Gotta say, today was a good day!

Okay enough rap for one day. I just wanted you to know that I'm a thug and that I'm classy. The classy part comes from the pic below which is actually from a week ago, but classy none the less.

It was actually a great and very full weekend. I changed the front diff fluid, rear and the transfer case. The front and rear looked REALLY bad. I rotated the tires. Why is it that car maintanence makes me feel good. I need a dog...
On Friday Danica got home from Ohio. She had been up and on planes making layovers and transfers since 3AM. Since we were feeling chipper we loaded the car up with all of our camping gear and headed south to Tuk Sone or Too-son if you want to say it right, but where is the fun in that!
We took advantage of the warm bed and hot showers because it was cold in the old pueblo. Very cold. There was a sheet of what looked like ice on the pool. It couldn't be. This is the desert...
I had to touch it to believe it like a kid that sees Mickey Mouse for the first time in his 7 foot furry costume...
It was one solid sheet. Amazing. If you're not living or from Arizona you have already stopped reading, but this is an impressive site for us.
The only thing as crazy as this is snow in the desert. Here is a pic from last year at my parents house.

We were down south for something new, something a little different, a little less self indulgent than a normal exploring trip. We had come to learn about treading lightly. What? We've come down here to learn about how to utilize the outdoors in a way that will help to keep it unmolested (stop thinking bad thoughts, if only your family new that you were picturing a saguaro doing that), pristine, and possibly the most important to many people. OPEN.
Tread Lighty is an organization that serves to educate anyone willing to listen about how to take responsibility for what happens to the off highway areas. Those new to OHV (Off Highway Vehicle) us may want to look them up or shoot me an email. There are things like trail etiquitte to give guidance to what to do in some situations, but how do you handle the other decisions. The ones that affect the terrain you're on. Tread Lightly is a great place to look.
We headed out to a beautiful desert retreat of some great folks that I would now call friends.
If you've ever fealt like you just don't see eye to eye with some offroaders or clubs you may want to check out www.expeditionportal.com I am amazed by the percentages. I constantly think, there is no way I could meet that many good folks in a row! Its not logical. Well, the reason I mention this is because some of the other folks from this site were headed down for this traning as well.
We pulled up to this remote plot of land in the beautiful sonoran desert. I held back my urge to crawl over every vehicle on site checking out every inch of them. Each one had all sorts of personal modifications that I could view and contemplate the whole day. The voice in my head (lets be an adult and have some impulse control, damnit)

So many different ways to camp and methods to set up. It was nice to see them all in one place.

We spent some time talking about the techniques, ideas and priciples of Tread Lightly. It was enlightening as to how much of what I thought was right... actually WAS right. Okay comforting may be a better word. It also laid down some ideas that although logical are not something that would come to my head. All in all it really helped me to have some conviction about what we do while in the wild and that there ARE in fact others that think like us.

We took a hike around the property. Absolutely beautiful. If only I could capture the beauty with a better camera. This cactus was a great splash of colors in the desert, but its hard to make it come through.


We had a great night of BS'ing around that camp fire that was enjoyed by all. The next morning we all packed up and most were headed out for a trail run.


We had to get going because today looks like the only day I'll be able ride the mountainbike race course for next Saturdays race.

It was great out. Just a little bit cold which is how I like it when I'm about to be huffing and puffin.


It is odd being in nature and always seeing things like this


We checked out the hole in the rock, but it was just about as busy as the zoo so I turned and ran. I have flight instincts when I see things like crowds, tour buses, cruise ships and people with chainsaws on their arm where a hand had once been. Excluding lunmberjacks of course.