Stardate 2014.378

I'm Back

Hi, all! After a several-year hiatus, I'm back for some blogging. As with my previous effort, this endeavor won't be a daily journal. My goal is to share activities as they happen. At times I may not be very consistent and flowy, as compared to the exquisite sandstone layering found in the Coyote Buttes/Wave/White Pocket region of southern Utah and northern Arizona. Rather, I'm hit and miss. Nonetheless, for me, it's a great way to keep-up on writing and maintain HTML/software skills.






Arroyo Lizard is the nickname I acquired in the late '80s while performing geomorphic field work for Colorado State University throughout the Colorado Plateau region of the southwestern states. Put simply, I enjoy basking on warm sandstone and the nickname kind of stuck. It was shortened to Lizard in the early '90s by workmates, and it's been as such since.


Bicycles probably are my main gig in terms of time spent engaged in leisure activity. I have a two-wheeled relationship that went into high gear back in 1968 on a green Schwinn Sting Ray. As I entered my teens, I discovered motorcycles and contested motocross and desert races, soon discovering it was out of my budget. Then it was off to University and bicycle commuting to class and work; a rekindled affair with the bike began.




Touching the sky is another form of enjoyment in which I've participated for many, many moons. Currently, I've summited 43/54 of Colorado's peaks rising above 14,000 feet. I could easily finish them, and probably should. However, my interest in mountaineering has changed a bit. I'll leave that for blog fodder down the road. I've also visited interesting 13,000-foot summits, interesting 12,000-foot summits..., you get the picture. Graduate studies took me to Oregon, where I summited Mount Hood, Oregon's highest, twice, including a day attempt on Oregon's second highest, Mount Jefferson. Regretfully, photos from 1980s Oregon are unaccounted for at the moment. Although, I could bore you to death with slides of my field work in Oregon's Coast Range. Etched in my mind, however, is the view across a sea of Pacific Northwest clouds. Seemingly buoyant in the clouds and basking in the sun were Mounts Rainier, Adams, St. Helens and The Three Sisters. Absolutely Beautimous!








As the above indicates, it doesn't take much to appease me. Moreover, I'm privileged to live in the middle of it all with a beautiful wife with which to enjoy it. I like to help her catch snowflakes. Perhaps you know her.

However, what really gives me warm fuzzies inside, almost to a spiritual level, is the canyon country of southern Utah and western Colorado; especially when visiting aboard a bike. Perhaps it's because I grew up in Colorado just a stone's throw from Utah. I don't know. But I still have impatient, sleepless nights prior leaving for the canyon country. I get fuzzies before an alpine adventure, too. But not warm fuzzies. There's a difference; it's not the same. I hope to post a plethora of photos from the eroded and slotted land of sandstone.








I do have one other skill of note. Professional Elk Charmer.


Adios!