The Horizon Line

Markus 'Barkus'

2008-04-21T08:04:00.006-05:00

Markus 'Barkus' is the newest addition to the family. Markus was a stray picked up in Prince George's county and held at the animal shelter for a few days. He was starving to death when animal control found him, and nearly dead. Fortunately he was placed at the Friends of Homeless Animals animal shelter, a wonderful no-kill shelter located in Loundoun, VA, and was nursed back to health. As is typical of boxers, he is goofy and fun, but still recuperating from his earlier emaciation. He is a wonderfully sweet dog, and very quick to learn. We couldn't be happier with the newest member of the family 'pack'.

Accordion Music

2007-05-15T09:56:00.000-05:00

What two things go together better than peanut butter and chocolate? Try accordion music and rave dancing. You should prepare yourself before you watch the video above, because some things in life you just can't "unsee".

Richmond Dog Parade

2007-04-08T18:00:00.001-05:00

One dog in a costume is a disgrace. Two dogs in costumes are and act in a circus. However, when an entire city comes together with the mutual goal of dressing up their dogs in their finest Easter outfits - complete with bonnets - the result is comic genius.

Over the past few years the city of Richmond has held an Easter parade. Not the kind of parade where Shriners drive around in little cars and marching bands play. It is more of a social gathering where residents stroll up and down Monument Boulevard after Easter services. Jazz bands play on the porches of the beautiful old homes, and various jugglers and other acts entertain the crowd.

Historically speaking, the fashion highlight of the event is the Easter Bonnet pageant. In recent years the event experienced quite a bit of controversy when some men have been dressing up in drag and entering the contest. To avoid the controversy the city of Richmond made one of the wisest decisions and city council can hope to make:

Instead of having a bonnet contest for people, let have it for the dogs!

So has started a new grand Easter tradition of dressing up your dog and walking Monument Boulevard. It makes a lot more sense than trying to find dyed eggs that some deranged bunny hid. I have posted some photos of my favorite dogs. I have to say, the ASPCA and Greyhound Rescue league were well represented with lovable and adoptable dogs.

Christmas in Leavenworth

2006-12-25T16:05:00.000-05:00

Many years ago during a brief stint of family adventure, my father wanted to take the family of five on a vacation to Austria. We were going to fly military space available, a system where military cargo and transit planes allow enlisted personnel to occupy unused seats for free.

The system can work if you are a single traveler, patient, and not too picky on where you go, not so well for a family of five camping out in a parking lot of Andrews Air Force base waiting for five open seats to a hot destination. So after three days of waiting we returned home to the snickering of our neighbors.

To make up for the botched trip, the old man decided he would make up for the trip with a Christmas in Leavenworth, Washington. Leavenworth is the equivalent of a faux Bavarian village transplanted 3 hours outside Seattle, Washington. The entire city is very quaint, with Tudor houses, a maypole and many small shops serving Bavarian beer and Bratwurst. Have a look at the town's web cam.

On Christmas we were blessed with several feet of snowfall, thus completing the post-card worthy setting. However the coup de grÃ¢ce was when Mandy and I showed up in our Christmas outfits/costumes we had purchased a few months earlier. With myself in Lederhosen and Mandy in her Dirndl, we got down to the cheesiest Christmas ever. It was a crowded house and came off a bit like the twelve days of Christmas: Grandma & Grandpa, my Brother and his wife and 9 month old baby, one Tabby cat, Chocolate lab and a long haired Chiwawa.

Dickerson Whitewater Course

2006-11-05T19:12:00.000-05:00

The Dickerson Whitewater course in Dickerson, Maryland is a manmade kayak and canoe slalom course fed by discharge water from the Dickerson power plant. Normally a practice course for the area Olympic crew, the folks at Dickerson held an open house event so that the local boating community could see what the course is like and possibly join the club.

It was a crisp fall day in November for the open house. I had the Redskins/Cowboys game being recorded (which they won in a highly dramatic fashion) and the opportunity to paddle the warm water of Dickerson was very inviting. The water can be 20-30 degrees warmer than the Potomac, which was at a chilly 45°F this day.

I had never seen a man-made whitewater course, aside from the log flume ride at Kings Dominion. I was expecting some tame rapids and cement rocks, but nothing too difficult. What the course at Dickerson offers is faster, harder, and much more intense than I expected.

