100 Miles an hour in every direction

Well, not every direction, but several at least.

Went back the the ranch for Fall Branding a few weekends ago. It gets capitol letters because rather than a chore, it is an event for which we are known. This year proved no exception, as we danced and drank homemade schnapps and shot clay pigeons in the yard, drove the dune buggy, at roast beef, drank beer, roasted marchmellows, and generally had a grand time. Oh yeah, we also rounded up, branded, vaccinated, ear marked, and castrated over a hundred calves. But really that was just the excuse to have a party and invite the neighbors.

Well, the following weekend it was off to Joshua Tree National Park for a music festival with Risa. We volunteered in the medical tent and checking wrist bands, 6 hours each, so we got to get in for free and camp with the artists and workers backstage, and we helped set up the stage and sound system the night before, which was sweeeeet. And the music, wow, stuff like I ain't never heard before. One band in particular, the Carolina Chocolate Drops played everything from the fiddle and lead banjo, to guitar, whiskey jugs, spoons, and mouth harp. And boy did they ever play, and put an a real performance. The weird part was, while watching their set, I kept thinking about how familiar the guy on fiddle was, until I heard his name and realized he lived two doors down from me my first two years in college. Funny thing is, I remember him playing the guitar and harmonica back then, but he wasn't really all that good. Well, times changed.

This weekend was the night scenario for the wilderness medical class I've been teaching, we again simulated a plane crash with 10 victims ranging from evisceration to burned airways, puking head injuries to amputated feet. The students performed well and a good time was had by all.

We should all look so good when our guts are hanging out!

Tour de Fat

There are a few events that truly define Flagstaff. The Flag Mountain Film Festival, the county fair and demolition derby, the pine cone drop on New Years, and salsa dancing on Heritage Square. But none is more quintessential that the Tour de Fat, or Fat Tire Fest as it's known by the locals.

It's about bikes, it's about beer, it's about costumes and a bike parade and drinking in the afternoon while riding in a bike rodeo and watching unicycle jousting and dancing to half a dozen bands.

Sponsored by the New Belgium Brewery of Fort Collins, Colorado, the Tour visits a couple dozen cities in the western US, concluding with a run through Arizona, and that means Flagstaff. For the last who knows how many years, Flagstaff has led every city in the Tour in beer consumption, costume wearing, bike fanatasism, and general debauchery. This year was no exception, as Flagstaff drank over 196 kegs of beer in an afternoon in the park, and saw well over a thousand people/bikes in the parade. Incidently this far outpaces any other city in the Tour, including their home town of Fort Collins. Makes me proud to be from Flag.


Put down the pint glass long enough to take a spin on some of the bikes in the bike rodeo.

Parade registration.

Notice the keg cycle in the left corner. Riding in style, if not with speed.