Recent Endeavors

Two days before T-day, my Dad's new wife, Raina, shot a cow elk and the next day I got the chance to go see some great country while packing it out. On the way up, I ventured out to Last Chance hot springs just to find out it wasn't really warm enough right now for a good soak. Then Thanksgiving at my sister Lianne's new place. As is tradition, it was a smidgen of overkill in the food department. On the trip back, Charlene, Shealynn and I visited another new hot springs. Trail Creek hot springs did not disappoint in any way! Well designed and perfect temperature!

I probably didn't need to take this, but it seemed cool

Near the kill, an old eagles nest

The Seven Devils from near Chair Point

Charlene and Shealynn at Trail Creek hot springs

Morrison Knudsen Nature Center

It's small and geared more towards teaching kids how nature works, Idaho's in particular. In reality, every adult, no matter how educated and confident in their knowledge of how things work, could benefit from a trip through every now and then. These are the things that make Boise a fantastic place.
Also, the free speech by Greg Mortenson (Three Cups of Tea) at the Morrison Center was well worth a Tuesday night! Did I mention free?! Yeah, it was free... and good!
On a totally different note, Kai and I did a full Bogus on Saturday. If you needed a "Matt perceived temperature gauge" from beginning to end, here it is:
1. Start: cold outside at base, but feeling good.
2. Mid section: colder, but feeling good to be able to say I'm actually climbing Bogus in November
3. 12 mile marker: hands starting to feel chilly even while climbing, typically a bad sign.
4. Top of the climb: Kai consumes a banana and puts on layer seven hundred and ninety two, Matt zips up three layers.
5. Couple miles down: brrr... getting colder, but pedaling hard keeps things okay.
6. 6 mile marker: where did Matt's hands go? Did I leave them on the road somewhere?
7. Little climb back up to Corrals: oh, there's Matt's hands, just a smidgen of a tingle though.
8. Flat section before getting home: meet up with Jonathan on the road and do my best to pretend that there are still rational thoughts going on in my head.
9. Home: place hands near space heater and go through pain of bringing back feeling. Explicative, explicative, explicative, explicative, explicative...... repeat. Hot bath.... all better.
Must I always make some bad choice in clothing at some point when temps are changing before I take a hint and overdress rather than risk under dressing?
Anyways, here's some pics from the MK

No Scuba Steve gear required

Pushing Your Limits

Your body is the most powerful instrument you will ever own. Some of us push it to it's limits. I mean really truly push it to its 100% honest to goodness limit. Not just its one day limit and let it bounce back. What I'm talking about is the point where you're doing damage to it that is irreversible just because you want to know what it can do. A marathon runner doing hundreds of miles of running each week or cyclists that log 25 or more hours in a week of full throttle effort, you know what it is to push your limits. Oxidizing your body to the point that it screams at you all of the time to stop. It screams at you "quit this insanity now!" and you just tune it out with desire to know who you can overtake in your prized event.
The average life expectancy of a Tour de France racer is 15 years less than that of the average person. Over training on occasion is a must to really know your limits. Over training has known negative side effects on the body. None of that matters though to the athlete who HAS to get ahead. That has been me for a long, long, long time. After having done just that for long enough to know that my true physical boundaries are just a little bit off of what is needed to get a decent pay check, I've decided that the journey to determining that piece of information has been worth more than any kind of damage it could have done to my body. Really living has it's risks.
Barreling around extreme switchbacks during the Inner Loop stage at the Tour of the Gila, hoping to keep contact with the pavement, with multiple pounds of green guck in my lungs, maxed out from a massive effort to stay on through a few early climbs, sore from a wreck and extreme dehydration the day before, I was REALLY living! I've never felt more alive. The rational side of my head told me I was crazy for skidding my rear wheel on that last switchback at 45 miles an hour. The rational side of my head told me that I shouldn't be racing with the green guck that was coming out of me. The rational side of my head told me that I shouldn't put my body through such hell to keep onto the tail end of an amazing field that would almost assuredly beat me to the line anyways. Luckily, the little devil on the other side of my head wouldn't let me lose contact with the tail end of that amazing field and that, then and there, was top notch living.
I didn't win the stage, not even close. In fact, I probably didn't even impress anyone with my 36th place finish on the stage. Frustrated that I couldn't do what I came to do, yes. But, I was living!

