Reed's Rat Race

2011-09-23T06:49:00.003-05:00

Here's a short clip I assembled from a few of the roads we sampled in northern California.

Cali Trip Day 5--Last day on the bike

2011-09-22T15:57:00.002-05:00

Wednesday

Despite sleeping well, we woke up early on Wed. morning and were on the road by 6:45am. Perhaps it was the fact that I wasn't sure exactly how long it would take us to get back to Mountain View that had me worried a bit. The morning temps were hovering around 51 deg so I hit the switch for the heated grips and raised the windscreen all the way up. Our goal for Wed. was to take scenic Hwy 70 out of the mountains and then head south and west back to Mountain View and the rental place. We had to be there no later than 5pm.

The town of Chester rests on the north shore of Lake Almanor. The water was like glass as we sailed by.

Aside from a couple areas where we had to wait on road repairs being made, 70 is another great road. It follows the Feather River through the Plumas National forest and has lots of great corners, very good pavement, and great scenery too.

Feather River, a train, and mountains.

More views on Hwy 70

TUNNEL!!

The west end of 70 had brand new tarmac so it was billiard table smooth with a great combo of high speed sweepers to cap it off.

Once we dropped out of the mountains, the temperature immediately started rising, the road straightened out and the traffic increased. We stopped for gas, shed our thermal layers and settled into the long slog back to Ingred's home. We hit Sacramento about lunch time and enjoyed Thai food at a place right off the interstate. Once we hit Sacramento, traffic really picked up and it was pretty much wall to wall cars all the way back to Mountain View. I had not really ever ridden in that much traffic for that length of time and found it to be really stressful. I tried to utilize the HOV lanes as much as possible, kept a pace slightly quicker than the flow of traffic and scanned ahead for signs of trouble. The problem was since we didn't have the use of our GPS, I didn't know how much farther we had, when the next turn was coming up or anything. We had jotted down the directions earlier so Angela would just call out the next interstate or road that I needed to take. The issue with that was the fact that the high temperatures had caused the glue on the double sided tape that holds Angela's communicator to her helmet to soften, allowing her communicator to fall off at random times. So while she was trying to play navigator, she was also trying to hold her communicator on and keep everything where it needed to be. Regardless of the difficulties, she did a marvelous job.

We arrived at the rental place with plenty of time to spare. I was relieved to return Ingred to her owners in the same condition that we had gotten, except with an extra 907 miles on the odometer and a lot less rubber on the tires. So long Ingred, it was a great ride!

Our next hotel was located in downtown San Francisco at the west end of Lombard street. Once we got close to the city, traffic slowed to a crawl and remained that way all the way to our hotel. It took us about 2 hours to get from the bike rental place to our hotel. After getting checked in, we hopped on a bus and went straight to the Golden Gate Bridge. The bridge itself was really cool. My gripe is with all the wanna be Lance Armstrongs that feel the need to ride across the bridge at full clip. We saw one cyclist wreck when someone unknowingly backed into his path.

Big Brother is watching you!

After many pictures of the bridge and surrounding areas, we headed off to China Town for dinner. Angela picked a great restaurant and we enjoyed authentic chinese food for a change. It seems like every chinese restaurant in the state of MS serves exactly the same junk, so when none of the dishes on the menu at the Great Eastern restaurant sounded familiar, I knew we were in for a treat. Angela's clay pot dish held several sea food items we couldn't identify, but each one as really tasty. The Peking Duck I ordered was juicy, with a nice, crispy skin. And the steamed rolls were incredibly light with just a hint of sweetness.

After dinner, we strolled through China Town and then decided to work off dinner by walking all the way back to our hotel. This included walking up the crookedest street in the country. That is one steep hill!

Cali Trip Day 4--Volcanoes and Steaks

2011-09-20T23:38:00.000-05:00

Tuesday

Anotherepic day of riding in the books. Out of the hotel by nine am, westarted off by back tracking just a bit to go back to HumboldtRedwoods State Park for some pictures since we didn't actually stopon our way through yesterday. It was neat to get up close a personalto those old trees. I'm still blown away by the size of them.

Panorama of a fallen Giant Redwood.

Angela loved the Redwoods.

How do I get the pictures to rotate back to vertical?

Walking around this grove of trees felt like being in church.

Aftera few pictures we're back in sport touring mode as we turned east atthe start of CA Hwy 36, which is supposed to be one of the all timegreat motorcycle roads in CA. Since I haven't ridden much ofCalifornia, I can't tell if its one of the greatest, but I can saythat it is an amazing stretch of pavement. 36 starts innocentlyenough with a lazy trip through a small grove of redwoods and thenbegins a twisting accent into the mountains with a lot of slow, tightfirst and second gear corners. After gaining some elevation, theroad opens up a bit and we enjoyed several assents and decents thatwere just amazing....great pavement, and never ending series of 3^rd and fourth gear corners that kept the bike leaned way over for whatseemed to be an eternity.

A scene from the western portion of Hwy 36

Weentered Shasta National Forest high in the mountains. Scenery wasbreathtaking with fantastic vistas but the road still demanded all ofmy attention. We came around one corner to find a Doe and her fawnin the road. We hit the brakes and they got on the gas and scaled anear vertical dirt and rock wall to escape Ingred's oncomingheadlight. We saw a few more deer within the next couple of miles aswell as one kamikazi chipmunk. We stopped for a break at a scenicoverlook and finished off the cherries we had purchased at a roadsidestand a couple of days before. After this we decended out of Shastanational forest with a great series of corners with one high speedsweeper in particular that had me laughing out load in my helmet...itwas soooo loooong and just kept begging for more speed and leanangle.

Somewhere in Shasta National Forest

See those corners? Now picture riding those for a few hours non-stop...that's CA 36.

At thispoint, the landscape changed from alpine to dry, arid, land withscrubby trees.

Hwy 36changed its tone too...now instead of long corners leading up anddown mountains, the hwy followed the contours of the land...shorthills and quick, sharp corners. It was exactly like a rollercoaster. This portion definitely kept me on my toes since there wereplenty of blind corners and turns hidden right behind the hillcrests. At one point, I'm sure I could have gotten the big RTairborne had we gotten enough speed. Sadly, we got behind some dude in an old RV and missed out on some of the fun.

The funcame to an end just as we entered the town of Red Bluff. By thispoint it was 85 degrees and we needed to shed a few layers as well asfuel the bike and ourselves. I must admit that Ingred had shown shecould dance quite well, way better than her chunky looks and heftwould have me believe. There were no more chicken strips on the backtire!

After alunch of pizza and salad, we continued east on 36 to Lassen VolcanicNational Park. We once again climed into the moutnains and enjoyedfantastic scenery. I think we hit elevations around 8000ft. Thesnow pack was still several feet high in many places in the park.

Scenic overlook a few miles east of Redbluff on Hwy 36

See that snow capped peak off in the distance? That's where we were headed.

Angela and Ingred at the entrance to the park

These little flowers were soaking up as much sun as possible

My mom always reminded me that I was snow angel.

Still a lot of snow up there in July

Steam vent.

After taking our time in the park, we continued on to Chester, wherewe stayed for the night. Since there was a nice little park rightbehind the hotel and a grocery store across the street, we decided tocook our own dinner that night. We walked across the street to the grocery store and bought food and charcoal, then walked back across the street to the park and cooked up a wonderful dinner of steak,grilled asparagus (stinky pee!!!) and toasted fresh rolls. We atethem beside a bubbling creek while we watched a city softball game atthe nearby field. It was fantastic.

Before

After

This is the look of happiness after one of the BEST DAYS EVER!

Truly, this has been one of the best days of riding I have ever had. Hwy 36 lived up to the hype. It was long and varied in terrain, vistas, and elevation as well as the types of curves. The weather was perfect. The bike was perfect for the job and I couldn't wish for a better traveling companion in Angela.

California Day 3- Water and Woods

2011-09-19T23:22:00.000-05:00

Monday

We wokeup around 7am and got our gear packed up and ate a continentalbreakfast. Over breakfast we played around on Google Maps and wrote down our route. With the GPS out of juice, Angela was going to have to do the navigating. Luckily, our route for today was primarily Hwy 1 with just a few excursions. So it was pretty simple. We got on the road by 9am and headed north on Hwy 1.

The townof Petaluma had a nice feel to it. We loved the hills and all the livestock. It was still pretty brown, but bits of green were starting to pop up as we glided toward the coast. The landscape was farmland and rolling hills and with thetemperature hovering around 75 degrees things couldn't be nicer.

Traveling west to the coast through idyllic farmlands.

Closer to the ocean!

For the 30 minutes that it took to reach the coast from Petaluma, I played with the electronic suspension. I settled on 1 rider with luggage in the sport setting. The bike seemed to handle well without wallowing in the corners yet when we came to a stop, I could securely get my toes on the ground. I was beginning to love this ESA suspension!

We made it!

The rocky coast line was breath-taking.

When wereached Bodega Bay the scenery started to change. It was amazing, wehad mountains on one side and ocean on the other side. It was alittle overcast, but so pretty. The rocky shoreline was spectacular. We rode north on Hwy 1 for quite a while, gazing at the beauty that lay to either side of us. My head was on a swivel! Traffic generally wasn't a problem, but of course, as soon as the road got twistier, we got behind some egghead going 10 miles under the speed limit.

Around11, we stopped at a little roadside place and had a snack ofcherries, skor bar and a coke. We drove another 2 hours and stoppedand ate a real lunch at Queenies Roadhouse Cafe in Elk, CA. Soup andpanini sandwiches hit the spot. It had just started to lightly rainon us and we were in need of a good break.

Poppin' cherries.

Whileeating, we met a couple from Alabama who were riding a Harleymotorcycle. They were nowhere near as ambitious as we were withriding, but they were nice to talk to. They were on week one of a two week trip and were amazed when we told them how far we were going that day. I think they only did 100 or so miles each day. We were shooting for about 300mi/day!

Not sure of the name of this light house but they wanted an exorbitant amount of money to tour it.

We roadthe Hwy until it ended in Leggett, and drove through the famousChandelier Redwood tree. Where Hwy 1 turns eastward and heads toward Leggett was some of the best riding of the day. Riding through lush forest, the overcast skies and mist seemed to amplify the deep greens of the ferns and redwoods. The pavement was perfectly smooth and the curves came one after another. We were getting a light rain and thetemperature dropped a little, but we were still pretty comfortable (nothing our heated seats and hand grips couldn't handle!). Shortly after that, we drove in awe on the Avenue of Giants. We hadheard the redwood trees were magnificent, but we just couldn't believeour eyes! They were majestic and beyond what either of us expected. Those amazing trees had a way of making you feel insignificant and grateful at the same time. Not to sound too granola here, but Mother Nature is awesome.

Took a short break just before Leggett.

Redwoods at speed.

Angela's favorite of the day was the Redwoods. We decided to head back in the morning and ride through them again.

Angela recording that view for posterity.

The light house wave. (Sorry 'bout the sideways bit, Blogspot apparently does not like vertically oriented pictures.)

One of my favorite pictures of the trip. Bummer it got turned sideways when uploading.

Yes, I have ridden a motorcycle THROUGH a tree!

We drovea few more minutes and arrived at Fortuna, CA where we wearily restedat the Super 8 and ate at the delicious Eel River Brewing Company. We split a tri-tip sandwich, beer battered onion rings and whitechocolate macadamia Blonde Ale pie with ice cream and fresh whippedcream. It was scrumptious!

Below are some of my notes from the day's riding while the above was taken mostly from Angela's notes.

>>Mondayhad to have been one of my favorite riding days ever. Things startedout pretty sedately as the road meandered through the rolling hillsas we made our way from Petaluma to the coast and CA Hwy 1. The sunwas shining and the temperature was cool and crisp.

Once Hwy1 actually hit the coast, I was stunned by the beauty of the rockyshores, rolling foothills and quaint villages and towns. It was allvery idyllic. The only issue was traffic. There was a bit of roadwork, and of course, everybody is on vacation right now so RV's andcars often slowed our progress to a crawl.

I wasstill trying to get used to the BMW; the size of it, the way ithandled, etc. Once Hwy 1 turned inland and headed towards Hwy 101,we hit an amazing stretch of mountain road that curled its waythrough lush forests. It was here, that I finally figured out howthe Beemer (we named it Ingred) liked to be ridden. Suddenly, wewere riding to the same rhythm as the road and big lean angles cameand went as we marveled at the beauty of the forest.

HumboldtRedwoods State Park and its Avenue of Giants was simply amazing. Those massive, centuries old trees are humbling, beautiful, and aweinspiring. Truly a sight to behold. Dinner at Eel River Brewery wasvery good: Beer battered onion rings, smoked tri tip sandwhich andsome kind of blondie pie with ice cream<<

California Day 2- Two wheels good!

2011-09-19T21:53:00.001-05:00

Sunday:7/17/2011

After agood night's sleep at the Courtyard by Marriott, we were ready tostart our long drive north. Because California was undergoing“Carmaggedon” on the 405 Hwy, we were told to expect delays. Wewanted to make sure we could get to the motorcycle rental place inMountain View, CA near San Francisco by 5pm so we could start themotorcycle part of our vacation early. The whole "Carmaggedon" bit turned out to be much ado about nothing, at least from our view point. There was absolutely nobody on the road this morning and we were only forced to get off the 405 one exit early. Sweet.

We leftthe hotel by 7am and drove up the Pacific coastline to see Malibu andfind out what all the hype was about. It was a pretty area. Wecould see the rocky coastline of the Pacific ocean. We stopped at aMcdonald's (my first time to step foot in a Micky D's in two years!) for some yogurt parfaits and mango/pineapple smoothie andthen headed back to the highway to travel north on I-5. It was goingto take us at least 5 hours to get to our destination.

