It's taken me a long time to catch up to everyday life after being gone from home for so long. Upon beginning work again on Wednesday, I learned that my team had lunch and a movie planned for Friday, so I decided it would be best to attend, since I don't get to see my co-workers very often. Yesterday morning, Traci and I loaded the kids up in the car and drove to Lehi where I dropped everybody off at Traci's friend's house, then I spent the rest of the day at work. After work and our pizza and movie, I drove back to Lehi where we found 10 geocaches, all of which were micro caches. We ate dinner at Arctic Circle, got fuel at Wal-Mart in Springville, then drove back home in the dark.

Today, I found two new geocaches with my sister and her family. We got first-to-find on one, but somebody beat us to the second one. My sister did some cache maintenance on her Dinosaur Footprint cache, and I had to replace the container on my Buckhorn Wash cache because the old one got destroyed on Easter weekend. It was a damned good time today, but I neglected the other duties that I should have been doing. I now need to hook up my swamp cooler tomorrow, mow and water the lawn, and fix a broken door handle in my truck, among a few other minor things. I've been too busy having fun lately that all these mundane things are taking the back burner.

I plan on buying a CD next week for the first time in five years. The last albums I paid for were Weezer's green album and Tool's Lateralus. 10,000 Days comes out on Tuesday, and I'll be at Mad Platter that morning to buy it. I think Tool is the only band who I can currently justify spending money on, unless Sublime resurrects their lead singer and releases a new album. So, it's pretty much Tool for now. :)

Yes, it has been a long time since I updated my website. I just uploaded 32 new pictures from last weekend, which was probably the best weekend of my entire life (so far). Our camping trip to Justensen Flats in the San Rafael Swell was phenomenal, so much so that we didn't want it to end. Going back to work this week was a real bummer.

On Friday of last week, we went on a long 4x4 drive to several geocaches south of Justensen Flats. In our convoy there were several ATVs, one Jeep Grand Cherokee, and two long wheelbase 3/4-ton trucks (mine included). It was a challenge keeping up the ATVs, and at one point we had to stop and pile up some rocks to keep the trucks from high-centering on a steep drop-off. I've never had a more fun and challenging time 4-wheeling, but having some good friends there made it even more fun.

On Saturday, we hiked to the top of the San Rafael Knob, which is the highest point in the San Rafael Swell. I had a headache in the morning (probably from staying up late and getting a poor night's sleep), but I didn't let that stop me from hiking the Knob. It was a difficult hike, requiring ropes to get past two really steep parts. Once on top, the views were amazing. Afterwards, we hiked to the top of a hill called Flat Top, which was much easier than the San Rafael Knob, but my leg muscles were burning because of the earlier hike up the Knob. Traci and the kids stayed at camp while I was on those two hikes, but they found a few nearby geocaches and kept busy with another couple of families that also stayed behind. That evening we had a potluck dinner, and it was some of the best food I've eaten, which was surprising because we were all out camping. Deep-fried turkey, lasagna, baked beans, sauteed mushrooms, barbequed chicken, and all other manner of good things were eaten by all.

On Sunday, we drove down to the Mussentuchit area with Sam and her family. It was one of my favorite parts of our trip. There were sand dunes in the area where I couldn't help but climb around like a little kid. I unloaded all my pockets, dropped my handgun and my sunglasses in the truck, and climbed all over the sand dunes. Never has so much sand looked like so much fun. We placed a couple of geocaches in the Mussentuchit area, not expecting anybody to find them for a while.

Well, Monday rolled around, and there were still a lot of people at camp who had already found all the geocaches around Justensen Flats, so they decided to go find my two caches in the Mussentuchit area. We led the group west on I-70, then south on the dirt road leading to the caches. It was a fun experience, 'cause normally I'm quite content to follow everybody, but this time I was in the lead. We played in the sand and hiked around just like I'd done the previous day, but it was more fun with a larger group.

On Tuesday, we attempted to get my truck down the Eva Conover road, but after just a short drive Traci and I realized that it was only suitable for ATVs. We turned around and found another new geocache closer to camp called "Twisted Sister Meets Big Brother." It was a fun drive, and an even more fun hike with the kids.

