Jason & Life

Thought for the day

2011-06-14T17:21:00.005+10:00

It's been a loooong time since I wrote on my blog. So why not start again with something random?

"When we think a thing, the thing we think is not the thing we think we think, but only the thing we think we think we think."

Backcountry snowboarding in East Vail

2009-01-11T05:28:00.002+10:00

Tuesday Jan 8 I endangered my life again :) well I guess I endanger my life just about every day with all this snowboarding (Health Insurance, very important!) Later that evening, relaxing our tired muscles in the spa, Gooch & I were discussing whether the day's activities were more dangerous than standing on the cliff edges of Canyonlands; we both agreed it was. It was probably the most dangerous thing I've done since surfing in a cyclonic swell when I was 19 (which is at the top of my list of dangerous stunts).

On Monday I was hunting a new toe strap to replace the one I broke on Sunday & getting my board waxed when Gooch called to say the next day he and 2 other friends were planning to go backcountry skiing in East Vail. It was forecast to snow overnight & through the next day, and while I knew it would be good, I was honestly apprehensive, as there were a couple of locals who were killed last season by avalanches out there, and I'd never gone backcountry skiing.
But it didn't rank so high on my insane-o-meter to rule it out, and as I'm usually down for doing something once to say I did it, I agreed.

So these guys were hard core skiers and it was going to be an epic day, Gooch brought his DVD-quality video recorder (full size camera weighs several kg, he rides with it in the front of his jacket). One of the guys, Danny, isn't afraid to jump cliffs and as Gooch best described him, "he always makes the highlight reel". The other guy Matt is a safety nut (a nice balancing force when paired with Danny) and he also hits some cliffs. Gooch is a great skier but he doesn't shoot the cliffs. So in the morning I went with these guys and a few of their relatives skiing around in-bounds Vail and they took me on half a dozen runs I'd never done, it was pretty hard going for me because they aren't used to snowboarders and don't know where to stop. They kept leaving me behind after the lifts and stopping on flat areas where I couldn't get going again, so I was half exhausted by midday and kind of frustrated despite the incredible powder conditions and the few great new runs I'd added to my list.

After a peanut butter sandwich and jelly worm lunch we left the others behind and headed out the China Bowl over to the T-bar that is used to access the Mongolia Bowls and East Vail. It was the second time I'd ever been on a T-bar, first time being with my brother Andy in Thredbo where I fell, knocking Andy over and proceeding to get dragged a couple meters by the T-bar before rolling out of the way, all of that with a hundred spectators in queue :) This time was much better, one stumble, but no falls. We'd been skiing all day with backpacks, so at the top of the T-bar we drank some water, shed our jackets to our base layers as quickly as possible in the howling wind and blowing snow and strapped on our avalanche beacons, made sure our shovels & packs were secure, and tested the avi beacons on each other. The beacons have 2 modes, transmit (used most of the time) and receive (used if you're trying to locate someone buried in an avalanche). They are nifty devices, beeping faster as you get closer to a transmit signal, with arrows and estimated distances on the display. Danny was reassuring when he said they're important, but often only useful for body retrieval. From the T-bar it's a 15-20min hike up and around to the summit of that particular mountain (don't know if it's named), which was a brief but tough hike. Aside from being at about 11 200+ ft of elevation, the wind was blowing me around carrying my snowboard, feet slipping and sinking into the walked-out snow trail...I looked behind at Gooch following about 30ft away, visible through the blowing snow, looking like a scene from the documentary on climbing Mt Everest! Breathing hard, face wind and snow blasted red, I arrived at the ridge summit, the ski area boundary manifested as a series of wood poles and orange cord lining the ridge to my left, with a gap that was the gate out to official backcountry.

We drank some more water & rested behind some tiny pine trees. Gooch & I being East Vail first-timers, we were very quiet, mentally preparing for what might happen that afternoon while Matt and Danny chatted away about equipment & conditions. As the trade winds blow almost exclusively from the west, west-facing slopes at high elevation usually have a fairly shallow, crusty and icy snowpack, and large cornices can form on the east side of ridgelines. So our first challenge was to find a safe way down into the bowl that was just out of sight below us to the left, and we slowly slid down the ridge keeping well away from the edge until we could see the edge of the trees below. Danny & Matt went and peered over and was satisfied that he'd found the line they'd taken before, relatively safe from avalanches being next to trees and not out in the open. We all agreed, then Danny took the first plunge; we all held our breath as he did it, because cornice drops are a common avalanche trigger. Danny made a half dozen turns and we relaxed, and we could tell it was amazing before he called back in pure exhilaration. The initial pitch was very steep, 50 to 60 degrees; I went third and took my first turns into the best snow of my life!

On this first drop Matt & I went down into a tree area a little further below Gooch & Danny, only to discover after a little exploring that we were surrounded by cliffs, or as Danny put it, 'mandatory air'. I knew that cliffs were in this bowl but I was assured by the guys that there were ways down around the cliffs, so I was slightly angry and very foreboding that I'd got into this position after my first drop. I contemplated a cliff jump, but when Danny went to the side and said the cliff was too high (about 30ft) and I could see the tops of pine trees below me I unstrapped and began climbing out. It was an exhausting ordeal; when I stood with a straight leg, my feet sunk till my weight was supported by my waist. Shoving my snowboard vertically halfway into the snow above me, and pulling myself up the incline with my knees and legs spread out scrambling for maximum surface area, foot by foot I pulled myself up 25ft to Gooch's level which looked stable. It took me 20 mins. Meanwhile Matt tried to find a way over the cliff and discovered to our right was the part they usually go down where there is no cliff. As I climbed up I was startled when my left foot, which was on the mountain side, not the cliff, sunk through snow into air, and I found out I was on a wall of snow known as a well. Tree wells and cliff wells are risky for skiers, as they can contain super-soft snow that you can sink into like quicksand and in some cases suffocate, because they are sheltered from forces that firm and pack snow, such as wind and the sun. I looked and saw the wall of rock next to me but not the bottom of the well, so I just carefully climbed the hell out of there. When I got up to where Gooch was standing, I found the reason for the stability was that he stood atop a buried pine tree. I basically sat between the couple of branches sticking out of the snow to strap on my board, wondering just how deep the snow was in this area.

That was the end of the major dramas though, and the rest of the run was a series of unparalleled drops, perfection, everyone taking turns filming and being filmed. Danny found a cliff with a soft looking landing and attempted a front flip for the camera; great footage for the ski movie Gooch and Danny put together each year. I rode through 100% virgin snow, thigh deep at speed, so soft some turns sent snow flying into my face (skiers affectionately call them face shots), so steep I rode through the slides of my previous turn, it was amazing. The bowl we were in seemed to stretch on forever in the closed-in weather; we were on the right hand side and could barely see the left treeline for snow, and it drops in a series of pitches, steep followed by almost flat, followed by another steep with scattered cliffs and then more flat, about 3 or 4 times over. As we descended the scale of the bowl became apparent, the ridge out of sight far above us, the drainage and tree-filled base just becoming visible over a thousand feet below us. Being part way down the bowl was an ominous place to be, as the risk of avalanche is ever present and could be triggered by something other than you; I could easily imagine an avalanche cloud bursting over the cliffs above me into the air in the open space to our left. Only a few small pines struggled to grow in the open space, a sure sign of an area that frequently slides. Still, being in the trees or on the edge of the trees is the safest place to be there; in the event of a slide, head into the trees as fast as possible.

After a fair bit of filming we decided to get going and enjoy the run, and we started skiing all together for 50m or so at a time; Danny jumped an icefall only realizing after the fact, it would have made an awesome photo, with the blue and brown ice covering parts of the cliff. The afternoon wore on and we got out at about 4:15pm; over 3 hours spent on one run! The bottom becomes a traverse through trees and then some of the East Vail neighbourhood down to a stop on the bus route. We were all stoked about the conditions, for me definitely the best of my life to date, and possibly ever.

We were lucky though, as I later found from Gooch that Matt and Danny returned the next day, conditions still snowing, to find that the snow was TOO deep, so deep that even the steepest pitches they had to straight-line to pick up any speed, our tracks from the previous day were all but gone, and they ploughed to a stop on the flatter pitches. Twice they nearly suffocated after jumping a cliff only to nearly disappear in the snow at the base, and walking through the flatter pitches snow was exhausting; poles were useless. Even without any stops for filming, they entered the bowl around noon, and didn't get out until 5:45pm; they were skiing out the trees and the neighbourhood in near total dark to get to the bus stop.

So that was my back country experience; been there done that, not something I'm likely to do many times in my life, if I ever do again. I can understand the lure of the backcountry, the perfect snow, the remoteness and sense of being surrounded in nature. But it comes with a high risk, avalanche deaths are above average this season and last season in Colorado, and those who have seen a major avalanche describe them as the most fearsome force of nature they've ever witnessed. If you're not killed by the impact of the cloud of falling snow, you quickly become immersed in a slosh of snow, and sink with other heavy objects like branches and trees towards the bottom of the cloud, trying to swim until the snow settles into a concrete-like tomb of hard packed snow and ice. Even those caught in minor slides of less than a hundred yards, buried to their waist find it a terrifying experience, sometimes unable to dig themselves out with just hands.

Compared to that, I'd take being held under a large wave in the surf any day.

Return to Greensburg & Thanksgiving '08

2008-12-02T09:04:00.009+10:00

Kicking off the 2008 festive season with Thanksgiving, Sarah and I decided to drive back to Oklahoma to visit friends and family. On Wednesday afternoon we got organized and headed out along I-70 east all the way into Kansas, with some fun traffic dodging through Denver and then averaging 90mph to the border and avoiding the highway police ;) Sarah had booked a Comfort Inn at Colby, which we arrived at way too early and realised we should have avoided booking and covered as many miles through the plains in the dark as possible. Still, after a good sleep and getting up in the dark, we watched an awesome Kansas sunrise across the flat expanse of crops.

Detouring through back country Kansas we went south from Hays to get to Greensburg. For those who haven't read my earlier post about Greensburg, the town was completely destroyed by the first official EF5 rated tornado under the new enhanced fujita scale in May 2007, a mile and a half wide specimen of the most destructive winds on earth that stripped bark from trees, removed houses from their foundations and changed forever the lives of the people in its way. I went there to volunteer aid and made friends with a local fellow named Gary and helped him load what was left of his family belongings out of his sodden basement to a trailer.

Gary wasn't in the area unfortunately for me; he was in Kansas City visiting his son, so I called his cell as I came into town and spoke to him as he directed me to where his house was; now one of several bulldozed blocks apparently re-zoned to commercial where they intend to relocate the main road through town. The old lady's house across the road from Gary has been restored with a new shell, as she's 97 or something and her family & the community want her to live there the rest of her days. Looking around, a sense of devastation still prevails over the rebuilding, both from the presence of the original, the damaged, but also the absence, particularly in streets intersecting brown blocks of bulldozed dirt. Some destroyed trees remain, a few bent lightpoles, and Gary has bought one of two surviving main street buildings for an authentic angle to his antiques business. Small but encouraging, new development is centered around main street, with a new store and service station and other bits and pieces. I'm sure eventually a good number of original residents will rebuild and move back, and the town will be lush and vibrant again, but the road to recovery will be a while.

Thanksgiving was great, with two meals at two houses for both sides of Sarah's family, we ate until we were sore, and I still didn't put on any weight. The Bedlam Game was on saturday, OU vs OSU (Oklahoma University vs Oklahoma State University) in college football, and the stakes were high. If OU beat OSU, there would be a 3-way tie for who represents the south in the Big 12 conference between Texas, Texas Tech and OU. Then the various polls would decide who gets to play Missouri, winner of the north Big 12. After an epic game and some soon-to-be-immortalized acrobatics by OU's quarterback Sam Bradford, OU whooped OSU by 20 points for the 6th 60+ point total running. The next day around midday when Sarah and I were driving back to Colorado via New Mexico, text messages and calls started coming in about news that OU had made it to the championships, Texas and Texas Tech missing out. This was sweet justice as Texas had flown a plane over the OSU stadium with a banner showing the score when they beat OU, and the lobbying Texas Coach kept going on about how they beat OU blah blah how they should win, while the OU coach and quarterback spoke along the lines of we did our best, we'll keep doing our best and whatever the polls decide is what they decide. Texas' bad sportsmanship before the polls was matched after the polls, everyone wanted to interview the sore loser Texas coach, and it's sweet revenge for OU. No doubt it will just stoke the fire more for next year's game in one of the nation's biggest rivalries.

The drive back was going smoothly until we pulled into a gas station at Texline on the New Mexico border and saw cars coming from the opposite direction coated in snow and ice. After pulling a half dozen tumbleweeds from the front grill, I chatted to some people who came from that direction and they said it was a white out. Sure enough, the hundreds of tumbleweeds we'd been dodging changed to horizontal snow in winds that were probably 50mph in places. Then a couple of dozen miles into NM the road disappeared under a sheet of ice and blowing snow, and we began passing car wrecks, sedans in the ditch with bumpers torn off, trucks on their roofs with cabins totally crushed. We were still cruising at 30-40mph till we hit traffic which slowed us to a crawl, and it took us 2 hours to get through the last dozen miles. One car had even slid off the road, down the banks, 8m across a flat and through a barbed wire fence into a paddock! There were also no ploughing vehicles to be seen, NM doesn't care as much as CO about their highway road conditions (makes sense if they don't even bother to signpost some of their roads).

Colorado ended up being worse; I took this route to have a view instead of flat, straight Kansas, and we ended up with no view and a foot of snowfall, stuck again before Monument for 2.5 hours. I nearly wrecked when a slower car in the right lane with an ignorant retarded driver tried to overtake another car just as I was about to pass and I slid for several seconds, ABS vibrating, towards his bumper before he accelerated enough to pull away. After dinner, Sarah was falling asleep at the wheel in stopped traffic, so we skidded around the car to switch after I had an hour's rest. We finally got past Monument (all the hold ups were caused by a simple hill; no wrecks or anything, just a combination of retarded drivers and incapable vehicles), and we got to I-70 just before midnight. Fortunately the traffic delays of the day (up to 5 hours for some I heard later) had gone, and I cruised at 40mph all the way, through the worst road conditions I'd ever seen. The tunnel is a strange sanctuary in bad weather, you relax but try to prepare for the other side, and then emerge into awesome blowing snow, the road was totally buried and was just a large white surface which I just drove down the center of. Seconds after exiting the tunnel I saw a snow tornado whirling across the highway and I hit it straight on and for a couple of seconds couldn't see anything but white. But the AWD Subaru held it together and got us home safely, even without snow tyres!

Next day at work I found the following stats from the weekend:
A-basin 35" in 3 days
Vail 25" in 2 days
Beaver Creek 11' in 2 days
Copper 28' in 3 days

As well as an avalanche warning from weather.gov:

...AVALANCHE WARNING ISSUED FOR THE FRONT RANGE AND CONTINENTAL DIVIDE FROM THE WYOMING BORDER TO HOOSIER PASS IN SUMMIT COUNTY...

A POWERFUL WINTER STORM SYSTEM BROUGHT SNOWFALL IN EXCESS OF FOUR FEET PLUS VERY STRONG WINDS TO THE WARNING AREA SINCE THANKSGIVING DAY. STRONG WINDS GUSTS UP TO 100 MPH HELPED CREATE DANGEROUS AVALANCHE CONDITIONS.

A NUMBER OF AVALANCHES HAVE BEEN TRIGGERED OVER THE LAST 12 HOURS. SOME OF THESE SLIDES WERE RUNNING TO THE GROUND, TAKING OUT THE WINTER SNOWPACK TO DATE.

So that was my eventful Thanksgiving!

Saw a rainbow by moonlight

2008-10-16T14:57:00.003+10:00

Just a quick one I have to write about a most extraordinary thing that I saw a couple of nights ago. Some weather was passing through town one night as part of an early season winter storm, and Sarah & I headed out of the house to pick up dominos pizza in Avon. It was raining lightly and a near full moon was out in the east, and driving away from the moon we suddenly saw this weird line in an arch across the sky, and it took a few seconds before I realized it was a rainbow! I wish I had my camera, it was a full rainbow clear as anything, but with no colour, just a light shade of grey against the night. I could see it was in front of the mountains near me so it was very close coz we were still in the light rain. It must be a super rare, impossible to see from a distance outside the shower like normal rainbows because the light is too faint. I think we only saw it because it was a full moon, lower in the sky with light drizzling rain all around us.

That along with the changing colours of the trees in the fall and the snow we had on the weekend to cover the tops of the hills white again are all the reminder I need to know I'm living in one of the more beautiful places of the world. Bring on the winter.

TEVA Mountain Games

2008-07-05T03:30:00.009+10:00

2008 Summer Season, Colorado

The TEVA Mountain Games were held in Vail during the first week of June and I got to the games on the 7th and 8th to see some of the events. The games are timed to coincide with the peak of the melt season, when snowmelt has swollen all the rivers making for the perfect venue for the world's best kayakers to throw down in a variety of river events. In addition to the kayaking, other extreme sports enjoy the spotlight, including mountain biking, bouldering, fly fishing, rafting, paragliding and trail running.

Starting off with the kayak pro rodeo event, the finals were on saturday afternoon in the heart of Vail Village. The Gore Creek flows through the Vail Valley, and the river has a significant 'feature' (to use the river jargon) where the two pedestrian bridges span the river. The feature is a hole, which is caused when a relatively shallow section of river upstream flows over a ridge and plunges downwards, causing a standing wave of churning water that experienced kayakers can surf. Furthermore, the town of Vail invested in some mechanised flaps on the edges of the river upstream of the hole, and when raised the flaps increase the volume and size of the feature significantly.

Vail village brought a great festival ambience in the warm afternoon sun, as the crowd gathered all around the shores, balconies, bridges and stands, young couples, dogs, families and kids, the scene was set for the finals. Soon the female competitors begun warming up, and I'd never imagined such things were possible on a kayak. On either side of the hole downstream by the shore, eddies formed where water sucked back towards the feature. One at a time, the girls would paddle up the eddy and into the hole, bouncing around and then dipping forward and launching into a front flip, or swirling around in a 180 and rolling, appearing to be out of control until they suddenly popped back upright. Sometimes they lost their balance and flipped, but they expertly would flip back upright and paddle for the eddy before being swept too far downstream. The girls each competed to perform as many tricks earning points against the clock. The young girl in the pink boat, who was the daughter of the previous year's male winner, won the event, and then the male competitors entered for warmup. Some of the guys floated downstream and busted straight into the hole doing trick after trick. One guy was particularly impressive, easily dominating the aerial moves, able to get his entire kayak completely out of the water for the entire rotation. Another competitor was a 15 year old kid! He had a huge grin on his face the entire time, knowing he was competing against the same guys he probably idolises. After a couple of rounds of competition, the intensity of the sessions were ramping up with awesome displays of power and control, however the father of the female champ, who had won 2 years in a row, had to give up the title to Justin from Buena Vista, who my friend Mike knows.

After the kayaking freestyle finals we headed over to Golden Peak where the first ever international bouldering competitions were about to take place. Bouldering is like rock climbing but without ropes, so padded mats are placed under the walls, which are tall, but not so tall to cause serious injury when falling. Patches of snow still lay on the slopes behind the crowd as the field of American, Austrian, British and French competitors came out to survey the four sets of problems laid out on the walls. Combinations of overhangs, tiny moulds, big moulds and wall edges made for incredibly challenging climbs. The competitors collectively had a few minutes to discuss and plan their climbing strategy, which looked kind of funny as they all stood there waving arms over their head, pointing or mentally going through the grips and positions they'd use. For all their planning though, when it came to their turn, I think the plans mostly went out the window as they struggled for grip on each mould. Sometimes, particularly with the males, when they lost grip, the tension in their body flung them spinning away from the wall, while the girls weren't too shabby looking and still had more strength than the average guy. The crowd favourite was the second wall for the guys, where they would start out under about a 40 degree overhang, and have to jump sideways and reach around the overhang edge, grabbing for a big circular mould, resulting in their whole body swinging almost horizontal into the air, legs flailing drawing cheers from the crowd and praise from the announcer.

The final day held the kayak 8 ball competition, a crowd favourite, and one of the more dangerous events of the games. A few years earlier a kayak competitor had dreamed the event up; a team of competitors start upstream of the feature, just where the river bends and goes out of sight. They race downstream against the clock, however lying in wait to thwart their progress, are the 8 balls, kayakers in black vests ready to ambush from eddies and with tactics of ramming, blocking and basically whatever goes, to slow the competitors down. Bumpers are hung from the bridge to tangle and knock the heads of those who aren't watching out, and finally the hole provides one last opportunity for carnage before the finish line. Competitors from the other kayaking events, including the females, served as 8 ballers, and seemed unfazed by the roughness.

After the first round of 8 ball, the rafting finals were on, with two guys each with a paddle in rafts custom designed for this event. They had to go around a series of 3 gates that were located on the edges of eddies, meaning they had to go downstream, behind the gate, back up the eddy and around the gate back into the mainstream. The greatest moment of the day, was when first place came down to the last gate behind the hole but went wide and had to paddle furiously to stop going downstream. Then second place came in and bumped in ahead of first, taking the lead, but also losing their momentum. Then last place came in on a perfect approach, and snuck infront ramming the two struggling rafts, rounding the gate to come from behind and take first place as the crowd went crazy.

The 8 ball finals were epic, every round had eight 8 ballers, meaning two to one on the competitors, and they always had two 8 ballers stationed down at the hole. Every round, four competitors and up to six 8 ballers would come racing down river, and two 8 ballers would head straight into them as they plunged through the hole, ramming boats, clashing paddles, sometimes going over the top of one another. I saw several competitors and 8 ballers cop a kayak bow in the ribs, getting their paddle caught in the bumpers which then hits them in the face, and even another guy took a kayak bow to the face. Amazingly there were no serious injuries.

Hope you enjoyed the photos and video!

2008 Summer Season, Colorado

Road Trip with Andy Part I

2008-03-31T12:06:00.017+10:00

Colorado Utah Arizona (10 - 17 March 2007)

When I moved to Colorado, I told my brother Andrew how awesome the place was and that he just had to come over & visit while I was here, as there was no better time with the exchange rate, the epic winter & having a place to stay. So just days after the 1 year mark had passed since my arrival in the States, Andy jumped on the same Qantas BNE-LAX-DEN flight, at the expense of nearly 3 grand for a return trip!

Ahead of his arrival, I worked up some overtime to take leave, managed to arrange 6 days without pay, and spent hours researching, asking around & planning a mad road trip. Finally, all preparations were made; food bought, good ol Google Maps printouts of key towns etc, timeline and main destinations planned. I'd managed to keep everything secret from Andy, a total surprise, and on a snowy saturday afternoon I headed down to Denver.

Andy hadn't even arrived when the drama started for me, got the low fuel light on the highway approaching the airport, with no servos in sight. Coming into the west-side arrivals (new to me) looking for American Airlines, I finally saw it & took the first left entry to the carpark. I quickly realised I'd turned into a police-only parking bay from the 20 or so cop cars, so hastily did a u-ie, then had to take the next & last parking entry before the arrivals exit. But this was Valet parking! I hate Valet parking, and try to avoid it as much as possible (just don't like not knowing where my car is, or having someone else park it), but I was worried I'd run out of fuel if I had to drive the long loop around again. So Valet parking it was, for the first time in my life. A half hour later after going crazy scanning the crowd of arrivals for a familiar face, I spotted Andy on the escalators. It was so great to see him, same old, he hadn't slept at all aside from a quick nap on the LAX-DEN flight, so he was pretty flogged. He didn't take well to the mild stress of looking for a gas station before running out of fuel :) but I found one. Then we headed to my new favourite store, Big 5 sports, to buy him a bunch of gear for the snow. All expenses were on me for his 13 day stay, and I hooked him up with snowboard pants, socks, goggles, beanie, base layer shirt, some other stuff I can't remember, all at least 40% off. And I scored for myself new snowboard boots & jacket, shoes and best of all, a $280 Wilson K-Six-One tennis racket for $80, BARGAIN! In Oz all this gear prob would have cost a grand, I paid somewhere around $350 gotta love the USA.

I'd driven through snow on the east side of the divide on the way over... sure enough, now in the dark, we went back into the snowfall. Like me, Andy had never seen real falling snow in his life before coming here, and I was stoked to be there to see it. I found it funny how he reacted to being driven by me on the opposite side of the road in increasingly heavy snow, he was stressing a fair bit. I assured him it was still quite safe, the snow was melting on contact with the road; the only accumulation was right near the top of the pass and nothing to worry about. We talked the whole way home even though I expected him to sleep. At one point I asked him if I sounded the same...when he said "yeah you do" I was SO glad. Survived one year without any American accent! When we got home I offered him my bed and I slept on the couch to give him the best chance to recover from his flights and jet lag.

Next day was a glorious day for snowboarding, fine blue skies, as I helped Andy get organized to hit the Beav. Remembering my own snowboard learning curve back in January, I was curious to see how he'd go getting back to where he left off in Thredbo 2½ years ago. On the chairlift rides to the top, we heard sirens and saw an army of over a dozen grooming machines heading out below us. In a tactic I hadn't seen before or since, they were all staggered side-by-side & grooming the entire run in a single pass. On our first green run, we encountered them again coming uphill & in their wake was pristine groomed snow. One snowboarder came cruising past a minute later, spinning consecutive 180's & 360's on the tips of his board without jumping or slowing down, almost like he was dancing, clearly enjoying the perfect snow surface, pretty amazing to see. Andy & I eventually met up with my neighbour Blair Gorski (I call her Blairski), and we headed for Bachelor Gulch. Andy took the stack of the day on a particularly bad catwalk (Primrose) and I saw it all, as he slid sideways, caught his heel edge, and flew through the air to land full on his butt. I came up to him gasping and moaning, he was hurting haha it was great, took a minute to get going again.

Down at the base of Bachelor's Gulch is the 5 star Ritz Carlton, where Blair's roomie Garret works behind the bar at the Spargo restaurant. Blair, Andy & I rocked up to the luxury engraved stainless steel bar & he hooked us up with tall glasses of a great pale ale beer. After 2 glasses, and what Blair couldn't finish, I was feeling some effect on an empty stomach so we went outside to soak up some sunshine. I think Andy agreed with me that the Ritz courtyard is the best place in all of Colorado to hang out in the winter, with the music, the scent of wood, the slopes & procession of skiiers at the lift, kids on the bunny hill learning to ski, wealthy guests walking around with their dogs...everyone is so obviously enjoying life, it's infectious.

