October Family Trip in a car - Trip with Louanne

[wheatonFJR]

So. Family trip in Louanne's Toyota. I get the motorcycle, she gets the nicer car. Fair swap in my opinion. Louanne has always wanted to go to a hot air balloon festival...so we, early on, made reservations in ABQ for their October Balloon Fiesta. This was going to be the big trip so I took two weeks of vacation and fit it around Sante Fe, the ABQ Fiesta, Grand Canyon, Sedona, and Tucson...and visiting a couple of Forum slackers during this trip. As it turns out, it was a trip we really needed as Louanne was diagnosed with breast cancer in early August. We left on this trip about a week after her surgery...she was sore at the beginning, but a real trooper. This will be a photo dump. I may add text later when I get time to fill in the blanks. But this trip was a good one...even if it was a lot of driving.

Photo drop-On the way out - Amarillo








Photo Drop - Sante Fe, NM








Sopapillas as big as our head! - at Tomasita's in Sante Fe An excellent recommendation from our NM slacker friend!


Aspens! - in the mountains north of Sante Fe







-to be continued-

[wheatonFJR]

Photo Drop - ABQ, NM
So...we had originally booked motels in the area, but a good looking, crazy handsome, smart-as-all-getout forum member let us stay at their compound. Not only that but this forum member got up at 4am on his days off (yes, he took vacation days!) to ferry us over the supersecret balloon chase access and stayed with us and made the time spent in ABQ pretty darn awesome!



VERY early in the AM!




Marty and AJ represented in balloon shapes


Wayne trying to keep this website from going to hell with all the threadshitting going on...


I have a gazillion balloon photos...it was a REALLY good time...the balloon festival was an amazing spectacle as wall-to-wall balloons everywhere around you are inflating all at once then rising and filling the sky!




More forum characters...

[wheatonFJR]

Okay, enough of the happy balloon stuff lol...

Well, to backtrack a little bit...between Sante Fe and the Balloon Fiesta we had a little time...so Louanne agreed that we could get my history/defense geek going and visit the National Museum of Nuclear Science & History in ABQ. Being born in '59 and having uncles in the Air Force, I spent LOTS of time in the World Book Encyclopedia reading about the Bombers and Missiles that helped deter an aggressive Soviet Union and Red China from spreading their brand of misery to millions more people. People in the other countries were getting cowed into the inevitability of communist expansion and oppression. Some people were even saying "Better Red than dead"...as if that was the choice. America has made lots of mistakes but standing up for freedom for our friends around the world is not one of them.

Photo drop from the Museum










B47



Nuclear tipped SAM - we were going to blow up soviet bomber groups with an atomic explosion over our own heads!



A B52 showing a 9 megaton bomb (B53) under the bomb bay and an early stand-off nuclear missile (Hound Dog?) under it's wing I believe.



Mark17 15 megaton bomb - most powerful nuclear bomb ever carried by US bombers (B36 and specially modified B52s)



B53 -9 megaton bomb - 1962-1987



B58 Hustler - Supersonic Delta Wing bomber and weapons Pod



Atomic Cannon



B52 with nuclear flash white paint


B29 with early "Fatman" bomb; also Manhattan Project Test Tower


F-105 (my Uncle flew one over N. Vietnam in mid 60s); originally designed as a nuclear strike bomber. Poorly used and deployed in Vietnam, like most things McNamara did over there. My Uncle James lost a number of his buddies over there...

[wheatonFJR]

Shiprock, NM


Grand Canyon First time at the South Rim - did the North Rim in 2013 with Louanne on the FJR


















Well after GC, we headed south the 2 lane way through Flagstaff to Sedona and were in that area for a while. Louanne has all the rock photos, but it was a real pretty area - probably Louanne's favorite. We then headed through Chandler, AZ to see my other slacker friend and his wife. It was a great visit over an extended lunch and well worth the miles to see my friend. My slacker friend needs to buy that bike. Colorado must be ridden...JSNS.

We had some other adventures on this trip, down in Tucson we visited a Saguaro Cactus Museum and Christine got to do a long horseback ride. We headed to White Sands, NM on the way back, and headed the back way through the mountains and hit a large rock in the middle of the mountains which made us go to a Discount Tire to replace the front tire with the large bulge in the sidewall. They did right by us. Blasted back through Tejas, LA, MS, AL, GA and back to Travelers Rest, SC in two days.

Awesome trip.

[Festus]

Are you really talking to yourself now? That's troubling

Can't wait to see more photos and hear more about the trip!

