The Travels of Joani and Dave

WSIKF 2011

2011-08-26T08:24:00.000-07:00

The Washington State International Kite Festival, called "Wiskif" by the regulars, runs for a full week in August every year. This year's event was about as good as it gets from a weather standpoint. We had six near-perfect sunny days out seven with good wind and no rain.

We set up "camp" on the beach each day with other kiters. Ours is at the far end, marked by my large American flag banner. We were joined by several other couples from our home town and elsewhere.

There were the usual displays of giant kites but not as many as in past years, perhaps due to the slow economy.

This huge clown-motif kite was one of the blue ribbon winners in the hand-crafted kite competition. The design is created by an applique technique using colored fabric. The fabric is coated rip-stop nylon, the same type used to make sails.

The design on this prize-winner was inspired by a Beetles song titled "She Came In Through the Bathroom Window". The kite, a traditional Japanese design called Rokkaku, is popular with kite builders because it is simple, flies well, and makes a good canvas for graphics.

The Edo is another traditional Japanese design. Edo is the old name for Tokyo.

I used my KAP rig to capture these images. KAP stands for Kite Aerial Photography. It uses a radio-controlled camera suspended below a kite. In the upper photo our camp is under the two blue shelters on the right.

Snow In The Desert

2011-02-27T11:32:00.000-08:00

As we made our way back to California following the Kite Fest and other travels in Texas we decided to stop at Kartchner Caverns State Park, near Benson in Southern Arizona. It has been a favorite of ours since it opened in 1999. I don't have any photos of the Caverns because cameras are not allowed below ground but believe us when we say they are well worth the visit. We have been down several times but are still awed by them, especially the Throne Room.

While there we learned of a major winter storm coming in from the coast, with predictions of high winds, rain, and snow. We decided to wait it out in the park rather than risk being on the road in it. The location is at 4,500' but is somewhat sheltered, and it has electricity. The storm arrived at dawn on Sunday February 27 with lots of wind and blowing snow as forecast. We woke up to find everything including the RV coated with the white stuff.

Being from Southern California we don't get to see snow very often so this was a treat to us.

South Padre Island Kite Fest - February 2011

2011-02-11T05:53:00.001-08:00

We traveled to South Padre Island in South Texas for their annual Kite Fest. It was our first, but was a home-coming of sorts to David. He was born and raised in this part of Texas.

At that time this was just a barren strip of sand. Now it is heavily developed with hotels and condos, largely oriented to serve "Winter Texans" who come here from the North East and from Canada to escape the winter cold.

We are part of an informal kite club called the Goat Hill Gang. Eight of us made the trip from California to be here. This is the 11th of these Fests and was very successful. At the banquet on Saturday evening the Kite Trade Association (KTA) presented the sponsors, K&S Kites of South Padre Island, with an award honoring them for last year's event which was named "Kite Festival Of The Year 2010".

This year the Winter Texans brought the cold with them. We drove through three days and nights of bone-chilling cold and high winds to get here, with night-time temperatures in the low 20's and chill factors in the single digits. The Kite Spirits were kind however. The two days of the Fest were sunny and warmish.

The photos that follow were taken with our Kite Aerial Photography (KAP) rig. It is a digital camera suspended from a large kite. Camera pointing and shutter are controlled by a model-airplane radio control system.

The yellow rotor on the ground is the creation of "Head Goat" Rod.

The big Octopus is a commercial kite made by Peter Lynn. The smaller kites are Rod's.

Team iQuad, an internationally acclaimed group of Revolution quad-line kite performers was present and put on several demonstrations. Here team members, the five on the right, fly with other Rev fliers including Jim and Lynn (in the purple shirts) of the Goat Hill Gang. The KTA awarded Revolution's Rev B Pro Kite Of The Year 2010. The award was presented to creator Barry "Bazzer" Poulter at the banquet.

Fall 2010 Trip

2010-09-27T14:48:00.000-07:00

Washington State International Kite Festival, August 16-22

In August each year the city of Long Beach Washington hosts a week-long kite festival that attracts kite enthusiasts from all over the world. It has been on our travel itinerary since our first visit in 1991.

Kite clubs like ours, called the Goat Hill Gang, set up camps on the beach with sun shelters and colorful banners. We take them down every evening and put them back up the next day. The clubs vie for the best sites so we have to get there very early to get a good one.

Large Figure Kites like these are spectacular. Most of these are limited-production commercial products and can cost several thousand dollars each but the one in the foreground is hand made by German artist Bernard Dingworth, one of the Featured Artists at this year's event.

Our little dog Mr. Zax loves the beach and his Uncle Rod. Rod lives in our home town of Costa Mesa California and is the leader of our club, with the title of Head Goat.

One of the events at WSIKF is a hand-crafted kite competition. Kite maker's entries are judged for design, craftsmanship, flight and visual appeal. My entry this year was a 6-foot tall cellular design.

It won first in category but was the only entry. I was quite pleased anyway.

Firehole Canyon NFS Site

We are always seeking quiet isolated camp sites in beautiful surroundings. This is one of them. It is Firehole Canyon, a National Forest Service site near Rockville Wyoming.

Callaway Kite Flight, Labor Day Weekend

Callaway is a tiny town of around 650 in Southern Nebraska that calls itself the Kite Capital of Nebraska.

For the past 20 years the town has hosted an annual Kite Flight that attracts people from all over the US and other countries. Its success has been largely due to the efforts of a local resident named Connie May. Connie passed away last year but Kite Flight lives on. The City is dedicating a public walkway in the City Park in her honor.

These are our friend Rod's banners, and one of mine on the right.

Rod came with a van full of his hand-made kites.

Carhenge

Just outside Alliance Nebraska is a wacky place called Carhenge. The creator of this unique sculpture is Jim Reinders. While living in England he had the opportunity to study the design and purpose of Stonehenge. His desire to copy Stonehenge in physical size and placement came to fruition in the summer of 1987 with the help of many family members.

Thirty-eight automobiles were placed to assume the same proportions as Stonehenge with the circle measuring approximately 96 feet in diameter. Some autos are held upright in pits five feet deep, trunk end down, while those cars which are placed to form the arches have been welded in place. All are covered with gray spray paint. The honor of depicting the heel stone goes to a 1962 Caddy.

"Ford Seasons", comprised only of Fords and inspired by Vivaldi's Four Seasons, suggests the Nebraska landscape's seasonal changes as wheat is planted, grows, is harvested, and then the field lies barren during a windy winter.

Additional sculptures have been erected at the site. One of the first to be added is this sculpture of a spawning salmon created by Canadian Geoff Sandhurst.

Oregon Trail

On our way to New Mexico for the Balloon Fiesta we found ourselves following the Oregon Trail, the route followed by the pioneers on their migration from Missouri to Oregon. One of the landmarks was Chimney Rock in Nebraska. In those days it was said to be squared off at the top, looking more like a fireplace chimney, but erosion has changed it. It is only about 650 feet high but can be seen for a long way on the plains.

The Pioneers had an expression; "Seeing the elephant". It meant that they were ready to give up and go back. For some that time came when they reached Scotts Bluff in Western Nebraska and realized they had come only 1/3 of the way.

Near Scotts Bluff we found this remote ranch campground. It was 6 miles off the highway on a dirt road and we were all alone there. In contrast to the hardships endured by the Pioneers our trip along the Oregon Trail in the RV is pretty soft but spending the night out there on land they had crossed gave us a small taste of what it might have been like.

Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado

Fall in Rocky Mountain National Park means Elk rut, when the dominate bulls assemble their harems and make next year's calves.

The bulls are in their prime but have to be alert and work hard to maintain their dominance. They seldom sleep, and we heard their distinctive bugles day and night from our camp site above the meadow.

Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta, October 1 thru 10

This was our 5th consecutive year at the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta, and it was the best yet. Aside from being a little too warm the first few days the weather was just about perfect - lots of sun, no rain, and good winds. On most days the balloons flew right over the RV parking area so we got a good show without going anywhere.

They often landed in an open field in front of the RV.

Free shuttles took us to the launch field to watch the balloons being inflated and launched.

Where do the balloons go? We find out by following them by car.

Some come down in open fields around the city. Most landowners welcome them and leave their gates open so the chase crews can get in.

Others land in parks and other open space among homes,

and in shopping centers.

Cochiti Lake

After the Fiesta we moved about 25 miles North to Cochiti Lake, a Corps of Engineers reservoir with a very nice campground. We have a site with a great view, and it is peaceful and quiet after the hustle and bustle of the Fiesta. We will chill out here for a few days, then head back to California.

Navajo National Monument - October 2009

2009-10-21T18:25:00.000-07:00

Navajo National Monument is in NE Arizona, not far from Monument Valley. It is the site of two Anasazi ruins, Betatakin and Keet Seel. There is a nice campground in the park that has paved sites large enough for our RV. It has no hookups but is free. The altitude is 7,200 feet so it gets a bit nippy during the October nights but we stayed warm and cozy.

