Favre to stay retired, Vikes set to flog NFC north regardless.

Our old boy, Brett Favre, says that he'll stay retired and not play for the beloved purple headed warriors. While it would have been *pure joy* to see him take the field at Lambeau wearing gods colors, his avoidance of destiny will only relieve me of having to hear how, "The vikes only won because of Favre, blah blah blah". This way, the pack can feel the full shame of defeat come September. Nothing is better than that. Go Vikes!

Oregon & Idaho Road Trip

Wow! We just got back from the best road trip we have had in a long time! The pacific northwest is one of my favorite places in the country, and it certainly delivered on this trip. We started by burning rubber from D-town to somewhere in the Udaho area (South of Pocatello) last Wednesday night after work, and we're on to the beach past Portland by Thursday afternoon. Erica claims that the water was warm enough to swim in. Yeah - and so was the Monterrey Bay - Aye!

We stayed on the coast Thursday night and watched the sunset over dinner. Friday, we headed into the coastal hills for a pre-game safety meeting in the woods of the coastal range. It was the perfect place to gather up some forest energy and get our minds set to descend into the Horning's campground. The van was super happy up there, and this is it crouching like a Puma in the old growth forest.

Much of the magick that we recalled from the previous visits to this place was still here. Oregon has the finest freaks around, and they were here in force. Funny, the Full Moon Dream Dance and the String Cheese shows all happened 8-9 years ago, and there were a BUNCH of 8 & 9 yr olds running around. Hmmmmm. This is Greensky Bluegrass tuning up and preparing to kick some ass.

The show was AWESOME - complete with a Space Station Fly-By at 10:57pm on Saturday, well in to the second set of Yonder. The band freaked! It was super cool. After Sunday's sets we bailed and camped over north of Hood River. This is Mt. Hood looking good in the morning sunshine!

This guy feels good about hood!

After that it was on to Donneley, ID, and a birthday party for Erica. The cake had huckleberry filling. It was fantastic. Jayme & Colin have a sweeeeet place up there. Donneley / Macall is one of the few aeras I have seen that can throw down with Durango. Idaho may just wail on Colorado in terms of beauty augmented by lack of people. We're definitely headed back, so I'll keep you posted.

Colin recently picked up this sweet Van. I always knew they were van-people! He's got a Suby 2.2L in the back with custom wheels and a slew of other sweet upgrades. This thing is sick. I can't wait to hit the road with them! We had so much fun up there. We hit the North Fork of the Payette for a day of rafting, ate a bunch of good food, drank beer from the new Salmon River Brewery, and generally had a blast. Woooooo - hooooooo! Summer !!!!

Favre, a purple headed warrior, pt. 6

Check the headline from this article on ESPN today: SOURCES: Favre to Throw for Vikings. I *Cannot Wait* to buy my official Team Color Vikes jersey with F-A-V-R-E stenciled on the back!! Mitby will *LOVE IT*.

Tommy V. at SKA!

Check it out!! Old Buddy Tommy V. and new friend Willie T. throwing down on the badn tent at Ska! The lovlie ladies at Ska took good care of us all. The sun was warm, the tunes were killer, and the beer was nice n' cold. Here's Willie:

If you havn't, check out his band the "Good Luck Thrift Store Outfit". Hopefully I did enough sales work to get them and tom up to Telluride next year! The axe he's playing is a four string number from 1929. The tone was superb.

Tom took the stage next and ran through a bunch of tunes that I hadn't heard before, and some old favorites.

We asked for a couple together and they obliged.

Thanks for coming to Durango, fellas!!!! Hope you'll come back some time!

Backpacking in the Weminuche Wilderness

We grabbed the packs and headed for the hills on a short 3 day trip into the backcountry. The beauty of this was that the trailhead (Vallecito Creek) is 15 miles from the house. We went in Thursday morning and pulled off 8.5 miles, camping within a stones throw of the Johnson Creek bridge. Prior to this we had to ford the Mighty Vallecito Creek (video coming soon).

There's nothing like a hot cup of coffee in the morning at a place like this!!

This is the trail marker for the Johnson Creek trail. Due to the bridge being out, not a lot of folks come back this way. Johnson creek was one of the best trails I have hiked for overall beauty. I can't wait to get all the way up into the Vallecito Basin next summer.

All of the creeks were running strong and balance came in handy. The new set of Danner Boots are all that I'd hoped they'd be. In them, out there, I am a force of nature.

I believe these to be early season Agaric mushrooms. Fatties!

This fella was packing in gear for three hikers. They rallied the horses and rode right across that creek. I wish I had four wheel drive.