BNAC 2011 – Race Day 2

Started out better…more wind, bigger swells and more challenges.  We made the best of the swells and chop working up the front of the waves and surfing them down the backside.  We don’t get the opportunity to do much practice in these conditions so this was very challenging for us. 

The PRO got a bought line wrapped in the prop and it took quite some time to clear it.  Then we had 2 general recalls for OCS.  The B Fleet went on timeand we tried again.  When  finally got going we were to far away from the line .

BNAC 2011 – Race Day 1

There was some concern about severe weather was discussed and the PRO decided they would get as many races in as they could but the plan was to be back at 1:00pm to avoid the weather.  The PRO was not incredibly quick to start the first race and was also not quick to start other races after the first race finished.  We sailed back in some really nice wind and for the rest of the afternoon we waited for the storm.  It finally arrived at about 6pm.

We only got two races in and we had a 12 and a 16.  Not a good first day.  Everyone was annoyed that we sat on the dock all afternoon rather than racing.  I will say that when the weather finally did get here, I was glad I wasn’t out in it, but we could have had better management of the race day.

Later that afternnon, after napping we went to a really good local pizza place called Kaiser’s.  It was really good food and walking distance from the hotel.

BNAC 2100 – Arrival and Practice

Once we got to the Kenosha Yacht Club and said hi to some of the friends we know, we started unpacking and unstacking the boats.  It was about 90 but the humidity made it sap the energy out of you…ugh!  We took a break, had lunch, then went out on the boat.  The exit from the port of Kenosha is a long channel about .75 mi long and 50 yards wide and about 10 feet from top to the surface of the water.  It was originally designed for large ships, but is no longer used for that purpose.  It makes for some very difficult winds headed out to the lake or coming back in.

Neither of us realized how zapped we were though.  After the 30 hr drive and getting up early to get to KYC we were dehydrated and undernourished.  Over to the convenience store for a Gatorade and to the hotel for some Air Conditioning and we felt much better.

On Monday we got up a little later and dealt with one of the two tire problems we had on the way out, the went to Wallgreens and stocked up on Gatorade and water.  We also got our number sheets laminated.  When we got to the club we helped some of the late arriving boats get set up and we had lunch.  Afternoon Practice Day racing began at 1:30pm and we got a couple of races in.  Em and I were not happy with how the boat was performing and when we got off the water and we made a few changes to the boat when we got off the water.  We also discovered that it is possible to hoist our sail above the legal limit painted on the mast. 

Rather than go back to the hotel, Em, Jeff, Jeff’s brother and I all jumpped in the lake..and to be clear the water is about 55deg.  Then we ate dinner…brats and burgers…and I realized I didn’t have my money clip.  I searched high and low and finally found it in my PFD.  Then I caught up with the folks at the CREW PARTY over at the Boat House restaurant. 

BNAC 2011 – The Drive…

30 hours non stop on Route 66 from PHX to Chicago.  If you ever want to know how good a friends you are with someone, team drive across America.  Dave, Emory and I are still best of buds. 

Starting out we hit rain squalls across New Mexico, narrowly avoided being the 3rd car (and boat trailer)  in an accident outside of Albuquerque, drove the 4 am to 7 am shift with no one to talk to because they BOTH fell asleep (and they both snore), sunrise over Oklahoma City, more rain, stinky feet in the Ozarks, the remnants of the tornados in Joplin, totally missing anything St. Louis because we took the outer bypass, tolls, tolls, and more tolls, corn, corn and more corn, a super priceline rate on a Westin hotel in Chicago, a fantastic dinner at a local Italian place with a pleasant yet niave waiter named Ralph and an early morning hand check because the hotel room only had 2 beds.

Red River: Santa Fe

So on our first full day in Red River we went to Santa Fe (yes…all the way back to Santa Fe)  and my dad went on to Albuquerque to pick up the last of our group, my Aunt Kay.  On our way we stopped at the Rio Grande Gorge and crossed the bridge one way in the car then walked across. We had lunch on San Francisco St. at a place called Tis Sophia’s.  A quite unassuming place that was great food.  I had the two taco plate with rice and beans…perfect lunch portion…until the sopapillas came.  What’s not to love about fried bread and honey!  We proceeded to the Santa Fe Train station a few blocks away and were a little disappointed.  This is Santa Fe, of the Santa Fe Railway…and not much to tell.  We did get a few shots but I guess I expected a museum or something.

Anyway, after that we went and walked through the Governor’s Palace.  Originally built in 1609, it is the oldest public building on the continent.  They had quite a collection of documents, stoneware, weaponry and armor.  They also had quite a collection of printing presses and still used several of them to this day.  The museum that is attached to the Palace was also very interesting, cataloging the history of the desert southwest from Indian times.

We headed back north to Red River and Kim made Chicken Enchiladas for dinner.

Red River: Pine Knot

The house/cabin we stayed at was just outside of the town of Red River proper and it is named Pine Knot.  It is nestled up the valley from the city where the Red River runs…although we could not decide if it was called the “Red River Valley.”  There are lots of pine and aspen trees throughout this area.  It was a 3 level cabin.  The main floor had the kitchen and the living room.  It had a single bedroom and a 3/4 bath.  The upper floor was partially open to the main floor.  It had a full bath and  a bedroom.  There was also a loft up a ladder that was particularly difficult to access.

The downstairs had a large room that had a ping pong table in it with a set of bunk beds that the kids stayed in.  It had an unfinished room that will be a bathroom and a bedroom where Kim and I slept.

Every floor had a balcony of sorts that looked down the valley onto the river which provided a subtle white noise background as it flowed along the oxbow that had formed where we were situated.

