A Day in the Life of MAPP

2012-01-27T09:17:00.002-07:00

TEAM AWESOME!

Winning the mid season tournament. Two games in one night.

Fun Times since the last blog post

2011-11-25T11:14:00.001-07:00

More dirt biking. This is the only picture of dirt biking this summer but man did we do a lot of riding thanks to Keith, Brian, SOB and Jeremy... sucks to be Brad he missed out. We rode this trial quite a bit from No Business saddle along the ridge line where Tamarack resort is and down to cascade. about a 60 mile ride. Oh ya and we leave from the house pretty cool.

Wood Shed Building.

Near Finished Product. Just needs trim.

First day of Kindergarden

Pinkest girl at the rink, what did she win.... more pink stuff.....Awesome! it was breast cancer awareness and some of the proceeds of the weekend hockey tournament and JR Steel heads games went to a good cause.

Go Pokes

GO Aves

September Pictures
Last Hike of the year

Funny family Pictures

Birthday Time first Lauren's 5th birthday. I can't believe it.

Daddy's Birthday

New Brooke Pictures taken in November

Holloween

Full day of school pajama party delirium!

Snow Days. Everyone do the Snow Angel.

Happy snow people

Big sister and little sister on there first joint sled ride I see lots more of this in the future.

Thanksgiving Day skiing. A tradition that lives on even if nobody will join me. The second picture is from the Brundage web cam I called Sony from the top and had her check to see if I was there.

Lauren and Daddy Back packing

2011-08-14T20:22:00.000-06:00

Duck Lake Aug 13 2011 Captions to come

Breakfast of Champions

2011-03-27T09:19:00.000-06:00

Just in case you hadn't heard Muffin Tops is part of a complete breakfast! no joke I just had mine.

New Member of the Mapp Family

2011-03-21T16:54:00.000-06:00

Brooke Teresa Mapp
5 lbs 4 oz
19 in
5-19-11
4 weeks early!

More skiing!

2010-11-29T16:32:00.000-07:00

We had so much fun skiing Thanksgiving day that we decided we should do it again. This time in a new location. We had about 24 inches the week before and then 8-10 inches on Friday night. We didn't expect the quality of snow we found. Enjoy.

Thanksgiving and related fun

2010-11-26T17:02:00.002-07:00

The annual Thanksgiving morning skin and ski. This year we had Jeremy Griffen, Brad and me. It was supposed to be -5 when we started but luckily it was closer to 10 the skin up was a good work out and coming down was pretty good. We have about 24 inches at the top of Brundage so far.

View from the top

Jeremy on his sweet custom homemade split board.

Brad enjoying his second trip up the mountain this year. Also soon to be on ski patrol good thing I can ski faster than him!

Turns on the way down.

We also had an amazing meal made by my amazing wife, I helped by making the green bean cassorol. But I am not sure that is really helpful. more to come.

Lauren 4 Year Pic time

2010-10-29T11:41:00.000-06:00

Here are a few pictures that we took as we do every year for Laurens Birthday.

Moto Dog Beer Idaho 2010

2010-09-15T16:22:00.003-06:00

The yearly Moto Beer weekend has come to a conclusion and it was pretty amazing. We had a showing of the regulars and two new comers. The crew was as follows.

Brian

Sean

Keith

Brad aka the Sheriff

And Me

This year I talked the crew into coming to Idaho for some amazing trails both single track and double track. We have lots of pictures and videos form the weekend as Brian gets to putting together a master video of the weekend I will post on of the single track videos that he left with me.

Day 1
Our first day was lots of organization and bike repair (as usual) we finally got up to the hills for an evening ride. on the way back we ran into Brad who was on his way to camp and was excited to ride his almost paid for new to him bike. I have to say that he bought a 2 stroke which was kind of a shocker to the group of 4 strokers. His bike is a bit louder and has out of control throttle response. We all thought he was going to kill himself in less then an hour on the bike. we were pleasantly surprised when he not only didn't kill himself but picked it up and rode it like a champ.

Day 2
We headed out first thing in the morning (11 am) with a little of Brads help getting us out of bed, and headed for Loon lake to ride some supper fun woops in double track and not to difficult single track. at the end of the trail was the lake and a old air plane wreckidge it was pretty cool to finaly get back and see the plane. on the way back to camp we took a side trip up the single track that I posted the video for above. We then got back to camp and Brian, Brad and I went for a late evening ride up to the look out. We had so much fun that we had to go back to camp and get the helmet cam and do it again. I will get Brian's permission to post this video.

Day 3
We road all over the Burgdorf area up some fun double track switch backs and then over into union valley and back out to Marshal mountain. We then couldn't resist the temptation to go back up to the look out. We were met with an entire gang of land rovers. New ones that had never been off road. at leas they were out there and they moved over for us.

Day 4
After our California friends left and Brad went back to work Keith and I road one of the most fun and at the end more difficult trails that I have ridden so far. it was amazing here are some of the pics.

Here is a map of the days and trails that we rode.

More to come not to long from now. I promise.

Wilf Links to other people paying there respects

2010-07-21T13:36:00.000-06:00

Wilf Struck Memorial - Vancouver
http://www.premiumexploration.com/wilf-struck-memorial-vancouver

Wilf Struck Tribute site
http://memorial.yourtribute.com/wilfstruck/photo.aspx?PhotoId=15332

Team Rubberhead
http://www.teamrubberhead.com/events_and_info.html

I also wanted to Thank everyone that was responsible for putting together such a great memorial at Sams tap room and the funeral services were very well done and the way Wilf would have wanted it.

