Vegas Girls Trip!

Claire went to Vegas with 4 other co-workers.

Happy 6 year Anniversay Claire and Tyler!

The wine tasteing crew!

To celebrate our 6 year wedding anniversary, Tyler planned a trip to Arizona wine country! We rode the motorcycle down and stayed at the Duquesne House Bed & Breakfast in Patagonia, Arizona. I would recommend doing this trip to anyone! It was a perfect romantic weekend.

We met a couple there, Mark and Barb, and spent most of the weekend with them. Terrific people...and complete southern Arizona wine experts!

Here is an excerpt from the Arizona wine country website:

The Wine Country is about 55 miles from Tucson, Arizona. The areas you will want to visit are Sonoita and Elgin and the beautiful rolling countryside in between.

The first experimental vineyard was established in 1973. Arizona wines have gained an international reputation. There are 14 vineyards and wineries. According to the Arizona Wine Grower’s Association, climate and soil studies have revealed that this region is similar to Ribera Del Duero, Spain, Southeastern Australia, Southern France and is almost identical to that of Paso Robles, California.

Arizona Wine Country isn’t like Napa or Sonoma Valleys of California. There are no crowds, no in-your-face commercialization and you will drive along windswept plains from winery to winery. Some of them are so simple that they don’t have signs on the tasting room! But as you travel you will find that you have discovered a diamond in the rough. The wine growers in the area know their business and are slowly earning a world-wide reputation.

Winery Map:
http://www.arizonawines.com/southerntrail.html

The Duquesne House Bed & Breakfast:
http://www.theduquesnehouse.com/

Ranee Walker's wine tours:
http://www.winectours.com/

We would like to make a couple of personal recommendations while you are in the area too....

Make sure to try the Naughty Monkey Sweet Reserve at Village of Elgin Winery, and then finish your day off drinking the sangria at Wilhelm Winery until you fall off a bar stool!

Claire and I on the ride home...the bike is riding a little low from the 8 bottles of wine we squeezed in amongst our clothes! :)

LifeLock May Event

LifeLock holds a May event every year. Here are some pictures from that night:

Zuma - SOLD

So long little Zuma, it was fun!

ITS FOR SALE:The Zuma just sits these days and it's time to find it a new rider. I bought this little scooter from a friend who had driven it as his primary vehicle for several years. When I got it, I didn't feel safe maxing out at 33-35 mph, so I changed out the exhaust pipe to a Leo Vince ZX, lighter roller weights, and new clutch springs. At the same time, I replace the drive belt, rear tire, brakes, speed cable, mirrors, air filter, spark plug, drive oil, and the entire clutch assembly. This little bike is incredibly reliable, runs up to just over 40 mph with a 185 lb man on it (45+ if you give it enough room). It gets in the neighborhood of 80 - 90 mpg and it's a kick in the butt to run around town on. I have some spare parts to go with it, another set of brakes (that you won't need for a long time) a front tire, spare mirros, some oil, a few tools and two DOT helmets. There is also a commuter luggage box on the back which the helmets fit into, or a brief case, sport equipment, groceries...whatever you want. There is also a lot of storage space under the seat. $900 takes it.

Emerald Park is Finally Updated!

Emeral Park Disc Golf Course is just north of our house, about 1/2 a mile away. 5 years ago, Tyler started the "Monday Night League" to encourage course etiquette and bring a good beginner league to the valley.

Unfortunately with work and life getting in the way, Tyler has had to hand over the reigns of the league to a few people along the way. But, the league has grown and grown through new leaders and it has turned into one of the best leagues in the valley and a community that I would assume is even rare around the country!

The league has raised enough money over the years to completely revamp the dilapidated course with new baskets, tee pads, and signs.

It looks amazing!

http://www.emeraldparkdgc.com/

Here are the new baskets, tee pads and signs.

Tyler testing out the new teepads!

CLU comes to AZ

Candace and Claire went to the CLU alumni baseball game! It was great to see Rachel and be with other CLU alumni!

