So, once again, it has been a while, I am going to start from where I left off here. We got out of the Outdoor Industry Trade Show on Sunday afternoon. It was an interesting experience being around all of that stuff. I went too AREI(fancy outdoor store) for the first time about a month and a half ago with Calabro. I just walked around and was like, "this is over priced yuppie gear". I went to Wal-mart and got what I needed at a fraction of the price. For what I am doing, it really is not needed but to go all hardcore like the people I have met the past few days, I can totally see the need!!
I am a little ashamed now of my crappy gear but it works!! SO anyway, we drove to Moab which took like 6-7 hours from Salt Lake. We took the long route and did not get in until after 11pm. Oops, luckily Calabro had some friends Jared and Heather. Thanks so much to the coolest people in Moab! Jared is a former Pro Motocross/Freestyle Motocross dude and Heather is at High Point ATV rentals in town. Very kindred spirits. I used to race back in the day as well, never a pro though, always mediocre but havin' fun!!
I took a break from skating with the trade show, driving and arriving in Moab. The local park is Ok, a mini ramp and little street features. But when you go to Moab, there are other things to do. I think that I had the most busy, dangerous and amazing day ever in Moab!! We woke up really early and headed straight out to the canyons to meet up with one of Calabro's buddies.
Chris is a rad dude! He shoots for many outdoor magazines and likes to jump off of mountains for fun and for sport!! He started out as a skydiver and has something like 7000 dives?? He got into base jumping (jumping off of buildings, mountians, bridges, etc) a few years ago. The dude is rad and the video will probably give you some better insight.
We pulled into this beautiful canyon and hiked up the mountain with Chris. I immediately was out of breath because of the elevation. I thought I was gonna die at first and had to stop. After a few I got caught up and looked to my left and totally forgot about the breathing and was staring at ancient
pictograms!! Or rock/wall art. I took a ton of pics, these images were incised into the the mountain walls by native people of the region hundreds of years ago... Very cool!!
We hiked half way up with Chris and Calabro and I rushed back down so we could get a good view of everything. After a few minutes of prep we saw the little ant like figure on top of Tombstone MT. leap off of it! yes, the dude jumped off of a mountain!!
Footy:
After we hooted and hollored I looked at my watch and it was only like 7:30 am.. I thought to myself, it is gonna be a long day! We moved on through the killer mountain roads with amazing views from every angle. I thought I was on mars or on the planet where Luke Skywalker grew up!! We stopped off at this little camp site and checked out some more of the pictograms. Suddenly, Calabro said, this is the "Indian Latter" I was like, huh? It was a big crack in the rock wall and native Americans placed a few fallen tree branches in the rock at diagonals and you are supposed to go up this>?>
Calabro and Chris were on it and even saying, wow, this is a little tuff! I was like, I'll stay down here thanks. Then the nagging and chastising began. So, I said fuck it, I'm goin' up this thing. It was fun as hell!! You have to squeeze your body through super tight areas and pull your self up the wall. It wasn't like super duty rock climbing or anything but for me it was pretty cool!!
It was very satisfying to get to the top and finally see the view. I need to follow the leader a bit more because the rock I got on was "hollow" I didn't know what that meant and I could see better from the ground, there was nothing under it! So that was pretty dumb. I am from the Midwest and we do not have anything like that at home in flat ass Chicago. Canyoniering is kinda similar to Chicago in some ways, skyscrapers are a lot like mountains and when you go down town it does feel like a canyon. Only the natural ones are way better!!! Going down the Indian Latter was even more fun than going up. It was difficult and sketchy but really fun!! |I always liked climbing up the junk pile in the barn as a kid so this was like second nature.
Calabro thankfully coached me down and explained way chimeny-ing is and I got the hang of it really quickly. SO by this time is was only like 8:45am... Time for breakfast. We ate at the local diner, big breakfast!! When you ask for more water, they bring you a pitcher! My kind of place!!
After that, we parted ways, Chris had to go pack his chute. He ended up doing 4 jumps that day! WoW!!!
So we went to visit Heather at High Point ATV and Hummer Tours in Moab. It is a rad rental place where you can get Jeeps, quads, side by sides, dirt bikes, you name it!! The also have Hummer tours so if you are not into driving up cliffs, over rocks, through streams, you can have them do it for you... We were looking for one of the head honchos, Scott but he was not there and nobody knew where he was. I guess when you are a adventurer and own and adventure buisness, it is hard to keep a tag on the boss sometimes. Well we got a call from Scott and after a short conversation Calabro was like, well we are gonna go meet Scott, see ya'll...
When we got into the car he says to me, head to the airport. I was like, airport? WTF?? Yeah, Scott is up in his plane and he is turning around to pick us up. I was still on airport and then??? huh? SO we get over there and wait a few for him to land, we go over to the runway and he just pulls right up like it is nothing. It felt like he was picking us up in his car?? He went into the office and checked in and in about 10 minutes we were in the plane!
I didn't really know what to expect because I had never been up in a single engine plane before. Yes, single engine plane... I had heard a bunch about it from Calabro and I always talk about how I want a bubble helicopter and he always says, no way. You will die. Well, now I can understand.
I was fine at first. We headed out to the runway and got all buckled up. |We had these cool headsets on and everything was normal. The take off was a lot more fun than a big plane and within seconds we were up in the air, all was well. I immediately began taking pics and having a great old time when suddenly, the real experience began. Moab is hot and windy so the air is a bit sketchy and the little plane was essentially getting blown all over the place like a balloon with a little fan motor.
I had no idea that this was what it would be like so I have to admit, I was freaked. After Scott explained to me what he was doing and how the air heats up and essentially boils up and blasts at the plane I kinda felt a little better. It is all about correcting once you are up I guess. But, I was not in control and I did not know what to expect so I was getting nervous. If I were flying it or actually knew something about flying maybe it would not have been so freaky.
The plane smoothed out once we got away from the canyons and I was feeling better. Then I realized Calabro was flying the plane!!!! I got kinda nervous again. Especially when he goes, oh so this thing makes you turn, and the whole plane tilts 90 degrees!! I tried to get some footy of his flight but after the next turn I was done. I had to gorilla grip the seat for the rest of the trip. I think my anxiety was so strong that it was all I could do to hold on.
I kept looking at the horizon and trying to breathe to calm down. I would let go of the seat and take a few pics but we would get hit by the wind, or drop in altitude and the anxiety would kick in 100%. I think Scott called them thermal bubbles? The ground temp gets to be 105 degrees and as the hot air rises it the moisture boils and literally shoots up and when it hits the plane well, look out!
To be honest, I was just hoping time would pass. The view was incredible though, Scott took us over "the swell" which is a geological phenomenon where the earth just buckled millions of years ago!! It is truly one of the most beautiful places on Earth.
Finally I could see the runway and I began to get a handle on my fear. The bumps continued but knowing that we were heading in was a comfort. I got the landing on video too. It is a little hard to tell but it was a difficult one. I guess that sometimes the wind there will not let the light aircraft land? It just keeps pushing the plane up and tossing it around. Scott did a killer job of handling that and got us down safe and sound!!
I was so happy to be on flat ground, I thought, I'll never complain about flat ass Illinois again! (yeah right) So big thanks to Scott for taking us up and the greatest thrill ride of my life. He even went easy on me!! No dive bombs or runs at the canyon! wow.
SO, maybe single engine flying is not for me, but maybe it will make me do a big air someday in the bowl! not
By this time is was about 3pm. Yes, this is still day 28! Scott gave us the combination to his storage container full of quads and said "have fun". So, we got two free quads, gassed up, geared up and headed straight into the desert!! There are thousands of miles of legal trails in Moab! You get to see some of the most amazing rock formations and hit some pretty gnarly trails as well!! I was so happy to get on a quad again. I hadn't been riding since I sold my 450 about 3 years ago. That thing was a money pit - another story.
We were out riding for a good 3 hours and I was just loving it!! You need to be conscious of the area and not go off trail. I had to yell at a couple of idiot who were buzzing around in the crust. Big No NO! We stopped and chilled in the shade for about a half hour, Calabro got bit by a fire ant and I looked at the rad rock formations. I really had to pinch myself because this day was still going!
