The Couch

      The view "down the valley" from "The Couch":

      The Couch:

      The Couch. The Couch just plain RuLz.  -Every time I see it--and there have been a few--I am just so taken by . . . the work that went into it; just how good it came out; just how COOL it is ( :) ), etc.  The Couch just plain RuLz.  :) :)

      I asked Robert if he wanted to be photographed on it.  He declined, saying something to the effect of, "Photograph it the way it was meant to be photographed." The Couch just plain RuLz.  :) :)

      A (Final) Detour on the Way Home

      Here is a view of the "cairn" (for lack of a better thing to call it) that Poul and I built---towards the end of the "Murphy Dome Quest" (which took 2 & 1/2 years (!!!!)).  I really have to finish the link on that one---item 1,263 on my "to do list". . . .  :P :P :P :P

      As you can see, it has fallen down.  -Probably due to one or more of the 6+ magnitude quakes we've had in the interim.

      The ride out to here was . . . nontrivial.  :) The trek out here under usual conditions (truck, followed by shoe leather ( :) )), takes no small amount of time.  The bikes got us there in "no time." However . . . getting down that first drop, was . . . um, nontrivial, 'n stuff.  ~:) :)

      The view behind the cairn.  -Again, this view took me over 2 & 1/2 years (!!) to find.  (. . .)

      View of a valley---to the east, I believe. . . .

      View approximately due east. . . . -I think the "radar" dome is in this shot. . . .

      The radar dome---on maximum zoom:

      I'm told that this radar-thingie is part of some something-or-other---that can "see" a bird . . . taking off in Siberia.

      Getting back to the road, I had no small amount of trouble.  I remeber one point, where the bike stalled.  This probably had something to do with the branch, jambed in the frame/chain.  :P ~:) Then, I couldn't get the bike up that aforementioned VERY steep hill.  I just wasn't using the "two-cycle power curve" properly.  (I wasn't starting out fast enough, to keep the RPM's up.) Robert and I discussed this later, and in the course of the discussion asked, "When was the last time you had something between you legs turning 14,600 RPM?" Although I probably shouldn't've said this . . . "Well, not since adolescence." :) :) Fortunately, Robert did see the humor of it--and laughed.  :) :)

      On to the final bit on "Dirt Biking on Murphy Dome" :)