Balloon ride to Plane ride.

My plane ride was in this flight simulator (sim), which is one of three at the CAE center near DIA. Airlines rent time on the sim for $500/hr. My pilot buddy, Dave and my neighblor Craig, the instructor worked it out for me to ride along. Every pilot has to test out on the sim once a year, usually a two day test. The purpose is to give them real life flight situations so that they can practise what to do--wind sheer, lightning, micro bursts, trucks on the runway, abort a take off, several instrument and engine failures and issues, air turbelence of following a jumbo jet too close, fire in the cabin and incorrect tower direction.
Riding in the sim is just like flying, we flew in/out of San Francisco so that I could see the Golden Gate Bridge and water. The grapics were so real-sorry about the pic (no flash because they video most of the test)--can you make out the runway. One test was to avoid a head on airplane collusion--the sight, sound and movement of the sim caused by the plane flying over us was very real. I flew--correction I crashed my landing and did a fair job of taking off, lots of swerving down the runway though.

It was a fantastic experience--pilots, traffic control and flight attendants have a totally different langauge. I have a much higher respect for their talents and abilities. Especailly the instructor--he has to know all there is to fly the plane AND how to work the sim. Thanks guys!

15-25-21-3-2

Today I rode 21 miles to Cherry Creek dam and learned that I ride like a 40 something woman. She joined the trail near our fitness center--she pulled ahead on the curves and tunnels and I would catch up on the hills then she would pull away again. You are probably wondering what the 3-2 is for---3 bugs in my mouth and 2 snakes on the road. The woman and I both picked up speed around them, I couldn't tell what they were I had my eyes closed and I was movin'.

Maddie is a leaner--she gives me that extra push when I am stretching my hamstrings. What a dog--how do I do my stretches without her?
I have ridden several times since my last posting, so I will do this one to catch up. We drove to Loveland to pickup Kortney and Paul's dog-Maddie. They drove to Coer D Ilene, Boise, and Sun Valley for a trip to visit Kevin and stay with Kortney's teaching partner that ran an Ironman. I rode 15 miles on Monday--Kortney called to warn me about a tornado about 5 miles north of me, the mailman stopped me to tell me and two women that were out looking at the sky told me too. The storm went northeast. Tuesday I rode 25 miles near Carter Lake--lots of horse smells and one of my favorite golf courses Marian Buttes--this building lot is still available, hmmm.

Balloon ride!

Not the kind of balloon ride you were thinking of! I'm in here somewhere. The balloons were for Fred Dixon's (Jan's cousin) memorial in Jan's hometown-Cory. They were released in pairs to commemorate Fred and Fay's life together. Jan had a chance to catch up with relatives from Minnesota, Idaho and various parts of Colorado. We made a quick two day trip, stayed with Bob/Sharon-learned how to play Mexican dominoes with their friends Bob/Sharon, drove home through Montrose, Gunnison, Salida, Woodland Park, Colorado Springs and the back road through Parker. Colorado is really green and the mountains still have snow--a beautiful contrast.

My Rides!

I haven't posted my rides lately! No pictures either--but, what beautiful day. Rain last night so it was exceptionally clear and clean today. I had to wear my jacket--kinda cool.

Another tornado warning yesterday. While I was at a church meeting, I joined the staff in the "safe" room. Heavy rain, no hail or tornadoes. Our electricity went out last night--second time this week. Our dog does not like the thunder--she can hear it when it is far away.

The golf course looks the best we have ever seen.

Slideshow of Seattle, Sun Valley et al.

click on the picture on the right for a bigger view and slide show!

Tornado and hail 6-7-09

We were being watched over--we had pulled out of the garage to spend some time looking at very expensive homes near DU, we saw the dark cloud to the west and decided to come back home and hang out for an hour or so. About 10 minutes later I took the pictures of the funnel then the hail. We heard lots of sirens but didn't know what had happend--our electricity was out.

With God's protection--We Made It!

To Seattle and back--4150 miles in 2 weeks. We saw lots of God's beautiful creation.

Here is a brief itinerary--Moving van and Amanda's car on a trailer and a rented Alamo Toyota mini van (great travel van, round trip cheaper than one way) packed with Amanda's pets and all our travel stuff--we had dinner with the newly graduated Customs and Border Protection Officer Ben, his mom and step day, then off to Loveland/Ft Collins to Sun Valley/Ketchum--stayed a couple of nights with Kevin. As we left Ketchum Amanda took Kevin to the Boise airport so he could fly to LA to look at and buy a 2001 Tacoma, he stayed at couch surfing homes along highway 101 and met us in Portland. We arrived in Seattle/Renton, unloaded, did some tourist stuff (wineries, breweries, the locks). Mom and I went on to Portland, did the tourist visit stuff like Tillimook cheese city, Columbia River (very pretty), visited Walla Walla and some wineries and took the scenic route via McCall, Idaho to Boise. The plan was for Kevin to have lasik eye surgery, we would pick him up, stay a night, then visit the doctor the next day and travel on to Ketchum, BUT, the lasik laser was out of whack so the surgery was cancelled. No problem we did the Boise tourist stuff with Kevin as our guide, we had our best meal at Bittercreek Brewery.

To Ketchum we drove the route through Lowman, Idaho City that Kevin's cycling team is riding on Saturday--200 miles very pretty, but lots of mtn passes. We stayed in Ketchum a couple of days, celebrated mom's birthday, took a really nice long hike--saw not a soul--that's Idaho. Had some fun playing Nertz with Kevin and his roommate Fernando. Visited Salt Lake City on our way to stay with Uncle Larry in Grand Junction, visited sister Sharon and Bob and brother Ken and Judy, back to GJ so that Larry could buy the birthday girl dinner. I made out being the tag along on the birthday dinners. Arrived home safe and sound--thanks to Steve, Cindy and Kelsey our dog Sadie had a great time and I don't think she even missed us.

Great trip. but we miss Amanda. Ben and Kevin, already.