Wilf the man the myth the legend

2010-07-08T14:00:00.005-06:00

This last weekend a close friend and someone that I have looked up to for quite some time passed away. Wilf Struck was killed while driving home from Canada to be home for his fourth of July party. He was killed by a drunk driver who lost control of his car and hit Wilf while he was riding his motorcycle.

Wilf had always lived life on the edge but at the same time had an eye for cation. He was 51 years old and would be the first to push the limits of dirt-biking, snowmobiling and off-roading. Because of that he often led others to places they had never been or thought they would ever go, most times in ways they never thought they would get there. This mentality is what gained recognition as "Getting WILFED!" always an adventure but everyone always returned home safe and with a smile on there faces. Wilf was the basis for many joyful storys told around Sam's Tap room and and any other place where friends gather, due to the wild adventures that most had experienced while enjoying Wilf's company.
Wilf also had another side, the family man side. This may have been the most admirable trates that Wilf possesed. I think for me he symbolized the true family man. He was on the road for work quite a bit but always had his family as the top priority. He would drive hundreds of miles to make it home for one of his daughters events or to make it home to spend quality time with his family. He also incorporated his family in everything that he did. I remember him and the family driving there old jeep with the two girls Clair and Victoria in the back seat with the top off heading off-roading. I also have a picture of him taking his girls snowmobiling, what a trip that must have been. When I purchased Wilf's snowmobile from him he told me if I ever took Lauren out on it to not freak out if I happened to be driving along and the sled mysteriously died. It had happened to him plenty of times. He said that the culprit was normally that one of the girls had fallen asleep and their helmet had pushed the kill switch on the sled (useful information, and something only one that had done this plenty would know!). It is for these girls and is wife Cathy that I am most saddened by, because to have a father and a husband like Wilf would have truly been the best. My deepest sympathy goes out to them.

A few things that Wilf has taught me about life:

Never give up. Even if you are laying under your snowmobile or dirt bike and you don't think you can go any farther you can! and you will be happy you did.

Always greet people like they are your best friend and with a smile. Even if that person is calling you an undercover BLM agent (I didn't even know the BLM had undercover agents)

Live every day to the fullest. Especially if you are at work because work doesn't always have to be work. Enjoy it because this is life we don't get another one.

Your Family is always the most important. I was in Elk City with Wilf staking claims and we had to stay a little longer than originally thought which put me close to missing my anniversary. When I told Wilf that I may miss my anniversary if we had to stay much longer his response was that we would be back no matter what. He never batted an eye at dropping what he was doing to help someone else out.

Wilf your larger than life smile, endless love for live and passion for the outdoors will be greatly missed.

If you have any stories that you would like to share with others leave them in the comments section of this blog. I would also like to get some photos of Wilf enjoying life to share at his funeral or memorial service so if you have any sent them over and I will put them together in a slide show to share. I will also add any pictures to the bottom of this blog.

337 Maki

2010-05-06T15:29:00.006-06:00

For those of you that know we have been looking at homes for quite some time, not to jinx this or anything it is looking like we are in the final moments of buying a house! I will post more later and let you all know when it is a done deal. Enjoy the pics.

Master Bedroom

Master Bath

Dining Room / Breakfast Nook

Garage ! Huge

Looking East not the most aesthetically pleasing but we can work on that.

Upstairs office or guest room or bedroom or all at once!

Second Bedroom (Lauren's room) Paint is a must!

Bathroom #1

Looking East from Driveway

Looking Southwest at No business mtn

Looking Northeast

Living Room with Wood stove

Kitchen

Garage

Canada skiing but no Beavers?

2010-02-18T08:33:00.023-07:00

Day 1:

Day 2:

Day 3:

Day4:

More videos at youtube, better viewing!

Garrett Skiing Asulkin Valley

Garrett Skiing Balu Pass day 2

Brad skiing Last day

Brad Skiing BC Asulkin Valley

Brad skiing Balu pass

Garrett Skiing Rogers Pass day 4

Skiing near Beaver dam Peak

2010-02-08T11:23:00.009-07:00

After 20 miles or so of sledding we got to the skin track that we were looking for. A route up the north face of Beaver Dam peak. Here we are suiting up.

We had skinned about 4 miles this day and Brad had warn these pants about 4 times before he realized that there was something in his pocket. Yes those are the tags. He feels very Gang Star!This is the very top of where we were planning on going. We didn't even get close.

After seeing this we were glad we didn't get much closer. Looks to me to be a Crown about 100 - 150 ft wide then slid about 200 yards. Looks like some ridge top wind loading to me.Here is a Video of Brad Skiing the lower section of or ski out.

Mackinaw Hockey

2010-01-25T09:54:00.003-07:00

This is the hockey Team I played with this weekend the McCall Mackinaw. we had a great time and took 3rd in the tournament. I will post more videos and pictures as I get a chance. I am #10 in Black, Brad is #23. Police officer Pete is #12, and Jeremy is #14.

Just Because.

2010-01-15T09:56:00.005-07:00

These are video's of Wilf riding last year on top of Beartooth pass. The title of the blog kind of says it all.

Wahoo a new post Back by somewhat popular demand

2010-01-09T14:23:00.004-07:00

I am on a pretty good run for 3 postings a year I figure I should put up a new on seeing how the last one was mid summer. I am that bad! Seeing how pictures are worth a thousand words I will start with some pics. Starting with the oldest to the newest.

I don't know if you can see this but this is one of the best imprompto tools ever a socket shoved in the but end of a hammer (multi Tool!) We were going on a camping trip with or friends the Griffin's when Jeremy lost a tire on there camper so we had to do some road side mechanics.

This is Jeremy my ID riding buddy sweet 2003 KLX 350 that poor's gas at an amazing rate out of the carbs. needs to be fixed. this is the bike that Brad broke the shift lever off while trying to get it into first. crazy.

