You've been wearing two gloves this entire time?

After leaving Moab / Arches and Jeremy / Dom, I headed to Grand Junction, CO. My brother hooked me up with a couch at a friend of his' house (I gave up trying to figure out the grammar for that sentence). Dustin was very accommodating and although I had only met him briefly before, we had a great time hanging out for the evening before I set off again for the northeastern side of Colorado. Also, I was able to get off to a good start thanks to an early wake-up call from Dustin's lovely daughter.

(Dustin pictured. Ladies, if you want a guy who can hunt and fish and fix cars Colorado is a good place to look.)

During my drive from Grand Junction to Golden, CO I discovered, while riding through Veil, that it gets a bit nippy at 10,000 feet on a motorcyle. I should have been more prepared for the cold considering how many times I've watched the following (start at the two minute mark). There's still a bit of snow up there on those mountains. But I just added my trusty flannel and cruised down the hill as quickly as I could to warm up.

In Golden I stayed with another one of my brother's friends, Jud. I actually knew Jud a little bit better than Dustin having been able to head out on a few backpacking trips with him and my brother when they were working together down at Redcloud in Lake City, CO.

(Jud pictured. I'm telling you, CO guys know how to tackle the elements and nature itself).

As a huge added bonus, my bro and Michelle happened to be up that way for the weekend checking out Boulder, CO. So I was able to have dinner with Jud and his wife Tara along with Patch and Michelle. They also had a trambopoline (anyone?anyone? this one's tough) that I took advantage of, sleeping on it under the stars.

Unfortunately my time there was short lived and I was headed out again for South Dakota and Mount Rushmore, where more adventure waited (I came upon a torrential downpour, more on that later).





I love me some Jack White, here with the Raconteurs and... bonus picture of Patch and Michelle (and a sleeping Asher)

Angel's Landing

Day 2 took us from absurd Las Vegas to idyllic Zion National Park. We arrived in the afternoon, but were still able to fit in a few hikes including the Three Patriarchs (pictured - Abraham, Isaac and Jacob) and the Emerald Lakes, which were neither emerald nor lakes, but was still a cool hike.

However, on Day 2 we missed one of the better hikes in the park so we called an audible and instead of leaving right away on Day 3 for Bryce Canyon National Park, we decided to get up before the sun and head out for the popular Angels' Landing peak. Angels' Landing is a pretty fun hike but to get to the end you have to be willing to navigate a somewhat treacherous trail. It's described as narrow with large drop-offs on either side. It isn't necessarily difficult but it can be intimidating if you are afraid of heights.

Anyways, I think I should add a short description of the friends I have been travelling with so far this trip. Jeremy (red shirt - middle) specifically mentioned that I better not say anything defamatory so I'll simply say he is tall, blond and right handed. Oh and he claims he has vertigo and thus didn't finish the Angels' Landing hike (no comment on whether the elderly and small children completed the hike). Dom made me make no such promise. Dom likes improv, irony and classic/old school sports apparel (that's a classic Brewer's hat he's wearing!!!).

(View from top of Angels' Landing)

Motoristo fresco or the Red Beauty

I'm on to my next adventure. I have moved out of Gunnison and moved onto the open road. After a couple years of being mired in a Bill and Ted's Wyld Stallyns' (not a typo) dilemma (needing Eddie Van Halen to learn how to play guitar, but needing to know how to play guitar to make a "most triumphant video" in order to get Eddie Van Halen to join the band) I finally purchased a motorcycle figuring I could learn how to ride once I had a bike to ride as opposed to hoping I'd somehow learn how to ride without having the bike first. Yes, I recognize that's a fairly convoluted analogy and a nearly impossible to understand run on sentence. So, I utilized ebay and picked up a 2007 Honda Shadow (pictured with rider). I spent a couple weeks getting comfortable riding a bit around SoCal before heading off on a road trip out to Chicago.

Of course naming the bike is a necessity. Denise recommended Motoristo fresco but for mom it's going to be Red Beauty, sweet reminiscing of my former red Toyota immigrant farmer truck I used to have and still miss.

The first leg of the trip was to make my way from OC out to Vegas to meet a couple good buddies from law school (Dom on right (formerly of LA) and Jeremy in the middle (Chicago)). I was a little nervous taking my first big ride but I made into Vegas safely and to be sure it was good to take off my helmet and relax with my friends.

Vegas was ok (scroll down for Vegas themed music), we wandered around a little bit, grabbed a yummy dinner and watched the Lakers' game (unfortunate game 4 loss to the Suns) before looking for something "uniquely Vegas" to entertain ourselves with. Fortunately, or unfortunately, we stumbled upon Coyote Ugly at New York, New York. Wow. I don't really know what to say. It was definitely entertaining while being bizarre and disconcerting.

So far, very good. Next stop some camping in Zion National Park in Utah...

Long Time Coming

I promised a long while back to upload Team Gunnison Brewery's team championship picture that was printed in the Gunnison Times, so here you go.

I'm on the far right on one knee, bro up front.

Laker Fever

So I was going to finally get a blog done, but my mom pulled rank and told me to concentrate on the Laker game. Hopefully first thing tomorrow. I have a lot of catching up to do. Go Lakes.