That time of year.

Yup-  Mother Nature messes with our heads and the rumor mill starts churning 'em out.  Seems like every year about this time whispers of  "change" start trickling out from somewhere.  REALLY hoping the changes made work out for the best.  We learned today that almost every single administrator in our district has been moved around.  I honestly have nothing to say on the matter-  I don't see the big picture and don't have any idea what the plans are for the future. 

Really going to miss some of the ones that are leaving.  In addition to the administrative musical chairs, we are loosing a few good teachers to a well deserved retirement, which is good.  Just sad to see them go, especially the ones who weren't invited back.

On a more interesting note- the district also announced that they are planning on creating a "Vocational High School" in the next year or two.  Whatever that means.  I'm definitely interested in seeing where that goes and being a part of it, albeit from my position in the middle school as a feeder program.  Have I mentioned that I *love* my job?

Also had a chance to talk to our superintendant about the possibility of an option to getting a masters degree.  Had an idea, or maybe someone gave it to me in my search (man, my memory is getting as bad as my Dads!) that maybe I could take classes at a technical college or the like and get certified as a journeyman in some specific trade.  He (the super) seemed intrigued by the idea of petitioning somehow to get the journeyman's certificate to count AS a Masters degree!  I would still love to take additional education related classes- can always learn how to be a better teacher- but I think the experience and skills I would learn would be a WAY bigger benefit to my students than a degree in Educational Technology.  We'll see how that pans out.

Now, if we could just GET RID OF THE STINKIN SNOW...  Finally managed to get the new tires on the ST- just in time to have it sit in the garage and wait.  Had beautiful weather 2 weeks ago, spring break last week was decent enough that I got all the trees pruned, the tiller on the tractor, and the garden spot rotovated.  Then Sunday we wake up to 5" of the white gunk.

Airing out the Z50's...

Man, I have got to do this more often.  The boys have been driving me batty asking if they could do this, or this, or this, or this, or this, or that.  Time to get them OUT OF THE HOUSE.  They finally asked, very half-heartedly because they knew the answer was going to be no-  "Can we get the dirt bikes out?".  SURE! 

Trusty old Honda's fired right up and away they went.  I could tell they were going to get bored with the standard loop down the road so I let them add a 'round the house loop.


Didn't take long until they were bending the last corner pretty hard so they could hit the "jump".







Yeee-HAW!







Oooopss... Little TOO fast on that corner with the wet grass.



Who knew? The front fender of a Z50 can be used as a plow in a pinch.



He got back on his horse though.





Might have to load 'em up and head to the Rose pond again. That was a lot of fun too!

Fun Roads and Finally Home!

Day 5- Last day of consecutive bike trip.

Woke up pretty early. I think we timed the previous day perfectly- we got to the good riding late enough that traffic was at a minimum, and by the looks of the amount of bikes at both ends of this stretch of road, it would have been jam packed during the day.

Hog Catcher, lookin a little tired but ready for the day.



Road a short distance, to the Top of the World.



And of course, Road construction.



Gave us an opportunity to look around so we did. Pretty place!







The pilot car finally showed up. The guy told us it would be 20 more minutes before we could go, pulled over, and promptly fell asleep. We un-geared and went on a quick little hike up the mountain.

Little ways up,





Still going,





Running out of time.



View from the top.



Back down at the bottom. We went up to the top there in the middle.



Got to do a short stretch of dirt riding,



And then we were off! Look what we get to go up!!!



At the top!





Coming down was real fun too. Longish straight stretch followed by a 180 degree hairpin turn. Repeat 6 or 7 times.









Finally down out of the fun stuff.





Red Lodge, MT. Pansy Harley riders had to use hotels.



Apparently was some sort of rally going on, because the town was litterally end to end bikes, the entire length of both sides of the main road.



Past Red Lodge you get into your more typical Montana:



Still fun though.



Went up to Columbus, got on the interstate and road to Bozeman. At Bozeman, we dropped down onto the back highways again and went through the corner of Yellowstone where we had the luck to almost rear end some looki-loo's around a blind corner that stopped to admire the scenery.



Kept on keepin' on, went through West Yellowstone and hit Island Park.



My brothers mother-in-law's (ex)store that the new "owner" had a small accident with. We'll leave it at that.



After an uneventful trip down through St. Anthony we made it back to Rigby, unloaded Steveo's crap, and took one last shot on the hog.



Road with him down to the Harley shop, dropped it off, and went on my way. 25 more miles! Butt was getting pretty sore by this point.

Lava's, that means I'm only about 15 miles away!



MY EXIT!!!! TWO MORE MILES!!!



WHoooly cow, I made it!



Odo at the end:



Map for the day:



Totals for the day:

Odo start: 58,173
Odo end: 58,616
Total Day 3: 443 miles.

TOTAL: 1,921 miles.

Money spent (Gas, Lunch, Gas, stuff): Estimated $60. Was so tired when I got home I didn't fill out my log.