So here it is. I'm satisfying my sister by writing another blog entry, though it doesn't contain much, I've sort of switched over to facebook. I know there's little information and you'd have to be a friend to check me out but these days it's probably a good thing. You never know who's looking at you on the internet.

The Striped Fever!

Hello all. It has been a long time since my last post. By now you should take that as no surprise though. Well to start things off I finished this semester of school, I had an easy load of 7 credits. Physics, History, and a fitness center course to fill in a credit. I also took the second half of the Book of Mormon in institute. Glad to say I graduated with an Associate Degree of Science, and also I graduated with a 2 year Degree in Institute. The institute completion was a surprise, I guess I wasn't focused on completing any particular requirements, but I got them notheless.

I turned 24 in April. My friends Timmy and Josh, and their wives Trini and Candace, threw me a rockin steak eatin' Kareoke Party.

During the past semester I was working two days a week when I didn't have school. It payed the bills and was good enough. OH! for those who didn't hear I got out of motorcycles for a little while. I sold my Blue Yamaha and also my KTM (I only had the KTM for 1 month). I got out of all my debt, and I even came out ahead with some money I made when I sold my VW Vanagon. I haven't been riding for a few months now. It doesn't bother me that much, it has been really dry and any group riding would have been miserable with all the dust that would have been kicked up.

So now that I've been out of school for the summer I have been available to work all week. Too bad there's no work. We have been working on a house in Pine Valley, but the homeowner hasn't been paying my boss, and he had enough of it. So last week instead of working for free we all took a trip to Lake Powell to go fishing for a few days.













We went out for striped bass, and normally the catch is abundant but in 2 days we only caught 26 or so. We all decided to stay for another day. We talked to this old timer and he gave us tips. We headed to town to get more whole anchovies which was our bait, special hooks that the old timer said to buy, some more snacks, and Subways for dinner. We got it all at WALMART! PAr tof the plan was to sleep on the boat because at dusk until night was one of the best times to catch. We did catch a bunch, we fished into the night until about 9:30. My boss Laymon and Jesse went to sleep in the back on the fold down seats and I slept in a sideways sort of curl with my feet hangin atop the bow in my sleeping bag with my pole baited and line in the water. I caught one fish at about 10:30. We all fell back asleep, and I threw my pole back into the water.





The night was kind of miserable, for the other two guys, But I was warm and comfy as could be in a semi-fetal position, and feet over the bow. The night was pretty bad, the wind was howling, the boat was rocking, we had to wake up often to pump water out of our leaking boat, and sometimes the hourly security inspections on the Glen Canyon Dam, woke us up. (We were parked on the security buoys which were about 700 yards or so from the actual dam. Its a customary and good spot to fish). At one point I woke up around 3A.M. I checked my pole which I was grasping through my sleeping bag. I was kinda disappointed, it felt like I had a snag but as I tried to free my line, it started wriggling, I reeled her in and plopped a fish in the back of the boat, where Laymon and Jesse were not-so-sound asleep now. I ACTUALLY CAUGHT A FISH IN MY SLEEP. Jesse got jealous and threw a few casts but didn't get anything so we all went back to sleep.








In the morning Laymon woke us all up to the sound of WOOHOO boys its fishing time, and he threw a fish into boat. We got a hold of ourselves, and around 6AM we threw in our anchovie baited lines and within seconds of casting we had fish on the line, it continued for another 45 minutes or so, until it got later and other boats showed up. We think being there all night gave us an edge, making us incognito. We caught a bunch more but stretched out over a few more hours.













It was a lot of fun and we saw some awesome scenery travelling through the channels and canyons to and from our spots. It was just a fantastic time. If you want anyomre pictures, just email me.




In all we caught 54 fish, mostly Striped Bass. We also caught 3 Walleye, a Bigmouth Bass, a Catfish, and my whopping Ring Perch.











I caught the most diverse amount of fish, the smallest and the longest, measuring 23 inches! I wish I could tell and remember all the funny things that happened. Just imagine putting 3 happy-go-lucky goof-off construction workers together on a boat for 3 days, you're bound to have lots of practical jokes. Like gassing the throttle as you "go" off the back of the boat. you also go crazy, I once thought I had a big fish when I really caught my line on the bow railing. The harder I pulled the harder the "fish" pulled.