Betatakin is a Navajo word meaning "house on a ledge". The ruin can be viewed from the end of a 1/2 mile trail from the visitor center. A Ranger-guided five mile round trip hike into the canyon is also available. I really wanted to do that one but because of my back problem decided to save it for another day. Keet Seel requires a more strenuous hike of 17 miles round trip.

The deep south-facing alcove provides protection from the elements, shade in the summer, and is warmed by the winter sun.

The site was occupied by an estimated 200 to 250 people between 1250 and 1300 when it was abandoned, apparently because of a prolonged drought. The people apparently thought they might return because they left stores of food and other items in sealed rooms. The left side of the ruin was destroyed when a portion of the alcove roof collapsed some time after the site was discovered by modern man.

Monument Valley October 2009

2009-10-20T19:43:00.000-07:00

Monument Valley is a Navajo Tribal park located on the Utah side of the Utah/Arizona border. It is a place of wonderful giant siltstone formations. The vivid red color comes from iron oxide exposed by weathering. There is a 17-mile public road that allows visitors to view most of the formations and Navajo-guided tours to visit other parts. Having recently visited Chaco Canyon I could not help but compare the road here to the one there that is the subject of so much controversy. The MV road is longer and in much worse condition but is traveled by hundreds of vehicles every day without public outcry.

Enjoy the photos. No other words are necessary.

Chaco Culture 2009

2009-10-18T19:06:00.000-07:00

Chaco Culture National Historical Park is an ancient civilization site in northwest New Mexico that is over 1,000 years old. We went there in 2006 and loved it, largely because it is one of the few places where excavated ruins can be explored with few restrictions. Visitors are not required to go in groups with escorts as in most such parks and it is not crowded.

The reason is that getting to Chaco requires driving 12 miles of unpaved county road that can be really bad at times, and this trip was much worse than the last. It does not look bad in the photo but it is badly washboarded, limiting speed in the RV to less than 15 mph. Fajada Butte, visible on the right horizon, marks the park location.

There is a lot of controversy over the proposed paving of this road. Those in favor argue that easy access should be available to everyone. Those opposed fear that increased visitation would degrade the intimacy of the experience and lead to more damage to the environment. We prefer the way it is, bumps and all.

Fajada Butte is the most predominate geographical feature in the area and may have been what attracted the ancient people to the location. Indeed it would have served as a beacon but it is not visible from the largest ruins and no evidence that it had religious or cultural significance.

The Chaco campground is small and has no water or electricity but is in a nice location adjacent to a small ruin.

One of the largest ruins is Chetro Ketl, the central feature of which is this giant kiva. It was covered with a flat roof supported by four large wood columns on round foundations. One, containing the small tree, is visible in the photo. The four stone discs were in the foundations. Beneath the discs was a leather sack filled with crushed turquoise, probably placed there for ceremonial reasons. The rectangular structure with the hole is a fireplace, traditionally located south of the structure's center.

Nearby Pueblo Boniti is only about 1/2 mile from Chetro. There are somewhere around 700 small rooms there, giving it the appearance of an apartment house. Archeological studies however have found no evidence that large numbers of people actually lived here. Things normally associated with human habitation, burial sites and trash dumps for example, are missing. The prevalent theory is that it was primarily a ceremonial or government site and that the people lived in nearby villages.

Stone masonry at Chaco is of extraordinarily high quality. The tapered walls are constructed of a central rough core covered with a veneer of tightly fitted flat stones. The fine stonework was not the finished product however. It was covered with plaster and painted. None of the plaster has survived.

Roof supports and spans over window and door openings were constructed with wood timbers. The round plugs in the timbers are covering holes where cores were removed to determine age.

An unanswered question is why was the site abandoned. It may have been because of climatic changes causing drought, or for reasons of culture or religion.

Chaco is an awesome place and well worth enduring the lousy road.

Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta 2009

2009-10-12T20:00:00.000-07:00

This was our fifth consecutive trip to the Fiesta. Too much wind the first few days caused some events to be canceled but there was only a little rain. We had fewer balloons this year, probably because of the economic recession, but still more than 500. Overall it turned out good.

There was a mass ascension shortly after sunrise most mornings of the nine day event. When the wind was from the north They flew over our RV site two miles south of the launch field. Free shuttle buses provided transportation there and back. Take a look at the preceding blog entry for an aerial view of the area.

Balloons sometime land in an open field adjacent to the RV park.

At the launch field spectators are able to wander among the balloons as they are being inflated and launched. It is quite a spectacle.

One morning I volunteered to crew for the Head balloon team. This is the Head ballo0on manufacturing company out of Helen Georgia, not the ski manufacturer. You can buy one of their balloons for around $25,000 dollars. Add another $40,000 for a truck and trailer to haul it around.

I didn't get to ride this time but went with the ground crew to recover it after it landed in a small park a few miles from the field, much to the delight of a local mom and her kids.

The APD has a mounted squad with some very fine horses to help with crowd control.

On days that the wind is out of the south the balloons often land in Corrales or Rio Ranch, about 10 miles from the field. The area is heavily developed but pilots are good at finding open spaces to set down. Their crews follow on the ground to pick them up and there is usually a lot of volunteer help from local residents and from people like us that go looking for them.

This is where accidents happen as balloons get blown into buildings or tip over after a hard landing when the wind gets too strong. There were several serious injury accidents in this area last year but fortunately none this year.

Ever since we started coming to the Fiesta I have been looking for one of several places along the Rio Grande River where the balloons sometime do a "splash and dash", dipping their baskets in the water. Most are inaccessible because they are surrounded by private property but this year I found one in the Corrales area. Several balloons flew over but none dipped. Maybe next year.

Balloon Fiesta RV Park - KAP

2009-10-04T19:11:00.000-07:00

The weather is not treating the Fiesta kindly so far this year. The winds have been high, curtailing balloon activity. Today (Sunday) the morning mass ascension went off with fewer balloons than normal and the night's balloon glow and fireworks show was scrubbed. The long distance gas balloon race has also been canceled.

What is bad for balloons is good for kites. I decided that it was a good opportunity to do some Kite Ariel Photography to get some photos of the campground.

Looking north from a point over our RV you see the balloon museum, which is the brown-roofed building with the white face about two miles away. The launch field is just beyond. The large buiding on the left is a medical facility. The open field in the foreground is the old launch area. Prevailing winds bring the balloons right over this field, used now for some competition events and as a landing field.

Looking east over the RV parking area from the same point.

Our RV is the one in the center at the bottom of the photo, at the edge of the open field. We have an empty space next to us which is unusual, but there are fewer RVs this year.

The tent behind us was set up by one of the RV tour companies. We were afraid they were going to be noisy but they have been no problem.

Balloon Fiesta 2009 - Prelude

2009-10-02T09:07:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Albuquerque for the Fiesta a few days early as usual. We were a little surprised to find that we were the first ones to get parked in the area along the open field that we like. This field is about two miles south of the launch area but there is a free shuttle to take us there and back. We like it because with normal winds the balloons come right over us and often land here. Others like it also and it will fill up by the weekend.

A few miles west of the balloon fiesta grounds there is a neat little town called Corrales, which is the Spanish word for corrals. It is horse country and there are still a lot of homes with horses there. As part of their Fall Harvest Festival the residents and businesses decorate the streets with fanciful scarecrows.

A farm market in the town sells locally grown produce including chili peppers in varieties ranging from mild to super hot.

They are sold by the bunch, bushel basket and sack full. We do not have much room in our RV but we bought 10 pounds of a mild green variety and had them roasted in this propane-fired basket. Roasting peppers throw off a nice aroma but the really hot ones can take your breath away.

Back at the RV we peeled the skins off, which is pretty easy after the roasting process. Joani then deseeded and diced them, and packaged them for the freezer. We are looking forward to many chili-spiced meals when we get them home.

Apples, Corn and Chili Peppers

2009-09-13T05:45:00.000-07:00

After Salt lake City we continued to drive with the morning sun in our faces all the way across Nebraska to Council Bluffs Iowa, which is just across the Missouri River from Omaha. We wanted to visit our kite friends Deb and Marion who live there and to see a neat little balloon event that they told us about. This is just its second year for the event in this venue, a farm that grows apples and corn.

We were concerned that the weather might literally wash out the show because we drove through a horrendous rain storm coming through Nebraska the day before. The first launch schedule for Friday evening was scrubbed because of it but by Saturday evening the sky had cleared and it was beautiful.

About 15 balloons including Mike Sheun'a internationally known La Ristra (Chili Pepper) participated in Saturday's evening launch and after-dark glow and a morning launch on Sunday. The sight of colorful balloons surrounded by corn stalks was a new experience for us.

