Breakfast Nachos!!

My new favorite breakfast, Breakfast Nachos. Here's where you start, cook 3 slices of bacon until nice and crispy. At the same time, cook a racket ball sized bit of breakfast sausage. While all of this is going on layer the bottom of a tin pie pan with tortilla chips. Once all your meat is done, drain the bacon grease from the skillet leaving the crispy goodies. Scramble 3 eggs and cook in this skillet. As the eggs are cooking go ahead and turn the oven to broil 500°. Take the now beautifully cooked eggs and layer half of them on top of the chips, sprinkle half the sausage and crumble half the bacon on top. Add some nice shredded cheese on top of all this and slide into the oven. Wait until the cheese is nice and melty, remove from the oven and layer some more chips, eggs, sausage, bacon and cheese. Then back into the oven to melt the cheese. Right now your taste buds should be giddy with excitement. When ready, slide out of the pan and onto a plate. Add a little salsa, maybe some sour cream on top. You can add an almost endless variety of flavor to this meal, use your imagination. Get a fresh cup of coffee, sit back and enjoy your new found breakfast love. You're Welcome.

Ingredients:
3 slices bacon
Breakfast sausage
3 eggs
Tortilla chips
Shredded cheese
Salsa

Preparing for agony

This week I registered myself for my first mountain bike endurance race. It will be a 13 hour race, dubbed the Baker's Dozen and will be held near Edgefield, SC. So my first hurdle is figuring out how exactly one should prepare for such torture. The course is going to be an eight mile loop and the goal is to complete as many laps as possible in the 13 hours. Starting at 9am and extending into the dark hours of the evening. I suppose that a good start will be to ride the bike a lot and try to be faster over the next 30 days. Cardio, cardio and more cardio. Trying to come up with a mileage goal is something else I'm thinking about. I've could only find the results from the 2004 race and the solo leader completed 152 miles (19 laps). I shat my pants a little after seeing that.

Stay Tuned.

I just want to mountain bike!!

Alright, I'm in Atlanta on a work trip, about 185 miles from home. I do the right thing and take my mountain bike and gear with me so that I can utilize the trip for my own personal gain. There were two trails within reasonable distance that I wanted to hit, one Friday and one Saturday morning. I finished up with the class I was attending on Friday and headed out to the first trail only about 12 miles away. Located in Roswell, GA this trail is named Big Creek and turned out to be an excellent choice. Other than in being a little hot at 2pm, the trail was tight and technical, had a lot of different options to ride. I peddled around for a couple of hours and talked with a few locals, then headed to a nearby friends house to chat and have a bite to eat. My overall plan starting out was to camp Friday night, near or at the trail head of Yellow River trail near Stone Mountain, GA. So, just before dark I left the friends house and drove the 38 miles east to the trail. On the way I stopped for gas and picked up some food and drink. I got some pop tarts for breakfast, a Gatorade, and a some beer to have at camp. As I entered I saw that it was in a county park, so I observed all the signage looking for the "No Camping" sign. I didn't see one and found the trail head with no problem. I found a nice grassy spot on the edge of a gravel parking lot and set up a quick camp. At this point it's about 10:30 and I'm sitting in the jeep checking out some Facebook, tipping back some beer. I notice a vehicle roll into the paved parking area across the street with it's headlight turned off. Soon I see that it's a police car and know whats about to take place. I had placed my 9mm pistol on the dash, so that when I went to the tent I could take it with me. You never know what could happen when your camping on the side of a road in the middle of nowhere, I like to be safe. So, I reach up ever so gently and place the pistol back in the console of the Jeep and turn the key lock. Soon the cop spots my encampment and turns the lights on me. He drives over and gets out of his car and I hop out of the jeep to greet him. He doesn't like this maneuver and asks me to stop where I am. I do, because I notice his hand poised to snatch out his taser Clint Eastwood style. He approached me and asks what I was doing there. As I describe my plans of biking in the morning after camping for the night, he looked bewildered...confused. His primitive cop brain just couldn't grasp the thought. It's about 10:50pm at this point and he asked for my ID, which I produced quickly. I handed him my military ID first, then my drivers license. He proceeded to inform me that I shouldn't lead off with my military ID, that it says "somethings up". I told him that after two deployments to Iraq, I've earned the right to present it whenever I see fit. He didn't seem quite happy with my rebut and scoffed in return. The officer asked me to sit on the bumper of the Jeep while he ran my record and I only assume call for extensive backup. Because almost immediately two other police cruisers pulled up and a couple young lads popped out to investigate my wrongdoings. They all inspected my site with there standard issue flashlights and felt the need to shine the lights in my eyes at least twice each. The first responded returned with my IDs and inquired about my tattoos. He said that my record stated that I have one tattoo and he could clearly see the two on my legs. Standing there amazed for a sec, not over the fact that he was asking me about tattoos, but the fact I had a record. Cool. I satisfied his interests by showing him the ink on my shoulder. OK, here I am standing with my three new friends wondering if I'm going to jail, packing my junk up and leaving or what. My first infraction was camping in a no camping park, even though this wasn't clearly mark. Problem two, I had and open container in a alcohol free park. Easy enough to fix, I pour it out, it was hot anyway it this point. And the biggest issue, I was parked on the grass. Even though I was breaking almost every park rule these guys could make up, I was still given the go ahead to stay the night. Peachy, this made me happy. They all three got back in their cars and sped off. I only assume to go be first in line at krispy kreme when the "HOT" light comes on. The time in the Jeep now reads 11:30pm.