The water is deceptively fast, since the ‘river’ does not have the normally irregular bottom or sides to break up the current. The effect are eddies that move just as fast as the main flow, but in the opposite direction. The course is only about 200 yards long, but it is a workout. Since each eddy is moving, there aren’t any places to stop and catch your breath.

The test for the course is called the ‘5 eddy test’, even though there are 10 eddies needed to catch. The first 5 are pretty straightforward; the second 5 are quite a bit more challenging, requiring some interesting ferries across the current. Just to spice up the test, you are required to roll once during the course in one of the rapids.

If you are in the Washington, DC area and enjoy whitewater paddling, don’t pass up the opportunity to try out the Dickerson whitewater course.

Radio Astronomy

2006-10-08T13:10:00.000-05:00

While driving through rural West Virginia enjoying the spectacular fall foliage and doing the touristy things like riding the Cass Scenic Railroad, I never would have expected to see the world's largest radio telescope tucked in amongst the Appalachian mountains. But there it was, a stunningly surreal bright white mega-antenna peeking over the tree-tops. It is all part of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory.

If you are ever in the Pocahontas County in WV, I highly recommend a visit to this fascinating place. The National Radio Astronomy Observatory contains several very large satellites, but the biggest one is the star of the show, the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope. It stands over 300 feet high and has a dish just over 100 meters across. The telescope does not make optical observations like a standard back-yard telescope or the Hubble, instead it listens to very faint radio frequencies. Most objects give off feedback in the form of heat and infrared waves that the dish is able to detect. In order to reduce interference, all the wires and listening equipment built into the receiver must be kept cold... very cold. 15° Kelvin (-432.67° F).

I didn't know any of this, but the usually yawn-able government produced visitor center is surprisingly informative and engaging. They even offer a short lecture describing the equipment, their discoveries, and how it all works. You come away feeling a little bit smarter, and a lot less significant in the big every expanding universe.

Philadelphia LiveStrong Challenge

2006-09-10T21:06:00.000-05:00

My first 100 mile bike ride, also known as a century ride, was part of the LIVESTRONG Challenge 2006 in Philadelphia. The ride meandered through Montgomery County outside of Philly and into Philadelphia proper. We passed most of the main sights and attractions including the uber-controversial art-installment, the Rocky Statue.

In preparation for the ride I had done several solo rides in the 40-70 mile range. I felt that I had built up my stamina enough to be able to grind out 100 miles with the drafting advantage you get while riding in a pack. After completing my first century I have an enhanced amount of respect for those bike riders that are able to race 100+ mile races. They are able to maintain a pace far faster than mine, and for much longer distances. Below is the mile-by mile progress of the century ride.

