Doing nothing gets you tired because you can't take a break.

The Navy SEALS have a motto in that "the only easy day was yesterday." After the previous 7 mile trail and hearing lots of stories concerning the 'A-Hole trail' I was hesitant about doing it, but since I have yet not done a trail at an event, I decided to go ahead anyway. We hung around the hotel for a while as the hares took off and passed the time by playing 'butt scrable' that I won't further describe here but could be figured out if you view the weekend photos. The thing about trail is that you never know where it is going to go or how long it will be since that is generally the fun part of it. Trail started with some pretty tough climbing along the El Paso scenic drive that took us up and over the city. fortunately about 2 miles in there was a beer stop just before the tough climb. Since I was taking a lot of photos along the way, I tended to stay in the back of the pack, which worked out to my advantage when I saw the entire pack running back up the drive after previously reached the top and headed down the other side. Apparently there was a 'countback 69' that meant they had to turn around and count back 69 hash marks to find where the true trail veered off. This new trial went straight up the mountain along a service road for the local radio towers. Combined with the cold, it was definitely a pretty tough climb, although the views were great. The way up was along easy going roadway, however heading back down we were going along some pretty rocky foot trails.

When we got back to civilization, I thought that we would be done, but instead of going back towards the hotel, it just kept going down the valley. Further and further down we went through all kinds of different terrain, including the interstate roadside, though ditch culverts, and draining areas. We lost trail a couple of times, but thankfully the front runners were marking the path well enough for us to follow. We had a long distance along some active tracks so instead of dodging cars, we also had to keep checking back to make sure some train wasn't bearing down on us like a scene from 'Stand By Me'. At one point a passing train was going slow enough that I was able to jump on and hitch a ride for a few hundred yards before it finally stopped. That is something I've always wanted to do, so it was a neat, if not risky experience.

After going through a bit of the campus of the University of Texas: el Paso, we finally made it back to the hotel. The trail ended up being about 16.6 miles of tough, high elevation gain and loss, running and was definitely the toughest trial I had ever experienced. In all it took me just about 5 hours of continuous running and walking to make it to the end, but I did earn the coveted completion t-shirt. After a well needed shower, finding hot water was a huge challenge in itself, I relaxed for a while until a wonderful dinner was ready. The rest of the evening was spent in physical recover by playing games of 3-Man other other tests of skill and stature.

Again, here is a blog by Bonsucker that will fill in the gaps: http://bonesucker.blogspot.com/2007/01/never-leave-camp.html

Is Taco Bell really a Mexican phone company?

After getting up in the morning and getting some breakfast we all lumber about for a while before getting ready to head to Mexico for the day's trail. After going over last minute instructions and reminders, such as having a driver's license or passport with which to return to the United States, we all headed over to the specially reserved limo that would take us to the border where we would begin and end the run. We piled everyone in, closed the door, and headed down the rode. Several wenches were serving complimentary alcoholic beverages along the ride with the in-drive entertainment consisting of numerous hash songs provided by the passengers. I had a great spot up in first class that was also known as 'Mom's Attic'. where I had a great view of the peasants in the economy class section, though only took about 20 minute for total drive time. The hares soon took off and we circled up for the safety exercise, last minute reminders ("no seriously, you need ID with you!"), and general entertainment before heading out.



Trail ended up being a lovely 7 mile stroll through some of the finer points of the Mexican town of Juarez. We crossed the pedestrian bridge into Mexico and were lead through numerous parks and residential sections of town. At least for the runners, trail was decently marked, but since I completely forgot to bring caulk, I had to make sure I kept up with the front runners so I wouldn't get myself lost. We only lost trail a couple of times since flour kept showing up on different sides of the road, behind trees and car tires, but eventually found our way. The first beer stop was a very welcome sight and there being plenty of chilled beer waiting for us at the arrival! I was starving though and decided to order up some nachos. While waiting for everyone to arrive, we spent the next hour or so playing more games of 3-Man, using various items (bucket, rock, etc) found on trail or in the bar to indicate who the 3-man was. After a while the runners took off again on more trail though additional areas of downtown and even through a shopping mall. There were a couple of stops long the way as various hashers paused to shop at the mall, outdoor stands, or adult shops that were found along the way. We finally arrived at the next beer stop in a pretty nice night club and danced, played games, and sang for a while.

