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Hi Skiers!
As out-going President, I would like to thank all of you who have participated in this year's activities. I hope y'all had fun, I sure did! I especially want to thank the members of the Executive Board that served with me this last season:
| Vice President | Jim Kuhn |
| Trip Chairs | Dave Bodenstab Bob Morimoto |
| Treasurer | Chuck Borcher |
| Secretary | Tammy Ahlert |
| Program Chair | Lisa Weber |
| Binding Editor | John Unruh |
| Racing Chair | Bob Camp |
| Membership Chair | Rey Maa |
The other members who have helped with each of the activities are also especially appreciated by me and the rest of the Board. Your help on activities from the fall picnic to running the ski trips to collecting tickets at the door for the BASH makes leaving office difficult. But also, because of you, I feel confident that I can leave office without fear of IHSC falling into an abyss of neglect.
My words of wisdom for future officers of IHSC are simple: remember first and foremost IHSC exists to promote fellowship among its members who like to ski. Primarily, we all like to participate in enjoyable, safe activities. We want and need to be treated with respect during these activities (Unless your name is "Wayne," leading others down a Black Diamond!)
My other insight concerning the future of the Club is to remember to treat others as you would like to be treated. I believe that that may just be a paraphrase from some famous book, but it is no less important to IHSC than to those who hold the original text as the "Golden Rule."
I will still be around if any of you would like to stop by and reminisce.
Thanks for a GREAT YEAR!
(Don't Ski with) Wayne
June 17 through June 25, 1995
Day 1, Saturday June 17
The trip officially started a t 6:30 a.m., at the back of IH Main. Everyone was there but Alan Graves and he had all of our airline tickets. We had our first crisis at 6:31 a.m.! We used Sandy Wearne's portable phone to try to call Alan but were unable to break through Alan's "secret code"; so much for high tech. Much to our relief, we eventually spotted Alan racing toward us through the parking lot at 6:40 a.m..
Next we loaded the bus and set off to Midway. Upon arriving, everyone quickly unloaded their stuff, except for Alan Graves, who left his wallet on the bus. Fortunately, Kathy Schleicher, who was in charge of watching over Alan (ha ha), caught this mishap in time to avoid a crisis. Good job Kathy!
When we flew into Las Vegas, the day was clear and we could see all of the casinos from the air. This was really neat to see for those of us that have never been there. We got off the plane and the first thing we saw were slot machines. I forget who lost the first quarter but after checking into our rooms we regrouped and headed for "the strip" to loose more quarters.
We visited Circus Circus, Ceasar's Place, Treasure Island, Excallbur and Luxor. Circus Circus was not doing the high wire act while we were there so that place was no big deal. Ceasar's Palace was fantastic; the interior was done up like a roman market with blue ski & clouds, painted on the ceiling. As one walked along, the overhead "sky" seemed to move somehow, it was beautiful. At the end of a long market street, there was a grouping of statuary. Some show was about to happen so we stuck around to watch. The statuary started moving very naturally, with good effect. A laser light show was projected onto an overhead dome by the moving figures. Rather neat! The next stop was Treasure Island where we watched a British man-O-war attack a pirate hideout. The two of them battled it out by firing their cannon and blasting each other apart. The ship was sunk and the pirate hideout was blown up. We saw lots of Hollywood style fireballs, generated by burning large bursts of propane. We all enjoyed the show even though it was extremely hot and we had to stay in the sun. We then went to Excallbur where Jim Schatz and Jay Mitchell quickly got lost. The main group used their strong organizational skills and set a plan in motion to locate Jim and Jay. Search teams were sent out and someone was dispatched to guard the entryway door. Eventually Jim and Jay were found wandering around in the sea of people, so the group moved on. The next stop was Luxor. This is the casino that is shaped like a pyramid and has a sphinx guarding the entrance. At night the very top of the pyramid was beaming a very powerful light straight up into the sky. It is said that the astronauts can see the light very distinctly from space. The interior of the Luxor had a mock city that looked more like a 1940's version of Chicago. I thought the theme was ancient Egypt; the designers who did the interior apparently forgot all that.
