Lifetime Gym Membership

I'd like to share some thoughts about the gym I belong to. The gym I belong to is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The vast majority of the people I meet there are friendly. The cost of a lifetime membership is a bargain: one bicycle, one helmet, and a sincere desire to have fun. The gym I belong to does more than help you realize your potential. It helps you learn you have more potential than you realize. The potential to do epic shit. Here are some photos I took of the gym this morning.

The Love Of My Life

There's a girl I met back in 1979 and the instant I saw her I knew she was the one. It took her about two weeks to realize that about me. We got married 35 years ago today. Here are some of the things I love about her.

 She does crazy stuff.

 She's just as beautiful on the outside as she is in the inside.

She's a straight shooter.

  She likes to try new things.

 She's unafraid to take on any job.

 She only seems to be terrified on the zip line.

She loves to travel.

 She still likes to try new things.

 She's a die hard Cardinals fan.

 She inherited her mom's heart.

 She leaves me notes.

She can run your ass off.

 She still likes to try new things.

 She stuck with me for all these years.

Words cannot express how fortunate I am to be with Kathy.

Mt Spokane Hucklebeary Epic Course Ride

John came over for a couple of days and brought his 29er with him. He wanted to ride the Hucklebeary Epic course with me. Last Wednesday I mentioned riding the course to Glen and he came along too. The course is marked so there's plenty of time for people to try before they buy. The high-60s temp was a relief from the heat wave, but that son went away once we got cranking on some climbs. The the long descent on the backside of the route felt great.The long climb back up, not so much. Any time we stopped we were swarmed by bugs. So we didn't stop very often. On the steeper climbs the bugs could keep up with us, which made me climb even faster trying to get away. It didn't help any but I got up Moose Meadows quicker than last time.

John's obligatory I-rode-Mt-Spokane photo.

Screen capture from the GoPro makes it look like we were racing.

Walla Walla Trip

Kathy and I headed down to Walla Walla for the weekend with our friends, Bob and Donna. Bob and Donna recently celebrated their 30th anniversary and Kathy and I have our 35th on June 29th. We had two goals: ride our bikes and taste some wine. With the high temps in the low 100's we got up early and hit the road by 6:00 am each day. There is some beautiful country down there. We rode south of town and into Oregon through wheat and wine country.

 Lucky for us some other cyclists came by and they took a group shot.

Halfway through our first morning ride we stopped in Milton-Freewater to take a break in the shade right outside the Palm Tavern. No sooner had I leaned my bike up against the building when the loudest diesel pickup truck I ever heard pulled up. The driver turned off the engive so we could hear him talk.

"I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't lean your bikes against my building."

"No, problem," I said. "I apologize."

I checked the directions for the rest of our ride with him and he was off. We felt compelled to take photos of ourselves with the beer drinking frog out front. By the way the Palm Tavern is for sale. And there are no bike marks on the front of the building. Not that you could tell anyway.

The ladies who own the bed and breakfast we stayed at, Woodhaven Inn, recommended a number of wineries for us. We managed to check out six wineries on Saturday. A tasting at each one involves five or six wines. At dinner that evening, Kathy actually said she didn't want to have any more wine. That's not the Kathy we know. Thankfully, she got out of her slump.

Sunday's ride was shorter than Saturday's. We wanted to get back earlier so we could get properly cleaned up for breakfast. And it was hotter. By 8:00 am the temp was in the mid-80's.

Breakfast at Woodhaven Inn was incredible both mornings. It was a shame to be so hungry and then scarf down a plate of food that looked too good to eat.  I apologize for not taking photos.

After breakfast and checking out of the B&B we headed out for more wine tasting. As luck would have it, at one of the wineries this guy was showing off the Self Balancing Unicycle. He and his partner had been on that Shark Tank show and apparently got a deal for some financial backing. I have no idea what he was doing at this particular winery but I couldn't pass up a chance to ride it.

I watched a couple of younger guys try it out under the tutelage of the entrepreneur. I paid attention to what they did and the directions they were being given. When I got on I took off and the guy kept telling me, "Not so fast. Not so fast." And he was keeping a hand on me because he was concerned I was going to crash. Turning with the training wheels was challenging. I was trying to lean into the turn as if the wheels weren't there and that doesn't work well at all. But I could move along just fine. The guy asked if I had experience riding unicycles and I told him I did not. I also told him that he didn't need to hang on to me. He said he did for safety and liability reasons.

The electric unicycle cost $1800. For that amount you can also get a decent bike to commute with. You're not limited by battery life and you don't have to recharge it. It is fun to ride but I can't see one showing up in my garage.

As everybody knows it was hot as blazes this weekend, Here's a shot of my car temperature when we stopped in Pasco for a late lunch.

These are the bottles of wine Kathy picked up yesterday and today that she's keeping. She has eight more that she's giving away as gifts to people at work. I think we did our fair share of supporting the Walla Walla wine economy.

Downtown Spokane

 When you've got no place else to go.

Creative carrying.

Josh's Graduation

We attended Josh's departmental graduation ceremony at UW last Saturday. I really enjoyed it because they didn't take themselves so seriously--teaching staff marching in to Star Wars music--and allowed each graduate plenty of time up front so family could take photos. Josh has a B.S. in Earth and Space Sciences: Geology with a Math Minor and he hopes to become a Licensed Geologist someday. But his immediate plans involve finding employment.

Last year I got to see all the rock samples Josh has in his apartment. It was really cool to see him so excited and verbosely talk about each one. I'm glad he found something to be passionate about that he enjoys.

The graduate.

 High five!

 Amanda and Josh. No word yet on their plans.

Some sibling love.

Street Music Week

I got some practice shooting video with my D7000. Most of it turned out pretty good.

Street Music Sounds from hank greer on Vimeo.

Street Music Sounds from hank greer on Vimeo.

What About Applying Direct Pressure?

There's a former Miss Washington USA by the name of Allyson Rowe who posted something interesting on Facebook, which showed up by chance in my newsfeed because one of my "friends' liked it.

Just now as I was driving, I was forced to stop by a car in the middle of the road, and two gentlemen waving their hands at me. I rolled down my window on the passenger side and looked over and saw a young girl with her head cracked open on a huge rock. She had been hit by a car and left there to bleed all alone. I immediately got out of my car and called 911 and was able to pray over her as they were on their way. She was losing consciousness as her head continued to lose blood. The medics came and took her to the hospital. I don't believe that it was coincidence that I found her there and was able to pray over her. She is a beautiful young girl named Abby. Will you please pray for Abby with me tonight and declare complete healing and that they find the person who did this to her? Comment "praying for Abby" if you will.

The post, edited twice so far, has tons of replies from people praying for Abby. I have a couple of concerns about this post.

First of all, she makes absolutely no effort to do something about Abby's bleeding head wound. Most people would apply direct pressure to slow or stop the bleeding. Secondly, there are no details or requests for assistance. If a little girl is the victim of a hit and run, there's usually a lot of publicity because the police want to locate the person who committed the crime. Allyson doesn't state where the crime occurred and her ministry is in Seattle. There's nothing on the Seattle Police Department Twitter feed. Nor is there a mention of a hit and run on the Seattle Times web site.

Allyson is originally from Spokane so I checked Spokane news sites and the police department. No hit and run involving a young girl.

Given the lack of detail I question that this even happened.

*** Update - Allyson stated this happened at Cliff Park Drive on the South Hill in Spokane.

Who You Gonna Call Indeed

Street Music Week - Day 1

It's that time of year again. The musicians had to brave the heat and will do so again tomorrow. All in all it looks like the week is off to a good start.

Ever Feel Like You're Being Watched