That was the last of our fun, 'cause when we returned to camp everybody else was pulling out. We were the last ones to leave, and it was worth every second that we stayed. I don't doubt that we'll attend the San Rafael event in the fall, and if the last few events are any indication, this one should be even better than the rest.

I'm such a bastard. I was loading some "essential" goods into my camp trailer last night, and as I stepped out of the house and into the driveway, the bottle of rum I was carrying shifted and my favorite shot glass fell off the top and shattered on the concrete. I've had it for eight years, and I don't even think you can buy them anymore (at least not brand new). Guess it's time to pick a new favorite.

It has been and will continue to be a buzzy buzzy week. Too much stuff to do in order to get ready for our big camping trip, and not enough time in which to do it.

A few things I'm looking forward to: relaxing around a campfire with people I barely know (and not caring that I don't know them); hiking in the desert; being off the grid and self-sufficient for a long time; leaving work behind for awhile; not showering for 6 days and 5 nights. Ok, maybe not that last one.

All the stress of getting ready is worth it, though. We do this at least once a year, where it's a bigger deal getting ready than the actual trip is, but it's always a trip where we wish we could stay longer. It's only the beginning of the camping season, and I'm already looking forward to the end, just because it'll be another one of these well-worth it trips.

All this week I've been going to bed late and getting up early, and I still don't have all the time I want to get things accomplished. With the first camping trip of the season coming up next weekend, I've got to spend this weekend getting ready for it, but I'd really rather be doing something outdoors.

I won the drawing for the Tribune's "Where is it?" feature from last week, and the book they're sending me is called Fishing Utah. It's been a few years since I bought a fishing license, though I've wanted to for about the last year or so. Maybe this is all the excuse I need to get back into it.

A new geocache was placed in the San Rafael Swell last weekend, and since I only need the flimsiest of excuses to head down into the Swell, Traci and I decided to take the boys down for a little hike, then dinner afterwards. The cache was on Red Knoll, which I've passed dozens of times on my way through the Swell. I've always wanted to climb up on top just to see what's up there, but never had much of a real reason to do it, at least not until today. The hike up wasn't too bad, but we had to keep a sharp eye on the kids to make sure they didn't go tumbling down the hill. The top of Red Knoll was pretty boring--just some soft sandy soil and small brush--but the view was excellent. It doesn't look like anything bigger than a mouse or lizard has been up there in forever, with the exception of the person who placed the cache.

After finding the cache and working our way back to the truck, we made the relatively short trip to the Sand Bench road south of White Rocks. I'd been down that road before to a place that somebody called Hamburger Rocks, where the rock formations actually look like hamburgers (or pancakes, depending on which rocks you look at). The kids loved going there before, and so did I, so I thought it would be a perfect place to fix a nice dinner and play. Unfortunately, I wasn't counting on all the loonies who go camping anywhere in the desert just because it's Easter weekend coming up. We saw dozens of trailers, some occupied, others empty just to hold somebody's spot, on the way down into the Swell from Cleveland, but I didn't think we'd see anybody at Sand Bench. Anyway, since there were trailers and kids crawling all over our intended spot, we pressed further down the road hoping to find some place decent to stop and fix dinner. After a couple of miles, we found a road that looked like it went close to some more of the rock formation that we wanted to stay at, but it soon turned into an ATV trail. My truck probably lost some paint on the brush that we drove through, but we made it to a really good spot. The kids played, we ate bbq chicken and pasta, we played some more, fired the new XD-40, and when it was finally dark, we drove home. It was a most excellent day, especially for a weekday.

I went to work in the office today, so I figured while I was up there I'd make the trip worthwhile. I'd planned on going to Cabela's after work, then finding a few geocaches on my way home. I went into Cabela's with a $10 gift card that I've been holding onto since my birthday, but I couldn't really find anything in that price range that I wanted or needed, so I got a Springfield XD-40 Sub-Compact handgun instead. The gift card didn't cover it all, so I had to put a little extra money toward the purchase. ;) I still need to order a holster for it before I start carrying it, so when that arrives I can sell my Kel-Tec 9mm. I should have an opportunity to put a quite a few rounds through it tomorrow, and Traci is even eager to shoot it, since it handles much better than my old handgun.