Got a few more runs in before lift close, Andy taking his time down the middle while I scooted into the trees and hit small jumps, then we took "Leav the Beav" exploring the run to ski out all the way down to the carpark. Then Blair & I introduced Andy to Moe's for a very late lunch, and since it was a beautiful afternoon I drove us all across town & up to a cul de sac in Wild Ridge where you can walk out along a ridge to the end where there's 360 degree views of Avon, Beaver Creek, Edwards, Wild Ridge and the mountains. Blair & I were laughing at Andy, because he wasn't yet acclimatized to altitude; he was heaving & puffing & lagging behind while we walked up the gentle slope.

We packed the Jeep that night for the next 8 days, heading out at dawn for a big day on the road to Arches National Park, and Moab, Utah. First point of interest is the Glen Canyon heading west towards Glenwood Springs, it was Andy's first taste of canyons & the highway takes an impressive elevated route westbound on a winding bridge. We listened a bit to the radio to the country songs which we both find ridiculous, one song about some guy who 'fell into the ring of fire' had us laughing, playing it full volume so we didn't miss any of the thick country accent.

Had to pull into Palisade on the way out to Grand Junction for fuel, came up behind some white van covered in dirt, and someone had written 'This car is a piece of s$%!' and I got a good pic of the owner having to put air in the tyres. Andy was in good form with his camera at the border, completely missing the Leaving Colourful Colorado sign, and shooting the Welcome To Utah sign as we were almost level with it. Useless, but I still managed to get them both, always got the camera ready for a quick snap on the road.

Soon we turned onto the Dinosaur Diamond Prehistoric Highway that heads south, skirting the east border of Arches National Park, and fairly suddenly we entered an awesome canyon. I don't know its name but the highway follows the Colorado River and the further you go the more impressive the canyon gets, starting down a narrow arm, joinging a wide delta, then the road is squeezed between the sheer red cliffs & the river. All through the canyon there is cycling tracks and signs for hiking, mountainbiking & rafting. We didn't stop anywhere for long because our next stop was Arches National Park & I wanted to do two hikes that afternoon.

Arches entrance is just past the turnoff to Moab. Once past the visitor center (which we skipped hoping to catch it later) the road winds up a steep climb onto a plateau covered in sandstone hills. The first major spectacle is the Courthouse Towers, two massive sandstone columns of vertical sides at least 500ft high. Then the Balancing Rock is fairly impressive, but not as good as the Balancing Rock on the Pyramids of Girraween National Park back home. What was impressive though is the Fiery Furnace, a maze of parallel fins of sandstone that really defies description, but is a great example of how arches form, where the bridge of a fin is left after its weaker center erodes away. The Devil's Garden is like the Fiery Furnace, and in it is where the incredible Landscape Arch exists, the widest arch in the park at 306ft and to the eye, appears to be really fragile! A sign has a tourist's photo of the last 180 ton chunk of rock to break away under the arch in 1991.

Then it was on towards Delicate Arch, the icon of Utah, and our second hike of the day. On the way up the slickrock towards the rock mountain & canyons that hide the Arch, I was reminded about walking up the bare surface of Bald Rock in Australia. What it lacked in steepness it made up for in the last hundred yards with a walk along a 2m wide shelf that seemed unnaturally convenient, a flat path at the base of a vertical cliff, above a drop into a canyon arm. I was walking along this narrow stretch listening to the quiet, looking at the canyon formations and watching black ravens soar effortlessly along the cliffs, when quite suddenly, you round a corner, and there's the Arch. Incomparable to the other features in the park, my reaction was to grin, nod & say "wow". Positioned on the far edge of a big bowl-shaped concavity in the rock, on the brink of an edge that drops away out of sight, against a distant backdrop of canyons and snow capped mountains, is the awesome Delicate Arch. The many parallel layers of rock up the arch show strong & weak points; Delicate is a very fitting description for it. And what an extraordinary position it was in! Straight away I wanted to scoot over there & get a photo standing under the arch, while Andy argued that it might ruin the view of the 5 other guys who were there. I guess we just think differently, I'm sure they wouldn't mind waiting while I ran over to the arch which I came a long way to see, for a quick photo there and back in a minute. Soon two other guys did that very thing so we all agreed to swap & get a turn under the arch. We spent a while up there, it was a very exotic environment to be in, with the warm sun, the blue sky & scattered clouds, the red rock & crazy formations, distant mountains of snow, the noise of wind in the canyons and watching those ravens soar in enviable freedom and ease around the cliffs.

Our timing was great coz walking back we passed about 2 bus loads of people, individual shots under the arch would have been impossible with that crowd! We went & checked out Balancing Rock a second time close up & then tried to make the visitor center before close time but just missed it by 15 mins! So we headed back to Moab to search for accommodation, as my plan this first night was to wing it. We also found souvenir shops to make up for the closed visitor center...after 10 mins we were walking back the car & I saw a cop double parked in the street, walking over to look at my car! I quickened my pace as he pulled out his book while Andy showed his support by turning into the nearest shop. I got to the officer & asked if there was a problem; he said I was parked illegally. Sure enough in my sudden discovery of a spare bit of curb I missed the red paint on the gutter marking a fire hydrant. I explained how I hadn't seen it & after thinking a while, the cop asked where I was from since I didn't have Utah plates, & how long I was staying. He let me off the hook after asking whether I was going to park in front of a fire hydrant again, to which I said of course not, and he left, while I took the recently vacated parking spot in front. Lucky I came back in time! I initially thought he was stinging me coz I had plates with a March expiry and it was March :) I thought as I walked back to find Andy, how given my track record, I fully expected drama on my holidays, & couldn't help but laugh to myself that it was only Day 1. After more hunting around we settled on a great new Super 8 Motel with spas, hot breakfast & wireless internet. We headed straight for the spa & spent the rest of the afternoon talking about jobs, property, travel & other deep conversations until the sun's rays set on the ridge that defines Moab's skyline.

The famous Moab Brewery was our stop for dinner... the place is awesome, furnished with jeeps, kayaks, rafts, mountain bikes, climbing gear and tables spread throughout. We tried a couple of their brews, my favourite was the Dead Horse Pale Ale with the funny logo of an native-style painting of a horse on its back with its legs in the air, with the slogan 'you can't beat a dead horse!' I ended up buying the glass.

After a good sleep we got up for Day 2, checked out, & stopped by an outdoors shop looking for a shovel, as I expected to do four wheel driving of unknown difficulty that day & didn't have anything for digging myself out of trouble. You'd think that there would be loads of shovels in Moab, the offroading capital of America, but no, had to go to 3 stores before I found a small (but not travel-designed) shovel. Haven't used it yet, I might just go & shovel some snow around the garden tomorrow to try & make the purchase seem worthwhile, just annoys me for some reason, that I have this stupid shiny new bulky useless shovel.

We headed for Canyonlands National Park. Canyonlands is an enormous national park with three districts that are completely separated from each other by the Colorado and Green Rivers. These are the Island In The Sky, the Maze and the Needles; we were headed for the Needles as it was on our way towards Lake Powell. After driving west we wound our way downhill & discovered that we had entered the end of an arm of a canyon. As we drove on, we began rounding new turns that beheld sights that got more and more awesome. Soon we were driving around the flat valley floor of a massive canyon system, more rubbly and weathered looking than the other canyons we'd seen, but far more vast. After driving for a while, we crossed the national park boundary, & stopped by the visitor center for info. The staff convinced me to change my plans I'd researched on the Internet, as the Confluence Overlook drive (where the Colorado and Green rivers meet) is a fairly technical drive. We drove to the Needles viewpoint, which was similar to the fiery furnace but less spectacular from this distance. I was beginning to think Canyonlands might be a bit of a let down.

On our way back to the visitors center we found a spot that looked like a quick hike. Andy & I set out on the slickrock trail, following cairns of rock piles around some hill that converged with several canyons. The short hike turned into a trail that felt like it went on forever, & as flustered as I got with the time, it did ram home the realization that this place would be near impossible to navigate. Any wonder the Mormon pioneers on the Hole In The Rock expedition took forever to get across the barren maze of a landscape, it's a true wonder they didn't all perish. After missing a couple of rock cairns and having to backtrack, we finally hustled out of there, glad to get out & only then finding a sign saying it was a 3+ mile trail!

Back on the road, we headed back to the Colorado River Overlook road, passing the sign that warned it was for 'Four Wheel Drive Only'. After cruising out on the sand roads & crossing a couple of dry creek beds, we started hitting patches of rock, & soon it was time for 4Hi, & then 4Lo. Andy was concerned about the knocks & clatters coming out of my car (that have since been fixed) and I told him not to worry while silently willing my car to keep it together :) coz it would really suck to break down in such a place; we passed two cyclists & one car the whole time! Soon I was driving down rock steps over a foot high & over bumpy, cragged slickrock. Towards the rough end of the last mile & a half, barely getting over a walking pace, the scale of the place was really setting in. When the trail didn't require close attention, I looked out across the bare vegetation, out past the cliff edge we were following perhaps 50ft to our right, gazing at the endless lines of canyon walls far as the eye could see. When we finally reached our destination, the Overlook to the mighty Colorado River far surpassed my expectations, as cliffs dropped away 800 to 1000ft below us to the river, & we were on an intersecting point with another canyon, the Little Spring Canyon.

I found a photo opportunity sure to please mum & dad, kneeling out on the edge of an overhanging rock above the cliff, ignoring Andy's shouts and demands to get away from the edge haha. Despite his stress he got some good vertigo-inducing shots :)
Taking in the incredible scenery there in the very heart of Canyonlands, along with the absolute total silence, really gave you a profound sense of remoteness in that harsh land. Seeing the terrain on the ground & remembering the satellite images I'd seen on Google Maps, it's awesome and fearsome at the same time. Navigating without these established trails or GPS technology just seems like it would be an insurmountable challenge.

We'd planned tinned spaghetti & baked beans for lunch, but I didn't bring a can opener. While Andy siezed the opportunity to step up his efforts in rubbishing me non-stop, I realised my multitool I got for xmas has an old-school can opener on it. So Andy decided to make an amusing film ridiculing me while I figured out how to use the can opener. Here's the vid:
Instead of filming & ridiculing he should have paid more attention to watching & learning; when his turn came around, I enjoyed filming HIM completely failing in his can opening attempt:
And my spaghetti looked & tasted better than his baked beans, so sweet justice.

The Jeep survived a slightly faster & bumpier return trip & then we had to move it as we'd spent a good deal longer in Canyonlands than intended, plus we still had to get all the way south west to Halls Crossing at Lake Powell. It was pretty obvious we would be arriving late, and given the trouble I'd had communicating with the remote community a few weeks beforehand, I started trying to call ahead to find out where our accommodation was. No answers, no voicemail. Finally I'd had enough and stopping for gas in the last town before the expanse of nothing, I enlisted the staff to help get in contact with someone. After a few phone calls, I finally got hold of a lady in Bullfrog (the town across the lake's ferry route from Halls Crossing), who told me where I'd need to go.

Back on the road, I'd planned to see the Natural Bridges Monument on the way to Lake Powell. After arguing with Andy that we were already late and it was unlikely we'd ever come by this way again, Andy was overruled (coz I was driving and I'm older) and we checked out Natural Bridges right on dusk. Turned out to be pretty ordinary though haha & I got splinters in my feet when I tried to walk barefoot to take photos in a hurry (coz I like driving barefoot). Damned desert vegetation sided with Andrew and I drove with splinters in my feet all the way to Lake Powell, which we arrived at in the darkness around 8:30pm. Halls Crossing is seriously in the middle of nowhere, there is nothing there apart from some trailers, a store, a gas pump & the road to the marina. Apparently a sheet of paper was supposed to be on the store window for late arrivals with names and trailer numbers, the keys inside the unlocked trailer. I couldn't find my name, so called the lady from Bullfrog again, who checked the accommodation system from over there and couldn't find a reservation for me! I couldn't believe it. She called the lady who runs the store who 10 minutes later came down the road to open the shop & get us a trailer to stay in. While trying to figure out what'd happened to my booking, checking my bank account to ensure they hadn't already charged me, the lady (who was very nice) confessed that the year before they had several bookings disappear on them. Just my luck; I wish I took a confirmation number down on the first phone call. Andy's mood improved a lot when he could finally get indoors, shower & go to bed, no doubt wondering what more drama could possibly happen now that day 2 was over...

This will do for part 1! I've finished photos and will soon finish the story for the rest of the trip. :)

Living in Edwards, CO. Elev 7220 ft

2008-02-02T13:04:00.001+10:00


Life In Colorado, USA	2008 Winter Season, Colorado

Right, onto the post I've been waiting to write about for a month now!
I've been here living in Edwards since driving out on Jan 2, and it's been the most insanely awesome month of my life! I knew without really knowing that it'd be incredible when I got the job, but it has so completely surpassed my expectations, I'll just do my best to write about it.

My excitment was mounting when I woke on Jan 2 to a stunning view from Stacey's apartment in Aurora of snowy sidewalks, snowy rooftops and beyond, the gleaming white Front Range under a clear blue sky. See, when I drove into Denver, it was dark, the day I flew to Oregon it was cloudy, and when I flew back it was dark, so the mountains had remained hidden until that moment, and I knew that in the afternoon, I'd drive out into them finally, and probably not come out of them for a while.

It was great getting behind the wheel again after nearly a fortnight away from my Jeep (I missed it), all my gear still sitting in the back, I headed for Sapphire Technologies with my google map printouts ready. On my way into the office I walked over the snow covered median strip and sunk past my ankles, managing to get snow in my shoes and on my suit pants. Off to a great start. After I met the face behind the voice who got me the job at RTP, Todd escorted me around town to get my errands done and have lunch. I got an oil change, bought an ice scraper, snow shovel and tyre chains, then managed to make a huge mess of my sleeves doing a test run of the chains. Finally, in the afternoon running a bit late, I headed out onto highway 470 that skirts south of Denver, then north along the foothills to intersect I-70, the gateway to the mountains. I-70 is a piece of work, electronic signs report weather conditions ahead with expected travel time, & as the road weaves up into the mountains, I drove with mingled excitement, awe and caution. At the height of the pass at an elevation of 11 158 feet (3401 m), the 1.7 mile long Eisenhower Tunnel punches through the Continental Divide, becoming the longest tunnel in the US Interstate System and the highest vehicular tunnel in the world. On the other side, despite good road conditions (wet but no snow cover) I still passed three wrecks on my way to Avon, one sedan had slid under the back of a semi which had half ripped the roof off, another car was in a ditch, and an SUV had run off the road, hit a snow embankment and flipped to lay on its roof.

I arrived in Avon close to 5pm which concerned me, as I had nowhere to stay, and was relying on using the phones & internet at the office to arrange something. Upon my arrival, I met the HR manager & after quick introductions, I explained my situation and we begun looking for accommodation. Todd back in Denver was helping as well, but after 20mins of calling & searching, there was NO accommodation whatsoever in town. Holidaymakers were still here from New Years; the nearest room was in Gypsum, 30 minutes west and $200 a night! Carol sent out an email to the staff saying a contractor had arrived in town & could not find lodging, and fortunately for me, a guy named Andrew had just vacated his guest room at his house and, without having even met me, offered to come back to work to escort me up & stay. Needless to say, he's an absolute champion and we're now good friends, I even got to watch Oklahoma play in the Fiesta Bowl (a respected college football event) while I begun my research for somewhere to live.

I started work the next day, learning loads about life in the mountains, places in town, stuff about work, soaking it all up the best I could, & canvassing what little accommodation I could find, with roommates.com, craigslist.org & the Vail Daily. I didn't get much sleep again that night (2nd night running) from anxiety over my lodging, next day I teed up an interview with 2 people looking for a third in a 3bed duplex in Homestead Meadows. Another 3rd night of bugger all sleep & in the morning the only new ad was titled 'Mountain Bare' and was a 4brm house with at least 2 other guys living there looking for room mates. They were massage therapists, who enjoy the odd meditation session, and quote "setting is clothing optional, so if you are affronted by nudity, stop here now"! I can't believe I was so desperate I was even thinking about it, but later at work by chance, I was having a conversation with my boss Steve about the crap accommodation situation when this guy happens to walk up & say 'well I'm looking for a room mate.' His name was Nate Sutterer & he was in fact the CFO of the company! I was all to happy to look at another place as I hadn't heard from the pair the prev night, so we checked out his 2bed apartment in River Pines in Edwards he was renting by himself, which is just down the road 10min from work. He has a dog Gusto, awesome dog, the place was great & we had lunch at E-town, the restaurant/bar which is a stroll away from the units, got along really well, agreed on a price & that was that :) Less than 48 hours from my arrival I had accommodation squared away in one of the toughest times for it, and the relief was almost physical. I can handle just about anything with this traveling business, provided I have somewhere to sleep when it's below freezing outside!

So I spent the night moving in, saying goodbye to Andrew's family (wife 2 kids dog & cats) and saturday getting organised, & then sunday Nate & his girlfriend Emily (who lives in Denver) took me out onto the slopes of Beaver Creek, the ski resort 10 mins down the road next to work :) I was hooked up with spare board & boots, Nate used one of his half price passes on me & we spent the afternoon at Bachelor Gulch, an area of the Beav which is centered around the stunning Ritz Carlton 5 star resort. In the afternoon it snowed steadily & I was boarding through a couple of inches of powder until lift close, unable to grasp the reality that I lived only a couple miles away.

Just about every day since has held something new & amazing, just like my arrival to the states in Norman Oklahoma. The river innocently flows through the valley past work & home, my bedroom window looks out onto the Riverwalk shops, & the winding snowy path that follows the river. White bumps in the river are snow covered rocks, which meet with the snowy river banks, & in places sheets of snow covered ice completely hide the flowing water from view. It takes a song or two on the CD player to warm the car in the mornings, often I spend a couple of those minutes sweeping snow off the windows and bonnet with my gloves. Four wheel drive comes in handy for snowy uphill road entries, a committed run-up is sometimes needed for everyone else. Days that I wear business gear to work are fun, when I cross the car park in my work boots, the slick soles cause me to slide, stumble & skate across the ice & snowpack while i'm trying to appreciate the icicles hanging from the rooftops. One morning I saw the air glinting with thousands of fine particles when I looked towards the sun, like sparkling dust, and I was completely mystified. Found out later that it was frozen fog.

Dad wrote me in chat one night responding to my news of getting a job in the mountains of Colorado, and he said "there's temperatures there you haven't even dreamed of." haha! Well that's for sure, my coldest morning I've seen evidence of so far has been -4F, which is -20C. When it gets like that, outside exercise is impossible as your throat can freeze, exposed skin (ear lobes, fingers) are at risk, and the river which is made of snowmelt and can only be a fraction above freezing, actually steams.

The craziness doesn't end there. Water up here boils around 92C, the weather can go from sunny to snow showers in minutes, and post does not get delivered to your door in these mountain towns. Everyone has to rent a PO box, and there is a queue, first come first served. Pretty dodgy actually, they stuffed up my application to share Nate's PO box & my pay checks bounced back to Massechusets, took me a full month to get them. The driving is always interesting too. Most of the main roads are treated with sand/gravel and magnesium sulphate, which turns everything to a lovely brown slush, but is supposed to be better for your car than salt. When it snows, the formidable local fleet of trucks with ploughs get out & you don't want to be driving next to them when they start ploughing snow 10 feet to the side.

I haven't told anyone from home this story yet (sorry mum, dad, but I know how you worry). In my second week here, Greg & I were planning to hit Vail, which would be my first visit to the largest ski resort in the United States, and I was going to pick him up from his place down the road at 7:30 AM. So there was no snow on the roads, & 1 week is the perfect period of time to become blaz-e about driving, and well there's a bump on a gentle left turn not far from my apartments. I believe a combination of black ice and acceleration caused the rear wheels to break traction, and the car veered left into the oncoming lane (no traffic thankfully). I tried to correct steering to the right, but the roads were so slick it went past straight and I started spinning to the right, so somehow I had the presence of mind to whip steering hard right and throw the brakes on so I slid in a straight line up the road, coming to a stop in the middle of my lane facing the wrong way, and the 3 cars that were following me. Probably slid 25m all up, I put it back in gear, got in the other lane, did a u-turn and went on my merry way. After taking stock of what happened, I started laughing at myself for how ridiculously calm I remained throughout it all, I was even pretty stoked. A few mins later I saw a Bachelor Gulch staff truck getting towed out of the snow banks after sliding on the ice, and even upon my return at 3:30 PM that afternoon, there were 2 cars in the snow banks on opposite sides of the road in the same place I spun out. Evidence of several other impacts were in the snow banks from that day, and I know that I was very fortunate. When I called Todd, starting the conversation with 'hey guess what happened to me this morning' his reaction was 'what already? you've only been there a week and a half.' haha But DON'T WORRY MUM, DAD, I can see trouble spots now and am getting better every day at knowing how to drive real winter conditions :)

Besides, everywhere is so close, I only have to get petrol every couple weeks, and so much stuff is just walking distance from home. A grocery store, a cinema, a restaurant/bar, a liquor store, the riverwalk for strolls and exercise, coffee shop, book store and of course Moe's ;) What more can you ask? Well, apart from more warm clothes. Walking Gusto is funny, in cold weather (single digit F) after 10 mins his paws get cold and he tries to avoid walking on them, so he walks on 3 legs with a hind leg stuck in the air, alternating every 10m or so, stopping to bend over sniffing another dogs markings, leg still in the air. You can't stop laughing. Nate says if you're too far from home he will stop walking & you have to pick him up & carry him back!

So I'm learning an awful lot about snow. I've seen dry, fine champagne powder snow, wet clingy snow, large fluffy light snow, heavy dense snow, wind scoured snow, even cold snow as opposed to 'warm' snow. Many areas of the mountains have seen the best January snowfall in a decade, and there has been high avalanche danger. When I was in Oregon one snowboarder crashed into a well of quicksand-like powder and suffocated, and separate avalanches killed a couple of back country skiiers. The locals I work with know a great deal about back country snow conditions, and even they say they don't know enough to risk doing it with so much snow. One of the deadly back country avalanches had a 12ft crown (the crown is the top of the avalanche where the snow breaks away) That means there was already 12ft of snow at the beginning let alone what got churned up further down. One avalanche buried 2 cars on a highway a few nights ago, authorities said there was more volume in that single avalanche than in all of the avalanches in that area for the past few years combined.

But it's all good, avalanches will always happen to back country skiiers who can't resist the lure of fresh powder, I'll stick to getting up early to catch first chair and blaze new tracks at the resorts after evening snowfall. It's such an awesome thing, speed is key & the bumpy grooms & packed snow gives way to a soft cushion where you feel as if you're floating, a wake of snow splashes around your knees & over your trailing hand, & you leave a cloud of powder 10 feet long. Steering is totally different, instead of sliding through turns you go exactly where you lean & point the board, like surfing with fins as opposed to without fins. Days like that, people are whooping and laughing, smiles all around, and your only problem is deciding which run to tackle next, or which line to take through the trees. As Nate says, 'What nice problems to have'.

I'm working on convincing Nate to buy a waterproof camera like mine so he can take some action shots of me too. He could have got a good photo this past weekend, I spent half the day finally getting into the tree glades at Vail, and when I stopped to have lunch in Mid Vail and took my helmet off, there was a great big twig sticking out of it :) With world class ski resorts only minutes away, and my 5 mountain pass permanently hanging off the chest pocket of my parka which I negotiated into the deal for my job, I'll be making sure I'm out there every weekend for the rest of the season.


Life In Colorado, USA	Vail Resorts, Colorado

Moving to CO and Xmas in Oregon

2008-01-14T16:34:00.000+10:00

Boardman, Oregon (21 December 2007 - 1 January 2008)

As much as I knew I was going to miss Oklahoma and my friends, the impact of leaving was dulled because of a non-stop schedule for an exciting end to 2007. I was going to be visiting the Callows in Oregon, whom I met in New Zealand a year before, and then moving to the Rocky Mountains for a new job with Resort Technology Partners.

Two nights before I left, Todd Sarah and I had an early christmas opening presents, and I got out my box that my family shipped to me from Australia, that'd been sitting on my floor for about 3 weeks. Todd was stoked with his genuine Australian boardshorts picked by Andy from home, black quicksilver and perfect for the ol dirtybird. Sarah had a new outfit and lotions & I was spoiled with leather gloves, a navy blue business shirt & a black scarf. BUT, out of the box from home came an Aussie beanie & scarf (green & gold), Aussie beer cooler, a giant Australian flag windshield thing for the car, even four little Aussie flags! Todd's loungeroom was covered in Aussie gear and I was convinced Mum & Dad had robbed a souvenir shop.

But it was great, soon after arriving in the US I realized I didn't have much Australian stuff to show with pride, only really had my Aussie boxer shorts, which doesn't really count you know? :) So now i'm set, gave Todd a spare flag & took the stick out of another & tied it to my suitcase handle so I can spot my typical black suitcase apart from the other dozen ones like it on the airport baggage carousel. I then got to packing everything I have in the back of my car to move to Colorado. The plan was to finish work with Metavante on December 14, giving me almost a week to hang out with my mate Paul who was my first visitor from home (champion!), pack everything up and drive up to Denver. My friend Stacey, being the awesome girl that she is, let me stay overnight (again) at her place in Aurora and offered her car port to stow the Jeep & all my stuff, while I flew out to Oregon for Xmas and New Years. I would return on the 1st. Stacey was even kind enough to drop me off at the airport before work in the morning, so I hung out and had an awesome breakfast burrito in the terminal at a mexican joint.

Sitting in the gate lounge early for the flight, I was fooling around with the laptop and the dodgy airport wireless, when I suddenly realised, I was surrounded by beautiful women. There were 5 in the seats around me, all stunners, reading books, listening to music or on the laptop, and I thought mmm, I love Colorado... to the point I was inspired to message Todd about it. His reply was that he was stuck at work, in his fishbowl office with his co-worker/subordinate who can't understand english. I probably found it funnier than him. On the flight, I was in the middle seat again, had a good run of window seats there at the start, now it's like a curse and I never get it, always peering past people who don't care about the view outside and would rather sleep. But I sat next to a girl who I chatted to, she'd been all around the world and stuff and was only 18 (lucky with parents) and she was born & bred in Salt Lake City. She told me some interesting stuff about the place, how the Mormon pioneers followed their prophet across the uninhabited countryside in the late 1800's until he saw a great lake, decided that would be the spot to build their city (saw it in a vision apparently). Too bad the lake turned out to be a gigantic useless salt marsh that often puts off an odour that reaches all the way to the mountains :) Pretty funny hearing it come from her, as she's one of the few people from the area that isn't Mormon. Still, out the window, the calm Great Salt Lake reflected the patchy cloud cover against a backdrop of snowed mountains that encircled the city. Known as the crossroads of the west, it was an impressive sight.

