Bronco

Scariest experience I had was getting off a plane an into the driver's seat of a rental car in Dublin. Left turns are a bitch that turns into a real bitch when you are going the wrong way with no way out but a quick U turn across 4 lanes of heavy traffic. Luckily I look Irish so nobody beat on me. Drunkeness story followed when we staggered back to our B&B on New Year Eve then got on a DC 10 to fly to London. As the G force grew, so did the force on the puke in my throat. I jumped up and ran to the bathroom, just in time and found your torso wont fit horozontally in those bathrooms (so you cant bend over) so I kind of did a hand stand on the toilet seat while the stewardess beat on the door screaming "you'll have to return to your seat sir, the seatbelt light is still ON!" I think that embarassed my wife a bit for some reason, but she did get to have the cookie out of my box lunch. It's funny how the more work I have to do, the more time I hang out here posting nonsense.

Good summarization, your reading comprehension is ok for someone who speaks English as a second language. I never said your opinion wasn't valid, (I acually said the opposite), and the subjects you present are nothing I haven't pondered a lot. I'm just tired of hearing you critcize the system that benefits you so generously, like it has for me. You asked for my response so here it is: I believe that I owe my wife and daughter's lives to the second amendment. While I was at work one day, my wife phoned to let me know there was a man attempting to enter our home and she had called the police. As the same strange man had been lurking around peeking in our windows the night before, I advised her to retrieve her duck hunting gun (Remington 820 Express ) from the safe, load it and stand guard at the top of the stairs. The previous night, this never seen before guy was caught by me in our back yard, peeking in the window. I confronted him, demanded he leave and when he didn't called the police. He then attempted to move past me wanting to get inside the house. He was unsucessful and ran off into the dark, before the police arrived. I could have restrained him, but, he was pretty hairy looking and I was a little rattled from him attempting to get past me. The Sheriff's deputy took down our name and that was it. Said to call back if he showed up again. Didn't bother to look for him, it was pretty dark & stormy. The next morning, (while I was at work) the same intruder came back, forced the backdoor open, walked over to the bottom of the stairs, noticed a stern looking woman with a large bore gun pointed at his torso and made the wise decision to leave when she demanded he do so. From a window, she watched him leave the house, walk across the street and up a neighbor's driveway. The police got there 40 minutes after she called. They did go talk to the strange man who was staying with relatives at the residence she watched him return to. That was it. They said he was crazy sounding and should go to a hospital and they even advised him not to return to our home. I demanded they arrest him for breaking and entering and they refused. They wouldn't do anything but take down our names and number. He reportedly moved out shortly after, the people who's house he was staying with would never talk to me when I called and told me they would call the police if I set foot on their property, the police told me they would arrest me if I did when I called them to question the legality of this issue. I just wanted to know if the guy was crazy or on drugs or a convicted felon or what. I'm glad my wife didn't shoot him, but, I don't think he would have been detured with a baseball bat or some other weapon and really don't like to dwell on "what if" and won't discuss it further. So while this is all retorical fun and games to you, it means A LOT to some of us who feel like they have no choice but to live somewhat independantly from the protection of offered by our great country. If that's the price we pay, so be it, it's worth it to me and every one of my friends.

Gowans: While your opinion is as valuable as anyone elses around here, I share some frusteration reading many of your posts. You brag about coming here on a track scholarship, (using the system) put down Americans who don't have worldly knowledge or education like yourself, your plan is to make as much money as possible (again using the system) then go back to Scottland. At the same time you have made it very clear that you don't like our government policies or administration. You are hypocritical, belittling and frankly insulting to the point of my blood boiling. If you were a guest in my home, for some strange reason, and made some of these comments, you'd certainly be shown the door. And I don't give a rat's hairy ass if this is full of spelling errors, I didn't go to college. Wish you luck and God's speed getting back to Scottland.

Actually I was more thinking of this guy and here's some info about Pee Wee and his bike: The highlight of Pee-Wee Herman's life is his red bicycle which he treats as another persona. When it is stolen, Pee-Wee is heart broken and seeks help from the police who give useless advice. Haunted by the images of bicycles, Pee-Wee stumbles upon a fortune teller who, incorrectly, sends him on a journey to a basement in the Alamo for his bicycle. After a long trip, filled with changes of transportation and various characters, Pee-Wee is horrified to find out that the Alamo has no basement - the fortune teller had ripped him off. Later Pee-Wee has an accident and ends up in the hospital where he sees his bicycle on the television being presented to a child-actor for a new film. This leads Pee-Wee to the Universal Studios where he steals back his bicycle and is chased through many different soundstages. After finally making an amazing escape, Pee-Wee spots a burning petshop and has no other option but to save the animals. He is arrested after he passes out in front of the store. However, Pee-Wee gets out of the situation when a studio-executive is convinced that his story would make a good movie and turns it into an action thriller. The story ends with everyone who Pee-Wee encountered during his adventure showing up for the film's premier at a local drive-in.

I think Gowans would look marvelous on a red cruizer with white saddle shoes and a grey single breasted suit.

Great tr, missed it while out of town. You gotta beware of partners from here, I've had 2 strange ones myself with "5.10" climbers on 5.6 and 5.8 routes that involve crying and spazing out and threatening to kill me.

typical newly-wed coment. I remember when my wife and I were first married my dad would come driving up to the apartment we had with his horn blarin. After the 4th or 5th visit, I asked him why he was always honkin the goll dang horn. He replied that it was customary to warn newly-weds of an arrival so they can put their clothes back on. I thought my wife was gonna die!

I was thinking it would be more like "Stay home locked in your bathroom all summer because you could die if you come out into the world, especially Canada"

Friends that have lived overseas have been happy to return. Friends that have moved here from other countries don't want to leave. Think about it. Personally, I want to leave. How utterly shocking is that? I must be an anomaly in the stats. "Don't let the door hit you....."