The pulse was, without any doubt, there!

Need A House?

A blog can be anything you want it to be right?!
Well this time it's a plug for my house that's for sale.
Pass it on to anyone that might be interested please.

Random Fall Photos

Juliaetta from the top of the Genessee Grade

A greenbelt bridge

Using the rule of thirds

And a different perspective

Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area look out

Jump Creek

Old man of the Owyhees in Jump Creek canyon

The second falls in Jump Creek canyon

Just A Quick Thought

Greed is the selfish desire for or pursuit of money, wealth, power, food, or other possessions, especially when this denies the same goods to others. It is generally considered a vice, and is one of the seven deadly sins in Catholicism.

Not that I promote pure socialism, no way. Nor do I promote pure capitalism. Without the desire to produce goods and services, an economy dies. People desire to get ahead from their hard work. The downfall of pure capitalism: A select few take everything and everyone else loses motivation to keep working hard. The downfall of pure socialism: Even everything out so that nobody can get ahead and motivation to get ahead is gone.
The last eight years have been too close to pure capitalism. It's tough to pull yourself up by the bootstraps without boots.

The Text

This morning, I woke before Charlene and decided to start cooking breakfast while booting up the computer. A little while later, my phone went off. Who could possibly need my attention so early?! It's not like I'm answering to any boss at the moment.
Upon picking up the phone, I determined that the culprit was about 10 feet away. The message was simple, yet very clear:
"cuddles"

Most Of 2008 In A Picture

Here it goes, Johnny Cash style:

I was totin my pack along the long dusty Winnamucka road

When along came a semi with a high canvas covered load
If your goin' to Winnamucka, Mack with me you can ride
And so I climbed into the cab and then I settled down inside
He asked me if I'd seen a road with so much dust and sand
And I said, "Listen! I've traveled every road in this here land!"

I've been everywhere, man
I've been everywhere, man
Crossed the deserts bare, man
I've breatherd the mountain air, man
Travel - I've had my share, man
I've been everywhere

I've been to:
Brundage
Granite Mountain
Banner Ridge
Jump Creek Canyon
Loftus Hot Springs
Dump Loop
Bear Creek
Boise River
Salt Lake City
Boise Desert
Puget Sound
Walla Walla
Stack Rock
Bike Park
Snake River
Portland
Mt. Hood
Lucky Peak
Nampa
Squaw Creek
Camel Falls
Ste. Chapelles (winery)

I'm a Killer
I've been everywhere, man
I've been everywhere, man
Crossed the deserts bare, man
I've breathed the mountain air, man
Travel - I've had my share, man
I've been everywhere

I've been to:
Curtis Lake
Susitna River
Mt. McKinley
Alaska Railroad
Aialik Cape
Spencer Lake
Anchorage
Fish Lake
Rhoda Creek
Moose Creek Landing Strip
Selway River
Huntington Beach
Knotts Berry Farm
Deadwood Reservoir
Bogus Basin
Elkhorn Byway
The Depot
Juliaetta
Silver City
Stack Rock
Foothills
Rocky Canyon Hot Springs
Williams Peak

For Pete's Sake
I've been everywhere, man
I've been everywhere, man
Crossed the deserts bare, man
I've breatherd the mountain air, man
Travel - I've had my share, man
I've been everywhere

I've been to:

Pocatello
Baker City
Kendrick
Kuna Caves
Orange
Camels Back
Idaho City
Silverado
Las Vegas
Denali
Emmett
Moscow
Skinny Dippers Hot Spring
Kings Valley
Enumclaw
Shaffer Butte
McCall
Olympia
Payette Lake
Lohman
Sugah Hot Springs
Bonneville Hot Springs

What A Pity
I've been everywhere, man
I've been everywhere, man
Crossed the deserts bare, man
I've breatherd the mountain air, man
Travel - I've had my share, man
I've been everywhere