I am official...and a few months

After a few long hiatuses I have been writing in fits and spurts...this is what I have been doing for like 6 months.

After a long hard summer of water management and other polisci type classes I am officially done with my masters program and certificate. My degree posted today and my certificate should post by the 18th. It was a lot of work, and I'm not quite sure it was worth it, but it's done and the summer is almost over.

This has been a hard summer. I usually look forward to the summer for some quite in my office and the ability to relax at home. This summer it didn't really happen. Most of our summer was spent getting ready to paint our house. And being upset over the house. When we finally did get the house painted for the most part it did not go as planned and we still have a lot of touch up work to complete. I will never do this again. Listen to me when I say it is worth every penny to have someone else paint your home. I hate home projects and that is probably why I try and run away from them whenever I can. I don't even like to clean my house, but I really enjoy a clean house.


Part of the issue with painting the house had to do with the fact that we were supposed to spend time with Bryan's mom the weekend that we had to choose to paint the house. Lets just say that it did not turn out well to try and multitask. The monday after we finished painting the body of the house we went on a motorcycle vacation.


We were able to score a half price motorcycle rental in July and we took the bike on a ride through Eastern Arizona and Western New Mexico in search of pie and bits of americana. We picked up the bike at about 3 p.m. on one of the hottest days of the year in Phoenix. We rode for about an hour because we were meeting Kaci for dinner and a movie later that evening just down the street. However, I got so hot I thought I was going to passout and I made bryan stop at a Trader Joes so that I could stick my head in the freezer. We fondled frozen vegetables and considered different varities of pizza for about an hour until I was cooled off enough that we could get back on the bike. We went to the movie, ate our dinner and then left to leave at 5:00 a.m. the next morning.

So 5 a.m. we head out on the highway looking for adventure and listening to NPR (National Public Radio) on the Harley. Now it's 5 a.m. the sun is barely rising, but it is hot. Really really hot. When they talk about thermal mass and concrete holding in heat in cities they mean it. We really felt the effects that morning. But once we hit the desert it was cool and beautiful. We arrived in Superior about 5:45/6ish and were going to fill up, but it turned out the gas pumps weren't on yet. Bryan had a conversation with the nice man who offered to buy us coffee while we waited about visiting Pie Town and how he (the gas station employee, not Bryan) wanted to move their but his family said that they would not visit him if he did. We fueled up and headed up the road to Globe-Miami for breakfast.

I have said many times, and I stand by my statement, I would rather eat Miami mexican food. However, if we are talking early morning their is no better place than La Luz De La Dia. I always have the Roger. And this inspired me to create my arizona native eggs benidict. (mini fry bread, thin layer of beans, tomato, fire roasted squash, poached egg, creamy sweet corn sauce,diced roasted green chili on top) We then rode through The Salt River Canyon, Pinetop, and Pie Town New Mexico. When we hit Pie Town we had to stop for pie and lunch. They have a pie chart telling you what pies are available that day and I partook of The New Mexican Apple (Apples, Pine Nuts, and Green Chilis) and I also got a great pinon pieolette (pronouced like pilot). Yum on both accounts. This was our Pie and the Sky Tour after all....



We then headed to the Very Large Aray(The sky), which was cool but not really set up for tourists. Mostly I could not believe how big it was (26 miles wide) and that I let Bryan take me on a romantic vacation to look at servers. Seriously. Servers People. I have pictures. But I used my ham radio knowledge to understand what was going on, and even knew some of the big words because of the General Test which we had passed the privious weekend...see the amount of multitasking was crazy that weekend.



Our hotel reservations were in Reserve, NM so we then rode there through some sprinkling rain and made it to Reserve and then the 7 miles to the Hidden Springs Hotel. Unfortunately no one was there, but there was a phone that we were supposed to used to call. So we did and got a "this number has been disconnected" message. So we tried our cells, no service...so we rode 7 miles back into Reserve to the RV Park where we got the information, checked into our room and then left to go have dinner at Ellas. Bryan got a huge Red Chili Burro and I got the Christmas Fries. Awesome. The staff were also super nice and their was a cat. It was so much fun. But unfortunately I had to go back to the hotel (which was extremely cute and not in a girly way and Bryan was happy they had wifi and the router in our room. Always the techie) and do homework till 1 am. But that is why I earned straight A's this summer right? Riiii-ght.



The Next morning we got up and ate at the resturant attached to the hotel. The Adobe Cafe is awesome, really really awesome. Bryan had the breakfast quesadilla (fresh eggs and veggies, and salsa yum and yes he did eat some of his veggies although I ate most of them) and I had the blackberry apple pie. I swear it had an inch of crumble on top and it tasted like pure heaven. Yum!!!!