Oh XR 500 how I love you. and if you can see the two red toyotas in the background not bad either.

These were our camping buddies Lauren is trying out some new cammo.

Here Lauren has found a cool fuzzy catopiller.

Don't be fooled these are 10 AM roasted marshmellows never a bad morning treat!It was Laurens Birthday in October she is three and what three year olds birthday would be complete without a worm cake. Another one of Sony's amazing cakes.

Now we come to October. This is Lauren in her Halloween costume. yes it is a fairy princes. Got to love having a girl!

Next is my Birthday surprise and man was it a surprise I had no idea what we were doing all I was told was to pack a bag for 2 days and to bring warm clothes and my fishing gear. One the way out of town we pulled off the road to pick up a hitch hiker that ended up being Brad. who we some how crammed in the car with all of us and cooper and all of our stuff. We ended up in Missoula to a "cabin" on the Bitterroot river were we were greated by great friends and family. it was an awesome weekend.

For Holloween the guys dressed up in mullit wigs and hockey jerseys

And the ladies were retierd Hooters girls. Awesome.
Some many candles you can see the Heat waves.

Cheers to you Ehy

If your not going to catch fish at least you can make them jealous.

Christmas time now.

Sony and Lauren in front of our charlie brown tree.

We went to Colorado for Christmas this year which was really fun because we were able to celebrate my mom's 60th birthday a little late but still fun.

My mom got us tickets to an aves game so we got suited up and headed out. I let mom were the new colorado jersey were I wore the classic jersey. that way she wouldn't feel old.

We had awesome seats. about 10 rows up and right behind the goal.

This is our Christmas family photo. Notice how awesome my folks tree is. they even had things that turned the ornaments around when the lights are turned on that is first class.

Dad and I took Lauren Sledding at my old highschool she was a bit scared at first but when she figured out how fun it is she didn't want to stop.

Santa is no fool! pbr for all, and 8 carrots for the reindeer.

Lauren emptying her stocking she was loving Christmas morning. It is lot of fun watching her open presents and getting way into it.

Santa brought Lauren a dress up box and Grandam couldn't let Lauren have all the fun.

How do you bag a Hippie..... give her a bivy sack!

A present for the entire family.

When we got home from CO Lauren got her new skis and we headed to the hill. The little ski hill here opens at 3 and is open till 8 and has lights so cool.

she has moved up to skiing at Brundage and loves the chair lift. we got her a harness so we can hold her back. she is doing good turning and we will just forget about stopping.

Dirty bikes and clean beer

2009-07-21T21:08:00.001-06:00

How about them apples.

and just so the suspence can continue I will post more later. AKA COMING SOON!

I love this photo Keith and Brian smile and point and Joe takes a leak!

coming sooooon!

Ok finaly here is the final story.

Leave McCall...1:30PM

Head south to Ceder City Via Salt Lake.

Drive as fast as possible for 13 + hours

knowing that friends are already at camp site and drinking beer.

dam.

must drive faster....

dirt bike and all nessisary camping gear is loaded in the truck and CB radio is tuned in for all trucker talk. wouldn't want to mis any news.

this is the first person I see when I roll into camp. at 3am with beer in hand for me LOVE it.

our lovely camp

Whos got two thumbs and loves dirt biking and beer THIS GUY!

And then there were the steads.
one '83 XR 500

One 19?? Yamaha 426One sweet Husky

then there is always bike repair
Post bike repair Post morning beers Post mid day breakfast curently waiting for Brian to finish taking stuff off his bike. this is what happens.

I will introduce the culprits.
JOE. AKA Garilla on a tricycle.

Brian AKA FORD (fix. or. repair. Daily)
Keith AKA If it can be fixed we may as well do it twice. ie two flat tires on one ride.

Me and Old reliable.

The Gang.
Now some sweet riding pics.

Then there was the great debocle.
Who the, What the, Oh shi!! I guess we will walk.

and then this is for Lauren who called and asked for a pink dirt bike. this was the best I could find on such short notice.
From about five miles from our camp you can see Zion National Park. in the background of the photo.
this was me driving back to McCall I am sure I was quite the sight at all the gas stations. I am sure there were plenty of worried parents.

maps of fun

2009-06-20T16:55:00.000-06:00

So I have been trying to get as much riding in as I can, in preparation for meeting the boys in St.Gorge UT for a sick weekend of riding. I am so far worthless but am planning on riding a ton to get used to riding and get my upper body in shape for the abuse. as for the liver I know there is not enough prep work that can be done at this point. I have let my tolerance level fall to unbelievable lows. So I have been mapping my latest rides mainly so I don't get lost but also so I can have a record. last weekend was a seventy six mile ride from my door and back see map. this is just a map of the 16 miles of single track that was full of woops and then bridges over bogs it was way to fun.
Then today to get out I went exploring to find some more single track or just anything. see map.
I can't wait to spend tons of time exploring around here there is WAY to much riding to be had and tons from my door. I will try to post more maps as the time comes, maybe the next ones will be from southern UT. I can't wait.

Recent goings on

2009-04-20T20:30:00.000-06:00

Lauren On her first harley. This was taken on our trip to Cour D'Alane it was so nice to get our of the snow and into the nice and sunny weather

our hotel was on the lake which was really cool we were able to go for walks on this huge dock every evening.

and this is the new back country ski spot and yes the exciter not only made it there it pulled Brad my ski partner up there not bad for a sled that is 20 years old!

And then we skied it! and it was awesome next week I plan to head to the summit and ski the entire bowl!
PS I have no idea why some of my text is blue and underlined I will try to figure it out.

skiing Brundage

2009-03-10T21:20:00.001-06:00

Here are a few pics and a video to keep you busy.
New Pow!