Panorama just above Malibu. We were quoting lines from "Malibu's Most Wanted" all morning. Who brought their harpoon gat?!

For lunch, we stopped atan In 'n Out Burger and had a really delicoius lunch. Now we knowwhat all the excitement is about! The GPS kept referring to it as "In 'n Out BERGE" (think french pronunciation). And we laughed about that the rest of the trip. The burgers are reallygood and the fries are freshly cut and oh so delcious. The weatheris in the high 80's but one would never know. It feels so muchbetter than 80's in Mississippi's humitidity. We sat oustide in theshade and if I had could have easily laid my head down and taken asiesta!

Somewhere before lunch, we stopped for gas and this 'restaurant' sign had us laughing. Dinners and zucchini? Really?

We drovea little while longer until we got to Gilroy and then we stopped at alittle stand by the road and bought the most delicious freshcherries. They proved to be an awesome snack for the next 3 days.

Wearrived at the Motorcycle rental place at 4pm and it took us almost 2hours to get ourselves oriented and packed with all of our stuff forthe road. It took about an hour to figure out how to arrange our luggage on the bike. I think we loaded and unloaded the bike twice before we got everything stowed away and balanced.

The bike that we were renting was a 2010 BMW R1200RT that came with a metric ton of cool buttons and switches for me to play with: electronic suspension adjustment, electric windshield, heated grips, heated seats, radio, MP3 player connection..so many buttons!! I took the bike around the block to make sure I could handle it. My one fear was that the seat was going to be too tall and that proved to be the case. I could manage but not comfortably. Other than not being able to touch the ground, the bike handle slow speed stuff well and the brakes were great. Not wanting to downgrade to one of those slow, lumbering, clumsy, ill handling Harley's I pressed on. This would almost prove our undoing later (ooh, foreshadowing!). I reminded the shop guy that they were supposed to install a 12V outlet so that I could plug in our GPS that had all three days of riding loaded into it. He quickly did so. I mounted the GPS, plugged it in, Angela climbed on and we were off!!!!!

Ingred, our 2010 BMW R1200RT

This was IT. I don't know about Angela, but this was the part of the trip I was most looking forward to. Three days of riding with my wife in some of the most beautiful countryside in the world on some of the best roads in the world.

We droveNorth and hit San Francisco around 6:30pm and drove over the busy,yet beautiful Golden Gate Bridge. The sun was low in the sky and theview was absolutely beautiful. I was able to take a few pictures andvideos while driving. After the bridge, we took a wrong turn andended up in Sausalito. . . a place I wanted to visit anyway. Wedrove around a few minutes and then tried to get back on Hwy 1. The problem is that Hwy 1 is at the top of a steep, winding hill. Sausalito is at the bottom of that hill and there was stop and go traffic all the way up. Remember when I said I could barely touch the ground? I think there were two or three instances where I came close to dropping the bike. I so wanted to lane split and just bust right up to the top of the hill, but I wasn't sure which direction to go once we got up there and just wasn't really sure how the lane-splitting thing worked anyway. So I endured the slow creep up the hill and made our exit back onto Hwy 1.

Just getting onto the Golden Gate Bridge

Looking back at San Fran

Shortly after getting back on Hwy 1, we realized that our power leading intothe GPS wasn't working. Shortly after that, the battery ran out. So we were driving blind. In the town of Almonte, we stopped and Angela asked a few ladies how to get us back in the right track. We needed to make it to Petaluma and after discussing itwith them, we decided to head to Hwy 101. By going to Hwy 101 we missed a portion of Hwy 1 but it was getting late, and not having any maps, felt discretion was the better part of valor. We arrived in Petaluma andafter driving through the cute downtown area (reminded us ofAsheville, NC type stores) we arrived at the Comfort Suites tired andhungry.

We atedinner at the 101 Casino's restaurant, just a short walk from the hotel. I had tortellini in pestosauce, and Angela had a salad and coconut prawns. Very delicious, but wecould barely keep our eyes open. We got into bed around 11:30 andhad a deep sleep.

California Day 1--MS to TN to CA to Korea?

2011-08-04T23:48:00.000-05:00

To be honest, we left Caledonia on Friday afternoon and drove to Huntsville where our good friend Wes had kindly let us stay at his place...and he wasn't even there. Now that's a friend. Thanks Wes! Staying in Huntsville allowed us to be able to get up at a reasonable hour so that we could arrive in Nashville around 10:00 am.

We rolled into Nashville right on time and met Jean and her new dog Cheeto. After getting the kids' stuff offloaded and a quick bite to eat it was off to the airport. At the terminal we said our goodbyes to the kids, wished Jean luck, hugged and kissed the kids a 2nd and 3rd time and then headed into the terminal to check our luggage and go through the dismal ordeal that is the TSA safety screening.

We each checked one bag. One bag contained just motorcycle gear--pants, jackets. One bag had all our clothes for the week. We packed pretty light and planned on doing laundry a couple times while we were out there.

For carry-ons, we each carried our helmets and one other bag. I had the bag with our 3 cameras, netbook, GPS and all charging cables. Angela carried the bag that contained our motorcycle boots and a few other small items that we could squeeze in there.

Anyway, after a short hop to St. Louis it was off to Los Angeles. The three and a half our flight seemed to take forever but we finally stepped off the airplane in California. By the time we had gotten our rental car and checked into the hotel it was nearly 7:30pm.

After freshening up a bit it was time to tackle the first real challenge of the trip...tracking down a Kogi Korean BBQ truck. We've heard a lot about how good the food was and couldn't wait to sample the goods. After checking the website and locating what we thought was the closest truck to our hotel, we hopped in the car and headed south. 45 minutes later we pulled up to the area the truck was supposed to be and it wasn't there!!! Undaunted, we located another truck and got back on the road. Another 30 minutes on the road and we were finally able to find a food truck. We ordered all kinds of tacos, some curry and because we had mentioned to the lady that took our order that we were from MS, she threw in a free tofu burrito (it was way better than it sounds).

So there we were, bellies full of delicious food, its 9:30 or so and we're 10 minutes from Hollywood. What else to do but go check out the sites?

Hollywood Blvd was busier than we expected it to be but we enjoyed walking around, taking pictures and soaking in the sights.

On a whim we decided to see the last Harry Potter movie at the Grauman's Chinese Theater. While the theater looked cool on the outside, I expected it to be just a normal movie theater on the inside. We were in awe as we walked in to a massive theater with beautiful chinese lanterns, huge pillars, and beautiful wood working in the ceiling.

By the time the movie was out, it was after 1 am and the only people out were freaky homeless dudes and drunks, so we high-tailed it back to the car and back to the hotel to try to grab a few zzzzz's.

Tomorrow---Malibu Barbie, dead-locked traffic in the middle of nowhere and In 'n Out Burgers.

Our Anniversary trip to Italy California--Intro

2011-08-03T22:29:00.001-05:00

Two years ago, Angela came up with a wonderful idea.
"Let's go to Italy to celebrate our 10 year anniversary!" she said. "We could even time it so that we catch a MotoGP race in Mugello." she added.

I was skeptical at first. And then I had an idea.
"Lets tour Italy on MOTORCYCLES!!!" I exclaimed in excitement.

So it was set then. We would travel to Italy in 2011, time it so that we can attend a race at one of the greatest race venues in the world--Mugello, and we would do it all on motorcycles.

Angela even decorated a spare change jar as motivation.

We slowly started filling the "Trip Jar" as it was known to be called. And with every penny and dime added to the jar, I dreamed of endless corners in the Dolomites and riding famous alpine passes. Angela seemed more in love with the idea of seeing old cities and architecture and stuff like that. Whatever. We're going to Italy...Let's RIDE!!! And then at some point I started looking into actual costs for two people to tour Italy by bike for 7-10 days. I stopped when I got to $8000. There was just no way to make that happen. Maybe if we saved our change until I retired. But in a year and half? Ain't gonna happen.

Disgruntled at facing the cold, hard, ugly truth, I was resigned to give up. But Angela saved the day and suggested we go to California instead. We could even catch the MotoGP race at Laguna Seca. Seemed like a good compromise to me. So that's what we did.

For the first year, we did nothing but save our pennies. No real planning took place.

But once 2011 rolled around things started to come together. By January, I had assembled a list of items we needed to procure for the motorcycle portion of the trip:
Bluetooth communicators
Rainsuits
A new helmet for Angela
Bluetooth enabled GPS
Camelback hydration system
Backpack for our DSLR and lenses

And in February, we put down a deposit to rent a motorcycle for three days.

In March, I developed the route we would ride and we started reserving hotels.

View Cali Trip in a larger map

And the biggest piece of the puzzle was solved through the kind heart of Angela's sister Jean. She volunteered to take a huge chunk of her vacation days and watch our kids for us. Thank you Jean (and Jesus)!

So that's how it started. Next up--getting to Cali and Korean tacos

So hot. . .need ice cream or cold creamy stuff!

2011-07-06T20:01:00.000-05:00

What's a girl gotta do to get some ice cream around here!?!

These are a few of our favorite things: dress up, fireworks, and tea parties

2011-07-06T19:55:00.000-05:00

Izzy often likes to play fashion designer and use Milla as her model

4th of July Fireworks with our best neighbors!

Milla wasn't too sure about the sparklers, but with close supervision, she had fun

Today Izzy hosted her first tea party with invited guests. We had a great time with the neighbor girls. We played games, painted sun catchers and made glow-in-the-dark jewelry. Even Gavin wanted to join in with us, but he was NOT going to use good ettiquette and manners. Please note that he wasn't going to use those small tiny plates to hold his food-- the cloth napkins served his purpose.

2011-07-06T16:43:00.000-05:00

This year, we roped off a section of the garden and told the kids they could plant whatever they wanted. They both planted sunflowers.

Gavin grew a monster 11'-1 inch tall sunflower plant. The close-ups are from Izzy's plants. Anybody know how to roast sunflower seeds?

Spontanaety

2011-07-02T10:30:00.001-05:00

Yesterday we proved we still have "it". "It" being the ability to be spontaneous, even with three kids. I had Friday off and up until 8:30 am, we hadn't planned to do anything different other than a few chores around the house. But then Angela said, "Let's do something fun!". So we did. By 10:00 we had picked a destination, loaded the family transporter, and were on the road and headed to Rickwood Caverns State Park in Alabama. We grilled hotdogs, hiked, took a guided tour of the caverns, and swam. We wore the kids (and ourselves) out but had a great time.

Couple of interesting facts about the caves...
In the 1950's, folks thought the cave would make a good fall-out shelter. So they packed a bunch of food and medical supplies and about 1100 people in the cave as a test. Turns out, the limestone is so porous that it wouldn't protect anybody from a nuclear or chemical attack. They left all the food and supplies down in the cave and abandoned the idea of using it as a fall out shelter.

There is a pool of water in the cave that the guide says is 99% pure. They use the water to fill the olympic size swimming pool at the park.

What happened to my Spring??

2011-05-24T17:24:00.002-05:00

Wow, we have been stinkin' busy! I can't believe how much we've managed to cram into the last 2 months, but I thought I'd recap on a few of them. Sit tight and fast forward if necessary.

This was March. . .

Rikki gives Milla her first hair cut! (just before she turns 2)

Princesses at Play

The family makes Strawberry Freezer Jam! Yum!

Then Papa decided to take us on a fun adventure for Spring Break and we didn't tell the kids anything. . .

We saw Alligators

We picked Oranges

We rode Motorcycles

We chatted with beautiful ladies ! (ok,so they are my cousins, Molly and Shelly)

We laughed with Uncle Paul and all his awesome stories

and just for fun, the two brothers, THEN

The two brothers, NOW

We woke the kids up really early and took them to my favorite magical place, thanks to Papa. . .

When the park closed at Midnight, we were worn out, but we had one of the best days of our lives!

Watch out for that TREE!

2011-03-10T07:16:00.001-06:00

Gavin made me sing the "George of the Jungle" song while they did this. I was instructed to time it just right so that he was in mid-swing when I got to the part about "watch out for that tree". Unfortunately, you can't see my prized daffodils that they "tried" to avoid, but eventually got smashed by wild monkeys. All in good fun, though, right?

Then the next day I realized that they could smash all my daffodils and I wouldn't care, because time is going by too fast and I wouldn't trade all the pretty flowers in the world for my sweet kids.

It's so hard. . .to say goodbye, to yesterday!

2011-03-06T21:56:00.000-06:00

It's always sad to see a member of the family go, but it was time. "Seca"jawea moved onto another family. Poor Ty was a little verklempt all evening, but he knew it was for the best. So here's homage to the old girl!

Mud Days and Snow Days-- It's all Fun!

2011-02-10T18:51:00.001-06:00

There are days when you don't want to get out of the house because the weather is crappy, but this is what happens when you can't take it anymore and you just gotta get out! I try and look the other way whenever they do something I normally wouldn't let them do (mud pies all over the patio furniture and mud dumped onto the slide for a real mud slide and mud flinging contests) because they are just so darn cute whenever they are doing it!

And then we had a few snow days which always puts us in a good mood!

Santoki Song-- a song my mother used to sing to us (be sure to pause the other music player)

2011-01-25T17:53:00.001-06:00

To Seoul and Back Again

2011-01-25T17:51:00.005-06:00

This was our view from the room at the Best Western Gangnam (don't you dare pronounce it like it's written or the taxi driver may never find it. . .it's more like Kongnaum).

Can you find the Kimchi pots?

Seoul is one awesome city! Seoul is one crazy packed and busy city! Seoul has everything you want or need (like some French-style pastries and breads!). I never knew I was a carbohydrate or bread junkie till I was deprived of it. . .then I found Urban Cafe right near our hotel!

