What's new with Ryan - July 7, 2001

Ryan's trip to Colorado 2001 - a Ride Report!

REALLY LONG RIDE REPORT On Wednesday July the Fourth, 2001, I took a little motorcycle trip to Colorado. There should be something in this letter for everyone, you will just have to dig through and see what you like. ROGER COULDN'T GO Work has been getting stale, and I had the itch to hit the road. My friend Roger from work just got himself a new Kawasaki ZRX1100, and suggested he wanted to take a trip. I asked if I could join. Yup! So we started making preparations and planning a route. The day before, he had some family matters to attend to and had to defer, so I decided to press on alone. I would have invited my brother to go, but I just sold the V65 Magna I was letting him ride. MY RIDE If you don't already know, I ride a 1997 Suzuki Bandit 1200, a full size standard bike. I have equipped it with the 2 inch mod, a 20 inch rifle windscreen, D&D pipe, and a Givi maxia topcase and monorack setup. This makes it into a great sport tourer. BAGS To take a trip of more than a few nights, I needed more carrying capability. I have been looking at RKA-luggage.com stuff, but really don't want to spend 200 bucks or more on something I use just occasionally. All saddlebags are made of is some nylon pouches and straps to keep them on the bike. I figured I could come up with something myself. I have been mulling this over for some time, and the type of bag that looks most like a motorcycle saddlebag is a collapsible cooler like they sell at Wal-Mart. They come in lots of sizes, and I found some I like, with the zipper below the top rim to make them waterproof. They are FROZN brand 24can coolers. Later on this month I will post pictures on my website. I found the straps were just the right lengths to go to the grab handle on the opposite side of the bike. I modified these with webbing quick releases to make them removable. I also sewed quick releases to the bungee rail under the seats, and put matching buckles on the bottom of the bags. The bags are then secured on 4 corners and can be tightened up with the adjuster already on the coolers. You can put quite a bit in them. In one I put 4 days of clean clothes, the other got filled with an air mattress, beach towel, frozen water bottles, and Twinkies. These coolers also have a pocket to hold a CD player, and a cellphone. I put my 8-oz can of Maxia Chain Wax on one of them. I also loaded up with all I would need, including an oil filter and wrench, camcorder, jacket, sleeping bag, clothes, camera, bungee cords, and maps. Some of this I put in the Givi, and some in my magnetic tankbag. The night before I left, I tried tying everything down, and also tried to put on a 16 tooth front sprocket to improve my mileage, as this would give me about 11 more miles on a tank. My chain was not yet worn and stretched enough for me to get it on, so I put it back together with the factory sprocket. I called up my cousins Don and Dana in Divide, CO and told them they might see me. ON THE ROAD I pulled on my Shoei RF200 helmet and Olympia gelshock gloves and finally left the house at 8am on the 4th. Got gas at Lindsborg and headed west on Highway 4. From the Bandit list and a friend I decided to use the O-Ring cruise control. You just take a rubber O-ring about 1 in dia and ¼ thick and roll it on the end of the grip end like a condom. When you are ready to roll, you just push it on the end between the end of the throttle grip and the bar end and it will keep it up for hours, your speed that is. It is easily overpowered by your hand, but really helps reducing hand fatigue and maintaining a set speed. Now HW4 is a good 2 lane with few cops, so I set for an indicated 90, and slowed down to 70ish at the top of hills, so as not to get an expensive surprise. The miles rolled on. GONE WITH THE WIND My first gas stop was in Hoisington, which looked like a tornado hit it. Then I remembered a tornado did hit it a couple of months ago. High school in rubble, quite a few houses torn apart, supermarket leveled, and every house visible from the highway had plywood windows. Just one of the few minor problems with living on the high plains. I kept on to LaCross and took 96 from Rush center. This truly started to be Western KS, where there is NOTHING! I wicked it up to 95, then 100, then 110. The O-ring would maintain any speed below 75, or above 90. Anything in between, and that lovely inline 4 vibration that tries to remove your fillings crept in and buzzed it back down. I settled on about 95, as that makes good time, and doesn't threaten to rip apart your shirt like higher speeds. One of the other problems is heat. By the time I fed myself in Tribune at 11am, I was averaging 81mph with gas stops and the bank clock said it was 99deg F. I scarfed at this mom and pop place off the road, where nothing on the menu had ever seen a vegetable and kept heading west. NO SERVICES 91 MILES! Once you are in western Kansas, and eastern Colorado, you have to