Jim Root (.com)

I went hiking to a boulder field a few miles away from where I work today. It's been quite a while since I've been on a good long hike but I figured I would be alright.

The people I went with hike a lot more than me and are in a little bit better shape, but all in all I think I kept up decently. They set a faster pace than what I am used to, it really made you work to keep up!

The hike to the top was pretty steep, it was difficult but not too bad. My legs started cramping up a half mile or so from the top, but we sat down and rested once we got there and all was fine.

The hike back down however was a different story, I was completely exhausted. My legs were cramping hard and I was miserable. By the time we made it out I was soaked, in pain, and could hardly stand up.

They asked me if I wanted to go again next Thursday, my answer? Heck yeah!

I took a few pictures at the cemetery today, this one was one of my favorites so I decided to post it to my DeviantART account.

I haven't been posting many photos online lately but that will change now that I have a decent camera and it's getting nice outside!

Feel free to add comments and let me know what you think!

This lady decided to cut across a pretty busy road, without ever stopping at a stop sign or looking to see if there was (55mph) traffic coming her way.

Well, there was traffic, me, who came within about twenty feet from hitting her. Needless to say I was curious as to where she was going in such a hurry so of course I did what any other road raged human would do, I followed her!

Now, where was she going in such a hurry you ask? To sit in the boat dock parking lot talking on her phone (as she had been doing when she ran in front of me). I'm assuming she was meeting someone there and was running late. Great reason to risk killing someone huh?

Oh, by the way she drives a silver Ford Taurus SE with the license plate EYP-8529. Watch out!

We had a small fire at work today. One of the air compressors overheated and caught fire. The fire was pretty well contained to the room where it started but there is a lot of water and smoke damage to be taken care of.

As far as I know they have a back up compressor and it will be back to work as usual Thursday morning. Fun fun fun!

My Grandmother Mary Hill passed away earlier tonight. She was a really big part of my life and was always there for anything I or anyone else needed. She was the kind of person that would look after everyone else before herself.

Brittney was all dressed up for her cousins wedding today. Any time you get to see her wearing a dress you know it's a special occasion! So of course I had to get a picture, because we may not see a sight like this again for quite a while.

She said she didn't like getting all dressed up, but I think she liked it. She's just afraid that she will ruin her tomboy image :-).

It's been quite a while since I've updated this. I plan to keep this updated a little more often in the near future. There hasn't been a whole lot going on as far as road trips or anything. But hopefully that will change soon!

I just got back from Chicago where I was suppose to pick up my friend Rudy from his navy training.

We got on the road Thursday morning around 11:40am (after my cousin got his hair cut). We had a good time with some truckers on the CB which made the miles fly by pretty good. We were right on time until we got to Chicago, then it all went down hill.

Our directions through Chicago were a little messed up. Instead of going through Chicago to Libertyville (where our hotel was) they took us right through down town (and through some pretty rough looking areas let me tell you!)

My favorite quote was from Steve, "Jim, maybe we should turn around. Look at the windows, do you see them? NO, you don't! They're shot out! Look at the streets! The roads don't even have roads!". Well we rode around there for a good hour or so before we stopped at a gas station to try and find directions.

Well, my trip to Chicago was interesting.

It all started out pretty smooth, I picked everyone up and we got moving around 10:30AM or so. We made pretty good time getting to Indiana, and then the fun stopped.

Keep in mind that the highways in Indiana are incredibly boring long stretches of road, no turns, nothing. Well, we we're going around 103mph or so when we were spotted by an Indiana state trooper going the other direction!

He put his lights on, turned in to the ditch(!), and started catching up to us quickly. By this time we knew we were in trouble ("big trouble", heh). He got up behind us and we pulled over. He approached our car with his hand on his gun and started yelling at us asking questions ("How fast were you going?", "Why were you driving so recklessly?", "Where are you going to?", ect).

So what do you do at midnight on a Saturday when the bowling alley closes? Well if you're one of my friends you either go to Canada (which we decided was too far for the night), OR you go to White Castle.

Yes, you're right. We do not have a White Castle around here. We decided to go to New Brunswick, NJ to have some burgers. I mean, its only four hours away!

The trip wasn't too bad. We had one close call where we almost ran out of gas (I have no idea how we did not run out...), but other than that it was fun. We picked up some souvenir White Castle boxes, and a few NJ newspapers (ahem...).

Oh, and as for the burgers? I've had better :-/

Well picture this!

I was over at my cousins house with a bunch of friends and we started talking about my bike. My cousin was the only one in the bunch that had ever been for a ride on a "crotch rocket" before and the others wanted to go for a ride. Well, it was 2:00am, cold, and dark... GREAT IDEA! So I went home and traded my car for the bike.

I got back and took the first person for a ride, out the main (country like) road to the highway, quick highway ride and back, no problem! Now for the next person! They got on, we went out the main road, up and back down the highway, and started coming back down the main road.