After a delayed flight to Pasco Tri-Cities in Washington, I finally landed and met up with Clay, who came to pick me up. He was on xmas break from his studies at the University Of Idaho in Moscow (no joke that's the name of the town). Down across the border to Oregon, I was introduced to the quiet little town of Boardman, and met up again with Dawn and Shannon, and met for the first time Dawn's partner Robyn Graff and his son Trevor, who had recently moved into the house. Dawn and Robyn work as teachers at Riverside High School, where Shannon and Trevor go to school and Clay graduated the year before.

I have so many highlights of my stay there, starting with going quad biking with Clay on the vacant land next to the house; Graff owns the bike and they had ridden a bunch of trails into the brush, complete with little jumps, steep drops and sudden hairpin turns. We went out in freezing conditions and when our hands were going red with cold we decided to head back for gloves, and for me to grab the camera. I'd only just begun filming on our cruise back down the road to the trails when it begun sleeting on us! We had no goggles so that was that, sleet in the eyes sucks a lot more than rain.

Another day we all got up early to make a road trip out to the Bull Prairie Lake in a mountainous national forest area to the south. Graf loaded the quad bike on the trailer and a couple hours later we turned off the main road onto the access road buried in over a foot of snow. I was paying keen attention to Graff's impressive driving, sliding around corners a bit with a trailer in tow and going maybe a tiny bit faster than I would have thought to be 'safe family driving' :) Upon arrival, I first saw the open flat white expanse which I knew to be the lake, but was shocked to see two groups of people out there! I hadn't expected that, and sure enough the lake was frozen enough to walk on, though a huge fracture and tyre marks at the boat ramp showed that the ice wasn't thick enough for vehicles. We piled out of the car and began a snowfight, I quickly put on a pair of snow shoes & pants as the snow was up to knee deep. Graff got the bike off the trailer & got out the rope and truck tube for some 'snow tubing'! Both the driver and the person being towed were perfect targets for snowballs and the bumpy snow made for some good tubing and crashes (though not as hard core as on the lake with Todd behind the wheel).

I also went off and explored, since it was only the third time I'd seen snow, and never so soft, fresh and deep. Out in the forest, some drifts were waist deep, and Flare the golden lab would stumble as he walked when his paws broke through some of the icy layers. What was so stunning, was it was absolutely quiet (when the quad bike went away up the road), and every 5 seconds or so clumps of snow would fall from a tree branch, knocking off other clumps and leaving a stream of falling powder and sound of a soft thud. I checked out one of the jettys for some photos, and saw Shannon and her boyfriend Cory walking clear across the middle of the lake. So I looked over the end of the jetty, very tentatively tested my weight, and stepped off the end onto the ice, onto the lake! It was such a profound experience, walking on a lake, haha stepping off a jetty for crying out loud. Nuts. Graf and Dawn were setting up chairs and fishing poles and the esky/cooler out on the ice & I helped him cut out a few holes in the ice with the axe. There were two main layers of ice, probably 4 or 5 inches thick all up. He had corn for bait? I guess that's normal, but yeah haha, slim pickings in that ice fishing business, people who know me know that fishing aint really my thang. Graf and Trevor set up a fire on the ice and began cooking lunch, while I stood to the side trying to figure out what happens when you build a fire on ice. I mean, I had never thought about that before :) and after a little concern, I reasoned to myself that a fire couldn't melt through the ice because it'd just go out when it hit the water. Which is exactly what happened, after a while a puddle forms, and eventually burning sticks will fall in the water and go out, and there is no chance of us hearing a big crack and all disappearing into the frigid water :) Although there was one problem, a male problem, see when one guy cuts a hole with the axe, every other guy there has to try to see if he can cut a better hole, soon there are holes everywhere. Ambling about the fire I walked backwards half into a hole, lucky the lower layer of ice held my weight, but Trevor was not so fortunate, he fell up to the knee into one of his holes :)

There was more excitement at the end of the day when Graf decided to take Dawn and Shannon each for a spin out on the ice on the quad bike. I could tell he'd done it before, the trick was to keep the throttle flat and maintain speed, with gentle turns going in wide controlled sliding turns across the ice. To slow down would put too much pressure on an area of ice, and there's a strong chance of breaking through. On Shannon's turn, Graf twice broke ice, probably that top layer, and he confessed after he came back that it scared the hell out of him. Pretty gutsy driving at 30mph straight down the boat ramp to the side of the big hole someone's truck made earlier. Oh don't forget, with your girlfriend on the back first time, and her daughter the next. He certainly had my attention, I didn't even want to think about what a sinking quad bike and flying / sinking riders would be like. And some people think that I'M crazy.
But all was good and nobody died and they lived happily ever after...moving on, Clay Trevor & I went to Anthony Lakes ski resort another day, where I tried skiing for the first time, and Trevor's first time snowboarding. The valley of the town of North Powder was in sunshine and clear skies, but clouds hung over the mountains where the ski resort was, and it snowed the entire time we were there, first time I had finally seen *real* falling snow! I rented blades, which are half-size skis and are easier to learn on apparently, and within 2 hours I was going down blue runs with Clay. Trevor did a good job of being 'one of those snowboarders' who fall spectacularly every few minutes for the amusement of people on the lifts. Anthony Lakes was quiet, even though Clay said it was busy, he's been spoiled, it wasn't hard to get on a run all by yourself. It was cold, Fahrenheit in the teens, I lost feeling in my toes and fingers more than once. Towards the end of the day it begun snowing harder, and I'd been crashing a few times; on my last blue run, the altitude and strain on my quads caused me to weaken at a few critical moments, and instead of turning left, I'd go right, off the packed groom and onto the powder, the nose of my skis buried and I did a forward flip to land on my back. I did it three times ay, can still feel the snow falling down my neck and back against the skin!

The Callows have a cool Xmas tradition with a hand-knit quilt made by Dawn's mother like an advent calendar. Each day, it was someone's turn to choose from a selection of remaining decorations to hang on the appropriate day on the quilt, and everyone else had to guess which decoration would be picked. Shannon won, I can't remember the prize, but it was the morning ritual for all of December to get everyone together. After Xmas, the Callows were going to take me to Washington to Dawn's father's place a third of the way between Portland and Seattle. Early in the morning we set off West along I-84, which follows the awesome Colombia River, a very windy place. The westerly wind was pushing a near 2ft swell down the river in places, and I realized with a shock that I hadn't seen white horses (wind waves) since leaving Australia. We drove through the area of the river known as the Gorges, which is famous in Kiteboarding circles as the consistent wind funnels through a narrow gorge creating epic kiting conditions. When we started the drive, it was overcast, but a short way along the river it fined up for a while to sunny blue skies, and then past the Gorges and the Dalles Dam, it fairly suddenly turns to rain, then a mix of rain & snow. We came to the Multnomah Falls, a famous Oregon waterfall, and stopped to walk over and have a look. As far as lofty waterfalls go, it was the most impressive I'd ever seen, falling in two sections 542ft and 69ft high, and this cool arch bridge spans the lower falls. It's the second highest year-round waterfall in the United States after Yosemite Falls. The whole area is so constantly wet from high rainfall that it's declared as rainforest, one of the most northern latitude rainforests in the world, the trees are covered in moss inches thick. Dawn went to take a photo of me and accidentally shot a drop of water falling infront of the camera so it covered my face!

We drove near to Mt Hood which is a beautiful mountain, and past Mt St Helens, and I could see nothing for rain and snow! I was really bummed, but Washington is everything that I've heard; beautiful, but wet. Green and lush, and really wet. Went exploring the neighbourhood where Don (Dawn's father) lives and there is an old train track bridge that had been disassembled and the bridge span left sitting on the ground by the river. Weird to see a big old chunk of bridge lying around, sitting off the ground at one end!

I got a lot of reading done at Don's and we played card games that night, Dawn, Clay, Shaz & I were quoting movies, messing around & laughing so much I really felt like part of the family, which meant a lot, I made the right decision in spending Xmas with them. It was only the next day we headed back as Shannon had more basketball practice. Clay & I hung out a couple more days, some of the cool things we did was go for a night session of snowboarding/skiing to Meadows at Mt Hood. Once again Clay didn't crash at all (he wasn't going hard enough) and I had a good crash at speed right in front of him, dug a heel edge and went down hard on my back, goggles flew off, the works, Clay barely missed me & saw the whole thing. Meadows was pretty cool, bit more fun than Anthony Lakes, couple of guys on the lift in front were playing Marco Polo with other guys below, who called us fish out of the water. Also from the lift we saw a skiier line up for a jump, he wedged his right ski into the snow on the side of the jump, boot popped cleanly out, & he did a huge sprawling forwards face-plant, 'winding down the windows' flailing his arms around in circles the whole way. He was ok, it was soft snow, I could hear him laughing along with everyone else.

The Callows loved Carl Barron, I played both his DVDs for them and they were even quoting him by the time I left. We also played Monopoly, a college edition, and I neglected to tell them that my family won't play with me anymore because I win too much :) So after many threats of flipping the board and giving property away they declared me the winner, and we also played Game Of Life, although it was very different to the Australian version my parents have, has pros and cons, you don't sell your kids off at the end in the US version, and you can land on spaces that let you steal someone else's income, permanently! Until someone else steals yours. That was a bit funny, I was an athlete on a doctor's wage one sec, then a teacher's wage the next.

One last highlight was when Clay took me to the wildlife reserve in Boardman, and after cruising around he took me to a lookout on a hill. Unbeknownst to me until he told me as we drove up to it, that it was named Callow's Overlook, after his father who was the Reserve Manager and Biologist. Dawn had told me that it was only a few months after the family moved to Boardman when the accident occurred, a light aircraft plane crash during a waterfowl observation flight. Callow's Overlook is, in my opinion, probably the most peaceful location with the best view in Boardman, and a very fitting tribute to the work Mr Callow did for the refuge. Clay pointed out the area where the family lived in a trailer for the first month or so, until they found their current home, and I can't begin to imagine how hard it must have been, and how strong Dawn and the kids are to have pulled together as a family and made it through. They are all so awesome and they know how much I appreciated their hospitality and company, and I love them like my own family.

So on the 1st, my flight back to Colorado departed in the early afternoon, and for the second year running I was flying out on New Years Day bound for unknown adventures. As I said to Dawn, back in NZ when we all had met a year before and became friends, it was one of those things where you'd like to stay in touch, or see one another again, but on opposite ends of the world, you don't know if it will ever happen. But I made it happen and not for the last time, that's for sure!

2007 was good to me, that's very much an understatement, and I'm just so incredibly fortunate to have an even more exciting outlook for 2008.

Boardman, Oregon (21 December 2007 - 1 January 2008)

The best of Okla

2008-01-07T14:09:00.000+10:00

Life In Oklahoma, USA

My stay in Norman Oklahoma is now over, just a few days short of 9 months since I arrived in the USA on March 3, I drove out of Norman back on the road for Colorado, and it was sad to leave. There are too many amazing things about the place to mention them all, it was great for Paul to come & visit in my last week so I had someone from home to show all the cool stuff. Like Moe's, tex-mex food and makers of the best burritos in the world! I swear I should open one up back home on Orchid Ave in Surfers Paradise by the nightclubs and make millions. Paul got some sense of the vibe of a college town, but he didn't see OU college sports, the football, the tailgating parties and the crimson frenzy of the crowd. I miss going for my runs on warm summer evenings through my neighbourhood and parks; bright orange flashes from lightning bugs and the sound of crickets made the place feel surreal. The old neighbourhoods and streets lined with enormous trees and lush grass and American flags flying from the front porches of the huge houses. And in spring, I'd come out of work at lunchtime, spin in a circle to see storm upon storm after storms building in every direction, between patches of blue sky, white billowing clouds, dark grey rains and distant giant storms. The threat of severe weather was more exciting than fearsome, lightning was crazy and the thunder crackled in the air instead of booming like back home, the supercells of tornado alley are an awesome thing. My favourite of all; afternoons on the lake after work. Blazing in 95 degree heat, kickin back in Todd's Ski Nautique with a beer and music pumping with friends, watching Nate wakeboard, attempting back rolls and stacking spectacularly every time. The sunsets there go on forever because the land is so flat. And yeah I'll miss that apartment complex where the college girls all hang out by the pool, studying, sunbaking or playing water volleyball.

Almost everytime I meet someone, I get the same question in the same ludicrous tone... why Oklahoma, how on earth did you end up in Oklahoma? There's actually loads of fun stuff there if you look for it. I was especially fortunate to have met such fantastic people who had similar interests and introduced me to so much new stuff. For a single guy to go alone to another country and not know anyone and have such a great time, the real credit goes to all of my friends in Oklahoma, you know who you are.

Life takes such a different pace in that part of the world, with different priorities, it's not uncommon to find people who go to college, get married, and then start their careers. I can see the appeal; a wife, a house, a truck, a yard and a dog, the American dream. The living is so affordable, all of my friends were in their mid to late 20's, most had a house, a car or cars, a motorbike, or a boat, some were getting married.

I absolutely love the place. Never met such friendly people. Thinking of just how random were the circumstances that led to my stay in Norman, when I could have ended up anywhere in the US, makes me feel incredibly fortunate that the chance I took paid off. It was a great place to live for the most exciting 9 months of my life so far, and I've made friends for life too. But I'll always call the Gold Coast home, with the sun, the surf and the beaches.

I'm moving to Colorado!

2007-12-08T07:14:00.000+10:00

Big news! Living somewhere cold, cold enough to snow, has always been a dream of mine, and for the second time this year, I'm making big dreams come true. Today I'm resigning from Metavante in Norman, Oklahoma and accepting a new job in Colorado. My new position will once again be as a Senior .NET Software Analyst, with a company called Resort Technology Partners (RTP), who are a spinoff from a Ski Resort that provides integrated solutions for resort parks, particularly ski resorts and golf resorts. What's more, the location is based in Avon / Vail, in the heart of the Rocky Mountains of Colorado an hour west of Denver. I'll be chucking everything I own in the Jeep, probably strapping my bed mattress to the roof, and driving back up to Colorado to start my new job in the new year.

The timing is uncanny, after delays and contract extensions, Metavante finally moved to bring me onto permanent staff, which would require transfer of my visa sponsorship to them, and I've had their offer letter in my inbox for 3 days. Over those 3 days I've had 3 interviews with RTP & they want to get me up there ASAP. So I'm glad I don't need to give Metavante HR the run-around & stop stalling, and avoid any complications with the visa. What's more is my 2 week notice period times perfectly with my plans to visit my friends in Oregon for the week from xmas to new years. So i'll be able to resign, have a big party and convince all of my friends in Oklahoma to make a snow trip and come up to see me, then go to Oregon and be back in time to start.

The living costs of the mountain region is high, i will be in for a shock, but i'll still be able to take care of the mortgage situation back home. The perks of the job include a season pass to 5 mountains, paid overtime, and I might be able to work out a discount to my equipment purchase. By equipment, I mean a shiny new snowboard, boots parka and not least; WARM CLOTHES! Temps in Vail I've only just begun to keep tabs on, but I saw a forecast for a low of -1F a few days ago. That's -18C for my Australian friends. But don't feel too bad for me, while you're basking in the 29C Gold Coast weather at the beach by the sea, I'll be carving through fresh powder on a morning ski session with my mates before we go to work!

I doubted my chances of getting to Colorado this year as the festive season sees a slowing of pace with jobs, but I got this lead from a recruiter, Sapphire Technologies, and I pinned all my hopes on it for getting up to Colorado in time for the prime ski season, before the end of the year. I'd always thought I'd end up in Denver living in the city, and would have to drive the hour west to the slopes to go snowboarding. I'm just incredibly fortunate. :D

Lots will be happening in the coming weeks so I'll keep you all posted.

Silverchair & Snow

2007-11-28T01:58:00.000+10:00

Just a quick one to say, woohoo I've finally seen falling snow! Saturday the 24th, Nate woke me up with a call to say it's snowing outside, because all of my mates here know how much I've been hanging out for it to snow. I jumped up, threw warm clothes on grabbed the camera and went out the front. Todd sprung me trying to catch a snowflake when he opened the front door, he was looking for me to tell me it was snowing :)

So I shot a quick video and took a photo, and after about 8 mins I'd had enough and went inside for a winter breakfast of maple porridge & iced coffee. It stopped snowing after about 20 mins. The night before I was driving and it begun sleeting, which was also odd as the little balls of ice the size of ball bearings sprinkled over the car and just rolled off, leaving the car dry. I hadn't seen sleet like that before either, and driving along sounded like driving through rain, but the car & windscreen remained dry. I've been learning a lot already about winter driving conditions, such as bridges and overpasses being the most dangerous, as they have no ground warmth to prevent icing. My friend Nicole told me how a girl in her class at school was killed when she hit ice on an overpass and crashed over the wall to the ground below. Nate told me in one of the ice storms a year or so ago, all he did was open his car door, and his truck slid down the driveway and into the street. Andy said he left work here one day, and accelerating carefully out of the car park, spun almost full circle across the street, stopping when he hit the curb. Kevin's told me about driving into sleet or snow, with the white particles coming straight at you, sometimes gives you tunnel vision when you stare through your headlights, and it can make you fall asleep easily.

In other news, last night I saw Silverchair live at the Diamond Ballroom in south OKC! Aussie rock, here in Oklahoma, who'd believe it!? Daniel Johns did joke about the fact that he couldn't remember when he was here last in Oklahoma. I was waiting for him to ask 'are there any other Aussies here tonight?' but he didn't. But they rocked the house like the class act that they are, I had my doubts about the venue, it's in the middle of nowhere (search Diamond Ballroom Oklahoma on Google Maps), but the crowd filled half the place shoulder to shoulder, I'd guess close to a thousand, the atmosphere was great. The low roof was the difference, I'm used to concerts being in the Brisbane Entertainment Center, which is huge. Kevin had told me about the concert a couple weeks ago, and we both agreed to go, but lost track of time and by chance last night I told Todd about it, he looked it up, and found that it was on the same night! He wasn't feeling like a concert on a monday night, so I called my army friend Mackenzie who's always up for spontaneous stuff like that. I worried about her though, from her accident in Iraq that nearly killed her, her ears can't take much punishment, so we sat 2/3 of the way back on some chairs, and she blocked her ears for the screechy guitar solos :) When I heard a good song I went forward to the crowd, it wasn't hard to move around. I was interested to hear some of the chair songs live, coz their last couple of albums have had some interesting tracks, take Tune In The Brine for example. I like it, but there's something about it, the singing, the lyrics & the orchestra on the album, it's like metrosexual rock if that makes sense. But live with just the band, it sounded awesome! Emotion Sickness and Open Fire were also incredible variations, and I guessed right from the start that the encore song would be Freak, which was easily the most popular. Mack said her ear popped during the show, and afterwards had a kind of static noise, I'm glad her ear wasn't bleeding as I remember she's told me that's happened before. I feel kind of bad even though she said she had a good time, she's an absolute trooper. I used to think that she was crazy, even full blown eccentric, but that was coz she was bouncing off the walls from too much coffee & red bull when I met her, an addiction the Army is responsible for. She's actually pretty cool.

And so winter is definitely here, Fall lasts only a couple weeks, a blink of an eye and most of the leaves are gone, and now the temperatures are consistently close to freezing here at night, low teens or single digits in the day (celcius). And I'm the only one excited about it! Am I crazy?

OU College Sports

2007-10-15T07:24:00.000+10:00

OU College Sports (October 2007)

I thought I'd take a bit of time & try to put into words, some kind of description, give some sense of understanding of the CRAZINESS of college sports in America. With such a huge number of long-standing college institutions around the country, divided into conferences and divisions, some events even eclipse the pro league and every other show on TV. Living in the college town of Norman where the presence of the University of Oklahoma (OU) is everywhere, you can't help but get into the hype.

So now I'm an official OU fan with a t-shirt and everything, I've been to a few college games. One weekend Todd & I were out on Campus Corner at the 747 club/bar and met two girls from the OU volleyball team who live a couple streets away from us. So we were invited to their game against Nebraska that weekend & put us on 'the list' to get us in free. I'd never seen a proper volleyball game before, and I was blown away. Walking through the doors and around the polished wooden court, squinting against the bright lights, I guessed 5 or 6 hundred people were in the four spectator stands. The #1 ranked Nebraska team were out practicing, music was pumping, cheerleaders were walking about with their pom-poms, students, parents and kids had come to watch the game.

After warm up the visiting team lined up across the court, facing off as the OU girls came running out underneath the archway shaped like the carriage of the Schooner. For those reading who aren't familiar with local history, back in the late 1800's the US government sponsored several land rushes on the Great Plains, and settlers would claim a piece of land by simply parking on a spot they liked and saying it was theirs. Oklahoma's reputation as the 'Sooner State' was due to those settlers who cheated on the land runs and claimed land before the starting deadline of the land rushes. Those people arrived 'sooner' and the term has stuck until present day, weird hey? So the sporting teams of OU run out underneath the white canopy of the carriages used by the settlers in the land rushes to the shouts of the crowd that call "Boomer!" "Sooner!" over and over.

Someone always sings the US national anthem (I need to learn the lyrics coz the anthem is awesome at these live events), the girls get introduced one by one by the commentator to roaring applause and then it's game on. From the first serve I was shocked, these girls are hard core, hammering the ball down, diving and rolling on the ground and leaping into the air, it was way beyond my expectations. There's so many tactics, rules and game dynamics, the sport of volleyball has a depth I never knew about. Some girls had strapped fingers, some took a running jump at their serves, most of them are 6ft tall or taller, it's the real deal. Unfortunately OU lost to Nebraska in 3 straight games (they play best of 5, first to 35 points each game), but to be fair, Nebraska is ranked #1 while Oklahoma is ranked in the 20's.

Recently also I met an Aussie girl from Melbourne, Stephanie, & she's into gymnastics in her senior year at OU. It was over 6 months since I'd spoken to an Australian in the flesh, and talking to her is like a breath of fresh air. Todd & I also went & watched a practice session of theirs and again, I was completely blown away. Watching the vault, uneven bars and beam on TV is one thing, but watching it live you see the strength & concentration, their technique and their mistakes. I only ever thought of gymnasts as elite athletes and it's cool to meet some who are just normal girls who can do crazy things.

But the epitome of college sports is the football. That's what draws the crowds, on game day the population of Norman doubles and it's an all-day party. Before the game people set up parties in the backs of their trucks & tents, called 'tailgating.' The roads are blocked off and everyone's walking around drinking (one of the few days when public drinking is allowed), BBQs are going non-stop and many people have TVs & loudspeakers set up for people to gather around. Some people invest serious $ in their tailgating rigs, they could enter them in shows. And everywhere, everyone and everything is crimson & cream. There's a plethora of merchandise, OU flags flying from passing cars, OU dog vests, everyone has OU t-shirts like 'I bleed crimson & cream', 'Texas sucks'...

...which leads me to the annual Red River Rivalry match between the University of Oklahoma Sooners and the University of Texas Longhorns. It's one of the biggest college football games in the nation (see Wikipedia's article on the event). With patriotism and pride reminding me of QLD vs NSW State Of Origin Rugby League, the stakes are huge; both teams are highly ranked, win or loss has huge significance to the team and to the conference, and there's only one match. The Cotton Bowl stadium in Dallas is exactly halfway between the Longhorns campus in Austin and the OU campus in Norman, and both states converge on Dallas for the weekend of the state fair and the big game.

My mates and I made plans to head to Dallas and watch the game in a bar. When I drove down the friday afternoon before my mini-holiday to New Mexico, I was part of a fleet of cars headed south on I-35 showing their colours. Red trucks, crimson OU flags & wind socks, bumper stickers with the longhorns turned upside down (the classic insult) and other Texas libel, like "Tuck Fexas!". Likewise, Texas supporters were driving around with Longhorns merchandise, orange window paint with "OU Sucks" and stuff. The night before the game is the big night out, & our crew of about 10 friends, all of us in OU colours, hit the town in Greensville. The streets were a sea of red & orange, as mobs of fans cheered & greeted friendly fans like old friends while shouting insults and trash talk to the enemy whenever they passed. We went to the Zephyrs bar, paid a ridiculous $20 cover charge, and got a black marker 'Z' scribbled on our wrists by the door girl. Somehow our half-spastic group managed to stay together for the whole night, we all caught a limo (a first for me) back to the hotel. While I struggled to keep my eyes open for my first limo ride, Cristen, Nate & Todd were fast asleep, Ray collected money off those who were still awake, and for some reason Cassie was taking all the clean limo glasses out of the racks and sitting them on the table while we were driving along. Back at the hotel Todd defeated Monty and I in a high-stakes paper-scissors-rock battle for the single bed, and we ended up in the double. Meanwhile in the other room Nate had a grand plan to sleep between Cristen and Cassie on the huge king double. When I woke the next morning, I was VERY disturbed to find weird marks around my right nipple that looked like bruising! Well I copped plenty over breakfast from my mates, Monty did too, and Nate told us his grand plan went astray when the girls jumped into bed first, Cassie stuffing half the blankets between her legs (something to do with back posture), leaving him on the edge of the bed shivering under a sheet. He woke up curled in the fetal position, arms crossed over his chest, where he found a black letter 'Z' imprinted from his cover charge mark. As if that wasn't bad enough, when he sat up he looked over and saw Adam was also in the bed asleep with an arm over Cassie (you need to see Adam to know just how funny that is. #3 clippers haircut, nice manly beer belly, basically a total bogan). Nate's quote of the day - "He definitely wasn't part of the plan". But after brekky I grabbed a shower and then noticed that my marks were gone! I thought how retarded I was to a) not have realised myself that it was my own Z-marked wrist to blame, and b) still not have realised when Nate told his story! Haha I wasn't exactly firing on all cylinders that morning.

Game day of the OU vs Texas match is a phenomenon, the crowd spectacle is one of the greatest in the world. The Cotton Bowl is split right down the middle with OU fans covering one half of the stadium red, and Texas fans turning the other half orange, filled to capacity at over 68 000. This is despite ticket prices range from a couple hundred to over a thousand dollars. Nate's been to the match, he says the noise is incredible, never a dull moment in the crowd, moving from one chant to another, I found a good online video of a guy filming from within the Texas crowd as they shout "Texas! / Fight!" while a lone OU supporter shouts "Texas! / Sucks!".
Have a look here (the audio is sometimes delayed though).
Other videos :
Texas band playing
Oklahoma highlights, touchdowns and quarterback sacks from the 2007 game
Funny Texas crowd reactions by an OU fan

We headed to Humperdinks, an OU stronghold with about 95% of people supporting the Sooners, and we watched it on a big plasma TV, OU was in great form and it was close all the way. The atmosphere was awesome in the bar, I wished I could drink but I had to drive back to Norman after the match, still it was easily worth the drive down for my first visit to Dallas.