worry about gas. Look at a map, there is nothing! Just because a town is on the map doesn't mean it has gas, food, or even a house. Some of these are remains of the steam powered railroad days and were just water stops, which is why they are about 25 miles apart. Eads, Colorado came at about the 6-hour mark. By this time, my speed had crept to about 105 for hours at a time. While not blasting across the high plains, I was drinking lots of water, putting on sunscreen, lubing the chain, rubbing my tired butt, and cleaning off the bugs every third gas stop. There is nothing on 96, no cops, no farms, no other cars, no gas, no help if anything happens. I did hit a bird, which didn't do him any good, but tried to get some feathers in my boot. Always ride with a buddy if you can. I was watching my fuel gage and my tripmeter. At 90-100 mph I was getting around 34 mpg, which is not bad. Highway 96 is like glass, just miles of macadam, tarmac, asphalt, blacktop, whatever you want to call it. I went up to Kit Carson and towards Highway 94 outside Aroya. 94 is not quite as smooth as 96, but is till BWAAAHH!!! territory. There is a sign, which should be heeded, which says NO SERVICES 91 MILES. I did a quick calculation and showed that it would put me in Rush Colorado and I would have plenty of gas, just be down to the red. An hour later I got to Rush and found a quick shop type place which seemed to be the center of local activity, but the gas pumps had long ago been removed. The highway department just hadn't updated the sign in the last decade. That put the next gas at Ellicott, which had a big Quick-Shop/Truck center place that requires you to pay first in cash! 105 miles between stops, which put me to reserve at 130. Whew! This is not the place to cut it that close. HELP, I'M LOST Took 94 to 24 in Colorado Springs, this goes right through town and by Manitou Springs, Garden of the Gods, and Pikes Peak. Just as I got to town it started to rain in the mountains. No snow on Pikes Peak, and lightning was hitting the antenna towers on top of Cheyenne Mountain, which houses NORAD. This made the highway wet and people stupid. Not really enough to even bother putting on a jacket though. This part of 24 is a lovely ride. The other thing I noticed was that my power was gone, oh yeah, 9,000ft does that. I needed to drop down at least 2 gears to get any motion at all. Went through Woodland Park and towards D&D's place in Divide. Went back and forth a few times, burning almost an hour, because my dad's hand drawn map did not jive with the MS Streets map, which did not jive with the real world during construction season. I ended the afternoon with 514 miles in 8 hours, a full stomach and a sore ass. LIVE STEAM AND FIREWORKS IN CRIPPLE CREEK I got to visit with my cousins, who had their granddaughter Rachael up to visit. They were headed to Cripple Creek to see the fireworks on the night of Independence Day. Cripple Creek is a little mountain town that was in a boom state during the gold and silver mining rush of the 1880's. Then it almost turned into a Ghost town for about 100 years, with nothing but empty hotels and boarded up mine shafts populating the landscape. Then in 1992, Organized Crime . . .err . . I mean . . . Legalized Gambling came to town. Now the entire place is filled with casinos, the road to it is paved, and probably 25,000 people jam the place on the weekend. One nice thing is that the Cripple Creek and Victor Narrow Gage Railroad is back in operation under full steam power. It must be the engineer in me, but I had to go to the station and BS with the coal shovelers and drool over mechanisms that rode the rails a hundred years before I was born. Oh yeah, I like trains! I have never done it, but I decided to try my hand in the casinos. I got a whole 2-dollar roll of nickels and went to work. It took me almost an hour to lose it all in the slot machines. I did figure out that you have a better chance of winning something in the ones with 3 reels rather than five, and the ones nearer the door pay more often to lure people in, but not better. I did have 2 hot dogs, 3 slices of pizza, and all I could drink for free, as they expect most people to be betting (and thus losing) hundreds of dollars in an evening. So I think things turned out OK. They had live music in the park, and once it was dark about 9:30, the fireworks started. They were pretty good, with lots of Oohs, and Ahhs. After that we were ushered into the Butte Theatre and Opera House for a Presentation of the Olio, which as I found out was a collection of skits, vaudeville style. It was a lot of fun, and we went back to the relatives' house that night for some well-needed rest. ROUTE PLANNING My cousins travel and camp out everywhere, so I was sure they could give me some advice on what to see and where to go, as they have a map showing they have traveled nearly every mile of paved road (and not so paved) in the state. The thing about Colorado is it is so beautiful and peaceful, those