A Quick Little Trip

The first weekend in April we invited our biking friends to spend a few days in St. George with us.  We had so much fun we didn't really get any pictures and the ones the waitress took aren't so great.


We started out on our first ride on Friday morning.  I had ridden this a year ago and thought it was a great 40 mile ride.  I remembered a small pioneer town at the end right after the Gunlock Reservoir.  Off the ten of us went--several with brand new bikes.  We spread out on the road and everything was great right up until mile 20-something where there was no town, only a few houses and a church. (See post: "A Long Time")  We (I) had planned to eat lunch at the small town, so we only brought water bottles and they were empty.  Everyone was hungry and tired.  A lady let us fill up our bottles from her hose and we turned around.  Melanie was having trouble with leg cramps and we caught her on the way back and told her we would send Mark and Steve (the fast ones) ahead to get the truck and come back to pick her up.


It was a lovely day and a lovely ride through the Shivwits Indian Reservation and along the Virgin River. There was a restaurant about three miles from home where we had reservations for dinner that night.  A few of us thought it might be good to stop there to have our long awaited lunch.  Without cell phones to communicate, we wondered how to let everyone know.  Stacy and I were riding together ahead of everyone except Mark and Steve (the rescue party).  We waited at the turn to inform about lunch.  Liz passed us before we decided to have lunch.  She was the Everready bunny, the proverbial tortoise, slow but very steady.  We saw Ann and Karl and after sending them on to lunch, we decided to go ourselves.  As we arrived at the restaurant, we see Mark and Steve and Liz riding up on their bikes.  "What in the world?"  As it turns out the rescue party got sick--Steve leg cramps and Mark dire hunger and thirst.  Mark had stopped to get a drink and Steve passed him without knowing and then stopped by the side of the road to rest.  Mark rides up with an ice cold cup of lemonade and he and Steve decide to go back to the restaurant to refresh before continuing on home to get the truck.  I loved what Steve said when he looked up and saw Liz riding towards his resting place along the side of the road, "And up comes Liz".


(Side note:  Many years ago Liz got lost in an open air market in Jamaica with the same group.  As we were all looking for her a native old man who I am sure was high on ganja, said "Liz no lost, no one lost here" in his thick accent.  We quote it all the time, especially me and Steve.)  By the way, I would not recommend going to Jamaica at all, anytime.  But that is a different story for a different day.


Meanwhile, just as the rescue party rides up to the restaurant, we all look down the road to see Melanie and Scott riding quickly up to the lunch spot.  They didn't need to be rescued after all.  We had a wonderful lunch, all rode home together and came back a few hours later for dinner.


We had so much fun in the big hot tub or spool as we call it, making whirlpools, telling secrets and playing 20 questions.  What a fun/funny group of friends we have!


The next day we did a ride up Snow Canyon (5 miles uphill) and then 15 miles downhill which is my favorite ride.  My friends were all tired and should not have trusted me after Friday's debacle, but surprisingly,  they all followed me again.  And it was wonderful!  Liz made my day when she said she would follow me anywhere.  We sure have had a lot of adventures together.

Masters National Ski Races

One of Mark's dreams came true the end of March when he and three of his boys competed in the Masters Nationals.  They all did very well and scored some podiums.  Alta and Ellie love to watch the races.  Maybe someday Natalie can be here and when Patrick ages to qualify, the whole family can compete.  

Ski Racing Magazine put a picture and article about the skiing Brower family.  

Making a major contribution to the size of the field at the nationals was the four-strong Brower family. Dad (Mark, of Brower Timing) races in Class 6, while the boys, Daniel (29), Kevin (27), and Mitchell (23) all race in Class 1. Now that all the boys are living in the Salt Lake City area, they get to a few masters races during the season, and after coordinating their schedules, they took Park City by storm. Kevin, a back-country skier and filmmaker had the best results with a pair of thirds in the Class 1 slalom and GS, although Daniel had won the first run of slalom before blowing out in the second run. But it’s not about the results for the family. “It’s just a lot of fun skiing with my kids,” said Mark. “It’s the greatest thing ever.”

The only problem with the short article was they got it wrong.  It has always been about competition with the whole Brower family whether ACT test scores, any kind of racing in any sport, wall sits, home wrestling, grades, and anything else that can be made into a competition.  If there is no real desire to compete, Mark throws a cash prize into the mix--like when the annual Christmas gingerbread houses started to turn to junk.  It is so much fun and most of the time there is lots of love and laughter! 

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A Long Time

So it has been a long time.....that is what my high school and college journals say way too much.  Our computer is full and will not download any more pictures and I have purchased three different external hard drives but two have failed and I get nervous to delete anything.  What if in a few days, I needed that picture etc?  Kind of like cleaning out or dejunking which I really love to do.  Except I get mixed messages from myself like, "I might need that soon, I am so glad to be rid of so much stuff".  I really do like to drop off stuff at DI and I especially like to see that garbage truck take away stuff that I don't have to clean or take care of anymore.  A little known fact is I really enjoy reading a good "get rid of clutter" book.  I have a lot of them.  I think that if I read them and have them, the clutter will find a way out.


Also in the last few months, I feel like my brain is getting full.  I have so many years of stuff up in there.  Do I need to delete or can I add on another hard drive to hold another 50 years or so?  I also need some reading glasses so I don't misread or misunderstand as I have lately.  So old age has indeed finally caught up or at least middle age----can't remember, can't read, too full.  So the following posts will catch up what we have been doing for the last few months and hopefully, I can get back in the habit of posting again.