In addition to the balloons the event featured live music, good food and a farm wagon shuttle to and from the parking area. Aside from being a lot of fun it was for a good cause. Proceeds from ticket sales went to support local food banks.

Antelope Island Balloon and Kite Festival

2009-09-08T08:24:00.000-07:00

Being fans of both kites and hot air balloons, Joani and I have thought an event that combined the two would work well. At balloon festivals they fly early in the morning when the wind is calm, but after that there is usually not much happening for the rest of the day. Kites like the wind and seem an ideal activity to fill that time. That is why we were excited to learn that just such an event was planned for Labor Day Weekend 2009 at Antelope Island State Park Near Salt Lake City Utah. Antelope Island is on the east side of the lake and is connected to the mainland by a 7-mile causeway.

We parked our RV in the public campground on the island. There are no water, electricity or sewer hookups but the rest of the facilities are very nice and it has a beautiful view.

The lake level is very low now, about 6 feet below average and 17 feet below where it was 20 years ago. It is fed by several rivers and streams but has no outlet. The only water loss is to evaporation, which has been greater than the inflow in recent years. Scientists expect the level to eventually recover, following its historic 20-year cycle.

A little-known fact: A Union Pacific Railroad causeway divides the lake into two parts. The water-surface elevation of the south part of the lake is usually 1/2 to 2 feet higher than that of the north part because most of the inflow to the lake is to the south part.

The island's first non-native inhabitant was a rancher named Fielding Garr who established a ranch there in 1848 to raise buffalo. The descendants of that herd still roam the island. We woke one morning to find one of them having breakfast right outside our RV.

The balloon part of the event attracted six to eight teams. Unfortunately wind conditions put a squeeze on flight activity for the balloons and kites alike.

The balloons were able to manage only one early-morning launch and were not able to go far before having to land near the campground to avoid going out over the lake.

Our Costa Mesa kite club, The Goat Hill Gang, was represented by Joani and I along with Rod Milburn and his wife Marti. This is our "kite camp" on the first morning of the event. The large Tri-D kite and the banners on the left are Rod's. The blue Cross Deck kite and the banners on the right are mine.

The "kite people" were organized by Kevin Bayless, a local kite builder known for his unique patchwork applique. This large foil is one of is creations.

Sorry that I do not have more kite and balloon photos to show you but wind conditions were so bad that very little flying was done. The wind was the most erratic I have ever encountered, shifting direction and speed seemingly every few minutes. At about 3 o'clock Sunday afternoon a squall swept through the area that scattered kites, banners and everything else in its path. About ten of our banners were stripped completely off their poles and sent flying loose, and our portable shelter nearly got away from us. Fortunately we had no kites up at the time and no damage was done.

Overall it was an interesting experience. The organizers and park staff did a great job. We hope to see the Antelope Island Balloon and Kite Stampede grow and be successful in the years to come.

WSIKF 2009

2009-08-27T08:14:00.000-07:00

We returned once again to Long Beach Washington for our ninth annual Washington State International Kite Festival. This was a good year, with no rain and the largest spectator crowd in my memory.

Kite clubs come each year and set up camp on the beach. The photo above shows ours on the first day, before it became crowded. Later in the week we had to rise early and get to the beach by 6 am to get a spot. The 22-foot American flag banner is a new one that I made for this year's event.

This kite was my entry in the handcrafted competition this year. I call it Sine Wave. It is constructed using flat carbon-filement for the wing spars and ribs, which lendsitself well to the curved shapes. The wingspan is about eight feet. Unfortunately there was not enought wind to fly it on the day the judging was done but it won a blue ribbon for design and esthetics, and because it was the only entry in its category. Regardless of the tainted ribbon I am pleased with the kite.

Chihuy - Tempe Arizona, 2009

2009-01-30T09:14:00.000-08:00

After spending a couple of weeks in at our usual spot on the desert in Quartzsite Arizona this year we hopped over to the Phoenix/Mesa area. There is a beautiful county park called Usery Mountain Recreation Area just outside Mesa that we enjoy a lot, but our main reason for coming was to see the exhibit of Chihuly glass at the Desert Botanical Garden in Tempe, on display until May 31 2009. Dale Chihuly is a world-renowned artist that creates wonderful works in glass on a grand scale.

City Of Rocks

2008-10-26T17:47:00.000-07:00

We revisited City of Rocks - one of our favorite New Mexico State Parks. Located between Deming and Silver City in the southern part of the state it is remote, quiet and beautiful. A dense array of boulders formed from volcanic ash welded together 30 million years ago, then sculpted by wind and water, give the place its name.

As seen at sunrise our motorhome is on the far right of the group in the center. Other camp sites hidden among the rocks are occupied by tent campers, so there are more people there than is apparent.

White Sands National Monument

2008-10-24T05:53:00.000-07:00

Just a short journey south from Three Rivers Petroglyphs, near Alamogordo, we visited White Sands National Monument. It is huge, covering 275 square miles in south-eastern New Mexico.
Photo below courtesy of Wikipedia.

The sand is actually gypsum crystals. Gypsum is rarely found in the form of sand because it is water-soluble. Normally, rain would dissolve it and carry it to the sea. Since the basin in which the Monument lies has no outlet to the sea rain water that dissolves gypsum from the surrounding mountains is trapped, leaving the crystals on the surface when it evaporates or sinks into the ground.

The sand shifts constantly and often covers any vegetation that tries to grow but some like these Yucca survive, for a while at least.

There are other forms of life here as well, including forty-four species of mammals, twenty-six species of reptiles. six species of amphibians and nearly 100 families of insects according to the books. This lone beetle is the only thing we saw ...

... other than our matching puppy Mr. Zax. He seemed to like it a lot. What Terrier wouldn't, with all of that sand to dig in.

There is a large picnic area at the end of the loop road, populated with futuristic-looking aluminum tables. It was too cold for a picnic but they seem to be waiting for warmer weather. Anyway, I liked the serial geometry of the scene.

Three Rivers Petroglyphs

2008-10-21T07:08:00.000-07:00

The Three Rivers Petroglyph Site north of Alamagordo New Mexicois is one of the few locations in the Southwest set aside solely because of its rock art. The number and concentration of petroglyphs here make it one of the largest and most interesting petroglyph sites in the Desert Southwest.

There is a picnic area near the start of the trail that provides access to the glyphs. We drove past it on the way in but were mislead by signs that said the "campground" was about 13 miles farther on a dirt road. After driving there we discovered that was not where we wanted to be. We were prepared to stay anyway but could not find a camp site that was level enough so drove back to the picnic area. There are two RV spaces there with water and electric hookups, and we got one of them.

Our site had a beautiful view and was very quiet and peaceful. The gate is locked at 5:00 pm and does not reopen until 8:00 the next morning so we had no choice but to stay in camp in the evening. There is no place to go anyway. The nearest town is about 20 miles.

Petroglyphs at Three Rivers were created by Jornada Mogollon people between about 900 and 1400 AD. The site includes the remains of a Mogollon village whose inhabitants were likely responsible for the petroglyphs. The site, which was partially excavated in 1976, was occupied for about 400 years.

All of the glyphs we saw were carved on loose bolders and were fairly small. There are some larger ones deeper in he site but we didn't try to reach tem because there were a lot of rattlesnakes in that area at the time.

Nearby there is a small chapel called Santo Nino. It is just shy of 100 years old and is still in use. The building is not particularly remarkable but I liked the way the late afternoon sun was lighting up the bell tower.

The interior of the chapel was lavishly decorated in a style typical of the southwest.

Cochiti Lake - Tent Rocks

2008-10-17T07:11:00.000-07:00

Cochiti Lake, between Albuquerque and Santa Fe, is formed behind a large Corp of Engineers dam on the Rio Grande River. Nearby Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument is home to cone-shaped rock formations that are products of volcanic eruptions that occurred 6 to 7 million years ago. We enjoyed the Monument and also the Corp Of Engineers campground overlooking the lake. We had a beautiful site and the price is right - just $6/night with our National Parks pass.

Balloon Fiesta 2008

2008-10-14T10:35:00.000-07:00

We arrived at the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta a little earlier than usual this year, checking in on Monday ahead of the opening on Saturday. We wanted to be sure we got our favorite spot but overdid it a bit. There was only one other RV in that section when we got there and it didn't start filling up until the end of the week. That may have been at least partly because overall attendance was down this year.

Oue spot is on the edge of what was the launch field until the new facility was built two miles to the north a few years ago. It is a great spot because the balloons often come south directly over the RVs, and sometime land there. There are no electrical or water hookups but it costs only $25 per night.

This big cathedral-shaped balloon, new this year, looks like it is landing on the roof of our motorhome but actually came down directly in front of us.