Tuesday through Friday was crazy packed with all the touristy things we could muster. I won't bore you with details, but here's a picture story of our stay. I wanna go back!

Palace Tours

DMZ tour

View to North Korea

Dorasan Station-- Jean waiting for a train that will never come

for those trapped in North Korea

I dare you to eat that!

Lunch at the DMZ

Dinner with some new friends

See the resemblance? He's related! Ancestor King Sejong

Jogyesa Buddhist Temple (I think I spotted Aang, the Last Airbender!)

Jean, the Olympic champion

After our 2nd attempt to find it. . the Seoul LDS Temple

Gelato and Waffles-- heavenly!

Some Yaki Mondos, please!

And that was just a a fraction of the 1,300 pictures we took!

So did I have the trip of a lifetime? You bet I did! Is Jean an awesome travelling companion? Heck yeah! I would take her on the Amazing Race anytime! But next time I hit SK, I'm taking the rest of my family with me!

TILL WE TRAVEL AGAIN, SEE YA!

Busan or Pusan (depends on who you ask)

2011-01-25T15:30:00.001-06:00

Come "Hell or Highwater" or Typhoon Malou that was hitting the area, we wanted to see Busan! So with the help of Jennifer Hong, we rode the KTX down and spent the day walking the beautiful beach, feeding cute pigeons, shopping interesting markets, visiting the UN Memorial Cemetary, and eating (our favorite tourist pastime) yummy food.

Panoramics of Busan

Jean collecting shells

Bidulgi Eomma (pigeon mom)

This was the toilet we were expected to use!
(a little hard for us who haven't perfected the Asian squat)

Seafood!

Then we headed back to Seoul for our last few days. And because we were missing home (and soda and veggies and bread) we decided to eat Outback Steakhouse for dinner.

Family Fun

2011-01-25T15:05:00.002-06:00

The next morning we woke way too early. For some reason our hotel room decided to turn the air conditioner off at 3am and we were both hot and humid. So what did we do??? Head down to the 7eleven for some snacks (this was becoming a habit!). What did we crave? Something cold like . . .ice cream! And pretty much any other snack that we couldn't read but thought it would be neat to try. We found ourselves doing this often. Anytime we had to head into a convenience store, we tried something new and barely legible. Our not-famous drink was an aloe drink that had actual chunks of aloe. It was pure NAST!

Notice my humidity hair, classy don't ya think?

Some of these snacks were sacrificed to the pigeons (more later)

Anyway, the day was a great day for adventure. I say adventure because we didn't really have plans and we were at the whim of anyone who would take us anywhere. We got dressed for church (the LDS church had a Korean ward and a non-Korean ward) but because of Stake conference starting around 2pm, we decided we had better not go so we could spend more time with the family.

Jennifer Hong, our new member friend (courtesy of the internet and the branch president), took us to her home where we dined on deliciously prepared Golbi. Her parents were so wonderful and Jennifer was such a sweetheart. Her mom said we were her "American daughters". After an amazing meal of meat, rice with some special beans and grains and kimchi we returned to our hotel room to be picked up by our cousin, Jin Young. I think he skipped his church to take us around. My aunt was probably faithfully at her Presbyterian church.

So after picking up his family, we went to EMart. I must say, it was way more awesome than Walmart. We then were treated to lunch by our Cousin, Jong myung at a North Korean style restaurant. We ate the cold noodles called "Nangmyun". They were different and something I am glad we tried, but let's just say I won't be craving those anytime soon.

No, those aren't worms. . .that's my lunch!

Next we went to pick up our Aunt Jeong Su and drove all over South Korea enjoying sights and some historical places and museums. It was a wonderful day. We went to Gyeongju and saw the Emelee bell and beautiful artifacts and watched the sunset at Anapji pond. It was a peaceful and beautiful day.

As we drove back to Daegu, we enjoyed hearing my Aunt Jeong Su tell me stories of my Mother. We learned so much.

We ate our last meal with our family at our Cousin's (Aunt In Su's son) house. This is where we met another awesome cousin, Jong-hyun. He was young and fun and knew English. His amazing grandmother (our aunt) and beautiful mother spent much time and effort preparing an elaborate meal. We had a wonderful feast. We left full, tired, happy and sad. It was our last dinner with our family. One we may never be able to duplicate. One I will cherish for the rest of my life.

Family Time

2011-01-09T17:57:00.002-06:00

On the way out of Seong Ju, we stopped at a small well running out of the side of the mountain and drank from the "famous" water. My Aunt said it was safe, so we all drank!

This was the view behind us. . .

The agenda was determined by Aunt Jeong Su and Jong Myung so our next stop was Gayasan Mt. National Park within the Gyeongbuk Area. We hiked a little and we were able to see the beautiful

Yongmun Falls

We searched for the Haeinsa Temple, but after searching in vain, they decided to take us to the museum instead. The museum housed some of the oldest print in the world taken from the nearby buddhist temple. We enjoyed the museum and probably took way too many pictures, but we had a great time just soaking everything in. I loved just being in the presence of my family.

After a long day, our cousin took us to our hotel and we crashed for the night. We were too exhausted to accept an invitation to eat dinner with our uncle. Something we could not help. We dropped into bed comatose. What an awesome day!

Daegu and Our Long Lost Family (part 2)

2011-01-09T17:12:00.003-06:00

We unloaded our luggage and headed for the exit. We arrived right as scheduled so we were a little early. As I rounded the corner and headed for the exit doors, I caught a glimpse of my mother. Just a brief glance, one that made me do a double take. Then I looked at the woman's hands and she held a Christmas card I sent out last year with my 3 children and the words "Peace" "Love" and "Joy" and I started to cry.

My sweet Aunt Jeong Su, Aunt In Su and cousin Jin Young were all there waiting for us. They didn't know we would arrive a little early, and they had been waiting eagerly for our arrival. We were the last off of our train. I turned to look at Jean and we were both crying. We embraced our family immediately and it was like we had known each other all our lives. I cannot explain how Jean felt, but I know I felt so comfortable around them. It was like we were filled with Peace, Love and Joy.

Our second cousin Yang Hi and her father walked up shortly afterwards and warm greetings were exchanged. Jin Young was the only one who could converse with us in English, but that didn't matter. We were family and we were together.

Jin Young drove us to our cousin's house where a banquet of foods were prepared by his wife, daughter and her best friend. We found out on the ride over that the oldest Uncle, Il Su had passed away 1 month ago from heart problems. Unfortunately, he was the one we wanted to talk to because he was only 1 year younger than our mother, but in due time, our questions would be answered and all was well.

We ate at Jong Myung's house (Yang Hee's dad and my cousin) and it was so delicious. His wife and her best friend put so much time and effort into the meal. It was a feast! Our other Uncle Heagon was there at the house. We were so excited to meet him too.

Yang Hee

Jean, Aunt Jeong Su, Me, Aunt In Su, Haegon

Feast for Breakfast

At first I was a little intimidated by my uncle and cousin because they were so quiet. However, I think the language barrier had a lot to do with their silence. My uncle has the same jaw structure as my mother's.

Uncle Haegon

After lunch, our family took us to my mother's old homestead, a beautiful village about an hour from Daegu. We were able to see my late Uncle Il Su's home and the burial mounds for my grandparents and uncle. It was all quite emotional for me. These are the pictures from Seong ju

place where my mother's house used to stand

Aunt In Su, me and Aunt Jeong Su

3 Burial Mounds; Grandparents and Uncle

Daegu and Our Long Lost Family

2011-01-01T22:19:00.001-06:00

We woke up ready for adventure! Neither one of us could sleep past 5am, so we figured we might as well get up and get ready to leave for Daegu. It was Jean's birthday and we were hoping for a happy memorable one. You'll just have to read more if you want to find out how it all turned out. . .

Where did all the people go?

Outside the Metro Hotel

I discovered the glorious banana milk

Because we had had such a hard time finding the hotel, we decided to use the extra morning hours to venture out of the hotel and find the nearest subway station. It would be our first time using it and I know I was feeling a little apprehensive about making the scheduled departure train time. We were scheduled to meet the family at the DongDaegu Train Station at 10am. We were supposed to arrive at the station at 9:36am, so it gave us a little buffer.

We did find the subway station (and the homeless drunks catching the first morning rays of light) and it was hot. Did I mention the many many stairs for us to descend with our large luggage? So we opted for a taxi ride instead. It would prove to be a wise choice for ~$4. Our Korean Michael Bolton heaved our luggage into the back of the taxi like it was nothing. Out of all the taxi drivers we would experience, he was definitely the nicest and least creepy (more of that later).

Our taxi dropped us off at Seoul Station and we frantically tried to find our departure area. The train station wasn't as American-user friendly as Incheon airport, but with a little common sense, we were able to find the right place. We rode the KTX to DongDaegu Station in about 1.5 hours and we got our first glimpse of the beautiful countrysides of Korea.

Now, I love the Southern United States with all it's beautiful greenery and little rolling hills near TN and NC as much as the next Southerner, but South Korea is in a different category altogether. Definitely an agrarian area, I cannot adequately describe the range of green hues I experienced. The mountains, the stair-stepped rice patty fields, the various other plants growing intermingled with large city buildings and small village areas. It was so picturesque. I loved passing the sides of the mountains and seeing the various burial mounds that lay cut out on the sides of the mountains. It was a picture of serenity and beauty.

The calm feeling I got from looking out the window helped me prepare myself to meet my family. I had such a good feeling. I must admit, before we left for Korea, I tried to prepare for the worst. I didn't want to have my hopes up high to be crushed by family that didn't want to have anything to do with some foreign daughters. I thought that maybe they would think I had an ulterior motive. That I was trying to use them or that I was wasting their time. I hadn't heard from my Uncle Il Su's granddaughter, so I thought maybe that lack of communication meant there was a lack of concern.

But as we arrived at the station, all prior negative anxieties vanished. The day was a beautiful one. Only tiny butterflies nestled in my tummy. I was so excited!

We made it!

2010-09-05T15:38:00.004-05:00

Disclaimer: These next few entries might bore you to death with details, so please feel free to skip any unnecessary paragraphs. There will be no quizzes at the end.

I woke up at 3:30am Thursday morning, wide awake and excited, maybe even a little nervous. I kept thinking to myself that there will always be time to sleep later. Like a man I knew once said "sleep is overrated" and so maybe a few bags under the eyes is worth it when you have to soak up life as much as possible.

My bags packed, kids kissed (with a little tear in my eye) and notes written, Ty and I headed out the door ready to drive the 2.5 hours to Birmingham. It was early, but in order for us to make the 9am flight, and give us enough time to get through security, we left at 4:30am. We made a stop in Tuscaloosa for a sausage biscuit at Hardees and then we arrived at the airport around 7:30am. Ty parked the car and I checked the bags at the curb (and yes, Dad, I made sure to tip the baggage guy like you always suggest) and hoped that my one bag would make it all the way to Seoul.

On the drive up, Ty asked me what I wanted to ask my family. Things I wanted to find out about my mother and their life in Korea. A few things I came up with were: what was it like to live in South Korea after the war, what was my mother like, who was our family, where are the grandparents buried, what were the details behind my mother's immigration and I was always hoping for some added information. Something that would help me put the pieces together and at the same time help me to remember my mother through their eyes. I want to know about them and their lives too. Every relative I would get a chance to meet would be one more aunt, uncle or cousin I have in my life.

I made it through security, but I totally forgot about the weapon-like nail cleaner and the nail clippers with the metal file attached that I packed and so we were a little delayed. I was a little nervous that they were going to throw me down and detain me all because I wanted to keep the dirt out of my nails, so when she instructed me to not touch anything at all while she took my bag to someone else, I did exactly what she said.

I won't lie that I wasn't a little misty as I had to give Ty a final kiss and farewell and watch him walk out the door to leave because he couldn't go any further without a boarding pass. I wished he were coming with me. He's always good about helping me calm down and reminding me of the things not worth worrying about. Little did I know that I would need some of that later, but I was ready for a little break too. A break from Columbus and household duties.

After waiting a little while at the B'ham airport because it didn't take as long as I anticipated, I boarded the tiny little plane that would take me to Atlanta where I would meet Jean. I had received a text message on the drive up telling me that her Nashville flight was cancelled. Because she was there early, she would be able to take the earlier flight and arrive in Atlanta earlier than anticipated. In this case, earlier is good-- it would be bad if she missed the international flight. We did have a plan though, if we got split up for the international flight, we would go to the hotel. At the time, it sounded like a simple enough plan, but as you'll find out later, we were spared the frustrations of having to do it alone. It would have been near impossible.

I touched down in Atlanta and quickly looked for the next flight gate. The actual flight time was only 35 minutes, I almost fell asleep, but the cramped seats made me do otherwise. I called Jean right away and we met up near the food court near our gate. I was so thrilled to see her, so happy to have her as my travelling companion. We ate some frozen yogurt that cost us $6 and then we waited a few hours before we could board the plane. I've never seen so many Korean people in one place. Actually, there were Koreans, Vietnamese, Chinese, etc. people. Apparently, Incheon would be a stopping place for some of those going on to China and Vietnam and other Asian countries.

Our Huge Airplane

Inside View of the Airplane

Before the 14 hour flight (see we are still smiling)

Flight Attendant that became Jean's angel

There were at least 10 airline attendants and let me tell you, they looked like they were straight out of a Korean movie! So pretty and petite, and dressed in light teal green shirts, khaki skirts, hoses, black shoes and a cute hair ornament. They would prove to be the most pleasant and hard-working people in the next 14 hours.

Bi Bim Bop (so good!)