Yesterday's hike was just amazing. Traci and I have never done anything together that was even remotely similar to this, and it was really one of the most fun things we've done in a very long time. Now that I've had a small taste of what slot canyons are like, I'd like to try something even more difficult. Traci's not so sure she wants me to do that, though. I've already got plans to buy a real climbing rope, 'cause we're planning on going back to Moonshine Wash next year, and we're going to bring Michael with us then. There were several kids there yesterday, but none quite as young as him. I'm sure we can have him ready for a hike like this in another year.

There were over 25 people who showed up for the hike, and it was a pretty diverse group. There were four people who flew in from California for it, one guy from Colorado, and another guy who drove his Jeep here from New Mexico. Most everyone else was from northern or central Utah. The hike started out easy and relaxed, but soon got really exciting. It only took us about 20 minutes to reach the narrows of Moonshine Wash, and shortly after that we made it to the first big obstacle, which was about a 10' drop. After that, the big drops and tight squeezes just kept coming, and it was almost non-stop action for a couple of hours. It was pretty challenging for most people to pass each obstacle, but it seemed like I was able to get past each one within a few seconds. One thing I'm glad for is that there was no water whatsoever.

Time seemed to fly by in the narrows, and soon it was time to stop for a long break in a wide sandy bottom at the end of the narrows. After everyone had rested and eaten, we pushed on a bit further to the escape route. Up until that point, there had been nowhere where you could climb out of the canyon. It was a long, steep climb out, and after that was a long trudge through soft soil and sand back to the vehicles. It wasn't really much longer than the hike through the narrows, but it seemed to drag on longer, mostly because of the lack of excitement and the addition of the hot sun which was lacking in the tight slot.

My sister was too exhausted to keep up with the group for the last half of the hike back, so I hung back with her while most of the group pressed on. We got back to the trailhead after everyone else had already left, but it was a good opportunity to strip down, wash up, and put on a clean change of clothes. We drove back to Green River and met up with everyone again for dinner at the Tamarisk restaurant. It was a nice way to wind down and relax after a strenuous and exciting day.

This weekend is shaping up to be pretty good. Temperatures will be in the 70s, and there's not much chance of rain, so hiking Moonshine Wash should be nice. That's not to say we won't get wet (the potholes should be plenty full of water), but we won't get flash-flooded.

The work on the bathroom remodel is going pretty slow. I've got the new medicine cabinet framed in and part of the sheetrock done. Actually, that would be the "new" new medicine cabinet. I had to take the other one back because it was barely too large for the existing opening. After the walls are done, I've got to rip out the old linoleum and subfloor, install a new Wonderboard subfloor and ceramic tiles. Then the new vanity and sink can go in, and I'll be done. It sounds like a lot less work than it'll really be.

I wanted to remove the gooseneck hitch from my truck bed so I could haul the sheetrock more easily, but that turned out being the biggest pain of all. It took 15 minutes, a 24" pipe wrench, some PB Blaster, and every bit of strength I had just to break it loose. After that, it still took about 30 more minutes of pushing on the wrench with both legs, an eighth of a turn at a time, to get the thing out of there. It was worth it, though, now that I can haul larger items without the hitch getting in the way.

So, I got a hair up my ass tonight and decided to start demolition on our upstairs bathroom. I've had a lot of excuses lately why I shouldn't start remodeling it, such as we might be having company over next weekend, or it might interfere with camping trips in the coming weeks, but I finally got drunk enough to say, "Screw it!" I've had the new cabinets, sink, floor tiles, etcetera, for long enough that I have no reason to procrastinate.

It was only a little bit of demo tonight, enough to determine whether or not there was a stud between two of the medicine cabinets in the wall. Luckily there was not a stud (except that guy staring back in the mirror), so I can tear them both out and install a brand new cabinet without having to do a lot of rebuilding.

The only drawback is that we've got to make a trip up to Provo/Orem tomorrow (err...technically, that's today) to buy a new light fixture and heat vent for the bathroom, since nobody in Price appears to sell decent fixtures. I know that both Lowe's and Home Depot have a huge selection of both items, so we're going to head out early tomorrow morning for a 3+ hour trip with the kids to pick up a couple of measly items. I still don't miss living in that rat race, though.