[wheatonFJR]

Bump. The End.

[Hppants]

Looks like you caught some nice color (Aspens). My wife has not seen this - that trip (with a Utah variant instead of NM) is on my wife and I's bucket list.

Life is too short - right on Wheatie - I'm glad you had a good time.

[FJRPittsburgh]

Thanks for sharing Mark! The trip looks fantastic! Lisa has gone through a similar experience as Louanne. Our best to both of you. Life is too short. Enjoy every minute of it!

[bigjohnsd]

Looks like you caught some nice color (Aspens). My wife has not seen this - that trip (with a Utah variant instead of NM) is on my wife and I's bucket list.

Life is too short - right on Wheatie - I'm glad you had a good time.

You are retired - that trip (with both a Utah and NM leg before heading up through CO and WY to visit BigJohnSD) is on my wife and I's bucket list. - Fixed it for you - JSNS

[Panman]

Good read/pictorial, hope all goes well for Louanne - and you! The C can be a tough fight!

[escapefjrtist]

Most excellent Mark, thanks for sharing the pics & prose. Give our best to Louanne!

~G&J

[Bugnatr]

Very nice report and love the pics of your better half but come on man.....

It's December and your just now posting pics from October? At least you did get it posted up before the end of the year.

Pick up the pace dude.

[LKLD]

Looks like Louanne and yourself had a fabulous time. Glad you were able to get away and do some fun stuff.

Give Louanne our best regards.

[BkerChuck]

Looks like a great trip. Thanks for sharing it with us.

[Hppants]

Very nice report and love the pics of your better half but come on man.....

It's December and your just now posting pics from October? At least you did get it posted up before the end of the year.

Pick up the pace dude.

Good point. Even Pant can write a bible in shorter order.....

Well... at least you are quicker than Spawn..... there's that!

[wheatonFJR]

Okay...this was a car trip and not an FJR trip so I hesitated to even post it on a motorcycle forum...so I didn't. A weekend after we got back we hosted a gathering at the doublewide. Between squaredancing weekends, Thanksgiving and family weekends and dayrides blazing across the mountains trying to keep up with Lumberg's rocket assisted FJR, there hasn't been much time as you ol grumpy retired guys think.

I decided to add this report recently as there were some cool places seen and cool people that we hung out with. Consider it a bonus report for yall and I make no apologies for its timing and would rather just hear a thank-you and leave yall to all the reports yall are doing with all the time you have to spend riding and writing since yall are retired...or act like it... LOL

[Festus]

Apparently long car trips make him cranky too

I appreciate the report. Lots of cool stuff I didn't know existed. Where is the Canyon place you show?

[wheatonFJR]

Apparently long car trips make him cranky too

LOL. Well, I'm sure they can take it if they dish it out...right? Or was I supposed to act like a pinata?? Believe me, it was delivered in the same joshing sense that they delivered theirs.

I appreciate the report. Lots of cool stuff I didn't know existed. Where is the Canyon place you show?

Are you asking me where the Grand Canyon is? If so, it is west of the Mississippi River.

[HotRodZilla]

That was a trip!! C and the girls and I had so much fun with Wheaties and his family. Going to Balloon Fiesta is always fun. Its one of those things that I would probably not attend, but when friends are here, it is super cool to take them.

Balloon Fiesta always has the goofiest weather patterns of the year. Like mother nature knows it is weather dependent and just wants to screw with everyone. It rained just about every day, and every trip through our canyon to and from Albuquerque was cloud and rain soaked.

We went to Old Town, we got great food and generally had a blast. We also took awesome naps on the couches. Getting up at 0400 and then walking around all morning leads to tired afternoons. Haha.

The funny part is, as Wheaties was here, another forum degenerate, Blind Squirrel showed up in Albuquerque. So we took them to BF also. I think him and his wife got hosed on the "good food" train. For some reason, everyone was a little "Off." No idea why. Of course, we got rained on, HARD at BF.

I don't remember which group of us were at the park when they issued an emergency evacuation. I think we got rained on with Wheaties and then BS got the ugly downpour that freaked everyone out. The good thing was we were in different parking, so that did not affect us. Haha.

Regardless of rain, cold or even some disappointing food, we had a blast and I was happy to see everyone!

[Blueridgerider]

I really enjoyed reading about your adventure and the photos. Looks like a fantastic trip and you all certainly saw some great places. The museum photos were great especially since you included the description of some of what was on display. Was a picture perfect day it seems at the GC as well. Thanks for sharing and hoping for the best for you and your wife.