We boarded the plane and braced ourself for the long flight. There was plenty to do at your seat like video games, music, movies galore. We sat by a tiny Vietnamese girl and she slept most of the way, curled up in a little ball. I'll not bore you with details of the flight, but Jean did get motion sickness and had to depend on the help of the airline attendants and the little white pills they brought her. She kept it all in and fought on like a trooper. She had a headache on top of it and couldn't enjoy the traditional meals and snacks they brought us, but we did manage to have a pleasant enough flight. I will say that 9 hours into it, I was done and my but was killing me. I did try and walk around, but because it was such a full flight, space was limited. At one pointed I wanted to yell out and run down the aisles, but I held it in.

Jean next to kimchee pot (in the Incheon Airport)

Jean waiting patiently for the bus after our 1.5 hours in the airport

When we touched down in Incheon, we were an hour behind schedule because of the delay in Atlanta. What a large airport! Luckily though, it wasn't too busy and packed. We made it through immigration and customs just fine and spent the next 1.5 hours trying to work out the details of transportation during our stay. We bought and loaded t-money passes, picked up our reserved Korail passes and made reservations for the next day's train ride to Daegu and bought tickets for the Limo bus that would take us near our hotel.

Outside Incheon Airport

I'll bore you the details of us getting off of the bus supposedly a 3 minutes walk from our hotel. We didn't find our hotel until an hour later, and that was after lugging our luggage around the busy market, sweating like pigs (because it is like subtropical heat here!) and finally walking up to an information building and in broken English asking for directions. Thank goodness for a little map sitting on that desk and the kind Korean woman that took pity on me.

We didn't get checked into our hotel until 9:45pm. Let me tell you, It was one of the longest days of my life! But it hasn't dampened my spirits any! I mean I'm in Korea for crying out loud!!!!

Myungdong Area near our hotel

"The time has come" the walrus said. . .

2010-08-30T14:17:00.000-05:00

"To talk of many things:
Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax--
Of cabbages--and kings--
And why the sea is boiling hot--
And whether pigs have wings."

(My father used to recite this. . .taken from Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There, 1872)

I'm almost ready, people! In less than 72 hours, I will be boarding Korean Airlines for a trip to the "Land of the Morning Calm". With a few necessary items and my awesome sister, we are stoked for adventure and plan on taking tons of pictures to capture the moments. I apologize ahead of time, for those of you that don't want to read about our trip, but I plan on blogging quite a bit and keeping my family and few friends updated.

Will I miss my family? Of course!

Am I gonna try crazy foods? Of course!

Am I gonna look like a fool using chopsticks? Of course!

Am I gonna shop? Of course!

Will I get lost? Of course!

Am I gonna try and cross the North Korean border? NO WAY! (for those of you that haven't been keeping up with the news lately, check out Pres. Carter's last visit to North Korea a few days ago)

I'm outta here!

All Good Things Must Come to an End. . .so they say

2010-08-27T10:58:00.000-05:00

Summer Days are coming to a close. Only in the Dirty South does one look forward to temperatures that don't hit 100 degrees! I've been so grateful for the cooler weather (lower to mid 90's). Unfortunately, with cooler weather comes school, and all the craziness that comes with busy fall schedules. So I'm gonna take a moment to reflect on this past summer's happenings.

Back in May, I had Gavin make a list of all the things that he wanted to do while school was out. Here's what we came up with. . .
1) do chores to make money
2) go swimming
3) go to the spraygrounds
4) go fishing with Grandpa
5) go to Nashville, TN
6) go to Pensacola and the beach
7) go blackberry picking
8) go to Hannah's house (Smith house in Little Rock, AR)
9) go to a zoo
10) go to an aquarium

Did we do it all???? Check out the pics to see what we didn't get to do

Look what Deep Water Horizon rolled in!?!

Sand and Shells, Milla's Favorite Treat!

No Oil Here!

Soakin' Up the Sun

Papa Time!

Congrats Graduate! Kara and Kyong

Chillin' with the Family

Kimberly and Milla in the Red Neck Pool

Gavin's favorite of the Park Tour

World's Fair Park, Knoxville, TN

Chattanooga, TN aquarium

Izzy's Soccer Camp

World Cup 2010 Caledonia

The only three we didn't get to do. . . fishing, Little Rock, and the zoo. Not bad, eh? We'll just raincheck those and give ourselves till Christmas. So long Summer of 2010!

How Do You Improve Perfection?

2010-08-02T22:53:00.002-05:00

Tonight we were just going to have BLT's for dinner. After a week of fixing "complicated orders" for our friend from Wales, we wanted something quick, easy and delicious...hence the BLT's. But then Angela asked me to make some guacamole and that got me thinking, which is always dangerous.

My train of thought went something like this...
Thanks to the tip from one of my sisters, I know avacados are good on BLT's.
Guacamole is 99% avacado, so maybe it is good on BLT's. But what could I replace the mayo with? How 'bout some of the crema we used on the fish tacos we made earlier in the week? So that's what we did. By the way, crema is part mayo, part sour cream, a dash of lime juice, a sprinkle of cilantro, a zesting of garlic, and a full helping of AWESOME!

Okay so picture one is all the required ingredients, minus the bread.

Spread on the crema.

mmmm, BACON.

Lettuce and Tomato come to the party too!

Finally, pile on some home-made, chunky guacamole.

Eat and Bask in the Glory!!!!!

This is really a good sandwich. The buttery avacado offsets the crunchy bacon while the hint of lime, freshness of the cilantro and kick of garlic bring the flavor profile to the next level.

We are still contemplating a name for this great sandwich. Its either going to be "Baja BLT" since it was inspired by baja fish tacos or "Knocked Up BLT" since the flavors are knocked up a level compared to a regular BLT. It'll be on the menu of our restaurant (whenever that happens). And since this sandwich is destined for greatness, let it be known now and forever that we are the originators!

Bon appetite y'all.

Crash Report-One Month Update

2010-08-02T22:19:00.001-05:00

So everybody keeps asking how my ankle and foot are doing. I figured instead of saying: it is still bruised and swollen over and over, I'd just take some pictures and let folks see for themselves. So without further delay, I present to you loyal readers, pictures of my injuries one month after "The Incident".

This picture was meant to illustrate the color difference between my good foot and bad foot. It didn't work. But take my word for it, my right foot is a weird purplish hue.

Scope out the swelling still evident around my ankle in the above picture.

The above image illustrates the bruising still evident on the ball of my foot and on the inside ankle area.

Remember folks always have your pet spayed or nuetered and for cryin' out loud, don't be a freakin' MORON and let 'em run around where they can injure innocent motorcyclists.

I can't get enough of your love, baby. . .

2010-07-14T10:17:00.000-05:00

A few years ago, my good friend Rikki introduced me to these confectionery delights. Bless her for enriching our lives with things that make our taste buds dance in pleasure, but curse her because they are hard to get! Why oh why do they only sell them in the West? What have we Southerners done to deserve this kind of discrimination!

They make me oh so happy (the chocolate covered ones are hella good too!)! I gotta go now, they are beckoning me to join their party!

P.S. Thanks Rikki for sending this package!

News Flash!! Dogs < Motorcyclists

2010-07-02T22:57:00.002-05:00

The short story is: don't get me started on people that let their stupid dogs run free all over town and countryside.

The long story is this: Riding to work Thursday morning. 6:50am. . .just like usual. Riding along a rural county road, I crested a small hill at about 55mph and saw a dog running across the street. I slowed some to make sure it wouldn't double back and then out of the corner of my eye, a second dog, a yellow lab I think, runs right out in front of me. I had no time to avoid or brake any more. I hit the dog squarely in the gut but I was angled just a bit. I felt the impact and the bars jerked violently to the left, sending me and the bike hard over the right side. At impact, I heard the dog yelp and then I heard the horrible sound of bike on pavement.

I slid head first across the opposite lane into a grassy ditch. When I stopped, I lay there for a second wiggling stuff and making sure my neck felt okay. I could feel some pretty bad pain in my right ankle/foot. My knees were cut up some but the rest felt fine. By this point, I hear cars stopping and people running up to me.

I sit up and remove my gloves and helmet. And see a lady running out of her car towards me. Two other people show up, one dials 911. They tell me to lie down and be still. One guy asks me how many fingers he's holding up. I say "two" and then correct myself by saying "one and a half" since one of his fingers was cut off at the bottom knuckle. I give the guy with the half finger my cell phone and he calls my wife and leaves a message on her cell phone (which was turned off). Then, somebody shows up that works at my plant and they call my boss.

My bike was another 30 yards down the hill. It was lying in the same ditch I was, but was pointed a way from me. The back end looked fine. I kept asking about the bike, but nobody could tell me how badly it was damaged. The dog lay silently in the grass some 10 yards up the hill from where I was. Somebody said it was dead and honestly, I felt glad about that.

After waiting for what felt like an eternity, an ambulance shows up. I'm still faced away from the road, so I don't know how many cars were pulled over but there were a lot. The EMT opened my right boot and palpated my ankle. I could feel the swelling and pressure building inside my boot but the EMT could not feel any protruding bones, so that was comforting.

I got loaded on the stretcher and then loaded into the ambulance. At this point I could see several cars parked along the side of the road. Two guys in my dept. poked there head into the ambulance. They informed me that they were going to get the bike. My neighbor, who also rides and works at my plant, showed up. He also said he would take car of the Buell. I felt better knowing capable hands were taking care of my bike.

Off to the hospital. The wrong hospital. I had asked the EMT to take me to the bigger hospital even though it was a little farther away, but instead, we went to a small mini-hospital kind of place. The ER room was one nurse and one Dr. Seriously. I lay in bed for a little while and my sweet wife came walking in. What a relief to see her! A couple of minutes of waiting around and they wheel me back to take some x-rays. The Dr. informs me that I have some fractures in my foot and ankle.

Eventually, the nurse takes care of my abrasions. Luckily, I didn't have too many, 'cuz cleaning that crap out hurts!!! And then the Dr. takes over and puts my foot/ankle in a two part cast.
The Dr. informs me that she has referred me to an orthopeadic surgeon in a town 60 miles away. I asked her to contact the ortho I had been too when I broke my hand last Nov. So she calls and finds out he's in surgery at the hospital I originally asked the EMT to take me too!

In order to see the ortho I wanted to see, I had to go travel the 20 miles to the bigger hospital and wait in the emergency room. I got more xrays. The nurses prepped me for surgery (3 tries for the IV needle!). The shots I had gotten at the mini hospital were causing me to be really drowsy and I would go in and out of sleep. Eventually, the ortho walked in and said that I wouldn't need surgery. All the bones were in my heel were still in place...so no pins needed. Wahoo! They put a soft boot on my foot and kicked me outta there.

By now, it was 4pm. I couldn't wait to get home!

So, one day later. I'm sore everywhere...especially my right side. My left wrist hurts when I use the crutches. My foot is swollen and blue.

And the bike? Well...she's a write off. The frame is broken at the steering stem.

My gear did its job though. The doctors said had I not been wearing my TCX Competizione boots, my foot would be a gonner. The boots saved my foot from being completely crushed.
My Held Profi's are done. After three crashes, they have sacrificed themselves for the better cause. My Cortech perforated leather jacket has several abraided areas on it but overall is not too bad. One see is starting to come on ravelled though. The chin on my Shark RSi is scuffed up some but the helmet did not take a heavy hit. It'll get replaced of course.

A huge thanks goes out to my wife, my mom and dad that helped watch the kids all day and my coworkers, neighbors and perfect strangers that took care of me while I was lying in the ditch. I am lucky and blessed.

Now, the big question is...what do I get to replace the Buell?

Seoul to Soul

2010-06-17T10:05:00.000-05:00

So it's official. . .I've got my ticket and I'm headed to South Korea with my Sister. Unless the Korean conflicts don't escalate, we'll celebrate her "29th" birthday with Kimchee and many dishes you or I have probably never heard of. If all else fails, we'll stick with dishes we know our Mother made us. I mean how many of us don't like Bulgolgi? I hear they serve dog near the country side, but my only concern is if I try it and like it! I mean I'm living in Mississippi for crying out loud-- if it's not deep fried or covered in fat back, it's not fit for eatin', folks! Fried dog might be good?!

What made me decide to make such a trip? A combination of many things: Joy Luck Club (though a movie about Chinese women, still makes me bawl 5 minutes into the opening sequence), my friend Ko-Huan (who recently visited Korea), tax refund check, Air Force friends near Seoul, a wonderful husband willing to sacrifice for me (we could have bought another dirtbike with my airfare cost, alone!), and a longing to see my roots and feel closer to my Mother.

Somehow that last one makes more of a difference now than it ever did. After the birth of Milla, I need her more than ever. I need her to tell me what to do or what not to do. I'm missing some part of me that I'm suppose to channel these ideas and thoughts from. All I'm left with are remnants of phrases and memories of how she lived. I'm supposed to take those and use them or change them to make me a better mom and wife. She had so many secrets and so many cultural practices that exhaust me! I feel guilty for being the spoiled and selfish daughter I was and I feel guilty for being the spoiled and selfish mother I tend to be.

Will this trip change me? Who knows, but I'm excited to think about leaving the USA for the first time and stepping off of the airplane in a foreign country-- one with a completely different language, alphabet and culture. I'm glad I've got Jean to go with me. We'll get lost together, eat together and cry together! YaY! Seoul Sista's!!

Well, I've got lots to do to prepare for this Korea Expedition:
1) figure out how to say a few common phrases (thank you Pimsleur Korean and Lonely Planet)
2) determine where and how we are going to meet relatives and friends
3) buy gifts for relatives I've never met
4) come up with an itinerary that doesn't get us killed or hopelessly lost
5) lots of other stuff that comes up. . ..

Any suggestions? I'm all for it!

Nine Years

2010-05-25T13:14:00.000-05:00

As of May 19, we have been married for n-i-n-e years. Holy cow. It really has gone by quickly. Even more amazing is that Angela has not left me! But that is simply because my voo-doo is strong.