In order to kill time at the Luxor, we decided to try some of the attractions. The first was an Omni-Max theater that showed some bizarre movie. Does anyone remember the plot of the movie? I don't because there wasn't any, but the special effects were great. The second show was based on a talk show which ended with a really good three dimensional move. Again, there was no plot but the special effects were so good that Dave Bodenstab was convinced that the talk show hosts, portrayed on the stage below were real people. Dave was still talking about it when the show was over. By the time we left, it was dark and our legs were tired, so we grabbed a bus and headed back to our hotel. On the way back we lucked out and were able to see a volcano in front of the Mirage hotel erupt.
Day 2, Sunday June 18
Since we didn't need to meet Moki Mac till 2:00 p.m., we had lots of time to kill. Some of us gambled while others relaxed at the motel pool. At pool side most folks would have a radio, but not Sandy Wearne. She was tuning in satellites with her portable GPS unit all afternoon. When the time drew near to leave, some folks had a food panic and decided to order hoagies and soup. The lid to Alan Grave's soup was not on tight so it leaked and eventually fell through the bottom of the paper sack it was in. Since the soup was too hot to eat quickly, we had to take it with us so Sandy decided to carry Alan's soup for him. Out at curbside, Alan bent over to get into his cab causing his glass bottle of Snapple to slip out of his fanny pack and bust in the street. Alan then blamed the Snapple corporation for using glass bottles.
Anyway, we eventually made it to the airport where we waited and waited for Moki Mac to pick us up. When a driver did arrive, they did not have enough vans to carry everyone. Apparently someone at Moki Mac did not notice that our group size took two computer screens to display so they never bothered to page their terminal screen down to page two. We eventually left the Las Vegas airport where we were taken by van to some small airport. From there, we boarded a group of small airplanes. These planes hold 7 people each, counting the pilot. The flight was a lot of fun; we bounced around some, skimmed the trees and had a really good look at the scenery below. Needless to say, we didn't get any free peanuts and pop.
After we arrived and checked our stuff into our rooms, we had a group introduction by Moki Mac. After the meeting was over, Alan forgot his water bottle but Dave Bodenstab noticed it and got it to Alan. We then had an enjoyable dinner after which we went to our rooms and proceeded to pack our stuff into the black river bags which we would use for the rest of the trip.
Day 3, Monday June 19
After a buffet breakfast, we got into vans for a short drive to Lee's Ferry, the put in point. There, we were issued our life jackets. Each jacket had a different name on it. How many of you still remember the name of your friend the life jacket?
Eventually we got going on the river. At the start of the trip, the walls of the canyon were not very high. As we progressed down the river, the canyon walls get higher so that sandstone that we could touch from our raft at the start ended up several thousand feet over us by the end. The river water came from the base of the Glen Canyon Dam so it is quite cold, around 45 degrees. At the start of the trip, the water was very clean but not too far down, a side river of mud discolored the water. Still, the water was quite clean for the entire trip.
The first couple of rapids were not that big so we got some minor splashing. I was not sure how I would handle the cold water but as it turns out, the sun is so hot that the cold water was never a problem. As we drifted along, someone spotted some big horn sheep along the edge of the river. Megan, who was one of our river guides, was feeling under the weather so Alan Graves decided to be a nice guy by doing a lot of the rowing. While Alan was rowing, he managed to lose his water bottle and hat in the river. He recovered his hat early on but over an hour later, some power boat came by and asked if we had lost a water bottle. It's not clear who was supposed to be watching Alan but he got lucky again and things worked out OKAY.
Next, Sandy Wearne wanted to try her hand at rowing the raft. As Sandy rowed, the raft wandered about the river like a water bug on a pond. But that was OKAY, since the raft, on average, was still going down the river. All was well until a large boulder loomed down river! Megan directed Sandy to pull this way and that but to no avail. With only a few feet to spare, Megan saved the day with a couple of well-placed oar strokes. I hear that Sandy did not row anymore after that.
Our first evening camp site was at mile 19. As we best recall, our campsite was a smallish beach area with a short sandy hill to the tent areas. Jim Schatz had the penthouse camp site, what a guy. We enjoyed a good steak dinner that evening. Later, we enjoyed simple but significant personal events as we watched bats gather their supper and watched the glory of the universe array itself over our heads.
