I have to admit it....

You know how Becky likes to do her laundry? Well, I have to admit it, I like to mow lawns. I mow three lawns(two neighbors and mom and dad's lawns) a week and I enjoy every minute of it. Even after a full day of work in the cabinet shop, every Monday, I mow all three lawns in two hours. I mow Neil's and mom's and dad's lawn with Neil's riding lawn mower and the Fore's lawn with our self propelled mower. I even enjoy the self propelled mowers. The riding lawn mower is handy and sure mows the lawn faster. When I get my own house I am going to make sure I have a huge yard, all long green grass, no gardens, no flower beds, because I hate working on flowers and gardens. I love lawns and I am going to make sure it has a sprinkler system(Michael you put it in) to make sure it is all green so I can watch my lawn grow so I can mow the lawn! You guys probably think I am weird but I have to admit it, I really like grass and mowing lawns. Dad is probably going to hate me for this, so is Tony. My boss has the biggest lawn I have ever seen and I was talking to him one day that I mow my neighbor's lawns every week and he told me he would give me a pizza each time I would mow his lawn. He has a John Deere riding mower and a big lawn so I am thinking about it. I would enjoy doing it but I will see if I have time for it. I just don't want to mow lawns instead of biking, that's all. I enjoy biking more than mowing lawns but mowing lawns relaxes me though.

Spin Cycle Mountain Bike Trail Blast!

Yes, we went to Deer Valley again. We went up there for Becky's birthday and it was on her birthday. I went mountain biking in Deer Valley/Deer Crest area while mom and Becky shopped. We all had fun but I think I had the funnest though. This time I went down the Spin Cycle Trail in the Deer Crest area of Deer Valley Resort and went up the Pipeline Trail back to the Snow Park Lodge area. I did two laps and it took me 1 hour and 45 minutes. It was a good pure fun ride. The bottom of the Spin Cycle Trail had some kind of ravine and the trail went up and down like a snowboarder on a halfpipe. I call the section "mountain biker's halfpipe". That was definitely my favorite part of the ride. The climb of the Pipeline Trail was a good climb and a great workout! I have a Spring City Road Ride next weekend with some other people to do a 50 miler, all I have to do is pay $5 for the t-shirt and go ride and have fun. BUT, I rather go mountain biking, I am going because my counselor asked me to come. I hope it will still be fun though. Then Aug. 2, I am planning to mountain bike some more in Snowbasin Resort near Ogden. Keep biking while summer lasts!
This damn huge 22 story hotel is in the way! UUUUUGGGG! You can see the trail right there and I wonder what's going to happen when the building is finished. All well, the Spin Cycle trail goes right through people's million dollar backyards and I am sure the motel people will let this trail ride by too. Park City is like the most bike friendly people I know but I still think they are ignorant. You know? Rich folk.

2008 Barlow Family Reunion: Skyline Drive

Skyline Family Reunion camping spot!

The camping spot is in those patch of trees up the road ahead.
I set up the tent just now so no one else will take it. I hope it will last until Thursday night!
We even got snow right by our spot!

The view looking east(towards Huntington).

Big Pioneer Trail Project....

This is my next project. There is a big swamp about halfway on the Pioneer Mountain Bike Trail in Ephraim Canyon and I have to do something about it. It is always wet and muddy about 50 feet along the swamp area you have to walk or ride through. I am planning to put a big o' bridge over it so you can just ride over it without a single spec of mud on your tires and not ruining the swamp. I am planning to chainsaw a lot of trees and logs to make the bridge frame(put big logs under the bridge frame so the water can flow right under), then put on 14.5 inch 2x4s for the platform(they are about 3 inches apart). I don't know when to work on it but sometime soon, I need some help though.


I bought a Nashbar Cargo trailer for $99 and the cargo net for $6.99 so I can carry the chainsaw and the 2x4s while I ride down the trail. I will ask Cory Gordon for scrap 2x4s they don't want from his construction company(I got a whole bunch last time when I built some other bridges). It should be nice when it is done. The trail is getting really packed down and people are talking about it all the time, even those living up at North. Last Sunday, I rode on the trail and there were forest service guys at the trailhead setting up gps signals for it which they do every year.

Upcoming Trip: Snowbasin

I will go there in late July or Aug. 2 to go mountain biking on some bike trails in Snowbasin Ski Resort near Ogden, UT. They have trails that can go up 4,000 vertical feet from the bottom to top. I'll just go up the highest I can then when I get tired I will just go down on another trail. They have a series of trails all over the resort. I read about it in the Bicycling magazine lastnight and they were talking about Snowbasin mountain biking. Just to let Tony know but he won't agree with it, Outside magazine rated Ogden, UT the 3rd best place to live in the U.S. I don't like Ogden either. Ephraim will always be my number one.

Finally got a car problem....

After 145,000 miles on this '95 Geo Prizm, it got a car problem. I don't know if that is good or bad but I thought it was pretty good after 150,000 miles. When I got home, the car stalled and then I tried to start it, it wouldn't start, so I jumped started it with mom's car then it started then I left it on to recharge the battery then after a few minutes, it turned off. So, I first thought it was the alternator. To make sure, I made sure it wasn't the battery, so I charged it overnight with a battery charger. So, the battery is good. Then next day after work, I barely made it to Auto Zone and had them do some tests on it and they said it could be the alternator. To make sure, I took the alternator off with some help from an Auto Zone guy because the Japenese have to squish all the parts so close together(Toyota engine). It was really hard to take it out. We finally got it out and the Auto Zone guy tested on the alternator tester and it failed. So, it's the alternator! I bought one from there and it has lifefime warranty, that's good news. Then we put it on and now it works great! My first car problem on this car.