We celebrated the occasion by dropping the kids off with Mom and Dad and then we spent the next three hours making out in the mini-van. Woot!

Okay, just kidding about that last part. We had a quite dinner and then went to watch Iron Man 2. It was great to spend a couple of quite hours remeniscing about simpler times with my Sweetie.

Here's to another exciting, challenging, tiring, fun, wonderful 9 years Angela!

Air Superiority

2010-05-25T12:59:00.000-05:00

There was an air show at the local Air Force base (as if every town has one) a couple of weeks ago. We decided to load up the kids and spend the day walking up and down a concrete run way in the blazing sun. Sounds like a good time right? Hey, it was FREE!! Actually, we did have a good time. The kids were pretty well behaved and didn't get whiney until the end as it was a pretty long and boring wait until the Thunderbirds took off and did their thang. Anyway, we stuck it out to the end, unlike all the lightweights (Stewarts and Wilsons, I'm callin' y'all out!) that left early and we were rewarded with a great show by the Air Force's finest.

I'm proud of this shot! The pressure above the wing is so low that the moisture in the air vaporizes at ambient temps.

How is it that babies can just shut down and sleep no matter what is going on around them?

This is not our kid! He just decided that he needed to be in the picture. Weird.

Beautiful T-33 was very graceful in the air.

Road Triiiiiiiip!!!!!...or my version of a "mancation"

2010-05-05T15:43:00.001-05:00

My dear wife is aw-sum. What other woman would let her husband go wandering off for four days on a pointless journey with no destination or plan while she stayed with the three kids? She made it as guilt free for me as possible, and for that I am supremely grateful.

I think it has been about three years since I have done a multi-day motocycle trip...and I could tell. For a while now I've been itching to get on the bike and just ride. Last year, I got to do two trackdays and I thought those would help curb my wanderlust. But in reality, I just got addicted to trackdays and I still wanted to travel.

Initially, Chuck and I were supposed to go to the Ozarks and base our camp in Eureka Springs.  It had been a long time since I had been up that way and I was hoping to get to hang out with cousins and family that live way up in Wal-Mart-land. Mother Nature had different plans though. Plans that called for biblical rains and "ternayders" in that area. None of that stuff blends with riding motorcycles very well. So we went East instead. East to the Smokies--home of some of the best riding in the country.

Day one started early. I left the house at 5 am and met Chuck in a puny little town about 30 min. away. He was waiting at the designated spot when I pulled up. I'm not sure he was thrilled with my idea to meet at 5:30am but I had my reasons. See, anytime I road trip it, I usually end up riding late at night, in the cold, because I spent half the day wandering around lost. Just ask Scott, he can back me up on that one.  So I figured the earlier we start, the longer I can be lost and still get to the hotel before dark. Hence, the meeting at 5:30. Besides, we had 555 miles to go. Let's get it on!

By 7:00 am we had cleared 100 miles and were working our way across Alabama.  The air had finally started to warm from the chilly 49 degrees to something more bareable and I was singing the Indigo Girls' "Get Out the Map" as loudly as I pleased in my helmet, slaughtering the lyrics and the melody at the same time. The rest of the morning was uneventful save for the wild goose chase the GPS led me on when we got to Rome, GA.

By mid-afternoon, we finally got to some mountainous terrain. Chuck had devised a wonderful route linking several state or county roads together to bring us circuitously to our destination of Spruce Pine, NC. Just imagine riding a roller coaster for about 3 hours straight.  That is kinda what it was like. Curve after curve winding through some of the prettiest country anywhere. We arrived in Spruce Pine around 6pm or so. Our hotel was, umm, modest. But the proprieter let us park our bikes on the sidewalk under the awning just in case it rained.

Day 2 dawned nice and clear.  We hit up a local joint for breakfast and then headed north, clipping part of Tennessee, before turning east to run just inside the southern border of Virginia and then heading back down into North Carolina. All of that took the better part of the day. Although we did get back to the hotel a little earlier than usual. I think the long ride from Day 1 had taken its toll and we were both sore and tired.

Day 3 had us packing up and leaving Spruce Pine for the last time. It was threatening raining when we left, but that didn't last too long. Although we did get rained on a little later in the morning.  This day's ride would see us head west and south, riding along part of the Blue Ridge Parkway, turning south into South Carolina, and then heading west again into northen Georgia. We ended the ride late in the afternoon in Helen, GA. Let me just save all of y'all a trip to Helen. It aint worth it unless you like rednecks and a southern town trying desperately to be a fake Germany. We did end day three on a strong note though. After an okay steak dinner to celebrate our "man-cation" we decided to salvage the last bit of daylight and hit up the Richard Russell Scenic Byway, state route 348. When we got to 348, there was a sign indicating that the road was closed up ahead. We ventured on, not knowing when we would be forced to stop and turn around. It turns out that we had about 7 miles of curves all to ourselves. I won't go into details but lets just say that serious lean angles were achieved. No cars.   No cops.  Just two motorcycles and one glorious road.

Day 4 started with rain. Luckily, it only last for about 20 minutes. We pushed on, catching the last of the fun roads as we worked our way out of the Smokies and back towards our families. I was excited to get home. This trip had been exactly what I needed and was neither too long or too short. Chuck and I split off at the same place we had met at that dark hour on day one. We gave each other a thumbs up as we parted ways.  25 minutes later, I pulled into the driveway tired and sore but rejuvenated. Just what a "mancation" is supposed to do.

Cake Wrecks!! The homemade version...

2010-04-02T22:48:00.001-05:00

Many of you have probably heard of or seen the blog entitled "Cake Wrecks". The lady posts pictures of professional cakes gone wrong. Its pretty funny stuff actually so look it up if you haven't heard of it before. And yes, I'm too lazy to post a link to it. Just google it.

Anyway, so we had an early birthday party for Gavin this weekend. He wanted a Lego Space Police cake.

Here's what we came up with:

The red hemisphere is supposed to be mars set against the inky blackness of space.

From the mouth of a 6 year old...

2010-03-18T11:28:00.000-05:00

...come some really weird things.

Somewhere on I-40 between Little Rock and Memphis, I passed a bottle of Gatorade to Izzy so she could have a drink. I mentioned to her to be extra careful not to spill it since it was one of the big 32oz bottles.

It was then that I heard Gavin inform me that: "You can get arrested for having an open container in a vehicle."

I just had to laugh when I heard that. He's right too. Mississippi does have an open container law. But how in the world does a 6 year old know that??!

Want proof that winter is almost over?

2010-03-11T20:06:00.001-06:00

Here it is...

We went hiking!!!

You know what stinks?...

2010-01-29T14:20:00.000-06:00

RESPONSIBILITY, that's what.

I was listening to the radio at work this morning and the weather man said that the nice parts of Tennessee and North Carolina were going to get a healthy layer of snow this weekend.

"Cool!" I thought. So I called up Angela.
"Hey Ang, lets load up the kids and head to the mountains this weekend."
"Okay," she says. "Where to?"

So we look at weather reports for Gatlinburg and Maggie Valley and snow reports from the small ski areas that are within a day's drive of here. After perusing the web sites, we realize that while Gavin and Izzy can be enrolled in ski classes, none of the ski areas offer day care for Milla. When it becomes apparent that things aren't going to work out for us skiing wise, we look at just going to one of the nice aquariums in Chattanooga or Atlanta.

After 45 minutes of not coming to a solid plan I vote to think it over for a while and talk again after lunch. So we hang up. About 1 minute later it hits me. I can't go anywhere this weekend. I've got responsibilities at church that I can't delegate to anybody. Dang.

And then we get our gas bill for the month. Its DOUBLE what it was last month, despite me keeping the temps on the "Chilly" end of the thermostat. I guess we really weren't supposed to go anywhere this weekend. Double Dang.

On the bright side, its cold and rainy here in Mississippi. We get yet another weekend of sitting around the house with nothing to do and the kids going crazy with cabin fever. I can't wait.

No More Cast!

2010-01-13T15:02:00.001-06:00

Woot! Went into the doctor last Friday and had some x-rays taken. As the doctor was walking into the exam room, he told me the x-rays looked good. Then he said, "Lets cut that cast off and get you outta here."

That's when I told him I had already cut it off...two weeks ago! I will say this: Dremels are a handy tool to have around.

Anyway, I rode the Buell into work this morning. 16 deg F and my breath was freezing on the inside of my visor but I was smiling the whole way to work. Woot!

Things that make one wish they were ambi-dextrous...

2009-12-11T21:06:00.000-06:00

The List:
1. A cast on your dominant hand

2. The ability to shovel in food twice as fast

...and thats about all I can think of. Y'all are more than welcome to add to the list.
Anyway, two broken bones and two weeks (minus a day) between the incident and when I got my cast. To my knowledge, these are the first broken bones I've ever had (I've broken lots of hearts though!) which is kind of surprising considering all the action sports I took part in growing up.

By the way, the cast does allow me to cast awesome shadow puppets!!

The above photo is a picture of my chupacabra shadow puppet. Awesome!!

Laters y'all.

Aquabat Adoration!!

2009-12-07T21:13:00.000-06:00

So what happens when your cool uncle and aunt come to visit and they say one of their favorite bands is called The Aquabats? Further more, if you're an impressionable 6 yr old and the Aquabats happen to have funny videos on Youtube that you can watch, well, you become quite infatuated with The Aquabats.

Such was the case with Gavin. Lil' G has been watching Aquabat videos every day since Thanksgiving and he walks around singing "Super Rad" all the time. Well, yesterday he decided to dress up like the lead singer. This was the costume he assembled all by himself, even the PERMANENT MARKER mustache.

Not bad for a first attempt by a six year old.

Well, this afternoon, Gavin and I worked on making a slightly better costume. Here's what we came up with.

Notice the artwork on the belt? Hand drawn by yours truly. Not bad for somebody with a wrist brace (More on that in another post, maybe).

The next image is stolen from the Aquabats' website and illustrates the look Lil' G was trying to go for. If he had had a green underarmour shirt, he woulda nailed the look!

So thanks Scott and Kimberly...thanks for making my kids crazy for the Aquabats!

Post Thanksgiving Ride

2009-12-04T10:29:00.000-06:00

Kimberly came through with the pictures that I mentioned in the previous post. Thanks Kimmies! So, as promised, here are a few shots of the mayhem and madness that ensues when motorcycles, families, and a corn field are combined...sort of a Nitro Circus kinda atmosphere. Yeah, thats it.

This one needs a caption.

Cool, old-school vibe.

Even the ladies got in on the moto action.

My favorite.

2009-12-02T13:46:00.003-06:00

So the last post was about 3 months ago or something to that effect. We've been busy okay?

Just as a quick recap...
September involved birthdays of both Izzy and Angela (as well as Scott, Mom and Dad). Izzy scored a pink electric scooter for her birthday.

October involved buying one crusty, old, neglected dirtbike (Honda XR200R) in Memphis. In fact the bike was in such a condition that she has been given the title of "Big Nasty".

But that's not all folks, October also included the repeated electrical failure of my trusty VFR right before a trackday. So what's a guy to do? Well, buy another motorcycle that is NOT scared of the race track. That's right, we added a 2009 Buell 1125R to the stable within in a couple of weeks of buying the XR200R.

The Buell is not afraid of the track. Four days after the purchase, I once again found myself at the beautiful grounds of Barber Motorsports Park for another trackday. The Buell is way more capable than my meager skills can display...but I did get my knee down in the corners! Woot!

But wait, there's more! Then we had Halloween. This involved costumes for the kids--Angela made a really good Yoda costume for Lil' G.--and making a pie and chili for the church's fall festival. I did not win in either contest. :( I think it was rigged.

On top of that, we've had the house of sickness beginning with Gavin getting sick (strep and staph) right before Halloween.

Moving into November...the sickness continued with a couple rounds of ear infections for Milla and both Izzy and Angela coming down with Strep. Luckily, my supreme fitness and ability to run from bad germs allowed me to stay healthy throughout the time our house was infiltrated by the unholy jihad of germy-germs.

Somewhere in all that, I spent a few late nights in the garage getting Big Nasty back to a ride-able condition. That involved tearing the thing completely apart, cleaning and cataloging every part, and repainting all metallic surfaces.

Then it was time for Thanksgiving and Tiling. Yes, we like to combine holidays with work. Crazy, I know. This project was long overdue. Trust me. The nasty linoleum in the kitchen was torn out and replaced with ceramic tile from [s]Lowes[/s] Italy. it looks nice and the actual laying of the tile wasn't as difficult as I thought. A big thanks goes out to Dad for coming over and helping to get us well on our way. Unfortunately, the fridge and the oven are still in the living room as we have yet to complete the grouting. How long can we get by with baking all our dinners in a toaster oven?

Aside from the tiling, we managed to have a quiet Thanksgiving dinner. I did not smoke a turkey this year. But I did smoke a ribeye roast (poor man's Prime Rib). It turned out really, really good.

Saturday after Tgiving, Scott and Kimberly came over and we all took turns riding Big Nasty out in the corn field. We had a large time. I'll post pictures as soon as Kimberly gets 'em too me (hint, hint).

Whew! I think that about gets us caught up.

Cuteness Overload!!

2009-09-14T22:49:00.005-05:00

Not our puppies, but the kids are ours.

Twilight

2009-07-29T14:43:00.003-05:00

'nough said.

**Disclaimer: The above image does not express the views of the entire Reed household since Angela read the books and watched the movie.

Skipping stones is stepping stones

2009-07-07T23:06:00.001-05:00

Today, I taught my son how to skip rocks down at the river. I hope he had as much fun as I did.

How Did We Celebrate the 4th of July?

