has been here themselves or, lacking that, has acquaintances who have. Texas is huge. No really it is huge. If you can distinguish two places as separate points on a map; plan at least a day for the travel. The other thing that I can say for Texas is that they have 70 mph speed limits on fairly normal country roads. Without that the above mentioned travel day would easily become two.

As for everything in Texas being bigger and/or better? Rubbish. Absolute rubbish. The trees are stunted, the apartments small (at least all the ones I have stayed in), and compensation by pick-up truck is a disease. (To a particular family member in a somewhat eastern state: You go right ahead and get that truck)

I think that the Ford F-150 must be the state animal or something. Of course the pick-ups are no bigger here than anywhere else, just less necessary. I could head out across the fields in my escort and never fear I would hit anything bigger than a long horn laid mud pie. Although I must admit my ability to intimidate pedestrians is somewhat lacking.

On the other hand they don't have a state income tax here (I suppose a dollar per acre property tax would pay off the national debt)

So that's it so far. Admittedly I have not seen much of Texas; just a six hour stretch of it anyway. I may have may be gushing about it before the end and I do like those shiny belt buckles. You know. The really big ones.

Sam's Summary

• Texas is Huge
  

A diamond of another kind

I am in no longer in Arkansas, but I am going to write about it anyway. Aside from being the land of the Clinton's Arkansas boast several other claims to fame. They have natural hot springs there which naturally cost a good deal of money to experience. They have the world's only diamond mine open to the public (read "not economically viable"). And, they have a baptist church on every street corner.

I am not meaning to imply that they have many street corners, they do not, but they do have an inordinate number of baptist churches. Every once in a while (five miles or so) something goes awry and you find a Methodist church; usually the first one ever. This idle rambling is actually quite important. You see, I was there over a weekend and a catholic church is what I required. I was beginning to think that I was going to have to drive all the way back to Virgina to catch a mass.

Thankfully there is a wonderful little website that helps with these sorts of conundrums. I was able to find a parish not 15 miles from my campsite (it was more like 16). Apparently there are 50 Catholics in rural Arkansas, enough for a very small parish hidden on a back road of a small village. Now for the great part. When I arrived a small group of devotees were praying the rosary.... in Vietnamese! Vietnamese is a tonal language and as such the prayers had a very musical quality. About the one third of the parish was Vietnamese, one third European, and one third Hispanic. The Mass utilized all three languages with the sermon being delivered in English then Spanish. Now for the kicker; the priest was from Africa.

How an African priest ended up in rural Arkansas, serving a multilingual and multicultural congregation none of which are remotely his by birth, is far beyond me. He handled it with an astounding adroitness. It was amazing to see the universal nature of the church demonstrated so thoroughly in a little back country town. In the bear hug of earth that Christ gives the world through his church, little Nashville, Arkansas is where the fingers meet in the back.

I spent the rest of the day poking through a slimy mud field for diamonds but the real find was St. Martin's of Nashville.

Sam's Summary

• I was in Arkansas looking for diamonds
• I am now in Texas
• If I was baptist I would feel right at home
• I am not baptist
• I feel right at home anyway
• St. Martins has four cultures in the span of 50 people
• I found no isometric-hexoctahedral crystal lattice allotropes of carbon.
• I saw a living armadillo (they are usually born as roadkill)

Live from Hunsville Alabama

As you may have guessed from the title, I am now in northern Alabama. Last night was my official first camp for this trip. By camping I mean that I broke out the brand new tent. I borrowed a queen size air mattress from my brother. It fits my tent exactly. So I am sleeping in style. Of course it rained last night. The good news is that my tent does not seem to leak.

Tonight is supposed to bring thunder storms. Normally I like those but I am camped on a mountain top over looking the city. We will see how that goes.

Now you may be wondering what the heck I am doing in Alabama. I wonder at it a bit myself. Everyone done here is so friendly and talks so sweetly that they must be up to something. But really I am here because Werner Von Braun built rockets here, Big manly rockets at that. The Saturn V for instance. They have a nice museum on rocketry here. So that is why I came. I spent the day shouldering school children out of the way so I could get a crack at the flight simulator. I also purchased a cardiac arrest special chicken bacon sandwich.