Since it was getting late, the remaining trail pretty much took us back towards the border. While waiting in line to clear customs, one of the hasheriettes decided to try to use her looks and charm to slide her way through the line to the front. Apparently the officers noticed this and when she got the the front asked her a few questions and quickly took her to one of the side rooms for additional questioning. It probably didn't help her case when all the hashers broke out in applause and were egging them one with phrases like "Strip search her for drugs" or "You might want to check her for smuggled items!". That'll learn you I bet. She had to mis the first ride back to the hotel but eventually made it back a couple of hours later. We spent the rest of the evening hanging around the hall playing various games and relaxing from a long, but fun, day's run. Visiting Mexico again was a good time and I'm glad to have been able to check out yet another new part of the country, even if just a border town.


Rather than rehash all the other things that also happened, I suggest that you check out Bonesucker's blog here (I'm TMDD in case you didn't know): http://bonesucker.blogspot.com/2007/01/no-fun-behind-mexican-bars.html

RV For Sale, Driver get 13 MPG loaded

We got up relatively early to get the camper ready for the big trip. The locals showed up just in time and we headed off to Tuscon to pick up some more folks there. The 5 hour trip down to El Paso was great as there was a lot of time to relax, talk, eat, drink and even use the bathroom! Even with 12-13 people overall it never got crowded in the least. We of course found lots of ways to entertain ourselves and even other travelers that were passing us on the road. Except for a quick stop at the Texas border for gas, we really didn't have to stop and were luck enough to have a decent tailwind. Along the way I really enjoy seeing the various landscapes, mountains, and such. After a very brief rain shower we were even fortunate to see a fairly vivid double rainbow in the sky!

We finally arrive at the hotel in El Paso, registered, and made various greetings. It wasn't long after arriving that we had to start getting ready for the Tex-Mex 007 pub crawl. Even though there was a 'Bond 007' theme, some people took it as a 'Bond-age' theme and dressed appropriately. We hit a couple of different spots along with seemed to be at least a 2-3 mile trail. We passed by several radio stations that had large glass windows overlooking the street and am sure the radio hosts enjoyed the various displays of attention offered by the hashers, though I am quite sure the Christian Contemporary station was nearly as amused as the others. After partying it up for quite a while we were waiting for a cab when a pick-up truck came by to give someone a ride. Not one to turn down an offer though we're not sure if it was extended to all of us, we piled in as many as could be packed for a ride back to the hotel. The rest of the evening was spent playing 3-man, hot tubing (and boy was it COLD when getting out), and other games of the drinking persuasion.

Most of the pics for the week are in two batches on Kodak Gallery and can be viewed using the following links:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=vnlbugz.9dtykanj&x=0&y=-o9ut3x

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=vnlbugz.4s17wwcv&x=0&y=-ubkohd

In Arizona they do not drive the speed limit...they drive the temperature.

After getting up pretty early, for me, in the morning, I loaded up my stuff and hopped on a plane to Phoenix, Arizona. I though the flight was direct since there were no connecting layovers, but apparently the plane made a stop in St. Louis first and then went on to Phoenix. I had enjoyable conversation with my seat mate and told her about hash and might have convinced her to check it out when returning home to San Diego. Womb Service in Phoenix was awesome enough to pick me up from the airport and even drove me by a couple of great spots in town. We first visited the 'Hole in the Rock' park and spent a little while climbing around for a bit before heading into town for a bit. She took me by one her her favorite bars, The Four Peaks. This was an awesome place and was a bar/brewery in one and had some great ales and lagers. Having not eaten anything all day, I was definitely glad she was driving back to the house!

