Planes, Dirtbikes, Hikes, Steaks and Apple Jacks

There was no down time at all this last weekend! The run down goes like this: the roommate Brandon shows up at my work and we load up to take off for the weekend. Destination #1 Grangeville. Meet up with my dad for a dinner at Ernies Steakhouse. If you happen to be a fan of steaks, Louie's is the place! Next morning, wake up to some clouds that we thought would put a damper on our plans to fly, but since we had no specific destination to begin with, we could fly in whatever direction with weather good enough for visual flight. By 8:00am we were in the air, destination Joseph, Oregon in the Cessna Skylane 182:

On the way there, I saw the confluence of the Salmon and Snake Rivers for the first time. There were at least 4 jetboats that had made the trip up for some stellar fishing. Before landing, the Wallowa's presented themselves, just for a moment, but in very good lighting.

Once we landed, we weren't exactly sure of where the local hotspot for breakfast was, so we flagged down a car. Not only did they let us know where to go, they gave us a ride! Turns out that the Cheyenne Cafe is where it's at if ever you want breakfast in Joseph.
On the flight back, we went a slightly different route and the Imnaha River (left) was a first time sight for me.

Upon landing, we decided that a hike was in order since the weather was good and we were close to the South Fork of the Clearwater River. The Blue Ridge trail headed toward Sourdough Peak was a good destination. Roughtly 8 miles of hiking with around 2300ft of vertical change was something that my legs just hadn't dealt with in a long time and it was a great way to get some new muscle developement before weight lifting season (aka winter) starts.

After the hike, we headed for destination #2, Kendrick, my hometown. That night, dad's friend Steve showed up with some homemade hard apple cider that could easily knock a guy flat in a matter of minutes! That stuff was good! Add to that the options of Bourbon or Blue Moons and you've got a good setup. It didn't knock me flat, but it did loosen up some sore legs. That night, a log could only wish it could sleep like I did! Wake up Sunday morning and break out the motorcycles for a refresher lesson on how to tear through some mud. It had been at least 5 years since the last time I was on a dirtbike, but it was something I'd been missing out on for sure. Brandon might rock down the trails on moutain bikes faster than me, but he ain't got anything on me when it comes to dirtbiking. Dad on the other hand does, he's been doing that stuff for years and years and... yeah, you get the idea.

The result of 10+ hours of driving = getting to do a lot of things over the weekend! The only downside is that the pile of chores around the house continues to accumulate. It could be a tough thing to catch up on since I've met a woman who I like spending time with more than doing chores. Sorry Brandon, I'll catch up on my half on Wednesday when the new beauty takes off for Chicago.

P.S.

Of course I had to GPS the flight. The image is from Grangeville (right) to Joseph (left). The first loop was to see a heard of elk, the second was to see the confluence or maybe we just couldn't make up our minds which state we wanted to be in? Top speed I saw was 155 mph. The file wouldn't import into the Delorme software, something about being above the ground I suppose. I was hoping to see an above ground 3D image, oh well. Here's the Garmin map: