from Picacho thru Zion National Park 2016

Hi everyone,
 The "on the road" internet has been sooo slow I haven't tried to post since we left PPRV on Sunday. We said our goodbys on Saturday evening and left about 7:45 Sunday morning. Our tomato plants were loaded with green fruit so our friend and neighbor Donna is going to tend and eat them.  Will plant earlier next trip. Sad to leave but it's the right time. We drove north, up thru Flagstaff, AZ and on to Page. Had a problem with the camper's 12 volt system so bought a new battery that didn't make a difference. After settling into a campground for the nite, I found an unmapped fuse under the camper frame and replaced it. all was well then.  Left there on Monday am and drove across Glenn Canyon Dam.

We drove to Kanab,UT by a round about route but made it to Zion River RV resort. Beautiful park with green grass and actual trees.

 Hillbilly trailer hooked to a expensive motor coach

you can see for hundreds of miles

Yesterday we drove to the Zion NP thru a small town of Springdale just to check out the scene and how to get there. The NP  parking was full and it was late afternoon so we just stopped and wandered around town.  Had a late lunch at the Flying Monkey wood fired grill. It was great food. came back and walked the rv park and relaxed. We wanted to get into the park before it got busy so we got there by 7am. the information and visitor center was closed but the shuttle was running so we to it the whole length of the line, got off and walked to the "narrows".  This is where you have to walk in the water between canyon walls that are just feet apart and hundreds of feet high. there was a sign saying not to go into the Narrows as there might be high waters. as we found out later, the water temps were 49 degrees.  we took the shuttle back a stop and hiked another short easy trail and saw more wonders of this place. we stopped at various points along the shuttle route and took pictures and kept commenting just how big it is and how different than any other place we have been it is.

 note the climber on the facewall

Back into the park just sitting and chatting with the neighbors.  Life is good!!!

Lake Havasu balloon fest

welcome,
 We are home from our trip to Lake Havasu.  What a great time with our friends Doug and Susanne Kennedy. We left Thursday morning about 930 and Doug drove. We went out thru the south west side of Phoenix thru Buckeye and up to Parker. Parker is a beautiful place right on the Colorado river with alot of very pretty RV parks. We stopped for lunch along the way anf a couple of times just to streach our legs. It took almost 5 hours to get to the London Bridge Resort where we had reservations. A very nice place right next to the London bridge. We had a two bedroom suite with a small balcony. We contacted Mike and Becky Fleury, our Balloon pilot and his wife, and agreed to meet them for dinner. They showed us where we were to go in the morning to meet for the launching and then we had a very nice meal right beside the bridge and water. Friday was to windy to fly so the 60-70 balloons that were there couldn't fly. They did inflate a couple on tether (FlurDeTucson)  Mikes outfit was one, but the winds wouldn't cooperate so we took it down. There were tons of concession stands just like a fair so we walked arond, ate, listened to music, ate, walked and just had a nice day in the sun. The evening launchs were all cancelled due to high winds so Doug, Susanne, Linda and I went back to the hotel for a swim and hot tub soak. It was great. we walked across the parking lot and ate at Chile's and had great food and just a ball. we laughed so hard our ribs hurt. Mike called and said the launch was on for Friday morning so we quit early. We got to the launch site he had picked out and it was very close to the bridge instead of out on the island with most of the other folks. we had a great launch and Mike did a "splash and dash". that is where you fly the balloon over the river and just dip down and have the bottom of the basket just dip into the water and then climb fast to clear the bridge and hotels. Mike was the first of many to get it done. The crowd roared and there were lots of people taking pictures of it all.   the chase crew in two trucks followed him as best we could and even thought he might land in our hotel parking lot but he made it to over behind Chiles and dropped into the parking lot. we stayed there for a few minutes and checked wind and swapped riders. Susanne got to ride and the rest of us started the chase again. they flew at house top level waving and talking to the people that came out to watch from the ground. Mike found a quiet residential streen with no powerlines and came down right in the middle of the street. we all, and even neighbors helped ensure that the balloon didn't get hungup on any mailboxes. everything went well and when everything was loaded we all went back to the launch site(a dirt lot) and did the christening of the new flyers.  Champane and toast and pictures. neat day and lots of fun and tons of pictures. we had counted 38 balloons in the air at once, but I bet there were more. Quite a sight. Mike and Becky wanted us to stay and be involved that nite and fly on Saturday but the hotel room would have been over $400 for one nite so we couldn't stay.  we got packed up and headed home. good trip back but my legs were really cramping up an I could hardly walk by the time we got back. Great time and plan on doing it again next year.

 Linda and Susanne standing on London Bridge

 view from the front of our hotel

 filling the envelope

 looking inside

 John and I holding the head line

 landing in the street

now who would ever get their hair cut soooooooooo short.  well not this guy, at least I didn't think I was getting it this short. I had more hair at birth than I do now.

I have been crewing for the balloon alot and Linda has been in the hobby house alot. we are going with other crew folks to the owners for dinner and gathering tonite. We have got our reservations in Lake Havasu  for next Thursday and Friday.( we are going with Doug and Susanne for a ballooning festival. the Flureys(the ones we crew for) are taking their craft and along with others we hope to fly but at least have fun at the fairs. crafts and all the other things going own. there should be 30-40 balloons flying over London Bridge and we have been told it's a spectacular sight.
 life is very busy for us, the weather has been relatively cool but good sun.
 I have started trimming our Palm tree and plants, and am thinking about building a shed for all our collections. I do have some windows to caulk, as we noticed a couple seeping in the very heavy rain the other nite. 
Hope you all are enjoying life as Linda and I are.  she is out with a group doing a 10 mile hike around the "peak" to the old silver mine today.
stay well and stay in touch   the maintenance man