who have never been there cannot fathom it, and those that have cannot imagine a world without it. If you look at the state and look at everything west of Denver and I-25, you can't go wrong. It's all good! The Colorado State Map, given out free at all the tourist stations, has thoughtfully denoted every scenic route in the state with dots. I also went online to WWW.TWISTY-ROADS.COM that is one of those places that sponsors tours. You know, you give them a couple grand, and they will get you at the airport, get you a new bike, lead a sponsored group ride over the best landscape, feed you at fine restaurants, put you up in posh hotels, and makes sure you get every pennies' worth of trip. From what is online, it is pretty easy to figure out their routes, and save thousands in the process. There are some places that are dirt that are easily doable with a touring bike, and some that are not. Don advised me to just leave the non-solid lines alone for now. So I yellowed up the map with a highlighter. AH, THE THEATRE We all got up late on Thursday, and piddled around. I checked my email at his place at 9600 baud. I thought I was going to die it was so slow. I remember what an improvement it was getting a 1200-baud modem for my Atari 800 was over the 300-baud unit I was using. Ahh . . . the bad old days. We visited cousins Kyle and Kim in the city, and had a great time seeing their gardening. But it took us hours to get there with the screwed up workaday traffic. Damn Californians are just taking over. Hit Wal-Mart to buy some Delvac 1300 and a PVC rainsuit. Went back to Don's and gave little seven-year old Rachael her first motorcycle ride around the neighborhood. She loved it and immediately stated that her grandpa would have to get one for her to ride. Her dad is a rodeo cowboy and fireman, her mom rides horses in Texas, but they aren't too keen on the idea, because motorcycles are dangerous. Of course they live in Dallas, so it is hard for them to quantify the concept. I took a quick blast up to Woodland Park on a nice curvy stretch of 24 and back before changing oil and filter in the back yard. Later that night, Dana, Rachael, and I drove back to CC to see UNDER TWO FLAGS; a melodrama set in 1907 Tunisia. It had a hero (Yay), a villain (boo, hiss), a sidekick (chuckle), a damsel in distress (whoo hoo!), and a continuous live piano score. We followed that with the Olio again which had slapstick comedy, a cowboy rendition of "Always Drink Upstream from the Herd", a redneck review of "I'm not trailer trash, I live in a Mobile home", and "Always a bridesmaid, Never a Bride" and lots of other cute stuff. I do community theatre, and I must say the folks at the Butte Opera House did an awesome job, especially one of the actresses, Marissa Cortez who looks just like my hairdresser Denise. Another night of sleeping in a warm bed to rest my weary soul. SAVE EARLY, SAVE OFTEN! From here on, I get less windy as I lost all of it due to an electrical storm and no, I didn't have AutoSave on. After a fine self made super western omelette, milk, OJ, and donuts, I said my good-byes and went north from Woodland Park up to Deckers on 67. This was unremarkable, but was a nice road going through some forest and high plains. They haven't had rain in weeks, so there were quite a few fire danger high signs. OOOH YEAH, THAT'S NICE BABY Things changed when I got past Deckers, as the road was brand new blacktop. Not even any paint on it yet. It started to twine back and fourth with lots of 3rd gear corners. MMMM . .. . GOOD! I was actually getting to do some of that cornering I hear all of the So Cal people rave about. It went like this for miles. Pine trees, mountain streams, fresh air, and snowcapped peaks. Ah yes, now we were in Colorado. I went through Buffalo Creek and Pine to Pine Junction. More wonderful two-lane through Bailey and Grant on 285 over Kenosha pass at 10,001ft. You claw to get up here, and then there are miles of open prairie at about 9K, ridged by mountains on all sides. Someone on a yellow BMW was tagging along blasting lines of campers and big rigs between the very few long sweepers. It was joy on two wheels. I continued on over Red Hill pass at 9,993 to Fairplay. There I stopped to fill and munch. I asked a couple on an ST1100 if they got around much, and how bad the road was over Cottonwood Pass, because the map showed it was dirt. They said it was hard packed, and they did it on their machine two up, so I should have no problem. I stuck this in the back of my mind as a road to do on Saturday or on a another visit. I cranked on north on 9 Through Alma, over Hoosier Pass at 11,541, Through Blue River with a stop in Breckenridge. More wonderful road! There is a reason why so many US motorcyclists list Colorado as one of their favorite trips! Breckenridge is just a bit pricey. The tofu and Rolls crowd seems to have taken over there. Don't get me wrong, it is nice, just not me. I parked behind the cop shop, where all the Police vehicles were