A weekend at home

Well... almost.

Friday night we drove to Pleasant Prairie to visit the Pitts family. It was a great time. We had dinner, drank beer, and had a fire.  We need to hang out more!

Saturday we picked up our new pick up truck. We finally got a Nissan Frontier. After shopping at 3 different dealers we found a dealer that could produce a truck. I just don't get it... We had to be the easiest customers to work with. We knew exactly the truck we wanted to buy. We didn't have a trade and we didn't need to finance...Does it get any easier? I will post a picture in a few days.

After we picked up the pick up we went to John's parent's. John had to help his Dad with some stuff. Then we just sat around listening to the Brewer game. I NEVER want to attend a sporting event with his parents. It was terrible listening to them complain and make negative comments.  Why do people think a negative comment follow up by laughter is ok? Like the giggle changes what they have said? Like it takes away the negativity. It makes me uncomfortable. 

We went out for dinner early with the family. I think we got to the restaurant at 4:45pm. That is a little early for me but this time it worked out. John and I stayed at Wayne and Dawn's a little late the night before...We left their house at 2:15am :) So eating early was good so I could get to bed early.  Dinner was good until the Badgers lost and so did the Brewers.... love that positive energy!

Today we got to work in the yard. This is one of my favorite things to do with John. I planted bulbs (some of which we purchased right from the source in Amsterdam). John cut the grass and cleaned out Big Red. My Uncle John picked up Big Red this afternoon. Bye Bye Big Red!!! You were a great truck!

later,

b

The wounds are healing

I can walk around without a bandage on my elbow.

The Brewers just beat the Pirates!

We put money down on another pick up truck....This time I think we are going to get it.

Life is good!!!!

Chequamegon

What can I say....We finished. I was hoping for a better time than last year. That goal was met. However it wasn't good enough for me to feel satisfied. This year conditions where very tough. It was wet and muddy. Last year the course was dry and very fast.

This summer I have been on my bike a lot. I really wanted to feel good at the start of the race and I felt like shit. It was difficult to breathe and I was tired. For the first few miles I kept pedaling hoping that my engine would turn on. It didn't. Both John and I were climbing the hills well but it was very challenging to keep going. I did keep going because this day was about John. He really struggled to finish last year after his broken collar bone. I didn't want to complain and bring him down. He was doing great. I just wanted to be there for him and help him set a good pace. When we reached OO I had to pee. So I took a short break, I took another hit off of my inhaler, and we got some fuel. At this point I think we were in good shape to finish in under 4 hours. Considering the weather I would have been happy with that. 

Just a few miles after OO I crashed big time on a wet, rocky, downhill. I was really going fast...and then I wasn't. I hit the ground hard!!! My right calf muscle was screaming. Someone thought I broke my leg by the way it was positioned on the ground. Standing was not an option for a few minutes. People kept asking me if I needed medical. I just needed a few minutes to figure out if I could get up on my own. My right arm was hurting. John was a bit ahead of me but he heard me yelp when I went down. He was by my side in a second. I was able to get up after a few rounds of deep breathing. Thanks to the guy that directed traffic around me. I was really scared of being run over.

At this point I didn't know if I could pedal the 18 or so miles to the end of the race. I really wanted both of us to finish. I thought I would have to take the four wheeler back but I got back on the bike. I wanted to try. My front tire was not moving. The front brake was stuck because the cable had been stretched. It took a few minutes to get it adjusted and then I was worried it wouldn't hold for the duration. 

We started back out slowly. My calf muscle still screaming but I was afraid to stop. I thought it would cramp up and I would not be able to move. John was so nice to hang with me. We took the next few miles one hill at a time. My legs were cramping but I knew we could make it.

We did make it!!! Thanks John for helping me, staying with me, and helping me wash the dirt out of my arm. Thanks to Jay for driving us to the start and for being there when we finished.

Fat tire time

This weekend we are going up to the Chequamegon National Forest for the fat tire festive/race. Last year John and I did the race too. It was a lot of fun and a beautiful day last year. Our time last year was slow but it was a great accomplishment for John. John broke his collar bone in June last year so he wasn't able to ride his bike at all last summer. Just the fact the he still did the 40 and finished was pretty awsome.

This year will be different. Both of us have been riding more and we are healthy....So let the party begin!!!!
b

Still looking

We are still looking for a new truck. FYI don't shop for a vehicle at Boucher in Waukesha. We put money down on a new truck and they never produced it. The truck was coming from just over the border in Il. The thing that makes me the most angry is that they never updated us or even tried to keep us in the loop. Bad car dealer...bad! I guess truck sales aren't as slow is projected. Too bad for them...We are going to buy a truck somewhere else.

b

From Hayward Wi to Amsterdam

Wow! What an action packed couple of weeks! First a trip to northern Wisco for some awesome mountain biking! The trails in the Cable area are really cool! Pictures and more details to follow…

We weren’t even home 24 hours and we jetted off to Amsterdam. This was a tight turn around for both John and me. I had to wash a lot stinky of biking clothing fast. John had a bunch of work to finish before leaving the country and we both had to unpack and repack.

I’m a little tired right now. I don’t know what day it is but I do know that I will be able to sleep in my own bed tonight! A thorough update will follow in the next few days.
b

truck shopping

How to buy a new car?

Or should I say a new truck? Automobile shopping really sucks! Why does the consumer have to jump threw hoops to make a purchase? Why don’t cars and trucks have a price tag like bread or milk? Excuse me but I would like to buy this gallon of milk. Can you tell me what the price is? Well the msrp is $4.00. Let me ask my manager if we can do better. You are in luck! We are having a sale today it will cost you $3.75. But your ad says the milk is $2.99 a gallon for the rest of the month? Oh, let me ask my manager? Why yes it is $2.99.

Days go by and you run in to your neighbor and they got the milk for $2.75. What a bunch of shit! This is how cars are sold only with ten more trips to ask the “manager” what to do.

This is why we buy a car once every 8-9 years…
With the cost of gas these days we where considering a small SUV. Something that would get better gas mileage than Big Red (2000 explorer). We changed our minds. We where loading up bikes and all of our stuff for 24-9 and it barely fit in our mid size SUV. We also had to consider the fact that we are always going to travel to rock/ice climb and bike. Sometimes the conditions aren’t so nice when we play outdoors and it would be really nice to put our muddy gear in a pick up truck. So we are looking for a truck… We are hoping to get one that gets about the same mileage as Big Red. With all of the cash rebates on trucks we should get a good deal…. and that is a lot of gas money. Someday when we replace my explorer we will get something really good on gas. Maybe there will be a SUV that gets 50 miles to the gallon by then…