Mile -2 The traffic approaching was forced onto a two lane road and came to a stand-still. I was supposed to start at 7:00 am and the clock was showing 6:50. Seeing that I would never arrive on time I just pulled off to the side of the road, took the bike off the roof, and began riding to the starting line. I figured if I was going to ride 100 miles that day, what was another two? I arrive at the start with enough time to fill my water bottle, and then we are off!
Mile 0-10 I feel great, riding along at about 21 mph with a group that seems very strong.
Mile 10 - 20 skipped on by the first rest stop since I have plenty of water and food and feel comfortable.
Mile 20-30 The rolling hills are starting to feel like big climbs and they start to take their toll on my legs. I drop back a bit to about 18 mph.
Mile 30-40 I am at a lonely point, the front group is way ahead of me, and I can't see any other riders behind me. I just grind out the miles alone, stopping for a needed rest at the second rest stop. I regulary ride 40 miles several times a week, but today I am feeling much worse.
Mile 40-50 I seem to be spiraling downward. Mile 45 is the worst point of the ride, my legs begin to cramp up and I can feel a knot in the muscle developing around my right knee. It is becoming difficult to turn the pedals. I pass the Rocky statue and the tune 'Eye of the Tiger' starts to play in my head.
Mile 50-60 A group catches up to me and we take a leisurely pace throughout Downtown Philadelphia. Approaching a stoplight I put my foot down to stop and nearly fall over. My quad and hamstring seize up to a painful point. A fellow rider offers me two white pills to alleviate the cramping, stating that they are pure electrolytes. They are like magical elixers, a cure for what ails you. Within 5 minutes I am back to my old self and the muscles are actually able to function. A second bonus was that at mile 58 a fellow rider I had met before, Bonnie, caught up to me a and together we set a great pace through the dock yards of Philadelphia.
Mile 60-70 Bonnie and I are riding along together, passing the Philadelphia stadiums, Navy Yard, South Street, and out river road. We take turns drafting on each other and are able to maintain a relaxing 15-17 mph pace, even into a headwind.
Mile 70-80 Exiting Philadelphia we manage to bypass the Manayunk Wall and took a side street that offered a slightly more gradual climb. It was still very difficult we passed a few riders that had resolved to simply walk their bikes. Arriving at the apex was a much needed rest stop where we topped off our fluids and food. We get back on our bikes and proceed to descend down a road that had been prepped for resurfacing. The road surface is horrendous, heavily rutted, pot holes, and glass everywhere. Bonnie unfortunately suffers the first of four flats. She changes her tube, but the tire looks shredded from the road surface. Ingeniously Bonnie patches the holes in her tire with the wrapper from a powerbar. My bike also suffers some cosmetic damage and the plastic chain/spoke guard breaks off. Other riders loose their water bottles, bike computers, and the fillings in their teeth from the constant jarring of the road surface.
Mile 80-90 The normally insignificant hills are starting to loom ahead like mountains. Each turn of the pedals drives up the lactic acid in my legs. Bonnie's tire is is dire conditions and she is forced to ride on an under-pressure tube.
Mile 90-100 Sweet delirium washes over me and I start to hit my second (third?) wind. The idea of stepping off my bike is so enticing I begin to ride faster, tasting the end of the torture to my legs. The final insult on the ride is a moderately steep incline to the finish. Since I can no longer stand up on the pedals due to the returning cramping I just put the bike in its lowest gear and tackle the incline sitting down.
Mile 100 Such a relief. I was almost moved to tears seeing all the cancer survivors cheering and other folks ringing their cowbells. Perhaps it was the exhaustion, perhaps because everyone was wearing my favorite color, Yellow. Whatever the reason I felt very happy and sad at the same time. Happy I finished the ride, saddened by so many people affected by cancer.

Photo of Bonnie and me at the finish line. If you are searching for other photos of the event, Kreuts Photography has thousands of pics of the event on their site.

The LIVESTRONG foundation is an organization that provides support to individuals battling cancer. If you would like to make a contribution to the LIVESTRONG foundation you can do so online. I would like to thank all those wonderful and generous people that made a contribution on my behalf:
Mom & Dad Forrest & Mary Ellis & Sharon Dan & Denise M. Heaton McQueen Family Upham Family Feaster Family K. Hirota R. Haaland		M. McDonald A. Preszler D. Hofrichter E. Kennedy D. Martosko S. Longwell J. Berry J. Doyle J. Bowers

Vancouver Canada

2006-09-02T14:40:00.000-05:00

Vancouver seems to offer everything a person could want from a city. It has lively performing arts, easy access to the outdoor activities, and beautiful scenery. In a effort to find the perfect place to relocate to, I set my sights to the great white north.

Vancouver is a beautiful city, surrounded by forested mountains and ocean waters with plenty of sailboats. What the tourist department doesn't tell you about is East Hastings Street, the rout Google Maps recommended. For three or four blocks I was treated to the sights of prostitutes turning tricks, crack addicts lying face-down in the gutters, and dealers fighting their turf wars. Ah... Vancouver! I later found out that the police coral the drug users near the meth labs in an effort to control crime and monitor the area.

Outside of the drug area Vancouver lives up to its billings. The city is fun and vibrant with heaps of development as they gear up for the 2010 Olympics. One of the unfortunate side effects is a traffic volume that the city is ill-prepared to handle.

Just outside of Vancouver is the lovely tourist attraction of Capilano Suspension Bridge. The bridge was first built in 1888 for logging purposes, but has become a popular tourist destination. They provide a look at the history of the area, including the native people and early industries. The highlight is a chance to walk 230' above the canyon on the bridge, and then take a tour of the tree-top canopy tour.