But a week later, Nate said he had a spare ticket to an OU home game, against Missouri in the mid afternoon, and there was no way I was gonna miss it. So I went to my first college football match, the stadium was packed to capacity with 80 050 in attendance. And then the crowd started up the Boomer/Sooner chant, the noise was unbelievable especially hearing the opposite half of the stadium shouting Boomer, I shot a video of it which is linked below (sorry for the poor picture).

Boomer/Sooner Chant:

Ooooo U call:

I also broke ranks from putting my hand on my heart during the anthem to take a photo, gotta give it to the yanks for their patriotism, the crowd shouting over the singer at the end of the anthem to change the lyrics to "o'er the land of the free, and the home of the SOONERS!" As the players lined up for every kickoff, every OU supporter in the crowd would stand and point a finger into the air and take up a call of 'OOOOOO' raising to a crescendo as the team runs forward and shouting 'U!' when the kick is made, and the Ruff/Neks fire shotguns for added emphasis. It's seriously nuts and awesome fun, people of all ages are in the crowd, a kid in front of me would pull his hat off and throw his arms in the air on every dodgy call made by the ref against us. When OU scores their first touchdown, fireworks are shot from the stadium, the college band launches into song and the A-squad cheerleaders line up along the in-zone and each do a full back somersault one by one for every point OU has on the board, both guys and girls!

So overall, my opinion of American Football / GridIron has lifted considerably, I used to think they were wusses for wearing so much protection it's a wonder they can walk, and couldn't understand the strategy of everyone charging down everyone at once. As with almost every US sport, the timeouts & other rules that drag the game on drive me crazy. But, the hits are harder because the players are always interchanging & fresh, and the sport can produce some pretty awesome moments when the QB throws a 50 yard pass to the outstretched hands of a receiver in full sprint. I'm certainly a converted OU fan even though I never studied here, and my old Bond University looks tiny and dull in comparison.

OU College Sports (October 2007)

Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, New Mexico

2007-10-12T03:07:00.000+10:00

Hi everyone!

I've been up to a bunch of stuff this weekend past, where I managed to request 3 days of unpaid leave from work to go an event I'd had my eye on for a while, the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. And while I was at it, might as well explore the area, so after lots of figuring & changes of plan, over 5 days 6 nights from Friday to Wednesday, I managed to go to Dallas Texas, south western Colorado, eastern Arizona and New Mexico. 2500 miles later, I'm totally over driving, but I've seen the best college football match, been to two new states, and the world's largest hot air balloon festival.

Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, New Mexico (7-10 October 2007)

Originally I'd planned to spend 5 days out and about in NM, but at the last minute I realised the OU vs Texas match was on Saturday the same weekend, and I couldn't miss it. I plan to write about it in another little story on college sports which is to follow this, so I'll leave those details for later.

But after the footy match I drove back and arrived in Norman at 10pm at night, packed the car and went to sleep, ready to wake up nice and early at 3:20am to have a quick breakfast and head up to Kevin's place in the city. The reason for such an early start was that we had a he-uge day of driving ahead, planning to get all the way through 4 states to Durango in far southwest Colorado (close to 950 miles), as well as making Shiprock in northwest New Mexico by sunset. I rocked up at Kevin's hoping he'd drive first leg as I was in need of sleep, to find he'd only slept 30 minutes before I called him! He'd been up all night struggling to load the maps we would need into his GPS. So we loaded up, and set off westward in the dark. I was fighting to stay awake, to cover good distance & give Kevin time to sleep, but finally after over an hour in the dark, I decided that it was too risky for either of us to continue, so we pulled in at a rest stop and both slept for half an hour. When we woke up, the sun had just risen, and Kevin took over. Twice more we would alternate, and then I would do the majority of the driving the rest of the trip.

By mid morning we reached the Cadillac Ranch west of Amarillo, Texas, something I passed without knowing on my first drive back with my Jeep from Colorado Springs in March. It's one of those offbeat, eccentric roadside attractions that are part of the appeal of a holiday driving around the American West. 10 wrecks of Cadillacs representing the 'golden age' of American Automobiles from 1949 - 1963 stand half buried nose first in a line pointing west. This is in the middle of a dusty wheat field off the side of I-40, where spinning in a circle shows me the now-familiar flat horizon of the Great Plains. Tourists casually come and go a few people at a time throughout the day 24-7, to marvel at the wrecks which are unremarkable yet remarkable. The glass & electrics are long gone, rear tyres half disintegrated or missing, the only thing of wonder is how many layers of paint there really is on the visitor graffiti that covers every inch. You wouldn't think 10 cars in a field would be that interesting but somehow it was pretty cool.

After god knows how many fuel stops we drove all day to finally reach our objective by sundown, Shiprock New Mexico. A sheer rock so massive above the surrounding flat plains that it's visible for miles, the whole time we were driving toward it, Kevin or I would joke "wow, would you look at that?", "Hey Kev look, there's Shiprock" ...around another bend... "there it is again." After driving toward it forever, we came across a town, and a massive dust cloud. The dust cloud turned out to be traffic leaving the country fair that was going on in the town of Shiprock. Concerned with the time left before sunset and getting lost on the unsigned roads of NM we finally picked a safe looking dusty track off the side of the highway that followed the crazy volcanic ridge towards Shiprock. After photos at a gap in the curiously shaped ridge and some testing out of the Jeep's new offroading capabilities, we crossed around the base of Shiprock just after sunset. The size of the thing is incredible and deceiving. Also from our vantage point on the ridge, we could see no other car headlights for miles. It's remoteness was completely unexpected for something so spectacular, I can't understand why there isn't a road and a carpark to the base, unless it's by decision of the Navajo who own the land.
So after some cautious driving on steep grades and a bit of a moment nearly getting stuck in a ditch, we made it back to the highway and cruised up into Colorado.

Kevin called ahead to the Steamworks Brewery to ensure they were open, we rolled into town at about 9:30pm and had a great dinner and I ordered the sampler of 6 of their famous & award winning beers. By 10:30pm I was ready for sleep and was stunned to see people riding around on bicycles in the cold! The Quality Inn in Durango was awesome, brand new, in another league compared to the (lack of) Quality Inn that I spent 10 days in Norman. In the morning after realising I'd forgotten deodorant & Kevin had left behind his toothbrush & razor, I went down to reception to ask if they had this stuff. Kevin said it might be free, sure enough, the girl cheerfully said "sure!" and came back out with miniature deodorant, razor and shaving foam, toothbrush and toothpaste! I was expecting to pay like 10 bucks but it was free! I was blown away. Guess i'm used to hotels where you pay $2.50 for the 175mL bottles of water on the front table next to the welcome letter. Walked out the front lobby doors to the car for a late start but wait...is this typical Durango? A girl dressed in a tutu in the crisp morning air was standing next to her bicycle loaded with baggage, stopped on the side of the highway talking on the celly! Resisting temptation to ask Why the tutu (she was attractive), we headed west for Mesa Verde National Park.

Mesa Verde, Spanish for Green Table, is an enormous flat-topped mountain range unlike anything I've ever seen, filled with canyons and home to the most notable & well preserved cliff dwellings of Ancestral Pueblo Native Americans in the US. A spectacular drive that rivaled the Pikes Peak Highway wound its way to the Visitor Center, where a cool exhibition showcased the craftsmanship of the Pueblo people. Purchasing a ticket to the Cliff Palace tour, the most famous of the cliff dwellings, we headed off to catch the next hourly tour. I'd seen photographs of it while researching the trip, but walking over to the lookout to behold the Cliff Palace was stunning. Nestled in under an enormous natural rock overhang, like a wide open mouth to a cave, the ancient city looked out over a steep canyon. During the tour we learned that back in the day there was only one way in or out, where the Puebloans climbed a crevasse up one side to the Mesa top, carving hand and foot holds in the rock. From 600 A.D. to 1300 A.D., the Pueblo Native Americans lived for 700 years and flourished in Mesa Verde. For the first 600 years they lived on the flat tops of Mesa Verde, migrating to and from the area with changes of the season. It wasn't until their final century of occupation that they built the cliff dwellings that revolutionized their social structure. Hunter-gatherers became farmers, storing their food & water, remaining throughout the winter protected by the cave and walls they built of sandstone brick & mud mortar. Less time was needed for hunting leaving more time to specialise in weaving, leatherwork, pottery etc. and the economy of the Mesa Verde community became strong and complex. At the peak of their civilization, 60 to 100 people lived at the Cliff Palace at any given time, with 129 rooms and 8 kivas (ceremonial rooms), one of the largest villages of the 600+ identified cliff dwellings in the area. And then suddenly, in the span of a generation or two, they left their homes and moved away.

Archaeologists worked out this was most likely caused by an 80 year drought, combined with the deforestation and depletion of local resources, and rumours of flourishing neighbour communities. But as the tour guide made a valid point, this ancient civilization joins a list of several others that all perished at their peaks, which has a bearing on our civilization today, where if we don't manage our consumption of resources & manipulation of the natural environment, we may face a similar fate.

After Mesa Verde we drove to Cortez where we stopped to cook a late (3:30pm) lunch in the town park. While Kevin broke out his awesome little primus stove that can burn just about anything for fuel, I noticed several utes with huge tanks on their trays occasionally driving up under a strange hanging pipe & filling up with what looked like water. I walked over to check it out, and met this older fellow, Jim Powell, who rocked up with another huge empty tank. I had a chat to him and he told me a story about when he & his wife met an Australian couple while traveling back in the day who lent them (total strangers) money after they'd lost their travelers checks. He thought that we Australians are the kindest people in all the world! With half a dozen teeth missing in his warm genuine smile he explained to me how he lives on a property where there is no water, and he has to haul water every day or so. Three quarters buys you 300 gallons of water from the town water station in the park. After his tank overflowed everywhere and I spotted his tank's tap wasn't turned off properly, our chat was stopped short by another dude who arrived for water so I shook his hand and waved him off, thinking for the zillionth time how fortunate and proud I am to be Australian in this country that regards us so highly.

Driving on that afternoon was right up there among the most awesome drives I've ever done. Skirting the northwestern side of Mesa Verde's cliffs and Ute Mountain, lit up orange by the late afternoon sun, we got to Four Corners half an hour before close time. Four corners is the point where the borders of New Mexico, Colorado, Utah and Arizona meet, the only four border junction in the United States. After getting the touristy photos of one hand and one foot in each state, I bought a t-shirt and a fridge magnet, drove in a circle around the monument and headed off into Arizona. And what an introduction to Arizona it was, the sun setting below high altitude clouds that made half the sky turn yellow, orange, red, pink, blue and indigo, as I drove along the straight western roads directly into the sunset. We passed the Chuska Mountains to our left and could see countless other Ute-Mountain lookalike rock formations & mesas. When night came as we passed several Navajo villages and towns on our way to Chinle, I was surprised to see single bright yellow lights dotted all over the place. Here, each house or group of houses have a single flood light, standing twice as high as the roofs, as if to mark their position so the owners can find it in the dark! Some clustered together, others way out by themselves. Kevin was startled when he spotted a black horse just off the shoulder of the road, the first of several animals we passed where there were no fences or anything I could see that would stop animals from crossing where I was doing 80mph. And I thought the New Mexicans were crazy for not having signposts for half of their roads!

I helped Kevin set up his tent at the free campgrounds near the entrance to Canyon De Chelly (pronounced canyon-de-shay) and he fixed dinner while I emptied stuff out of the Jeep to sleep in the back. Kevin was worried about a couple of huge RVs near us, I asked why, he said last time he camped around RVs the owners had their generators going all night. Sure enough, 5 mins later an old couple returned to the RV opposite us and click whirrr there goes the generator. Within 20 mins the place started to reek of fumes too, I was glad to be sleeping in the car. I thought it was rude & offensive of RV owners to do that around people with tents, and thought of how much better my parent's caravan setup is with solar power and batteries. I was barely able to keep warm overnight & woke with a start as Kevin opened the rear glass at dawn to photograph me sleeping in the Jeep! It was only 3C on Kev's watch thermometer so after a hot breakfast of oatmeal & water we packed quickly and rolled out to the visitor center on the South Rim Drive.

Canyon De Chelly compared to Mesa Verde is less for interesting history and more about spectacular scenery. Sheer smooth cliffs of red & brown sandstone, most overhanging past vertical, dropped all the way to the flat canyon floor. In many cases there was no rubble or rockslides at the base, the cliff rose straight above the flat ground at a 90 degree angle. There were Navajo cliff dwellings too, and the canyon floor is still farmed by them today, access is restricted unless you have a Navajo guide with you. Since it was perfectly calm, I decided to get Kevin to try a couple of shots of me standing (well, kneeling) at the very edge of these sheer cliffs. I was fine looking sideways at Kevin, but had to focus and keep perfect balance, even control my breathing, because if I looked 1 inch past my right foot I was staring over the edge of the cliff to the canyon floor 500 odd feet below, straight down! Argh gives me vertigo thinking back at it!

We met two Navajo kids, Newton & Dion Martinez, and chatted to them for a while. They get dropped off on some of their spare days from school by their mother, and sell Navajo Art they paint onto flat sandstone rocks taken from the Canyon floor. Newton showed us his $25 rock of paintings and told us an 8min long story with the pictures! His accent was so cool but I didn't want to buy a rock as it's just something that's gonna get broken in my travels, but I got my wallet and Kevin & I each gave them $5 for being little champions. As we progressed through several lookouts, the canyon progressively got deeper and more impressive with 600ft, then 700ft sheer cliffs. Finally we came to Spider Rock, the pinnacle of Canyon De Chelly, a thin vertical tower of red sandstone rising 800ft above the middle of the canyon floor. Again we got up to more mischief climbing onto boulders on the edge of the cliff for more mad photos, while a group of 3 older German tourists I'd met earlier watched us, shaking their heads & calling out 'nein nein!'

From Canyon De Chelly we went off the beaten track to the backroads of AZ making our way down to Window Rock in the town of..Window Rock. My initial worries about this route proved unnecessary as the dirt road was maintained, the GPS knew where it was going & we only passed 2 trucks over the whole 2 hours. Kevin had even made a trip to Tulsa prior to leaving to get 'protection' and we were rolling with a Glock .40 in the back just in case. Window Rock was cool, a large circular natural arch, and the site of an impressive WWII monument to the Navajo Code Talkers. Below I've copied the transcript below the sculpture of the Navajo Code Talker that tells their story:

During World War II at a time when the Japanese possessed the ability to break almost any American military code, over 400 Navajos, with 29 being the original Navajo Code Talkers, stepped forward and developed the most significant and successful military code of the time using their native language. So successful was this innovative code that military commanders credited it with saving the lives of countless American soldiers and with the successful engagements of the U.S. in the battles of Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Saipan, Iwo Jima, Okinawa and paved the way to victory for Allied Forces in the Pacific Theater. "Were it not for the Navajos, the Marines would never have taken Iwo Jima", these were the words of Major Howard Connor, 5th Marine Division signal Officer.

Far from their homes, these brave young men served our nation with honor. Sadly, the tale of their exploits remained a closely guarded secret for decades in the even that the Navajo Code Talkers unique talents would be needed again. Many Code Talkers have passed on never knowing of the honours a grateful nation are now bestowed upon their remaining brothers. It was not until 1968 when the Navajo Code was declassified.

Next, we drove south east through building afternoon thunderstorms and eventually emerged onto the vast flat plains of San Augustin, formerly a lake, where the National Radio Astronomy Observary (NRAO) and the Very Large Array (VLA) is centered. Highway 60 runs dead straight for some 20 miles across the middle of the Y-shaped Array, and soon the huge dish antennas were visible stretching right out into the distance. Upon our arrival we learnt a bunch of stuff, the array was currently in it's largest A-configuration, which meant that each of the 27 antennas were spread along the Y-arms a distance of 13 miles (21 km). This is the most sensitive setup; the signals received are processed and combined with the equivalent sensitivity of a single 36 km antenna. Each of the 230 ton 25m diameter dish assemblies are almost constantly in use, the Array is manned and making observations 24-7, we saw them change angles a couple of times while we were underneath one. Changing array configurations takes a week or so to complete (the array generally remains in a particular configuration for several months), each moves along rail tracks between docking pads with the assistance of strange red vehicles. The vehicles supply power to the antenna on the move, as internally the receivers are cooled to 15 Kelvin (-427 F) to reduce internal noise & vibration that distorts the weak signals from space.

On the walking tour, we came across the Whisper Gallery, which is just two dishes spaced about 30ft apart facing each other. Kevin walked to one and I walked to the other and as soon as you walk in front of one dish, you can hear what's going on at the other! It was so cool, if I put my head at the focus point of the dish, I could hear Kevin whisper in my right ear, when he was 30ft to my left facing the other way!
Walking around the tour I deliberately went past the 'restricted area' sign because I wanted to photograph the afternoon sun behind one of the dishes, which soon resulted in a security guard driving over to kindly tell me where the visitor area was.

Driving back through Socorro up to Albuquerque Kevin & I tested each other on the states & capital cities of our countries, when I asked Kevin about Tasmania, he thought that it was off the northeast coast somewhere! That was funny but to his credit he knew more than most locals about where stuff was. At the Hyatt in Albuquerque after days on the road we were looking forward to some 4 star luxury, but we arrived a half hour after the pool area & spa closed! After hunting around for indoor spas and spending 2mins in a crappy sauna, I said "we'll never know if we never ask." So, decked out in boardshorts, towel over shoulder, we walked through the ritzy hallways past dudes in suits and ladies in dresses to the reception, and after being initially denied by the girl behind the counter, I turned on my best Aussie "accent" and reasoned that we'd been on the road for hours and were only staying the night, here for the balloon festival, and she gave in and went to ask security if it was OK. Security said they would come down & let us know (ie. check us out first), so we hung out in the lobby for several minutes drawing looks from hotel guests & staff. Eventually a funny pairing of a short & an enormous security guard who resembled Schwarzenegger came over and escorted us to the spa, woohoo!

Quick sleep, 5am and we were back up & at it! Taking our small amount of gear back and checking out, we made for the Balloon Fiesta Park, early to get sorted out and not miss the dawn patrol. Kevin bought some brekky and I got an awesome hot chocolate. I think we were a little delirious from all these early starts, because for some reason, everything seemed funny. Ridiculously funny. A kid's slippery slide in the form of an inflatable sinking Titanic was there, and as the crowds increased I went about asking people trying to track down any Australian teams. I saw the flags of the participating nations and spotted my flag! We tracked down information and found the list of pilots and their launch sites, but unfortunately there were no Aussies; the flag I saw belonged to a single NZ team, the missing Commonwealth Star hidden in the folds of the limp flag in the calm air. I was really annoyed actually, all these crews from all these countries, and NOBODY from Australia.

Kevin & I made our way onto the field as crews began driving to their launch sites on one edge of the field. Eventually after a loudspeaker announcement, generators whirred to life, portable lights came on and large fans began blowing air into the balloons. I'd never seen a hot air balloon launch before, it's pretty amazing. When the balloons were half inflated lying on their side on the ground & crews with torches had checked there were no tears or knots, the pilot lit the burners and fired roaring bursts of yellow and blue jets of flame into the balloons. The balloons would suddenly glow their bright colours, then drop back into darkness. Members of the crew would hold the flaps of the balloon up as the half-foot thick jet of flame shot into the balloon barely a meter from their arms. One by one, the balloons began to lift and tilt upright, crews moved quickly and efficiently to anchor the basket, the pilot jumping inside rocking back as it swung upright, intently focused on the rate of lift the burner was causing so as to not overdo it and need to rely on the final anchor - a rope or chain to the support vehicle.

Soon a dozen balloons were vertical on the ground, and it was time for the famous dawn patrol balloon glow. Announcers counted down and all together the balloons fired, lighting up the sky with their shapes & colours, as the slightest hint of light appeared in the east. They also fired in bursts, each balloon flickering on and off like a series of enormous Christmas lights. Then, with one extended burst, the first balloon shot up into the sky really quickly, the rest following one at a time. Each pilot had special objectives, test out an elevation and report wind conditions back to the ground. The dawn patrol eventually became hard to see, visible mainly by the lead lights that hung from their baskets, until more hot air was needed and a burst of flame would light one up in stunning, silent brilliance. That is, silent until Kevin judged that we were far enough away from any bystanders, and audibly passed wind. Unbeknownst to him, a professional photographer was only meters behind him, he looked up from his tripod mounted camera and said over his shoulder "hey, did you kill something?"

Later, when the crowds took to the fields walking around dozens and dozens of crews setting up, inflating balloons and taking off in wave after wave, the magnitude of this event as the world's largest balloon festival and the U.S.'s most photographed even became clear. Balloons of awesome design mixed in with the sheer numbers of standard balloons began filling the pre-dawn sky, each flying their country flag from the basket. The day was Wednesday which I'd chosen to see the fiesta because it was the Flight Of The Nations mass ascension, where the international participants are given the honour of launching first before the U.S. crews. I spotted the Darth Vader balloon, after hearing a crew chatting earlier about him being the largest balloon registered for the event. Storm troopers marched through the crowds and someone said "Where did you get those costumes?" to which one replied "The Emperor." And later on I saw Boba Fet walk past. He had an awesome costume, really accurate, except it was obvious that he was in fact a skinny she underneath. Kevin said "hey look, it's a Boba Fet-ette" and I said "yeah, she has a Boba Fet-ish".

Footage I took on YouTube:

The mass ascension went into full swing after dawn, and it was amazing. Balloons being launched were squeezed side to side, while balloons down low were traveling in opposite direction to balloons up high, and behind every balloon in the foreground were dozens of balloons trailing off into the distance. The balloon fiesta park in Albuquerque is the site of the world's largest balloon festival for a good reason. Geographically, the mountain ranges and plains around the area create a consistent 'box effect', where air between low and middle elevations travel in opposite directions, allowing balloon pilots to navigate with high accuracy, often allowing them to land in the same area from where they took off. All the same, balloons ended up all over the place, and at the height of the launch, balloons were visible 180 degrees in both directions and were making landings all over town. When its clear a balloon isn't gonna make it back to the launch field, the chase crew packs up the gear, jumps in their ute or truck and heads off around the city tracking & eventually intercepting the balloon to assist with the landing. Three days previous, high winds caused a number of crashes, injuries and even a death, where a balloon got caught on power lines and a gust of wind tipped the basket, causing a lady to fall out 70 odd feet to the ground. Kevin and I were having breakfast in Durango at Quality Inn when we saw that on the news.

After the several hundred balloons had taken off there were a couple of other things to see before we left. I chatted to Deirdre, a mounted policewoman who drew a bit of a crowd. Fully armed and on horseback, she explained how they are part of the tactical division, used for crowd control & aligned with other tactical units like S.W.A.T. and the Airborne. Another bunch of police were gathered together in front of the Children's Network Balloon, a dozen cars and bikes, more than one person joked along the lines of 'that guy sure did something wrong'. They were arranged for a photo shoot as the Albuquerque police do charity work with the Children's Network, and I managed to get a bit of a look at the Sheriff motorbikes and the new 2007 model Police Mustangs.

And then all that was left was another tedious drive all the way back to Oklahoma and the end of an action-packed fast-paced holiday! I've written a fair bit so, until next time...ciao.

Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, New Mexico (7-10 October 2007)

Mountainbiking, Lake Thunderbird

2007-09-21T07:42:00.000+10:00

Thought I might share my crazy story with folk back home about a little mountainbiking adventure with Todd yesterday afternoon, Wednesday 19 September at the Clear Bay trails, Lake Thunderbird (15 mins down the road from where I live in Norman).

Unfortunately I forgot the camera, been doing that a lot lately, maybe I'm getting complacent and it doesn't feel like I'm traveling anymore, now it's been 6 months.
After work Todd & I threw the bikes in the back of my Jeep (I have a borrowed bike from a lovely lady at work whose husband isn't using it currently) and we drove down Highway 9 to the South Dam trail head which leads straight to the expert trail.

Bodgy site about Clear Bay
Clear Bay Trail Map

We were attempting the expert trail because the intermediate trail and the Stanley Draper lake course didn't do much to raise pulses. The afternoon weather was warm and calm, the lake was amazing Todd and I agreed that we were doing the wrong activity and we should be on the boat, storms were building in the distance. Well after 10 minutes on the trail I was sweating and already had ridden through dozens of spider webs. Soon I was surprised to find some pretty crazy stuff, a totally different level from everything else I've seen here, and throughout the afternoon we encountered several rock drops, very deep and steep gullies, some of them with mud at the bottom and severe erosion from the spring and summer rains. We are both very new to the sport, and where Todd used to balk at a drop and think it was suicide, it wasn't long on this course before he started going first and making it through despite hesitation wobbles, feet slipping off pedals, brakes screeching, shouting 'holy moly!' etc. Very amusing stuff, for some strange reason, seeing my room mate in distress is incredibly funny to me. Probably because most things we do here, like Frisbee Golf, Wakeboarding, even Xbox gaming with the boys, he's infuriatingly good at all of it!

We encountered the 'Totter', a great big 2ft by 12ft long see-saw that you can ride over. The idea is to ride up the ramp, slow down to an almost complete stop and creep over the center so the see saw dips down, and ride off the end. Sound easy? I attempted it 3 times and each time I stacked off the top of it, losing my balance at the point where the plank tips over, falling to the left and having to jump off the bike or over the handlebars from about 7ft in the air. Big moments each time, lucky I landed on my feet as an awkward fall from that height could mean broken bones. Todd's first attempt was funniest, he went too far past the center, and the see saw pivoted real quick and crashed to the ground, suddenly propelling Todd forward on the steep decline. As he had his weight leaning back on the bike, he rolled down and off the see saw with his front wheel going up into the air and he fell off landing flat on his back on the ground!

