A Century

Last Saturday, I completed my first century! I have been wanting to do a century for a while now and I decided that I was just going to do it and not put it off any longer. I looked around and the next century was the Heber Valley Century (http://web.bike2bike.biz/), so I signed up for it. My goals for the ride were: to finish, to finish in 10 hours or less (giving myself a generous time frame), to not finish last, and to not walk at all on the course. Saturday morning comes and I have to be up in Heber by 7:30 am. The atmosphere in the beginning as we were all getting ready was a lot of fun. Most of us had to move our cars a few times as they told us to park in the wrong place and there was going to be a softball tournament there while we were gone.

We started by heading out to Soldier Hollow, and then Midway, over Jordanelle Pass, Francis, Oakley, Rockport and out to Coalville. After Coalville, we turned around and headed back to Oakley, Francis, back over Jordanelle Pass, and ended in Heber. This is a map of the route:

It does not look like it would be that hard but almost all of it was made up of hills after hills after hills.... Because of how many hills (not too mention Jordanelle Pass:4 miles at an 8% grade!) there were, it took me a while to complete the century but complete it I did. I met all of my goals that I had set and I biked it all! The only walking I did was at the rest stops, and at the beginning and end. It was kind of cool at the lunch break hearing all of our cleats making noise on the cement while we walked around.

I was so filthy when I was done! I had dirt, grease, tire marks, chain marks, dried sweat, etc... all over me, especially on my legs. I took a picture of my legs at the end but the picture doesn't do enough justice as to how filthy my legs were. I also had a random burn spot on my right upper thigh even though I know I sprayed that spot with sunscreen. I was a little burned around the edges on my back too. Evidently, I didn't get the sunscreen all the way to the edges when I was spraying my back.

Overall, I am really glad that I did it and met all my goals. In a few more years, I might do the Heber Valley Century again. I was talking to some of the other riders and they were telling me about some of the other centuries that are out there that are pretty fun too.

A view of the mountains and a tidbit of some of the fall colors.
Me after the century. I was so filthy and my face was slightly burned too.
This is about 1/3 or so of the way done when we were way out in the boonies and were about to hit the dirt road that we all had to ride along for awhile.

Not Your Ordinary Vending Machine

These are pretty fun! My sister, Jena and I went to one located in Milwaukee. The stuff that they have in them are interesting, fun, and random. I got a pair of earrings, a mask made of mud, and a fish.

A lot of airports have these now. They are vending machines that you can buy ipods, headphones, etc... from. Out of the airports I have been in, I have seen only seen a few so far. But who knows, one of these could be coming to an airport near you!

I have to admit that this vending machine is probably one of my favorites simply because I love books! I saw one of these the last time I was in Seattle. I was out at the convention center by the Space Needle wandering around an Arabian Festival when I saw the machine. There were actually two of them and they had lots of books, some games, cards, and 2 rows of candy. It was pretty cool! I even purchased a book from the book vending machine and now I can say that I have bought a book from a vending machine. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think!

Mountains in the Sand

These are from when I visited my sister, Jena, in Wisconsin back at the beginning of July. We went to the beach, a lighthouse in the middle of Milwaukee, Summerfest twice to see Guster and Flogging Molly, purchased art from an Art-o-Mat, and many more really cool things.

Guster

Lobster, anyone?

Evidently Milwakuee REALLY REALLY needs to be saved so they have taken to putting really big crosses on boats out in the harbor.

Mountains in the Sand

Mountains in the Sand 2

The lighthouse.

Flogging Molly.

Lake George

While I was in Minnesota, I also went to the beach with two of my converts, Pam and Lori Fredrick. I taught Pam and Lori in my 4th area, Andover. Sister Sheena Verduzco and I had a blast teaching them and they are like another family to us. I love them to pieces!

Their cute dog.

Lori playing with their dog.

Lake front.

Two loons.

Minnesota

At the end of June, I had the opportunity to visit Minnesota for a few days before going to visit my sister in Wisconsin. It was so good to be back! However, the same day that I landed in Minnesota and was making phone calls to go visit people, I found out that one of my converts died. . . the day before. It was quite unexpected and even after an autopsy, they are still not entirely sure why he died. This picture is of Greg (the man who died) and his wife, Pat.

My companion, Sister Sheena Verduzco, and I, loved this couple like you would any other people you were teaching. However, the hoops they put us through. . . but I do love them.

This next family is one of the very first Hmong families that I got to know in my first area, Brooklyn Park. My trainer, Sister Susan Lo, is Hmong and so we did some Hmong work in addition to English work. I love the Vang family to death! They are so much fun and their kids are super cute! Kia would always try and make me cry from eating spicy, hot foods but it hasn't happened yet.

Fish Anyone?

Barking Sand . . .

Barking sand. . . who knew?

I am currently visiting my sister, Jena, in Wisconsin for a few days. On Friday, we went to the beach and drove a little bit more up north towards Sheboygan. We went to this nice section of Lake Michigan that is located in Kohler-Andrae State Park. The water was surprisingly warm, except a few spots where the current was coming in. The sand was actual sand with a few small shells thrown in and easy to walk on. We had already walked a ways down the beach, walked through the nature center, and were walking back towards the beach when we discovered that something was barking at us.

Upon further investigation, we discovered that the barking was coming from the direction of our feet. It sounded kind of like a pack of hounds off in the distance on the hunt. Only dry sand barks, not wet sand. And thus, we observed that sand could bark.