Perfectly spaced trees with little drops all over.

the good the bad and the beautiful

2009-02-05T19:38:00.001-07:00

First the sweet snow sculptures.
This is the detail of the trees holding up the tower!

This dragon stands about 30ft tall.

This is a Wizard pretty awesome

Now the Bad. So yesterday I got rear ended by some guy in a jacked up F250 his tow rings hit my bumper thank fully I have a mettle bumper I couldn't imagine how this would have looked if it was plastic.

and now the beautiful my baby Lauren and my work set up.

Up and Running

2009-01-19T16:27:00.001-07:00

Well I now have all the necessities at the house in McCall. Cable TV and internet so we are good to surf and chat! So as I promised here are some pics that I have taken so far. I need to get a pic of the ice skating rink as well.
first pics are of the truck.

This is the entire shit show not including the dirt bike that was also on the trailer!
this is where Cooper stayed you can see his bed in the back seat.
As you can see from this end of the pic that my packing skills are some of the best and I found out when I got into town that my underwear were proudly on display for about 15 hours! you can see them here above the boot.and as you can see cooper kept up running behind the car the entire way. JJ
And now some pics of the house we will start with the back yard.
The inside.
and the outside.
Today we went for a xc ski to get both of us some exercise and talk about frost Hoar this is amazing the stuff is about an inch tall. watch out when this gets covered with more snow!
and moreit is sooo cool.

new home in McCall

2009-01-19T08:48:00.000-07:00

Hey there all I have officially arived in McCall ID, well Me and Cooper at least and all of the gear that we could stuff in the truck and trailer. Which as you can imagine due to my great eye for space was quite a bit of gear. so with in 48 hours of getting into town we had xc skied and played hockey and rented a house. A very nice house if I do say so myself. As the way things have gone with this move we are pretty close to selling our house in RL as well so Sony and Lauren will be able to join Cooper and I sooner than later which I am excited for. I am curently sitting in the Garocery store parking lot seeing how I don't have internet at the house yet so when I get more situated I will post some pics and so on.

Colder then a Witches ti??y in a brass Bra

2008-12-14T08:55:00.000-07:00

Well it is officially the coldest day of the year it was -18.5 when I got up this morning and not supposed to get above -10 oh don't you wish you were here! So what am I going to do today? reasonable responses would be:

1. sitting on the couch drinking hot chocolate and baileys
2. any thing indoors
3. not getting out of bed

but I am not doing any of these reasonable things, I am going to go get a Christmas tree with my father in law then going down to the rink to do some maintenance. I think I must be sick! I will blog later today with an update if I survive!

Ok I am home. Rink done and X-mass tree found now only -10. I am going to go find that couch and hot chocolate!

Happy Birthday Mom!

2008-12-11T07:59:00.000-07:00

Here are a few videos for your birthday.

Happy BIRTHDAY MOM we Love you!

More snow pics

2008-10-20T09:23:00.000-06:00

So I need to post a few skiing pics of cooper in 4 feet of snow and I have finally purchased a new pair of skis first time in 5 years I can't believe I haven't bought a new pair for that long.

Cooper struggleing in the 4 feet of snow

Having more fun
Lauren pulling Penguin in the sled

The new sticks

Snow Day

2008-10-11T17:12:00.000-06:00

Believe it or not we have now received about 2ft of snow! over the past 24 hours. I have had face shots while riding two different vehicles, one was the snowmobile and the other one was the truck, while trying to get into our parking area. by the way the snowmobile is RIP'N! I can't wait to take it out for a ride maybe tomorrow if I am not skiing. Here are afew pics of the day.

Lauren shoveling

Snow piling up.

and more!

Jackson Trip

2008-09-17T09:16:00.000-06:00

Well I guess I am keeping to my one blog a month theme here not that that is the intent but that seems to be my frequency. So over the last month we have been all over the place, but the best so far was Sony and I went down to Jackson Hole last weekend for a weekend of biking and camping just the two of us it was kind of weird we were trying to figure out the last time we had camped alone without a child or a dog. It must have been years ago! so here are a few pics of our trip, due to the fact that our small camera was in the shop getting repaired we only had the big monster camera so we didn't take it biking unfortunately because we went on some beautiful rides. I would have to say that the highlight of our trip besides being able to have some alone time with my amazing wife was the camp sight we had. here is a panoramic from were our tent was.
Here is a pic of the happy couple.

The only problem with the trip was that I was in search of a hamburger the entire time with no luck. We even tried to hit the last resort Grizzly Pad in Cooke City but when we opened the door there was a guy sitting in his lazy boy where the kitchen used to be and Sony said "we were looking for the restaurant" and the guy said "I guess they remodeled" WHAT? I was really funny. Needless to say I didn't get my burger, I am still in search of it.

So just in case I don't blog for another month Oct 4th is L's 2nd birthday and it is going to be quite the party. I will write and let you know how it went until then have a good one.

Had to have the quintessential Jackson Hole picture.

rainbow from the spray of Yellowstone falls

A parting shot of Sony enjoying the view from camp.

Fire and Smoke

2008-07-31T11:08:00.000-06:00

Just an update as of right now Red lodge doesn't look like it is going to burn up but it is a good possibility that our ski area will be excellent glade skiing for the next 100 years. The fire spread into coal creek drainage last nigh but luckily only a small amount so hopefully it will stay out. so I figured I would put some pics up for all to see.

The Atom Bomb that is Red Lodge.

Fire seen from the golf course

Fire with Sunset

The Mountain bike dictionary

2008-07-10T13:48:00.000-06:00

The Mountain bike dictionary this is really funny but they are missing a few major words let me fill in the blanks.
Beaver Reliever - A bike seat made specifically for women
Chode Channel - A bike seat made specifically for Men.
Jet Propultion - the act of propelling ones self with a gust of wind from his or her back end. (farting)

Most Beautiful bikes EVER!