The only casualty was my camera. I am a true dumb ass around tech stuff. I always forget that it is not made to last and planned obsolescence and break factor play into the industry too much. SO stupid me left the camera in the storage compartment of the quad. I meant to put in Calabro's back pack. So my camera was screwed. We got it to work a little bit the next day but it just zooms all the way in so I only take a pic of one brick rather than the whole building... Great!!
We got back and put the quads away. It was about 6pm and time for dinner!! We got some grub - hunger and thirst are two things you feel after coming out of the desert in August! At 6:30 we got another call from Scott who wanted us to meet him at the shop asap. I guess Calabro had to do him a favor after he spent like $500 on gas to fly us around the canyons! So - photo shoot time. We got there and he had
two side by sides (think super quad golf cart) and one 4 seater loaded up and ready to go.
I got to drive Calabro around in one while he took photos of Scott's family, Heather and Jared. I have to admit that these things are fun to drive in the right application. We were hitting all of these back canyon roads and jeep trails. Imagine trying to follow Scott's lead (expert desert rider) and Jared (former pro motocrosser) in a place you have never been. I had FUN!!! We were blasting through these jeep roads bouncing off of the rev limiter the whole time and barely staying on the road with 500 feet + drop offs.. Calabro even got a little scared a couple times! Ha!
So we arrived at this rad spot for the big sunset show. We had just missed the sun but the shoot came out anyway. My camera was screwed at this time so no photo for me. But memories are there forever!!
All of this happened in one day. I can not believe that I was still walking by the end. But of course, Calabro lost his phone so we had to scamper all around trying to find it. We had no contact for Heather, Scott, Jared - we some how found Heather and Jared's house and just waited there for about an hour in the front yard. Please take us in! It was 11pm and too dark to find a campsite. I did see like 3 shooting stars though, so it was all worth it||!! One of the most eventful days of my life.
So, once again, it has been a while, I am going to start from where I left off here. We got out of the Outdoor Industry Trade Show on Sunday afternoon. It was an interesting experience being around all of that stuff. I went too AREI(fancy outdoor store) for the first time about a month and a half ago with Calabro. I just walked around and was like, "this is over priced yuppie gear". I went to Wal-mart and got what I needed at a fraction of the price. For what I am doing, it really is not needed but to go all hardcore like the people I have met the past few days, I can totally see the need!! 
I am a little ashamed now of my crappy gear but it works!! SO anyway, we drove to Moab which took like 6-7 hours from Salt Lake. We took the long route and did not get in until after 11pm. Oops, luckily Calabro had some friends Jared and Heather. Thanks so much to the coolest people in Moab! Jared is a former Pro Motocross/Freestyle Motocross dude and Heather is at High Point ATV rentals in town. Very kindred spirits. I used to race back in the day as well, never a pro though, always mediocre but havin' fun!! 
I took a break from skating with the trade show, driving and arriving in Moab. The local park is Ok, a mini ramp and little street features. But when you go to Moab, there are other things to do. I think that I had the most busy, dangerous and amazing day ever in Moab!! We woke up really early and headed straight out to the canyons to meet up with one of Calabro's buddies. 
Chris is a rad dude! He shoots for many outdoor magazines and likes to jump off of mountains for fun and for sport!! He started out as a skydiver and has something like 7000 dives?? He got into base jumping (jumping off of buildings, mountians, bridges, etc) a few years ago. The dude is rad and the video will probably give you some better insight. 
We pulled into this beautiful canyon and hiked up the mountain with Chris. I immediately was out of breath because of the elevation. I thought I was gonna die at first and had to stop. After a few I got caught up and looked to my left and totally forgot about the breathing and was staring at ancient pictograms!! Or rock/wall art. I took a ton of pics, these images were incised into the the mountain walls by native people of the region hundreds of years ago... Very cool!! 
We hiked half way up with Chris and Calabro and I rushed back down so we could get a good view of everything. After a few minutes of prep we saw the little ant like figure on top of Tombstone MT. leap off of it! yes, the dude jumped off of a mountain!! 