Day 4, Tuesday June 20
For those of you that did not take this trip, we had many side hikes like the one described below which added considerably to the quality of the trip.
We awoke to a beautiful morning with fresh hot coffee and tea a brewing. We did a side hike up North Canyon which was quite interesting. This is the hike that had the green slime pool at the end. When you toss a rock into the pool the ripple opens up a clear spot on the surface which quickly closes back, like a camera iris. The eroded rock that led to the pool was exquisite. The rocks were carved in smooth curves but the rock itself fractured in layers so the effect was quite beautiful. Matt easily caught a frog that was hiding under a crack in the rock. After Matt let it go, it scampered up almost sheer rock to chase a lizard from it's hiding spot.
The critters we saw in the canyon were red ants that BITE (Steve Holz was the first to be bitten), ravens that patiently wait for us to leave so they can clean up the campsite, canyon wrens that sing a beautiful song (does everyone remember their song - a musical scale that goes from high to low), lizards that do pushups, ant lions that flip sand from their traps, tadpoles, bats and of course, rattle snakes.
While rafting today, we stopped at some interesting side attractions. One stop was to get more fresh water from a large waterfall that was at the river's edge. The fall rushed down a series of well worn rocks which were very slippery. There was green vegetation all around, including some really healthy poison ivy! Another interesting attraction was a miniature waterfall that was enclosed in it's own private cave. To take a drink, you stuck your Moki Mac mug into the mini-cave and filled it up. We also stopped at the redrock wall cavern which was really a great break from the hot sun. This was a gigantic rock overhang with a soft sand floor. We spent some leisurely time there resting, cooling off and watching a bird attend to her chicks. We also did a short day hike to an Anasazi runes where we found some petrotack drawings and the remains of a hut.
Today is the first time we took out the "duckies". Duckies are two person inflatable kayaks that are much more maneuverable than rafts but less maneuverable that "real" kayaks. The first out in the duckies were Alan Graves and Andrea Sodergren as team one, with Dave Connet and Jay Mitchell as team two. In the afternoon, Jim Schatz and Katherine made team one with Alan Graves and Dave Connet for team 2. The duckies were lots of fun because you could dart about the river at will (most of the time.) Our guides referred to the duckies as "river gnats".
Tonight's camp was at mile 35. We had stir-fry for dinner and boy was it good! This dish and all side dishes were loaded with lots of nuts. Jim Schatz is allergic to nuts, so Scotty prepared a special dish for Jim. Scotty tried to call Jim over to get his special plate but Jim thought that dinner was ready for everyone so he started calling in everyone else. Once Jim realized his mistake, he had to un-call everyone for dinner; that's is not an easy thing to do!
After dinner, Jim Schatz, Dave Bodenstab and Dave Connet decided to take a side hike up a small canyon that was near camp. Erosion had carved smooth chutes which emptied into large carved bowels. Being the brave (foolish?) climbers that we were, we spotted a challenging way up which forced us along a narrow ledge over one of the bowels. The bowel was filled with green water, which added a bit of interest. Well we made it OKAY and explored the canyon above but saw nothing of great interest.
Day 5, Wednesday June 21
The next morning the group did the same climb that Dave C. and Dave B. and Jim S. did the night before. This time, Matt took us up a much simpler route. Once in the canyon, Matt pointed out beautiful nautiloids adorning the canyon floor. Nautiloids, as you may recall, are the fossilized remains of ancient sea creatures. Looks like the two Daves and Jim were not too observant when they explored the canyon the night before!
After the hike, it was time to raft. It was a cool morning and the canyon walls were very high so we had no sunshine yet Jim Schatz, Dave Connet and Kathy Schleicher decided to take the duckies out. They had a good time despite the cold numbing water. Kathy had some fun catching and playing around in the eddies, just like a kayaker.
