It's a topsie turvy world that we live in...

We spoke to the family that was in this car and they are fine, just really shakin' up. We're so glad for the moisture but hate the havoc the weather can cause. I would like to learn how they ended upside down...

Honk, honk, rattle, rattle, CRASH, beep, beep!

On the road again! Here we are, once again on the move. This is us trying to pass through Spanish Fork Canyon but there has been several accidents so we need to wait until they are cleared up. We will try once more to get through, but if the weather and roads aren't much better we will stay home in Provo. Well, as you can see by my photos, we are going on to Parachute. This trip is working my last nerve though... If I didn't know my truck and how well she does in weather and roads such as these, I would stay home. I love my truck!

Windmills at the foot of Spanish Fork Canyon

We are finally allowed access up the canyon. We had to wait for about two hours while the accidents we're being cleared. Fun...Fun...FUN!

Great grandmother meeting newest member of her family...Shayley Morgan

Some of these people you may recongize, Stephanie, Bobbie, Chelsea and Shayley, Justin and Austin, and Randy. Justin is the father of Austin and Shayley. Stehpanie is Randy's second oldest child and Chelsea is Randy's youngest child. Hey Cortney, can you see the vase you gave us for Christmas sitting on the fireplace mantle? I love it. It is one of my favorite things.

A small Mott reunion...

Randy's mother and husband came to Provo this evening for a short visit. They live in St. George but traveled to Provo today and will head out tomorrow morning for Vernal. Aunt Mabel's {Bobbie's sister} husband died yesterday and the funeral is on Monday. This is the first time Randy's mother has been to our home. It was a highly anticipated event! We were anxious to see and visit with them. It was the first time for Bobbie to meet Shayley too. The picture is of Stephanie, Bobbie, Chelsea holding Shayley, and of course, me. Bobbie took us to dinner at Goodwood. We had a delightful but all to short visit.

Yeah, I need a lot of help...tee hee

Oh crap, the post didn't print like I wrote it. Oh well...

We're home, we have a new granddaughter, and we're tickled "Puh-nink"!

Meet Austin and the newest member of our family, Shayley. She arrived on March 14, 2009. She weighed six pounds and is eighteen and one half inches long. Perfect features and blonde hair, like her mother. Austin is so full of energy! He loves to play with Poppa,aka, Randy. They are very entertaining, for when these two get together, anything and everything is going to happen. We just move out of the way and turn them loose!

We're glad to be home. We've had alot to do and still do! " Tyrone, you know how I love watching you work. But I've got my countries 500th anniversary to arrange, my wedding to plan, my wife to murder, and Gildor to frame for it. I'm swamped." I have spent the last several days going to doctors and the dentist. Ya know what they say, "Get some rest. If you haven't got your health, you haven't got anything." The good news is, is Randy and I will have our colonoscopies this Friday morning. " Now who would have thought this to be good news?" Anywho...I for one, will be very glad to get this done. As for me going to the dentist two days ago, presents to me another problem. I believe I have an infection which has robbed me of sleep. So, I guess it is my turn to be a little silly and present this absurd poem that rattled around in my noggin'!

LIFE IS BUT A TRIP

Roll, roll, roll, my wheels, for I'm not that wise.

Over height and overweight makes an oversize.

Roll, roll, roll, my wheels, mashing on the petal.

Reaching heights with oversize and all that heavy metal.

Roll, roll, roll, my wheels, protecting all the crew.

Directing traffic, guiding trucks, it's my job to do.

Roll, roll, roll, my wheels, another chance to give,

oil rigs and company men a brand new place to live.

Roll, roll, roll, my wheels, protect the heavy haul.

Keepem' rollin', forging on. Never letem' fall.

Roll, roll, roll, my wheels, NEVER go off track.

If I do, I'll hit a tree, and then a great big WHACK!

Roll, roll, roll, my wheels, what's a small detour?

Climbing mountains, down their sides. What are pilots for?

Roll, roll, roll, my wheels, no matter what the cost.

Keepem' rollin', never stop...even though we're lost!

Roll, roll, roll, my wheels, though the road is sloppy.

Watch for deer and huge pot holes. Driver?...do you copy?

Roll, roll, roll, my wheels, what channel are we on?

Last time I knew, and you should too, is the one we're talking on.

Roll, roll, roll, my wheels, gettin' in the groove.

Going places meant for goats, on a constant move.

Roll, roll, roll, my wheels, Oh for goodness sakes.

Don't look down, we're still on ground, doin' what it takes.