Deciding that is a quality event, I do the right thing and post it on Facebook. As I'm getting ready to crawl in my tent I notice another set of headlights pulling up behind the Jeep. Great, what now. Is Dudley coming back to tell me that his bosses said I had to go? Nope, a completely new guy extracts himself from the car and approaches me. My hands are in clear view this time, no tasing for me please. Then he asks the question "What are you doing?". Well sir, I plan to sleep in that tent [pointing] and then go ride that trail [waving finger at tree line] in the morning. His reply, "you know there isn't any camping here?". I now fill him in on the earlier events and he isn't happy with the other officers decisions. At this point I'm getting ready to start packing my shit up and hit the road back home. He asks "what do you do for work?". "Military" I reply and he asked which branch of service. "Army" I sigh outward. "Oh, never mind, you're good". Wow, more than a decade of service is paying off. Turns out this good ol' boy is a 'former Marine' and also a local mountain biker. We traded war stories and mountain lore for about half an hour, then duty called and he was off on his way.

At this particular moment I'm so ready to lay down and get some sleep that I almost fall asleep sitting in the drivers seat. I find the strength to pull myself out of the Jeep and stuff my body into my very small tent. I was out in seconds, which is rather rare for me when it comes to sleeping on the ground on a hot night. I awake in the morning to the sound of tires rolling through gravel and a door slam. A quick glance at my watch tells me that it's 6:30am. I move my eyes from the watch to the approaching figure and what do ya know, it's an officer of the law coming by to say hello. Rubbing my tired eyes as he walks to the side of my net dwelling, I ask "How can I help YOU?". He's replies with the scripted county police question, "What are you doing?". Cooking meth you stupid backwoods shit bird, is what I wanted to say, but kept it to myself. "Well I intend on riding this mountain bike trail this morning", [waving finger at tree line again] I shot back. "You know there isn't any camping in the park?" he informs me. Still laying on my back in the tent I reply back, "You don't say, you're the fifth guy to come by and tell me that. Four of your brothers in arms were here at different points throughout the night to inform of such". Now I'm starting to sit up, unzip the tent and pull myself out, when he launches himself into a lecture on the park rules. "Well it would really be great if you guys had the rules posted so people knew what they were" I interrupted. "OK I'm packing up now and I'll be out of here in 10 minutes." I interrupted again as he continued reciting the park rules and regulations. "Well that's good," he added. "because the parks guys will definitely write you a citation for being out here". I began packing away my camp into the back of the Jeep as officer number five drove away. Once I was packed I drove over the small little restroom/changing area to relieve myself of stored fluids and noticed a board with the trail map posted largely on the front. I gave it a quick once over and proceeded to the toilet. On my way back to the Jeep I noticed that on the side of the trail map was a list of text. On closer review I realized that what I was looking at was the elusive park rules. They did exist and I was looking at them, but why were they posted on the side of the board...almost hidden. Right at the top; Park hour: sunrise to sunset, Alcohol Prohibited, All Weapons Prohibited. Looks like I broke the top three and then down towards the bottom, No Individual Camping. I was on a roll; if I had a pet, I'd have it off a leash and pooping everywhere possible.

I drove the short distance to the trail head, geared up and hit the trail. It's always worth it, no matter the amount of bullshit.