Canyon adventures

So, Saturday I had made arrangements to hang out with Ana all day since I hadn't had a chance to in forever! But first it was a stop at Verizon to deal with my battery. Blasted thing kept dying way to quick and refused to charge half the time. Unfortunately, it wasn't in stock and they needed to order one.

Now the only other complaint I have is while yes, I do know about pushing other products or services to "help" the customer... GOOD GOD VERIZON! No, you do not need to look up my account activity to see if I qualify for your new Shared Plan. That thing is FAR more expensive than what I pay right now. No, you do not need to suggest I add a line in case my main phone dies and I need a backup. No, you don't need to follow that up with a suggestion for your home telephone service. No, I don't need to consolidate my phone and Internet bills. No, I don't want your any of your home services at all. GVIE ME THE DAMN BATTERY! I even told the guy that after the third "No, thank you." I was like, "Look, all I want is a battery. I am happy with my plan, I am happy with my service, I am happy using Charter for my Internet. Stop now because all you will hear is a No."

After that, we popped down to Michael's to check out their customer appreciation sale. Wandered through the bikes and gear and looked at all the shiney. I picked up some gauntlet gloves and asked one of the sales guys about Bluetooth helmets (he recommended just getting the Sena headset) and also about heading out to Reno Fernley Raceway for track days (he recommended talking to Steve at 2 Wheel Custom Performance).

Have I mentioned that here? I WANT TO DO THIS: http://www.precisiontrackdays.com/

By that time it was time to head to Reno. I met Ana outside the college where she was taking a nursing test. We then swung out to REI to shop and pick up my new zero degree down bag that was on sale. Ohhhh toasty warm! Next stop was Cabela's for some more price comparisons and drooling over hiking stuff. It's summer and I want to go backpacking! For real, not just car camping while living out of the backpack. Got most of my gear already, though my full pack still weighs 30 pounds (and that's withOUT the tent, sleeping pad, or Jetboil!). Must bring that weight down some.

We picked up a few caches along the way and then it was time to head back into Carson.


Sunday, dad and I went to breakfast at the Red Hut before heading up the hill to go replace my King's Canyon Adventure cache. Road was great until just east of the cache site. A land slide had dropped some large granite boulders all over the road. I was navigable but without a second rig there as support and backup, we just didn't feel comfortable trying it. After that, we headed down the mountain then back up Ash Canyon to go for Puzzleman's new cache, A Bolder View. It's way at the top with a great overlook of the valley below. Took my Dad awhile looking around at everything before he asked for a hint. He was pleasantly surprised with the camo job. It really does just sit right out there in front of you and you don't see it. Then back down the mountain and we met up with Tarry to go over how to do a route in DeLorme's Topo program.

I like the GPS, I love the integration with SPOT, but you know ... I really really dislike their mapping software. To the point I don't even bother with it anymore. I just load the GPX file straight onto the GPS and go, using the phone to log caches. If I do want the tracks, I download the file and load it into Garmin's MapSource. But, my Dad seems to have some success so the guys went over a few things.

Final results: Tarry's GPS will load caches into any other Topo except his own. His Topo will load caches from any GPS except his own. Routes are doable as long as you live with the fact that it cannot combine "Roads" and "Trails" into the same route. Though it is possible to convert one to the other, but you have to select every single little segment of the path you want and there are MANY of them.

All in all, I like the Topo less and Tarry is more convinced than ever to go back to Garmin only.

Next weekend we're planning on a hike into the Sierras (hence all the shopping) and there's a major UFC fight on Saturday that we'll be watching. Looking forward to the short week (got invited to a BBQ on Wednesday and I am taking candy sushi!!) and then next weekend should be awesome!

Stay tuned!!