Panguitch Valley Balloon Rally (Utah)

From Panguitch Bal...

The little town of Panguitch, Utah hosts a hot air balloon rally the last weekend in June each year. In fact, this is one of the reasons we are still in the Hatch area. Since we have not been to the huge balloon festivals in Santa Fe and Albuquerque this gathering of 30+ balloons was pretty fun.

Each day from Friday until Sunday the launch began at 6:30am. Spectators are invited onto the field and can assist in the inflating of the balloons. We met a couple, Betty and Jay (with whom we are now neighbors at a different campground in Hatch) who because they helped inflate, were invited to ride along! Betty went one day and Jay the other. And they were invited to crew with this balloon pilot in Albuquerque this fall! How exciting! They will be able to camp with all the balloon people and are hoping to be able to ride again.

Bill and I went on Saturday morning to watch the launch but arrived at 7 and missed it. The balloons were all in the air by then. It was still beautiful to round that last mountain and come upon this sight. I was wondering how many people knew nothing about the rally and accidentally did the same thing. There were tons of vehicles (and motorhomes) pulled off the road to enjoy the view.

That evening, Mel and Evelyn went with us back “downtown” for the Balloon Glow. They had about 15 balloons inflating on Main Street and a cross road while we all walked around town. As the sun set (about 9pm) the pilots lit their burners to illuminate the entire envelope (the balloon itself). They needed several strong helpers to keep it from rising into the air. It actually looked like a tough job! They would light the burners for only a second or two at a time.

As an aside: Bill and Mel learned from one pilot that each of his 2 burners was 15 million BTU’s!!!!! Holy cow, my grill has 20,000 BTU’s! Those are some hot fires! Considering a cubic foot of air weighs roughly 28 grams (about an ounce). If you heat that air by 100 degrees F, it weighs about 7 grams less. Therefore, each cubic foot of air contained in a hot air balloon can lift about 7 grams. That's not much, and this is why hot air balloons are so huge -- to lift 1,000 pounds, you need about 65,000 cubic feet of hot air. I wonder if they ask you your weight before allowing you to board a basket (or gondola) for a ride? I can see it now: this is a scene from the dinner table back in Virginia. Bill is telling the kids these interesting facts (and undoubtedly asks a related questions based on this info) and they decide it is time to be excused from the table!

I’ll move on . . . Sunday morning, Mel and Evelyn and I went back leaving at 6:20am to get on the field. I should mention that they both are great photographers so they were as excited to go as I was. Even though they admitted they already had hundreds of balloon pictures from the big rallies. I really enjoyed getting up close while the pilots readied their launch. Being on the field allowed you to be under them as they flew low, to feel the heat from the burners, to hear the directions and the concerns of the crew as they worked. Seemed everyone on the field was carrying some sort of camera equipment and a huge smile on their face. Us, too.

If you click on the person’s head icon at the lower left corner of the balloon pictures on the right it will take you to the whole gallery of balloon pictures I’ve posted at PicasaWeb.

It was a great weekend from start to finish.
Thanks for checking in on us. Be sure to leave a comment (click on comments below) so I know you were here.

Jody

PS: for all you Pisces out there, for the week 6/23-29: The stars give you a burst of courage on the 23rd, inspiring you to be more adventurous. Map out a new financial plan on the 25th, and you’ll have more cash to spend. I’m hoping this comes true for all those born under this sign.

Happy Hour, Cats & HooDoo Chili Cook-Off

I have a couple of things to write about, yet they are related (Walt, Walt, Walt, Walt, Walt, Walt, Walt, Walt). Don't ask.

We arrived at a rustic campground in Hatch, UT two weeks ago Sunday. The sites were pretty tight and for some reason the office kept putting new arrivals right next to us (even though there were plenty of empty sites where they could have spaced them out). By tight I mean the neighboring trailer’s slide was overhanging our picnic table bench and a giant step out our rig would have landed us on top of their utility connection. But the reason we stayed was the great people we met!

Within moments of pulling in, Walt and Pete (Ole’ Dusty Pete of ATV fame) were over welcoming us and inviting us to happy hour! After meeting the rest of the gang, we decided to stay. One week turned into two weeks . . . we got together with Pete, Jo, Mel, Evelyn, Walt & Kelly just about every night. We were invited to White Chicken Chili that first night and Sausage Burgers another, and I even had a BBQ Beef dinner for them. These three couples have over 50 years of fulltiming! I guess we have a way to go.