Footy: 
After we hooted and hollored I looked at my watch and it was only like 7:30 am.. I thought to myself, it is gonna be a long day! We moved on through the killer mountain roads with amazing views from every angle. I thought I was on mars or on the planet where Luke Skywalker grew up!! We stopped off at this little camp site and checked out some more of the pictograms. Suddenly, Calabro said, this is the "Indian Latter" I was like, huh? It was a big crack in the rock wall and native Americans placed a few fallen tree branches in the rock at diagonals and you are supposed to go up this>?> 
Calabro and Chris were on it and even saying, wow, this is a little tuff! I was like, I'll stay down here thanks. Then the nagging and chastising began. So, I said fuck it, I'm goin' up this thing. It was fun as hell!! You have to squeeze your body through super tight areas and pull your self up the wall. It wasn't like super duty rock climbing or anything but for me it was pretty cool!! 
It was very satisfying to get to the top and finally see the view. I need to follow the leader a bit more because the rock I got on was "hollow" I didn't know what that meant and I could see better from the ground, there was nothing under it! So that was pretty dumb. I am from the Midwest and we do not have anything like that at home in flat ass Chicago. Canyoniering is kinda similar to Chicago in some ways, skyscrapers are a lot like mountains and when you go down town it does feel like a canyon. Only the natural ones are way better!!! Going down the Indian Latter was even more fun than going up. It was difficult and sketchy but really fun!! |I always liked climbing up the junk pile in the barn as a kid so this was like second nature. 
Calabro thankfully coached me down and explained way chimeny-ing is and I got the hang of it really quickly. SO by this time is was only like 8:45am... Time for breakfast. We ate at the local diner, big breakfast!! When you ask for more water, they bring you a pitcher! My kind of place!! 
After that, we parted ways, Chris had to go pack his chute. He ended up doing 4 jumps that day! WoW!!! 
So we went to visit Heather at High Point ATV and Hummer Tours in Moab. It is a rad rental place where you can get Jeeps, quads, side by sides, dirt bikes, you name it!! The also have Hummer tours so if you are not into driving up cliffs, over rocks, through streams, you can have them do it for you... We were looking for one of the head honchos, Scott but he was not there and nobody knew where he was. I guess when you are a adventurer and own and adventure buisness, it is hard to keep a tag on the boss sometimes. Well we got a call from Scott and after a short conversation Calabro was like, well we are gonna go meet Scott, see ya'll... 
When we got into the car he says to me, head to the airport. I was like, airport? WTF?? Yeah, Scott is up in his plane and he is turning around to pick us up. I was still on airport and then??? huh? SO we get over there and wait a few for him to land, we go over to the runway and he just pulls right up like it is nothing. It felt like he was picking us up in his car?? He went into the office and checked in and in about 10 minutes we were in the plane! 
I didn't really know what to expect because I had never been up in a single engine plane before. Yes, single engine plane... I had heard a bunch about it from Calabro and I always talk about how I want a bubble helicopter and he always says, no way. You will die. Well, now I can understand. 
I was fine at first. We headed out to the runway and got all buckled up. |We had these cool headsets on and everything was normal. The take off was a lot more fun than a big plane and within seconds we were up in the air, all was well. I immediately began taking pics and having a great old time when suddenly, the real experience began. Moab is hot and windy so the air is a bit sketchy and the little plane was essentially getting blown all over the place like a balloon with a little fan motor. 
I had no idea that this was what it would be like so I have to admit, I was freaked. After Scott explained to me what he was doing and how the air heats up and essentially boils up and blasts at the plane I kinda felt a little better. It is all about correcting once you are up I guess. But, I was not in control and I did not know what to expect so I was getting nervous. If I were flying it or actually knew something about flying maybe it would not have been so freaky. 
The plane smoothed out once we got away from the canyons and I was feeling better. Then I realized Calabro was flying the plane!!!! I got kinda nervous again. Especially when he goes, oh so this thing makes you turn, and the whole plane tilts 90 degrees!! I tried to get some footy of his flight but after the next turn I was done. I had to gorilla grip the seat for the rest of the trip. I think my anxiety was so strong that it was all I could do to hold on. 
