Bike rides after the big trip...

After my work trip in North Dakota, I definitely wanted to get some riding done while the weather was nice back home in Utah.  It was actually on Thanksgiving Day when I had the chance because I came home on the day before.  I couldn't resist going on a ride on a day like this.  After I ate so much in North Dakota and not getting any intense exercise, I didn't even think about Thanksgiving dinner so I didn't really eat that much for Thanksgiving.  Before the dinner, I went on my usual "moderate intensity ride" I usually go on.  It was great but I felt so out of shape and felt about 5 to 8 pounds heavier.  But I made it just fine though and I wanted to take it easy. 

It was a pretty nice day and it was actually nice all through Thanksgiving weekend.  On Friday, I got to get a Christmas Tree with my family in the mountains.  There was snow but I was in a t-shirt, very nice.  Then on Saturday, I totally went on another ride in the afternoon.  This time I did a ride I haven't done in a long time, part of the Race Loop.  The Race Loop hasn't been ridden on in years since the landowner closed it down, it was actually an atv trail and they didn't want them going up that area anymore.  But for the past few years, I actually talked with the landowners, they are ok with mountain bikers and hikers in the area.  So what if I ride up there again and the trail will be all sweet and all singletracky?  It would be nice though but I don't know if they are ok with that though.  Anyways, I did part of the climb that day and went back down.  I felt better though but I still could be in better shape.  Two weeks of no exercise can totally kill you!

North Dakota Trip and Travels

I got asked to work two weeks to work on a couple projects in North Dakota.  To be exact, it was in Gladstone which is about 10 to 15 miles east of Dickinson.  Dickinson is a big city and Gladstone is a really small town, all it has is a grainery, a bar, and a post office.  It was supposed to be a week and a half we were supposed to be there but our boss extended it so we wouldn't have to come back after Thanksgiving.

We had a Sunday off.  We did actually go to church.  I went in levis though but it was nice to go to church.  We just went to Sacrament meeting, then afterwards, us four guys went for a drive on Enchanted Highway.  It supposed to have the world's biggest metal sculptures.  Here's some pics.

North Dakota has nothing out there and it was very cold with the Canadian winds blowing from north.  We've had some mornings in the negative temperatures and one day the highest it went was 12 degrees.  We spent the first week doing outside work and the cold week doing inside work.  We got a LOT done.

This is one of the two projects.  This one is a pain because this duplex is huge and very tall.  We got a lot done on this one.  We were doing log siding in this picture, also the rear deck.  The other project is a small home about 10 blocks away.  Still have a lot work done on that one too.  They are basically all modulars, we built them in sections in the shop in Mt. Pleasant, Utah and shipped all the boxes up to North Dakota and stitched them up.

On the way home was beautiful.  We drove through Montana, West Yellowstone, and Idaho.  The above pictures are the sun rises at Island Park, ID and the Grand Teton Mountains.  I love sun rises!  We were actually gone from our homes exactly 16 days and I won't do that again.   Well, I got see a coyote and a bison.