Occasionally, we were honored by the presence of Cinnamon and Bo– Pete & Jo’s cats. It is ALWAYS good for me to get my cat fix. Too funny: the cats would cry to come out, and would usually settle right down on their (and sometimes my) laps. If they started to get antsy all they would say is, “You had better behave or you are going inside!” and those cats would settle right down! I do miss the cats . . . but not the litter.

Last Saturday the six of us rode to the tiny town of Tropic for the Bryce Canyon Hoodoo District Chili Cook-off. I’m so mad I didn’t get my act together earlier. There were only 8 entries! Man – I make a darn good chili! They had categories for red and green chili and salsa.

My favorite salsa was this peach salsa – very good. The cook said she was just trying it out on us for future competitions. It was really good. I think we were expecting a little more out of this contest! My fav green chili was from, of course, Coyote Jody Chili – even though they spelled Jody wrong . . . We didn’t stay to hear the winners announced and the website hasn’t posted them yet.

Here are Evelyn and Jo and then Pete, Bill and Mel really into their samples!

The highlight for Mr. Bill was . . . the ice cream! He was being his usually “witty” self and the scooper popped back a retort to one of Bill’s remarks. Bill announces (quite modestly) I think I’ve just been out-smart-assed! Boy, was he surprised!

We had a fun time. Made it back with enough time to rest before heading out for the Balloon Glow that night. Next post . . . .

Walt, Walt, Walt, Walt, Walt, Walt - there! Are you happy, now? You are mentioned in this post more than Pete! :)

I’ll try to get to it tonight. Miss you all,
Jody

Wanna Eat Some Dust?

From Hatch ATV Ride

This is a long one. You can stop reading at any time and I'll not be the wiser:)
Walt (Escapee/workamper here at the RV park) runs an ATV tour company in his spare (!) time with his trusty sidekick, Pete. He says he has an extra ATV for a scheduled ride in the morning and did I want to go. Sure! Did I forget to ask what it really meant? Yes.

Be at my site at 7am, wear sturdy boots, long pants and layer up because it will be cold were my instructions. Did I forget to ask about tight fitting glasses, warm gloves, towel and bag to protect my camera, bandanna to tie around my mouth and nose . . . ? Yes. How about the fact I had never really ridden one of these? Fortunately, this ATV had an engine brake control where when I released the throttle it assisted in stopping me. I still don’t have the strength in my left hand to have used the hand brake quickly and there are no foot brakes. (Broken wrist with titanium plate/screws/pins from Feb. in Florida – if you don’t know the story, I’ll post about it later.)

Fortunately, Walt had a helmet with a full face shield – like it was going to keep the dust off my face! HA. Did I mention that Hatch, UT only gets 4” of rain each year? Dust is not the word to explain what was flying everywhere. Off we go up into the canyon for “our two-hour tour, our two-hour tour” – insert Gilligan’s Island theme song.

At first we were on back roads even though all not paved it was a very smooth ride even at 25-30 mph. Then we cross over through a field where it turns gravel. Still pretty smooth and fast. No major ruts or mini boulders in our way. Whoo Hoooo. Now, Walt stops and says we are going to be going slower because of the condition of the “trail” and the dust. Hmmmmmm . . . Oh, and Jody, when we head up the steep part of the climb, you’ll need to lean forward. WHAT?!?!

OK, the trail is narrower and the dust is everywhere. I’m 4th in line with Pete (and his radio and GPS) right behind me. It was getting hard to see with the dust and I had a hard time looking at the scenery (!) while watching the now rougher ride. I’m still not sure how the rocks get in the trail when there is no rushing water to carry them there.