Parents Visit AZ

Cate and Wayne visited Arizona 3/3-3/8. We drove down to Bisbee and did a mining tour and????

Matneys Visit AZ

Claire got her wisdom teeth out.

Typically something done as a young child, both Tyler and Claire decided to wait as long as possible to go through the thrills of wisdom teeth removal!

Tyler had his done late last year and Claire was the latest big winner.

The surgery went well, and despite a little discomfort she powered through it in a few days and was back on her feet in no time at all.

Claire goes to Big Bear

Claire headed to Big Bear for the Lundring Christmas Reunion from Dec 26-29. There was lots of snow and she almost got snowed in! The drive down the hill is one Claire will never forget!

Tommy's new House

Tommy has become quite the member of our family, and even though we have no idea why, WE LOVE HIM!

A few weeks ago I found a great deal on a HUGE dog house! It's so big I had to rent a u-haul trailer to get it home, and round up 4 buddies to carry it into the back yard. Just this week, I got the shingles all done, added the plexi glass window, door flaps, and built a small framed in area to protect the heater from Tommy (and Tommy from the heater). Tonight will be his first night in his fancy huge new house! Hopefully he will adjust to calling it home. Here are a few photos.

My baby sister....get's married!

Claire and I flew out to Cinncinati this week to participate in my baby sister's wedding. We had a great time, at a beautiful wedding! We also both want to welcome Michael Dooley to the family...unless he keeps beating me at disc golf!

FREAK WEATHER ATTACKS!!

It may not happen often, but Arizona does get it's fair share of extreme weather. This week has taken that to a new level. Yesterday around 3pm, the Phoenix Valley was bombarded with a furious wind and hail storm. Our house sustained over $10,000 in hail and water damage.

Claire came home from work on Tuesday, and from the door to the garage could clearly see that the dogs had made a COMPLETE mess of the house, there was stuff everywhere. Turns out...that was just were Claire's mind took her on an inital visual survey. Upon further inspection...and the feeling of water hitting her on the head (IN THE DINING ROOM!) she looked up to find that we no longer had sky lights. The hail blasted out all 5 of the skylights in our house, and then let a 30 minute down pour come on in. Our roof was heavily damaged, the AC unit sustained damage, our kitchen table and chairs have water damage and the outside of the house has chipped paint on the west and south walls.

Allstate insurance has deemed this a catastrophe, so we will be compensated for all damages...but what a hassel! And of course...this stuff always happens when Tyler is out of town!

New beginnings

Tyler has accepted a position with GlobalMedia Group in Scottsdale, AZ as "Manager of Training". This position was offered to Tyler several months ago, before the layoff with P1, at the time it was not the correct descion. Funny how things work out! Tyler called back after the layoff, and they had not found someone to fill the position and were eager to get back into negotiation talks with Tyler.

The offer was finalized today, and Tyler will begin the day after tomorrow (they were obviously excited to have him get started!).

GlobalMedia Group is a Telemedical company that manufactures telemedical solutions. Tyler's position will be to expand their training department both inhouse (new hires, and continued training of existing staff), as well as end-user training (nurses, and doctors) on how to use the high tech equipment.

For more info, check out www.globalmedia.com.

Every good thing must come to an end. Last night we traded our beloved little MINI Cooper in for a brand new 2010 Mazda CX-7.

So long MINI...Hello Mazda!

Every good thing must come to an end. We traded in our MINI Cooper last night for a 2010 Mazda CX-7. The decision was based mostly on the fact that the MINI needed a host of basic maintance done, and the current new car interest rates are phenomenal right now! So, we have a brand new car, lower payments, far more comfortable for daily commuting, in need of nothing but "breaking in the engine", and when the time comes...room for a baby seat (WHEN THE TIME COMES!).

Protection One Downsized

For the past several months there has been rumors about the new investment firm that recently bought Protection One. The rumors came true today, and Tyler's 4 years with Protection One Security have ended. The layoff was wide spread and despite the heart brake, Tyler was pleased with the severance package and the nice talk he had with his boss before departing for the last time.