After playing in the city my wife, Mandy, and I made our way out to Vancouver Island on our quest to see some whales. After a quick ferry ride out to the island we headed up to the seaside town of Tolfino. In Tolfino the only lodging options available were camping on the beach, not due to a lack of lodgings, but a lack of water. The town had run out of their summer supply of water, so every hotel had shut down! It didn't effect us too much since we carried our own water and simply camped out.

We got a chance to go sea kayaking and did see a grey whale up close. The inner islands are beautiful and part of the Pacific Rim National Park. You can easily get lost among the hundreds of small islands, inlets, and lagoons. Our guides, Leni and Chris were fantastic and very knowledgeable about the native people, sealife, and geographic history of the area. Leni treated us to a bit of horn playing. He cut a long tube of hollow Kelp and was able to play it like a bugle. If you listen closely you can make out the theme to Star Wars.

Discovery Channel's Race-2-Replace

2006-08-12T18:42:00.000-05:00

The weather at the 'Brickyard' was unusually pleasant in Indianapolis for August. The skies were clear blue and the temperature 82 degrees. Several hundred bike racers from around the country had assembled for the unique opportunity to race on the Indianapolis Speedway.

The race part of the Discovery Channel's Race2Replace. The overall winner would be able to ride with the Discovery team for one day at the US Pro Championships in Greenville, SC.

I had arrived the night before, having flown in from Washington, DC. Looking around at the rest of the field I was very apprehensive. This was my first bike race, and from the looks of the other riders and I was mixed in with many other very skilled athletes. The race would consist of 25 miles, 10 laps on the 2.5 mile long speedway.

For the past two months I had been training for the race, doing a mix of long distance rides and short sprint workouts. I fell in with a group of local riders that do after-work rides in the DC area at Haines Point, and a perfect location to build up my speed. This gave me the opportunity to learn how to ride in a tight group of riders, drafting techniques, and how to place yourself within a group.

We had a rolling start and the pace of the pack quickly shot up to 28 miles an hour. After one lap the field was had broken into a pack of 40 lead riders, a second group of 30 riders (where I found myself), and numerous stragglers. I thought that the lead group would not be able to hold their pace and we would eventually catch them, but it turned out that was not the case today. Over the course of the 25 miles several riders in the lead group were dropped and gobbled up by the pelonton I was in, but we never did catch the leaders. By lap 8 I was feeling the fast pace in my legs, but I was still in my comfort zone. The only time I felt pushed was when we would pass in front of the main stands. Each time the group would pass the stands, we would turn up the pace, I suppose it was a bit of bravado trying to make a good show for the supporting friends and family.

Each lap did get faster, and by the final lap the pace was a rapid 27 miles an hour. I had realized that I was not in contention to win the overall race, but I wanted to have a good placement within my group. With two turns to go I worked my way up to the front till I was the 6th man back. By this time the pace was blistering, and riders were bumping each other as they jockeyed for position. We rounded the final bend and had the 1/2 mile home stretch in front of us. Four riders broke out front, I switched into my biggest gear and latched myself onto their rear wheel. One rider dropped, not being able to keep the pace, then a second. I could feel the heat of the main field breathing down my neck as I found myself right behind two riders. With 200 meters to go I split the two riders, and pulled up between them. I had my head down and was putting all my energy into my legs, pumping as hard as I could. I couldn't believe my eyes as I started to pull away from them. As I passed the rider to the left, he rose up out of his saddle to give me a challenge for the final sprint and I did likewise, driving like a madman for the finish. I suceeded to keep the gap and somehow managed to win our sprint!

I realize that our sprint did not change the overall winners, but I was very pleased with myself since I had never considered myself a sprinter. One of the other racers paid me a great compliment when after we crossed the finish line he turned to me and said, "Damn sprinters." When the overall standings were posed I saw that I had placed 29th out of my field of 97 riders and in the top 50 overall. (Over 350 riders competed, by my field of 25-34 year olds did not compete directly with the other riders in other heats.)

Afterwards I had the opportunity to meet Lance Armstrong and schmooze with several other riders on the Team Discovery team. But for me the real thrill of the day was the final sprint, pouring out everything for the speed just to test myself and see how fast and far I could push myself. When everything was all over and done with, I snuck back onto the track to take part in the traditional 'kissing of the finish-line' and the Indianapolis Brickyard.

