books

The nice thing about travel is it gives me a chance to read books, something I rarely make time for. This past trip to Knoxville made it possible for me to finish 2 books and get half way though a third. The first book I finished is "Who's Looking Out for You?" by Bill O'Reilly. It's the first political slash social book I've read, and the first from O'Reilly. As is typical from his show, The O'Reilly Factor on Fox News, he hit quite a few homeruns. It's definitely a “tell it like it is” book, and full of O'Reillys witty off the cuff comments. Overall, a decent read. The second book I read is "Touching the Void: The True Story of One Man's Miraculous Survival" by Joe Simpson. As the title states, this is a true story... and miraculous! The gist of the story, Joe and his buddy Simon head out to climb a 20,000' mountain. As they decent, Joe breaks his leg and is basically left for dead. An incredible story full of human endurance, internal drive and the will to live. Overall, a HIGHLY recommended read. The book I just started is "Cracking Da Vinci's Code: You've Read the Fiction, Now Read the Facts" by James Garlow. The reason for picking this book up this morning was because of the recommendation of a college friend, Jason Turk. He and I have discussed the Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown, and since I have read that book, he suggested I follow it up with Garlow's. So far, it seems like the idea behind the book is to help guide those people who took Brown's book as fact. It takes Browns book piece by piece examining his points and correcting his flaws. I guess out of the book I'm hoping to learn more about the foundation of Christianity, which the book I'm told elaborates on.

Well, that's all for now.

scenic knoxville

Got here in Knoxville a day before my training in the early afternoon. With nothing going on I asked the lady at the rental car counter if there was anything worthwhile to check out in this fair city. She suggested to head southeast and take a car tour of the Smoky Mountains. Being always up for adventure, I took her suggestion and headed out. After a few wrong turns, thanks to poor advanced road signage in this town, I made it to the state park. I was told before I left that since it was gorgeous sunny weather, heading out to see the mountains would be a fantastic time. The lady also said I'd be able to see for miles... and with that comment I had grand visions of being on top of some mountain peak taking some sweet panoramic pictures.

So I got to the park entrance and pulled over about a quarter mile in. On the side of the road was a pull off and saw what appeared to be a water fall! I got out and quickly found my suspicion to be correct. I took a few pictures and a video and figured this drive was already beginning to pay dividends. I got back in and continued my journey up though the hills for what seemed to be 4 miles. Upon reaching the "top", there was a one way 11 mile road that went all the way through the park. Surprised that I wasn't on top of a hill yet, I took off on the 11 mile trip, anxious to find a scenic overlook. This one way road was basically a paved path with no lines, which weaved up and down the mountain hills, through rolling open fields, and through the forest of the Appalachian Mountains. About every eighth of a mile there was a turnoff where you could pull over to take pictures or read about some historical fact or person that you've never heard of. Being on my quest of summiting a hill, I passed on stopping for all landmarks. Unfortunately, my goal of getting somewhere seemed to be below everyone else’s… who were driving 2.384 miles per hour on this one lane road. So, I tried to relax and soak in the views instead of flooring it and smashing my rental car into the back of grandpa’s Buick out for a Sunday drive. Continuing on I took a few more pictures and before I knew it, I was back at the beginning, with 12 pictures taken of open fields, 150 year old log cabins, and other crap. Where was the scenic overlooks where I could "see for miles"??? I WAS SCREWED! So, in disappointment I drove on back... but not before getting lost for a half hour... because of the lack of road signs. Good times.

motorcycle chaos

MANDATORY RULE #1: Ride within your means.

So Friday came along and a friend (Josh) called me to see if I wanted to go riding the next day (Saturday). Checking the weather I thought that was a great idea since it would probably be one of the last nice days of the year. We agreed upon a time, and figured we should make some calls to try to make this into a group ride.

MANDATORY RULE #2: Trust your bike.