So the Totter defeated us both, and we had to move on. We saw two Deer running around, first time I have seen wild Deer. Then, we got lost. The signage definitely needs improving, at least 4 times we thought we knew where we were, only to pedal down a chosen track to find out it's not the one we thought. We were running out of light and were still lost when the sun was about to set, we were somewhere in the middle of the 5 mile course, hadn't seen a single person, and Todd thought we had about 20 mins of light left. We had bearings of direction, from the sun, the lake and the sound of traffic on Highway 9, but under the trees with the light running out, several times neither of us had any clue as to where we were. Finally at about sunset we located ourselves and decided to get off the unknown and hard-going advanced track and go back along the intermediate one we had done before to the other trail head, which is over a mile away from the trail head where we parked. Anxiety was mounting, not panic though, I have never panicked as that doesn't serve any useful purpose, and Todd's the same. After a half hour of serious pedaling and never-ending winding tracks through the darkening bush, under an approaching storm with thunder and light rain, my thoughts were far away from how cool the lightning bugs looked blurring past in orange streaks. Todd said he might have swallowed one. Soon it was virtually dark, I was leading and couldn't go fast even in a straight line, for fear of riding off the track I was straining to see. I had my mobile phone though, which as I have proved before, can be used as a source of light, if it came to it, we could walk our bikes single file off the track by that light, provided we didn't miss the intersecting trail.

Finally we made it to the exit trail that leads back to the car park, and that feeling of relief, that's when all anxiety turns to joy and triumph and suddenly you're having the best fun in ages. I think we had less than 5 minutes of twilight left before we would have had to stop and resort to walking, under the trees it was nearly pitch dark. As it was when we got off the exit trail to the road, it was 100% night and we rode back down highway 9 in the dark getting blinded by oncoming car headlights. So we hustled as we were supposed to meet some of Todd's friends in town for dinner and we were way late, and Todd washed the muddy bikes off the boat ramp in the lake while I went and got the car, getting dozens of sharp burs on my shoes and socks as though the lake was having one last go at me. All told I'd flicked 5 spiders off me, rode through over a hundred spider webs, Todd caught 2 ticks I caught one (just crawling around not digging in), and I had curious itchy swelling under my left eye and neck. But it was the best adventure I'd had since coming to the US, and I'd do it all again tomorrow!

Pikes and Longs Peaks, Colorado

2007-08-28T07:38:00.001+10:00

Pikes & Longs Peaks, Colorado (22-26 August 2007)

I've been on a few adventures since coming to the US, but my latest effort over the 22nd - 26th August surpasses everything that I've ever done as far as challenge and adventure goes. Myself, Todd and 3 more friends of his from Denver set out to climb a fourteener in the Rocky Mountains. The term 'fourteener' is given to Colorado's highest mountains, those that are over 14 000' in elevation, and the one we attempted was Longs Peak.

It had been on the cards for a few months, since back in April when Todd first discussed climbing a mountain in Colorado sometime during the summer. When the date was finally set, we began training a month out, but our objective was only agreed to by everyone in the second last week. I'd been speaking to Bill at work, one of the bosses who had done Longs Peak by the Cable Route in winter as well as several other fourteeners, and he gave me a book where I found Longs Peak. What attracted me to Longs was the obvious range of attractions along the hike, with lakes, ridges and amphitheatres. I was unaware of its true difficulty though, and its history, someone dies on Longs Peak every year, and Todd's mates in Denver had heard stories, and warned us that it was gonna be tough. Todd also has a bad back at the moment with some turned vertebrae probably from wakeboarding, and is in therapy, so his family was persistently trying to discourage us from doing anything hard. But as I said to Todd, we weren't getting any younger, so Longs Peak we all eventually agreed to.

So, I got to running. It was more of a fun training scheme than strict, when I felt like it I would usually run, i'm guessing 5km from Todd's house, the long way through the neighbourhood, then north over Lindsey St towards a college apartment block which backed onto a green strip with a creek. I usually ran at 9:30pm at night when it had cooled from blazing hot high 90's to simmering, and running through the half-mile green strip to the sound of crickets and random bright orange flashes of lightning bugs was almost as good as running down Miami beach back home to the sound of the surf with the moon rising over the ocean. Except for an added plus, when groups of college girls were out on their balconies above the park, and they thought I couldn't hear them.

The East Longs Peak trail via the Keyhole, easiest of the various options, is a lengthy 16 mile (25.7km) return trip, with 4 845' of vertical gain in the range of 9 410' from the trail head to the 14 225' summit of Colorado's 15th highest peak. Camping options are numerous but crowded at this time of year, with spots at the trail head, a couple of km up the trail in the Goblin Forest, or up near 13 000' in the Boulder Field. Originally I liked the idea of camping along the trail, to take some of the endurance out of the hike, but it would require all of us to have appropriate light camping gear, so the plan was camp at the trail head, and get up early.

So on Wednesday, Todd and I jumped on a Frontier airlines flight from OKC to Denver, and encountered awesome storms on the way, which we had to fly between. We skirted the east side of a huge storm through grey gloom for a while, but then suddenly we came into brilliant sunset twilight, flying in clear air between the base clouds and the anvil top, with the core flashing with lightning out my window, and a near full moon to top it off.

We stayed with Todd's sister and brother in law, Shelly and Tony Wahl, in Golden, a suburb of Denver. They have a lovely daughter Abby who is nearly 4 and baby Luke who isn't 1 yet. Wednesday night I slept in the basement bedroom that has two ground level windows, and in the middle of the night a storm hit us, with one colossal crash of thunder that woke everyone up. I remember waking to the flash and crash of thunder at the same time, Todd said he sat bolt upright in bed braced like he was ready for a fight. The lightning was almost constant and it hailed, making loud clanging noises on the grates that protected my windows. Maybe it's something about Denver being so high that cloud to ground lightning is easier, coz that was not a normal storm, yet Tony and Shelly seemed used to it, and Abby & Luke didn't even wake apparently.

So Thursday, Todd and I set out in Shelly's Camry for Pikes Peak down near Colorado Springs. Pikes Peak is the most famous of Colorado's fourteeners, home of the Race To The Clouds, the only fourteener where you can drive to the summit, and the easternmost of all the fourteeners being the first mountain clearly visible as one approaches from the east. Stopping in Manitou Springs to get Subway for lunch, Todd and I drove up through Cascade to Pikes Peak Highway, paid the $10 per person toll and headed up the awesome 13 mile drive to the top. Part way up the weather cleared to almost cloudless sky, typical of the fast changing conditions in the Rockies.

This was my test for altitude, as before then, the highest I had ever been was climbing to the summit of Mt Ngauruhoe, a volcano in New Zealand at 7516' (2291m), which everyone here laughs at; I had no idea what thin air was! I was about to go almost twice as high. The body's fitness level has little bearing on its ability to cope in thin air, and while living at altitude can help, ultimately it is the luck of the draw as to whether your body's physiology can adapt to handle it. Turns out I was fine, while Todd began to feel a little off after a while at the summit. It was spectacular being so high above the clouds, like being in an aeroplane but walking around in the crisp wind and seeing a full field of view instead of looking out a tiny window.

The drive down was even more spectacular than heading up, as the road at several points seemed to be on the edge of the world. At a section of roadworks on an exposed slope, one dude was driving heavy machinery that compressed loose gravel and dirt on the wall of the road, and he had to follow the crooked road edge driving consistently within a foot of the steep slope dropping away hundreds of feet to the side! That night we met up with James & Britney, Todd's childhood mate who is now married and living in south Denver, and we ate at the Cheesecake Factory. When I exclaimed at the monstrous foot high mud cakes for sale at the entrance, Todd saw James' puzzled look and explained that I do that all the time, at things that are just normal to them.

Friday we had a lazy morning, playing with Abby & Luke until James drove up and Tony finished work. Then after lunch we packed our camping gear & day packs and headed north and west into the Rocky Mountains for the Longs Peak camping grounds. That drive was also very scenic, and while we were still out on the plains we could easily see Longs Peak towering above all the other mountains around it. Arriving at the trail head, we could see it was busy, and went to visit the Ranger Station for news on the trail. It didn't look good, the Park Ranger said a heavy storm had come through thurs night and had left the region beyond the Keyhole (south west face) fraught with black ice. Nobody had summited that day, and the chances of the ice melting in time for a summit attempt the next day were slim. Perplexed at possibly being denied the summit, we were further disheartened when the trail head camping spots were all taken. We had to back track a couple miles to the next camping ground, and eventually found a clear spot there.

After setting up camp, our 5th person Michael joined us from finishing work in Denver, and while I grilled Brautwurst sausages on the fire and watched Tony, Todd and James play horseshoes, I thought of how cool it was that I was finally camping in the Rocky Mountains. The Rockies and Yosemite are the two places I wanted to camp most in the world, except I couldn't flip the top off a bottle of beer for happy hour because we were so focused on hydrating to acclimatize and reduce our risk of altitude sickness. After a simple dinner of sausages and bread and water we cleaned up camp ready for a quick getaway at 3:30am the next morning.

I don't think I slept at all during the night, and it wasn't because I used my jumper wrapped around my backpack as a pillow; that was quite comfy. I guess it was just the anticipation and excitement about the next day. By 3am the campground was filled with voices and cars being packed and driven off, and even traffic could be heard on the road outside the grounds! After forever, a light came on in our tent and I saw Todd's face squinting at his phone. I asked 'what's the time?' he said '3:24, 6 minutes. Ah might as well get up'. We were all awake anyway. I had slept in my clothes, packed up my sleeping gear and went for breakfast, where I hunted around for my yoghurts, then remembered I had forgotten to pack a spoon, borrowed a spoon off Michael, then found I had left the yoghurts back in the fridge at Shelly's. Gave the spoon back to Michael and had 2 bananas and some chocolate instead.

We packed the tent and headed back up the road to the trail head, where to our astonishment, cars were parked in a line by the side of the road hundreds of metres from the trail head carpark! We drove up anyway, only to find the place was packed with cars and people getting ready, so we headed back, and to me it really sucked coz we would have to hike half a k uphill before we even started our 16 mile day! As we walked up the road, Tony set a freaking quick pace and Todd joked about being exhausted already. I remembered Todd had never seen the Milky Way, which was clearly visible straight above us, so I pointed it out to him. Micheal signed our group into the book at the trail head showing who is on the mountain and we set off through the pine forest.

You cover good ground when it's dark and the only thing to look at is the spot of light cast by your headlamp, and soon the forest was thinning out into smaller trees as the rays of dawn crept over the mountains to the east. It seemed to me to take forever for dawn to come, but we made the ridge to where the Diamond Face and the Chasm is visible just as dawn broke, perfect timing! After shooting some fantastic panoramas, while some of our group went to the toilet on the precariously perched pit loo on the ridge, we made for the boulder field. For the next several hours, it was an arduous haul into increasingly windy and thin air. Since before dawn from the treeline we were subjected to 30-50mph winds, with gusts that would blow you off balance as you plodded on step after step. I got winded quickly and let almost a litre of water out of my backpack, and handed the stack of 6 bananas off to Todd, as my pack was too heavy for the pace.

6 hours later we had made the Boulder Field and were staring up at the Keyhole, an obvious notch in the ridge at the top of a steep boulder climb. By this stage both my knees were hurting on the muscle tendons underneath used for lifting my body, and this condition caused me to be the slowest in the group, as pain had overcome exertion to be the main reason for how often I stopped. I'd been afflicted by the same symptoms the last two times I'd climbed any elevation, at Mt. Ngauruhoe and Mt. Warning, and while I expected knee pain it was worse than before, and incredibly frustrating. The Keyhole, as spectacular as it was with a jagged granite overhang, is the focal point of the infamous winds for that side of the mountain. Climbing towards it on the lee side, you would catch the occasional gust or calm moment, but ever-present was the noise of wind through the rocks above, and it wasn't like the high-pitched whir of wind through a partially opened window, but a deeper shearing noise. I caught some footage of that noise on a video of my camera and uploaded it to YouTube, if you persevere, it is clearly audible in the last 10 seconds:

Entering the Keyhole entailed a blast of chill wind that assaulted your balance, pushed you into the rocks, and made it seem difficult to breathe. Perhaps the most foolish decision I made that day was to still have shorts on at this point, and within 30 seconds I was shivering. The second most foolish decision was to perch myself in the middle of the Keyhole, remove a glove, pull out the camera & attempt to shoot a panorama of the spectacular valley before me. I had to focus to stop shivering and hold the camera steady when shooting, and by the time I finished my face and hand felt numb and I was shuddering more than I ever had in my life. Somehow I lost the glove, probably blew out of my numb hand on a gust of wind, Todd came back to assist and said I looked shaky and pale, but they'd heard people had been going on to the summit, and they were going to press on too. He gave me his spare set of windproof pants which I put on, and initially I resolved to go with them, but after 50m my balance felt terrible with my shivering, my ungloved hand was numb which isn't good for climbing rocks, and I knew I would hold them up. So I told him to go on and I'd remain at the Boulder Field. He gave me the other walkie talkie, and then asked to borrow my camera. I knew Tony had a camera and he was still going, so I told Todd I wanted to take more photos from the Boulder Field, and maybe go back and head up the Chasm.

I took some more photos of him setting off towards the Trough Couloir, the spot where climbers are at greatest risk from falling rocks. I then headed back through the Keyhole and ducked into the Keyhole hut, impressively made of rock and mortar, and sat down to chat with a few other hikers including two guys decked out in full mountaineering gear helmets and all, who had just returned from the summit. After 5 mins, I happened to look out the narrow doorway and saw Tony just below scanning the Boulder Field below looking for me! I called him in out of the wind and we ate some food. People from all over the world are on this hike at any given time, and we had US, English and Irish men and women in the hut at various times. Longs Peak dominated the conversation, with people exclaiming how no guide or reading materials came close to describing the difficulty and exposure beyond the Keyhole. There were also discussions of other Fourteeners and Everest, especially about the book I had read called Into Thin Air about the Everest climbing disaster in 1996.

It took me 20mins to stop shivering, then after a while Tony & I headed down to the Boulder Field. After some time more at the base of the North Face cliff we started heading back intending to go up the Chasm, when my walkie talkie started beeping. Todd had made the summit at 12:05pm and was calling me, and once he had worked out which side of the summit to walk to, we held a crystal clear conversation with him, and I took photos of him, James and Michael on the summit. They had no cameras because Tony had turned back without giving them his, so my photos are all the proof they had, other than writing their names into the Longs Peak summit book. Todd later found someone's website detailing some striking photographs of the territory beyond the Keyhole, including places like the Trough, the Narrows, the Chockstone, the Home Stretch and the Summit. These photos are at http://www.pbase.com/rianhouston/longspeak.

I told Todd our plans for the Chasm and we arranged to rendezvous at the trail fork where we stopped for sunrise. After a long way down, and a lot of knee pain as lowering myself over rocks was as bad as lifting, Tony & I reached the trail fork and started up the Chasm. I knew it was going to be good, but as we rounded the bend and descended to the valley along the steep edge of a rocky slope, I was stunned. After being in blasting wind all day since before dawn, above the timberline where only hardy tufts of grass and moss grew amongst the granite boulders, the feel of the soft breeze and warm afternoon sun, the sound of waterfalls, and sight of lush green grass and shrubs was like stepping into another world. The crystal clear waters of 'Roaring Fork Creek' flowed under a natural bridge above the waterfall, and I had an idea to use my camera's waterproof capability to dip it partially in the stream and take a photo up the Chasm towards the Diamond Face. I had to guess where I was shooting, and got Tony to tell me how far to dip it in the water, but the resulting photo was by far the best I had ever taken.

One last struggle up the slopes of the higher waterfall revealed the stunning Chasm Lake, at the base of the enormous sheer cliff of the Diamond Face, and at the end of the amphitheatre. After shooting more experimental panoramas where I did my first two-level sequence to take in the cliffs towering above me, I decided to atone for my failure to summit by going for a swim, and at an elevation of 11 800', Chasm Lake is frozen over in winter months, and I doubt I will ever swim at a higher altitude. The swim was brief :) and I have video footage of it on YouTube here :

We headed back down and made it back 5 mins before Todd and Michael, which was perfect timing. James had legged it down over an hour earlier and fallen asleep at the trail fork, while Todd waited and assisted Michael who had begun to suffer altitude sickness symptoms of nausea after 25 mins on the summit; they had taken 2 hours to get back to the Keyhole. Apparently Michael gets sick every time he goes over 12 000' despite having climbed 4 or 5 fourteeners. So we all started down again, talking and laughing non-stop about the day, how starting off at dawn felt like at least 2 days ago, how crazy the Trough, Narrows, Homestretch and Chasm Lake was, how sore we were, how nobody would climb a fourteener ever again, how good dinner would be, how great a shower would be and how awesome bed will be. As we got back below the timberline into the pine forests, we started making free bets as to how much further we had to go. I was the skeptic, coz I knew the first dark hours of pre-dawn was deceiving for how much distance you actually cover, and when Todd guessed 15 mins and I guessed at least 25 he groaned, not wanting to believe it. 40mins later we were still going down, and took another bet, this time Todd said 10mins and I said 15, and after 15mins Todd was leading and passed a sign, where he yelled in dismay "Half a mile to the Ranger Station!?". Finally, we got down at 6pm and Michael signed us out of the book, completing 14 hours on the mountain, over 16 miles and 5000' of vertical gain, and the craziest climbing experience any of us had ever had.

Tony, with good intention, took the shorter road home, which proved a mistake as it was almost constantly winding and turning and Todd got motion sickness. Todd eventually took over driving and had to fight nausea and tiredness on the way back to Denver, where dinner was waiting upon arrival. To my absolute torture, my clothes and gear was of course in the basement, and the stairs down left me breathless with pain much to Todd's amusement. But I got mine back later when I was stretching out in bed, laughing as I heard Todd's voice come down the stairs explaining to Shelly "Why is the baby crying? I don't know, that's just what babies do, they cry for no reason." Abby wanted to play, and so uncle Todd had to stay up and play, while I fell into glorious sleep.

Photos from the trip have been uploaded to Picasa, feel free to have a look at them by clicking below. Also note that both the YouTube videos and the Picasa Album have been mapped, so feel free to have a look at Longs Peak in Google Maps from the mapping links.

Pikes & Longs Peaks, Colorado (22-26 August 2007)

Austin, Texas, and floating

2007-07-19T05:36:00.001+10:00

On the weekend of the 13th-15th of July, I headed down to Austin, Texas to meet up with Jessi who had recently moved there temporarily while she looks for work in Germany. It was a fun-filled weekend, where I was introduced to a favourite sport among the locals.. Toobing!

I had initial plans to go to the Schlitterbahn Water Park in New Braunfels, which is apparently the biggest and best water park in the US. But the word on the street was that the big kid's Schlitterbahn was floating the Guadelupe river (one of many), which involves lots of young people, sun, skin, alcohol and no queues. The lure of hydro-coasters and surf chutes and waterslides was strong, but finally I was convinced.

Saturday morning was stormy but everyone was keen to go, and from when we arrived at midday, loaded with cans of various beers and pre-mixed drinks and margaritas, the weather was fining up. I quickly got the impression that it was rather popular, by the dozens and dozens of people walking around in swimwear and the big warehouse with hundreds of truck inner tubes stacked to the ceiling. $20 got you a tube, with or without a wooden board lashed to the bottom, a bus trip back from the finish, and a tube with a bottom for a cooler and a mesh bag for rubbish.

The river was huge, it reminded me of the Logan Creek at Big Riggen that I floated down on tubes as a kid, only about 20 times the scale. It is fed by a freshwater aquifer that is 68F (20C) all year round, perfectly refreshing on a hot summer day. After the initial traffic jam on the shores while everyone got into the water and into groups, we were off. It was just minutes before we hit the first set of rapids, which turned out to be the most severe of the whole trip!

If you can imagine a scene of absolute chaos, Jessi flipped and scrambled for her tube, I got dunked but stayed upright, the sound of rushing water, everywhere people were calling out, trying to re-group, swimming around to pick up tubes, hats, thongs. There were unopened cans of beer floating down the river at a rate of one every 10 seconds because some poor person had upended their cooler tube, the contents emptying into the river. We lost the contents of the smaller of our two coolers, thank god because my Jimmys were in the big one, and I'd already dropped mine (which sank!) because I was paddling about retrieving 4 other beers that were floating past!

After we re-grouped and resumed drinking, floating in the cool water in the hot afternoon sun through the lush green countryside, it was right up there with some of my most favourite experiences. My waterproof camera drew a fair bit of attention, I had it strapped to my rip cord which was strapped to my key cord in my pocket. So many funny things happen on the river. Jessi was scared of the fearsome snapping turtles (I saw at least a half dozen of them), while she squealed and scrambled to lift her butt out of the water she tried to convince everyone that they could bite your finger off. Some guys had a blow up doll. Others had waterproof speakers. We had to drink from our unnatural hand, if someone spotted you using the other hand they'd cry 'buffalo!' and you'd have to skull/chug the rest. I asked 'why Buffalo? What's that go to do with drinking, or using the wrong hand?' I was missing the point, you could say anything, Buffalo was a country thing. I was in Texas, after all. Guys were doing flips and jumping off a rope swing, I saw two guys with their heads split open, cuts that definitely needed stitches coz they banged their head on a rock. And then with each set of rapids, protect the cooler! Eric and I were ready to put our bodies on the line to save our remaining drinks, only he got swept down the main rapid while I got swept in another direction, the cooler nearly went on its side but he held it down with one hand, the other holding his hat, legs in the air with a classic 'oh sh$!' look on his face. It was legendary.

By the end, several rapids and 4 hours of drinking later, we were all thoroughly plastered, and the last rapid ends quickly and you have to get to the side before you get swept under a low bridge. A girl had drowned under the bridge the day before, and so event organisers sat on the bridge instructing wayward floaters how to safely go under, and cops were walking about. Other staff lugged around 5ft tall bags full of empty cans. I didn't notice until later the little slashes I'd inflicted on my foot. We piled aboard the old school bus that was our ride back to the start, and off we went, at a blistering pace of 15mph, driver had a cowboy hat on, Texas country music blaring, non-stop chatter and shouting, and I thought to myself 'hmm, I'm definitely in Texas.'

Apart from the river float, Austin was absolutely beautiful, with neighbourhoods the likes of which I'd never seen, hands down the best place to live that I've seen since coming to the states. Jessi, her brother Eric and his partner Ali, and their friends made me wanting to stay, and the 6 hour drive back to Todd's house and my home was not as exciting as it usually is.

I have made my first web album of photos with Google's Picasa, which is awesome by the way, and I'm going to use it to share all of my photos from now on. The link for Austin pix is below.

Austin, Texas (13-15 July 2007)

Oklahoma D-Day 2007

2007-06-15T01:58:00.000+10:00

For those who want to skip my little story (u slackers) and just check out the photos and videos, go ahead and click the link below.

D-Day, Wyandotte, Oklahoma (7-10 June 2007)

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=dineroseguro

A few weeks ago, at the end of May, I was on the net searching for 4WD destinations within Oklahoma, looking for an easy trail to christen my Jeep. There's not very much, one hit finally claimed to have trails, but off-roading wasn't the main attraction of the place. Called the D-Day Adventure Park, it hosts an annual event named Oklahoma D-Day, which claims to be the largest paintball event in the world. Intrigued I read on, and learnt of how it's classed as 'woods' scenario paintball, with Allies vs Germans in a re-creation of the battles of D-Day 1944 in Normandy. I then noticed with a shock that the start date was less than a week away! June 4th to 10th, it's a week long event with a series of scenarios and skirmishes, including a night game, culminating in the day-long battle of D-Day involving 4000 players!

My other plans for the night went out the window as I read through the facts, history and discussion forums, all the while forming a plan to go, as it was guaranteed to be an experience unlike any other, and it was the 10th anniversary of the event. I found a forum post from a guy named Patrick from Indiana, who had 3 friends drop out recently and was selling cheap tickets. Online registration was ending the next day, and the ticket price of $65 was about to go up to $110. I told Todd, asked him to pass it onto his mates, next day I told a bunch of people at work, the original plan was to go just to the night game taking place the following thursday night. I emailed & left a voice message for Patrick letting him know I was keen for those tickets. Only my work neighbour Kevin actually committed, being too expensive or short-notice for everybody else, and late that night Patrick called me back and I had the tickets for $35 each. Unfortunately, wednesday morning Kevin broke his thumb in an accident at his rowing club when he was moving a boat rack. So plans changed, and I ended up getting my boss to agree to giving me friday off, and I would go solo staying from thursday right through to sunday.

During the remaining days up to thursday I was hunting for gear, I went all the way to Del City (20 miles) in my lunchbreak only to find the army surplus store closed due to family emergency (what can you do). But in Okla city's surplus store I bought camo pants & matching jacket (even with the 552nd AGS insignia patches still sewn on), $15 each. Cheap boots from Wal-Mart for $15, borrowed an esky from Todd, a marker (paintball gun) from Nate with all the gear, and set up homemade fly screens for my Jeep as I would finally test out sleeping in the car.

Struggled through work thursday and scooted early in the arvo to haul ass up to Wyandotte in the NE corner of the state near the Missouri border and Grand Lake. That area is called Green Country, and is quite scenic, where patches of thick forest hang over the roads and rolling hills. It's the most scenic country I've seen since the plains infront of the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. I got to the D-Day park & met Patrick at the entrance, following him the short distance to the left where he was camped with the rest of Charlie company, 1st Infantry Division. Everyone was camped according to which forces they were assigned to, to improve group coordination, communication and to not disturb others with differing deployment times. I met Travis, Patrick's mate, a likeable bearded 19yr old who looked my age. All I had time to do was queue up for registration, get my blue allied hopper cover (a hopper is the paintball container attatched on top of the marker, which is the gun), watch the introduction video, jump in my camo, grab Travis' spare Tippmann 68 Carbine and head over to chrono. 'Chrono' is firing the marker through a chronograph so that it shoots paintballs at 250fps (feet per second). This was lower than the standard 285fps because the night game involved close quarters combat, sometimes point blank. After chrono, we went to the assembly area to form up with Charlie company.

I was amazed at the number of players, everyone fully decked out in battle gear vastly exceeding anything I'd ever seen at a paintball game, looking seriously fearsome. At least I looked the part, except these guys had belts strapped with pods of paintball ammo, allowing them to easily carry several hundred, even 1000 paintballs. the Allies had won the toss apparently and elected to assault a place called Coleville, the Germans defending. In the failing light, our company marched off along the road through the forest to the area on the map that represents Coleville, a large circular clearing containing concrete bunkers, tubes, and grassy trenches and mounds, with a single flagpole near a tower in the center flying the red German flag. It was very intimidating looking through my yellow visor to see all of the German forces dug in all throughout Coleville right to the outermost trenches, some barely 10m from the Allied lines! As we encircled them, exchanging humourous trash talk, I had a feeling I was jumping in the deep end. I was to find out later that the numbers were roughly 500 on 500, all contained within Coleville, less than 200m across. The stars were coming out, the night air was warm, the last twilight glow had 15mins left to live, and the German trenches crawled with silhouettes moving about. Referees stood spread out between the lines in bright fluorescent clothing that begged 'don't shoot me'. A megaphone announcement sounded 1 minute to game on, and all the movement stopped; everyone was ready. I focused on my objective, the nearest mound, left of straight ahead about 15m away...