2008-07-10T11:46:00.000-06:00

This is a bike painting company that has painted frames of all sizes and shapes. They have done unbelievably beautiful work. check them out. click here . When I find that perfect ride which I think I have and I find an unbelievable amount of money just hanging around needing a good place to go I may have to give it to these guys.

Wilfed? and more!

2008-07-06T14:44:00.000-06:00

So I know I am a bad person with lots to write about and I have been doing a poor job of writing stuff down.

So in the department of Getting Wilfed, I got back the week before last from a trip to Elk City Idaho just in time for our anniversary June 25th the only thing is that we were supposed to be back 5 days earlier, though not really getting Wilfed it was pretty close, we had lots of work to finish up and the head guy for mining in the BLM was going to be in Elk City so it would be a good idea for us to hang around and chat, so we did. I would have rather been home with the fam but that is the way it works some times.

Some claims staking pics
This tree must have had two branches that when it fell went on either side of that far off tree and this tree split for about 30 ft down the trunk.

An old truck that I came across from what I understand it was once owned by a guy named Pork-chop. Any questions, I think not! This is what we were doing only a little bit more high tech this is a claim can that was nailed into this tree about 70 years ago you can see that the tree has grown around the can and the paper work is still in the can. I tried to pull the paper out but it was stuck due to the tree growing into the can.

Some of the crazy turns of events while we were there went like this. A bear ate the seat of the 4 wheeler, due to the fact that Wilf told us we hadn't hidden it good enough the night before we found a really good place that day that nobody but the bear would find. We got stuck in a snow drift for a little over an hour where I dug us out while wearing my Chacos. Jane and I broke out the rear side window of the Jimmy trying to drive around a downed tree, we made it earlier that day I guess it moved while we were out. Wilf got rear ended in Missoula buy a drunk driver that was missing some pieces to his grill and then grill on the car he was driving, due to the trailer hitch there was no damage to the huge white truck we were driving (the white wale) and the drunk guy leaned out his window and said " I'm cool if you are?" and Wilf said "I'm cool" so we went our separate ways. I think that was all the excitement. Here is a pic from Wilfs house in Elk City.

Oh ya sorry about the bad photos I was using my phone due to the fact that I forgot my camera. This is a pic of a sign on the way to Wilfs house in Elk City.

That brings me to the next Wilfed story I just got back from a dirt bike ride out in the desert by Belfry it was a nice day sunny a small breeze and then the Wilfing began the first climb I made it maybe 20ft up and then it was a shit show and I ended up all over the place. I took so long getting up Wilf came back to see if I was still alive. We staid on the trail for a little bid and headed down the Elk Basin single track which is tons of fun until they saw some trial over there that they thought would be fun and across the prairie we went not easy! down riven's and back up I think we crossed more trails than we rode. Here is a pic of Wilf and Jarby they went down this riven that I wasn't even going to try.

So went around. I had an excellent dismount after this aways I was headed up a pretty steep trail and I hit a rock with the front end and went over the back as the bike followed me, I was laying on my back and looking at the bike coming back down on me and gave it a really nice Karate kick and the bike landed in the sage brush to the side of me gas poring every were. when we finally got back on the trail we ripped it up and it was a blast.

Fourth of July. Lauren loved waving to people and horses.
And Camping anyone who can name that campsite gets 10 points.

Lauren's first campfire she kept saying hot and blowing on the fire which was great help getting it started but we got a little worried later on when the fire got big and she kept trying to blow it out.

Good stuff

2008-05-22T13:06:00.000-06:00

Ok just in case you care, but most won't these t-shirts are really funny in a really geeky way.

http://gisnuts.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=SFNT&Store_Code=GN

Summer?

2008-05-18T21:57:00.000-06:00

So wow I guess winter is done for a few days and it is full on summer now. Today in RL it was around 70 which is way hot for this time of year. Yesterday Mike and Kris and Sony and I went for a ride in the desert in one of our favorite locations Elk basin the temp was pretty warm but not bad seeing how we went late in the afternoon. The riding was so good and the weather so nice that I decided to have another go at it today but we got a late start and ended up in weatherman's draw at about noon WOW HOT! I would say in the 90's the riding was good I even got to ride a slick rock half pipe not to bad.

So seeing how it has been forever since I have posted on my blog I figured I would give you faithfull people (keith) a treat of a video for your viewing pleaser. It is of Lauren of course.

Oh ya and there is a new addition to our family!

Yep it is a 1995 Toyota Taco 6 cylender extended cab with a topper!

Long Time No Write

2008-04-14T11:49:00.000-06:00

Sorry to all for the lack of posting I have actually been working my ass off these past few weeks since my last post. Also lots of things have changed. First and foremost is my job I am now working for one of the people who I first meet here in Red Lodge Wilf Struck I am working as a consultant so I have had to set up my own consulting company will all the proper forms and taxes that that includes. lots of fun with that. As far as the job is concerned I am really enjoying it I have been overwhelmed with the amount of work to do so that has been great. I can now also say that I have gotten paid to go snowmobiling! I had to leave town last week kind of last minute and head to ID to help Wilf with some public meetings over a mine that one of the companies that we work for is proposing to put in in Elk City ID. so after 11.5 hours of driving we arrived in the bustling metropolis of Elk City all of 200 max people. More about that later but I will finish catching you up as to our goings on first.