Kawaii Copter Ride

2006-04-24T18:03:00.000-05:00

On the very first day in Kawaii, on the very first beach in Kawaii, within the very first hour in Kawaii, Mandy suffered a terrible accident... she dropped our camera into the ocean. More accurately, she was swamped by a freak large wave that knocked her down as she was marveling at some starfish. The camera is toast, and I had only taken one photo along our walk to the beach.

We settled by just taking ‘mental photos’, a system where you have to be mental if you believe that you can remember the beauty of Kawaii with just your memory.

It is a terrible shame since one of the highlights was getting to swim with a bale of turtles. [Uninteresting side note: I love terms of venery, the name for a group of turtles is a bale] It would have been a great shot to get the great big sea turtle swimming up to me as I was snorkeling in the reefs.

The only photos from the whole trip are provided by a lovely couple we shared a helicopter ride with. Many of the scenes for Jurassic Park were filmed on Kawaii, and it doesn’t take much imagination to envision a herd of dinosaurs running across some of the fields of Kawaii. We were able to circle the island, fly into several deep canyons, land at a secluded waterfall and enjoy lunch while swimming in the falls. A special thanks to Laura and Steve for providing the photos on this page.

Mariposa Grove

2006-04-16T11:19:00.000-05:00

After the wedding was over, the next-day's party cleaned up, the hangover nursed, and the family gone, Mandy and I had the chance to explore some of the rest of Yosemite. I really wanted to see the giant sequoias in Mariposa Grove. We loaded up the snowshoes and put tire chains on the car for the impending snowstorm and hiked the two miles to the trees. The wonderful side effect of the poor weather and difficult access was that we literally had the entire forest to ourselves. It was quite beautiful being among these giant old trees, the forest quite with the snow on the forest floor, and a light snow falling all around.

Fortunately the snow had been packed down by other previous visitors and we didn't need the snowshoes. This was a blessing since I had never used snowshoes and would have probably been a horrible mess tripping all over myself.

Yosemite Wedding

2006-04-14T10:25:00.000-05:00

My ever-patient girlfriend, Mandy, and I decided to get married in the beautiful Yosemite Valley. The ceremony was beautiful, surrounded by all our friends and family that were able to make the long trek out to California.

I had never been to Yosemite prior to the wedding and I was blown away by the sheer size and beauty of the place. Yosemite is best known through the photos and images that Ansel Adams has made famous. I have a lot of respect for Ansel Adams, for what he did was groundbreaking at the time. However the entire area is so gawd-dang pretty, you can pretty much just hold your camera out the car window and snap photos you can be proud to hang above the fireplace mantel.

Culebra Thanksgiving

2005-11-25T18:24:00.000-05:00

It is quickly becoming a tradition for Mandy and me to spend the Thanksgiving holidays outside of the country. Well, I don't know if Puerto Rico really counts as outside the U.S. since it is a province...

The trip to Puerto Rico is surprisingly easy with multiple carriers, flight times and routes to choose from. Getting to Culebra is requires a small bit of maneuvering, starting with a 45 minute taxi ride to a ferry docks in Fajardo. Then it is a 1 1.2 hour ferry ride to the small island of Culebra located off Puerto Rico's east coast.

We rented a villa for the week that overlooked a small harbor. It is modified A-frame with sweeping views, and the best feature were the double according style French doors. When fully opened they essentially removed the front wall of the house so you could just sit and enjoy the views.

Culebra is a place to go if you wish to do absolutely nothing. There are three restaurants, no nightlife, no stoplights and no cares. The only thing there are plenty of are the mosquitoes which feasted on my legs in the evening. It is a small price to pay for the untainted snorkeling, swimming and relaxing. Seven wonderful days with nothing to report.

Ahhh... Ottawa

2005-08-15T18:33:00.000-05:00

Washington, DC in the summer is miserably hot, humid, and generally an unpleasant place to be. So when the air conditioner for the house broke, and the replacement parts were taking over three weeks Mandy and I decided to abandon everything and headed to the great white north, Canada.