2009-07-06T16:57:00.002-05:00

Normally, on the 4th, we go hiking. In the past we've gone to the Dismals or the Sipsey Wilderness. This year, we did something, umm...less adventurous. We ate meat...and lots of it. Between the hours of 5pm Friday and 4pm Saturday, I cooked 2 pounds of beef chuck roast, a 9 lbs boston butt, a 14lb brisket and one lb of bacon (for BLT's) on my smoker/grill. The butt and the brisket were smoked for 12 and 18 hrs respectively. It was my first attempt at smoking a brisket and I think it turned out pretty well.

And then, we launched a few small fireworks into the inky blackness of the night sky. Well, not all of them left the ground. And the new joke in our house-hold is the "Rising Flrg" firework.

After about .137 seconds of puny sparks up pops the "Rising Flrg".

I also called my youngest sister, Becky, to wish her a happy birthday. When Becky was little, we'd take her to the city fireworks show and tell her that everybody was there to celebrate her birthday and that the fireworks were just for her.

Its good to have friends...

2009-06-29T14:31:00.003-05:00

You know that phrase "Its not what you know but who you know"? Allow me to add my twist to that phrase: "Its not what you have but who you know that has what you need." Yeah, that's it. See, I don't have a dirtbike nor do I have the land a dirtbike requires (our 0.33 acre lot is barely big enough for Lil' G's 50cc dirtbike). But, I'm lucky enough to have a couple of friends that not only have dirtbikes and the land but they are nice enough to let me use 'em. Oh lucky me. And lucky Gavin.

This past saturday I loaded up the family into the Jolly Green Giant and we headed down to Pearl, MS to spend the day riding dirtbikes at The Cornerlot Resort, an offroad park for motorcycles only. My friend Mark T. and his wife Ada built the Cornerlot out of sheer love for riding. Mark recently completely overhauled the area by adding a new supercross track, a new kids MX track and completely overhauling the big MX track. In addition to those three tracks, there are miles of trails in the woods and a really fun grass track to boot. Yeah, plenty of stuff to keep any bike nut happy for a long time.

We began the riding by hanging out in the shade of some big oak trees and just watching Lil' G ride the kids MX track. He had never seen anything like it and was a little hesitant at riding up some of the bigger tabletop jumps but after a little while, he was riding the whole track and having a blast.

About 10:30 or so, I threw some chicken on the smoker in the hopes that we'd have something decent to eat around 1pm or so.

While the chicken was absorbing some sweet hickory flavor I attempted to ride Marks 2007 Honda CR250 2-stroke. Let me just say that riding that bike was my first time on a dirtbike and my first time on a big two stroke. I think my eyes probably looked like this: (0) (0) the entire time! It was intimidating for sure. I cruised around the MX track a couple of times and ran it up and down a grass field and decided that was about all I need of that machine for a while.

The only downer to Saturday is that it was really hot, like 110 heat index hot. So after lunch, Angela took the kids to hang out at Jason and Christy Smith's house. They are on the process of moving to Little Rock but were kind enough to let my family cool off in the A/C. Thanks y'all!

After lunch, another friend of ours, Lee arrived after driving in from ATL. Lee happened to be pulling a trailer with two bikes and one of 'em was for me to ride, a KTM 400 EXC. The more linear power curve of the KTM's 4 stroke motor made it much less scary to ride but it would still run faster than a raped ape if you let it. In fact, there were a couple times that I ended up eating dirt (or tree branches) because of my poor dirtbike skills. The good thing is that I was going slow so no harm done to me or the bike. Lee was kind enough to lead me through some of the trails and give out a few pointers here and there. I really enjoyed it and had visions of my whole family cruising through the woods on dirtbikes. That would be tre cool.

Angela came back a couple hours later and Gavin spent the rest of the time lapping the kids MX track. I think he's addicted because it took a bit of prodding to get him to finally turn the bike off.

Eventually, all good things come to an end, and around 6pm, it was time to call it a day. I was completely worn out as was the rest of the family. We loaded up on grease and carbs at a local Burger King (tip: avoid the Angry Whopper, it doesn't quite live up to its name) and then pointed the Jolly Green Giant back to Caledonia.

Realizing a Dream!

2009-06-17T15:09:00.009-05:00

Just a warning: this is one looooong, drawn out post. Those of you not really interested in motorcycles probably won't find anything worth reading.
The Lead-Up
I don't know exactly when it occurred, but at some point several years ago I learned that there are organizations that rent race tracks and for a fee will allow anybody (well, almost anybody) to ride on the track. It was at that point that I knew I wanted to get my bike onto the track. To ride without worry of stupid cages (motorcyclist speak for cars) crossing into my lane or pulling out in front of me would be sublime. There would be no dogs or deer or slick diesel fuel spills or cops on the track. It would be the PERFECT riding environment to test and improve my skills. And it would be fun!

So last weekend I finally got the chance to fulfill my dream. Only now I want MORE! I think I know what if feels like for an addict to take that first hit of crack. It was better than I anticipated.

The lead-up to this blessed event was long and drawn out, but it kinda started when a former co-worker of mine, Chuck T., decided to start doing track days last year. I went with him to his first one and saw how much fun it really could be. I started scheming pretty much as soon as I got home. I would need leathers, new tires, and the bike would need a tune-up, not to mention the small-ish membership fee and the track day fee. It all added up to a noticeable sum, not something I could just slip by the CFO of our household. So I begged and I pleaded and she relented. And slowly but surely my dream started to become a reality.

I snagged some leathers on eBay for crazy cheap and when the snap for one of the cuffs was missing, I called the seller and they gave me some cash back...so for $185 I could now look like a power ranger!

I was really wanting all black leathers, but since I didn't have to spend $600 or more, I didn't care. Notice also the schnazzy new helmet. Its uber light weight so my weak neck can support it and my [scottish accent]"huge cranium" [scottish accent] at the same time (I hope y'all got that movie quote!).

I then signed up with Sportbike Track Time and secured a spot for June 13th at Barber Motorsports Park, a premier racetrack in the U.S. and the one I've really been itching to ride.

Then, I got some some nice sport tires for about 1/2 price when Pirelli decided to come out with a new-er version. Score!

Everything was coming together until I decided to ride the bike into town to pick up some parts to do a tune up. While at a NAPA store, my bike decided she had had enough and failed to start. The battery was dead. The nice kid at NAPA helped me jump start the bike and I rode it home and parked it. This was two weeks before my track-day. The following week was extremely hectic with church stuff. So the bike sat for a week before I had a chance to diagnose the issue. Turns out my VFR had suffered a burned stator and fried regulator/rectifier, 2 parts that make up the bulk of the charging system. No wonder my battery was dead. Okay, no biggie...I'll just order the parts. Only none of the OEM part houses could guarantee delivery by Friday. I start to freak a little and Angela jumps in to the rescue and found a non-OEM parts supplier that could get me the necessary stuff by Wed. Awesome!

Wednesday comes, the parts arrive, I put 'em in and...I'm still not getting the necessary voltage to the battery! Now I really freak out. I get online and do some research and come up with a possible solution that involves adding additional wiring to the bike. I took Thursday afternoon off as a last ditch effort to get the VFR running in time. I called my dad and he comes to the rescue to help with the wiring and stays until pretty late. My neighbor down the street walks over and he stays until 12:30 trying to help me get everything done. We try to crank the bike up and she's dead...won't even start. I felt like I had just been kicked in the chest by a 3 dollar mule. The week had been turned into one hellacious nightmare with nothing going as planned. We decided to quit for the night.

I had already decided to take all of Friday off as well. So early Friday morning I get back out in the garage and start going through the entire starting system. Apparently, during my re-wiring experiment, I had shorted a wire and that popped a mini-fuse in the starter circuit. Once I found the fuse and replaced it, the bike fired right up. But much to my dismay, I was still not getting the necessary voltage at the battery.

At this point I was resigned to the fact that I would not be riding my VFR on the track this time. But all was not lost. I was determined to finish my nightmare-ish week off on a high note. So I did the only thing any sane motorcyclist would do...I decided to take Angela's bike to the track.

Angela can see the future. I'm convinced off it. Earlier in the week, she had suggested I just take her bike and worry about mine later. She could see how stressed I was. But I'm stubborn and worked like a dog to get my bike running properly. Anyway, half an hour later and her bike is prepped for the track--mirrors removed, lights disconnected and taped up--that's it. She's ready.

That afternoon Chuck arrived with his enclosed trailer and picked up the blue SV650 and associated track paraphernalia and headed off to Birmingham. I then turned my attention to packing up the family, loading the van and heading out to B'ham...via Starkville. Izzy would be staying with my parents for the weekend to ease the load on Angela. We finally get on the road, dropped Izzy off and pointed the van east towards Alabama.

June 13th Arrives!!
Initially I thought I would have trouble sleeping the night before the track day...but the week had been so taxing that I fell right to sleep and didn't move an inch until the alarm went off at 6:30. After a quick bite to eat, we checked out and headed to the track, arriving at the pits at 7:30. We pulled up next to Chuck and his wife in the pouring rain. Perhaps my nightmare was not quite over.

After registering and getting the bike through tech inspection it was time for the riders meeting. I'm guessing there were 85-100 riders in attendance in three groups-novice, intermediate and advanced. We were informed that radar indicated that a couple bands of rain would be passing through quickly but that we couldn't go out as long as it was lightning...which it was (remember, this is a dream turned nightmare).

After a while of waiting around we heard the call for intermediates to hit the track...which meant novice riders report to the class room for some instruction. It was still raining but the lightning had moved on. The novice class was broken down into sub groups of 5-7 riders headed up by an instructor. My instructor was Jim Calandro, president of the US Desmo Club. He seemed very knowledgable and willing do dish out whatever help we required.

It seemed like it took an eternity but the novice group was finally able to get out on the track. The first session was to be run at a slow speed , <50 mph, to get oriented with the track and to learn the correct lines. It was still raining but had lightened up to some extent. Unfortunately, Angela's SV650 has no fairing to shield me from the rain, so I got soaked. But I didn't care. I was on a race track, on a motorcycle, and I was not going to let a few Hydrogen and Oxygen atoms stop me from having a good time! I think we tip-toed around the track for three laps before it was time to come in for another classroom session. The morning went by all too quickly as we basically went from the track to the class room and back to the track. Each session allowed us to go a bit faster and I was having a blast. There were a few pucker moments when I got ham fisted with my down-shifts which would cause the back wheel to momentarily lock up. There was also one instance when the rear spun up while exiting the kink on the back straight. I mentioned it to Chuck afterwards, and he said his instructor had warned him about that spot. So, I guess I wasn't the only one to have experienced that issue.

By 1 pm, the skies had started clearing and the track was starting to dry out. That first session after lunch was when I began to get more comfortable on the track. Even though I had seen the track from many different vantage points as a spectator it still took me pretty much all morning to really get a feel for which way the track twists, turns, dips and dives. There are some blind turns that can be a little un-nerving because you can't see them until it is too late. You have to set up and start turning in for the corner before you even see it! The track was developing a dry line and I began to push a bit harder, touching down a peg or scraping a boot in a few corners all the while laughing along with the little SV650 which seemed to thrive on the thrill as much as I. Together we flowed around the track, arching into each corner and then launching out of them like an angry bull. At some point early in the afternoon, I passed Chuck and laughed in my helmet. He was probably laughing too. While this wasn't a race by any means, there was some friendly competition going on between us. We joked about it when we got back in the pits.

Later, I asked my instructor to follow me around for a couple laps so that he could critique my form. By this point the track was completely dry and we were really ripping it up! I don't think I stopped grinning the entire time. I followed my instructor for two laps. He then followed me for two laps. I thought I was hauling tale when came out of nowhere and passed me like I was standing still. Dang it! I laughed when he blew by me. I made a mental note to get him in the next session.

I got some great feedback from Jim after that session. He said I looked smooth, relaxed and confident and that he had to work his air cooled Ducati pretty hard to keep up with me. Coming from a guy with racing experience and 7 years of being an instructor, that meant a lot and really made me feel good. I had really wanted to get my knee down at some point, but Jim pointed out that it was most likely the high handlebars and low footpegs on the SV that were keeping me from getting my knee to slide along the tarmac in the corners. I'm short, too, so that doesn't help matters either.

The novice riders lined up for the last session of the day with the sun cooking everybody in their helmets and leathers. The instructors headed out first to get some quick laps in. As I came around turn 4 for the second time, I saw a corner worker waving a red flag. I raised my arm to aknowledge that I had seen the flag and crested the hill to see an instructor lying motionless on the track, his bike laying on its side off in the grass. It felt really spooky to see somebody laying there without moving. We exited the track and lined back up in the hot pit only to be informed that the final session had been cancelled. Ambulances were attending to the fallen rider and there would not be time to resume the session. I learned later that the rider had been knocked unconscious and had broken a couple ribs.

I returned to the pits hot and tired and happy and relieved and hungry and hooked. I sorta half jokingly half seriously mentioned that maybe we could sign up for the Sunday trackday too. Nobody seemed to give the suggestion any weight and I knew that we needed to head back home to rescue my parents from Izzy.

So, will I do another trackday? The answer is a resounding "Heck yeah!" I had a huge time even with the rain and lightning in the morning. I learned a ton too. And that was my main goal from the start.

A HUGE, MASSIVE thanks goes out to Angela who put up with a lot the week prior. She has been very supportive and understanding throughout this entire ordeal. Also, thanks to Mom and Dad for watching Izzy on short notice and Dad, thanks for coming to help work on the bike. And thanks to Chuck for hauling my bike and letting me pit with him.

And now for some pictures!! (For some reason, the pictures are not posting correctly. Just click on 'em and you'll get to see the full picture at Photobucket.)

Riding on a track for the first time, in the rain, is a little unnerving.

Corners are where it's at.

Chuck in action.

