Rocking But Steady

Sunday, September 21, 2014

Family Photo Shoots

Although these shoots had to come in 2 session due to unforeseen location difficulties, we ended up getting some pretty nice shots of the family. I was using the Canon 6D with the 70-200mm lens that I just absolutely love. I'd set the camera up on the tripod and use an intervalometer to take 5-10 pics of us in each pose in hopes of capturing a good pic.

What a looker!

Sunday, August 24, 2014

Soapstone Camp - Aug 22nd-24th

Konnor, Kase, and I took the trailer up to Soapstone Basin on a Sunday afternoon before the actual camp in order to reserve a decent spot. The Oldhams met us up there later in the week when we arrived. Sam drove back to work on that Friday and I spent the day putting his hand-guards on his bike for him.

As you can see from the pics, it got a little wet on Friday night and we woke up to snow in late August. Good times!

Sunday, July 27, 2014

2008 Cobalt 222 - 7/17/2014

This year we finally did it. We've wanted a boat for a few years and with an over-crowded Lake Powell trip coming in less than a month, we pulled the trigger on this used boat. It has 290 hours on it the 300 HP 5.7 liter fuel injected motor. It's got a Volvo Penta Duo-prop with F4 props on it. It's 22.5 feet long and about 25.1 feet with the swim deck. The interior is in really good shape and the outside of the boat only show minor scrapes in certain areas.

It seems to be a really good size for our family. We took it to Utah Lake twice, Jordanelle Reservoir once, and twice to Lake Powell before putting it away for the winter (writing this post in November). The extended family Lake Powell trip was in August and then we went again for a shorter trip in September with our friends Tyler and Robin Hobbs and their kids. It was a really nice summer and we got to see a bit more sun than usual because of this fun new toy. We put 40-50 hours on the boat in those trips alone. I had to replace the Perfect Pass gauge after the 1st Lake Powell trip, but other than that, the boat ran flawlessly.

Waiting for the group at Cathedral in the Desert in August

Kaylee bow riding into the sunset in September

September Morning in Warm Creek Bay

Nice interior

Karen on our first time out at Utah Lake

Konnor taking the plunge at Jordanelle Reservoir

Getting ready to put in at Powell in August

Calm morning in August in Halls Bay with extended family. Great weather for August

Warm Creek Bay in September with the Hobb's. Perfect weather for this trip


Overlooking Padre Bay in September

Sunday, June 29, 2014

New Bike 2014 KTM 300 XC-W - June 2014

On the 21st of June, I bought a replacement bike. I loved the 2012 300 XC-W so much that I bought the same bike, just 2 years newer. What an amazing package the 300 is! I spent a number of hours (8-10) pulling things off the old bike and installing them on the new bike. I re-jetted the bike, installed the steering stabilizer with sub-mount, hand guards, FMF pipe, radiator guards, skid plate, and Tusk foot pegs. Later on, I would install a rear disk guard on it too.

I'm actually writing this post in November and I have to say that all those extra gaurds have been well used. In the 5-6 months of riding, this new bike has taken more abuse than my 2012 did in over 2 years of riding! Lots of looping out on rocks and slamming down hills. I think that's because I push things harder than I used to. I don't back down from nearly as many obstacles. That means I'm progressing, but it also means the bike is taking some real abuse!

Since Karen had taken the kids to California to visit my mom while I stayed back to work starting on Sunday, I took the bike and trailer up to Strawberry Ridge to break it in later in the week. I only missed one day of work instead of missing the entire week like I would have done if I'd gone with Karen and the kids to California. Scott Seely ended up camping over with me on Thursday and riding with me on Friday on the trails up there. The bike took a MAJOR slam going up the "Wall of Death", but I ended up being able to climb that one one my second try up the hill. This was my second time climbing that section and it was more torn up this time around making it more difficult than before. The first time was last year on my 2012 when I didn't know the obstacle was there.

A couple of weeks earlier Sam and I participated in a service project in conjunction with the Forrest Service in Willow Creek to help clear trails. It was a fun day, but a lot of work.

A thing of Beauty! 2014 KTM 300 XC-W

It's a lot of fun to work on a clean fresh bike.

Swapping parts from one bike to the other took some real time!

Installed the Pipe and Silencer after going on the mountain.

This was before I installed the silencer and rear disk guard that came later during the summer.

Sunday, May 25, 2014

Mayfield Camping Trip - May 22nd - 25th 2014

We went camping up Mayfield Canyon again this year. This time we went with the Oldham's. Although the camping spot we really wanted was already taken, we made the best of things and camped a bit lower down the mountain. The first day was good weather, but most of the rest of the weekend was a downpour after downpour. We even had to stay an extra night and make a trip to the church in Mayfield in our camping clothes due to all the mud. Here are some pics from the trip.


Sam and I found very steep cow trail on the return trip the first day.

Almost looks like Kase was falling from the sky!

Found a little late melting snow on the Saturday ride.

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

3 Fork Trail Ride - April 19th 2014

I had planned on doing the Monk's Trail up Diamond Fork Canyon on Saturday after we did an Easter egg hunt with the kids, but the trail has not been opened up for the season yet. So instead, I ended up on the 3 forks trail. This is a really fun ride with a couple of technical spots and one challenging spot. It's affectionately called the "Cliffs of Doom" by my buddy Scott who has seen a few bikes end up down in the river 50 feet below. I've now been up and down it twice (after this ride) and made it both times, but you could easily break something (on your or the bike) while trying to make it up the off camber cliff. Anytime you film something, it doesn't really do the angles justice, so trust me, this gnarlier than it looks :)

So if you are interested here is the video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1j8ta92wZ_I

Sunday, April 13, 2014

Moab Camping Trip - April 9th-12th 2014

We decided to embark on a new adventure while the kids were on Spring Break this year and explore the Moab area. We left the house on Tuesday night after work and drove to the exit for the White Wash Sand Dunes area. Since we weren't exactly sure where we'd camp for the next few days, and it was long after dark by the time we got there, we spent the night about a block or so from I-70. On the morning of the 9th, we scouted the area until we finally found our spot for this trip on the Klondike Bluffs road about 20 miles north of Moab. There were some really fun single track and ATV trails (Sovereign Trail and Salt Wash Trail) in the area that I got to ride on Thursday and Friday Morning. We went to Moab on Wednesday night to see what was going on and we ended up eating dinner in town that night.

On Thursday, after I got back from my really fun morning dirt bike ride, we headed into Arches National park. The kids did extremely well on the 3+ mile round trip hike to Delicate Arch. Even Kase walked the entire way up the hills and back! We had fun on that hike. We also drove to the northern end of the park and then hiked to Landscape Arch taking pics along the way. With a full day of hiking behind us, we went back to camp and Karen cooked some really awesome tacos.

Friday morning started with another trip on the dirt bike in the area. When I got back from the ride, I took Konnor and Kase on four-wheeler rides. Later in the afternoon the entire family went for a short ATV ride up the Klondike Bluffs trail to see the dinosaur tracks. We ate a late lunch and then drove over to Dead Horse point to take in the view. Back at camp, Karen made us a late dinner and we went to bed.

Saturday morning we packed up camp and hit the road to come home. It was a really great trip. Below is a link to the video and some of the pictures we took.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_X40EpzrbX4