When the wind takes the balloons north instead of south we enjoy hopping in the car and going with them, trying to reach the places they land. On this day many of them came down in a housing development, much to the delight of the residents. The pilots did a good job of setting them down in the streets without breaking anything.

This year I volunteered to work on a chase crew, which means that I helped launch the balloon and recover it after it landed. I was assigned to help a professional pilot from eastern Utah named Kevin Morgan. The white balloon in the photo above is one of several his company, Teton Balloons, owns. If you are ever in that area and want to take a Tetons sightseeing ride look them up. Kevin is a great pilot.

I later had an opportunity to ride with Kevin and of course grabbed it. It was my first ride and it was terrific. The wind took us about 15 miles north to the town of Bernalillo where we made a good landing in the fire station parking lot.

Getting all of the air out of the balloon and packing it up is not the most fun part of the adventure but it has to be done before the champaign comes out.

Key Grab Day (Friday) is one of my favorites because the balloons launch from off site and come over the field in tight formation as they compete for prizes attached to poles. The top prize is a new Honda car or truck.

This turned out to be the last good day of this year's Fiesta. Events for Saturday and Sunday were cancelled because of rain and high winds.

Chama-Toltec Scenic Railroad

2008-09-29T14:29:00.000-07:00

The Chama-Toltec narrow-gauge railroad runs for 64 miles between Chama New Mexico and Antonito Colorado. It crosses Cumbres Pass at an elevation of 10,015 feet, making it the longest and highest such railroad in the country. Built in 1880 to tap the booming mining business in the area it operated until 1951. Since 1970 it has been operated as a tourist attraction by a joint Colorado/New Mexico commission.

We decided to take the train from Chama to the half-way point and back rather than goingall the way to Antonito because that looked like the most interesting part and because we didn't want to leave the fur-kids cooped up in the RV for too long. The train that day was a "double-header", meaning that it took two locomotives to pull it up the mountain. They put the second locomotive on when there are more than eight cars - we had nine. The second engine droped off after the train completed the steep part of the climb.

Much of the grade going up is at 4 1/2 percent. That does not sound like much but it is steepest grade that trains like this can manage. The boilers are coal-fired and require manual stoking. The two-man engine crew must shovel continuously all the way, taking turns. The engines could be converted to use automatic stokers but they cannot be modernized because they are registered historical objects.

The scenery was magnificent, with lots of brilliant fall color.

The half-way is at at place called Osier Colorado. It was once a small but thriving community but now consists of nothing but a few of the old buildings including the depot, which houses a dining hall where we were given a good hot lunch of turkey and meatloaf, with a wide choice of desserts. After that is as down hill all the back to Chama at 15 to 20 miles per hour.

The Fur Kids

2008-09-29T14:11:00.000-07:00

Allow me to depart from the sight-seeing reports for a moment and tell you about our traveling companions.

We are accompanied by three fur-kids; a 12-year-old Himalayan cat named Peekaboo, a three-year-old puppy named Mr. Zax and a brand new kitten named Kiki. Peekaboo is a crabby old lady that sleeps in the closed most of the time but the two youngsters are very active, get along beautifully and are great fun. Here they are in one of their quiet moments, snoozing in the lounge chair at 60 miles per hour.

Rocky Mountain National Park 2008

2008-09-25T06:27:00.000-07:00

We visited Rocky Mountain National Park for a few days last fall and liked it so much we made reservations for a full week this year. The park is located just outside Estes Park Colorado at an elevation of about 8,500 feet. Fall is a favorite time of year there because of the turning color in the aspens and because it is rut season for the elk. We were a little early for the color but the elk were magnificent.

Our camp site in Moraine Campground overlooked one of the large meadows where the elk gather for their annual mating ritual. We could watch them from the site or go down to the meadow for a closer look. One morning we were awakened by bugles close by and found a herd right outside our window.

There were several dominate bulls, each with a harem of females, plus a lot of younger or smaller bulls waiting for their chance. The typical larger bull is a "six by six", meaning that he has six points on each side of his rack.

Occasionally there is a fight for dominance between bulls but they are usually short and end with no serious injuries. The females seem to have a "boys will be boys"attitude and pretty much ignore the whole thing.

We had a little adventure while there, taking the nine mile Old Fall River Road
up to Fall River Pass at 11796' elevation. This is the original park
road over the pass, completed in 1932. It is unpaved, narrow and
winding, but not too difficult. As it turned out the most harrowing part of the drive was the 25 mile return to camp on the highway. We had neglected to watch our fuel level and were running on fumes. Fortunately it was down hill all the way so gravity brought us home safely.

Sand Sculptures - Harrison Hot Springs BC

2008-09-07T12:17:00.000-07:00

After the Washington kite festival we went north to the village of Harrison Hot Springs in British Columbia, host to the World Championship sand sculpture competition featuring some of the planet's best sand artists. The village is located on a beautiful alpine lake about 50 miles north of the US border and 100 miles east of Vancouver. This year's event was held on September 2 through 7. We arrived a week early and stayed for a while in nearby Sasquatch Provincial Park. It rained every day but by the time we moved down to an RV park in town for event week the weather had decided to be nice.

The lake-side competition includes events for solo, pairs and team carvers. Entry is by invitation only. Competitors are paid all expenses including travel, plus appearance money and the chance to share cash prizes that this year totaled 64,000 Canadian dollars. It was reported that the number of entries this year was the largest of any sand sculpture event in the world.

Construction of a sand sculpture starts with the setting of large forms that are filled with sand and densely compacted. Forms are stacked to achieve the desired height.
The forms are removed one by one to expose the blocks of sand. Carving begins at the top, with the lower forms used as work platforms. A variety of tools including masonry trowels, spatulas, makeup brushes and soda straws (for blowing away loose sand) are used.

When the blocks of sand have all been shaped additional carving and decoration is done around the base. The finished work is sprayed with a mixture of water and white glue that preserves it for several months.

Some sculptors think "outside the box" and extend their work below the surface. This one called "Deep Sleep" was my favorite and won the People's Choice award. The logic behind the concept eludes me but it is an amazing work.

The detail on this figure, just part of a large sculpture that included two other figures, is amazing. The wire protruding from the top of the head is to keep the birds off.

You can't have a sand sculpture event without sand castles. This is one of several.

The title of this piece is "Delivery".

Here is the First Place award winner in the solo division, won by a young artist from the US whoes name I will add later.

Joani and I throughly enjoyed our first sand sculpture event and hope to do more of them in the future.

WSIKF 2008

2008-08-26T06:34:00.000-07:00

It is Kite Festival time once again. This is the Washington State International Kite Festival, held in Long Beach Washington in August. We go there every with some other folks from the Goat Hill Gang, our home kite group.

The festival organizers allow kite clubs to set up displays on the beach adjacent to the flying areas. These include a lot of colorful banners, most of them home-made. The only bad part is that all of the stuff has to be taken down every evening and set up again the next day, which is a lot of work.

The club area gets pretty crowded and this year we got squeezed out of space we normally occupy. That turned out to be a good thing because we found a better one. The photo above, taken early in the morning before the spectators arrived, shows our camp with the primary flying area in the background.

Goat Hill Gang attendees include (left to right) myself, Joan and our fur-kid Mr. Zax, Marti, Rod, Lynn, Jim, Deb and Marion.

WSIKF always attracts some serious kite enthusiasts with big show kites. These can cost up to several thousand dollars each.

These big guys are called Flowforms. The largest ones are called "252s" and "454s" to designate how many square feet of area they cover. There were a lot of them this year.

Big "figure kites" are another crowd-pleaser.

All of the sunshine in the preceeding photos is a bit misleading because this year's Festival was the wettest we have ever attended. We had rain on all but two days of the week, sometime accompanied by high winds. On the final day we waited in the rain for the last of four mass-ascension events so we could complete the pin set that goes with it. The event was ultimately canceled but we got the pin anyway.

Balloon Fiesta 2007

2007-10-17T06:45:00.000-07:00

The 2007 Albuquerque Fiesta brought 640 registered balloons to New Mexico for the world's largest hot air balloon event. It ran for 10 days starting October 5.

This was our third consecutive year at the Fiesta, again staying in the RV parking area on the grounds. It is our favorite spot because the normal wind pattern brings the balloons right over our heads, often landing on an open field on the other side of the row of RVs. We were joined by three other RV families; friends from California and Massachusetts.

Spectators are welcome on the launch field, making the festival an up-close experience.

We love the "special shape" balloons. There were mass ascensions on Thursday and Friday.

Following the Special Shapes mass ascension on Friday there was a competition event called the "key grab". The regular balloons launched from a field to the north and came across the main launch area where the pilots attempted to grab envelopes atop several tall poles. The envelopes contained prizes, the best of which was a new Honda Ridgeline pickup truck. It was yet another awesome sight.