During the last session.

Family Photos

2009-06-04T15:15:00.002-05:00

Ya know how families tend to have a theme when its time to take the annual family picture? Don't know what I'm talking about? Picture Mom, Dad, and all eight kids dressed in faux cowboy shirts with those mother of pearl buttons, blue jeans, and cowboy boots and to top it off, they are all sporting home-made denim vests and cowboy hats. Everybody from teen-age Billy right down to the still-in-diapers toddler all dressed exactly alike. The family is neatly arranged on bales of hay with a cheap looking barn back drop. Get the picture? Anyway, I think I found a family photo that takes the cake...and no, this is not us or anybody I know...its from the internets, so feel free to laugh AT them!

Mudbugs and Cabbage Patch Kids

2009-05-27T15:03:00.003-05:00

Few things are as deeply southern as a crawfish boil. Only the folks from Louisiana would be crazy enough to come up with an idea as awesome as boiling these dirty critters in really spicy water to make 'em taste good. And I guess with modern farming techniques and fast transportation, the availability and popularity of eating crawfish has spread to the neighboring states as crawfish boils are not uncommon up hear in north eastern Mississippi(aka God's Country).

A crawfish boil is an event as much as it is a method of preparing food. Its a gathering of friends, a time to relax and converse, but its also a time to chow down! Anyway, our good friends the Allens decided that they wanted to have a few friends over and cook up a few mudbugs. We were lucky enough to be invited. So last friday we showed up and got to work. Now the Allens are actually from Idaho so I gotta give them some serious credit for even attempting to hold such a southern event. But T. Allen had done his research and had a killer recipe ready to go. By the end of it, we had a really good system down and had a hot batch a crawfish coming out of the water every 10 minutes.

The basic idea is to take a whole mess of crawdads, rinse 'em a few times and then put 'em into a big pot of boiling water that has been seasoned with all sorts of cajun goodness. Throw a few ears of corn, some sausage, and a few potatoes into that same pot of water and you have some really good eats.

Gavin was quite intrigued with the live crawdads.

You definitely have to rinse the crawdads several times. This is what the water looked like after the first rinse. They do not like being sprayed with a jet of water. Come to think of though, neither do I!

The seasonings go in!

A batch just being pulled out of the pot.

The final product. Hot, spicy, tasty goodness. The potatoes and sausage turned out really good too! The corn was a little too spicy.

And this is how ya eat 'em. Everybody stands around a table, the crawdads and fixin's are spread out and its time to get busy! The only thing really edible is the tail meat. Some folks suck the heads, but there's really just juices in there.
What's great is you can just stand around, chit-chat, joke, eat, repeat.

This has nothing to do with a crawfish boil. I just wanted to see if Milla could fit into a Cabbage Patch Doll outfit. She does, sort of. Apparently, the torso of a CPK doll is about 1/2 as long as the torso of your average infant. Both the shirt and shorts belong to Izzy's CPK doll.

Am I in a circus, or what?

2009-05-26T21:01:00.002-05:00

It's 9:00pm and I'm reflecting on the day. I'm super tired, but I can't go to bed yet on account of Milla's last feeding for the day (scheduled around 10:00pm or so). I can't help but laugh now that I look back on the events of the day, but I was ready to grab the keys and my purse around 4:00pm. Forget any luggage, I'd just charge everything I need or want when I hit my destination-- wherever that was going to be (probably the first of the Florida Keys for some Key Lime Pie). Did I mention I was going to go alone? Maybe I'd take Milla. . .
Let me set the scene for you. . .It's 4:00pm, I've been watching the neighbor's two kids since 11:00am. Yes that's a total of 5 kids-- did I mention I have a one month old? Being the thoughtful wife that I am I decided to make chocolate banana bread so Ty could enjoy a nice warm treat. It's Milla's feeding time and Ty has decided to go down for a nap, so I'm trying to keep all the kids outside so they will be quiet enough for him to rest. He's not tired from helping with night feedings with Milla, he's tired because he stayed up late Sunday night to play Wii. So I'm nursing, the timer goes off for the bread, I detach, set angry Milla down, check the bread--it's not quite done, go back to a screaming Milla, re-attach, neighbor girl comes in to tell me she just pooped in her underwear (she's 6!!!) and she's bleeding from scratching a mosquito bite, I say a few choice words in my head, call her mom to find out she has no clothes because they are moving tomorrow, detach Milla, go find too small underwear and wipes and plastic bag for dirty panties, re-attach screaming Milla, get a band-aid, oven goes off again, detach to pull bread out, re-attach really irate Milla, finish nursing, send the girl home to her own home, take the kids to two stores to buy groceries for dinner and the week while Milla fusses for her pacifier that I left home, come home and make dinner to have it all ready for Ty before he heads out to visit an inactive family from church. As I sit down to the meal I've prepared. . .Milla is screaming and all I want to do is scream with her. But I keep my composure and all I can do is inhale my meal so I can pick her up to watch her fall asleep peacefully in my arms. What a day!?!

First Day of Summer Vacation!

2009-05-25T21:41:00.004-05:00

Relaxing

2009-05-24T22:03:00.003-05:00

It's 10pm Sunday evening and Angela and I are sitting on the couch listening to a great selection of bluegrass off of my iPod, the kids went to bed an hour ago and Milla is contentedly sucking on her pacifier. While relaxing on the couch, I've been reading a blog about a guy that started his own BBQ joint just outside of Nashville. WWW.martinsbbqjoint.com I would love to have my own BBQ joint but I'm not sure I'm cut out for it. I know I need more practice. Which is why I'm about to go season up three big racks of ribs so they will be ready to smoke tomorrow. We'll be celebrating Memorial Day with some friends of ours from church, so I need these ribs to turn out perfect since it won't be just our family eating them.

I hope everybody has a great day tomorrow and don't forget to show your gratitude to those who have and are serving our country by being in the military.

Laters y'all!

2009-05-11T16:07:00.002-05:00

I got Mom of the Year Award, and here's proof!

http://news.cnnbcvideo.com/?nid=P5SzkXpPvCybhMEFAa6BMTIzNTUwNA--&referred_by=16641635-IY52_4x

Where does it come from?

2009-05-07T12:38:00.003-05:00

We've had a lot of people ask us where the name for our youngest daughter Milla comes from. The explanation is simple really...Milla Jovovich is a successful Russian born model/actress/musician and we just liked the sound of the name. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milla_jovovich

Now we're not hoping that Little Milla follows in Big Milla's footsteps (although if Milla happens to make a metric butt-load of money and shares some of that with Mom and Dad, well, I won't be complaining). After all, Big Milla has been married twice and given birth to a child out of wed-lock. So it is not like she's the perfect roll model. But, on the other hand, Big Milla can speak an alien language and she knows how to kill Zombie's like no other chic I know. Plus, her music is pretty cool. So there are some positives qualities after all!

And so, in the words of the late Paul Harvey, "And now you know the rest of the story...Good day!"

New Addition

2009-05-02T20:25:00.003-05:00

And no, I'm not talking about the band New Edition... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umEbhFKV6mc

Milla (pronounced Meeluh) was born 4/24 @10:24 am. 6lbs 12oz, 19 inches long.

Snow Day!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-03-01T13:32:00.007-06:00

Early this morning I got a call from a guy from church...

"Hello?" I answered as I desparately tried to remember if I had forgotten a meeting or something.

"Bishop, this is Elijeah. Have you looked out your window this morning?" The voice said.

"No. I haven't." Truth be told, I was still in bed and wasn't really wanting to get out of it.

"You might wanna take a look." Elijeah responded.

So I threw back the blankets, walked over to the window and opened the blinds. I couldn't believe what I saw. Snow!!! Covering everything in the back yard and it was still coming down at a pretty good rate.

Elijeah wanted to know if we were still having church. I told him I'd call him back shortly.

I turned on the tele to see if there were any warnings and stuff. Sure enough. All bridges in Lowndes county were iced over. I called my 2nd counselor who lives in town and we both agreed to drive around and assess the situation. After wiping at least a 2 inch layer of snow off the van I drove out to the nearest bridge. I got there just in time to see a truck slide sideways down half the length of the bridge. Okay, so the tv report wasn't lying. Other than the bridges though, the roads were perfectly clear.

I got home and helped Angela get the kids dressed up. And then we all went out and played in the snow for a little while. It was a blast, although I had to answer a whole slew of phone calls and texts about "Are we having church?".

My counselor and I came to the conclusion that we would hold Sacrament meeting only since a lot of folks probably wouldn't be coming in (it doesn't take much snow to keep Mississippians off the roads).

Anyway, here are a few pictures from this morning.

Oh yeah, and for all of you out there that follow World Superbike racing (that's pretty much just Scott and Kimberly) I gotta give a huge thumbs up to the lone American Ben Spies for pulling out all the stops and snagging pole in his first WSBK race. What an amazing feat considering he had never been to the track before and the Yamaha is a brand new design. Ben is the real deal and I hope he can open a huge can on the rest of the WSBK field!!

Up on TWO!

2009-02-27T16:23:00.003-06:00

Angela and I are proud to announce that as of Feb. 25, 2009, Izzy can now ride her bicycle without training aids of any kind! Here are a few pictures to prove it.

Proper safety gear is very important and should always include a bike helmet and a pink tutu as a bare minimum.

The Send Off:

Izzy is underway!

I think she can sense the freedom that is at her fingertips.

It is never too early to begin learning proper wheelie techniques.

Izzy was pretty wobbly the first day, but the next day she got the hang of cruising down the road and turning around within the width of the street. Progress!

Now that she can ride a bicycle, she wants to ride Gavin's dirtbike. I'll have to make sure the throttle limiter is in place because Izzy already likes to go wide open when I take her for rides on that poor little PW50.

What's amazing is that fact that both Gavin and Izzy learned to ride a bicycle at the 3.5 year old mark, about 1.5 to 2 years before I did! I think I was five or possibly six years old before I learned to ride.

I can still remember borrowing my older brother's bike and trying to ride it. From what I can recall, it had a banana seat and big tall handlebars...kinda Schwinn Stingray-ish, but I doubt it was a true Stingray since we were quite broke. Anyway, I was too small to reach the peddles from the seat, so I took a towel, folded it over a few times and layed it over the top tube. Ouch!! I eventually learned how to ride after a few days and pretty much never quit riding after that.

On a motorized two wheeled related note...I now have one day left before I can officially get back on my motorcycle. Yes, I will admit to succombing to pressure and going for two very brief rides in the past couple of weeks, but other than that, I've not been riding for 9 months (June 6, 2008 to be exact)! Sunday better not be raining. And yes, I'll be riding to church!

Laters y'all!

TAG!! You're it!

2009-02-15T21:59:00.003-06:00

So Kimberly photo tagged me. http://reedingrainbow.blogspot.com/ I'm not really sure if I'm going to do this correctly or not...but I'll give it a shot.

The above photo is of non other than 2006 MotoGP WORLD CHAMPION Nicky Hayden.

Nicky Hayden #69

It was taken two days before the MotoGP race held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in September of last year. We had just arrived at the track after driving all morning from Nashville. Some of the riders were doing a little 'Meet 'n Greet' and Nicky was one of the last ones to get up on stage. Look closely and you'll notice a crutch. Nicky had hurt his foot competing in the Super Moto races at X-Games a few weeks prior and still couldn't put much weight on the broken foot. Despite the injury, young Nicky Hayden did race at Indy that weekend and actually finished on the podium. Due to the remnants from a hurricane that was sweeping across Indiana the race was held in some of the most treacherous conditions the riders had ever raced in. It was truly a sight to behold.

2009-02-07T18:06:00.008-06:00

Just a few pictures taken at random moments from the past few weeks...

Gastronintestinal discomfort!!?? WTHeck?

2009-02-02T15:12:00.007-06:00

Lately Angela has been buying these Fiber Plus granola bar things as a semi healthy snack. They taste pretty good and, supposedly, are good for ya (they are really just glorified candy bars though). I usually pop one in my lunch box to either cap off lunch or help get through the dreaded 2:30 snack attack.

I never thought anything of it. In fact, I thought I was doing my body a favor as my preferred alternative is a Mrs. Freshley's Honeybun from the snack machine. http://www.mrsfreshleys.com/mrs_Varieties/category.cfm?categoryid=46 And those things are basically a handy snack sized glazed heart-attack in a bag.

But to my horror today, as I was unwrapping one of the aformentioned FiberPlus bars, I noticed a tiny warning on the back side of the wrapper...

What the freak?!! "Gastrointestinal discomfort"? Really? I was horrified. I mean just the way the warning is worded is weird. "NEW USERS"...it is as if I'm a new drug addict or something. Is there a Fiber Bar Anonymous group for users of said product?

Me, "Hi...my name is Ty and I've been a user for 3 months."

In unision, "Hi Ty."

Me, "My wife got me using. I blame it all on her. She was the one always going to the dealer for more. And even with the gastronintestinal discomfort, I couldn't stop eating them with their chocolatey coatings and caramel goodness."

Group Leader, "Ty, the first step is to realize no one but yourself is responsible."

Me, "But I was happy with Honey Buns!"

Me, "And now, I'm a user, I've got really bad gas all the time and the snack machine at work no longer carries Mrs. Freshley's Honey Buns. On the plus side, I'm very regular."

Speaking of which...Time for slam!

Laters.

How To: Raising Children

2009-01-06T11:41:00.002-06:00

I came across this most excellent chart illustrating what to do and what not to do with children. I'll refer to this chart extensively when the next kid arrives.

Adventures in photography...or what does this button do?

2009-01-04T20:11:00.005-06:00

As promised, here are a few selected photos from the many I snapped on Jan 1 while we took the kids hiking around the Sipsey River. For those wondering who the other folks in the pictures are, we took another bunch of suckers...oops, I mean friends, the Stewart family with us.