We had a fish fry the other day with everyone's families and it wsa some good eatin'. Now I got the fishing bug. I've been fishing nearby 4 times in the last week. I just registered our Aluminum fishing boat and there will surely be more trips in the future.

THE END

The week before.

So we've been doing a lot of riding lately. Last week Mark brought his camera and cut this video for us all to enjoy. The jumping was pretty fun. It was a new experience for me. I always sat in amazement watching "The Great Ride Open" a tv show on fueltv highlighting the Freestyle MX riders on a riding adventure. So when we came up to this jump I decided that I'd give it a shot. Mark and I sized up the jump for a while then we just gritted our teeth and went for it. To our surprise we made it to the downhill transistion. Duane was also there, in the firstsegment and then cameraman for Mark and I. Follow the trail...http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5504992240129907625&pr=goog-sl

A Good Day Gone Sour

Well folks, myself and my motobuddies Mark, Duane, and Rob set out for a ride this afternoon. The terrain was great in most areas. We had to make fun of Mark though. He had his little tweety factory spark arrestor. We had to look twice to see if Mark was still going during the ride. We headed out past Stucki Springs and dropped into the Bloomington Caves wash heading back towards Champion Hill. We climbed back up through the canyon and stopped for a photo. Mark got some good news on his phone that he was addmitted into the Rhino Rally this weekend. We went a little further, until Mark blew his rear tire. We said our goodbyes and Duane, Rob and I continued to Champion hill. The dirt was perfect from there on. Lots of traction and no dust. From Champion Hill we charted an northward path on a trail we yet know the name of or given one to, in the direction of a hill we wanted to show Duane. But as we descended further rain moved in from the west and we bypassed much of the fun stuff and slipped through the slickrock an over to the SC River reserve. We were drenched. Too bad the weather went bad and for Mark's blowout but it was still a pretty good run.

It's just Mike

Hiking to Angel's Landing in Zion N.P.




















And Hanging out at the top
















Jumping off the rock at Waimea Bay, North Shore

Ok by popular demand I'm posting pictures of myself. Apperrently a fan out there somewhere in the world wide interweb went to woodward at the same time I did.

Ok so actually so it wasn't popular demand that prompted this post. Unless you count one request as popular.

KTM trumps all!!

Well Dakar is still in my mind but I have to think about other things too. As you can see the starting line to the race was deserted. If you didn't know the rally was cancelled this year due to TERRORIST THREATS! It's pretty sad that we have to be worried about these things to a point that a recreational venture is threatned. There was so much money wasted. The race was cancelled the day before the race but everyone and their equipment was in europe. Hundreds upon hundreds of competitors spent thousands of dollars in vehicle transportation alone.

If, for example I entered this year my expenditures would have totalled over $70,000. A race built bike, rally support for me, entry fee, and a few other things. Just imagine the professional teams with their budgets approaching millions of dollars and a years of preparation. Hopefully the entrants were refunded the entry fee but so much money was wasted this January. Terrorists need to be crushed and thus defeated. So my future in the race is yet to be seen. I've received my first pledge from a relative that will remain unnamed for the time, still waiting on others;) I've started my final semester for my 2 yr degree and expect to graduate this spring. No rings yet. The Vanagon is for sale and so is my motorcycle. Find me a buyer please. I'm looking for a different motorcycle called KTM, looks like a pumpkin eh? I'm looking for something like this. But well see what happens.

Work has been slow. We stopped the job in Pine Vally because of the weather. But St. George is dead. We've been able to find a few remodel jobs for a few days but we're only keeping our heads above the water. I may have to go put in my application for greeter at Wal-mart. LOL! In school I'm taking Physics and US history, and also working out for a class because I needed just .5 credits more. I was a bit upset at that because one day went in to talk with a counselor and she said I could graduate a half cr. short. the next day I went in and said the contrary. Arghhh! So since I could use the excercise I'm taking that class. TTFN