Two type of gas balloons compete in the America's Challange Balloon Race that starts at the Fiesta every year. The egg-shaped ones are filled with helium; the round ones with hydrogen. It costs about $6,000 to fill a helium balloon but about 1/3 as much for hydrogen, but hydrogen is flammable and therefore more dangerous. Flights are expected to last for 48 to 60 hours at altitudes of 12,000 to 18,000 feet. The goal is to be the one that reaches the greatest distance before landing. This year's winner landed over 1,000 miles away in Canada.

On Saturday morning the winds were calm over the launch area so the balloons rose up and remained over the field. As more of the went up they created a sort of traffic jam in the sky.

Did you ever wonder what happens to the balloons after they fly away from the Fiesta area? They must come down somewhere of course. That is usually in a parking lot, open field or anywhere else they can find enough room. They are followed by their chase crews who help pack them up and load them onto trucks. This one is looking for a landing spot on the bank of a drainage channel adjacent to the Rio Grande River.

Rocky Mountain National Park

2007-09-29T06:33:00.000-07:00

Rocky Mountain National Park is located just outside Estes Park Colorado, which is more or less on our route from the Mount Rushmore area to the Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque. It was a busy time of year there and we had no reservations but purely by luck scored a cancellation on one of the best camp sites in Moraine Campground, which is at 8,500 feet elevation.

The photo above is of the view from our site - just beautiful. A herd of elk frequents a meadow just below the site so we can watch them and listen to their calls from our camp chairs. I am hearing the bull's bugle as I type this.

The Aspen are getting their Fall color now, which adds brilliant splashes of yellow to the landscape.

The Elk herds in the park are much larger and more active than the ones we saw in Yellowstone. In one area near the campground there are three large herds, each with a dominant bull with from 20 to 40 cows and young ones, and several bachelor bulls trying to capture a share. That keeps the dominant bulls busy defending their territory. Here are a few photos of them. The bull in this group is a "6 by 6", meaning he has six points on each side. He was one of the largest in the area.

The dominant bulls are constantly being challanged by others for the rights to mate with the females. They meet all challanges with charges and bugle calls, which are awsome to hear. Most such events end with with the other bull retreating but some end in fights and occasionally the serious injury or death of one or the other.

Yellowstone and South Dakota

2007-09-29T06:30:00.000-07:00

Yellowstone

We returned to Yellowstone after an absence of seven years and found some changes. For starters there were a lot more tourists. After Labor Day it used to be pretty quiet and we were able to get into the campgrounds without reservations. This year the campgrounds were full. Fortunately we knew of a nice Forest Service campground just north of West Yellowstone and got a space there for a few days until we could get a site in the park.

One thing we could always count on seeing in Yellowstone were the bison - lots of them in the meadows and even on the roads. This year there were only a few to be seen on the West side. We later found some large herds and this big bull in the Hayden Valley on the East side.

The elk population was also down compared to our earlier visits. We did not find the large herds around Madison and Norris that we had seen on past visits. One theory was that they had migrated to higher country because it had been unusually warm this year. Another was that the herds had been reduced by predation by wolves and bears. We did find one large herd of elk along the Madison River that had a very handsome bull.

Just below the Madison campground there was a bull elk that had been killed in a fight with another bull a few days earlier. A grizzly sow and two cubs had been at the site and had eaten part of the carcass, and there was anticipation that she would return. I spent several hours on two different days watching, along with a whole bunch of other photographers, but she never showed up. Since I was unable to get a photo of the bears I took one of the photographers.

The geyser basins and other attractions were also more crowded, with lots of tour busses full of foreign tourists. Another change is that the geysers and pools seemed drier than before. There is still a lot of beauty though. Bacteria cause the vivid colors surrounding the hot pools.

South Dakota

From Yellowstone we pushed East to South Dakota, a place that we had not been before.

Mount Rushmore is a South Dakota landmark that everyone recognizes, and it truly is impressive. It took Gutzon Borglum and 400 workers 14 years, from 1927 to 1941, to create.

Only a few miles from Rushmore is the Crazy Horse Monument. Janusz Korczak started it in 1948 at the request of the Lakota tribe, which wanted a Native American monument on the same grand scale as Rushmore. Korczak was a gifted studio sculptor and had been an assistant to Borglum on the Rushmore project but the figure of Crazy Horse seems crude in comparison to the Rushmore presidents. Since his death in 1982 the work has been carried on by several generations Korczak's family but the emphasis seems to be on tourism rather than actual work on the sculpture. The photo above shows the mountain with a model of what Korczax envisioned in the foreground. It will probably never be finished but it is a heroic effort, especially considering that it has all been done with no government funding.

Not far from Rushmore is the Badlands National Park, one of the largest protected mixed-grass prairies in the United States.

The stark terrain there is radically different from the forested mountains around Rushmore but is beautiful in its own way.

The black-tailed prairie dog is a common sight in the park and elsewhere in South Dakota. Cute as they may seem, shooting them is considered great sport there.

Our little fur-kid, Mr. Zax, would have loved to be able to play with them but had to settle on just looking.

Washington Beaches

2007-09-02T07:54:00.000-07:00

The state of Washington has some beautiful beaches. A unique thing about them is that some are open to vehicle traffic, and are actually part of the state highway system. The beaches around Long Beach where the Kite Festival takes place are amoung those. On Labor Day weekend there were some unusually low tides that exposed more of the beach, making driving on it that much easier. We took the opportunity to drive south to this pretty spot, where Mr. Zax got to play "fetch the ball". He had fun for a while but when he got tired he let us know by hiding the ball under the car.

WSIKF 2007

2007-09-01T05:37:00.000-07:00

Big kites in August means it is time once again for the Washington State International Kite Festival in Long Beach Washington. This years's event was the number six for Joani and I, along with the rest of our kite club, the Goat Hill Gang.

The Goat Hill Gang: Rod, Marti, Joani, Dick, Dave, Marion, Fran, and Deb. Missing are Jim and Lynn, who were out on the beach flying their Revolutions.

The Festival provides a special area on the beach for kite clubs. As usual The Gang set up camp there. We had something new this year; a 7-foot helium-filled balloon.

In addition to looking pretty the balloon is able to lift a radio-controlled digital camera to do aerial photography. If you scroll back to earlier blog updates you can see what the camera rig looks like. It captured this image of the balloon launch crew as it went up. The guy with the transmitter is me. Our friends Jim and Dick are to my left.

Our camp as seen from the balloon. This was "Paint Me Patriotic" day so the camp is decked out with the appropriate banners and other decorations. Those included balloons, pinwheels and bubble toys that were given out to the kids. The camp won an award for "Most Inovative Display".

The balloon camera works great when it is calm but gets bouncy when the wind comes up. That is when it gets transferred to a kite. The three blue-top shelters in the left center of the photo anchor our camp. The big balloon is visible at the bottom center of the frame.

The kite camera is facing north toward the "big kite" field. Only a few were up at time but later in the day the sky was filled with them.

A big part of WSIKF for me is the competition for handcrafted kites. I entered only one this year - a cellular kite called a Cross Deck. It has a wingspan of almost nine feet. Construction uses carbon filiment spars and spinnaker nylon fabric.

Judging of the kites takes place on the flying field and includes evaluation of structural design, craftsmanship, visual appeal and flight characteristics.

The Cross Deck in flight. The wind was blowing pretty hard - about 20 mph - but it flew good and won first place in my division.

Fairview Park Tree Planting

2007-04-29T09:57:00.000-07:00

Those who have been reading our Blog know that one of our hobbies is building and flying kites. We belong to a kite club in our home town of Costa Mesa California called The Goat Hill Gang, so named because our flying field in Fairview Park was used by goat herders back in the day before there was a city. Fairview is popular with kite flyers from all over area because it is the only park with good wind and ample open space.

The club is often invited to participate in city-sponsored park activities. Event organizers have said they like the color and interest our kites and banners add. We enjoy doing it as a way of giving something back to the community.

On Saturday April 28 we were invited for a community clean-up event at the park. When we arrived early that morning we were shocked to find a large group of city employees and volunteers nearing completion of planting 30 to 40 trees in the field that has always been used for kite flying. We had heard nothing about this and apparently neither had the Friends of Fairview Park, the group that extended the invitation to us.

We had brought out a radio-controlled camera suspended from a helium balloon (above) and used it to document the event.

Update: A couple of weeks after this event some of the Goat Hill Gang met with people from the Parks and Recreation Department and negotiated relocation of several of the new trees. Our flying field is now fairly free of obstructions. Some of the remaining trees may partially block the wind when they mature but for the next few years at least we should be able to continue flying at this location.

The photo above shows the view from 150' above the kite flying area, looking north toward the park entrance. The crew has finished with the trees and is working on the planter beds flanking the park entrance.