Game on was an explosion of sound, the combined noise of overhead fireworks, booming concussion explosions, shouting, the rumble of soft thudding boots running on grass, and an amazing crackle of gunfire. I could hear my breathing inside my mask as I sprinted with a couple dozen allies for the mound and half-dove to the ground behind it, those who didn't fit lay flat on the ground behind. I lost Patrick and Travis within the first minute and didn't see them for the rest of the game. The sound of gunfire was constant until the last glow of twilight had gone, and then it reduced to sporadic popping and short bursts. During the dark, quieter periods, troops strategised, grouped and made advances. You couldn't see much beyond the nearest 5-10m. But every few minutes, the organisers would fire off some kind of pyrotechnics, the best of which were flares. Suddenly a whizzing orange light would shoot up from the forest line high into the air to the windward side of Coleville, and people would start shouting "Flare, Flare!" as a sign to either get ready to shoot, or take cover. The flare would fly 100m high I guess, and then there'd be a pop (parachute deployed) and then gradually over about 5 seconds, an eerie orange glow illuminated everything and everyone around you. Every single flare was the trigger for a massive firefight that would last a minute until the flare burned out, and the scene would reduce back to darkness, the gunfire reducing again to bursts and pops shortly afterwards. Travis later told me he was in the middle of crawling prone on the ground between trenches when a flare went off, and he just laid still and somehow wasn't seen (or shot). It sure was a spectacle, on a couple of occasions I stayed behind cover and simply watched, as a flare began burning and illuminated dozens of allied players all laying on the ground around me, half of them shooting like crazy, some of them getting shot with blotches of orange paint, turning and raising their gun in the air and getting quickly out of the line of fire. The din of gunfire was as if you filled a microwave with popcorn and turned it on, multiplied by 100x. Paintballs whizzed through the grass just above my head, and dozens more spattered on the concrete tube just above & next to me where a couple of Allies hid behind, leaning out to shoot briefly before pulling their bodies back and drawing heavy fire.

I heard a few good stories later about the gameplay, apparently a lone German came from the side upon a trench full of unsuspecting Allies in the dark, and after asking them if they were Allies, he ran along the trench barrel tagging about 8 players before someone shot him. A barrel tag is where, in extreme close quarters (ie. next to each other), instead of shooting at point blank, you either demand surrender or you touch the opponent with your gun. Patrick also told me he was involved in probably the biggest Allied push of the night towards the flagpole near the end of the game, and he ran and jumped and touched the flag, but got 'lit up' (slang for being shot several times) by the surrounding Germans. I got shot a couple of times, resulting in trips to the 'Dead Zone' where dead people wait until every quarter hour a field commander regrouped everyone and marched them back out to re-insert into battle. After an hour of play, a fierce storm with constant lightning had been approaching from the south, adding to the amazing atmosphere as flashes of lightning mixed with fireworks. But before the Allies could take the flagpole, drop the red and raise the blue flag, the game was called 45mins early on account of the impending severe storm, so the Germans won one of their few victories of the event.

It turned out to be one hell of a stormy night. Half of the campers had left earlier in the day ditching the night game, booking out motels for miles around, as everyone had advance warning throughout the day. Those who remained (the better half) were told by organisers on the PA to secure all their gear and take cover in their 've-hicles'. I'd barely had enough time to walk back, snap some lightning pics and change when the first storm hit. What's funny was the boys had put together a neat pile of wood and were attempting to light a big fire, squirting something flammable onto it just as the first gusts of wind blew through. It lifted all this dust from the road and I rushed to close my car doors and jump inside, and then the rain hit and the guys went scrambling for their cars and the fire was out in seconds. I ate dinner (trail mix sandwiches) safe inside while outside it all went pretty nuts for about 10mins. Then it was over, organisers drove around announcing it was over (duh), and said there was a 'slight chance of some more rain but the worst had gone'. I was woken up at about 12:30am by a second, even bigger storm, with constant lightning, wind rocking the car and rain lashing the sides. I could see, with each flash of lightning, the big-top in the center of the grounds waving about wildly, directly upwind of me. Then my phone rang and it was Jessi, she was out clubbing and had seen a tornado warning issued for my county and called to see whether I was in the storm. I said 'yeah, im pretty sure we're in it' as the wind gusted in a circle around my car so rain lashed the left side, then paused, then the right side. I spoke to her for a while and watched the tents around me being blown flat by gusts of wind, and while I was glad I was sleeping in the Jeep, it was tense watching that big top, for if it blew apart, who knows what destruction it would cause for the tents all around me.

Finally, it was all over, and I heard raised voices, some dude was complaining loudly and swearing about all his gear being soaked. I was thinking about telling him to give it a rest when he yelled 'nobody told me I was in the f%&$#ng amphibious unit!' I laughed out loud in my car and greatly lifted my opinion of him, and found out the next day it was actually Travis! Yeah, the next day I woke up, and people were laying all of their gear out in the sun, some tents had collapsed, and news was getting around that there had actually been a tornado a few miles away approaching Wyandotte, but it'd dissipated before it hit any inhabited areas. It was the second time in the 10yr history of Okla D-Day that a tornado was reported in the vicinity during the event. One family came back and opened their tent to find ankle deep water filling the downhill half of their floor.

So friday was basically about cleanup, gearing up for the next day's game, and the parade. I bought my case of paintballs, $65 for 2000 rounds, carried as 4 tickets that you swapped for 500 round bags. I also picked up a belt that held 5 pods, and bought 5 pods, all for $14! I also had to buy a barrel condom for safety (incase my gun accidentally went off). There were amazing guns for sale, ranging from $25 to $1300+, and a ridiculous range of accessories, the paintball market is huge in the USA. After lunch there was some entertainment, rumour got around the camp like wildfire that there was a dance-off going on. Sure enough a huge crowd was gathered around 2 pairs of girls and 2 pairs of guys, dancing for some prize. Two teenage girls in hot pants were trying to out-do two 21yr old girls decked out in camo and khaki, while two guys were drawing laughs from the crowd with silly antics and the other two guys basically sucked. The crowd was 99% male so you can imagine the calls and comments being made. The organiser had a good sense of humour, it was hot and the dance-off had been going a while, so he called for some water to hydrate the dancers, reminding everyone again of the importance of hydration which had been drilled into us all in the intro video. A big drum of water was carried out, but they poured it all over the girls instead of letting them drink it. One of the younger girls cried out 'I have white pants on!' The announcer had to cut in above the cheers of the audience, 'hydration is important, everyone please be reminded, this is a family event...' and they kept up pouring water. Patrick's camera batteries ran out in the middle of filming and he actually ran back to the car and got spares! The camo girls won as obvious audience favourites, coz they never stopped dancing.

The parade was very impressive, if you can imagine thousands of people arrayed in full battle gear, some in real military uniforms, carrying flags and banners, standing on trucks and tanks, chanting catch-crys and marching. I assembled with the rest of Charlie Company under Captain Sulley, 1st Infantry Division Charlie Company Commander. Also with us was Master Sergeant Spike, 1st Infantry Division Beach Commander, who led most of our shouts that went along the lines of 'Who are we!?' 'First I.D.!' We also marched near General Sulley Sr, Allies Omaha Beach General. The speeches were good, the owner & founder, Dewayne Convirs, talked about the history and heritage of the event, telling of why they hold it, to acknowledge the sacrifice of those in the name of freedom, and of course the patriotism, paying tribute to the American flag and the cross atop the flag flying high in the middle of the grounds.

So after turning in early, we woke up not long after dawn the next morning for 'the big game.'

It was quiet and serious when I got up, people were progressively getting up and going about getting ready. I had brekky, strapped my feet with duck tape to avoid blisters, and geared up. My kit involved: camo pants, my D-Day shirt (haha lucky I proof read my posts, I just noticed a missing 'r'), camo jacket, socks & boots, 2 water bottles in leg cargo pockets, car keys & paintball tickets in breast pocket, camera and hanky in left leg pocket, my ammo belt with 5 pods of over 500 paintballs, my hat on backwards and mask on forwards and my marker. I have no idea how much that all weighed but it was a fair bit. But as for others; I saw a kid with 4 paint grenades and 2 smoke grenades hanging off the front of his utility jacket, he was as wide with gear as he was tall. Sgt Spike was lugging around a yellow smoke canister the size of a fire extinguisher, weighing several kg, strapped over his shoulder. It contained enough smoke to blot out a huge area for 15-20 mins, probably as effective as a half dozen smoke grenades. In the Allied assembly area we witnessed combat divisions loading onto troop carriers and buses bound for Utah beach, while General Sulley gave us our pep talk.. "By lunchtime at noon, I want to be eating my sandwich on the top of Omaha beach!"

Omaha beach was to be my theatre of battle, along with the 1st I.D., and we 9 engineers of the 238th Mechanical, of Charlie Company, walked out to our staging area about 1km away. I had to laugh at one kid, I photographed him walking down surrounded by adults twice his size, he was armed to the teeth, carrying a beach ball! No doubt a sly-humoured Dad was nearby. Initially my crew and I were slotted to enter the fight on the second wave from the land-based drop 'boats', but at the last minute Capt Sulley called on the radio and needed our unit over at the water-based boat. While we were relocating, the battle started, and the forest filled with shouting and crackling gunfire. We were about the 3rd or 4th wave of reinforcements to go over the water boat, which was a wooden ferry designed just like the amphibious troop carriers seen in Saving Private Ryan, with a front ramp that dropped onto the shore. We were informed that we were invulnerable until we cleared the first trench line, then we'd enter play, and getting shot would result in up to half an hour at the dead zone. We boarded and our boat was half full, everyone huddled on knees against the sides of the boat, as we slowly ferried across the 30m pond to Omaha beach. I was filming the entire time, we approached through smoke, as we were about to land a spray of paint was coming off the front of the boat, then the ramp dropped and we ran like crazy under heavy fire to the first bunker. I jumped to the ground against a small wall barely 2 feet high protecting my camera, I got shot at least 3 times, and I got shot on my pods, my marker and my legs while I laid in that spot. I then found out that my gun wasn't shooting! Turned out it had leaked during the night and was out of gas. I had to leave the battle, extremely disappointed, and hurry off to diagnose the problem, finding the gun needed some repairs. Fortunately I ran into Patrick who gave me his car keys and I went and got Travis' Tippmann which I used on Thurs night. Upon my return, the Allies had advanced at record pace, and we were already half way up the 100ft high hill.

I'd never witnessed anything like it in my life. It was full trench warfare, you plucked up the courage to get up and run from one trench to another, every move drew enemy fire, I could see the paintballs coming at me. Once I jumped into a trench that was shin-deep with water without realising, I was so focused on getting to cover, and another time I crawled prone for 8m through mud to get a clear shooting position at the corner of a trench. You don't care. You're in the game. The biggest paintball game in the world, adrenaline pumping, sweating from every pore you've got, mud and minor injuries from jumping and crawling didn't matter, all you wanted to do was shoot the enemy. Advance, re-group, and charge. Charging was the best rush, although it resulted in me getting hit a couple times. Towards the top of the hill, the front lines widened out and became two fronts, one to left (Coleville) and the other to the right (St. Laurent). Allied forces were spread out for probably 200m, but I was in the push for Coleville.

It was hard to imagine the scale of the battle, everything I was seeing was only a fraction of what was going on, while other Allied forces fought for Utah beach to the north and Sword beach to the south, over a km away. Some members of the Allied command structure would walk around behind our front lines assessing the battle, and radio in reports to Allied command back at the campgrounds, where I found out later that there were military strategists plotting the fight on maps and directing resources. The field commanders would then gather ex-dead men who had served their timeout, give them new objectives, and re-insert them to reinforce gaps in the front line. Everywhere they went barking orders, motivating the troops, spurring them to advance or defend, and they were remarkably effective. I went through my first 500 paintballs and died and went to cash in a ticket and gas up my Marker bottle with CO2. I passed General Sulley on the way back, and heard updates about the battle and how we were setting records, then he headed off, fully geared and carrying a radio pack; he'd had enough of strategy and wanted to see some action. It was inspiring!

I ran into a few more from my outfit, and we exchanged stories. In fact, all conversations I overheard were related to the battle, about heroics, about strategy, about equipment. I discovered I'd lost a pod and couldn't carry my full payload of 500, but I brought the bag of up the hill anyway. After getting to the main Omaha hill bunker, finding the Germans were pushing us backwards (coz I wasn't there, tsk tsk), I ran into Capt Sulley. He was known to a lot of soldiers and everyone supported him and followed his orders wherever he went, he was a very effective leader. Patrick later joked to me how Sulley had just finished high school, and he was gonna find him after the game and congratulate him on graduating. I offered my spare paintballs in the bag to him and he gladly accepted. After reloading, we all came under fire from a group of advancing Germans that entered parallel trenches to the right. Eventually, we pushed them back, the Allies won the hill, and then we pushed across the open to the town of Coleville. A German tank came upon us spraying what looked like orange coloured water at our troops but amidst everyone's screams of 'Tank, Tank! Take cover!' an anti-tank crew came to our rescue & shot it with the special anti-tank paint before it did much damage. This part of the battle held another of my highlights of the day. I ran forwards on the edge of our line to where there was only 2 Allied guys putting up a hell of a fight, I guessed we were outnumbered 4 to 1. I crawled to their right and into a concrete tube, which then had another concrete tube on the end of it at a slight angle. This gave me 2 gaps in the sides to shoot out of from almost complete protection, and the end of the tube to shoot in any direction. Germans were running across a clearing on the edge of my range, but fortunately none looked into the tube (they were busy getting to cover). I was able to alternate between the cracks and the tube end, scampering back and forward in the tube on my knees, I drew fire numerous times without dying, and managed to take out 3 guys who'd shot at me, and 4 others who didn't know I was there until it was too late.

Another highlight of the day was mid-afternoon, when Allies had control of Coleville and were pushing north through forest next to St. Laurent towards the Airfield. After a big standoff across a gully in this forest, we finally got the upper hand and shot the Germans out of their foothold on the opposite edge of the forest. From there they went into chaos and retreated into the Airfield, and I was at the front of the charge. Allied forces threw at least a half-dozen smoke grenades into the clearing, and I advanced from the forest across the clearing under the cover of smoke, walking and firing toward scrambling German forces. When I drew fire, I quickly moved back behind the smoke screen, sidestepped and crouched, somehow I was lucky enough not to get shot. I'd kick the grenades further forward (they were too hot to touch) and I was at the front of the biggest advance of the day, we took 100m of ground from the forest out through the Airfield in a matter of 5-10mins, and I got some good footage.

The rest of the day was fun but otherwise not spectacular. I followed the advance all the way up to Utah beach, which we finally took in the last minutes of the game in a small skirmish. I shot my gun until it ran out of gas and wouldn't fire any more. Later I was to find out that the Allies had won a major victory, with 2400 points over the German's 1400 points, points being awarded for achieving objectives within set time limits. I'd had plenty of water, but was seriously hot in the afternoon sun and 80-something degree heat (I'm guessing 29C). I was soaked in sweat but couldn't take my mask off even after the game, while still out on the field of play. I slowly walked back up the hill toward the Airfield dead zone, several hundred metres away, and by the end I wasn't walking straight. I spent about 5 minutes fumbling the buttons of my shirt jacket while walking before I got it off. I walked through the meshed entrance, pulled my mask off for the first time in a couple hours, found a flagpole and sagged against it. I was so stuffed I couldn't bend over to sit down, I slid down the pole till I fell on my backside. I reckon I was close to collapse. I pulled my camera out and got someone to photograph me, more for my own amusement later, as I'd never felt so exhausted and hot in my life. I'd seen the event take its toll in heat stressed players throughout the day. Occasionally shouts would go out calling for ceasefire, and eventually within half a minute everyone would stop shooting while someone was evacuated either for dehydration, heat stress or injury (rolled ankles etc). I was re-inserting once when an ATV drove towards me, the masked driver with one hand on the handlebar, the other behind holding a chubby fellow upright from falling off, as his head lolled about in a state of near unconsciousness. I sat for 15mins recovering, drinking the last of my water, trying to cool off. Just about everyone had headed back by that time, so I got up & walked off again. A guy drove up with a troop carrier and called out if I wanted a lift, I declined, 'no thanks mate, I walked all the way down here, I'm gonna walk all the way back'. Probably the heat stress made me stupid but for some reason I was determined to walk back under my own steam. It was a nice walk though, got to see all behind the German lines, and where all the tanks drove about etc. Managed not to get lost, and when I got back to camp, I sat down for 20 mins with a cracking headache, took two paracetamol, moved my Jeep out of the afternoon sun into the shade, stripped to shorts and passed out in the back for an hour. I felt better when I got up, Travis & I jumped in Patrick's car and we drove off 20mins to grab dinner, then headed to a motel they knew of with a pool, and I swam in a pool for the first time since leaving home. Of course, at the motel we ran into people from the event (all motels were booked out for miles around), and exchanged stories with a few dudes from the French Resistance (a division of the Allies). We then hit Wal Mart, and Patrick and Travis were dumbfounded that I had never heard of Smores, America's most famous campfire snack, and so they grabbed marshmallows, hersheys chocolate, and crackers and some YooHoo chocolate drinks (a weird drink, like a chocolate milkshake, but there is no milk!). When we got back to camp, we joined our local 1st ID campers around the fire, I got out the laptop and loaded the day's footage and everyone crowded around...

The next morning I got up, packed, got everyone's contact details, said goodbye and headed off, having made good friends with Patrick and Travis, who have decided they are coming to Australia and out to Skirmish at Mudgeeraba and the three of us will take on whoever's there and show those bogans how to play real paintball.

I headed off, but not straight home; I had to detour briefly for a small town which was only minutes away. It was a strange hint of fate that D-Day was so close to this place, which I'd learned about shortly after coming to Oklahoma, but had no idea whether i'd be bothered making the considerable trek out to this corner of the state. My friends & family reading this would know that I come from a small cosy beachside suburb on the Gold Coast named Miami, nestled between Nobbys and North Burleigh. Well, Oklahoma also has a small country town that goes by the name Miami! But these Okies, they don't pronounce it Miami, it's Mi-am-uhh, as I was corrected. So I cruised through town & took a bunch of photos for folks back home, and wondered whether a bona-fide resident, not just a resident but a kid raised in Miami QLD Australia had ever been to Miami Oklahoma. I stood outside the Coleman theatre, Miami's claim to fame, wherein is housed the original Wurlitzer Pipe Organ, which by original I assume they mean the first. It was cool, the street intersections had a single 4-direction hanging traffic light, and I passed a community noticeboard for Miami High School. The best thing in the whole town was a budget self-advertsing sign painted on the wall of a business facing a gas station, which simply read 'Stuff N Things'. I saw that, and approvingly thought 'these Okie Miami locals are alright', before jumping back in the Jeep, onto the Interstate and back to Norman.

And that was my adventure to Oklahoma's North East and the world's largest paintball event, I guess I'm a veteran of sorts, and am I ever stoked that I discovered it by chance. Full credit to Dewayne Convirs and his hard working crew and supporting sponsors who put the show on every year in an awesome display of planning and organisation. And more importantly, an enormous thank you to Patrick, Travis, Nate and the other fellas who lended me equipment and time, without you all I wouldn't have been able to do it.

My photos and videos of Oklahoma D-Day 2007 have been posted here :

D-Day, Wyandotte, Oklahoma (7-10 June 2007)

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=dineroseguro

Lake drama and drowning girl

2007-06-14T07:09:00.000+10:00

If you want drama and excitement, go to a lake. 2 weeks ago I sprained my left ankle on my first wakeboarding session. Driving home that afternoon I had a car accident happen right next to me at 50mph where some loser tried to overtake me in a dodgy van approaching a crest, when an oncoming car came over the crest. The oncoming car swerved to avoid a head-on, while the guy in the van panicked and somehow managed to lock his brakes and turn broadside, skidding away from me across the oncoming lane and off the road, taking out someone's letterbox. The approaching driver swerved even wider a full 8-10m off the road right next to the fence, but the right front of the van hit the left rear of the car, sending both into a spin. Once they'd stopped, the van driver immediately threw it into first and floored it, and drove away skidding in a mad rush. I shoulda chased him and got his plates, stupid of me, I think I was a little shocked, something told me not to leave the scene but I could have come back. The oncoming car was bashed up on the rear corner a bit, the 50-something guy driving it was cool as, but his wife was hysterical. I hung around, gave the police my story, then went home.
Tuesday arvo, we helped out a boat full of 6 guys and a girl who had a flat battery, and Todd's starter kit solved that problem. I was trying more jumps and sprained the same ankle again with the same crash, this time badly, had to put it on ice from the esky ('ice chest'). At least Nate photographed it in burst mode! But the most significant event of all, was when we were headed back to the ramp after our epic session in perfect glass conditions, we found as we approached, a girl in the water clinging to the end of the little jetty next to the ramp! It only took seconds after wondering if she'd been swimming, to realising she was in trouble as she tried to pull herself up onto the jetty but couldn't. Todd quickly pulled the boat alongside the jetty, I jumped off and got to the end of the jetty and said 'hey are you alright?'
She didn't even look up, so I put my hand on hers and said 'it's ok, i'm here, take my hand.' She then seemed to realise someone was there, looked up at me and she was utterly exhausted, but took both hands and I pulled her up out of the water and onto the concrete pier. Her towel and car keys were behind me, but her thongs were floating away nearby, about 8m away. She was a young girl, clothed in bathers, a shirt and short shorts. After catching her breath for half a minute, I asked what happened, and that's when it all turned bizarre.
She didn't answer half of my questions, I asked how she got in the water, she'd only say 'I was upset'. She said it was scary, and that she went all the way to the bottom, but couldn't remember how she got back up. I jumped off and swam over to her thongs and got back and pulled myself back up, the jetty is about a metre above the water. Todd was still in the boat nearby, I said it's cool I'll sit with her a while until she calms down, so he went and put the boat on the trailer. I sat with her a long time, even after the boys had loaded the boat and I told them to go coz I drove myself and she wasn't ready to drive yet. She was 24 and worked as a waitress in the city, and was at the lake alone. We talked for a while, but she avoided talking about anything to do with what had happened. She even suggested jumping in the water for a swim, which I found crazy since she had just almost drowned, but she wanted to so we did, she can swim but only just. After I pulled her back out again, and asked if she was ok to drive, she said no she wanted to stay. I didn't want to leave her alone, and had nothing to do, so we stayed until after dark, and then finally when a storm was approaching, I said I had to go. I had offered her a couple of times to follow me back to Todd's and I'd fix her some dinner and she could have a shower & a dry change of clothes, but she refused every time, until I had started to walk away and she suddenly asked to come with me. But, in my car.
Her awkward conversation had started to irritate me a bit but for some reason I agreed, meaning I'd have to drive her back out to the lake later to drop her off at her car, 15min each way.
When we got home, she followed me around, I didn't want her in my bedroom, but I turned around as she sat on my bed in her damp clothes ready to lie down! I said 'no no, up you get, have a shower first and we'll get you dry clothes'. Todd was home and got a shirt, I gave her some trackies, she got changed in the bathroom and I started dinner, and then she went straight into my room and passed out on my bed!
I couldn't believe it, it was worrying, so Todd and I discussed it all, and then during dinner we heard her calling out in anguish, like she was having bad dreams. I said there's something seriously wrong with this girl. She had shown me scratches (probably from the jetty) but also she had bruises (probably not from the jetty). We let her sleep, and Todd offered to drive her back to the lake in the morning as it was on his way to work. I wrote her a note explaining where she was and what had happened, put it on her stuff next to the bed, stole back one of my pillows and slept on the couch. She called out several times during the night in the same way, I left the door to my room open. I woke up at 3:30am to find her walking around in the loungeroom in the dark! I beckoned her over to the couch, she couldn't remember where she was, she missed the note in the dark, but she remembered me. It was only then that I smelt the alcohol on her breath, and wondered why I didn't notice it earlier. She's either a very good drunk, or her drowning experience had sobered her up a lot. I sent her back to bed, and sometime after 6am Todd was up. We had been discussing possibilities over dinner, and I had put my money on her being abused and attempting to commit suicide. But after learning she was drunk, we agreed that she had probably been abused, and was drinking away her sorrows by the lake, and fell in. Todd drove her back to the lake, and asked her if she had been abused. She didn't answer, and Todd told her that nobody should have to live in fear, and if she was being abused she should tell someone about it, and he offered his number to her if she ever wanted to call and talk about anything. She just said 'ok' and took his number, which to me indirectly proves that we were right.
And that's the end of the story. I hope she ends up ok. She's the fourth person I've 'rescued' from distress in water in my life, and sadly not the first girl I've met who has been abused, or suicidally depressed.

Go the mighty maroons!

2007-05-28T01:44:00.000+10:00

Thank god for Mininova, thanks to that site I finally got my hands on the telecast of State Of Origin 2007 Game 1! It was torture not being able to watch the game live, which was taking place from 4am local time. Leading up to the game I was desperately searching the web for any way I could watch the match, and I learnt a few new things, like a program called SopCast which lets you stream live TV over the net. Network 10 Australia was one of the channels on SopCast, which was exciting in itself, watching it live from the US was so cool, even if it was only the crappy daytime screening of Dr Phil. Todd was walking past behind me when some ads came on, an Aussie girl was talking in an Optus ad and he just loved the accent.

But, Channel 10 is not Channel 9 where Origin would be exclusively played. By this time I was cursing up a storm and it was getting late, I had to give up. The deadline came and went, and I was asleep while the drama played out. Next day I was avoiding headlines and madly searching for a torrent or some video of the match, and suffering mild depression. I got an email from my friend Lisa, the short description in the email said "Hey Jason, Thanks for the emails. I have been great. Just got home from watching State of Origin...". Apologies to Lisa, but her email remained unread in the inbox. Later that day, Mum sent an email about Nikki Turner's new baby Elijah, so of course I read it. NOOO! I shut my eyes and turned away, but it was too late! Amidst baby photos, from mum who never cares much for State Of Origin, she spilled the beans with the words 'Go the Maroons!' It was insidious, I could have cried. I didn't though, coz at least we had won!