The Ottawa River in Canada holds a wonderful section of whitewater about an hour and a half west of the city of Ottawa. The river provides year round whitewater, when it isn’t frozen over. It might seem a bit obsessive to travel 14 hours by car just to paddle some river in Canada, but we were driven to these extreme measures by the heat of DC.

The Ottawa is one of the oddest rivers I have ever been to. We drove through miles of perfectly flat farmlands to what appeared to be a large lake. There was no current, and I had to ask which way downstream was in order to find the main flow. After rounding bend and coming into what would normally be a bay on any other lake, turns out to be a class IV rapid that is draining the whole lake. It is like finding Niagara Falls in Nebraska.

I had heard of a famed eddy line on the Ottawa that was prefect for squirt boating. The squirt spot sits just upstream of a somewhat intimidating rapid, so if you are going to play there you better have confidence in your roll. A skilled squirt kayaker can manage to tap into the underwater currents and disappear for 10 to 15 seconds at a time, all the while cruising around underwater enjoying the sensations of a sub marine flight.

I am just a beginner squirt boater, so I was only able to manage rides in the 1-2 second realm, with lots of chest deep and head deep rides. Each day of the week long escape was split between squirt boating and surfing the waves and rapids the Ottawa had to offer.

After six straight days of paddling the gear began to smell, my hands had permanent prune-fingers, and I was starting to reverse evolution by reverting back to an amphibian. Time to dry out and head back to DC.

Captain Thurmond's Triathlon

2005-06-12T13:48:00.000-05:00

Why do I do it? I can't possibly fathom any reason as to why I would willingly sign up to race in Captain Thurmond's Challenge... again.

I have raced in a few triathlons before, mostly in the sprint categories, and mostly just to see if I can complete them. I don't place very high, but I don't place very low. I can honestly say that my major weakness is the run, which always comes last. At that point in time I am tired, cramping, and the pain in my knees becomes unbearable so I often walk much of the run leg. It is demoralizing seeing all the people you passed in the swim and bike legs to jog on by, but that's just the way my knees are.

Captain Thurmond's is a different kind of race; it bills itself as an extreme triathlon. It begins with a 12-18 mile mountain bike section, followed by 8 miles of class III- IV whitewater, then a steep 5 mile run where you ascend 1000 vertical feet. All this set in the beautiful New River Gorge in West Virginia.

The day was hot, very hot. Not my kind of day. The race begins with a mass start with all the riders sprinting 100 yards to their bikes and then heading across the river and up an old rails-to-trails path. Having done a lot of road cycling I found it easy to stay near the front of the group for the first 5 miles. After that point we crossed the apex of the mountain and began our single-track descent.

I'll admit it; I suck at mountain bike riding. For some reason I just can never feel comfortable descending a single track at high speeds without crashing. Today was no different and I ended up falling three separate times in the technical section of the ride. Fortunately only my pride was hurt each time and I was able to get back on my bike without any serious damage. The descent is never ending with plenty of deep mud holes, roots, rocks, stream crossings, and small ravines to navigate. Finally I made it back down to the river level, and the riding was flat and I was able to make up lost time.

I zipped through the first transition and was pretty pleased with myself with I pulled away from shore in my kayak. In the transition alone I managed to pass other racers. Unfortunately it is just about impossible to know if they are racing as part of a team relay or in my amateur class.

For the kayak section I had the bright idea to clip a camelback over the lifejacket so I could re-hydrate during the long paddling section. In hindsight I should have tested this out first. I came to the rapid and accidentally flipped the boat upside-down. When I tried to roll up, all the weight on my shoulders from the camelback would pull me back over. I was too top-heavy, and like an inverted weebel-wobble I was finding it nearly impossible to roll up. Sitting upside down in the water, knowing what lied downstream, and how much it would suck to have to swim out of my boat, I pulled the camelback around to my torso and managed to roll up on my fifth attempt.

Already exhausted, and still just in the first rapid I put my head down and just paddled. As I approached each rapid I would holler at a nearby raft guide to ask the name of the rapid and the preferred rout. My memory of the river was fuzzy since I had not been on it in about 4 years, and today the river was running a bit high. With a bit of luck and some quick reactions I managed to make it to the second transition area where the dreaded run portion would begin.