We are gaining some altitude – literally with the climb into the canyon and my body off the seat with some of the uneven terrain starting full of ruts, potholes, branches, rocks & gravel. It occurs to me a little too late that this is why people take these things off road – DUH! Between blinking constantly trying to keep my contacts from permanently sticking to my eyes and wiping off the face shield it was getting adventurous. But I’m still smiling and whooo hoooing in my head. The jarring motion of the handlebars wasn’t very comfortable with my wrist so when I approached one of these “lift off” moments, I would release my left hand and kind of throw my arm into the air (not on purpose – from momentum). Then it dawns on me that from Pete’s perspective I’m a crazy ATV neophyte acting like she’s riding a bull and can only gain points as long as her arm is freely in the air! Was I imagining him yelling for me to keep both hands on the vehicle? Of course, then I’m laughing, inhaling even more dust. Note: just checked with Pete. He says I was leaving so much dust in his path he was lucky to catch a glimpse of my helmet. Whoops.

We round some bends and Walt stops to show us “The Nose Rock”. Pretty cool. Up we head in to a wooded area. Very pretty and very cold with not even the rising sun on us. The woods could have been in any one of the different states I’ve lived. Not much dust and easy to see ahead. It was so peaceful; I was ready to stop for a snack.

I look up as we are slowing down to notice the stream we were about to cross. That’s cool, about 18 inches deep, I like water, no problem – except there is a 2+ foot drop on each bank and it is only 3 feet wide!!! OK, so while I’m aiming over my handlebars to go down, I’m supposed to keep going so my front tires are headed back up while the back tires are headed down???? I’m certain that while I am somersaulting through the stream my ATV is continuing over my body. Oh yea, that can’t happen because when I release the throttle, it will stop and I’ll just crash back into it. Also, the grade is about 20% on the other side so you have to keep going so you can get up and out of the way. I will now admit if I thought I could have navigated the maze of trails, I might have turned around. I think the fact it came up so quickly I didn’t have a moment to be rational. Once again, I’m thinking that this is another one of those things ATV riders look for in a ride.

As we are again climbing, and the trail is narrowing – our fearless and undusty leader (Pete, you need to talk to him about this) is blazing through a herd of cattle!! Yes, a herd of cattle were happily grazing on either side of the trail until becoming surprised by our noisy pack. Several started pacing along side the trail snorting and changing direction faster than I would have given them credit. They are running between the first few riders and I’m envisioning disaster. I slowed (sorry Pete) mostly out of disbelief and half expecting one to hurdle over me since I’m on the smallest ATV. The last was moving along side of me matching my speed and all I could think of was my camera was protectively wrapped in a towel in the storage compartment nowhere within reach! Damn – another Kodak moment missed – the stream being the first.

Onward to a couple of scenic stops. I’m feeling more confidant and thinking how my son, Dan, would be so much better suited for this and would be rolling his eyes at me.

As we were climbing through the towering pine trees the light was beginning to shine through catching all the dust – it was shooting at such a sharp angle – it really was beautiful. I wanted to try to capture it with the camera, but didn’t want it covered with this fine, dry dust.

I guess I lost track of our assent until this one section when I just new I was going to be under Pete’s ATV when I flipped off the back. Ahhhhh ,THIS is where I’m supposed to lean forward. There were sharp turns, rough trail and I felt like we were going straight up. I nearly froze (not from temp for now it was about 60) but from the thought that suddenly dawned on me: what goes up, must come down!!! I would eventually need to follow this DOWN. Keep moving and keep breathing. That's the trail you see in the center of the picture.


One section of the trail felt like some of the switchback miner roads we took in New Mexico up into the ghost towns. It had a very steep drop off several hundred feet into no man’s land. Shouldn’t there be a class to attend or a license to know how to handle these things?

Way off in the distance and way down the mountain we could see the campground. That put our height into perspective.

We checked Pete’s GPS at the next stop: elevation 9081 ft. It was beautiful. Turn around time. We took a slightly different route back. No stream crossings, but still plenty of dust. I stopped a couple of times to take pictures and Pete waited patiently with me. When I started back up the last time, the group in front was so far ahead the dust had settled and they were nowhere in sight. The trail was visible and I took off. I mean really took off. I was smiling and flying along when it dawns on me . . . I turn around to see nothing but dust for a quarter of a mile! And no Pete. Oh man . . . sooooooo sorry Pete. I just wasn’t putting all of this together. Guess I was having so much fun I was lost in my own world.