We went through some interesting rapids during the cool of the morning. Sandy Wearne would always put on a rain jacket each time we went through a rapids, must be Sandy does not like to get wet. Before lunch, we did a short day hike to Buck Farm Canyon (mile 41.) We were hiking single file with Andria Sodergren hiking just behind Matt when Andira spotted a pink rattle snake that Matt had just passed over! We all gathered around (at a safe distance) to see this natural wonder. The snake did not seem to be upset but it was certainly aware of our presence. After a bit, the snake crawled off to attend to it's own business. The hike ended with a small grotto filled with clear water. There were tadpoles living in the pools and stream that ran down this small side canyon.
Tonight's camp was at mile 44. After enjoying a delicious spaghetti dinner, we later noticed that Megan was busy with some sort of dessert extravaganza. She was placing shaved almonds on a chocolate cake that was frosted with yogurt and jelly. As it turned out, the cake was for Bobby and Susie Dornan who were newly wed and with us on the trip. The cake read:
After lunch, we did a challenging day hike part way out of the canyon. According to Matt, this trail was used by the Anasazi Indians as one of the few ways out of the canyon. The day was really hot and we had no shade for the entire hike. Once we got to the top (of an intermediate ledge, not the canyon top), the view was incredible. The river was winding around a butte so that it made a semicircle. We could see the campground below and heard Susie screaming and yelling because she had caught a fish, which looked pretty small from where we were standing. The folks in the campground could see us and hear us yelling back. We were really hot and tired when we got back but it was well worth it.
Alan Graves managed to lose his desert cameo bandanna while hiking back . This is almost an impossibility to find since it is well camouflaged and blended into the sand. Later that evening, Alan went looking for his bandanna but rather than finding it, managed to fall bruising his elbow and back.
Day 6, Thursday June 22
The next morning Alan got unbelievably lucky and found his bandanna laying on the trail. Who rah! Alan was a happy camper again.
After breakfast, we are back on the river again and the day was perfect. Down river, we spot some small riffles that should be no problem. Sandy Wearne and Andrea Sodergren were lounging on the edge of their raft when suddenly, the raft was pulled in by an eddy. The raft slowly dipped a bit which caused Andrea to fall out of the raft and Sandy to fall into the raft. The old saying goes, "If the river wants you, the river will take you", no matter how peaceful the day.
In the morning we took a hike up Saddle Canyon (mile 47) to a wonderful waterfall. The hike started out in the sun but eventually became shade as we got deeper into the canyon. The side walls pulled in tighter and higher, creating a micro environment where trees and various other plants thrived. Eventually we encountered a wonderful stream which added to the beauty of the hike. We reached a point where we were forced to walk in the stream so some of us took off our shoes and went barefoot. Steve Holz kept saying "ouch, ouch" as he walked along but he had shoes on! We continued to wade along until we encountered a large boulder blocking our path. Matt and Darien helped us up over the boulder. This was an interesting climb! At the end was a ribbon like waterfall that fell into a pool at the bottom of a very tight, narrow mini canyon. Some folks took a shower with clothes and all. These side canyon hikes are so much fun; you would never know what wonderful surprise awaits you unless you explore.
Later that day we came upon the little Colorado river. What a surprise this was! Here was a side river that was the most incredible blue/green Caribbean color, and it was warm too. The color was caused by minerals dissolved in the water. In fact, there were deposits on all the rocks so things had a cave like appearance. Wait! What are those strange looking creatures ahead? They look like giant shrimps. No, they are people wearing their lifejackets upside down and through their legs like a diaper. We would never do something so silly as that. Moments later we too were wearing our lifejacket like a diaper, walking like a duck to the waters edge. Once we got in, we would shoot the rapids while on our back. Now I understand why we wear the lifejackets the way we do; they become buttocks bottom bumpers. After a bit, we organized ourselves into a train of people and shot the rapids as a group. This was surly an unexpected , enjoyable side trip!
Tonight we camped at mile 61.5. For dinner, we had soup for an appetizer followed by a great vegetable meal, complete with fresh asparagus tips in cheese sauce. This camp site was on a low sand bar that showed evidence of recent flooding. The beach was quite long and offered a good place to wash up. This is also the spot where some of us did the "river walk".
Day 7, Friday June 23
Today was another beautiful morning, but we had to put the duckies away because of some difficult rapids ahead. Early in the morning, the canyon was narrow but then we went around a bend and the canyon opened up into a wide vista. Apparently the surrounding rock was very soft at this point so erosion could remove huge quantities of material. Anyway, it was pretty to look at. This is where the Dolly Parton buttes (two big mounds that were side by side and eroded into a cone shape) were visible.