When I pulled to the shore I tried to step out of my boat, but the effects of cycling hard for over an hour, then cramming my legs into a small kayak for another hour had some horrible results. My legs had fallen asleep to the point that when I tried to put weight down I ended just falling over. Apparently I wasn't the first victim, and the race supporters just sat me aside where I put on my dry shoes and socks.

In my rush I made a horrible error, I forgot the banana I had put with my running shoes. By the time I was a mile up the road my gut reminded me that I needed some food, specifically that banana I left at the shoreline. I was cramping and wishing I had eaten that banana, and I don't even like bananas.

I managed to run, walk, crawl and claw my way up out of the gorge. I would spring the relatively flat sections and walk the steep parts. It was very hot, and I was sweating most of my fluids. Every so often I would see another racer ahead and I would try to catch them. I had learned that one of my opponents raced as a professional mountain biker, and they had passed me earlier on the steep descent. However now I saw them ahead and worked like a rented mule to catch them. When I did pass them I tried to make it look as if I was out for a summer stroll and showed no pain. It must have worked because they never caught back up.

The run section ends in the town of Fayetteville, WV in front of the old court house. I felt slow the entire day, but it was enough to take a third place in the amateur class (out of 7). I was shocked and a little bit elated.

If I can take third when I am slow, then maybe I can take first with some training for the run? I guess that the only way to find out is to come back next year and repeat the process…

“Why do I do it? I can't possibly fathom any reason as to why I would willingly sign up to race in Captain Thurmond's Challenge, again….”

Birth Of A Squirtboat

2005-06-04T13:02:00.000-05:00

The wonderful folks at Murky Water Kayaks have built my cutom squirt boat. Perfect for my measurements, right down to my weight, inseam, and even shoe size! I must admithat half of the fun on having the boat made with the chance to visit the workshop where they make the boats.

Mandy and I pulled up to the home of Ed Skrzykowski, the master fiberglass builder and owner of Murky Water Kayaks. Next to his home is his new 800 sq foot workshop. That's where the magic happens. Ed somehow manages to take fiberglass cloth, epoxy, resin, and his own knowledge and turns out beautiful works of art in the form of a kayak. He has made boats for people all over the world, and each one is unique.

Ed is a great big big bear of a guy. He emerged from his workshop covered in fiberglass shards, paint on his arms, and with old shorts that were literally held together with duct tape. For all the rough edges, Ed turned out to be a real sweetheart. In his back yard he has constructed a sizable pond, home to several turtles that come to the water's edge when he calls.

He told us the story of how he came to have the turtles. Several years ago when he was driving his old Ford F150 down the road he came a large turtle that had been hit by a car. He picked it up and could tell that it was a female with eggs inside. The mother was going to die, and her babies along with her. Ed took the dying turtle back to his home and cut open the shell, removed the eggs, and incubated them till they hatched. He has raised them, and to give them a proper home he dug a huge pond in his back yard where they all live. I can't fathom the type of courage it must take to cut open a turtle and remove the eggs, let alone the commitment to construct a pond for them, but somehow this grizzly man found a way in his soft heart.

Niagara Falls

2005-05-20T21:05:00.000-05:00

For the past two years I have been dabbling in the dark art of squirt kayaking. It has been a frustrating experience because it is nearly impossible to find a used squirt boat, let alone one built for my size. I bit the bullet and had one made made by Murky Water Kayaks just over the border in Canada. At Murky Water Kayaks they can build just about anything you can dream up. They just require a sketch of your design and your measurements: height, weight, shoe size and inseam.

The best part of ordering a custom made squirt boat? The road trip to Canada, of course! Because the boat is custom made for your size and weight, it has to be float tested to ensure you have a level neutral buoyancy in the water. My girlfriend, Mandy and I took a couple days off to drive from Washington, DC to Hamilton, Ontario with a brief stop in Buffalo.

With her hotel connections, Mandy's sister hooked us up with inexpensive lodging for the night in Buffalo. Just before arriving in Buffalo I envisioned that every eatery in town
would claim that it was home to the original buffalo wing. I was very mistaken, and we walked a few blocks down the street to the first restaurant we saw, the Anchor Bar. Little did I know the treat I was about to have.

Inside was a three piece jazz band jamming away, a line out the door for take-out, and nameplates on the bar stools for patrons long passed. I popped myself down at the bar next to an old black fellow and asked him if the wings here are any good.