The rest of the ride was uneventful as far as the story goes. We were gone almost 2 ½ hours and were still home early enough for breakfast – after a shower!! It was a great time. Bill was still trying to shake out my sweatshirt and jeans long after I was scrubbed clean. Thanks guys! I had a great time!

Whooooo hoooooo!

More pics from the Panguitch Balloon Festival and The HooDoo Chilli Cookoff which we visited today.

Happy Saturday - Glad you are home, Mo xoxoxo
Jody

Photoshop Practice

This is my first attempt at using Photoshop's "photomerge" function. This is actually 6 pictures taken overlapping each other from left to right. Then I attempted to merge them together to form one panoramic photo. It would have been longer but I was a bit too cautious in my overlapping.

I'm pretty pleased with my first result and now know what I need to do differently for the next one.

Of course my Photoshop expert friends (Dale, Jan and um . . . Ben!) would do a much better job - but I'm learning!

This is at Sunset Point, Bryce Canyon, Utah. We hiked a bit down into the canyon on Peekaboo Loop but the temp was in the 90's and climbing and by the time we decended over 600 feet it was sunny and getting warmer (and this trail desends another 900 feet). I kept thinking about the ONE bottle of water I had already had half of (between us - Bill carry water?!?!?!?) and figured I needed to head back up. I know, wimp! The Navajo Trail is an easier hike and will be better in the cool of the morning. Hoping to do that Tuesday, early.

Shot tons of pictures - hard for them to do the scenery justice. It still surprises me when we meet people - especially RVer's who are on a trip to all these places who still carry film cameras!!! By the time you buy film, get it developed and make copies for everyone, you could have bought an entry level, good digital camera and shared them via e-mail to everyone and even printed a set out at Costco! And I think of all the photos you miss because you are conserving.

I felt so badly for this 8yr. old at Bryce Canyon yesterday. He had a digital camera and was having a blast taking all sorts of interesting pictures, including one of me waving at him! His father kept telling him it was enough and that he had already taken too many pictures! Isn't that the beauty of digital? What a spoilsport! OK, maybe he didn't have a way to save them off the camera . . . I just felt sorry for the kid. Just think if we all had had the opportunity to take a million pictures of family vacations when we were kids. Can you imagine the history we would have?

I'll try to post some of the canyon later.
have a great week!
Jody

Happy Dads Day!

Even though this is a unique card for my dad, the thought and best wishes go out for all those men out there who are very special dads to all sorts of people! You all are loved and thought of today. Hey, not to forget all those special moms, too!

Hope everyone enjoys their Fathers Day!
Jody

. . . all the nice places. . .

So here is a shot that might capture some of those really nice places Bill has taken me. I should start a link to all those really special places we have spent the night or driven through on this adventure. It is a really good thing I’m pretty flexible! I know many of my friends and family members who would be not quite as accommodating.

We stayed in St. George, NV last Friday (and actually Saturday) on our way to Hatch, UT, this was the view from my bedroom window. Tight enough spaces? This truck arrived after we parked. These guys at Flying J Truck Stop know what they are doing – backing right in there perfectly. Good thing we aren't claustrophobic.

I’m playing catch-up. Promise to post more tomorrow!
Have a great weekend,
Jody

The Odds of Winning

So as we were on our way out of NV and stopped in Searchlight (mentioned before because of The Nugget Casino and Restaurant) I ran in to get a pix of this antique one-armed bandit. It only takes nickles and a posted note asks you to only use one nickle at a time and to be gentle with this old guy.

Well, Bill fished a nickle out of his pocket for me and I gently pulled his arm holding the gun . . . low and behold - TWO nickles come tumbling down into the "you won" tray!!!! Whooo Hooooo!

Bill grabs the 2 nickles from the tray and says, "Good for you, you doubled your money!" and out the door he walks! What the heck????? I was thinking that meant I could go on . . . . guess not!

Later, Jody

I'm Back . . .

Sorry, had a week or more of hiding. Actually, it was more an Internet connection in hiding.

Anyway, a quick post today from Hatch, Utah. But the pictures are from Cottonwood Cove, NV (where I should have had the sense to realize we were headed to a "dry state" and any wine should have been purchased BEFORE crossing the state line.) You can buy it if you can find it! St. George had one package store for 50,000 people.