This is the first time in our lives that either of us have had to deal with a lay off, either us or our parents. It's been scary, it's been stressful, but it's also been educational, and we can finally stop worrying.

Tyler has already began the process of seeking out a new job, and has several strong possibilites so hopefully the down time won't be to long term.

D-Backs Game

Thanks LifeLock for these great tickets! We had great company with Jenn and Justin. To bad the D-Backs lost. I am beginning to think I am bad luck when I actually go to the games as we always seem to lose.

Meed, Month 1

Tyler just started my first batch of Mead (honey wine). Now we just have to sit back and wait....18 months. I can pop a top in 9 monhts, but from what I am readying 18 months makes it best! I will start another batch as soon as I rack mine from the ferm. bucket into a charboy. I want to try some flavored stuff (vanilla, orange, maybe an apple...) we will see.

Lyons Creek Trail

Tyler and I also headed to Lyons Creek for a day hike. It was great for the dogs as it was an easy trail straight to the creek. Tinker got to swim a ton up stream and Topo got to test out more water. It was a nice day in the mountains!
The trail head is on the Wright’s Lake Road. You go towards Tahoe about 8 miles from the cabin and then there is a little left turn lane. Hang a left and then climb the steep mountain. Once the road levels out it is on the right.

Dad is Free at last!

From Mom and Dad: So in a nutshell the chief of neurosurgery at Mayo says "Do nothing". The neurologist ordered a new CT which shows a small improvement and I have a normal Neurology exam so why do surgery? So we are off to Mt Rushmore on Monday. Free at last, free at last, Lord Almighty, free at last.

The hospitality in Rochester has been so exceptional, we're almost sad to leave. Almost.

Charter Fishin on Lake Tahoe

We decided to embrace our stay at Lake Tahoe since it turned out to be just Tyler and Claire at the cabin. We rented a charter fishing boat! We met the boat at 6:30AM and headed out on the beautiful Lake Tahoe. There was 6 of us on the boat plus the captain and a helper. We had 10 poles in the water and it so so exciting when one got a bite. Overall Tyler caught 3 and Claire caught one. We took Claires to a local pub and they cooked it up for her real nice. The poor fish was a fresh water Salmon and boy was it good :)

Plan B finalized TRT

Welcome back! Plan B is ready to be put into motion. I will be rejoining the TRT at the Kingsbury North Trail Head (at the parking lot of Heavenly Ski Resort). I will be doing a HUGE one day solo trip to the Big Meadow Trail Head (22 miles) where I will camp for one night. The next morning, Saturday, I will hike the 20 miles around the southern section of the TRT to meet up with Zach, Ann, Dan and Topo at Echo Lakes. This will be stuffing 3 days of hiking into 2...but I'm game! It will also limit my solo nights on the trail to just one night...since some people are worried. I won't say names MOM! My SPOT WILL be working properly, I just wasn't holding the stupid button long enough to activate tracking mode. I will have that ironed out, and I will be knocking out MAJOR back to back day hikes to get caught up.

Tomorrow will be more relaxing at the cabin trying to get ready to do 42 miles in 2 days.

Starting watching that SPOT link early on Friday morning as I will be moving fast.

Until then...

Update on the Tahoe Rim ... area. TRT

Followers,
As you are probably wondering how, I am updating the blog...from the comfort of my families cabin 45 minutes south of Lake Tahoe. Here is how we ended up here...and here is what is coming up next!

Day 1, we started strong, 12.5 miles with lots of elevation as we worked our way towards Watson Lake. Zach starting getting "hot spots" (the beginnings of blisters) less than 6 miles in. We made it safely to camp though, and had a sleepless night because a group of high school kids was throwing a HUGE party on the same lake as we planning our peaceful evening.