His reply, "Are they good? I tell you what, every Friday I take a bus across town to this place just so I can get their wings. This is the original wing house, none better." I have to tell you, he was right! They were by far the greatest buffalo wings I have ever had the pleasure of dineing on. I great risk of making a total pig out of myself I proceeded to devour an entire order's worth.

The next morning we were on to Niagara Falls. I found it comical that this was the location my parents chose to go to on their honeymoon so many years ago. Not much has changed in 35 years and it is easy to envision the place back in the 60's. The falls are very big, but I was more tantalized by the rapids just above and below the falls. If only paddling the gorge wasn't illegal...

We paid the park fee to enter the Cave of Winds, where you can take an elevator down to the base of the American falls and nearly walk right up to the curtain of water crashing down. Standing atop the 'Hurricane' platform you get a chance to really feel the force of the water, it is so strong it can regulary knock down unprepared tourists.

Balloon Ride

2005-04-09T20:46:00.000-05:00

I have a somewhat repressable fear of heights. It does not make any sense at all. I don't have too much trouble throwing myself off a 30 foot high waterfall, but I get very nervous standing on the lip of a thirty foot high cliff.

So with much trepidation I decided to surprise my girlfriend, Mandy, with a hot air balloon ride over the countryside surrounding Charlottesville, Virginia. Quite wisely I booked the afternoon flight, since I can't see much fun in getting up at the crack of dawn for much any reason.

Once above about 100 feet my nerves calmed down and we were able to really enjoy the ride. We say numerous white tail deer, scared lots of dogs and got to see the foliage just starting to bud out from above. With the late evening sun hitting the small fragile leaves, they seemed to shimmer and glow as we drifter above.

Panama Whitewater

2004-01-12T20:38:00.000-05:00

My girlfriend, Mandy, and I booked our plane tickets, checked our passports, loaded our paddling gear and headed to Panama for some mid-winter warm weather whitewater. The flight from DC to Panama via Mexico City was uneventful, but we did get to fly over the Panama Canal and have a peek. We landed in Panama City on a hot and humid evening and met the rest of the group we would be paddling with that week, led by the very capable guides from Natahala Outdoor Center. We would be based out of Boquete, a small town of about 6000 people that is nestled in the mountains of the Chiriqui Province.

The rivers were spectacular and progressed from mellow on the first day to quite challenging on the last. One of the oddities of Panama was that it poured rain nearly every afternoon. This in turn causes the rivers to flash flood during the night and then drop down to reasonable levels for the next morning. Upon arriving at the put-in for the day's river, the way to gauge the level was by the color of the water.

Clear = Low water (you'll be dragging your knuckles a bunch)
Chocolate Milk = Medium-low (few scratches on the boat, but they're rentals!)
Espresso = Medium High (Prepare for some intense speed)
Black Coffee = Flood (Say the Rosary & pay up yer insurance premiums)

When the rain does start in the afternoon you can literally watch the rivers rise. We would all start the mad dash to the finish before the impeding flood. One Thursday we were on a tight creek with a very rare road nearby. This particular rain shower was intense and the rapids kept getting steeper and more difficult. It seemed that every 1/4 mile a member of our group would call it quits and decide to hike off the creek. Mandy was a real trooper and stuck it out far longer than all the other men in our group. I felt like I was in the zone, hitting every line prefectly and landing every drop clean. The water was getting darker and more frothy by the minute, to the point that you could not easily see the river features to pick your line.

By the time we pulled up to the take-out our brave group of 9 kayakers had dwindled to just me, Mandy and our guide Rob. Mandy kissed the ground when we pulled ashore, thankful to have the ordeal over. Rob and I grabbed a bite of lunch and seriously contemplated running the second half of the gorge. We stuck a stick in the shore's mud and watched the river rise as we munched our sandwiches. Withen 10 minutes the river rise a full foot! I turned to Rob and said, "Um... do you really want to enter the second gorge?". He replied with a quick, "Hell no. Thank God you don't want to go into that dark gorge."

When in Panama, deep in a gorge with the river rising fast, far from any medical facility, why push your luck when you can just go back to the lodgings and drink rum all night long?

[Additional photos available in the scrapbook section of this site.]