How sad, our last full day on the river; how good, the best rapids are today. The following description of the rapids was written by Sandy Wearne and was taken directly from her journal:
We picked Darien this morning to ride with. Partly because we hadn't ridden with him before and partly because he looked strong.The 4 rapids of most serious concern today are: Nevills 4-7 (out of 10), Hance 7-8, Sock Dulager 5-7, Gravevine 6-7. We hit Nevills a little side ways on the right and took a wall of chilling water over the bow. That threw Dave Connet across the stern to my side where he landed on the beer bag. Then we were hit again, this time from the left where a snarling, curling wave crashed over the stern. We had by now over 2 feet of water in the bottom of the raft, but no free hands to bail with. The force of the rushing water across my face loosened my glasses. My fingers grew numb from the cold, from gripping the hand holds and from trying to hold my weight low against the raft bottom. Nevills was full of the Devil this day!
Just before Hance, the worst of them all, our guides pulled to shore to survey the scene from above (mile 77.) Apparently the rapid changes with different water levels. Our guides climbed to the top of an outcrop and talked quietly amongst themselves, discussing the approach, the middle and finish, noting boulders, eddies and currents along the way. Gear on board was checked, some rearranged, others retied. Suddenly, we were off, drifting into the current, quickly approaching our planned point of entry. Darien let the raft turn sideways at first and we slipped toward a huge boulder at the top. The water was smooth and running fast as we approached. The sounds grew louder and louder. Although Darien was pulling on the ores for all he was worth, it appeared that we were on a collision course. As luck would have it, just seconds before impact, he pulled the raft forward enough to avoid the rock. The raft then turned and went head first down into a hole in the water and up on the other side. The rest of the raft followed that same path, but bent and twisted every which way in the process. Then we hit a level spot and cheers arose from the crew and skipper. We had made it past the first critical step. Now on to the next!
Darien started rowing again and the crew fell silent once more. His plan was to take us from the left side of the river right into the middle where the peaks of waves collided from left to right. These were the tallest waves we had seen so far. They towered over and around us, menacingly. They seemed taller still when we looked sideways, across the raft at the gaping holes behind them, and the rocks that lurked just below the surface. Visible only from downstream, these holes, we had learned, could suck in a raft and hold it trapped where the waves crashed in from above. And there we were, traveling down the funnel of gushing water, between the holes, turning first to one side, then the other, to avoid them.
The river roared like a thousand lions, angry that their prey had so far escaped them. Darien pulled with all his strength; we held on for dear life, not allowing ourselves to think what would happen if we were tossed into the 50 degree water.
As we skirted one boulder after another, Darien would call out to us: "look at that one", "did you see that one?". Then he'd whoop with glee, elated at his success, still pulling at the oars, preparing for the next one.
Halfway through Hance, we hit what is called "the highway", a rock-strewn stretch of angry white water that runs about down the middle. Compared to the first part it was tame. Although we would not have said so previously. As the tension eased, I had a chance to look at the others in the bow. Alan Graves was being repeatedly drenched with water. As each wave broke over him he would shake his head to try to clear the water from his eyes, not daring to let go of his hand holds. Andrea Sodergren and Jay Mitchell were clutching the life lines on the other side of the raft.
Sandy Wearne
Thanks Sandy, for the well written description of running the rapids.
As we progressed down the river, the composition of the surrounding rock started to change. Rather than the sandstone that we had seen earlier, we were now seeing a metamorphic rock called schist. This type of rock would normally be formed around 9 miles below the earth where heat and pressure transform one type of rock to another. Schist is rock that could have been the "roots" of an ancient mountain range. Seeing this type of rock at the surface gives you an example of the power of uplifting and erosion. So much for the geology lesson; so what did this rock look like in the canyon? Since the rock was very hard, the canyon tended to be narrow. The rock itself was black and very jagged, which gave it a spooky or ominous look. That is where we started talking to our river guide about rafting under a full moon.