Commence Focus on Fungi Sequence...

Commence Nature au Naturale Sequence...

I was trying to get that 'rushing water' look with this one and I sorta mostly succeeded.

Commence Family Sequence...

I have no clue why Lil' G decided to lay down on that rock...he just did, so I took a picture!

I clearly have much to learn about composition, FOD, focus, quality of light, etc, not to mention post processing. My head swims thinking about getting pictures that approach the quality of my Sister-in-law's or my cousin's photos (y'all know who I'm talking about... ReedingRainbow & Indy Art Photography). Unfortunately, unlike those two ladies, I have no natural or artistic talent and all the learning and practicing in the world won't make up for it.

Bring it on 2009!!!!

2009-01-01T20:03:00.002-06:00

Yeah, that's right, we're talkin' to you Mr. 2009...And we're ready for whatever you got, punk!

Um, yeah, so we took the kids hiking along the Sipsey River today. Beautiful weather and scenery made for a good start to the year. I snapped a bunch of pics with the new DSLR. I think a few of 'em turned out okay and I'll post a sampling when I get a bit more time.

Laters.

2008 Christmas Review

2008-12-31T12:18:00.003-06:00

Alright folks, here's a quick review of how our Christmas 2008 went down...

We decided to do things a little differently this year by taking a little trip to the Smoky Mountains over the holidays. The plan was to give the kids a white Christmas and let 'em romp around in the snow and go tubing and all of that fun stuff. Things didn't go exactly as planned though as the weather was unseasonably warm. So no 'natural' snow was to be found. We remedied the lack of snow situation by going to Ober Gatlinburg, a small ski resort near Gatlinburg, TN. They make practically all of their snow, so even with the temps in the mid 60's, there was still some white stuff on the ground.

The first stop on our way to the mountains was Little River Canyon, in north eastern Alabama. This is the deepest canyon east of the Mississippi River.

A couple hours later and we were in Chatanooga, TN. We attempted to visit the model railroad museum, but being the 24th, it was closed. So we hung around and let the kids climb on a few old trains.

We then headed to Ruby Falls, located inside Look Out Mtn. It was actually pretty cool. We descended a 260 foot elevator shaft into the mountain and were then led on a 1/2 mile walk through a cave to the point of the water fall...one of the tallest underground waterfalls in the world. The kids loved it and everybody thought their little lanterns were cool (thanks Kimberly!!).

Who doesn't love a little cave bacon?

The next morning the kids awoke only to realize that Santa had managed to track their travels and locate their room in the hotel. They found stalkings loaded with cool stuff.

After opening a few prezzies, it was on to Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg, Tn. We did a small hike in Smoky Mountain National Park in the afternoon.

The next day was our snow day. We got up early to beat the crowds to Ober, rode a tram 2.1 miles from Gatlinburg to the ski hill and then got fitted for our boots and skis. We were on the slope by 10 am. Angela took a series of shots of Gavin and I that look like popparazzi (sp?) shots you would see in the Enquirer or the Weekly World News.

Gavin took to skiing really well and by the end of the day was skiing on the intermediate slope. That's my boy!

Gavin and I are in this picture somewhere...

You can see how the warm temps were really crippling the skiing. The base was only about 15" deep and in some spots, grass and mud was showing! It was a lot different than skiing at Alta, that's for sure.

While the boys went skiing, the ladies filled in their time by riding a scenic tram and racing on the Alpine Slide.

Overall, we had a most excellent Christmas. We did miss the normal routine of having lots of extended family around. But, this trip was a nice change for us. We kept things simple, and we maintained flexibility in our schedule so that we could change plans for whatever reason may present itself. Plus, since we didn't buy any big gifts for the kids, we could focus on what is really important, our family and the Savior. Christmas 2008 will certainly be one to remember.

Age and Experience

2008-12-05T11:53:00.002-06:00

They say the two go hand in hand...age and experience, that is. And I suppose they, whoever 'they' are, are right for the most part. Only for me, it seems I'm getting older with out the experience part. I still feel as unfit for whatever task is at had as I did 10 years ago.

Anyway, back on Monday, I turned the ripe old age of 33. I've found the mid thirties to be weird age. I'm young enough to not feel old and old enough to not feel young. And I act 18 most of the time! Angela baked my favorite chocolate cake for me. I don't know what it is called, and it takes a butt-load of time to make. But the end result is a rich, moist, delicious chocolate cake with a surprise creamy filling in the middle. Its like eating a Ding-Dong only without the preservatives and it tastes better and you get more than two measley bites from a piece (is it just me or are Ding Dongs and Twinkies getting smaller?). We drove over to Stark-vegas for dinner with Chelsey (Jared was sick and had a paper due the next day) at Old Venice. It was an enjoyable time. Angela brought the cake and we had it right there in the restaurant!

My wife rocks. Oh yes, she does. She managed to get lots of stuff I was hoping for. Although I kept waiting to see a shiny new Buell 1125R (that's a motorcycle for those not in the know) with a big bow stuck on the gas tank to show up in the garage and it never did. I was gifted some excellent tools to help me with my mastery of all that is smoked. I'm speaking about smoked food you hippies! My lovely in-laws gave me a rib rack and I also got a dual probe remote thermometer. That right there is going to be a lifesaver. No longer will I have to go outside everytime I want to check the temperature of the meat or the smoker. I can keep the receiver by the bed or the couch and I won't have to interrupt my game of Super Mario Galaxy (another bday gift). I will be testing them out tonight when I smoke about 15lbs of boston butts.

But enough about that stuff. I also wanted to give my littlest, scratch that, my youngest sister a big hug for popping out her first kid. I talked to Becky last night and everything went well with the delivery!

Oh yeah, one other thing...Thanksgiving. We had a great Thanksgiving. I was particulaly looking forward to a few days off from work. This year, Angela happened to get the world's largest turkey. It was a humongoid 19 pound teradactyl sized bird! We decided to attempt smoking it as I felt that with a year's worth of smoking experience under my belt, that this year's attempt would be decidedly better than last year's fiasco. And even though the bird barely fit into my smoker...it turned out pretty well. I brined the bird and then made a nice spicy rub that wend under the skin as well as on the surface. Pecan wood (thanks Dad!) was used for the smoke. I think I can do better, but it was still enjoyable to eat. And the turkey soup made with the carcass had a really nice, smokey flavor to it. Angela's dad and sister and her boyfriend and my dad all came over for dinner. All the sides and fixings that Angela cooked up were fantastic. I ate non-stop for about three days straight I think.

Whew!! Well, that about get's me caught up. Y'all hang in there through Christmas.

Laters.

The touch

2008-11-15T15:47:00.002-06:00

I finally got my touch...iPod Touch that is. And this thing is cool! I'm using to post this message actually. I guess I whined enough to Anela after Izzy messed up my Nano that she got sick of it and gave in. Anywayi, I've gotta go. I've got some Youtube to watch!

Halloween Preparations

2008-10-31T17:12:00.002-05:00

Ah yes, October 31st. And this year both kids really understand what that means...FREE CANDY!!

Yesterday we let the kids carve a pumpkin and goofed off a little bit. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

I think I need one of these robots.

2008-10-13T13:03:00.003-05:00

Check this out... http://www.qwerf.com/?p=270

They are controlled via Wifi. You can basically be anywhere in the world and control the robot that is back home via the internets (tubes that transport stuff). I'm thinking I could use the thing like a babysitter. I just need a mobile device that is capable of showing video and running apps, something like, say, an Apple iPod Touch (hint, hint Angela!). Then I could terrorize the kids while Mom and Dad are out catching dinner and a movie! Muhwaahahaha!!

Travellin'

2008-10-10T16:50:00.002-05:00

It never fails...pretty much anytime we go anywhere, one of our children gets sick.

This past Thursday, I had a work related training class down in Jackson, MS. We've got some college friends that live down there (the husband is almost done with med school) and Angela was planning to go down to see them this weekend anyway. So instead of spending our own money to go down there, we decided to combine both trips and have the company pay for it! So we drive down Wed. afternoon and get to Jackson about 5:30. Gavin was fine when we left save for a runny nose that we attributed to allergies. Buy the time we checked into the hotel (9:30) Lil' G had a full blown caugh (barked like a seal), a sore throat, swollen tonsils and some big time congestion. Needless to say, we didn't get much sleep Wed. night as Gavin tossed and turned and coughed and barked. I had a really hard time trying to stay awake for 8 hours of Trenching and Excavation class the next day. I took Gavin to the doctor this morning and he does not have strep, so that's good. He's still a little horse sounding but is feeling better to some extent.

Next time we go somewhere, we're bringing the pharmacy with us!

Two of my favorite things...soccer and bbq.

2008-09-29T16:52:00.006-05:00

Okay, first of all, for all of you from out west or up north or anywhere else besides the southeast and Texas, the term barbeque (BBQ) in all it's different spellings does not imply cooking meat over an open flame on a grill. Cooking hamburgers on the grill is not barbeque. And in fact, the term is a noun and refers to meat cooked using low temps, indirect heat, and smoke.

That being said, BBQ is one of my mostest favoritest things evar! And cooking bbq (pork mostly) is one of my new hobbies. Last year, I pretty much sucked at it. But I've been able to get consistently good results this year and some of it has been above average (in my unbiased opinion, of course).

This past weekend, we were blessed with some really nice weather so I decided it was time to break out the smoker and smoke some ribs. I prepped the ribs by seasoning 'em up with a home-made rub and then wrapped them tightly and put them back in the fridge overnight. That way, the rub and the meat get to know each other real well. The next morning I took the ribs out of the fridge and beheld the glory that lay before me!!

I then prepped the smoker by dumping a couple pounds of lump charcoal in the fire box and lighting a chimney full of charcoal as well. Once the coals in the chimney were glowing red hot, it was time dump them into the firebox and let everything settle down to a nice 230 deg F.

Once everything in the smoker settles into equilibrium, it was time to put the ribs in and throw some hickory on the fire. By this point it was 9am and time for us to head off to participate in another one of my favorite things...soccer!

Gavin's U6 team had their first two games on Saturday. So while the ribs were busy soaking up that sweet hickory flavor, we were out soaking up some Vitamin E!! Lil' G played quite well in the first game scoring three goals and helping his team win 6-2. Technically, they don't keep score, there aren't even any refs at this age, but Gavin kept track!

Their noon game was a little less, uhh...enthusiastic, with Gavin's team receiving a healthy beating. He played well though and had fun and that is what's important.

After the second game, it was time for some more cookin'! Chicken quarters were prepped and seasoned and put in the smoker along side the ribs for a couple hours and then transferred to the gas grill for final cooking. Rolls were cooked on the grill too. After a total of about 7hrs or so, the ribs were ready. We had some neighbors over and ate outside in the late afternoon sun. Angela said they were my best ribs yet, and I gotta agree with her. I forgot to take a picture of the finished product! I'll do better next time.

Last week, I promised to include a picture or two from Izzy's birthday. Well, I'm making good on the promise. Not the best shot in the world, but it'll have to do.

Laters!

The Begining

2008-09-22T20:31:00.001-05:00

Yes, I misspelled 'beginning' in the title. Those in the know will get it (not that it's that funny anyway). Since all the other folks in the family have trendy looking blogs with wonderful photos and well written entries, Angela thought we'd give it a go too. Of course, ours will not have wonderful photos and if I'm doing the blog, it'll read like a 10 year old wrote it. But oh well...

So, where to start? Anybody interested in this blog will prolly be pretty much up to date anyway, so I'll just start with recent events that have some interest to them.

Recent event #1: Gavin started Kindergarten! Holy cow, is he that old?!! So far, he's doing great and liking his teachers. His best friend is also in his class. Did I mention I feel sorry for his teachers. I think, the adjustment was harder for Angela than it was for Gavin.

Recent event #2: Izzy turned three! She is growing up so fast. She wanted a "Princess Party". I think she got it. Just about everything was 'princess-ey' and pink. I"ll post up some pics as soon as I pull of the camera's memory card.

Recent event #3: Angela and I took a little vacation to Indianapolis last weekend. Normally, one wouldn't think of Indy as being a vacation mecca. But when you throw in the worlds largest sporting stadium which happens to be a racetrack, and add in 20 Grand Prix motorcycles you get one heck of a good time. We were lucky enough to attend the inaugural Red Bull Indianapolis MotoGP. Despite the remnants of Hurricane Ike making his crappy presence known, we had a large time.

Oh yeah, ultra nerdy matching Ducati Team shirts!

True story about the Ducati shirts. We bought them Friday and being the nerd that I am, decided to wear mine to dinner that night. We were eating at a decent enough joint, so I tucked my shirt in to be presentable. Anyways, later that night, as we're walking around downtown (they had a big bike night type of event going on), Angela noticed this Japanese couple that kept looking at me. She overheard them wondering which racer I was! That's probably the closest I'll come to being on a factory team. Sad, I know.

Here's why they call it the 'Brickyard'.

This is the guy I'm pulling for: American, Southern Boy, and all around good guy Nicky Hayden.

Recent event #4: Back in late August, I was called to serve as Bishop in our local ward. Yes, you read that correctly. Why anybody would think I'm capable of keeping a congregation from imploding is beyond my comprehension. But it is official because I got the certificate in the mail today. Seriously though, it is humbling, scary, and did I mention scary? I was smart enough pray long and hard about my two counselors. They are more than up to the challenge of keeping me and everybody else in line. We'll just have to see how it goes. I do know (and here's the part Mom will be proud of) however, that the Lord will make up for the myriad of areas in which I lack and as long as I put in the effort and stay humble and obedient, things will be alright.

Alright, I think that's enough for now. For your sake and for mine, future blogs won't be so long.

Laters!