Rig bags peak number 2!!

This trip was a year in the planning. Rig, Grandpa Steve and myself all anxious to take (or retake) the largest peak in So Cal, the 11,506 ft. San Gorgonio. The 3500 feet of climbing would be Rig's longest hike to date, at 22 miles round trip. (There are shorter routes but we chose the longer flatter route.)

Rig and I had to play hooky from school for a Friday morning departure.

I got us lost and had to go into "Lippy's Country Store" for directions. Who would have guessed Lippy was an asian man who didn't speak any English. Only in California. When I asked for directions to Fish Creek, all he could do was try to sell me night-crawlers.

My hiking buddies.

The word stoked is an understatement for Rigdon on these types of outings. He doesn't even complain when I quiz him on his times tables.

The first day saw about 6 miles, 2000 feet of elevation and plenty of epic scenery.

Rig is following in Uncle Bram's footsteps and is yet to complain about a single meal while backpacking.

Rig said his favorite part of the trip was being at camp. We had a beautiful spot at just under 10,000 ft.

We were all a little shocked at how fast it went from sunny and warm to bitter cold. Thank goodness I brought the tent for Rig's sake. I almost decided we didn't need it.

Day 2, five miles and 1500 ft to go.

There was a plane crash that literally straddled the trail.

Rigdon searched for bones of the 13 killed in the wreckage. Luckily he didn't find any.

Finally getting above the tree line.

Rig took the summit first. It was a very clear day and we had the peak all to ourselves for about 45 minutes. The view was awesome.

Holy Crap! I couldn't figure out how to set the timer on my camera and had to try to take a picture of us on the summit just by holding the camera out. After multiple tries with this as our best result, I was convinced we were the two least photogenic people to ever climb San Gorgonio.

Luckily another hiker finally showed up and took a picture at a distance that masked our lack of photogenics.

When we were hiking with Steve this is all we ever saw of him. He gave us a lesson in setting pace.

Even at the end of the hike Rig had the energy to run and jump off of any rock on the trail that tempted him.

Rigdon didn't have to be asked to smile for one single picture. He was smiling from ear to ear the whole two days.

Reality Check

Make it 25 years without repeating as National Champions. My only condolences are that USC and Utah lost as well.

Oh Me of Little Faith

With the exception of the Kevin Feterik years, I have started every BYU football season since ‘84 with the same hope: To go Undefeated and win a national championship. Then as soon as we lose a game I am grounded back in reality.

Last Saturday I was all fired up for the BYU Oklahoma game. I had just gotten home from taking Rigdon to the skate park, when Sara layed this one on me:

“Our neighbor brought over four sweet Dodger tickets and a parking pass for tonight’s game. I told him we would definitely use them.”

“What? (A look of disgust on my face.) Are you kidding? Do you remember we are playing #3 Oklahoma today? You think I’m going to the Dodger game?”

(Rangi Smart Rules of Negotioation #1: The more unanswerable questions you can ask, the stronger your argument becomes.)

“You better take those tickets back up the street and tell him to find somebody else.”

Never having been to a Dodger game, Sara really wanted to go and at one point said she would take the kids by herself if I didn’t want to go.

An hour or so went by and I started to soften. After all the BYU game started at 4:00 and the Dodger game not until 7:15, and let’s be realistic BYU was a 22.5 point underdog. My expectations were that the Cougars would probably be down 3 touchdowns at the half and the second half would be straight torture.

Of course any other night I would love taking my family to a paid Dodger game and I had never even used a prefered parking pass before at any athletic event. The fact that each ticket had a 50 dollar face value, might have influenced me as well.

But still could I short sale my hopes for a national championship before the Cougs had even taken the field?

On the other hand I would be a hero to Sara at least for the day if I agreed to go to the game.

Maybe I could have the best of both worlds, watch the first half of the BYU game and then when it was no longer a contest, please my wife by taking the family to a free Dodger game.

So that’s what I went with, and as I’m sure you know, the football Gods punished me for it.

I watched the first half in HD at a friends house, most of the 3^rd quarter video streamed on my computer, and then I sweated out the 4^th quarter with only phone updates after big plays. It was a terrible way to witness the biggest Cougar win of the last decade.

When I got the call that they missed the field goal we were walking into the game and I went a little crazy and threw some things around. Sara finally had to tell me to calm down because I looked like an abusive parent/husband.

I was thinking blue but it was Cougar blue not Dodger blue.

Receiving an update. (For the record that is Sara's phone)

50 dollar seats aren't as close as you would think.

Rig witnessing his first Major League home run.

You cannot go to the Dodger game and not get a Dodger dog. After the news of the BYU win I didn't even bat an eye at the stadium prices.

Dang, now that is baseball.

Fully Invested? Maybe at least in my family?