During our ride down the canyon, we saw several small water falls, one of which was falling directly into the river. The canyon was very pretty in this section. It was in this section that we took our hike to the "horizontal waterfall".
It was afternoon and really hot when we beached the rafts to start our hike. Before starting, many of us jumped into the river to cool down and to wet our clothing. The hike started out in the hot sun where we climbed steeply up and then back down. The schist rock was black and sharp and too hot to touch. We eventually came to a bubbly stream that ran down the side canyon that we were in. The canyon walls became very steep and narrow, blocking the sunlight from time to time. These narrow walls forced us to continue our hike directly in the stream itself. This section was quite wonderful to explore, and not sot hot. At the end we came to a waterfall that had two parts to it. The was about 10 feet high and fell into to a nice pool. The other came from the side and hit a rock that deflected the water sideways, thus the "horizontal waterfall". We took turns standing under the cool, clean water; how refreshing. After having taken our "showers", we leaned against the warm rock to warm our bodies (we are either hot or cold; no middle ground in this place)
Our camp site (mile 87.5) was on a hill where the sites were dug out from the sand. Boy was it hot! Even after it was totally dark it was still hot. I chose to sleep out under the stars. I don't know how folks could stand to sleep in those stuffy tents ( they could be handy in a rain storm, though.)
Tonight we had Mexican food for dinner. It is not good to have a Mexican meal with a big hike coming up the next day. We later came to learn that our guides had planned to have spaghetti on the last night so we could carbo load, but someone had opened the wrong can earlier in the week. It was a really good dinner, but some of us had a gas powered hike out of the canyon the next day. Later that evening, Scotty read some more of his poetry. Since this was our last night before leaving the canyon, Matt climbed on a rock and gave information about unpacking our river bags and re-packing our duffels. Dave Bodenstab committed a fauxpas when he asked Matt if we should bring the empty river bags back down to the raft.
Sometime in the quiet of the late night, a cicada was buzzing around looking for something to crash into. All of a sudden it spotted Jay Mitchell, who was peacefully asleep in his bag. Zoom, buzz, boink, went the cicada, as it crashed strait into Jay's face. Jay sprang from his sleeping bag so fast that he tore the zipper out of it!
Day 8, Saturday June 24
The next day we all got up early (especially Jay), so we would not be late in getting our bags to the mules. The folks that were doing the 9 day trip stayed behind in the campground; we will always remember seeing Pascal by the waters edge, waving to us as we left. The raft ride was very short to Phantom Ranch, the spot where we lost our sea legs and became land creatures again. Those hardy soles that had planned to pack out their own gear, like Steve Holz and Dave Connet, started the hike out at this point. The rest of us wimps slunk off to the livery outfitter to have our duffels packed out by mule.
Dave Bodenstab had a minor crisis when it was discovered that he was 8 pounds over weight on his duffel. Some of us were underweight and took on his extra stuff. Dave claimed that their scale was off. Sure, Dave.
Steve Holz had a (minor?) change in his plans. Both Steve and Cheryl had planned from the beginning to discard their cheap sleeping bags to lose some weight for the hike out. The only hitch to that plan is that everything taken into the canyon must be packed out, including garbage. Steve had to quickly rig some straps and tie the bags to his backpack for the long hike out. Maybe this explains why Steve was looking so longingly at the mules during the hike out.
We filled our water bottles and drank as much as our bellies would hold and headed up the trail. Earlier in the week, Sandy Wearne managed to injure her foot on a rock. Since Sandy felt she would be a slower hiker, she left Kathy Schleicher and Dave Bodenstab at a rest stop, assuming they would catch up. Dave and Kathy never saw Sandy again till they reached the top. That foot was better than Sandy thought.
The hike out was very enjoyable due to the great view but it sure was hot. Our first real sign that we were near the top happened when we saw someone walk by with an ice cream cone. The first to the top at 12:15 P.M. were Jim Schatz, Alan Graves and Andrea Sodergren.
After settling in, Jim and Alan had to deal with another crisis concerning the airplane tickets for the flight out the next day. It seems that Moki Mac was supposed to hand out our airplane tickets when they were giving out the river bags. Anyway, things were worked out after a series of phone calls.