The area in front of the banners, between the parking lot and Placentia Avenue, is the up-wind side of the kite flying field. Numerous newly planted kite-eating trees now occupy the area. We do not comprehend the concept of planting trees on a kite field. Hasn't anyone in the Parks and Recreation Department read the Charlie Brown comic strip?

On the North of the flying area new trees along the upwind side will block the wind when they mature.

South toward the High School there are more trees, but these are pretty much out of the way.

After some on-site discussion with the planting people they agreed to remove five trees from the middle of the field. That helped considerably but there are still problems. We are establishing contacts with City Hall and are hopeful there will be further negotiations to work something out.

Meanwhile the Balloon Aerial Photography rig worked well. The photo above show Rod Milburn (in the white hat) taking a picture of the BAP camera taking a picture of him.

Quartzsite 2007 - KAP

2007-01-27T08:12:00.000-08:00

It is January so we must again be in Quartzsite Arizona, where thousands of RVs gather each year for a giant flea market and RV show.

I am trying something new this year. I have been experimenting with a merge of two hobbies - kites and photography. It is called Kite Aerial Photography' or KAP. The concept is to hang a remote-control camera from a kite and take photographs from the air. The idea has been around for a long time and is becoming more popular now that small lightweight digital cameras are available.

I constructed a camera platform based on an existing design. The suspension system is a “Pichavet” style, named after the Frenchman that invented it. It hangs from two attach points on the kite line and adjusts itself automatically
to remain level as the line angle changes.

The platform holding the camera mounts below the Pichavet on a model-airplane servo that allows it to pan 360 degrees. A second servo controls the tilt and a third fires the shutter. Everything is controlled with a modified model-airplane radio.

The camera is an 8 Megapixel Casio EX-Z850 that weighs less than 6 ounces.

The kite used at Quartzsite was a 6-footRokkaku that I built a couple of years ago.

One of the first images captured with the new rig is a photo of myself near our Quartzsite camp site.

Here is a kite's-eye view of our home on the desert. :The view is to the south toward Yuma, which is about 80 miles away. As you can see we like to get away from it all. The camping areas closer to town are lot more crowded.

Our nearest neighbors are about a quarter mile away to the north-west.

Looking north from our spot toward the town of Quartzsite.

I have learned that I have a lot to learn about operating this outfit. I am getting more shots of the ground and the sky than of anything interesting but it is a lot of fun. You will be seening more KAP photos in the future.

WSIKF 2006

2006-08-31T07:58:00.000-07:00

Those who know us or who have read our Blog will know that August is the time for the week-long Washington State International Kite Festival (WSIKF) in Long Beach Washington, about 20 miles north of the Oregon border. That is about 1,100 miles from our Southern California base. We have made the journey each year since 2000 in our motorhome. This year we met about a dozen friends from our kite club, called the “Goat Hill Gang” there. The club name comes from the fact that our flying field in Costa Mesa was used to graze goats back in the days before the land was developed.

Washington coast weather is always a bit chancy and this year it was not as good as we would have liked. No rain, but a lot of overcast sky and not enough wind during the first part of the week. Things improved on Thursday giving us clear sky and good winds for the handcrafted kite competition, but more about that later.

Saturday was the prettiest day. The good kite-flying conditions brought out a lot of the beautiful big kites that help make WSIKF so much fun.

One of the Saturday events was the Parade of Colors in which many of the kiters march, carrying personal or club banners. The blue one on the left in the photo below is the Goat Hill Gang banner.

A spectacular part of the show was a mass showing of large circular “kites” called bols or crowns, each about 26 feet in diameter. The organizers brought out eighteen of them this year, an unofficial world record. I wasn’t able to get them all in one shot but here are eleven.

An event that was part of the handcrafted competition was to show and fly kite trains, which are long strings of kites. The Goat Hill Gang had taken part in an earlier organized kite-making workshop where we each made three simple kites from plastic film and wood dowels. We decorated them with goats drawings and strung 39 of them together to form our own club train, which to the amazement of many actually flew very well.

The judges were not impressed but we had a lot of fun.

The photo below is of Goat Train team and of the club’s unofficial mascot, Zak the goat-dog.

Mr Zax also helped the club win an award on “Red White and Blue Day”. Here he and our unofficial Head Goat, Rod Milburn, show their colors.

Finally, I will share with you the results of my own efforts at entering kites in the hand-crafted competition. I had two this year.

This six foot three dimensional kite is called a Waldof Box. It won a first place ribbon in its category.

My other kite is a four foot tall flat kite with a 21 foot tail and a appliqué graphic depicting an orange crate label. It won a second place in category. I am afraid ribbons are going to be harder to win from now on because these two will push my point score up to a higher skill level in the competition.

Balloon Fiesta 2005

2006-05-01T09:15:00.000-07:00

For several years we have wanted to be in Albuquerque New Mexico for the annual Hot Air Balloon Festival that is held every Fall. We made reservations for 2004 but cancelled because we decided to do the AKA National Convention instead, but we made it in 2005.

The Balloon Fiesta is the largest hot air balloon event in the US, if not in the world. This year over 600 balloon teams came from all over the world to attend.

The Fiesta lasts for nine days and we were there for all of them. On each day there is a mass ascension shortly after sunup. Spectators flock to the launch area before dawn and chow down on breakfast burritos and hot coffee while waiting for the launch.

There is not much going on during the day but after the sun goes down the Balloon Glows take place. The balloons don’t fly at night but have synchronized “glows” while tethered to the ground. It is spectacular.

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There is parking for RVs on the Fiesta grounds. We had our choice of several camping areas ranging from the VIP sites on a hill overlooking the launch area at $175 per night to the "Standard" sites two miles away at $25 per night, with free shuttles to and from the field. We opted for the cheap one and it worked out great. They parked us on the edge of a large open field that is used for short-hop landings and for competition events such as the bombing run, where the balloonists try to drop a sack on a ground target. We had a grand view because the normal winds brought the balloons right over us. The photo below was taken from the roof of our motorhome.

We had a great time and plan on doing it again in 2006.

Why Is Arizona Beach In Oregon?

2005-09-10T19:29:00.000-07:00

Arizona Beach is a privately owned campground located between Gold Beach and Port Orford on the Oregon coast. Arizona Beach in Oregon? It is so named because in the old days there was a stagecoach stop here named the Arizona Inn, but that does not explain Arizona in Oregon.

We have passed by this place many times. This trip we decided to stop and spend a few days. As you can see it is a beautiful campground that is about is close as you can get to the ocean.

The owners have been trying to sell the property for some time but without success. Meanwhile maintenance seems to have been let slide a bit but it is being kept clean. The biggest problem at the moment is that the dump station is closed. That is apparently not out of neglect however. We are told that the one at nearby Humbug State Park is also closed, both reportedly because of environmental problems. The nearest working dump facility is 17 miles south at the port of Gold Beach. There is a "honey wagon? that comes around two or three times a week that will pump out the tanks for $12.

We are enjoying our stay here. It rained all day today but the weather man says tomorrow will be nicer. We will hang out here for a few more days then head home to get ready for our next adventure - the great Albuquerque Ballon Festival in New Mexico.

WSIKF 2005

2005-08-22T09:34:00.000-07:00

If it is August it must be Long Beach Washington.

Once again we made the trek to Long Beach for the week-long Washington State International Kite Festival (WSIKF). This was our fifth year. Long Beach is on Highway 101 about 20 miles north of the Oregon border. The public and kiters alike are drawn to Long Beach by the spectacle of beautiful kites and flying demonstrations and by the handcrafted kite-making competition, the only event of its kind on the West coast.

The weather on the Oregon coast is often a bit on the damp side. It was overcast and misty for much of the week but cleared up to deliver a spectacular closing weekend.

The approach to the beach is along Bolstead Avenue, which bisects the town center. Normally you can drive right onto the beach here but the approach is closed for the festival and filled with vendors.

Since about 1958 has been a large concrete arch marking the beach entrance, but not this year. It was knocked down by a Pepsi delivery truck on the first day of the festival.

These big rainbow-colored kites are called Sutton Flowforms. They are about 120 feet long including the streamer tails. If you have $1,000 to spend for toys you can have your very own.

The giant inflatable figure kites like these Geckos look spectacular in the air. They are by Peter Lynn of Australia.

These beautiful big foils were all made by hand. Each contains 100 to 150 yards of fabric and many hours of labor.

A special feature this year was a large wind sculpture that was constructed on site during the festival by guest artist Robert Valenburgh from Holland. It was make of bamboo and plastic sheeting and strung with taut ribbon that vibrated in the wind, making a haunting moan.

Another guest was the Edo-Kite Preservation Society from Japan. Edo is the name of a traditional Japanese kite made of rice paper and bamboo.

Joani and I are part of an informal kite club called the Goat Hill Gang. The name comes form the historic name of our local flying field in Costa Mesa California that is on a hill where goats were once grazed. Joani and I are wearing the black tee-shirts with the Native American style birds.