Then we thought we had some time to kill so we rode down towards Silver City and stopped off at the Catwalk. If you have not been. I highly suggest it. It was built by miners to bring water to the mill. Then in the 40's they added wooden planks so people could hike and today it has been taken over by the forest service...so you are hiking 50 feet above a creek suspended from the canyon walls. So cool.



We found a trail into a cave like area with boulders the size of my house and a pool that we ended up swiming in. We stayed there for like 3 hours and then decided to head back to Alpine AZ. There we ate at the Paisley House (it was purple and white I couldn't believe Bryan went inside let alone suggested it) The food was great and they had a sign that said, "Put on your big girl panties and deal with it" Bryan had the meatloaf sandwich and I had the BLAT and some soup. The pie was not the best, but I also don't like cream pies. We then started on the road from Alpine to Marrinci.



The road was only supposed to take 2 hours. It ended up being closer to 5. It was beautiful and we ended up chasing rabbits, turkey, javalina, and deer on the road. When I saw the deer I told bryan deer. He said what? and I said deer! Then he said what and I pointed and said DEER! Then he got it and ended up chasing it for 50 feet because the road was a cliff on one side and a sheer bit of rock on the other. When the deer finally got away I'm sure it felt better.



When we got to Marrinci we were amazed at how large of an opporation it was. It is huge really really huge. Bryan looked like a 4 year old with a new toy and just kept saying its so f*$&ing huge over and over again. Then we rode into Safford and the sunseting behind the mountains and the thunder storms made them look like they were lit from within. Traveling across country like that makes you realize how small you are and how what is happening in your life really doesn't matter because you are connected to something so vast that is both harsh and breathtakingly beautiful all at the same time.



So we were trying to make it to Wilcox for pie before dark. That didn't happen, and the whole trip we had been chasing storms, but never quite made it. Well the ride from Wilcox to Tucson made up for that. And let me say a couple of things about Wilcox...apparently the only working bathroom that night was at Burger King and they looked at me like I was crazy when I went in with my rain gear and helmet on and told them the lady at the texaco said I had to use their bathroom. Grrr.



So we left Wilcox and got caught in the rain storm. We were doing pretty well until the lightning started to hit less than a mile away and a car went off the road. Thats when we decided it was time to pull over. So we did, and almost got hit by a car. (Bryan can tell more about that story and how he used my dad's choice words quite a bit) So we pulled up under an overpass and climbed under it. We waited for about 2 hours till the storm quited enough so we could move on. We had reservations in Tucson (never again will we get reservations in a big city on a motorcycle trip)



We arrived in Tucson and ate at the Grill and went to bed. Oh I had the peach rasberry pie at the Grill...not the best, but ok. Their tortillini is freaking great though (that's its name Freaking Great Tortillini) Oh and the grill is awesome, but its typical patrons are more cool and hip than Bryan and I. We just looked like a pair of narcs. Tired and wet narcs, but narcs none the less.

The next day we went to the B line to eat breakfast and pie. I had peach which was ok, good flavor heavy crust, and ice cream that was a little too thick. Then it was off to Egees and the Globe Miami Area for Burger House. Oh and get this the Globe schools put a billboard congradulating their baseball team on being state champions up in Miami. Ha too funny. However we didn't make it to Globe. The road was closed and we had to ride in 115 degree weather through Florence to Chandler. When we got to my parent's house bryan jumped in the pool with all of his clothes on. Later we took the bike back to the rental place when it was only 117 degrees out and found out we logged 1100 miles in a little more than 2 days. Crazy.

Then next weekend we went to Too Broke for Sturgus with my Aunt Donna and Uncle Randy where we competed in motorcycle games and now we are searching for a bike.

It's now October and we have found a bike (her name is rosebud and I'm hoping for lots of fun adventures) I have done two expulsions for work and am working really hard. Life is still crazy.
Labor Day we camped on the bottom of the Grand Canyon. It took Charlie and I 5 hours to find it, and bryan was attacked by a bat. It was really hot, but fun. Grace got in the water on her own accord and played in it. It was a really cool experience that made me sweat like crazy.

The next weekend we went to San Diego where we stayed at the Lowes, had lunch underneath the Rotary Christmas Tree on Coronado Island, went to Spamalot, and rented a jet ski. Grace was left with the Loveless Clan where she was fed too much food and loved it.

The year is flying by and every once in awhile I have to remember to type...oh and www.Lovelesschristian.com is back up so check it out for pictures. I'm trying to convience bryan that it needs to be done. Oh and the house still needs to be touched up.

I think I grew in my career, and am growing personally. And on both fronts it sucks. :)