While on their way to the bar, Dave Bodenstab and Dave Connet ran into Jay Mitchell and Julie Federico in the hotel lobby. It seems that Jay was deep into some ridiculous argument with the hotel staff. While Jay was busy arguing, the others in the group started discussing the fate of Steve and Cheryl Holz. A complete stranger, who happened to be in line and overheard the discussion asked if the Steve and Cheryl they were referring to were Steve and Cheryl Holz. All of a sudden Steve and Cheryl walked in. This is one of those stories where you had to be there to appreciate. We never did learn if Jay won his argument.
We ate dinner that night at the Rim Canyon Restraint. The food was excellent and the view was incredible. Later, some of watched the sunset while others shopped.
Day 9, Sunday June 25
We had plenty of time before needing to leave so we enjoyed a relaxed breakfast buffet. We then checked out of our motel and headed out to wait for the bus which would take us to Grand Canyon Airport. But wait, another crisis! For some reason, Kathy Schleicher and Andrea Sodergren had a $4.24 mystery bill attached to their room. They claimed they had no idea why this charge was there but since the bus was due to arrive at any second, we paid it and left. The trip leaders could say something here about the room charge, but we will not touch it.
After catching the bus, we headed out to the airport. Moki Mac had told us to be at the airport at 8:30 a.m.. We had called the airport the night before and got an OKAY for us to arrive as late as 9:00 a.m. It was now 9:10 a.m. and we still weren't there. As our bus pulled up, someone was seen standing outside the airport that looked like a pilot. Could this be our pilot waiting for us to show up? Suddenly, behind me (Jim Schatz), I heard Sandy Wearne say: "Jim, we didn't turn in our vans yet!". I panicked, my mind raced: "we didn't turn in the van's! Oh no!". Then I heard Sandy's voice again: "Jim, I'm only kidding". Right! We don't have any vans to turn in. Boy I was a sucker for that; thanks Sandy.
We then boarded our plane which was a twin engine 20 passenger turbo-prop. We had a scenic flight over the canyon one last time. Since the plane never flew all that high, we had a good view of Lake Mead this time. It's surface was covered with power boats that looked like comets streaming around.
Once in Las Vegas, we met to discuss how to use the time remaining till our flight out. Sandy Wearne, the seasoned traveler that she is, cautioned that we should book passage as soon as we could, which was an hour before the flight left. The 5 hours that we thought we had were not really there anymore so we decided to stay at the airport. We killed time by eating at Cheers and wandering around. Hey, I know that this is probably boring stuff but this was part of the vacation and should be properly documented.
We had a non-eventful flight from Las Vegas to Albuquerque, New Mexico. In Albuquerque, we had some more time to kill so we enjoyed the artwork and model airplane collection adorning the airport. Alan Graves had managed to lose his airline ticket so he was potentially stuck in Albuquerque. Alan told the ticket agent his sad story so after we had all checked in and departure was near at hand, the agent gave Alan a boarding pass. How does Alan manage to get into trouble so much yet still manage to get out?
From Albuquerque, we flew on to Kansas City, Missouri. We stayed in the plane on this stop. As I recall, we had some nice bumps heading into Kansas City but no one bounced off the ceiling. From KC Mo, we headed to Midway. In baggage claim, Sandy Wearne introduced me to a nice little old lady with a sweet personality, that Sandy had shared her flight with. She liked to talk and would not let Sandy go. Our van was outside waiting so we loaded up and headed for IH. After unloading at IH, we had the van driver take our picture as a final official event for the trip. Once the light from the flash had died away, the trip was over.
Awards
Respectfully submitted:
Jim Schatz
Alan Graves
May the beauty of His canyon creation and the awesome river sounds, give you peace, and tranquillity when things are crashing all around.
May the memory of a falling star pull you up when you are down.
As you age and grow a little grayer, may the simple fun of the little Colorado bring chuckles to your mind.
As we end our voyage together, may you always find your current and remember after every rapid there always is a calm.
As we part and go our separate ways, may the trail-head rise up to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back, and may the light of His countenance shine upon you, and give you peace, both now hand forever more.
Amen
Given by Jim and Rob Stilley
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Sat Oct 25 12:47:35 CST 1997
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