brand new Land Rovers. Every vehicle in town had ski racks. They were having an arts fair which I perused and saw many a fine thing that I could not take home. I knew it was time to go when I walked past a real estate office and saw 900sq.ft. lofts going for $420,000, and a 2,200sq.ft. four bedroom cabin for a cool $1.6 million. Whoa, that's in American Dollars. I later found that my brother was spending the week in Frisco in a Timeshare and I could have hooked up with him. I tooled up north to Frisco and east to Dillon and Keystone, the heart of skiing country over Loveland Pass 11,992 ft. This was absolutely beautiful road, but it was completely plugged with tourists. This route took me over the pass, whereas taking the interstate runs through Eisenhower tunnel, a massive rock cut over 4 miles long. The sky turned dark as I took I-70 to Silver Plume and Empire. I had to pull over to take some pictures of the steam train pulling towards working silver mines. I also pulled on my Wal-Mart rainsuit. Even with the big dude I am, it went on easily and covered everything except for the ends of my arms. Taking liberty from cycle world, I truly became the Man from Glad in my yellow vestiges. Strapped down, throttle opened to go north on 40 over Berthoud Pass 11,315, through Winter Park. I stopped to get gas in WP for $2.05 a gallon, and had dinner at a great little sub shop/bar/dessert place. Just like Caper's at home. Got to talk with a few Harley owners who had their ratbikes on the trailer behind their new suburban. I didn't say anything about how silly that seemed, they were probably doctors and lawyers with prison tats. I rolled on to Fraser up to Granby. If you are of the stay a while type, you should head up a little farther to Grand Lake, which is 2,000 feet deep right next to great tourist accommodations. I didn't this trip, however and pressed west on 40 through Hot Sulphur Springs to Kremmling. There are no gas stations in this town, but they have great ice cream served by a bodacious blonde at the local espresso joint. It would appear to be a hunter's paradise, and I have the feeling that it is blocked off from the world when the snow comes. I asked BB about going to Radium on the dirt road. She said she was not really from the area, but she had been down it and it was pretty smooth. I was intrigued; however, I could not find my way to this particular goat path and headed instead over Gore Pass 9,527ft. on 134 to Toponas and State Bridge. Note, the first 20 miles of this are boring, but then it really picks up with 90mph sweepers tied together with 30 mph switchbacks and plenty of passing areas. Asphalt Nirvana. And not another car on the road until the end of the drive when a Taurus SHO was blasting along behind me, and keeping his distance well back. I headed south on 131 to I-70 at Wolcott. If you don't know, this was the last stretch of original Interstate to be completed since the project was started in 1956. It took 13 years to complete and was done in 1994. It is carved into the rock side of Glenwood Canyon and is a civil engineering masterpiece. They even did a Discovery Channel special on it. And everyone was driving like maniacs. At least some of them were giving adequate distance. Average speed seemed to be about 90 or better. I guess if the speed limit is 75, you add ten, then add a few for downhill, then add some more if you are getting passed. Unbelievable. I spend most of my time staying away from idiot drivers, but I did have time to ogle the mighty Colorado River and the sheer rock walls. Went from like 9,000 ft down to 5,000ish. When I got to Glenwood Springs, I decided I might want to take a dip in the famed springs. As far as a tourist trap goes it seemed reasonable, only 6 bucks, and heck, Teddy Roosevelt did it! But I saw the sign that said no refund for electrical storms, and saw the lighting in the distance and decided not to. I did decide that I needed to find a hotel since there was nowhere around to camp, it was probably going to rain, it was 7:00pm and I was beat. I started tooling around and saw a couple on a BMW parked at the Cedar Lodge downtown. I decided to go inside and check. Sixty bucks a night! I decided to hit the road. I spent almost two hours tooling around trying to save money. The next stop was 90 a night, then 130, then lots of promising looking places with no rooms. I headed back, unloaded, spent two hours in the hot tub, enjoyed some HBO, and collapsed in the bed. Turned out to be the best deal in town. LOST ON THE WATER The next morning I got up and wolfed down all the free continental breakfast I could. Overhearing some of the other family units, I decided to do something I had never done before - Whitewater rafting on the Colorado! I made an appointment for 1pm and headed to the local Wal-Mart for entertainment. While there I bought a waterproof camera, a 7x9-foot tent and more bungee cords. A local church was having a bake sale/car wash. I asked if they could do a bike. The