We played in another Hockey tournament last weekend in billings and it was much better then we had originally planed for. The reffing that had been horrible last year was only somewhat bad this year and last years problem of people jumping from team to team was also dealt with so that was cool. But unfortunately Team RL is still with out an official win (unless we are on home ice!) we lost Friday night 4-6 and then sat morning we played a dam good game in the morning and ended with a 9-9 score not bad, we must have spent all our energy because we got spanked on sat night in front of 20 or so hard core RL fans 11-3. Sunday morning we played for the 7-8th place in the tournament and ended up loosing 4-7 we really could have won but ended with 2 empty net goals. oh well it was a good time.

There is also a farewell to a good friend, Christy my parents dog and my dog growing up had to be put to sleep this morning so my feelings go out to my parents and my sister she will be dearly missed. it is amazing how much you miss a dog that will roll in anything and the stinkier the better there was one time that I remember backpacking with her in the Flattops Wilderness and she must have rolled in some rotting carcus OH MAN that smell brought tears to my eyes I had to get in a mtn lake that must have been 34 deg and washed her off but the smell didn't go away and we had to sleep in a tent with her that night man you thought dog farts were bad that was the worst. She was the most loving dog I have ever known so excited to see everyone especially Stu, man she would get so excited she pee on the carpet before he even got to the door.
Christy we will miss you.

On the Dog health note we happy to let you know that Cooper is doing great and has not had any more seizures so that is awesome. I think he is really enjoying the medication seeing how we have to give it to him with food he now gets hot dogs twice a day.

Well that is all the news for now I will be bloging more as we go and will elaborate on some of the stuff above and will add pictures later.

FOR MY DOG!

2008-02-27T09:46:00.001-07:00

This post is for Cooper who is more than just our best friend and mans best friend but Laurens big brother.
Cooper you have been there for Sony and I through good times like our biking trip around the west and all the hikes and Skiing trips since then. You have made life better during the hard times always happy to see us with unconditional love. Your are the best judge of charicter that I know (who would have guessed Mark and Doug were such bad people?). I PROMISE to take you for more walks and play with you as offten as I can. You deserve every minute of it!

For those of you that don't know Cooper suffered 5 major seizures yesterday. The first he was when I came home from lunch and had gone inside to check on Sony we heard something in the yard and saw him laying on the ground we ran out and when sony touched him he jumped up and freaked out bearing he teeth and foaming at the mouth, he was barking really furoshusly it was really scary he didn't know who we were. once I got him to calm down he realized who I was and was his loving self but really scared. we went back inside and about 10 min later he went down again. It was really hard to watch! we rushed him to the vet were he had 2 more. It took them 4 doses of Viciden to calm him down, and then more drugs to finally get him to sleep. we took him home 3 hours later he was still hardly able to walk because of the drugs but seems to be shaping up, and hasn't had another seizure since yesterday. The vet tested him for anti-freeze and that came back negative so we are waiting for the blood tests to come back which should be later today. To be honest it I hope it is something that can be fixed with a few drugs because cooper is only 6 and has lots of healthy years left with us. Unfortunately it could also be a brain tumer which is some thing that drugs can help with and he may live for quite some time but who knows. We are just waiting and keeping our hopes up for now. so any one with some prayers left sent them Coopers way he needs as much as we can give him!

WE LOVE YOU COOPER!

Bozeman Hockey tournament

2008-02-18T13:51:00.000-07:00

So it has been a long time since I have entered anything in my blog and for that I apologize. I have been busy doing lots of stuff but not a hole lot worth writing about you know the day to day grind. But last weekend we took a team from Red Lodge to Bozeman for a hockey tournament it

was a great time. I had the best chearing section (check out the jersey).

The refs were really good which was a pleasant surprise due to the completely honorable job the refs in billings did during the tournament there last year. So Red Lodge tied one game and lost 3 doesn't sound so good but we only lost by 2 goals to the defending champs and tied the team that is mainly made up of guys from Summit Bike which felt pretty dam good!
Then we played the Wood Peckers from Missoula they had a few ringers and one guy must have scored at least 5 of there 7 goals. (tournament rules allow one person to only score 3 goals) when I asked the ref how many goals the guy had scored the ref said "I will ask" assuming he would ask the score keeper I said " sounds good" he proceeded to ask the player how many he had scored! the player obviously answered "only 2" ummmm? anyone else see a problem with this? so what ever. So after losing that game we were in a 3 way tie for who would play for 7th-8th and who would play the 10th place team for 9th-10th. so in true hockey fashion we held a drinking contest at center ice. we lost so we played for 9-10. early Sunday morning. after staying in the locker room until 3am drinking the team pretty much defeated ourselves 7-1 Sunday morning. We lost to a team that had only scored 1 goal the entire tournament until we played them. Amazing.

Weekend to Cooke

2008-01-29T08:34:00.000-07:00

So this last weekend Sony and Lauren headed to MN and I went to Cooke City to hang with the rest of the minisotans that weren't in MN. The skiing was good even though we stuck to low angle tree skiing and only got 4-5 runs in it was good snow. The other fun part of the trip was the sweet new sled that Jason picked up for me in bozeman and brought over. It is a 1987 Yamaha exciter 570 sounds pretty sweet doesn't it! well it would be if it ran a little better. If you stop on it it doesn't want to go again so it is full throttle all the time and when it gets up to speed it will go but it doesn't have that drag racer start that is for sure.
The 80's were the best decade for motorized vehicles! 83 xr 500 and 87 exciter! and if I only still had that 89 Trooper we would be styling! I may have to get a bright orange jacket.
Ya its liquid cooled. and bored out to 600. lots of power once it gets going. and like the bike it burns a little oilSo as you can tell I didn't take a single picture the entire time we were in Cooke. The weather was extra shitty on Friday and sat with winds blowing at 30-40 mph and snowing hard and then Sunday was clear and beautiful but I didn't take the camera I don't know why I am kind of kicking my self because it was awesome.