Roll, roll, roll, my wheels, are we having fun?

Hold on tight and say your prayers , and let's getter' done!

Roll, roll, roll, my wheels, wherever I am sent.

Right on through and off the edge, just because I went!

Roll, roll, roll, my wheels, sixteen hours a day.

Trying hard to remember WHY? Oh yeah...we do it for the pay.

Roll, roll, roll, my wheels, trying not to slip.

Up, then down, and all around...LIFE IS BUT A TRIP!

You would think that I've had way too much time on my hands! Thanks Darci for changing my background paper. Excellent choice. As soon as I get all my doctoring done, Stephanie said that she will be glad to teach me how to blog better. I'm lookin' forward to it and then I won't be such a pain to all "of yous."

Just another day in the neighborhood...

You'll need to go back to older posts to view my day on Trail Ridge and Garden Gulch. Most of my pics I take are inside my truck for I can't stop. My driver would NOT like that!

I'm blocking the road from big trucks and fast four wheelers. Justin is behind me being pulled by the dozer. I hate this hill I'm starting down. It has been scary several times for me. Remember the old Klingon proverb: "Today is a good day to die". I think of it every time I go up or down this stinking hill. Dang, if some people don't get all the fun!

Another view from Trail Ridge heading for Garden Gulch. Over that away{tee hee} is Grand Juction. We need to get down first though...Hammer down!

Just a side note: About two years ago we were up here on Trail Ridge, and we had a real hard nosed pusher{he went by Herdbull, I called him Turdbull, for a good reason}Anyway he got right in my face and shouted to me that we were on CTR, and did I know what CTR meant? "What does it mean to you ?" he shouted at me. I looked him right in the face, we were toe to toe, and I said "CTR? Choose The Right." He was dumb founded at first and then he said,"No, it means Central Trail Ridge." I found out later that he is LDS, just not active. He no longer works here, BTW.

Another photo of a rig while I was on top waiting for Justin to get loaded with the man camp. You can see High Mesa in the back ground.

I'm getting off the interstate at Parachute. I'm returning from Nabors yard in Fruita where I left Justin to unload. This is the motel we have spent three years in and the mountain where the storm is, is Garden Gulch, where we just came off of. BTY, this Justin is a step son to the man that was killed last August.

Justin clearing the last of of the narrow switchbacks.

I have just cleared the narrow switchbacks for Justin to head down through. We are heading back down Garden Gulch and while I block traffic I took this pic. Down below is Parachute Creek and on the mountain you can see the road that is being built. It zig zags {switchbacks]. Last summer they blasted and we would need to wait on the road you can see until huge bolders and rocks would hit the bottom. It was real cool to see them flying down. I would choose a certain bolder from the rest to see if my bolder would reach bottom first. Anything to pass the time...

We moved a rig on the pad you can see {truck} and then over the edge is Parachute. We are going to go down the long way, back down Garden Gulch, to Parachute and then off to Grand Juction. I could take the faster route, OVER the edge, but then I would be dead. Where's the fun in that if I'm not around to enjoy it? Roger copy ten four, good buddy?

This is a pic of Justin and I leaving the lower guard shack at Garden Gulch. We are going six miles up to get to the top and then about thirty miles across the top. We are going to Nabors Rig 109. Justin is taking a man camp down the moutain to Nabors yard in Fruita. Fruita is about six miles SE of Grand Junction. It took us eleven hours! Most of the mountains that we traveled across haven't been maintained this winter. The roads were rough and MESSY!

This pic was taken about 30 seconds before Justin got stuck going up around this corner. We were so close to getting out of the worse part of the trip too! I had to go in search of a dozer to pull him up the hill.

This is Cyclone 30. I thought I'd show you what a oil rig looks like. All these photos I've posted today were taken yesterday and today. This rig is up on Parachute Creek which is about four miles from our motel.

Rig 323 again. Look real hard and you can see it on the left of the pic. I'm across the valley taking these photos.

This is Ensign Rig 324 on top of High Mesa. We moved it up there last spring. I have some great pics of wild flowers and running streams...give said the little stream, give o' give...

Randy again with a 400 and some pipe racks. We are west bound, heading out of the narrows. I get to say stuff like,"One oversize, 13 feet wide, at the stop sign heading west bound to the red barn, and then oversize at the red barn approaching the narrows,"etc. etc. Then I listen for bobtails, transports, and other oversize, heading east bound to learn where they are to see if we can continue on, or if we need to find a wide spot, if possible...mostly we keep going and they find a wide spot! tee hee!

