Canoe Trip Prep Work

I spent yesterday evening with the boys pulling down the canoe and preparing for this weekend. Alex and I will be joining two other father/son pairs from my work as we head up to the North Platte on Friday. We plan to run the same stretch of river that Mike and I ran last fall: from Pick Bridge (just north of Saratoga WY) to Ft. Steele (rest stop off of I-80). It is about 33 river miles and will be the first time in our "new" canoe, the first time Alex and I have gone canoeing, and the first time for the other father/sons as well. It should be a lot of fun. Hopefully it is manageable, my worry being that when Mike and I went last year the flow was about 300 cfs, this weekend it should be around 2500 cfs!

4x4 on the 4th in Chihuahua

Reason #1 to buy a 4-wheel drive and use it: get the family out into Colorado vistas such as these. We spent the Fourth-of-July weekend in the mountains, with my primary goal of driving up Chihuahua gulch. This place is just east of Keystone, and is within view of the two 14-ers: Grays and Torreys (back-side is to the right of the picture). The drive itself was only a little over an hour, from Keystone to the beginning of the trail head, but of course there were quite a few wondrous places to stop before reaching the end of the road. Troy joined us in his "new" 4Runner on this bumpy ride, and it was the first of its kind for my wife. There were a couple of creek crossings, one of which could be tricky having 2-foot-sized rocks in the way, as you ford through axle-deep water. After lunching at the trail head, we walked a little ways towards the upper lake taking pictures along the way. I think everyone enjoyed it, encountering beautiful flowers in bloom and wide-open vistas featuring waterfalls, marshy flats, and rubble strewn mountain sides. The weather was about perfect while we were there, with a few clouds breaking up the blue, mountain-cut skyline. We closed the day with a drive back to Siverthorn through a long missed 4-o-clock thunder storm.

Changing US Government (sort of)

If you have visited my web pages you may have stumbled upon my pages on my (now stalled) global warming research. I still find that subject fascinating but have not devoted any time to that line of questioning since the death of my brother.
Lately I have had a radical idea (not really) of how to restructure the United States government, specifically the House of Representatives, in a way that some may find unique. I believe that this change could solve many of the issues Americans have with their federal government. I am planning to assemble a well thought out argument for this change on my web site along with an executive summary posted to this blog. Stay tuned, for a look into my thoughts on this and many more subjects.