BLASPHEMY!!!

OUCH! That hurts dude! I have a nice trailer too! It's kinda funny you feel that way, maybe I've traveled to the wrong places of the world cause every time I get home, the first thought is "it sure is nice to be back in the USA!" Everyone feel free to catch a plane if you don't want to live here, you should be able to find happiness somewhere.

I love it because you are free to take risks and reap the rewards of your work with relatively minimal interference from the government. Oh yeah, One Nation under God, beer, guns, chainsaws, big trucks, rodeo's and catfights between hot chicks aren't bad either, yee-haw!

No doubt, man. When they say "lifetime guarantee" or 100% satisfaction guaranteed they better damn well mean it. Most people might not take advantage of it, which is why the offer it, but I plan on it. If somebody is going to tell me it's guarnateed for life, well, shit, it's going back as soon as I've worn it out. It's been my experience that you can't just saunter in, lay your gear on the counter and pleasantly request a new one. The terminology I've found works best is " I am totally unsatisfied with this product and demand a refund/exchange/replacement" in a stern voice, of course. Otherwise they will tell you they don't carry that anymore or send you here or there or try to help you fix it so it can break on another climb. Seriously, it's not like returning a hammer to Sears where they just gladly say, "get another off the rack" REI makes you work for it a bit and you may need to get a little nasty.

It's pretty obvious to most of us and I hate to waste people's time, but if you have some obscure tidbit, feel free to speak up. Sure things aren't perfect, but, there isn't anywhere else I'd rather be.

Kitten: The Everett waterfront or Monroe Fairgrounds are reliably short. Take an umbrella, it'll probably rain here...

Not intended to be. It's intended to be LIGHTER. Never having bought a pack before, I'd like to get it right the first time. $260-350 is a lot of money to drop. Like boots, I hear a lot about the importance of a comfortable pack. Concurrently, I hear alot about carrying light. Hmm... What to do? The smallest capacity Bora I can find is the Bora 62 (REI), which is a women's pack. The Bellevue Marmot carries the men's Bora 65. I'll check it out. There is a Bora 40 hanging on the wall at Cascade Crags in Everett. My wife has one and likes it despite my pleading with her not to get such a "heavy" pack. It is a nice pack though.

When do you think it was made and what's the distance from the middle of the crank to the top of the horizontal frame tube? Is this the bike you were riding when that kid in the T-bird ran over you in front of Cascade Crags? If it is, it could be worth more, kinda like the army surplus helmets with bullet holes in them, but probably not.

Outside Magazine has a brief article on the pro's/con's of Coffee and caffine in the June edition. Basically, what their researcher says is if you are sitting around like in an office environment, you'll feel the diaruetic effect but, if you are performing physical work within 3-4 hours, you won't. I don't really get it becasue I "feel the effect" within 30 minute of a cup o' joe. Having said that, I love coffee all the time.

Yeah you guys, knock it off! Lilly - since you didn't say what gear you were planning to bring, I thought I'd offer some suggestions on what I'd bring if I was planning on being out on a Volcano this weekend. If you feel comfortable taking less, good for you. I don't know anything about you exept you are posting to a newbie forum requesting info about the weather on Glacier Peak this weekend. I don't know (or really care anymore) how much experience you have but, you should expect that when you ask a question, on this website, you may recieve info you didn't ask for or like. Take it for what it's worth. Have a super climb! Post a Trip Report when you get back.

Could you clarify? I don't think I understand DAS Parka (heavy duty warm synthetic parka) Puffball Jacket (light duty synthetic jacket) GTX Jacket (your hardshell) Schoeler Jacket (your softshell) Windshirt (nylon windbreaker) Poly pro (duh) I'd say it depends on the forecast, but, you shouldn't need more than 2 of the jackets and the poly pro. If the weather's iffy, take the goretex and DAS parka, if descent forecast, schoeler and puffball, if great forecast (like in the 90's in Seattle) I'd take the windshirt and puffball. I could see carrying the Windshirt as an extra layer at all times, but other than that, you should be able to combine any 2 jackets to cover all conditions. The last trip I took up Rainier, it was the hot weekend about 3 or 4 weeks ago. I never got my synthetic parka out of the pack except to use as a pillow. I was fine in a softshell even on the summit, but I am a warmer dude than most of my partners.

Livingston Rodeo, Livingston (duh) Montana. Coors (and Coors lite) sold by the six pack for $5 a pop. Great way to relax after losing expensive (or ugly if I made them) flys, scaring the fish with my "cast" and hanging out on the Yellowstone River all day.

I got the gear back, except the guide book, but, I have a name and number where to find it, hopefully the dude will be nice enough to mail it to me. The guy who took it said he thought it belonged to someone else in his party and when he realized it didn't a day later, posted some cards at the local gear shops to find the owner which the previous poster noticed and thankfully contacted me (Thank you!). Ben, don't blow up his van!

Jon and Tim unleashing this God forsaken website on the poor working stiffs of the NW.

If I was headed up on a volcano this weekend, (I'm not) I'd certainly be equipped with a storm worthy tent (lots of guy points), a synthetic sleeping bag and full Goretex suit. This is where the good advice stops so I recomend you stop reading unless you are inclined to see me post words just to see myself post some words that are similar to Hemminway or the Beatles. You are cruising for a bruising as of today's forecast. Keep an eye to the sky, the big weather system could come in sooner than forecasted, or not at all. Know what you are getting into and travel fast and good. In other words, a good climber knows what he's getting into and travel's fast. However, if you do not know what you are getting into, then you can not travel at fast speeds and are not a more gooder climber.

Just goes to show, you can reach your dreams! NEVER STOP DREAMIN MAN!!!!!