Couple days later, after I had gone back to read Lisa's email where she too went into full details, I found the telecast on good ol Mininova. After a playback drama, had it crankin on my laptop, speakers full volume, and the atmosphere of the 50 000 strong crowd at Suncorp Stadium filled Todd's little home in Norman, Oklahoma. And the surrounding neighbourhood. I was so happy, elation, my considerable efforts to get it had finally paid off. The funniest part about the telecast was how, when QLD was down by a 12 point defecit after NSW scored a try right on half-time, was hearing the pro-NSW commentary worry about QLD's comeback ability. Half-time wouldn't have been fun for a QLD supporter, but it was for me, half-time was edited out, so switch to the second movie and straight back to the action.

I was watching this in the early evening, and a bunch of people were coming over to our place to watch the UFC fight we had paid for that evening (Ultimate Fighting Championship). Chris, Adam and Todd were amazed at the full-contact nature of the sport with lack of protective wear on the players, since they are used to American Footballers that are padded head to toe. They might even be interested in watching game 2, and I'm determined to get them to watch it with me. QLD came to a triumphant comeback victory over NSW with a good variety of play that had me going flat out to explain the rules and tactics to the boys. Their questions were funny, coming from American Football, where you are allowed to tackle someone without the ball, you're allowed to obstruct the defense, you're allowed to throw it forward. NRL is very different.

So, the commentary mentioned how it was being broadcast on delay through Fox Sports in the US! I don't know what that delay is, I had looked for it but didn't find it, I'm hoping it plays for all of the US and not just some states. I'll be on the look out for game 2 gotta watch that one properly can't have it ruined for me. It's scary, watching the telecast, after hearing so much American talk, I noticed our accent, even though I haven't lost any of my accent, the only oz voices I hear regularly are my own and my parent's. I'm gonna watch more of Channel 10! ;)

Showing the sport to the boys, hearing them shout 'ooowh that's a big hit' on the big tackles and getting amazed & enthusiastic about the game, makes me think yet again; it's great to be Australian, and even better to be a Queenslander. GO THE MIGHTY MAROONS!

Volunteering to help Greensburg, KS

2007-05-16T02:34:00.000+10:00

Greensburg, Kansas (13 May 2007)

The period of May 4 - 6 2007 saw a tornado outbreak in the US Midwest, one of the most significant outbreaks in recent history. Leading up to the evening of May 4, according to information compiled in Wikipedia on the event, tornado watches were in effect across much of the midwest states. At 8:35pm the first of several Kansas counties were put on tornado alert ahead of a strong supercell thunderstorm. At 9:30pm, storm chasers reported the formation of a tornado to the southwest of Greensburg, a country town with a population of over 1500 which had been on tornado alert for about 20 minutes. At this stage the main tornado also had several satellite tornadoes, and over the next several minutes, grew to an estimated half mile wide, prompting the National Weather Service in Dodge City to issue a rare tornado emergency, the highest alert possible intended for extremely life threatening situations with a large tornado approaching a population center.

At 9:38pm, the tornado, now over a mile and a half wide with estimated winds of 205 mph (330 kmph), hit Greensburg dead-center and proceeded to destroy the town for several minutes. It continued to strengthen as it left the town perimeter, and by the time it dissipated, it left a legacy of a destruction path 22 miles (35 km) long and 1.7 miles in diameter at its widest, 10 dead, 60 injured, and 95% of the town in ruins. Damage assessment the following day prompted the president to declare Kiowa County a disaster zone and the tornado was given an EF5 rating, the first level 5 event since the new EF scale was introduced this year, and the only 5 to have occurred since the infamous May 3 1999 tornado in Moore.

In the aftermath of the tornado the town was completely evacuated within hours as there was no safety from the continuing storms. An hour later and just 20 miles away a second, even bigger but slightly less powerful EF3 tornado 2 miles wide killed a policeman, and the following day another fatality from a 2 mile wide EF3 tornado occurred near Stafford. Some looting occurred in Greensburg and a dusk-till-dawn curfew was imposed, and storms and rain continued to lash the region for several days. The rain soaked the wreckage, and much of what survived the tornado was then flooded or water logged.

Greensburg is 285 miles from where I live in Norman, and during the week I was seriously contemplating heading up there to help out in what was sure to be a huge relief mission. After discussing it with a few people, who mostly thought I was crazy and not serious about driving all that way, one of my friends Mandy (who wants to be a firefighter) was the only person crazy enough to join me. Saturday night I gassed up the Jeep & packed some gear, while Mandy was out clubbing, and went to sleep wondering about what I was going to see the next day. At 5:20am I got up, trod on my sunglasses in the dark, had breakfast and headed up to pick Mandy up from her house in south Oklahoma City at 6am. I almost got in trouble when I got confused by the stupid street names changing and overshot my turnoff to her house by 50m; since it was early in the morning I backtracked the wrong way up the service road, almost got away with it until a car came around the corner and beeped at me, getting the attention of the state trooper at the adjacent gas station whom I hadn't seen before, who was filling up his patrol car and saw the whole thing. I circled through the gas station, sort of waved at him after I noticed him staring at me, he gave a half nod and turned back to his car, probably debating with himself whether or not it was too early to chase down and book a moron in a Jeep.

Driving through northern Oklahoma and southern Kansas on I-35 was great in the fine sunny morning, with fogs over fields glistening with dew and the rivers flowing rapidly as they receded from flood levels. I got hassled at a Kansas toll booth on the interstate by two lady employees who loved my accent, which Mandy thought was hilarious. Stopped for morning tea in a Kansas town where the fuel was relatively expensive but still cheaper than Australia, at $3.16 / gallon. By about 11pm we approached the main intersection of the town to the east of Greensburg, named Haviland. Police had set up a checkpoint and was redirecting traffic north to roads that bypass Greensburg. Mandy and I had a backup plan where if we were asked what our business was, if going to 'help' wasn't enough, she would bung on her best country accent and say we were going to her uncles house to clean up. We got through that checkpoint, and from then on I was on the lookout for anything unusual.

The tall concrete grain elevator which I recognised from aerial shots on the news was visible for miles around, and it marked the approach of the town. We passed a group of motorhomes, and three trucks with mobile houses on their trailers, belonging to owners maybe hoping to become the first to re-settle. A sign informed us of an AM radio station that was broadcasting disaster information, which I turned on. On the perimeter of the town, another police checkpoint was in place, and once again we had to justify our presence. But this time the officer asked what street Mandy's uncle lived in, and after a stupid pause where I looked at Mandy hoping she would say something, I said we were going to call her uncle and find out where he is, and look around. This was apparently good enough for the officer, and he tied a red band around my rear view mirror, and wished me luck. Immediately behind the checkpoint, it was all hustle & bustle. Initially there were probably a hundred cars parked in a field and a huge group of people crowded around a large marquee and walking about, probably the relief mission HQ, or some arrangement for mother's day. I thought for a moment about the mothers who would be celebrating nothing more this mother's day other than being thankful they & their loved ones are alive. I decided that could be our fallback if we couldn't find a way of helping on our own. Driving on to the next intersection, we were confronted by an incredible scene.

I have never been in a disaster zone, and the presentation of destruction around me left me awe struck. There was a bunch of trucks and heavy machinery driving around the highway, in and out of connecting streets, so I had to watch the road and could only take brief looks around me. I turned my camera on and took a bit of footage as I made my way slowly past the hub of heavy machinery work and over to a quieter part of town, and took a right northwards down a random street. I was making mental notes so as to not get lost, because I had correctly guessed long before I got to the town, that there would be no street signs left. It was a week after the event, and though the streets were cleared of debris, there otherwise appeared to be very little sign of progress. But of course, with truckloads of debris being taken away on an hourly basis every day for a week, I realise now that there probably had been loads of progress.

I drove past crumpled cars, with wheels blown out, windows shattered, roofs buckled or torn off, every panel smashed, some on their sides, some stacked on others. Around the cars were piles of rubble, and by rubble I mean the remains of houses utterly destroyed, snapped and broken timber, bright sheets of twisted tin roofing, concrete foundations exposed in places. Streets that would normally be lined with large trees in full spring bloom, now held dark trunks with all but the primary branches snapped off, stripped of bark, standing like ominous sentinels foreboding entry to the hazardous remains of their owner's properties. The naked, snapped trees are a characteristic unique to severe tornado damage, leaves get pulverised in seconds, and in the daylight for a few seconds, a tornado may appear to turn green.

Ahead, an American flag caught my attention, hanging from what looked like a snapped off power pole. I pulled over to the side of the road, turned the radio with the looping disaster information broadcast off, and went to explore a little on foot. The southerly wind, gusting to about 20 knots, kicked up dirt and light rubbish down the street to a height well over your head, so you had to shield your eyes. The sound of the relief effort was ever-present, diesel engines accelerating through the gears, and beeping from reversing trucks. You find the strangest things wandering through debris; amidst smashed chairs and tables, a butter plate undamaged, the tip of a christmas tree, blue tinsel tangled in the wreckage, some plush toys, bathroom products, chopped wood, a street sign. I walked from what was arguably one house pile to another, as no fences remained, the best way to judge properties where the houses were gone was to look for driveways.

I decided to try and hunt down some signs of impact damage, like out of the Twister movie, fence posts flying through doors and stuff. I went over to the most sturdy looking house in the immediate vicinity, which at least had straight walls and part of it's 2nd storey intact. Sure enough, I found exactly what I was looking for, a beam of wood, possibly belonging to a fence or house, rammed clean through the wall near the window, so it was wedged sticking into the room, having blasted away the surrounding wall like a 1ft wide exit wound. I hopped back down into the rubble and found my first souvenir, a small metal watch with a metal band, the links twisted and broken, the face glass gone, but the hour, minute and second hands were still intact. The face said 'HERALA 17 Jewels, Waterproof, Antimagnetic. I slipped it in my pocket just as a man called out from around the side of the house. "May I help you?"
I said "oh, we are just having a look around."
The man said "You shouldn't go in there, there's a sign out the front."
We had walked into the house from the back and hadn't seen the front of the house. From the back , you couldn't tell which way the house faced.
I explained "We're here to help out and were having a look around first."
He pointed to the side and said "Red Cross is organising the relief mission over on the highway."
We started walking out the front and Mandy was following, I explained how we'd seen that area and planned to head back there.
He paused and said "It's just, this is my house."
That came as a shock, and all I could say was "oh" as he stood there looking at his ruined home. He was perhaps in his 50's, with grey hair tied back in a pony tail, a US accent but not very country, he was tall and lean wearing glasses and a cap, in a shirt and jeans torn at the knees. Then I recovered and said "well, we would be all too happy to help you out, if this is your house, if there is anything we can do for you."
Then it was his turn to be shocked. He said "oh...well..." and thought for a few seconds "...actually yeah, I have a bunch of stuff downstairs that I need to get out and load on this trailer, boxes and crates of family stuff, you know."
I offered my hand and said "My name is Jason, this is my friend Mandy, we've come here from Norman." He introduced himself as Gary, and he started talking about the volunteers, how there had been hundreds if not thousands. He said "I'm sorry, I can't help but get a bit choked up, but the response has been incredible." He pulled Mandy and I into a hug and said "god bless you both."

From then on Gary started explaining what his immediate plans were, as he grabbed a torch out of the car and we followed him down the side of his house, through a doorway and down stairs littered with broken glass and strips of wood.The bottom of the stairs was quite dark, and the room to the right was almost pitch dark after the outside light. It was carpeted, but you couldn't really help but walk through the puddle at the bottom of the stairs to get into the room, and since Gary went walking straight through it without caring, I did too. It was a family room in the basement, and he lead us over to a joining section of rooms, and shining the torch on a cramped, little room full of boxes he said "this is where my daughter and I rode it out." He quickly explained what he needed from the room, which was piled on both sides with boxes to the roof, and said he was going to head off to try and find a structural engineer to assess the house to see if it could be saved. A sign out the front he had made had said "do not enter, do not bulldoze".

So Gary shot off and Mandy and I unloaded the boxes. She had the torch and pulled them off the shelves and stacked them out in the family room, while I took them from the family room, through the puddle, up the stairs and out to the trailer. It was only at this time that the shock of being surrounded by debris and destruction wore off and I walked about feeling 'normal', because I had a job to do. We unloaded boxes for maybe an hour and a half, Gary had a lot of stuff, and I just hoped it wasn't junk to him, coz it sure looked like it to me! Didn't take long to prove that I had the better task, it was funny hearing Mandy curse and squeal in the little soaked room when she pulled crates down where water had puddled on top of plastic lids, and this dank stinky water kept pouring over her as she lifted things. We were a bit alarmed at one point, Mandy had pulled something, and suddenly the sound of pouring water started and didn't stop. Turned out to be a false alarm, the roof wasn't about to collapse, just a crate had no lid and was full to the brim with water. It was very heavy, Mandy wasn't sure what to do with it, I said to slosh some of the water out, it's not as if any more damage could be done.

Gary came back as the trailer was almost loaded, only then did I notice that he actually didn't have a car, and was getting lifts from friends and people helping out. He loaded two massive speakers in the trailer, and helped us move some last sodden boxes, and then he asked if we could go for a ride in my car across town to the church, where he could get some bungee cords to tie down the load. So we headed off, and he started telling us about the neighbourhood, asking if we had seen the schools, he would point out where churches stood, the town used to have plenty of churches. He had owned and run an antique store, which was now rubble, but as we drove over to the church, he was waving to everyone he saw, and one fellow walked up to the car so I stopped. They knew each other, as everyone does in a little town like this, and this guy had some antique-ish things that he had nowhere to keep, and was offering them to Gary. Gary is probably on the threshold of a monopoly in a booming industry, for trinkets and antiques that have been through an EF5 tornado, I'm sure there will be a market for them! Gary gave Mandy and I a gift, which he was excited about, he gave us each a 100 year old brick from the church. I thanked him earnestly, but had serious doubts about how I would be able to continue my travels with a brick in tow. But I loaded the two bricks in the boot and changed my mind, thinking it would be a brilliant gift for my flat mate Todd ;)

Gary turned out to be a fascinating bloke, with a good story. He explained with a chuckle how a few years ago, they lived in Vegas, and his wife wanted to move out to Greensburg, for 'a better night life'. Gary's sense of humour and warm, optimistic nature made him instantly likeable. In fact, his optimism was inspiring, he talked fondly of the past, and despite everything that had happened he had grand plans for the future. His wife and son were out of town during the tornado, his wife was involved with Greensburg town marketing, and had the only known copy of the Greensburg town history with her, so it was not lost. Gary had taken his daughter and sheltered in their basement when the warning siren went off, and a short while later, the approach of the tornado was like the roar of a freight train punctuated by crashing thunder. He estimates the tornado was actually over his house for at least a minute and a half. When he emerged onto the scene of chaos, he went across the road calling out the name of the 95 year old lady who lived across the street in a house half collapsed. He called twice, with no answer. The third time he screamed out, and heard a faint reply. He cut almost all of his fingers on plate glass in a door frame trying to get to her, and managed to find her buried under broken furniture and debris. She had bad lacerations to her arm and had lost a lot of blood, and so he tied a tourniquet for her and got her out of there, and looked for a way to get help. They didn't get far on the road, as all roads were blocked with debris, but eventually they made their way out, and near the edge of town they intercepted an ambulance. She made it OK and was fortunately only one of the 60 injured and not 10 dead, quite possibly due to Gary's actions. Gary's fingers were all bandaided and he had stitches, but it didn't hinder him in lifting or anything to do with his hands, which had been working overtime during that week.

When we got back, we tied down his gear with the bungee cords, had lunch, and then he asked if I would like to do a little sightseeing. We started with his house. He said if I wanted a good shot, to follow him. He showed me the living room, where furniture removed from the wall after the storm showed the clean wall contrasting sharply with the wall spattered with dirt and mud. In fact, the entire room, roof included, and all sides were spattered to some degree, eluding to what it is like to have a 200mph breeze comng in your window. He explained how in the wedge of the tornado, all of the leaves, sticks and fine debris flying about at such speed has the effect of sand blasting. He had a 400 year old table & drawers or something which was covered in filth but otherwise undamaged. The kitchen had weird square glass blocks making up the outward wall, and miraculously they were mostly intact, which he explained was much to the disgust of his wife, as they were what she hated most in the house. We headed upstairs, and I was watching my footing closely, checking the structural integrity of the wooden staircase as Gary walked ahead, and when I got to the top, I was shocked to look up suddenly and see blue sky! Infront of me, a large hole existed where a window was, above me, no roof, to my left, a room with no roof and no walls. We turned for the master bedroom, where Gary had a 4 poster bed. I betrayed no hint of surprise when he told me that he had mirrors on the roof of the 4 poster bed, and that one of the 3 panes had lifted up, travelled across the top, down the side of the bed and underneath before shattering. This was evidenced by the fact that the pane, while shattered, was still in a rectangular shape under the bed. We walked over and stepped out his window onto the roof, and made our way along the side of the house. It was sturdy enough, and Gary had apparently already been out here on the roof before. Jumping from one sloped section of the roof to another, we climbed right up to the 2nd story at the front of the house, where a slanted 2m section of wood was all that remained of the 2nd story roof. From this point, I was higher than anything in my immediate vicinity, and level with the tallest remaining structures across town. I took a series of 26 photos for a panoramic shot, keeping a firm footing to withstand the strong southerly wind that was blowing.

Afterwards I headed back down and over to the neighbour's pile to get a photo of Gary's house and where I took the panoramic. There I found the most striking rubble-treasure yet, amidst total carnage, dark and twisted and filthy, was a bright yellow rubber ducky. I took photos of it lying on its side amongst the debris, then picked it up and put it in the back of my car for safekeeping. I'm going to give it to my future kids, and when they're old enough, I'll tell them that their ducky survived one of the strongest storms on earth. Just after I put ducky in the boot a $100 bill blew past me down the road. It was only Monopoly money though!

After lunch, which was my first ever peanut butter & jelly sandwich (not too bad), we made plans to head off. Gary had been visited by a few people who had come over when they saw him there, including the previous owner of the house. The greetings were more than simple hellos, they were more like 'it's so good to see you, glad you're OK'. It wasn't hard to see how rural communities like this bond so closely and pull together in the face of hardship like this. One dude rocked up in a massive canary yellow Hummer with an American flag sticking out the side, and while he talked to Gary, the cutest little girl hopped out of the car & came over to Mandy & I. She was holding an even cuter kitten, which was just chillin in her palm, completely relaxed and peering about with wide eyes, while the little girl patted it and told us all about the kitten being 2 months old, what they were doing with its brothers & sisters, what her Dad was doing here (volunteering).

Mandy & I decided to head off before it got too late, because of our next destination I had to check out on the way home. We said goodbye to Gary, exchanged contact information, and I wished him the best of luck. We did a bit more sightseeing before we left, first heading over to the south end of town, the direction the tornado came from. We passed the theatre, the destroyed schools and smashed school buses, the firies sitting infront of their engines having smoko while their de-roofed base lie behind. I saw a mobile house which appeared to have been lifted up and dropped back down onto a metre high pile of rubble, and while there wasn't a straight wall left in it, it was still sort of intact. 50m off to the left, I saw a wrecked car sitting out in the middle of a field, and another truck in a mini-creek shortly after. Mandy explained to me how it looked similar to the May 3 tornado of 1999, which took out her grandmother's house in Moore. She spent months helping the family clean up. While there was a greater quantity of damage in that tornado, because of the dense population area involved, at least that scene held some houses that remained standing, sometimes right next to others that were blown away to the slab. The word for Greensburg's destruction however was 'complete'. Houses were half-standing at best, and the tornado path encompassed the entire town, leaving no respite to the eye, looking for something, just something that made it untouched.

I went to the encircling road around town hoping to see the swathe of the tornado track in the grass, but the grass had either blown back straight from the winds or the track can't be seen from the ground. Heading back north, to the other side of town, we came to what must have been the edge of the path, where I found the only street sign in town, twisted but standing, and took a photo looking back up Main street.
-------
Going to Greensburg was a profound experience, you can't help but be filled with empathy towards the people who live there. Seeing Gary choke with emotion as he talked about the volunteer response and people like Mandy and I making special trips to help made it all worthwhile.
To shake Gary's hand in admiration of the optimism he shows when he talks about the future, I left without any worries at all. Greensburg may be all but wiped out, but the spirit of the people is as strong as ever, and I have no doubt the town will quickly become even greater and more wonderful than before. Still, it is a massive undertaking, and I'm glad to have helped in some small way.

Of course, how could I drive all the way up to Kansas and across to Greensburg, without taking a side track through the countryside to a tiny little town made famous by a hollywood blockbuster movie themed on the exact thing I had just witnessed? Yeah, I had to go and check out Wakita, which featured as the disaster zone in the movie Twister, which I'm sure you all have seen. It's like my parent's favourite movie that they watch at least 4 times a year, and it is the one place in Oklahoma that I wanted to see most. The water tower, visible for miles, looks exactly the same as in the movie, and we pulled up near to it and jumped out so I could get my photos. A group of 4 bikers were watching us, and by the time I was done, curiosity got the better of one of them and he came over with his beer and hick accent to find out what on earth we were doing. He was a pleasant young guy named J, who liked his simple name because, in his own words, he liked a simple life. He invited us both over for a beer, and I was like 'um, errr yeah why not!'.

He explained how he and his mates saw us but didn't recognise the car so knew we were from 'out of town', was fascinated to learn I was from further out of town than he could possibly have thought, he was sunburnt to a crisp from mowing grass all weekend, the tear in his jeans exposed half his leg, and he had a friendly innocent disposition. I had trouble understanding his older buddies, especially the grandpa sitting in the chair smoking, didn't understand a single word that came out of his mouth. We had a 'Natural Light' beer, or beer-flavoured water, on the house, and had a fantastic happy hour in the afternoon shade with Wakita locals. Unfortunately, the Twister movie museum was closed for mother's day. It is actually closed most of the time, and only opens when you call the phone number on the door and a lady comes out and opens it up for you. The fellas explained how big the movie was for the town, how the main street (where we were standing) was bustling with people and the town population increased ten fold. The house that collapses, was apparently carefully constructed with hinging parts that swung down in precision timing to create a controlled structural collapse that could be repeated over and over! Everyone ridicules the movie, especially the part where they hang from a water main in an F5 tornado and get a bit of dirt on their face, but they love it all the same.

And that's it! After that we cruised back home doing 80 most the way. A very interesting and rewarding trip. Time to plan the next one, and rest my fingers from typing!

I have put up a few pages on my (incomplete) website, they hold a bunch of photos and video footage that I took on the day. Those pictures are better than my thousand words.

Greensburg, Kansas (13 May 2007)

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=dineroseguro

-Jason

Tornados and stuff

2007-05-15T10:22:00.000+10:00

And the last of four backdated emails!

Hi everyone,

Some of you might have heard about the storms that came through the US midwest at the end of last week. I thought I might share some additional details and my own experiences with what happened (I'll try and keep this one a bit smaller than the others, so you can actually go ahead and read it and not need to print it out to read before going to bed!)

It had been cloudy and rainy all week and then thursday March 29 saw the first tornado watch issued near to me. A tornado watch is sometimes declared on a county-basis if the counties lie in the path of a severe storm, or if any evidence of tornados or rotation is given by eyewitness account or doppler radar. I'm in the Cleveland county, which is Norman's county just to the south of the Oklahoma City county. Oklahoma City county was put on tornado watch in the afternoon, and while I was at work thurs avo everyone got excited because staff from the Oklahoma city office had called to say that they were all being evacuated because the Tornado sirens had gone off. Instantly everyone was gathering around people with radios and TV to hear more, and news was unfolding about a 'moderate' tornado on the NorthWest expressway, which is to the North West of the city. The tornado sirens are the same as the old World War II air-raid sirens, and wind up to a piercing wail that carries for miles. A tornado siren going off is the sign to take immediate cover because there is a confirmed tornado on the ground in your vicinity. The siren continues until the threat is over, then it whirrs down slowly over about 10 seconds.

The tornado ended up being a strong EF2 tornado. The EF scale (enhanced-fujita) was introduced in February this year to more accurately estimate tornado winds based on actual damage. I was amazed to see on the TV coverage, one of the huge long-distance power towers (the ones that have 6 or 8 powerlines mounted a hundred feet above the ground) was bent in half sticking over to the side. These towers are all metal, built to endure for years and part of major electrical infrastructure, it's just a metal mesh with no panels, you think the wind would just blow straight through it. It was surreal to see one bent to the side at a 90 degree angle halfway up. Later that night I was chatting to one of my new mates in a bar in Oklahoma City, and he told me that he worked on kitchens and he was in his truck on the way to a house with some finishing touches to the kitchen, and heard on the radio that the tornado had hit that exact area, and upon arrival the house he was on his way to was destroyed.

More info about that tornado has been published here : http://www.srh.noaa.gov/oun/wxevents/20070329/

Friday March 30 started off with strong storms down in Texas right from the early morning. It was stormy all day, and after midday, half of Oklahoma State was on tornado watch, given the fact that the previous day had seen 65 reported tornados and 4 fatalities across several states. The watch included my county Cleveland, and all the counties around me. By the afternoon, the dry line was approaching us from the southwest, but infront of the dry line were some of the strongest storms. I went to get some groceries after work (yeah on a Friday; earlier in the week I was nearly broke, down to $30 cash in the wallet with nothin in the bank coz I only get paid once a month, and thurs night the check finally cleared). So I was in good ol Wal-Mart at about 6:15pm, half way through my shopping, when I heard a peculiar noise that was fading in and out of hearing. Straining to listen through the roar of the rain on the roof I realised with a shock that it was a siren, and then about 30 seconds later an announcement was being made over the store intercom that a tornado warning was issued and that everyone had to stop what they were doing immediately and move to the back of the store and gather along the concrete wall. I was asked by two people what the intercom announcement was saying, and I said 'apparently there is a tornado warning, and we need to get to the back of the store against the wall'. Everyone was pretty calm, very blaz-e in fact, whinging about how long this would take, the wal-mart staff were doing a very unenthusiastic job of ushering everyone to the wall, and one lady was loudly saying 'as long as it doesn't take my car, anything but the car!'