FINALLY POW

2008-01-21T09:22:00.000-07:00

So we here in RL finally got snow and lots of it they (the mtn) is claiming 50" in the past 7 days but I am not sure that is the truth it may be a streach but still the skiing on friday and sat was AMAZING and her is my happy powder face.Friday was pretty cold so there wasn't a lot of people up there but Saturday was a little warmer and the masses were out in full force. still not packed and the skiing and friends were great. Sunday was -5 all day so we decided staying inside was the best idea and it worked out pretty good I would say. I was trying not to leave the house all day but ended up having to go out to have dinner at Mike and Kris's house. That was some good food thanks guys. just as the cabin fever was setting in you guys saved the day. I cant wait to get Lauren out on skis so we can all have this much fun as a family! I guess that means I need to get some four legged skis... ponder ponder?

Hockey pains

2008-01-12T14:57:00.001-07:00

Not much that needs to be said about this. but I love hockey even though it hurts some times.
I am self medicating with beer so no worries!

Boody

2008-01-07T17:39:00.000-07:00

So as per keith's request here are the new booties. PBR for scale. oh ya and these boots are standard issue lawn dart paraphernalia.

Delinquency

2008-01-07T11:17:00.000-07:00

I have been delinquent on my blog for the past few weeks dew to the craziness of the holidays and other such stuff. So you can imagine we have not been board. We had a fun new year, Emily and two of her friends came down from Bozeman and took Sony out to the bars so I got to hang out at home and drink beer with Kim to bring in the new Year! as usual Emily left a bottle of Appltini at our house so I am sure that will be here till the next new year.

We went to Cody WY yesterday for some XC skiing and swimming at there incredibly cool pool. We skied at the Pahaska tepee trails which are really nice and Lauren did unbelievably well in her trailer even talking and laughing at times so we took her to the pool afterward.
She loved watching all the other kids splash around. the pool is really shallow at one end so she could walk around in the water which was really cool.

Oh ya we were in billings last weekend as well and picked up a one piece pajamas for kim it was really funny. Totally worth the $8!

Our two babies.

Lauren Dances to Treadmil video

2007-12-27T11:18:00.000-07:00

This is a video response to Keith's treadmill video!

Skiing and Beer

2007-12-22T21:40:00.000-07:00

Hey there so a few cool things have happened lately one is the new keggerator that was donated by Justin Moore (well the fridge part) and I bought the parts but it is up and kick'n. We here at 602 s Mcgillen are currently poring some Red Lodge Ales IPA! pretty sweet.

The second cool thing is that I got to ski some POWDER today and it was free, sweet. I have a deal with Red Lodge Mountain were I shoot photos for passes so not to bad. even thought the snow was nice it isn't to deep so we hit lots of rocks. Still a good day of skiing.

Sweet Groomers DUDE!
OH YA! The goods.

Time for one of those cold beers!

Skier vs Avalanche

2007-12-19T11:48:00.001-07:00

Nick Baldwin and Mike Newdgent in an avalanche on the back side of Bridger Bowl.... Momentary laps of reason.

Bla Bla Bla

2007-12-19T11:36:00.001-07:00

Nothing new to report from the MT strong hold. Kim Showed up this weekend and is now fighting Cooper for ever inch she can get of the futon which seems to be working fairly well and he makes for a pretty nice bed warmer seeing how the Guest room/ porch / Kim's room is not insulated very well it isn't as warm as the rest of the house. Having Kim around is awesome hopefully we can take advantage of her and maybe Sony and I can get out and do something while she is around. Kim is working at Sylvan Peak for the break were she instructs the tourists as to what down jacket to buy and big fluffy hat will go best with there Ugg boots. not a bad job for x-mass break. Oh ya and she gets pro-form discounts while working there and full use of the rental Tele fleet so she will probably take advantage of that once or twice.

I have been helping out he Search and rescue here in town and gave a presentation on a avalanche that took place in the bridgers a few years ago that two of my friends were in. We also watched a movie at the meeting called "A dozen more turns" anybody that skis in the back country needs to see that movie it is a great movie about a group of friends all will lots of back country training and skill and one had his masters in snow science all of them from Bozeman. An avalanche on there last day killed one of them and broke another s leg so bad it needed amputation, but not to focus on the bad. It was an eye opener to all for sure. Jeff Gildahouse the head of recreation at the forest service in town also gave a great presentation that included a film by the Utah back country association that was really good.

On a lighter note I got the kegerator finished and I will be buying the keg in the next few days to put in there I can't wait to have a keg on tap at home! I just don't know which of Sam's beers to put on tap first I was thinking IPA but if anyone has any other ideas I am open to suggestions. They did just come out with the chocolate stout (dam good) but it would take months to finish that off.

And just in case I don't get to talk to blog again before x-mass have a MERRY Christmas and a HAPPY New Year!

Weekend Fun

2007-12-11T10:01:00.000-07:00

Sorry it has been awhile since the last post but we have been pretty busy. Tis the season for running around like maniac so we did that well. this last weekend we were in Bozeman we started out the weekend by having a wild game night at Amy and Jason's house with lots of friends. Now if you think like I do you thought that wild game night is were you play twister and spin the bottle and weegie board but I was pleasantly surprised to find out that it meant game as in stuff that runs around in the wild until some crazy guy with a gun or bow shoots. so we had Antelope witch Jason cooked up amazing, there was some elk BBQ we brought some smoked pheasant and a lot of other mystery meat that I didn't know what it was but it was all delicious! and with all the beer and old fiends I hadn't seen since I left it was a great time. Lauren was were she loved to be the center of attention and had a great time running around. It was kind of weird being the only ones there with a kid, I think those Bozemanites need to get on the ball and start having kids so L will have someone to ski with!