sponsors weren't sure, but all the preteen girls in the soaking shirts thought it was the coolest idea they had ever heard. I unloaded it and they started scrubbing. They were doing fine, except for missing all of the dirt and doing the windshield like 10 times. I had to jump in and show them how. They said that I was the first motorcycle they had done. I said that they could do all of the Japanese bikes they wanted, as they would still run when they were wet, unlike Harleys. . . . Ooh, a slam! Got 1000 miles of dust off and headed to Whitewater Rafting LLC. Got gas and had lunch from a microwave at . . I kid you not . . .THE KUM AND GO! They gave us life jackets, paddles, and a short safety briefing. We piled on to school buses and headed 15 miles up the road. We, the forest department, and about 4 other rafting companies all met at the same entrance to the mighty Colorado. We got into our raft; everybody learned whom each other was and how to paddle. Heh Heh! If the water was up we would have been screwed. Our guide was one of those post-grad Birkenstock wearers, who admitted to us that work in the real world was too hard, this job is cool! They view from the canyon was true perfection. We even got to see some mountain goats working their way up the side from 20 ft. away. It was now that I pulled out my camera and found the lens was horribly fogged. Something on the back about a special coating that does not play friendly with suntan lotion. Oh well, click click click. Then we hit some rapids. Yee Haw! We got soaked. The water was white, the rocks were small but often, and we had to really work those oars. After about an hour, we floated to a spot with a swimming hole area. Most of the people in the raft included me, jumped right in to the relatively nice 66-degree water and piddled about. Then we discovered that when you take 1000 pounds or so out of a 100-pound raft, it tends to rise slightly in the water. There was no way any of us could put our arms over 18 inches of wet rubber (see you can say it and not be dirty) and we all had to be pulled in. There were also waterfights between our boat and others with the buckets. Just like Errol Flynn was our guide. "Ahoy matey's, there's plunder off the starboard!" Two more hours of geological commentary, some pieces of white, interraft warfare, and beautiful scenery. The best $40 bucks I ever spent. I asked a kid working at the raft place if he could tell me how to get back to 82. He saw my license plate and said he went to KU. He looked like another postmodern retro hippie. I suppressed a laugh, remembering all of the jokes - "What does a KU grad say to a K-State Grad? . . . . Would you like fries with that?" ON THE ROAD AGAIN It was about five and I took 82 south to Carbondale, through Basalt and Snowmass and Aspen by the Roaring Fork River. Then a truly beautiful Colorado experience over Independence Pass 12,095ft. This is closed from November through May and is cold, high, and often single lane. It is limited to vehicles less than 35 feet, so this keeps most campers off. But I even found myself using first gear quite a bit and even killed it once going below 5 mph. I actually got to drag pegs a little around some of the 10mph hairpins. You wouldn't want to push too hard though. There are plenty of places with no rail and a sheer drop for several hundred feet. At the pass peak visitor's center (sign and parking lot) I took it all in, and have film and tape to prove I was there. Miles and miles of beautiful snowcapped views. Took pictures for a gal named Dawn who was there with a Christian group from Denver. Headed down to Twin Lakes had some ice cream at the only 5 star restaurant in a town of 25. Dawn said they were all staying in a campground up the road. I headed up there and found about 500 of the nicest people I had ever met. They wanted to know if I wanted to pitch there for the night and join in on a sing along. I smelled the burgers and dogs, and saw the many lovely young socially responsible ladies, but rather stupidly decided to decline. I needed to start getting back to Kansas I took 24 south near Granite to Buena Vista passing all the fourteeners - Mt. La Plata, Balford, Oxford, Missouri, Harvard, Columbia, Yale, Princeton. I wish there was more light, as the scenery would have been really spectacular. The one really good place to eat looked like it had a two-hour wait. I gassed up and had chicken fried steak at a truck stop. I must have killed 10 million bugs in the last 10 miles. Man, those suckers are tough. It was now like 10 PM and I decided to stay at the first campground I found. Trouble is, I couldn't find one. I finally just took a random dirt trail (CO 311?) off the highway and set up behind some trees. I couldn't see, so I didn't want to set up the tent in the dark. I just laid out the air mattress and put the sleeping bag on top. The sky was perfect; the good Lord's stars staring down and not a light for miles. This is when I discovered the only thing I hadn't