The highlight of the museum was the Saturn V show room. They had one hanging from the ceiling and when no one was looking I crawled up to the back, struck a match against my teeth, and with a flick of my wrist I lit that hulking candle! Ok maybe not, but I did think about it.

Really the cool part (for a nerd) was the rocket engines they had laying about. I mostly took pictures of those. I was interested in their various injector designs, trust chambers, and regeneratively cooled nozzles.

Upon returning to base camp I took a little hike on a trail called rock cracks. It was about the coolest trail I have ever seen. For about one eighth of a mile it wound through narrow fissures in a twenty to thirty foot high rock. The walls were vertical and only a few feet apart. sometimes it became a tunnel. It was very other worldly. I kept expecting to come out the other side into a magical kingdom with unicorns and the like. Monte Sano Sate park. Not bad, not bad at all.

Tomorrow I head to Arkansas. They have a diamond mine there. It's open to the public. I am the public. That means that it is open to me. What I am trying to say here is that there is a big hunking shiny rock out there with my name on it. All I have to do is go pick it up.

Sam's Summary

• I am in Alabama
• I can land a space shuttle.
• I looked at rockes
• The mission to mars simulator is a cheesy, goofy, knock off mall ride.
• I hiked a very middle earth like trail. ( the mines of Moria are around here somewhere)
• Hiho hiho it's off to Arkanas I go.

Cycling Roanoke, Va

Was that my ears popping!!? or just my aorta rupturing? A nice guy (for the sake of anonymity we will just call him "Adam") mapped out a bit of a ride for me yesterday. I wanted to do a bit of climbing while in the mountains. Climbing, I got. The first little hill was in all actuality an 1,800 ft tall mountain rising a thousand feet above Roanoke, VA.

I did NOT feel like I was going to die, or vomit, or any other such weak feelings. I did however have very fond thoughts of going the other direction and for taking 'picture breaks'. Did you know that it is nigh on impossible to clip back into your pedals while trying to start out going up hill. For that reason I ended up only using the photo excuse for one picture on the way up. For my success on this climb I would like to thank my mother, father, and the really little chain ring on my bike.

I have provided, for your enjoyment, a nice picture of my trusty steed against a stunning valley backdrop which you can hardly see and a trash receptacle that you can. The top of Mill mountain boasts a park, an overlook, a vending machine, a zoo, and really big illuminated star that is just to the right of the picture. I did not go to the zoo, eat at the park, use the vending machine and will not post a picture of the star. For all Roanoke is very proud of their star, it is a rather ugly and unimpressive structure that we could happily ignore if it were not a 100 ft tall heap of metal and neon lights.

With temperatures soaring nearly to the upper fifties, I about froze my hands to the handle bars descending the backside of the mountain. I should probably say something about the flora and fauna and whotnot. Well, I won't; it is just a beautiful ride on a nice road with light traffic. I would like to see it in summer sometime.

Next up? Roanoke mountain.

Roanoke mountain drive off the Blue Ridge park way is by far the most superlative laden ride I have ever taken.



Can you say granny gear? I can't, I am trying to catch my breath.



Yeah that little hill down there? that's the first mountain I climbed today.


2,000 ft and barely breaking a sweat. Never mind that I was averaging about 7mph up this thing. I felt much better by this point in the ride and enjoying myself more than strictly necessary. What you can't tell from the picture is that I am about to partake of a tasty powerbar snack.

The top of Roanoke Mountain is about 2,200 ft above sea level and 1,400 ft above the city where I started. The new blog banner is a photo from the summit. If you ever get a chance to spin a bike up this mountain, do it. If no chances come up, make one.

For every climb there is a decent. I considered trying to video tape the road down but am glad I did not. It would probably have found it's way on to YouTube among the famous last videos category. The first drop was a long, steep, pothole hosting, straight away. I could have probably coasted to over 50 mph down it. That would have been great fun right up until the 180 degree hair pin turn at the bottom. Did I mention that I now might need new break pads? The whole 1000 or so foot drop was like that; steep inclines, sharp turns, and smoking hot breaks. Ok so I have injected a little hyperbole throughout this post.

