May in Mongolia

Early May was taken over by the first quarter filing, which went smoothly enough and no blood or tears were shed. We filed that three-headed monster that is our quarterly reporting on the 13th and 14th and so once that was done I had more freedom to finally take some weekdays away from the office.

On Saturday the 17th in the morning I hopped on my motorcycle and drove to Colorado Springs to visit with the man who is performing an overhaul and rebuild of my 1962 scout. His work appears impeccable and I quite enjoyed the visit. The truck looks great and if all goes well from here on out, I should have the vehicle late this summer. I had hoped for delivery in June but it has taken longer than expected. If I receive the truck in late july it will have been a 7 month project costing many thousands of dollars. Good thing I got cash coming out of my ears.

 Airport parking lot gem

 A gem of a parking lot

On the 17th and 18th we traveled to Kansas City for the wedding of a cousin of Carolyn. This cousin is a spastic being and I was asked to “shoot some photos” during the event. So I came prepared and had two cameras and two lenses and a flash and I started working. Very soon after I started I met another photographer who thought he was the main photographer, and then there were two more. Four separate photographers were each asked to photograph the wedding, with no mention of compensation. No problem, I take baths in money and love working for anyone, including “family” that I barely know. My wife did not have it much easier as she was part of the flower prep crew and set up crew. Young Dawson wore a suit as a ring-bearer. The experience was only slightly off-putting for us, but the two cameras came in handy as one filled in as the photo booth camera and the other documented Dawson’s first time swordfighting with anyone who would hold a stick against his attacks.

 

Wagon rides in Missouri

 

 Entertainment in Kansas City, vegan restaurant

On the 22nd we traveled to Durango for the big bike race, this being my 10th year signing up and 9th time actually riding it (the race was cancelled in 2008 due to snow which was a fortunate and ironic twist because I did not make it to town anyway). This year, the weather was threatening and photos of snow-covered roads in the mountains caused the race director to shorten the route by half at 3:30 pm the day before, and end the ride at the ski resort, which in reality shortens the race to an easy spin up a highway. I planned to wake up at 6:29 am and check the conditions outside and ride if the weather was decent. Since we did not expect it to be nice, my buddy Shane or shizzo and I stayed up until 2:00 in the morning drinking some brandy shane or shizzo had in his liquor and taking cognac and just hanging out and what not. 6:29 came quickly but I was rested and I checked outside and it was perfect and so I started getting ready – normally I would have gotten ready the night before the race but this was a botched race. Shane also got up because the fire department had called him in his capacity as city editor and wanted him to know that a structure along the race course had burned down the night before, and smoke would be visible to the cycling masses. We rode that ride and it was easy, we heard stories of people who rode all the way and the road was “bone dry” and after the event we ran into the race winner at a coffee shop back in town and enjoyed a chat. The rest of the Durango trip was uneventful except for my complaining about the significantly reduced scale of the bike race overall and our discovering a nice new watering whole featuring a picture frame hanging from the ceiling for all your drunk pictures with friends as you socialize at the bar. Using a smartphone projecting light we were able to achieve quite the effect. Another highlight was Dawson spending 40 hours with his grandmother and seemingly enjoying it thoroughly. That was refreshing to have no toddler for two nights and a full day, and I am glad they finally got to bond some.

Short little ride to Purg with 2,498 other bums and Shizzo

Durango's scenery, charm, and train museum had this family happy

  

Friends old, new, and indifferent

The young man is currently into jumping off of crap, wrestling, and talking about everything he sees around him. He still sometimes is a total mama’s boy and will collapses in a meltdown of tears if I try to pick him up or something, if it is his mother that he wants at that moment. When the boy goes down steps, his head is always trying to work out what the soonest he can just leap off is (typically the 2nd or third step).

Today our “accounting team” will go socialize and drink together at a bar on south Broadway here in Denver. Today as a team we will play ping pong and mini-bowling and video games and what not. I will avoid alcohol and instead should get out on a bike ride this evening.