Summer is on!

Another long stretch without posting.. As usual that means I've been busy!

Justine and I are still together, and enjoying each other's company. We took a great road trip to Arizona earlier this year, passing through Death Valley and Bootleg Canyon along the way. While there Justine met Win and Mark, and we had a bunch of good adventures together.

Summer has been a blur of friends passing through town, good rides all around Oregon, and lots of work for both of us. Justine found work as a Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) supervisor. She leads an invasive species removal crew, and leads teens all around the area doing just that. I've been at the Mercantile about 40 hours per week. Repairs, keeping it looking sharp, and helping the passers by find good adventures fill my days with smiles and lots to do.

I'm also in the process of putting together a mountain bike race, the FAT55. It is a sampler of many of Oakridges best trails. Starting in Uptown Oakridge it heads up into the hills around town, making a big 55 + mile loop on six of our best local trails before finishing in Greenwaters park. Check out the website @ www.fatfiftyfive.com to see the course map and learn more about the race.

Thanks for keeping tabs on me. I'll try to post more frequently as the fall season comes around.

Eug

First Mountain Bike Ride

I met Justine October 19, 2009. Just having left the garage on my jump bike headed for Diamond Park Jump Track, I hit the little road gap floater behind the cul de sac. At the same time Justine and my friend Brandon Clark were turning into Diamond Park. Justine and I first gazed into each other's eyes that moment, and have been intrigued and entranced ever since.

We connected that day, and continued to build our connection over the coming weeks. As the weeks passed, and we found ourselves growing closer despite the distance between us, as she had gone home to Crescent City, CA and then on to Maui where she had been living earlier in the year. Conveniently, I had planned a road trip to the San Francisco area during November to visit The Family Sard, a family of traveling performers I had met in Oakridge earlier in the summer. Justine was planning to be in Crescent City with family around the time I was returning from San Francisco and we planned a meeting at her family's home.

In the midst of a wintery coastal gale we met, Justine embraced me, and I her, on the shores of the Pacific. We enjoyed the few days we had together there near Crescent City exploring the redwood forests and coast she explored when she was younger, and began to forge a strong bond, united by our common goals and desires.

When the time came for me to return to Oakridge neither of us wanted to leave the other. She came to Oakridge with me that day, and we've been making a home together ever since.

The picture here is of Justine on her first real mountain bike ride. Alpine Trail of course! We climbed the short south facing 5828 climb to intersect Alpine on a warm Decembers day before descending the trail to the Covered Bridge in Westfir, then on up the North Fork Trail to 1910. She rocked it out, only crashing once (into a blackberry briar). Unhurt, she laughed it off, and we had a splendid time.

That's the short story, stay tuned for more!