Red River Vacation: The drive there…

We started on a Friday, planning to get to Flagstaff and out of the Phoenix heat.  We stayed at a non description Quality inn on the east side of town.  The breakfast was adequate, but I really don’t like powdered eggs.

Then on the road to our next waypoint – Albuquerque.  On our way we made a stop at the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert National Park.  The kids got out and we got some good photos.  Trying to explain how a tree becomes a rock to a 6 and 3 year old is a little difficult though.  We decided to skip the Meteor Crater as trying to explain how a hole in the ground would be caused by a rock falling from space would be much harder and they probably would just see it as a really big hole in the ground.  We stopped in Gallup, NM for lunch at a local place right on historic Route 66 named Don Diego’s.  I had an Adovada Beef Burrito that was delicious…very deep chili flavor that was a back of the tounge spicy, slow burn.

When we got to Albuquerque we were too early to check in so we stopped in the old town area and got out.  We sauntered around the shops in the square and ran into a tour bus full of Boy Scouts on their way to Philmont.  We wandered around for a while before going into the local Ice Cream parlor for a short break from the heat (which was still 10 degrees cooler than Phoenix.)  We jumped back in the truck and checked into the Comfort Inn on the North side of town.  We had pizza at a local pizza place and watched a Scooby Doo movie until we all fell asleep.

Sunday morning we all slept in to an amazing 7:30.  After a slightly better (but still artificial egg) breakfast we departed for Red River.  We arrived just about lunchtime so after unloading and taking a short break, we piled into the truck and went to Sundance, a recommendations of one of the locals.  It is on High Street, off the beaten path and well with the slight detour.  I had the chicken quesadilla which was an effort to dial back from the Adovada Burrito the day before and it was perfect in portion and spice.  The kids (reluctantly) took naps while I took a bikeride around the neighborhood.  I was quickly reminded that we were at 9000 ft above sea level.  When I came back I got Hailey (who didn’t nap) and we took a truckride to better survey our new surroundings. We found that the National Forest was closed due to extereme fire danger…a ban we hoped would be lifted before our departure.

Santa Barbara

This open air airport is actually a historic building that they have crammed 5 different carriers into.  It is a mission style adobe building.  They have a new terminal building that will accommodate the operation much more comfortably (for both passenger and airport employee).  It is scheduled to open mid August.  The brand new jetways have glass walls and a conveyor belt for gate valet luggage.  Apparently they are going to try to pick up and move the old historic terminal building.  There is a pool going on whether or not they will be able to pull it off.  The photo was taken from the balcony at the restaurant above the old terminal building which I sincerely hope makes it through the building’s migration!

Palm Springs

My usual day trip to this tourist and Snowbird destination found it not much cooler than Phoenix.  The airport has some fantastic views of the surrounding mountains.  Low clouds can sometimes be an issue for arriving and departing aircraft, but their gauge is pretty simple.  Bob Hope’s private residence is perched on the side of one of the mountains.  My host, the station manager, explained that when you can’t see his house anymore, the clouds are too low for flying.

Beat the Heat in Flagstaff

So with the first real HOT day forecast for Phoenix (think 112+) and since I couldn’t get to Coronado One Design, I decided to hook up the camper and get the family out of town for a night.  We left town on Sat morning about 8:30 or so and made our way up to Woody Mountain Campground.  It was about 82 deg when we got there…easily 25 degrees cooler than Phoenix.  We set up the camper and headed into town for a late lunch.

Ate lunch in a local pizza place called Ni Marcos pizza just North of campus and south of the train tracks.  Large pepperoni…mmmmm.  Then we walked around the downtown for a while, stopping in here and there but we didn’t really buy anything. 

We drove around campus for a while and found a park to let the kids play.  After that we headed back to camp for an afternoon respite.  We  wound up eating dinner at the Flagstaff Brewery.  We had a flight of their house beers, and some were quite good.  The Wheat beer was my favorite but their amber was also good.

After dinner we sat and watched the freight trains roll through town before heading back to the trailer.  Kim surprised the kids with Smores and after showers at the bath house we all slept very well (except for Colin who fell out of the bed once…only dropped about 18 inches…but still…)

Next morning we cooked pancakes and eggs for breakfast and packed everything up.  As we descended we noticed that really, Sedona, while beautiful, doesn’t quite get you out of the heat.  As we headed back down the hill we watched the temperature climb back up above 100 and just sighed.

Grand Junction, CO

My trip to Grand Junction was WAY too short.  I always love going to Colorado.  We’d had some issues with the new vendor and their aircraft air conditioning unit.  Went up to sort things out.  I landed at about 1050L, got a half a subway sandwich, met with the delightful station manager there (who had already gotten the problems resolved) and then got back on the same plane.  We were gone by 1215L.  The climb out was magnificent though.  We were at about 10,000 AGL then suddenly the ground shot up as we cleared the ridges surrounding the town and in about 4 seconds we went back to about 4000 AGL.  Watched Ip Man 2 on these 2 flights…way cool movie..highly recommened.

Charlotte, NC

So far I’ve been very disappointed with my trips to Charlotte.  Not because of Charlotte.  Because my schedule never allows time to actually “see Charlotte.”  Don’t get me wrong, the people I work with there are great and the legendary “Southern Hospitality” abounds, but in about 4 trips I’ve been to 1 bar (Flying Saucer), 5 Guys, a (really good) Chinese Buffet twice and a Mexican restaurant.  I don’t even have a good photo for this post…I did watch a couple of good movies on the plane rides.  Ip Man, the story of the guy who taught Bruce Lee Wing Chun (the marshall arts style he uses) and The Tourist (Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp.)

Anyway…did some training late at night – Brake Ride training on the CRJ 900.  Next day had a meeting with my boss and the other 2 regional managers.  Went home.  (See what I mean.)