We then spent the rest of the weekend doing what we normally do which is run around trying to see everyone and get shopping done. As you can imagine we didn't do much shopping because that place was a nut house and being from RL we have a hard time going anywhere with more than 20 people is really crowded. I think someday we may become hermits. On sat night we had a little Birthday dinner for Sonya which was at the Ale works, man they have changed that place. I guess they figure that pool tables were not as valuable as the tables filled with people eating. Especially the way I play pool a quarter table can last all night.

Sunday Jason and I hiked Slushmans south of Bridger Bowl the hike was killer due in part to me weighing 50lbs more than Jason he kicked my ass up the hill not breaking through the crust layer and being in way better shape than I and the fact that my skins kept falling off my skis on the kick turns and i would slide back it sucked I think I climbed twice as far as Jason. while we were hiking Sonya and Amy were XC skiing with Lauren in our really cool new ski trailer Lauren loves it and it is really nice to pull. after all of that we got back to Red Lodge at about 7 on Sunday and passed out a pretty good full weekend if you ask me.

Keith's new mudding buddy

2007-12-04T10:17:00.001-07:00

This ones for you Keith! I knew the silver built had it in her, and I think that plaid shirt with a mullet is really working for you keep it up.

Evel Kneivel

2007-12-03T16:28:00.001-07:00

This is in honor of the late great Evel Knievel

Early Bird Special

2007-11-30T10:20:00.000-07:00

Well this morning I did something I don't normally do I got up at 5:45 and hiked up our lovely ski area for some Powder turns. If you are not skiing there is absolutely no reason to get up before 7! which reminds me of my younger years, growing up in Colorado even when I was there gave us quite the opportunity to get up at the butt crack and start the slog up to the ski area or to Loveland or Berthed pass. Most of the time with my dad listening to Fleetwood mac or Dan Fogelberg and driving the speedy sparrow. And thank you Stu for all the memories in the purple mini van (ya whatever we know it was purple) good times. Like that one time we ran out of wiper fluid and I had to scrape the window with a spatula that for some reason was left in the back seat oh ya and never mind pulling over let alone slowing down there was powder and so I leaned out and with spatula in hand scraped the windows while Stu drove 70 mph down I 70 not a bad day skiing either if I remember correctly. Oh man there are many more were that story came from if you care to here more I will divulge more when the time is right, when the PBR is flowing and the friends are plentiful.

So back to this morning. I didn't look at the thermometer because I didn't want to know how cold it was I just knew it was cold so I took all the warm gear and headed out. we hiked up to the top of Coal creek and then skied the back of the mountain it was pretty good about 6-8 in of new snow over night and some of the 1 foot from last week was still good. Needless to say I was a little late for work this morning but the boss was cool about it so that was nice.
oh ya when I got home the thermometer read 5 degrees, it was pretty chilly.

Second Anual Rink Install

2007-11-27T08:54:00.000-07:00

So This last weekend we installed the Red Lodge Ice rink at Lyons park all went as well as one could hope for when there is stakes that have to be put in frozen ground. So we enlisted some muscle and got to work on Saturday morning drilling holes in the ground every 4 feet using jackhammers and hammer drills. (not light tools) After about 6 hours of drilling and pounding we finally had all the boards up not to bad and only a few places were the boards are a little crooked. once that was completed we made a B-line to the tap room for some much deserved beers.

On Sunday morning we got up bright and early and rolled out the liner and started the patching process (this year the rink is 20 feet longer than last year so we ended up with some holes from last years use) then we got to filling it up. About 3 hours it took to fill the liner using a 6in diameter fire hose. While the liner filled we had to Wangle some bubbles which is always quite a sport.
After all of that now all we can do is wait for cold weather and hope it doesn't snow (I still cant believe I don't want it to snow because I really want to ski).

As of last night when I check the ice level we had 2 inches of frozen ice in 2 days pretty good I would say if we can get another 2 inches we are in the clear and ready to play some HOCKEY! I will post the pics later.

Last post for the Day I promise

2007-11-23T08:35:00.000-07:00

Lauren walking!

One more powder pic

2007-11-23T08:33:00.001-07:00

One more parting shot of our great day of skiing.

The day of thanks

2007-11-23T08:15:00.000-07:00

So yesterday was thanksgiving so I figured I would list a few things I am thankful for.
1. Family The ones here and the ones far away.2. having a healthy and happy baby.
3. POWDER! and especially making powder turns on thanksgiving day. while everybody else was at home eating and sleepingand last but defiantly not least FRIENDS. thank you to all of you for always being there.

Snow Day

2007-11-20T10:11:00.000-07:00

Here They are the Happy couple of snow lovers L and Cooper.

Opening Statement

2007-11-20T08:23:00.002-07:00

So I am a Blogger sounds nasty but seeing how it may be easier for others to check in to the life of Mapp and Mapps in and around the area of Red Lodge I figured it wouldn't be such a bad deal.

Today we here In the North Country have received 1 ft of snow I don't have a picture yet but I will work on getting one. So the one to the left will have to do for now. So I wrangled my 1987 mint condition Trek Antelope to the office this morning with one hand on the grip and the other on my coffee, and for you that know the of the excellent plow job that our city does you know that it was no small feet in getting here, but I figure riding is much better than walking so I went for it. I am here and only shy a few drops of coffee so not bad I would say. I think that I need to put this snow to better use but seeing how it is the first snow of the year it would be pretty ugly skiing at the mountain. which I hiked last Friday in hopes of making some turns and ended up taking a long hard hike with Cooper up and then did a semi ski semi walk down the mountain. Any way it is a good sign for the start of winter and I am STOKED!

I will take some pictures and update this later.

signing off
-G