The Colorado River in Cottonwood Cove was amazingly clear and the carp liked to hang out at one of the docks. Just like the carp that reside in some of the touristy places in Myrtle Beach they wait to be fed. At Barefoot Landing in Myrtle Beach there are those machines dispensing pelletized food (like at the deer-petting resorts) so tourists can enjoy the feeding frenzy. At Cottonwood Cove you just bring out your stale anything and the fish go nuts. Above was taken upon my approach.

This is after tossing in a handful of stale frosted flakes. I was laughing so hard it was hard to keep the camera from falling in. Mamas, hang on to your babies! Of course, I continued to toss handful after handful which was pretty much dust and sugar by the time I got to the bottom of the bag. They were so thick fighting to get a tiny morsel that the ducks were walking on top of the carp to get their share! Pretty gross - but obviously it didn't deter me!

I promise to post more later now that the satellite is up. We are headed out on the bike maybe through Bryce Canyon.

Thinking of you all,
Jody

Riding the Colorado River

WOW! Not what I expected. Vic rented a little fishing boat so we could tour a bit on the Colorado River. Carol wasn’t feeling well so she stayed behind. I packed a lunch and by 8:30 we were on board.

My first observation is that it is crystal clear – so clean. And at least in the marina, not very cold. I estimate the temp to be in the low 70’s. That is “swimable” or at least “wadeable”. We headed north with AZ on the right shore and NV along the left.

The terrain not only is different from one shore to the other, but it changed so rapidly as we headed upstream. One can only imagine the violence that had to have occurred for this water to cut such a path and for the upheavals in the ground to force so many layers of the earth to become vertical stripes in the mountains. I wish we could go to Blockbuster and rent the documentary (with real live footage), The Birth of The Colorado River. I’ll let you know if I find it.

Another interesting thing is that if you did not “know” the river, it would be difficult navigating it. OK, it is only so wide and only goes one way – so what do I mean? It isn’t straight. The mountains, coves, cliffs, dunes, vegetation jut out here and there with 3D illusions as to where the edge of the water really is. Put another way: your depth perception is askew maybe because of the grandeur of the whole thing. As Vic explained, there appears to be a dead end in every direction. So if you don’t know the different landmarks, you would be constantly heading back and forth searching for the shoreline to follow. At many places the river was in excess of several hundred feet. Guess that is why it is part of Lake Mojave for 67 miles.

We were fortunate that water traffic was very light. I know I would not have enjoyed it as well last weekend (Memorial Day) when hundreds (really) of boats and jet skis left this marina – many of which were rented by inexperienced boaters. There were some remnants of campers with tents still in some of the beachy coves. A few houseboats were docked in their own coves and we saw only a few jet skis. Although, a fireboat went by to tow back a stranded rental.

We fueled at Willow Beach, AZ about 20 miles into our ride. It is 12 miles from The Hoover Dam. On Sundays and Mondays, no motorized motorcraft are allowed past Willow Beach towards the dam. It is reserved for man-powered boats. Kind of nice.

We continued towards the dam, not sure of how close we could get. You be the judge! Since 911 commercial traffic is not allowed over the dam. A bypass highway/bridge project will carry non-dam traffic across the river without having to drive all the way down to Laughton/Bullhead City to cross – which is the way we drove. It includes a 1900ft bridge, 900 feet above the river. Completion is expected in 2008. They have a long way to go.

Driving over the dam no way compares to seeing it eyelevel from the water. If you look closely at the picture you can see the work trucks parked at the power plant down at the bottom of the dam. In the gallery of pictures (click on the pics at the right) I'm not sure if you can see the workers on the crane platform on the right side. We could see them moving around way up there. Whew – no thanks.

Another thing I found very interesting is the way the light played games with color and shadows. On our way out, looking towards AZ, the water appeared green (not because it is 180 feet deep in some places) and blue looking towards NV. Also, staring at the craggy mountains was like looking at cloud formations. Shadows played against the crevices forming all sorts of faces. Just moving along past some they disappeared into the mountain. I love the guy I spotted. Actually had to have Vic turn the boat back so I could get a better photo of him! Pretty cool.



Great day, great ride (7 hours), great country. There really are purple mountains majesty!