After quickly taking me to a sporting goods store so that I could get the fuel I needed for the hiking, we went to her place to meet up with some of the hashers to prepare for the morning. I was able to meet her boyfriend John and Chewie (whom I got to know when we went grocery shopping). We spent the evening working on John's new bike (well I mostly spent the time watching 3IY work on it), eating some pizza, and organizing materials for the trip. In the morning we would be met up by several Phoenix hashers to begin the trip to Texas.

My own most memorable hikes can be classified as shortcuts that backfired.

After work today I'll be packing up and heading off to the mid-west for a week. I'm flying into Phoenix early Thursday morning, hanging out for the day and then RVing down to El Paso with about 14 other hashers for the Tex-Mex Fiesta Hash Weekend (you can see old pics and other info). This will be a 4 day party weekend with a few good trails and some cross-border excursions into Juarez, Mexico. I get to hang out with a bunch of great people that I hadn't seen since the September cruise or maybe the DC Red Dress Run in October. The folks over there have been really great in helping me get set up and aiding a fellow traveling hasher.

We're heading back late Monday and I think I have made arrangements for them (or some other kind person) to drop me off at Saguaro East National Park outside of Tucson. I'm planning on doing a 3-4 day hike around Rincon Peak and along Tanque Verde Ridge. Right now the weather looks like it will be clear, but still be pretty darn cold (probably the mid-20s F at night). This will be my first real cold weather camping experience, so it should be interesting!

In case you are curious: this is where I'll be staying for the weekend:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=4151+N.+Mesa+St.,+El+Paso,+TX&ie=UTF8&z=14&ll=31.793129,-106.509347&spn=0.048003,0.10849&t=h&om=1

This will be the local weekend weather in El Paso: http://www.weather.com/outlook/travel/businesstraveler/weekend/USTX0413

The weather stations closest to where I'll be hiking for 4 days next week is here:
http://www.weather.com/outlook/travel/businesstraveler/local/USAZ0247

Of course, I'll be several thousand feet higher when on the trail, so it'll be interesting to see how the weather turns out. I'll be filing a trail plan with whomever is going to plan to pick me up and will of course have an extra day or two worth of food, so I'll be prepared. It should a pretty good time, and if it doesn't turn out well, then you all can have my stuff.

Vaya con dios.

Not a couch potato, just horizontally challenged.

I have used couchsurfing.com a couple of times to find a place to stay when traveling, so I'm always glad to be able to help out other travelers. For two nights I hosted a couple of travelers from Canada that were in the area to visit Busch Gardens and check out Tampa. They were dropped off at my place by a friend from Orlando and were waiting for me when I got home from work. So to show them around, we headed towards Ybor with a quick drive through downtown Tampa along with a stop at the University of Tampa.

This historic site is one of my favorite places to bring visitors since it really still shows the old grandeur of the area. We spent a little while walking around Plant Hall, the site of the old hotel that was around in the 1920s. We explored the front lobby area as well as some of the old photographs along the halls and even the auditorium. When heading upstairs to show them the hall of windows, I noticed the door, usually locked, to the upper area of the auditorium was open, so I jumped at the chance to take a look around and enjoyed crawling around a bit at this normally blocked area. This is something I'd been wanting to check out, so I suppose there is good karma after all when helping others.

After finishing the tour we headed to Ybor and had dinner at Jax in the Gameworks complex before walking 7th Avenue and having a couple of drinks at the Green Iguana. I dropped them off at Busch Gardens on my way to work the next day and then at the bus station before heading to work on the following day. I am glad to be able to pay back the community a bit since I have gotten a fair amount of benefit from it as well. It is a great way to meet new people and learn a bit more about the world, so if you have an extra bedroom, couch, or even just some floor space, then consider becoming a host to some wanderlust.