Day 2, we started early...no thanks to the lack of sleep. We had a VERY big day ahead of us. 17.5 miles, with the last 11 being a constant climb. We literally climbed NONSTOP! We finally arrived at Gray Lake late in the afternoon and found a very peaceful camping spot! Through out the day Zach was showing signs of major foot fatigue, erratic gate, awkward foot placement, and changing socks mid-day....these are not good signs at this point in a 168 mile hike, but we soldiered on. Topo was also starting to struggle. The temps were in the mid 80's all day and well into the evening. Water was non-existent on the trail and Topo developed a bit of a limp early in the day (could be from his solo whitewater river trip when he jumped in the creek at the cabin...another story altogether).

That brings us to Day 3...today. BIG CLIMB right out of the gate. We lost the trail from Gray Lake back to the TRT, and ended up climbing one mile straight up a boulder field...tough on the legs and feet! Zach's feet were already killing him. We pushed on though, and summited the high point of the TRT on Relay Peak and were high in spirits! Topo was still a wreck, but a good nights sleep and an Ibuprofen seemed to help him out. Once we summited Relay, we knew it was 4 miles down a road to Tahoe Meadows, then another 13 miles to the next camp (and only water source in the area) which made Day 3 a 21 mile day. 2 miles below Relay we came to a trail crossing. We thought the TRT went down the road, but on inspecting the map it actually shot off another direction, which added 3 miles to the 4 mile road and a lot of climbing. We finally popped out on the Mt. Rose highway completely out of water and running nearly 3 hours behind schedule. Zach was in worse shape than ever before. I followed him for the roughly 1 mile from Mt. Rose trail head to the Tahoe Meadows trail head where we were to start the last 13 miles of the day. When we stopped at Tahoe Meadows, I knew we were in trouble. Zach was down to roughly 1 mph, limping, no appetite and shaking uncontrollably. Which brings us to Plan B....which we invented on the taxi ride back to the car from Tahoe Meadows.

Plan B - I would have liked to have left Zach and Topo at Tahoe Meadows to fend for themselves, but it was just to late in the day to make it on my own to the next camp, and damn it...we started this as a team! So Plan B has been hatched.

Topo and Zach are going to lay low at the cabin for the rest of the week. I am going to get back on the trail the day after tomorrow (the only reasonable spot I can pick up the schedule) and solo my way to Echo Summit. At this point Zach and Topo along with Zach's wife Anne, and my buddy Dan are going to join in the fun and we will all hike together through Desolation Wilderness.

So the bad news is that nobody in our group is going to thru-hike the Tahoe Rim Trail this trip. The good news is, we are all ok, Zach's feet will heal...I think. And Topo still loves me...I think.

I have been told the GPS updates weren't coming. MY BAD! I thought I knew how to work that thing, I will get that ironed out and fired up for my solo 2 days on the trail and for the rest of the hike. Thanks for sticking around! Check back in a couple days and I will be back on the trail!

Bye Bye Sun

What type of people steal a decorative metal sun off of someone elses house at 5:30 on a Sunday morning? I was so out of it I thought someone was taking out the trash thinking it was Monday morning ... I will miss that Sun and filling kinda violated. All i wanted was to sleep in, thanks thieves for making me feel uncomfortable in my own home...
We recieved the sun from Cate and Wayne when we moved into our home almost 5 years ago. It has been in the same spot since we put it up.

Its time, TRT

It's Sunday morning. Yikes.

We have had a productive weekend! The drive from Phoenix went well, I picked up Zach right on time as planned and we made it safely to the small town of Kyburz, CA. Claire's family has an awesome cabin on the creek in Kyburz, and Zach, Topo and I held up there for one night.

On Friday we got up early and left the cabin to get our first look at Lake Tahoe. WOW...IT'S HUGE! We stopped in at the Echo Lake Store to try and leave a food cache with them, they informed us that the only food caches allowed in their storage room had to be mailed there (they are catering to the Pacific Crest Trail thru hikers). While we were there we met a PCT hiker. A 17 year old guy who had been on the trail for 1,100 miles and 4 months. He was taking the year between high school and college to hike the trail. Super nice guy, I hooked him up with some Power Bars, which he was excited about.

Our first food cache was placed in the woods near the Echo Summit store. From there, we headed for the East side of the lake to meet the owner of the dog boarding facility where Topo will go if he can't complete the hike. Then we moved north to place our next food cache at Spooner Summit.

