Outdoors

I like off-roading in my GMC Sierra pickup truck, although I don't offroad as much as I used to... Now that I am usually pulling my trailer when we go to the mountains, I don't want to risk damaging the truck!

We all enjoy camping in the mountains in our Gulfstream Conquest fifth-wheel trailer. I know, many people will scoff, and say that this isn't camping! After many years of camping in a tent, I came to the conclusion that camping is about what you do while you're away, not about sleeping on the ground! We enjoy hiking, and sightseeing, taking pictures of wildlife and wild flowers, etc... I decided that it wasn't necessary to sleep on the ground to do those things... Even though we “camp” in the comfort of our trailer, we still prefer to stay in “primative” campgrounds in the Arapahoe and Roosevelt National Forests, and other remote areas in the Colorado Rockies.

I also like to go bike riding whenever possible. I have an old Cannondale road racing bike, build on an SR900 frameset. It was made so early in the production cycle that it doesn't even have a serial number! These early framesets had a recall on the original Tange fork, so the paint color doesn't quite match. When I assembled the bike when I was in high school, I used mostly Shimano 600 series components, as that was all that I could afford at the time. Over the years, I replaced most of the components with the Sun Tour Superbe line. I worked as a bike mechanic during summers when I was in high school and college. I learned how to build wheels from scratch, starting with a hub and a rim, and a pile of spokes. Once you have the pattern down, its not too difficult to weave the spokes properly so that they are properly laced. I also have a newer Trek mountain bike, which I ride more frequently.