Each of us found a friend to join us in the ride, so we all met up at 10am sharp at my house. Amazingly everyone arrived on time and we headed out for southern Wisconsin to hit my favorite road in the world. We took off and made out way down to Prescott WI where we ran into some kind of bike rally. There had to be at least 600 bikes on the streets parked - truly amazing! I believe these bikes were part of the annual Flood Run, which in the spring had a remarkable 5 THOUSAND bikes show up for the ride!

MANDATORY RULE #3: If you don't trust your bike, DON'T ride aggressive.

So after we made it through Prescott we were clear of most of the bikes. We made it down to Stockholm WI and broke for lunch. The place we ate, The Bogus Creek Cafe and Bakery, a small garden/bed and breakfast style restaurant. The consensus: awesome. There really isn't anything like fresh home made bread and country garden vegetables. After the meal we loaded back up and departed on a 20 mile ride to reach our destination, County Road 88.

MANDATORY RULE #4: When you are in a turn, never, EVER hit the brakes.

County Road 88 is in short, unbelievable. Rolling hills, curvy roads and scenery that belongs in a frame on my walls. For a motorcycle enthusiast, the road is the reason motorcycles were created. I've ridden the road twice before, both times I've lead the ride. Yesterday day would be no different... or so I thought.

MANDATORY RULE #5: Keep your mistakes to a minimum.

The highlight of 88 comes about 16 miles in. The road brings you to a base of a hill large hill. At the base, the road dips down and into a large sweeping left before rocketing vertically making two double-S turns and cresting on the top of the hill where the first half of the left hand turn is uphill and the backside is downhill. To your left, trees, to your right, a 20' drop-off to some trees 30' off the road. After you crest the hill you weave down making 4 steep and tight double-S turns while you try to keep the lush farm valley scenery from distracting you - truly breathtaking.

HOPEFUL MOTORCYCLE RULE #6: Don't become a statistic.

As a pack we were riding well over the posted speed limit on 88, weaving, bobbing, and dancing around all the curves. In the lead of the pack, me, followed by 3 crotch rockets. As we came to *The Hill*, we as a group accelerated to 90mph as we climbed. Most of the curves on the way up are posted at 45, so doubling the speed limit usually is of no problem. As we came to the crest of the hill the sign on the top curve says 25, so I slowed to 45 as I made my entrance. I started on the outside of the lane and as I swept into the curve ripping up the hill I crested the apex and as I was heading back down got within 2 inches of the outside line. Normally this wouldn’t be a problem, but on this curve the hill falls away 3 feet from the line and took me by surprise. I compensated by leaning a little harder while pulling through the turn and was happy to have made it over. As I was heading down the hill I looked in my side mirror... and saw something going seriously wrong.

My friend Josh, who bought his bike at the same time I did, came flying over the top and as he headed downhill through the curve his bike suddenly fishtailed. The fishtail quickly turned into a swerve which directed his bike into the gravel. From there things became a blur...

From what I can recall his handlebars twisted completely in one direction in a fraction of a second sending the bike end over end. Josh who couldn't hang on got thrown and began twisting in a tornado fashion (his Y-axis) about 5 feet above his bike. As Josh began rotating about his X-axis his bike below him had already made one revolution and was now flipping at 180 RPM wheel over wheel 3 feet over the ground. Josh quickly left the view of my mirror and his bike became a plastic grenade emitting shrapnel everywhere. Suddenly I see over the crest of the road bike #3 in our group (Mark). Before I know it, he's down and sliding across the road and is lost behind Josh's bike which is still flipping. Bike #4 (Joe) quickly comes into view and appears to stop rubber side down and under control.

I lock up my tires and come to a roaring stop, whip my bike around and gun it back up the hill. I pull over into the oncoming side of the road and leave my bike in the lane as I run over to my friend. Amazingly, Josh is already up and running back up the hill (he was thrown 40' into the ditch and 15' down the hill)! He gets to the top and Joe and I are trying to calm everyone down to make sure they aren't walking on broken bones or have a serious injury that the adrenaline isn’t making aware to them. Unbelievably, Josh walked away with a scrap on his left shin and Mark had nothing but a scratched helmet and a quarter size tear in his jacket.