After Spooner Summit we stopped in to the Tahoe Rim Trail Association office, met the ladies that had helped us with our planning and then opted to use one of the TRT Associations free bear canister for our hike.

From there, I made a quick phone to a lady that I had met only be phone as I planned the hike. She section hiked the TRT with her dog last year and lives only a few minutes from where the trail crosses the Mt. Rose Hwy. So Kathy and her 3 dogs met us up at Big Meadows and we took all the dogs for a short walk and went over the map with Kathy getting advice on different sections. THANKS KATHY! It was great to meet you!

After that we headed into Truckee to relax and have a cold one at the Brewery. I ended up boarding Topo at a dog kennel here in Truckee...sneaking him into the Hampton wasn't going to work (stinkin' surveillance cameras!).

Sunday was pretty uneventful. We got our last food cache placed at Barker Pass, got my fishing license and then took a nap in the hotel room while Zach went and laid pool side.

That brings us to today. We are having breakfast here at the Hampton, then we need to go bust Topo out of the clink and make one stop in to a sporting goods store (I broke the bite valve on my camelback packing it last night). We are thinking about grabbing a Subway sandwich for the trail and are planning on hitting the trail around 10 am.

A year of planning, stressing, replanning, spending, replanning and stressing some more is over.
It's time.

Map of TRT

Hello again. I am packing up tonight, and I hit the road for Tahoe tomorrow! I was just scanning over the Google Earth map I have created. I have added over 100 points to Google Earth, everything from our camping spots to creeks, and scenic view points. I cleaned it up to only show the camping spots and were our food caches will be located and thought I would post it here on the blog. The start and finish spots are the same spot, and we are hiking the trail clockwise. So you can get a very broad view of what we have in store.

Come with us Virtually! TRT

Thanks for checking back in our blog. Lucky for you, you can take a peak where we are from the comfort of your desk chair!

This is how this works....

I will have with us a SPOT GPS device. This small orange GPS unit simply transmitts our exact location every 10 minutes and posts it on my personal SPOT page. I will have the SPOT in transmit mode while we are hiking, everyday. There are a couple catches though, it only holds 7 days of memory...which on a normal hike would easily show everything while we are on the trail...but this is not a normal hike! So on the 8th day it will start loosing our first days transmissions. The other noteable thing about SPOT is that it doesn't always successfully send tracking messages...trees, mountains, cloud cover or just interference can mess with the signal so you might see some gaps in the messages.

So with all that being said, here is the link! Just click on the link anytime starting next Sunday the 18th and enjoy checking out our location! Save the page to your internet favorites and check in often!

V-Strom Adventures

So far today has been a GREAT day! Woke up early, took the motorcycle out with Claire to get breakfast at the end of a curving mountain road, then I watched World Cup, then I took a nap and now Tyler is sitting around in my boxers and watchin TV. C'est magnifique

Dad Updates

From Mom and Dad: So the latest on Wayne’s holey head is that there is no change. We saw the surgeon today after another CT scan and he saw virtually no change from 3 weeks ago. So the leak has stopped for the moment. He assumes that there is some sort of membrane still there from the hematoma keeping the brain from retaking the space it should. Normally the brain reoccupies the space in the course of 3 months. But my brain did not get the memo so it is still squished about 1 inch down on one side by an unwelcome fluid. However I continue to have no symptoms & am feeling fine.

He gave us 3 options:

* Do nothing and image again in a month.
* Do a similar surgery again to evacuate the hematoma using two of the existing holes plus a 3rd new one (i.e. - try again with more of the same)
* Do a craniotomy: which means removing a piece of the skull to get better access and snip away the hematoma membrane that is on top of the brain. The skull piece is then reattached with titanium bolts.

So there is bad news and good news: The bad news is that it is not better and the good news is that it gives us time to complete our Mayo Clinic visit on July 29th before doing another surgery.

We also have another MRI scan Friday, with and without contrast, to rule out any type of lesion that might be causing the hematoma.