The fatality of good resolutions is that they're always too late

It has been a year since I started blogging, so I've spent some time going over the old entries and reflecting upon past events. Overall, it was one of the best experiences of my life. I'd like to say that I was hit with a sudden moment of lucid cognition where everything fits together into a feeling of zen, but that still seemingly eludes me. This year was great in that I traveled and experienced more than I had ever previously done. I was able to see things that I had always wanted to do, such as Yosemite Valley, Sequoia National Park, other new countries, and even Mardi Gras. I hiked some of the most beautiful places that I could imagine and could only begin to describe if I was a fireside poet. I've realized that there was so much more to enjoy in life than often our modern imaginations can take us.

There are times in history where the world has paused and held its breath; D-Day, Cuban blockade, moon landing, etc. There are often greater darknesses than the ones we openly fight. There is darkness in a soul that has lost its way. The wars we fight are not against principalities and powers, they are against chaos and despair. All of life can be broken down into moments of transition or moments of revelation with there even being a single moment last year that I thought I had the feeling of both. The future is all around us, waiting to be born in those moments. We can never predict what the shape of that future may be or where it may lead; only that it often seems to be born in pain. It should not feel like one of those moments when you're in the passenger seat of a car, the person driving is doing something crazy, and your foot automatically keeps searching for a brake pedal that isn't there because you know something awful is going to happen.

One thing I've learned is that the truth doesn't hurt unless it ought to. It is so easy to get caught up in the moment that one forgets to appreciate the smaller things in life; there really is nothing bigger. I've found that strength in friendships is very important and am blessed for some of the bonds I've created, but also realize that I have strained others, and for that I'm sorry. I want happiness and contentment for my friends, and even myself and cannot settle for less. Even the little Kiwi animation I found a month or so back really gave me a consideration of change. Some people will reach an aphelion many times in their life, but will they ever completely reach perihelion? It is like at the end of 'Point Break' where Bhodi's entire existence was just to lead up to that last final ride. Sometimes it may indeed be that society slowly kills the human spirit. If one wants the ultimate thrill, then they have to be willing to pay the ultimate price. I'd been so use to shallow things that I've neglected the deeper, more fulfilling ones. I am pretty sure I know what I want in life, I just need to find it and not get waylaid to the point where I expect everything to be the same and not allow for something different, or even significant.

As such, with a nod to tradition, I'm going to try to come up with resolutions that I hope reflect a new year. I've turned off comments since this is something I want to reflect upon myself for a little while.

4) Better organization. I think the accumulation of things that I might need, but never use, just becomes too much of a pain. Take the minimalistic attitude to apply at home.

3) Find a comfortable position between work and play. Put more emphasis in career goals and completion of assigned projects.

2) I've found that I've been a little disrespectful of friends when I spread myself way too thin and become more of an occasional contact than friend. No more HCS, period. With significant reflection and the observations of trusted friends, sometimes I've realized that things I've done are not who I want to be or who I think I am. (Thanks to JM, HJ, and CG for the reflections). Friendship without self-interest is one of the rare and beautiful things of life.

1) Join the 'just say it' club. Don't hold back letting someone know how you feel about them. Is it ever truly too late to say something? Yeah, it just might be, but time is circular, so maybe the moment will return. Don't just show appreciation for what people tell me, reciprocate in letting them know what I feel; whatever way it may be. This was the biggest regret I've had this year and in the past. I'd love to find a relationship of reciprocation, nurturing, and being in-sync; equal partners in a mystery.

“If we are to be who we are, and what we are; if we are to accomplish great things, then we must learn the heart's most essential rule: Never Surrender Dreams."

If incoming arrows block out the sun, then you fight in the shade.

I haven't been excited about seeing a movie in a long time, but after seeing the trailers, especially the international trailer one [http://www.worstpreviews.com/media.php?id=453&place=trailer)], I'm looking forward to the release of '300' in early March. The story tells of the Battle of Thermopylae where 300 Spartans stood their ground against tens of thousands of Persian invaders and are still considered the be the greatest warriors ever known.

The use of Nine Inch Nails's 'Just Like You Imagined' was perfectly suited!

Aim for the moon. If you miss, you may hit a star.