This is Randy with a sub section. His overhang is on the swamp side.

I was hoping you could see the Colorado River a bit better in this pic. I'm on my way back to old location and this is a view of the valley going into West Rifle.

I'm across the valley and this is a section of mountain that is Cow Trail. Remember that the road runs along the edge of the mountains which is forty miles long. Yesterday there was snow only on top. Today snow is covering not only mountains but the whole valley.

I'm one of the few pilots I know that hasn't hit a deer...yet

Deer crossing the road and heading up the hill right next to new location. They aren't too intimated by all of us.

You can see some of the road on the mountain side...This pics don't display how awesome being up here was!

Cow Trail...You can see the road I'm going along. This road follows real close to the mountains edge.

More pics of Cow Trail..This is in July and I was real lucky to go because Cow Trail wasn't used any more because of the road and the tunnel that was built on the other side, forty miles away. The road is known as Wheeler Gulch. The tunnel was shut down for ten days so we had to take the long way around.

This is the camp I'm piloting. We have started up Cow Trail about two miles when I took this photo.

I'm on top of Cow Trail. It is forty miles long and it runs on top of the mountain range from Rifle to Parachute, and then some. You can see the whole valley from up here. You can see the mighty Colorado River and I-70. The direction is going east to west. I'm piloting a camp and the truck you can see in this picture is one of ours. He is waiting for me and the camp to lead us to new location. I was by myself coming back and a storm was heading my way so I didn't get to take some truly fantistic photos. I was anxious to get off the mountain for it can get really ugly, really fast. When I got near the bottom there was pea size hail covering the road that leads out. I was lucky that day. All in all, it was a great trip.

This is me on top of Wheeler Gulch. This is the mountain that Mike Foracher got killed. This tunnel is one mile long. Water is a constant in this tunnel. It seeps from all around and in the winter forms large ice stalagmites on the top. I followed an oversize in the back to watch his sides and I would watch him tip the stalgmites . They would swinging back and forth. I was afraid one would come loose and smash the hood of my truck or come through my windshield. It was slow going!

And yet another graceful pose...I just couldn't resit taking ...[she doesn't really like me anyway] tee hee

Bobbie Mott looking beautiful in one of her guest rooms in St. George, Ut. [maybe she knew I was gonna' visit and had a slight reaction}

This is Bobbie Mott, Randy's Mother. She had an accident...yeah, really...she fell off the toilet. Anyway, we went down to St. George for a visit, to make sure she was doing alright. [ya know, drama queen, etc.] thinking her face couldn't possibly be all that horrible. WRONG! I couldn't stop looking at her. I mean like staring! All I could think of was how great it looked for Halloween! Makeup artist would go crazy striving for this look. These pics don't do the woman justice...[really, she fell off the toilet in the middle of the night and smacked her face into the wall in front of her as she sat on the toilet] That's her story and she's stickin' to it. These pics were taken after alot ot the swelling was down too...

A small herd of deer came near to new location. I had just piloted an oversize and was turning around and there they were. This location is about ten miles from our motel in Parachute. It is getting dusk, towards evening. My presence didn't bother them a bit. I have other photos I want the kids to see, but they are on my other computer.

These are a few photos I took of the rainbow as I headed back up High Mesa. We were all glad when this move was over...

This is a photo of Calvin [Heman] coming off of High Mesa. He is built just like the character, Heman! I was going down in front of him and we had to wait for uphill traffic. I thought he and the rainbow made a good photo.

This is Randy on High Mesa with the crown section of the derrick. It has been raining non stop for three days and so many of our trucks have had problems getting their loads out without tearing something up on the trucks. The move has gone real slow because of weather and road conditions. This move was done in October of 2008. The drive lines and U-joints were getting torn up on several of our trucks because of the weight these trucks carry and getting stuck in the mud. Big dozers had to come and tie on to the trucks to pull them out. The only real fear we had for Randy at this time was for when he got over to new location. He had a very steep, sharp right hand turn to make and his load is long. He did an excellent job though. No worries....

Hey everyone! This is me in my pilot car on High Mesa, Colorado. I am parked next to Randy, who is in his truck, that is loaded with the derrick. The crown section to be exact. We have a few moments before I pilot him off the mountain so after taking photos of him, he decided to take a few of me. It has been raining for three days up here and is real muddy, or greasy as we say it. Talk about slip slidin' away...[wish I knew how to download that song} I am