As for the bikes, Josh's bike is totaled and unrideable. Marks bike which he low-sided, was able to be driven back home. About a minute after the chaos went by a farmer came over the hill in his truck and was able to help us clean up the mess. We loaded up the bike and plastic pieces into his truck and we rode down to his sisters house which was at the bottom of the hill. We dropped the bike off there and Josh rode with Joe 2 up back to Eau Claire where Josh's wife met us to bring Josh home.

Rules broken by Josh: 1,2,3,5 and 6
Rules broken by Mark: All of them

They're both DAMN lucky they weren't LifeLinked out by a chopper. In all, one of the craziest things I've ever seen, and both Josh and Mark are lucky S.O.B.'s to not only be able to walk, but to be be alive.

witness

Its days like this that make me excitied and happy to be a Christian. So I got home at 2:30am, after a few beers and feeling good. It's not everyday that someone gets to witness to a non Christian for 5 hours! Hopefully some of my talk will hit home. Well, it's late (3:04) and it's time to go to bed. 'Night.

sometimes you eat the bar...

... and sometimes it eats you.

So yesterday I ran some errands after work. Ran down to the scuba shop and bought some junk, nothing too exciting. Anyways, I get home and decide I better throw some laundry in the washer before I eat so I can make the most of my time. So I put some clothes in, turn the washer on and head upstairs. I eat my sandwich and get caught up in a movie, Fight Club. I started the machine at around 6:30 to 7 and decided around 9 to head downstairs to throw it in the drier and possibly get one more load done before I head to bed. I head for the basement door and open it up. As I turn on my stair light, to my surprise I see what appears to be wet carpet about 6 inches from the stairs. FUCK. I literally ran down the stairs thinking to myself what in the world could this be? The water main? I get to the bottom and look over at my newly renovated den area… the carpet is soaked. I then look towards the laundry room to notice the carpet outside of it is to say the least, very wet. I run to the laundry room door and crack push it open. FUCK. Water was at a depth of an inch by the door, and 4 inches by the washer…. and high enough to be possibly shorting out an appliance meaning the water is live… with 120vac. I take my work pants off and my socks and touch my toe to the water. No shock. Whew! I decide to take the gamble and make a dash for the sewer drain which doesn’t appear to be draining. I dash in and hear the still filling!! WTF?! I open the lid to find the washer completely… empty! The water was pouring out into the washer, but water was flowing out the bottom of the machine! I shut the washer off and turn my attention to the flooded 4 inches of water I’m standing in. I took a look at the drain and came to the quick decision that it must be plugged. Running upstairs I grab the plunger and head back down. I get down there and begin to plunge away. My attempts as it turns out were futile. I run back to my shop and grab a screw driver and come back and remove the sewer grate cover to discover what appears to be a cloth covering the drain hole. I throw it out of the way and to my relief a mini water tornado begins to form. The room finally drains and I turned my attention to my soaked basement carpet. The first thing I did was move everything in my den that was on wet carpet to higher ground, meaning to the north wall where the water had yet to reach. I then grabbed the shop wet/dry vac and began what turned out to be 3 hours of personal time on my knees between the carpet and myself. I finished up around midnight and when I went to bed had 2 fans on full blast and the carpet barely damp. In total and in my estimation, there was about 20 gallons of water I sucked up in the shopvac and at least 36 gallons on the floor in my laundry room. Who knows how much more I lost down the drain, or how long the drain was going before it clogged.

So now this weekend I have the fun job of ripping the washer apart to fix it. Hopefully it’s just a faulty valve. Worst case – I get to by a new washer. Joy.

labor day weekend

I had a relaxing weekend heading to the greater Green Bay area this past weekend.

A shout out to my good friends in Sconny that participated in the fun! Thanks for the excitement!