Our de-facto leader is Rod Milburn, a Master kite builder that has been entering hand-built kites at WSIKF for many years. He made this Rokkaku as our club kite.

We had a treat this year when Dave Gomberg arranged a special mass ascension of nine giant inflatable rings called Crowns or Bols. Each is about 30 feet in diameter. When inflated in a good wind they bounce and roll across the ground in spectacular fashion. There is no official world record but I doubt that there has been any other event like this.

FMCA Ralley June 2005

2005-06-27T07:20:00.000-07:00

This month we made a trip up the coast with two destinations; our first Family Motorcoach Association (FMCA) rally and the World Sport Kite Championships.

FMCA Rally

FMCA is a large national organization of motorhome owners. They have rallies several times a year that attract members from all over the country for several days of exhibits, educational seminars and entertainment. This one was in Albany Oregon, which is on Interstate 5 about in the middle of the state. About 630 motorhomes showed up at the location on the fairgrounds. That makes it a relatively small rally - some bring in several thousand. We were parked on a large grass field with lots of "togetherness".

We felt a bit like second-class citizens in this crowd because 90% of the motorhomes were larger diesel-powered rigs. Everyone was nice though and we had a good time. We learned a lot from the seminars and took advantage of some good vendor prices by adding a portable satellite Internet system. It is a tripod-mounted dish that sits on the ground. It is not as fast as the cable system we have at home but it is great to have access from anywhere because we depend on the Internet to keep in contact with our friends and to do our banking and bill-paying when on the road.

Note: The dish is not set up per FCC regulations for this photo. The bottom of the dish is supposed to be 5 1/2 feet off the ground for radiation safety because it transmits to the satellite.

We had a few days of slack time between the rally and the kite event so decided to visit a couple of Willamette Valley state parks that we had not seen. The first was Silver Falls, about 50 miles east of Salem. It is in a beautiful temperate rain forest with numerous waterfalls.

The second was Detroit Lake, a bit further east. This is a very large man-made lake with lots of recreational areas. The campground was beautiful and we were able to get a nice lakeside site in spite of having no reservation. You can’t see us in the photo because are hidden in the trees.

We had some nice weather there but also some rainy and chilly days that made bundling up by the campfire feel good.

World Sport Kite Championship Meet

Each year the best sport kite teams from all over the world meet to compete for the title of World Champions. The event has been held in France until this year when it came to the US in Lincoln City Oregon.

Most kite competitions are held on the beach but this one was on a grass field about 100 feet above the sand on the grounds of the Chinook Winds gaming casino. There area was a bit small but adequate, and being on grass was nice.

There were 15 teams from seven countries, each team consisting of from three to six flyers. They compete in two types of events; Precision, which is the flying of prescribed compulsory figures, and Ballet, which is the flying of routines choreographed to music. We saw some terrific flying but there is no way to show that in still photos.

The kites were all two-line stunt kites like the ones shown here.

Each flyer had at least three kites to match different wind conditions. They needed them all at Lincoln City because the wind varied from barely a whisper to nearly 20 miles per hour.

A bonus at this meet was the display of a “serial banner” by Kurt Lisk. Kurt is a professional graphics artist and banner maker from Florida. He brought two of his creations to Lincoln City, both part of an unfinished four-part set called Elements, with each part being made up of 30 15-foot banners. The one shown below is Aire. Joani got a great photo of it with the wind just right and no people. The large fish hovering above it is a kite being flown from the beach down below.

The next day he assembled a second set called Fire for its first public display. Unfortunately the wind was blowing so hard that day the banners were almost flattened and the graphic pattern was not discernable.

The meet ended with a US team called 6th Sense taking first place followed by Tame Bird from France and Watnu from Germany.

After the competition we were treated to mass ascensions by combined national teams and by all of the flyers using a certain popular kite called Fury, by Carl Robertshaw of England. The photo below is of the Furys.

On the weekend following the competition the Lincoln City Summer Kite Festival was held on the beach. The weather on Saturday was perfect in spite of rain threats. We set up camp and stayed all day, flying our kites and having a really good time. Our little red wagon and banners are in the lower left.

From Lincoln City we headed south toward home but decided we didn't want to be on the road over the July 4 weekend, mostly because we had no reservations for places to stay. We found refuge at Cape Blanco, an Oregon state park about 20 miles north of Gold Beach in Oregon. It is one of the few state parks that are not on a reservation system, which made it possible for us to come in on Thursday and get a good site.

Cape Blanco is a beautiful place. The campground is on a bluff high above the beach with lots of trees and has water and electric hookups. There is a well-preserved lighthouse open to the public and also a restored Victorian home built in 1898 by a family that operated a large dairy farm here.

The place also has a wonderful beach accessible by single-lane road going down from the campground. It is wide and flat - perfect for kites - with hardly anyone on it. The wind yesterday was a brisk 20 mph.

As you can see from the photo Joani has mastered the Rod Milburn style of flying.

We will hang out here through the 4th and then head for home.

Quartzsite 2005

2005-02-01T09:39:00.000-08:00

Every January for the past five years we have been going to Quartzsite Arizona in the motorhome. If you have never heard of Quartzsite you are not the only one. It is an obscure little town on Interstate 10, about 18 miles east of the California border. For most of the year there is not much going on but in January and February it becomes a magnet destination for RVers from all over the country. There is a big RV show and the whole town becomes one giant flea market with vendors selling everything from antiques to zebra statues. National Geographic magazine did a story on it in January 2001 and reported that there were 1 million visitors. Most of the RVs park on BLM land in the surrounding desert, either free or for a small permit fee.

This is our campsite. We were alongside a wash with Palo Verde trees and green grass, rarely seen in that location.

We had mostly beautiful sunny weather and gentle winds, making it great for flying our kites. The one in this photo is a big sled that we bought last year at the AKA convention in Seaside Oregon. I made my own bucket tail and line laundry to jazz it up a bit. It looked great in the sky and attracted a lot of people wanting to see it up close.

The desert was spectacular this year. Because of heavy rains long-dormant grasses and wildflowers were cropping up everywhere. Even the true old-timer desert rats were saying they had never seen it so green.

AKA Nationals 2004

2004-10-11T16:05:00.000-07:00

Today is October 10 2004. We are in Cannon Beach, Oregon - our base for the next week while we attend the American Kite Association (AKA) National Convention in Seaside, just a few miles north of here. Today is registration day and activities begin tomorrow (Tuesday).

Today is a beautiful sunny day and the weather guy is promising more of the same for the rest of the week.

Day One

Today (Tuesday) was the first full day of convention activity. Joani and I attended some good seminars during the morning and a mass ascension for soft kites at noon.

If you look closely you will see one of the famous Goat Hill sled kites in the upper left corner of the photo.

The sky was full of beautiful kites including some big show kites like the ones in the photo below, made by Peter Lynn of New Zealand. It is hard to judge scale in the photo but these kites are really BIG, about 30 feet wide.

There were sport kite competitions in the afternoon and an incredible indoor kite flying demos and competition in the evening.

It was a great first day with good weather and mostly good wind, except for a lull in mid-afternoon in the middle of the sport kite competition.

Day 3

Judging for handcrafted kites began today. In these competitions there are no experience-level classifications like there are at the Washington State event we attended in August. All entries are judged against each other, meaning that beginners like myself are competing with the Masters. I decided to enter a couple of kites anyway, just for the experience of being in an AKA National event, so here you see my little Sponge Bob flying with the big boys in the Soft and Flexible category. We won't know the results until Saturday's awards banquet.

One of the entries in the Delta category was a kite with a 60 foot wingspan. It uses a spreader made of 3 inch diameter aluminum pipe.

Surprisingly, in view of the light winds that we were having at the time, it flew beautifully.

Tomorrow I enter my Tiger in the Rokkaku event so am hoping for a continuation of the good weather we have been enjoying. Day 1

Today (Tuesday) was the first full day of convention activity. Joani and I attended some good seminars during the morning and a mass ascension for soft kites at noon.

If you look closely you will see one of the famous Goat Hill sled kites in the upper left corner of the photo.

The sky was full of beautiful kites including some big show kites like the ones in the photo below, made by Peter Lynn of New Zealand. It is hard to judge scale in the photo but these kites are really BIG, about 30 feet wide.

There were sport kite competitions in the afternoon and an incredible indoor kite flying demos and competition in the evening.

It was a great first day with good weather and mostly good wind, except for a lull in mid-afternoon in the middle of the sport kite competition.

Last Day

The Nationals finished in the rain yesterday but overall the weather was good and we had a great time.

Sidney BC

2004-10-02T13:27:00.000-07:00

From Port McNeil we spent two days making our way back to the south end of Vancouver Island where we will catch the ferry back to the mainland. We are camped at a pretty little RV park on the water near Sidney. The weather has been spectacular for the past week or so.