packed on my trip. Bug spray. Colorado mosquitoes at 11,000 ft. don't get to eat often, so when they do, they make a meal of it! And they are loud! I bet between the thrashing and the bumps in the dirt I got 20 minutes sleep that night. UGH, BACK HOME Somebody turned on the really bright ball of fire at about 5am Sunday morning, and I was packed up and gone before 6am. I went east on 24 at Johnson Village and the temperature was 37deg F. Through Antero Jct, and Hartsell, over Wilkerson Pass 9,507ft. This was a nice pre-breakfast run. Continuing on by Lake George to Florissant over Ute Pass 9,166 to Divide. I just kept on 24 all the way through Colorado Springs and found if you use it to get to 94 without changing the map, it takes you through the old airport grounds. Hmm. Back east to Kansas at 100 mph on the same route I used to go out. I ate a nice 10oz sirloin in a greasy spoon in Kit Carson. I checked my tires in Kansas and noticed some center wear and mottling and decided to turn the wick down a little bit to 85ish. They probably did not like all the high speed on rough road at full load in hot weather. And the further into Kansas I came, the hotter it got. In Scott City the bank showed 102F. That is hot! I had to stop several times for slurpies, Gatorade and stretching. I finally got home to Salina Kansas at about 6pm and was pooped. The bandit has a decent seat, but not for 600 miles in a day. My ass was killing me, my hands were buzzing even with the cruise, The heat was roasting me, and I was covered with bugs. I think one of the next purchases I will make will be a Corbin seat, with higher, firmer foam, a wicking fabric surface, and contouring towards the back. I took everything off, put the bike away, and entered my air-conditioned domicile. Thank goodness for R-22! 1,649 miles in a weekend. WHAT I LEARNED It is more fun, cheaper, and safer to go with someone else. If you don't have anyone to go with, you can meet like-minded souls on the road. Don't do over six hours a day if you can. Set up camp before dark. Eat up, take in the scenery, and enjoy the ride. Most of Colorado is beautiful, has great road, and no people or cops. There are 3.2 million people in the state, and 3 million live along the I-25 corridor. Get away from that! The bandit is a great bike for sport touring - it is fast, handles well, and is reasonably comfortable. GIVI bags kick ass. I saw more BMW's on the backroads than any other type of bike put together. And I know why - they are comfortable, have hard bags, and enough power for most. Everyone waved, and I waved back! Yes, even the Harley Guys! Give yourself at least 2 separate days to get out and back so you don't feel rushed. And give yourself at least a day to decompress before you have to sit in a meeting at work on Monday NOW IT'S YOUR TURN! Sorry about the length, but I just had to ramble on a bit because it was so much fun. Give me a couple months and I will have pictures up on my website. Give me your comments, where have you been, and what can you recommend. If there is anything you might want to know, just email me at the address below.

Then I had to bathe, change clothes and pack my stuff for the weekend - graduations a plenty! Took off to topeka and met with my folks, and Jason's inlaws at Coyote Canyon and had a big fat buffet meal. The I had a chance to visit Deanna for a while, so I did that. As usual, her place was spotless, and Cuba the doggie was all happy to see me! She has been working on some pottery lately and I got to see some of it. Nice stuff! Then back on the road to the Lied Center in Lawrence. Jason's hooding was at 7pm, and was a pretty neat affair. So my brother Jason is now Doctor Hampl M.D. Wow, hometown boy makes good. But he can't get us any drugs for another Month . . . Darn! Lots of food and pictures and family fun. Jason and Heather are in Wichita now, but have just bought a house and are moving to Pittsburgh PA to start his internship fo the next three years. That's commitment!

I also swung by my friend Jen's place, but didn't see her car, so I didn't make a call. On Sunday, I went to Marysville for my Brother Travis' graduation from high school. I knew he was smart, but I didn't know how smart! He has straight A's for his entire HS, except for one B in Biology as a Sophomore. he has like a 3.97 GPA! He also got 4 scholarships and is going to attend K-State in the fall. Don and Dana came up from Texas too.

I went home and collapsed, but next week, I'll get my revenge! Me, Jason, and Roger from work are all headed to Colorado for a week of Motorcycle Riding and general relaxation in Heather's Folks' condo. The hot tub is busted, but the satellite works, so we will really be roughing it! Heh Heh. That's it for now, and I have started on a web page for this trip, so it should be up in a while. That's my update for now - check back in every month or so for more - Whatever comes up will be posted on this page.

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