Thank you, Oregon and N. California for all the great food, recreation & friendship. the flu, not so much.......

A nice vacation to the Pacific NW! what a great time. we never quit moving & we got allot of cool things done.

high in the Oregon Cascades.

D. in action.

Indigo Lk. trail.

Who got into my pie? lunch at Timpanogas Lk. with Justine.

MMMMMMM.............. Marion Berry pie from Manning's Cafe, Oakridge, OR. the best in the west.

A damn nice stringer of trout!

Ditto! some real fatties. good eatin', there. We ate soooo good on this trip. everything was in harvest.

A much needed soak outside Mammoth Mtn, CA. the E. Sierras in the background.

A big pile of nice pink trout fillets for dinner.

base camp on the Mono/Inyo county line.

ahhhhhh.

Joshua trees on the horizon.

cool critters!

the Mojave desert at 80mph.

down to one lane - Westgaart Pass, CA.

now that's blue - Convict Lk, CA.

Convict Lk, E. Sierras. Gorgeous! A really great paddle in a really awe inspiring locale.

Sally had a great trip! we kept expecting her to die, but she rocked it out, ready for more.

the Vulture + his Hatchling. good friends!

in Yod we Trust, Incorporated.

D. wrapping up the fat 55. it was classic OR racing, 73F*, rain the whole time. Only woman 1-speeder. promoter/long time bro Eugene in the stylie vest.

Alpine trail!!!!!!!

One of the best ever. full on OR experience. rain the whole time. keeps the trail tacky...........

Sendero muy Sabroso. yellow dog ripping it.

Me groveling. steep + slippery.

STEEP.

Bushy + wet + major rolling resistance.

TREES!

up, up.

My sis, Trina.

D. + My Mom, Pat.

Somewhere near Lone Pine, CA.

D. carving a turn on Lemolo Lk, OR. Mt. Thielsen in the background.

rain on the way. pretty!

Old hooligans in the back with new hooligan in the front.

D. getting ready to rip Larrison Rock trail. OR-OR.

Getting out on Gold lk. trail with Eugene.

Euge took his bitchin' Willets Mountie. one damn sweet bike.

Good thing I always bring an extra rear derailleur!

good stuff!

Oregon bounty! Coho Salmon, Albacore, Venison, Pears, Figs.

Thanks to the whole crew at Willamette Mtn Mercantile! you all rock!

Good old friends Heidi & Magnus.

Me & Mom.

A great trip other then returning sick. the last time I got sick was also in Oregon at NAHBS-PDX. cleaning gear & getting organised & then back to work tomorrow. I need a shave and shower something fierce. tomorrow: assembling Bammy's bike. - Steve.

Giity's frame done, Bammy's waiting, Jeff's & Manzo's still at spectrum, some hard handcycling / out of here for two weeks, back 10-1 / build queue.

Gitty's frame at inception. back on the blog just in time to split for two weeks to see my family in Oregon, it's been a few years & my Mom has been fighting cancer, so I need to go see everyone up there, and D. is doing this race: www.fat55.com We will be out of touch for the most part, but I will try to check my e-mail a few times during the trip.

"witness marks"

Seat stays all brazed, bent, trimmed & ready for mitering on my very fine Anvil fixture.

Gitty's frame tacked & waiting to be fillet brazed once the seat stays are tacked on, alignment is checked, and the SS brace is carved & tacked in.

all brazed, out of the dunktank to remove flux, and ready for polishing.

fast forward ten hours of hard labor & you have a fully polished frame ready for braze-ons.

Bammy's frame is a fine aquamarine. I like it. we come back to town at the same time & we are going to assemble it together. I have about three assemblies with clients when I return.

Denise's hard work on the yards is paying off, we have had 10's of thousand of flowers all summer. the back yard is still rocking!

Currant + some different kind of sunflower with thin leaves that outlasts the others. likely imported by the millions of song birds the flowers attract.

finally did some vastly needed work on my one-off. with the armor stripped off you can better see the operation of the rig - it's kind of similar to a tandem.

A beautiful view during a very hard ride. our beloved San Francisco Peaks.

hard, damn hard. very, very worth it! "the loneliest sport"

this gives you an idea of the degree of difficulty - there was lots of this. kept the rubber side down the whole way, however!

I like the seldom used routes. less dust!

the flowers are generally winding down, although some species like purple asters are just coming out. Indian paintbrush here.

even a few nice Columbine if you look hard enough.

Steep finish!

OK - that's it for now. Katie B.from Tucson is missing {drop me an e-mail if you get this, please} so when I return Mike G. is up, followed by his wife Lainie J. Then Barry W, {connect with me too, please - I'll call you when I return} then, Shawn McF., Kenny C., Pete M., Ed H., Hanna, Amy P., TS., Christie D., Alisha, Jeffrey K., Mike B., John G., Nick K., Jason M., Thom C., Mary B. That's the whole queue. leaving Tues. afternoon, see you all in Oct! - Steve.