You can’t come to Vancouver Island without visiting the famous Butchart Gardens and the nearby Butterfly Gardens, so we did that today.

The plan for tomorrow is to take the BC Ferry to Tsawwassen and then drive back across the border into the US and then south to the Seattle area.

Port McNeill / Port Hardy: Orcas!

2004-09-29T16:22:00.000-07:00

We are at campground just outside Port McNeill BC, which is almost as far as we can go on Vancouver Island.

Yesterday we took a whale-watching trip that was loads of fun. We saw a lot of Orcas, many close to the boat. At one point several of them started surfing in the boat’s wake and I was able to get a couple of photos of them.

They are not supposed to do that because the Orcas are a protected species and any human interaction that alters their behavior is against the law. The Orcas don’t know that of course but the boat captain does and had to stop. It was fun for both us and the Orcas while it lasted.

Today we drove up to Port Hardy which is the northern-most city on the island, We saw and photographed a couple of black bears along the highway but not much else exciting.

Tomorrow we head back south.

Campbell River BC

2004-09-27T09:01:00.000-07:00

Back on the east side of the island we found a terrific RV resort called Ripple Rock, on Brown’s Bay just north of Campbell River.

It is called Ripple Rock because there used to be a submerged rock formation in the water that created a large ripple. The rock was blown up with a huge demolition charge about 40 years ago to clear the channel for shipping.

The narrow strait we are on is a used by the big cruise ships sailing between Vancouver and Alaska, and they pass by just a few hundred yards in front of our site. Last night five in a row passed by, only about 15 minutes apart. The water is so shallow that they have to wait for peak high tide, which is the reason they all come through at the same time. It was a spectacular sight.

From here we will continue toward Port McNeil and Port Hardy at the north end of the island.

Tofino BC

2004-09-24T08:57:00.000-07:00

We have crossed over to the west side of Vancouver Island, to the very end of Highway 4, to Tofino. We were a little bit concerned about the highway because we had heard tales of how narrow and winding it is but it turned out to be not bad – no worse than some of the coast highways in California and Oregon. There was one grade that was marked 18% but it was short and we made it just fine.

Tofino is a neat little town with lots of outdoor adventure activity including kayaking and whale watching, and is adjacent to Canada’s Pacific Rim National Park. The coastline here reminds me of Oregon.

We camped for two nights in the national park, which is beautiful. It is a rain forest environment, very densely wooded so most of the camp sites never get any sun, but there is a beach that is nice, especially now that we are getting sunny days again.

Nanaimo BC

2004-09-21T08:46:00.000-07:00

This is a pretty little city on the west coast of Vancouver Island, about 75 miles north of Victoria. Timber and fishing are the main commercial activities and it is known for a local confection called the Nanaimo Bar; a layer of milk chocolate and a layer of creme filling topped with a layer of chocolate and coconut. Yummy! We found a terrific RV site on a bluff overlooking the water and the town. The rain has stopped and we are enjoying beautiful sunny weather.

The modern downtown marina has a large park, some nice shops and coffee houses and a little floating seafood bar that has the best fish & chips we have had anywhere.

We will spend a couple of days here and then continue north along the coast.

Chemainus BC

2004-09-18T09:27:00.000-07:00

Chemainus, another timber town, has a population of only about 3,500. The buildings are decorated with over 30 large murals like this one, depicting the history and culture of the town.

We happened to be here on the weekend of the local fall festival with an outdoor art show and flea market that was fun, especially since weather has decided to play nice again.

Rainy Day In Victoria

2004-09-16T11:38:00.000-07:00

It rained most of today but we still enjoyed our visit to Victoria. The city has an abundance of museums and historic buildings that provide rainy day entertainment, and we had a good lunch at the historic Empress Hotel.

The downtown area is dressed up with dozens of fiberglass Orca statutes that have been decorated by local artists. The one Joani is posing with below is one of several around the harbor.

Crossing To Victoria BC

2004-09-15T11:34:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday we loaded our house on wheels onto the ferry at Port Angeles and crossed over the Strait of Juan De Fuca to Victoria BC.

It took about an hour and a half and was a smooth trip, starting out sunny and ending in the rain at Victoria.

We made camp at a commercial RV park about 40 minutes out of city. It is very secluded and peaceful with a nice view of the Strait and the Victoria skyline.

Going to Vancouver Island BC

2004-09-14T18:07:00.000-07:00

We have spent the past few days in the Olympic Rain Forest on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula. It is an awesome place with spectacular beaches and lush spruce forests, and provided us with the full spectrum of weather from rain to blue sky. Rain is part of the experience here of course. The annual total is 12 to 14 feet per year. That is about 10 times what we get in Southern California.

We found a beautiful campsite on the bank of the Hoh River. The photos show a our view of the river on a rainy day and of the campsite on a sunny one.

Leaving Long Beach

2004-09-08T09:46:00.000-07:00

The past few days have been spectacular here at Long Beach Washington, with blue skies and good kite winds.

One of the unique things about Washington beaches is that they are part of the state highway system and you can drive on many of them. There are places where you can drive for miles, often with few other cars or people around.

Driving on the beaches around Long Beach is easy because they are wide and flat with no rocks. Having a 4WD vehicle helps, but we have seen regular passenger cars and even RVs on the sand. The main thing to watch out for is the tide, which has trapped many unwary tourists.

Today we are finally leaving Long Beach and heading north to the Olympic Peninsula and then across to Victoria BC on the ferry from Port Angeles. We will lose the wireless high-speed Internet access we have enjoyed here and I don't know when we will be able to update this blog again, but stay tuned.

Labor Day Weekend

2004-09-05T13:38:00.000-07:00

It is Labor Day weekend and we are still in Long Beach Washington. We have stayed longer than planned because Joani had an infection in her leg that flared up and required some extensive antibiotic treatment. Happily it is much better now.

Since the kite festival we have had a lot of rain, mostly light but a few heavy downpours that sounded really loud on the roof of the motorhome.

The rain has kept us indoors a lot and I needed something to do so decided to build a kite train based on a Japanese kite design called the Wave. It is a very simple little kite. The Japanese make them from paper and bamboo but I decided to use Tyvek, which is a material used to provide a moisture barrier in home construction. You might be familiar with it in the form of the envelopes that Priority Mail sometimes comes in, you know - the kind that you can't tear open. I tried to buy some of the construction Tyvek locally but the builder's supply store sells it only in 100 foot by 10 foot rolls, which is about 99 feet more than I need. I found a much cheaper solution in the form of some discarded mail envelopes. They just happen to be about the right size so worked out nicely. I used some small wooden dowels for sticks and added tails made of a kind of vinyl tape called Flag Tape, which is also a builder's material.

Here is a photo of the train of 15 kites:

The weather is perfect today, with blue skys and good winds, so I think I will go down to the beach and fly the kites.

My WSIKF Kites

2004-08-29T08:50:00.000-07:00

The festival is over. We had great weather up until the last couple of days when the rains came; not bad for the Washington Coast this time of year.

I have to show off two kites that I make for this year's festival. Both won third place awards in their category.

The tiger is a Rokkaku design and is six feet tall. The SpongeBob is a bullet sled design an is about two feet wide.

WSIKF 2004 - A Kite Festival

2004-08-28T07:37:00.000-07:00

We are in Long Beach Washington, on the coast just north of the Oregon border.

We have been coming here for the past four years to attend the Washington State International Kite Festival, which is held in August each year. It touted as being the largest kite festival on the Pacific coast and runs for a full week in August. During that week the skys over the beach are filled with interesting and colorful kite, many of them hand made.

We particularly enjoyed this year's festival because there were a bunch of our friends and fellow kite flyers from Southern California and elsewhere attending with us. Our group is informally known as the Goat Hill Gang. Goat Hill is the original name of the hill in Costa Mesa where we fly our kites when at home. It is now known as Fairview Park.

The photos below will give you an idea what the festival looks like.

There are more kite photos and information on my WSIKF web page:

More WSIKF Photos

Our plans call for staying here for another week or so and then head north. Our plans are not firm but will probably include stops on the Olympic Peninsula and Seattle, then on to Vancouver Island BC.

2004-07-20T08:22:00.000-07:00

What is a Blog? Blog is a contraction of the term "weB Log".

It is a log, dairy, or journal, but published on the World Wide Web instead of paper. That means that we can share our adventures with others. The log is published with the most recent updates at the top. You can scroll down or view the archives to see earlier posts.

Here we will try to keep you up to date on our motorhome travels. Our home on wheels is Sea Breeze motorhome made by National RV. It is 35 feet long with two slide-out room extensions, one up front in the lounge and the other in the bedroom.

Updates may be spotty because to upload photos we need a high-speed Internet connection and those are hard to find when we are on the road, but check in now and then to see the latest.