I didn't go to the same part of the wall where the other Wal-mart patrons were being herded like sheep; I stood near the entrance to the warehouse out the back so I could hear properly. Above the roar of the rain on the roof, the tornado siren was keeping it's blood curdling pitch but the volume was fading in and out, depending on how many gusts of wind were between me and the siren which was miles away. I figured if the rain & wind changed from a roar to a scream then I'd go and stand in a little recess against the wall away from the doorway, but there was nothing really to hold on to. I then thought how much it would suck to die in a Wal-mart. Still, if I had been at home by myself, as my flat mate is away in Florida at the moment, I would have been packin it at the sound of the siren. So being in a public place for my first tornado warning was a good thing. The tornado apparently touched down very close by, according to another lady I spoke to on the weekend, who said it was down the road from her near the hospital in Norman, and it jumped a few times but was brief. If she is right that means it was just over a mile away from me to the west, but I haven't been able to confirm her claims with any news reports or anyone else. Not that I care too much, as long as I wasn't in it, and yeah, as long as it didn't take my car! I only just got it!

So I hauled ass after that and finished my groceries and headed home to find the roads half flooded and Todd's backyard under at least 6 inches of water. A half hour later I noticed afternoon light and looked west and saw the veil of rain give way before my eyes to blue and yellow skies. There were kids over the road standing on their front porch and they were wow-ing at something and I walked out in the rain and looked back over the house to the east and saw a magnificent full double rainbow. Ran inside and grabbed me trusty waterproof camera and stood in the rain for a couple minutes taking a few photos for a panoramic shot.

So that's my news. Funny that two days later the Gold Coast and the eastern coast of Australia got a tsunami warning from the Solomon Islands quake; crazy stuff! Tornados & Tsunamis, what's next!?

Jason

New wheels

2007-05-15T09:52:00.000+10:00

Third of four backdated emails :)

Hi everyone, got some more news... I managed to get a car! So this means I'm gonna be heaps busier and this will be the last major update for a little while.
I was looking around like crazy for a mid size SUV, something that wasn't a gas guzzler but was big enough to support me in the things I want to do while I'm over here in the States, like weekend trips, heading to the lakes and the snow for water and winter sports, maybe even towing my flat mate's boat so we don't need to bother his old man for the truck. I started looking all around Norman, a couple of websites, getting a lift to the somewhat famous 'mile of cars' in Norman, and after looking over hundreds of cars, I decided on the Jeep Liberty as my favourite make & model. My first experience driving on the wrong side of the road was in a Jeep Liberty Renegade with the car salesman sitting next to me and Rajesh sitting in the back (one of the fellas from the Xyant office who was helping me look for a car, champion).
So Rajesh and this guy were chatting away, and I didn't hear a single thing they said, I was concentrating that much; keep right, indicators are on the wrong side, gear stick is on the wrong side...I managed to do fine though even in moderate traffic. Also tried driving a Saturn Vue but that was too, family-suited, too 'nice' I suppose. The Jeep was more rugged, more powerful, better looking, better fun. But this Jeep had some issues, most of all it was only rear wheel drive. In fact, I was absolutely stunned at the fact that over here, 98% of cars younger than 2000 model are automatic, and then of those that are manual transmission, they were all either rear or front wheel drive. Two car dealers joked 'what do you want a 4WD in Oklahoma for anyway'? They just thought I was crazy, when I asked for a manual transmission four wheel drive, I'd get furrowed brows and head scratches and 'um, well we don't have any of those, in fact I haven't seen anything like that in ages'. Americans love convenience (hence drive thru ATMs, Wal Marts that sell everything you can imagine, and fridges double the size of ours back home full of microwave meals), and unfortunately, manual transmission is seen as an inconvenience.

It made me think carefully about my resale potential, but I just can't do auto, I wanted that manual transmission, and 4 wheel drive incase I get stuck in weather up on the ski fields or whatever may happen. So I started looking wider, and sure enough, in Colorado where it snows, they were relatively abundant. And then I found one car that had everything I wanted. After grilling the sales guy with questions, and getting him to take extra photos of particular areas at my request and email them, I ran the VIN number check (vehicle's history, which has become important since the used car market has become littered with flood restoration jobs from New Orleans) and all checked out. So, a million bank dramas later (bank security is so tight it's a wonder they even give you your own money seriously), the deposit was down and I was trying to get my stranded a-- over to Colorado Springs. I spent a couple days seriously contemplating a plan to hire a car from Oklahoma Airport to Colorado Springs; a drive there and back again that would take all weekend, involving sleeping in the back of the rent car on friday night. My flat mate then looked at flights for me and found one out of Dallas for $200, via Denver to Colorado Springs. I hadn't considered Dallas for the obvious reason I can't get there, but Todd said he had found a motorbike he wanted to look at (he's also in the market for one of those) and was going to cruise down with another mate Chris, and we'd go early and drop me off at the airport. So that was the new plan, and at 3:10am Saturday Morning I was up and getting ready for the 2.5 - 3ish hour drive south to Dallas/Fort Worth Airport, Texas. The airport is enormous, with multiple terminals for various airlines, and after getting lost both in the car and then running the full length of a terminal on foot, I made it to the United flight with a short wait till boarding. That was a fair bit of stress think I got another grey hair from that one, because of the consequences of missing the flight, and I've had my fair share of consequences already!

Descent to Colorado showed that most of the snow had melted from the ground from my last visit two weeks previous, and the countryside was like a white tiger's fur print stripes, with only the gullies sheltered from the westerly wind facing north-south having any snow left in them, shining white strips amidst the brownish grasslands. I could finally see the front range, which was in clouds two weeks prior, and it was breathtaking. Snow capped mountains. Colorado Springs is nestled in close to the front range that lies to the west, which extends north and south as far as the eye can see, and eastward is the start of the plains, with no geographical features of any sort.
I got picked up at the airport by Lucas, the internet car salesman, and headed over to Heuberger Motors. Well it was kinda funny, like a love at first sight type of thing, I spotted the Jeep from across the car lot and knew that was it, and a thorough look and drive later, it was sold. I handed over the 'cashiers check' (same as a bank cheque) for $13 000 USD which stung me about 18k Australian. Damn. Still it was a good buy esp when considering prices of similar cars in Australia. So, the feature list is basically as follows.

• 2003 Jeep Liberty Freedom Edition (also known as sport; but an overly patriotic title don't you think?)
• Black
• 3.7L V6 5sp Manual Transmission
• 4WD, RWD when not running 4WD
• 38 000 miles
• Sunroof
• Cruise Control
• Power windows, locking, steering
• mmm, cup holders (two of them! oh wait, they usually come in pairs don't they? I never had any and was always extremely jealous of those with this superior luxury feature)
• Those neat dashboard displays that are white in the day and black at night
• 6 stacker in-dash CD player / radio, 4 door speakers
• Tinted windows (but not for front doors, illegal apparently on SUV's here?)
• Two-tone leather steering wheel and matching black cloth seats with tan leather edges (best of both worlds, durability of leather on the edges, without the cold/heat of leather where you mainly sit)
• Roof rails (I won't bother with racks though, not yet) and once I get a tow hitch, towing capacity of 5000lbs which ought to haul Todd's boat to any lake we desire :)
• $10 000 USD cheaper than the Kelly Blue Book recommended price for that type of used car, which is good

The cruise control quickly became my new toy, and for the third occasion driving on the wrong side of the road, I headed back up to Denver to meet up with Stacey, my first friend I made in the US, on the connecting flight two weeks before from LA to Denver. We spent St Patricks out to dinner and I tried Venison meat loaf. So, confirming my first impressions, she's cool, and it's great to have a friend in Denver. Staying overnight I was up early the next day excited about the interstate drive back to Norman Oklahoma. I had two choices, one quicker route was to head east to Kansas and south to Oklahoma, but that is a flat, straight, boring drive. So I went south as planned, back through Colorado Springs, following the spectacular front range all along. I passed an enormous international speedway, which was a genuinely massive grand stand in the middle of the countryside, and a high-walled circuit track. I also passed a major accident affecting north-bound traffic, where a bus had blown up I'm guessing about 20-30 minutes earlier, with a stack of emergency vehicles driving up the grass on the highway center and traffic backed up for over a mile. Never heard about it on the news tho.
Stopped just short of the border to fill up and grab subway, it was amazing how quickly the countryside changed at the border to New Mexico. The rocky hills, short pines and small bushes gave way to yellow grassy plains and hills with black rubbly slopes crowned with small cliffs. New Mexico was otherwise uneventful, and a bit tiring, and the border to Texas saw another distinct change, to flatness and numerous corn pastures varying from brown and yellow to lush green, all arranged in squares containing circles of crops, and the watering gear wheels around a central point. Another stop in Amarillo, and a second lunch, and on to Oklahoma, where I saw distinct Oklahoman farms straight out of the movie Twister, with a big house, an even bigger shed, and a wind mill, and vast green plains of crops. I was still listening to radio, about the 9th radio station I had passed through, and just after dusk I got to Oklahoma City and headed south the final leg to Norman. By this stage the front of the car was thoroughly plastered in bugs (I had cleaned the windscreen 3 times from bugs already). I got home and what was the first thing I did (after unloading my stuff)? Got straight back in the car and drove with Todd around town and gave him a drive. He's hooked on SUVs now and so his volvo sedan's days are numbered ha.

All told, I covered about 720 miles in that trip, about 1150kms, over about 11 hours. I've already worked out a dozen ways to sit in the drivers seat to make full use of the cruise control, even got a foot rest on the dash for when i'm bare foot. Was equal to the best drive I've ever done, next to the drive west from the Gold Coast to Stanthorpe on a winter friday afternoon / evening a few years back.

There are some good personalities at work, I have been put through a few group introductions, the biggest was at an office-wide meeting in the (large) kitchen to discuss major company developments, Bill the boss said 'we have a couple of new faces here, there is Jason who has come here from Aus-stralia' and someone said with perfect timing 'that's quite a commute'
And they find it funny that the Australian has bought a Jeep Liberty Freedom, pretty much the most patriotic car title around, and when I was asked if I was gonna fly the American flag on it, I said I had an Australian flag on order and 0ZB0Y plates.

Yes so it's late now, i'm behind on sleep, work is full on learning heaps and contributing heaps i've had to hit the ground running there. Meeting more people at work, some guys with similar tastes of adventure sports as me, one guy goes four wheel driving in a Jeep Wrangler (nuts 4 wheel driving though, like oh look at that river over there, lets go and drive through it). And I mean through it as in along it, not across it. That's Kevin, and Adam I met today he also has a boat and goes wakeboarding, one of the bosses windsurfs, and so half of Metavante sounds like it'll be at Lake Heffner or Thunderbird in the spring/summer months. Looking forward to my second summer :D so I can retaliate for all the stories of great surf and hot weather back home with a few pix of wakeboarding and camping by the lake. Every day at the moment is being marked by a big achievement; an important possession bought, some weird US thing or terminology learned, .NET technology ideas for work, simple discovery things like driving down a new neighbourhood the likes of which I've never seen, and I'm sure this will continue for a long time still. Exciting? Absolutely. Challenging? Wouldn't have it any other way. Homesick? No, but I think about everyone back home and other friends abroad heaps. Fulfilling? I'm living my dream, setting my goals and making them happen, and I have plenty more to go!

Hope you all are well and looking after yourselves. I'll be in touch.
Jason

More news

2007-05-15T09:35:00.000+10:00

This is the second of four backdated emails.

Hi all,

I'm writing from my new home! I think this has to be the most eventful 7 days so far in my life. My new flat mate, Todd, has headed out tonight with a couple of mates up in Oklahoma City but i'm staying home to sort out my gear, and I have a big day ahead checking out cars. Todd's living room is pretty cool, above the gas fireplace he has a huge flat screen TV, I don't know how many inches probably around 42", that screens over 200 channels or something, including hi-definition which looks amazing, and a gadget for recording TV (not Tivo though I don't think), and some interesting gizmo which takes your normal DVD and simulates HD-DVD. It's not true HD-DVD, but it's pretty close. Got the wireless happening as well, it's gadget central here between both of us.
The centerpiece of the living room, and by far the coolest thing I have seen in a long time, is a stage, a wooden stage he re-assembled from college (or school?) days, and he has screwed a mad comfy 3 seater couch to it, and put the other double couch and couch chair infront and to the side of the stage, creating a mini-cinema. So Todd is into wake boarding, has a boat over at his parent's house, has a nuts wakeboard hanging up in his room on one wall, his snowboard hanging up on the other wall, and he works as a civvie aircraft engineer at the Tinker Military Air Force Base up towards Oklahoma City. So basically, he's a champion. We're already discussing going on weekend camping trips to various lakes to go wakeboarding, when I get a car of course, and i'm gonna have to do something with the kiteboarding situation. There are consistent winds and lots of kiteboarders and windsurfers over here apparently. That underwater camera is gonna come in handy after all! I got some learning to do; Todd has these photos hanging up in his room of him getting some serious air on the wakeboard and snowboard, quite inspiring, I'll have to see to that. Can't wait to try wakeboarding, I've been wanting to do it since forever.

As cool as the loungeroom is, my bedroom is definitely not, it currently has my junk everywhere, a half-inflated air bed (we decided to give Todd's electric air pump a burl and the batteries ran out half way, so the thing is charging :) ...yeah and my suitcase is in the corner. The bathroom has another one of those weird bath/shower taps, now i've seen it in 2 from 2 places, I'm guessing it's kind of common. There is no way to change the flow! At least the shower head is a little more forgiving than the one at the (lack of) Quality Inn, where showering was like acupuncture.

I'm still being dumbfounded several times a day at various differences between my old and new homes. For my mates who love KFC, I included a pic of a twister combo. $4.99, plus tax.They don't include sales tax on the displayed price, unlike Australia. Pretty stupid, apparently it's to make you think you're spending less, to buy more. So the sales tax just makes it a nice uneven, very inconvenient number, causing me to regularly fumble around for the right coins, which I am also learning, but I stand there squinting at the coins comparing size and looking for the rough edge vs smooth edge to tell pennies from dimes and quarters and everyone looks at me thinking i've escaped from a nut house. I noticed Amy go through a red light yesterday. I couldn't believe it, and I said why did you just run that red light we're in no hurry, and apparently it's legal to go right on the red if it's clear to the left. I enjoy the reactions I get when I then tell the driver (Amy, Todd and Rajesh so far) that in Australia, red means no go, green means always go, and the light goes out if you're allowed to go when it's clear. They are so shocked at the idea of the traffic light going out. Power points have no switches. You plug your gear in and that's it, on, away you go. Toilets (of course, I had to include toilets in my email) flush half a lake...ok let me set the scene. Open the lid, the pan is half full. My first encounter was in a public toilet, and I thought I had come across a blocked one. I looked at the one next to it, half full as well. Strange, but not so strange to be impossible, but when the third one was also half full I realised well...hahahaha! So after doing your thing, the flush is initially kind of pointless, everything sort of swirls around without going anywhere, as if to make sure you can have a good look and not miss anything, and then a small round jet at the bottom pumps the goods away (turbo charge!), it drains till it's completely empty and then fills back up...half full again. It's so bizarre, I still can't get over it. If we had them on the Gold Coast, the dam would be empty in a week.
There are hardly any desserts. In a store as stupendously massive as SuperTarget and WalMart, like combining K-Mart and Woolworths into one, there are ice creams sure, but I can't see any custards, no puddings, unlike the decent selection we have back home. And forget about Tim Tams, there isn't even any chocolate hardly! There are bars and that's it, I tell these guys about family blocks of chocolate, good ol Cadbury, taking up an entire wall metres (or yards) long, and they can't believe it. So that was particularly alarming, that shopping session.

Had my first storm last night, I was waken up by an almighty crack of thunder at 3:30am. I usually don't care at all about storms, I enjoy them, but I'm so hyped up about this tornado rubbish I'm kinda anxious because I don't know yet how bad a storm has to get before there is risk of a tornado, nor how often it occurs. Todd has mentioned to me twice (thanks Todd good on ya) that we're coming into Tornado season. But Todd's house is on the line, so if he's cool about it, I'm cool too. Don't worry mum & dad, everything is fine, I've got a good plan, if a tornado comes, I'll just put my head between my legs and kiss my a hey Todd tells me that Twister was filmed all around Oklahoma as well as up in that Wakita town. I'll definitely get up there for a photo sometime and send it to you M&D, since it's your fav movie.

I've been making friends here and there, Jeri, who I met on my first night out on the town in Bricktown, an area of Oklahoma City, invited me out to dinner in a Brazilian restaraunt with her family for her sister Mary's birthday. So her family was great, quite a funny mix. Jeri likes her pepper. I saw her take the lid off the pepper and pour, actually poured not sprinkled, pepper into her tomato sauce, till it was 50/50. I was so gobsmacked I took a photo, much to her disgust. Jeri and Mary took me over to Hudson's Hideout, their local bar, where we had a couple of beers. It's a cool place, the kind of local hangout, with lots of regulars. I met my first authentic North American Indian, Van, a Cherokee who used to be in the military he's a champ, so we had a couple of games of pool, and there was a Dart board (plastic tipped darts) and Mary taught me how to play Cricket, which is a dart game. hahaha. That was great fun actually, I never knew throwing darts could be that much fun, the game has some devious tactics, maybe I enjoyed it so much coz I whooped Mary's ass. No doubt about it though, we were both hopeless, so I can't boast.

So I'm in the hunt for an SUV, a compact 4WD, gonna try for a manual but they are quite rare, about one in a dozen or less. I attached a couple of car photos. The big trucks don't have any impact in photos, the real life thing is much more impressive, and ridiculous. Rajesh has offered to give me a lift up to Oklahoma City to check out some dealerships. Hopefully I can land a deal relatively quickly, at least the biggest pressure - finding somewhere to live to get out of the $70 USD-per-night-with-no-kitchen-or-laundry hole that was the Quality Inn. The (not so good) Quality Inn was a necessary step though in this frantic life change, and it was a preferable alternative to other places we drove past.

I start work at Metavante on tuesday, unknown as yet just how I'm gonna get there, but I have a couple of options. For the non-technical recipients of this email, you can skip the next paragraph :) They are a 1.35 billion dollar financial services company, and the particular part of the company that I will be involved with is their check processing software. From what I learnt at the interview, when a customer banks a check, the check is scanned through one of 20-something types of scanners, the image is then retrieved and stored in a couple of versions (one with modified contrast to remove the watermark background to clearly show amounts, the other like an original), and the software then uses optical character recognition to read the dollar description, dollar amount, routing number, date etc, something like 140 fields. and stores the lot in a database, and the images in another special proprietary database. US law requires financial records to be archived 7 years here as opposed to 5 in Australia, and as a result the checks database is currently just short of a terabyte, and there are several terabytes of check images in the other database. Mission critical redundancy and all the rest makes for quite an involved system, on first impressions, using a mix of web applications, services, and windows applications, in a multitude of languages, but all my stuff is going to be .NET 2.0 and SQL server 2005, using Visual Studio Team System and (interestingly) they are on CVS for source control. Metavante is the provider of this technology to all of the top 10 banks and 42 of the top 50 banks in the US.

It all needs to be pretty snappy too so will be good to be working on a system that is above sloth pace like some of those at Austar. Oops, there are Austarians on this email, did I say that out loud? Sorry :)

Anyway, that's enough for now, I'm gonna go and pump my air bed up, fingers crossed the battery on the pump can hack it, as Todd didn't mention anything about having a hand pump. It was pretty funny, the whir of his battery pump was buzzing away like nuts at the start, then after a couple minutes dropped a bit and steadied, then dropped again and after another 5 or so cycles it sounded pretty sick and the air was probably going backwards. Fingers crossed!

Jason

I'm here in the US of A

2007-05-15T08:40:00.000+10:00

To begin posts on this blog, I will include backdated emails I sent to family and friends from the beginning of my overseas trip to the USA. This is the first of four.

Where do I start? The past 24 hours has got to be one of the most interesting I've ever had. Well, I got away on time from BNE to LAX, emergency exit window seat all the way ;) and by the time I had gone through the little gadget packets you get with international flights, rubbed my eyes and scratched my butt and lunch was being served. I was curious, lunch seemed more like dinner, and dinner was absent from the schedule brochure; ice cream followed lunch. I found out why, since we were racing away from the sun at just over 1000kmph, in a surprisingly quick time it was getting dusk. We kept flying over all these Pacific islands, dozens of them appearing between the clouds, and L-shaped reef breaks in open ocean, was pretty cool.Then before the sunset we flew across one huge island, which turned out to be Fiji. I took an awesome shot out the window looking back at Fiji with the avo sun turning all the surrounding ocean to shimmering gold.

Dinner was nothin special, but I was starving and pumped everything that came my way. But when the ice cream came, it was like a mango flavoured coating over the ice cream, and when I peeled the wrapper away, there was mist pouring off the thing. Something was weird, coz there is almost no humidity in the cabin air. Turns out, it was showering ice particles which were 'exploding' off the surface, you could see it when you looked closely. I touched my tongue to the end of it, and instantly it stuck to it. I was like wow, thats cold, and kept sticking my tongue on it and peeling it off, as you do. Of course, soon I accidentally stuck my lip to it. I slowly peeled it off, leaving behind a layer of lip then I tasted blood. I tried to hide it by biting on my napkin, and was initially kinda worried at how much there was. But mouth injuries heal quick and was all good, although a bit tender, 3 minutes later. Turns out, when I asked old mate Graham (the steward serving my section), the ice creams had been packed in with dry ice at something like 40 below and they took about 10 minutes to thaw to eating temperature and about 60 other people had caused their lips to bleed as well, and he was going to report it.

Yeah so other things of note was the entertainment system crashed about 4 times during the flight and each time takes about 15mins to reboot. I was watching Man Of The Year (Robin Williams is hilarious and awesome) and it crashed, so me and Vern (my half-bald, moustached, big-shiny-belt-buckled Texan seat neighbour) and Vern's lady (a Bris woman can't remember her name but she was cool) hassled the stewards for some alcohol. Had a couple of quick Jim Beams on the same can of coke (the last beam the guy poured he filled the cup over 3/4), and before long we were story telling. Didn't get much sleep, only trailed off for maybe an hour or two, and we had minor turbulence pretty much most of the night.

Morning came and then through the haze below I spotted the first land, Santa Catalina Island off the coast, and then LA appeared! Pretty cool sight, flew over the harbour, a cruise ship was docked, the motorways go off into the distance beyond sight with cars feeding into massive motorway junctions. Landed and had to keep myself from laughing at some LA african-americans manning the ground equipment, dressed so typically in pants so baggy they walked toward the aircraft having to hold them up with one hand near the crotch and a distinct limping swagger. I went through about 5 officials, all of them more typical LA blacks I love the way they talk, to get thru immigration and customs and to connecting flights. There was a hispanic female officer and an asian male officer having a loud argument over something to do with the queues which was also amusing.

So Frontier airlines is cool, and I think generally, US domestic air travel is much better than Oz, even Virgin Blue whom I thought highly of. I had a Frontier stewardess sitting next to me on an off-duty flight, her name was Stacey, and made friends with her over the flight, taking my grand total of US friends to about four :) Flew over the Grand Canyon, at least I was pretty sure I was looking at the canyon, it was a huge area of canyons, dunno if Grand was on my side of the plane or not. Then later on, on approach to Denver, we came upon thick cloud, and hit some decent turbulence, not totally gut wrenching but a few of those good dropping feelings. Then we came below the clouds and I saw snow dusted over all the ground, about 95% cover, all the way to the horizon. That was amazing never seen so much snow. There was a chill on the wind when we got off, but I was in the airport terminal mostly until the next flight. Had a mad lunch at the airport, Ted the Chef's bistro/bar, and sat around a bar with a bunch of other strangers in a cozy atmosphere. Awesome service, and i gave my first tip of 20% (I asked advice first) to them, and chatted to an american meteorologist seated next to me, told him about good ol BOM.

Yes so, arriving at OK, met up with Amy the lovely cheerful blonde staff assistant, with an 'Okie' accent. Driving back in the company car down the motorway, I saw 10 times as many dual cab utes, huge SUVs and trucks as I've ever seen in my life. Every 6th car I would say, is a big gas guzzling truck utility, big Fords, Chevrolets, Dodges, many with paired wheels at the back, stretched, and they accelerate with a big gutsy rumble, and you can almost see the fuel come out the 3" exhaust. I've been told that Texas is worst for this trend, and Oklahoma is like a mini-texas. All young guys buy trucks, do them up, repair them, restore them, raise them, and just make them loud, only some have any concern for outward appearance. It's amazing, like coast guys are into jap cars, speed and drifting, here its all about the size of your truck and the noise it makes.

So I'm at my hotel, the Quality Inn, its not too bad, it's chilly outside, probably will get down to single digits celcius or low tens tonight, and a brisk westerly breeze about 18knots is blowing. There are American flags sticking up here there over the countryside, and the horizon is flat, 360 degrees. Quite a sight, seeing in the middle of nothing off the side of the motorway, a huge American flag the size of a small house flying about 8 stories in the air. The grass is like, almost monotone, barely any green its more brown/white, trees have no leaves, it's only just emerging from winter here. A tornado hit a school yesterday in, um, Grenada I think, killed 5 kids, and Amy told me as we drove through an intersection about how all the surrounding strip of buildings got wiped out in a tornado in the nineties. I forgot to mention, it was so cool to see little venice-beach style palms dotted all over LA everywhere you looked. I'm running low on sleep, got this hotel wireless thing happening, and it's 12:35pm AEST, and I'm going to bed.

Will have another update soon!

First Post!

2007-05-08T14:04:00.000+10:00

Welcome to my blog, the first of two I intend to set up. A thrilling series of episodes, stories, FYI's and memos in my not-so-simple life of being a traveling Australian I.T. professional. No doubt to become a huge time consumer and source of endless mind blocks and creative blanks and literal BS and grey hairs and...

Getting back to the point, I've long deliberated over the idea of setting one of these up, but not thought much about what degree of impact it will have, or even if it will be much use at all even to me. But after beginning my travels at the age of 25 and parting with the sunny Gold Coast for the United States of America, I was tired of emails as soon as I landed and wrote my first news update back home. Jason & Life is the idea, Blogger is the method (at the moment), and expletives will be left out. It's a tough gig, I already feel embarrassed and can hear the scoffs and comments 'oh my god he's got a blog' but here's hoping that it's a success, a medium to send my views and experiences to family, friends and strangers.

Jason & Work will follow once I have something worth saying, and contrary to the voice inside my head when talking about work, expletives will be left out of that too. So if you don't have a working relationship with me then by all means I encourage you to never go there. You'll be blowing bubbles within minutes and will see the geek in me in full swing.

Once again, I thank you for reading and taking interest in the topics of interest to me, don't be afraid to use the comments to spark debate, or write me off, this is intended to be a bit of fun, a bit useful, and maybe somewhere along the line, a bit enlightening.

-Jason