The Moon is one of my favorite celestial bodies. I pointed out to my friend that it was seemingly strange to have seen a horizontal horizon when it typically seems that the Earth is casting a vertical shadow. As happens about once every three years, we will be able to enjoy a 'blue Moon' this year. As a bit of trivia, a blue moon is not just the second full moon of a month (as most people think they know if they can even remember that part); rather it occurs when there are four full moons in any given season, rather than the usual three. In 1946, a magazine accidentally printed that a blue moon is when there are two full moons in a single month. It took half a century before anyone caught the mistake, but by that time the incorrect definition was made popular by a Trivial Pursuit question and the easier to grasp concept of 'two full moons in a month'. A blue moon occurs once every two or three years. We (in the Western Hemisphere) will have the a blue moon on May 31, 2007 with the next occurring in Dec of 2009. Interestingly enough, there will be no full moon for the month of February in 2018, so January and March will both have two calendar full moons (the last time this occurred was 2004).

This is the month of the 'Full Wolf Moon'. This was so named because of wolf packs howling hungrily in the snow as they prowl for the scarce food. The 'Hour of the Wolf' is that time period when you just cannot sleep because you're worried about one thing or another. Maybe it is just coincidence that we are coming to the end of the 'Year of the Dog' (related to the wolf) on the Chinese Zodiac calendar. I have been blogging for just over a year and hope my year of the wolf is done. I really haven't been worried about anything in particular, just in a limbo it seems. I've been able to experience and enjoy so much and I hope that continues, but something still seems to be elusively missing. Things are constantly changing, and sometimes that is comforting; after all who wants to live in a static world? Maybe absolutely happiness is scarce, but in the end hunters usually do find what they seek.

Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right!

For this New Year's Eve weekend I went to a camp out with the hashers again this year near Orlando at what we call 'Ground Zero'. Jason originally was going to leave on Friday, but his plans changed a bit so I was able to convince his introverted-self to come out and join us. KP, VC, and I went over to Orlando a little early to meet up with Mams and check out the ICE exhibit exhibit that I mentioned a few days ago. after wards we met up at the the camping place and got there just in time to do a preliminary set up and take off along trail. Trail was a great mix of terrain that had us bounding through thick forests, fields, and bike paths. Unfortunately I missed the beer stop when I found what ended up being the second part of the trail.

After everyone got back we had a fun circle and a chance to meet up and speak to some folks. A couple of hash virgins that I had introduced to the group arrived too late for the trail, but were still pulled into the circle to take part in the hash activities. Even Jason seemed to be having a good time and enjoying the overall silliness of the fun. Some of us were in a party bus that someone brought and were able to convince the owner to drive us into town for some food and drink and soon at least 20 of us were heading down the road singing songs and having a great time. The impromptu bus trip really set the tone for the whole weekend I think. Later when we returned in the evening found dancing, card playing, and even a game of Twister.

Sunday was pretty much a day of relaxation and general lounging around in camp chair circles telling stories and enjoyable conversation. The pirate themed party started several hours before mid-night and had us dancing in the party bar, doing multiple shots on the tent crawl, sitting by the fire, or just singing amongst guitar playing and general enjoyment of being around friends. There was a great display of fireworks but on by one of the hashers after midnight that everyone really seemed to enjoy.

The first day of the new year seemed to be a day of recover, reflection, and relaxation. Some folks get up early at these events to pack up and go home to do other things, but my favorite part of the camping events are the times when everyone is sitting together and just sharing stories and pretty much just laughing their ass off. Jethro brought out a home made hand-cannon that he'd fill with gunpowder, newspaper, and solid objects (water bottles, oranges, etc) to launch into the void, so that provided plenty of entertainment for a while. The weather throughout the weekend was perfect and we were sad to see everyone go but by mid-afternoon with no one remaining we heading for home to get cleaned up and ready to tackle the new year. It was, overall, a great weekend and I'm glad to have spent it with friends that I've gotten to know over the past couple of years and I look forward to further good times. I think it was a satisfactory way to end and begin the years.

Here is a link to some of the pics that I took at the campout: http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=vnlbugz.c9lmtj0z&x=0&y=-2ygb1z