Just visiting

Oklahoma used to be home, but now its just passing through. I've been running ragged for the last several months, and decided to take a block of vacation time and just relax through the Thanksgiving holiday. We headed out to Oklahoma in the CRV packed with Jill and myself, Cooper, Baloo, Molly, 3 bikes and a lot of luggage. This car's capacity continues to impress me.

We arrived in Oklahoma in time Thursday night to get to see the Pokes play versus CU, which was ugly but still a win. With MJ importing a kitty to the trailer, Jill and I were without a home but Georgia volunteered up her house for our base.

One of the reasons for heading to Oklahoma was to deliver a little project that I've been working on for the last couple months. After hearing the story about my buddy Tony Baustert building a ridiculously cool remote control dirt bike for a little boy who had become paralyzed after having a cancerous tumor removed from his brain, I decided I wanted to do something for Tony. The one thing I know is bikes, so I meticulously went about acquiring parts to get Tony a bike built up. The center piece was a lightly used Turner 5 Spot frame that I picked up.

So last Friday, I got to deliver the bike to Tony. He was shocked and a bit nervous about it all but very pleased. We wasted no time in heading straight to the trails, Tony's home turf Bluff Creek in north OKC.


Jill in her ninja garb, railing some OK red dirt

From OK / AR Trip

Tony wasted no time putting his bike to the test

From OK / AR Trip

Feels good to be on the bike

From OK / AR Trip

If it has wheels, Tony is going to air it out

From OK / AR Trip

The Turner posse

From OK / AR Trip

The next day, as luck would have it, OState was playing in Stillwater. MJ, Jill, Coop and I loaded up and headed up to Stillwater. A plate of cheese fries and an Elm Street Fowl Thing later I was a happy guy. Coop had a big time at the ballgame, his 2nd one so far.



A quick drive back from Stillwater, and I met up with Tony to go check out a private trail north of Yukon. A really cool trail that has been built up over the course of three years, had a ton of features and stunts. Unfortunately, I fell off one of them and bunged up my shoulder again right before my big week of riding. Oops.


Got to check out my remote flash setup. Tony nails the double teeter toter that I fell off of.

From OK / AR Trip

Tony launches his new steed

From OK / AR Trip

The next day the weather (and my banged up shoulder) kept us from riding bikes, so we headed out west to hang with the family. Cooper got to be a cowboy and ride his first horse, and then we checked out MJ & Yack's newly renovated house.


Cooper loved riding the horse

From OK / AR Trip

Then he got to ride a slightly smaller beast

From OK / AR Trip

After several more good lunches/dinners, our Oklahoma time was coming to an end and we moved east to Arkansas, new home of Jim and Judy. More to come from the Natural State soon.

Visiting distant relatives

From Cooper goes to the zoo

When I was little, Sarah used to make me cry by telling me I was adopted from the monkey family and then promptly calling me "Jo Jo the Monkey-O!" repeatedly. She may or may not have been kidding, but I've come to grips with it either way. After a grueling week and busy start to Friday, we decided to get out and enjoy the glorious November weather. Sarah wanted to go to the zoo, and Jill and I are always willing to go to the zoo so off we went.

I wasn't sure how much interest Cooper would show, thought he may still be a bit young to enjoy it much, but the rest of us would enjoy it regardless. Didn't take long once inside to see that Coop was going to have a big day. His eyes got huge and he just stared in amazement at all the animals. First up were some lions, cheetahs, mountain goats and then bears. Cooper also really loved the big elephants playing in the yard.

From Cooper goes to the zoo

From Cooper goes to the zoo

From Cooper goes to the zoo

Every time he would lock on to a set of animals, he would point and clap. Then when it was time to go to the next exhibit, he'd cry and throw a bit of a fit until he would spot the next exhibit and sprint towards the exhibit and start yelling out "Baloooo!" at every animal he could see.


Reeses Pieces wasn't quite as impressed

From Cooper goes to the zoo

The grizzlies were really active, playing in the water and running around before posing

From Cooper goes to the zoo

Sarah took lots of videos and pics, check them out on her blog here...

Get it while you can

From Heil Valley Ranch Ride

Last week's 18" snow piles are an easy reminder to those of us in the Rockies that mother nature can be fickle. So as to not squander the opportunity of dry trails and 70 degree temps, The Punisher and I set out to get in a dirt ride despite what we knew would be huge crowds at the open space parks.

After some discussions on our way, we settled at the newly rerouted Heil Valley Ranch. Heil is a ride I've done many times in the past, but never really loved it as the trail was a loose, rocky double track for a large percentage of the way. Boulder County has done a lot of work to the trail though, and I had heard it was much better so we decided to check out Heil version 2.0.

From Heil Valley Ranch Ride

When we hit the trail head is was just as we expected, packed. No matter, we unloaded and sauntered our way up the trail at a leisurely pace. The Punisher knows everyone, so about once a mile we found someone he knew and stopped to talk. The trail itself was remarkably improved, gone were the loose rocks on doubletrack and in its place was a nice singletrack trail with lots of chunky rock.

We did a pretty standard loop, up Wapitit to Wild Turkey and back around. I always forget how good the Wild Turkey trail is, really should ride that one more often. The "new" Heil itself feels like a different trail entirely. Still not in the same league as Hall by any stretch, but definitely improved enough to get more rides there in the rotation given its ease and proximity.

From Heil Valley Ranch Ride

Halloween

I've never been a fan of Halloween. I don't really care for candy that much, and frankly the scary costumes scared me as a kid. OK, they still scare me a little. For the last several years, we've avoided the day entirely by just heading out to dinner and then keeping the lights off when we were at home.

This year was completely different. Cooper wasn't really ready to do full on trick or treating, but Martha and Sarah got Cooper the cutest costume so we stocked up on candy and turned the porch light on. We got Cooper dressed up, and he looked incredibly cute, and I think he knew it. He was really happy in his costume, never trying to take it off or anything like that.

From Cooper's Halloween

We sat out on the porch with him and he smiled, yelled, laughed and clapped for all the kids coming up to the porch. He was incredibly good and just stayed up on the porch with Jill and I as the trick or treaters collected their booty. After 30 minutes or so, we turned the light off temporarily so Cooper could walk up and down the sidewalks and visit some of the neighbors we know. He was a huge hit around the neighborhood, and Jill and I had a blast walking around with him.

From Cooper's Halloween

From Cooper's Halloween

From Cooper's Halloween

We made it back to the house, turned the light back on and handed out the rest of our candy before letting Cooper roam the sidewalks a little more before calling it a night.

I would have thought you were crazy if you would have told me two years ago that OState would be getting throttled on Halloween and I'd be having such a great time that I hardly noticed. Yeah I'm the sappy proud parent for sure, but our whole family had such a great time and Cooper enjoyed it so much that I'll play the sappy card happily this time.

From Cooper's Halloween

From Cooper's Halloween

From Cooper's Halloween

From Cooper's Halloween

From Cooper's Halloween

From Cooper's Halloween