I kept looking at the horizon and trying to breathe to calm down. I would let go of the seat and take a few pics but we would get hit by the wind, or drop in altitude and the anxiety would kick in 100%. I think Scott called them thermal bubbles? The ground temp gets to be 105 degrees and as the hot air rises it the moisture boils and literally shoots up and when it hits the plane well, look out! 
To be honest, I was just hoping time would pass. The view was incredible though, Scott took us over "the swell" which is a geological phenomenon where the earth just buckled millions of years ago!! It is truly one of the most beautiful places on Earth. 
Finally I could see the runway and I began to get a handle on my fear. The bumps continued but knowing that we were heading in was a comfort. I got the landing on video too. It is a little hard to tell but it was a difficult one. I guess that sometimes the wind there will not let the light aircraft land? It just keeps pushing the plane up and tossing it around. Scott did a killer job of handling that and got us down safe and sound!! 
I was so happy to be on flat ground, I thought, I'll never complain about flat ass Illinois again! (yeah right) So big thanks to Scott for taking us up and the greatest thrill ride of my life. He even went easy on me!! No dive bombs or runs at the canyon! wow. 
SO, maybe single engine flying is not for me, but maybe it will make me do a big air someday in the bowl! not 
By this time is was about 3pm. Yes, this is still day 28! Scott gave us the combination to his storage container full of quads and said "have fun". So, we got two free quads, gassed up, geared up and headed straight into the desert!! There are thousands of miles of legal trails in Moab! You get to see some of the most amazing rock formations and hit some pretty gnarly trails as well!! I was so happy to get on a quad again. I hadn't been riding since I sold my 450 about 3 years ago. That thing was a money pit - another story. 
We were out riding for a good 3 hours and I was just loving it!! You need to be conscious of the area and not go off trail. I had to yell at a couple of idiot who were buzzing around in the crust. Big No NO! We stopped and chilled in the shade for about a half hour, Calabro got bit by a fire ant and I looked at the rad rock formations. I really had to pinch myself because this day was still going! 
The only casualty was my camera. I am a true dumb ass around tech stuff. I always forget that it is not made to last and planned obsolescence and break factor play into the industry too much. SO stupid me left the camera in the storage compartment of the quad. I meant to put in Calabro's back pack. So my camera was screwed. We got it to work a little bit the next day but it just zooms all the way in so I only take a pic of one brick rather than the whole building... Great!! 
We got back and put the quads away. It was about 6pm and time for dinner!! We got some grub - hunger and thirst are two things you feel after coming out of the desert in August! At 6:30 we got another call from Scott who wanted us to meet him at the shop asap. I guess Calabro had to do him a favor after he spent like $500 on gas to fly us around the canyons! So - photo shoot time. We got there and he had two side by sides (think super quad golf cart) and one 4 seater loaded up and ready to go. 
I got to drive Calabro around in one while he took photos of Scott's family, Heather and Jared. I have to admit that these things are fun to drive in the right application. We were hitting all of these back canyon roads and jeep trails. Imagine trying to follow Scott's lead (expert desert rider) and Jared (former pro motocrosser) in a place you have never been. I had FUN!!! We were blasting through these jeep roads bouncing off of the rev limiter the whole time and barely staying on the road with 500 feet + drop offs.. Calabro even got a little scared a couple times! Ha! 
So we arrived at this rad spot for the big sunset show. We had just missed the sun but the shoot came out anyway. My camera was screwed at this time so no photo for me. But memories are there forever!! 
All of this happened in one day. I can not believe that I was still walking by the end. But of course, Calabro lost his phone so we had to scamper all around trying to find it. We had no contact for Heather, Scott, Jared - we some how found Heather and Jared's house and just waited there for about an hour in the front yard. Please take us in! It was 11pm and too dark to find a campsite. I did see like 3 shooting stars though, so it was all worth it||!! One of the most eventful days of my life.
1 comment:
i wanna see the video
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