The ride back into town, over the shoulder of Mill mountain, was just plain awesome. Back on open roads I could finnaly just let go on the decents. This was the kind of decent that I have dreamed of for years. My legs were actually feeling better and stronger as teh ride went on, so I was able to drag my average speed up from an embarrasing 7 or so mph to above 10 for the whole trip.

Once back into town I chased cars all the back to my friends house and took a delightful nap. For now this stands as the ride of my life. I terms of shear awesome anyway. The 109 miler my cousin and I did last year still stands as biking triumph #1.

Sam's Summary

• This was a longe entry
• I rode up a mountian
• I made fun of what I found there
• I froze down the mountain
• I road up a bigger mountain
• I liked it... alot.
• I ate a power bar
• I scared my self silly going down the mountain.
• The local bikers are nice and give helpful directions.

Leaving again... Tomorrow...

My Time with my sister is coming to a conclusion. Not because I particularly want to leave (they have excellent amenities here) , but the road goes on and so must I. Apparently the road heads south about two and a half hours to my friend Kristin's house. I rather enjoy taking the country on in diminutive chunks. This is either because I want to experience the country in its entirety or because my car features a lack of cruise control and my foot tires. Take your pick.

Aside from being one of my best friends, the next stop should be good because she lives at the tail end of the blue ridge and weather permitting I would like to ride the blue ridge parkway. Perhaps on Tuesday. Aside from those two reasons she also seems to have acquired a phd mathematician boyfriend. I hope he likes a good brain picking session. I only have about 113 good solid questions who's answers I plan to demand from the next available mathematician.

After that stop I really have no idea of where I am going. The general notion is west, but the route eludes me for the moment.

Sam's Summary

• Kurt and I hit up the driving range
• I have a nice slice going on
• I am using my weak wrist as a handy excuse
• I am leaving Ruth's tomorrow
• I hope to ride the blue ridge mountains (perhaps tuesday)
• After that I am not sure where I will lay my weary head next

Good day,

The music is playing

There is a highland dance competition going on across the street in an auditorium. I took the nieces. I even paid the the entrance fee. Thank goodness for free entertainment, especially if it is the same song and routine ad nausem. There was some variation. A few of the dancers were significantly less clunky than the others and approached something like real grace.

I am not sure how they are able to dance around on one foot for so long without pulling something important. My working theory for the moment is that Highland dance originated at local fairs and festivals in Scotland when unwitting spectators to the caber toss had a 200 lb log land on one of their big toes.

I need to start making some plans for the next few weeks. I am not sure at all what I am doing past sunday; but that's the fun of it I suppose.

Sam's Summary

• There is a hopping on one foot competition accross the street.
• It is Scotish
• I am a bit Scots myself
• ergo I am good at hopping on one foot. (see dunking)
• I don't know what the day after tomorrow will bring
• It has been too cold to do any further biking.

Take care,

Breaking out the Bike

I let my bike out of the trunk today. The cycling coach at my brother-in-law's school gave me a nice map with some good rides highlighted on it. Today was perfect for biking; 65 degrees, sunny, and not too windy. As this was my first ride of the season, I took the 19 mile route. There are a few noticeable differences between the roads here and the roads back home. At home we regularly ride hills with a 300 ft elevation gain. I don't think I saw a hill much over 100 ft here.

However, they don't bother to make much of a road bed here either. That makes for roads that hug the contours of the land much more faithfully. They are on the whole; rougher, narrower, and the hills steeper. The homes I passed were also more interesting. Take the house with doberman's staked out in chains around the perimeter for instance. A fruitful imagination can play all day with a man who needs that kind of security. He probably owes his brother-in-law five bucks.

In other, yet related, news I totally yoinked my cousin's blue riding jersey. I borrowed it last summer and some how failed to return it. It will be happier visiting all the roads America can offer anyway.

I have discovered the defining difference between my two older sister's offspring. Whereas Laura's progeny will use you as a trampoline, should you attempt a nap, Ruth's will tuck you in and comb your hair.

Sam's Summary

• I rode my bike.
• It was warm out.
• I wore Alex's jersey.
• Ruth's kids are not Laura's kids
• I am teaching my niece to ride a bike.