Thanksgiving at Moab, UT with Holly, Chris and family

Bill, Judy and Michael had a great flight out to Moab, UT and back for Thanksgiving.

Holly and her family pulled their camper down from Glenwood Springs, CO, set it up in the desert and hosted us. The most amazing aspect is that they can literally pull off onto a remote road adjacent to Arches National Park, pull into the desert and set up camp anywhere they want to! They need to be 100% self sufficient because there are no amenities like showers, electricity or water. Holly and Chris are totally organized with lots of water, food and warm cloths. Holly even brought hats for us lowlanders to sleep in because the desert gets really cold at night in late November. The camper has bump out sleeping quarters that are canvas enclosed so little protection from the elements. We learned to conserve our heat at night with lots of blankets, clothing, and of course, Holly's hats! What a glamorous and odiferous crew we made with no excess water for showers!

Flying across the Rockies was a first for our family. Skies were clear on the way out so we could easily see the mountain tops and where to fly. Minimum safe altitude according to air traffic control was 16,000 feet but we picked out way through at 13,500. We had an oxygen tank for Bill and Judy as pilots but Michael had to go it on his own in the back seat. He reported a mild headache and drowsiness but did just fine. He is an absolute trooper!

Flying in to the Moab airport, a.k.a. Canyonlands, was spectacular. We had an aerial view of the arches in the National Park as well as the amazing lands surrounding the area.

Once at the Adelman campgrounds we had a lovely Thanksgiving dinner. Holly premade everything at home except for the turkey and she is a primo chef. Chris set up a turkey fry-o-lator and that proved to be an adventure in itself. At times we thought that Thanksgiving dinner would be a vegitarian event, but Chris came through with a tasty fried turkey.

Chris and Holly were well prepared with lots to do including aerial rockets, dirt bikes, and a little dirt bike for the kids. Mostly the kids, including Michael, were happy climbing the monumental and spectacular cliffs surounding the camp area. Everyone took a turn on the mini-dirt bike and Michael received lessons from Chris on how to ride Holly's dirt bike.

The Trulove's, Holly and Chris' friends from Glenwood Springs, arrived on Friday with two dogs, three kids and a box full of equipment, including dirt bikes and an ATV. Michael quickly and enthusiastically became proficient on the ATV.

We set off on a dirt bike ride with Holly and Tina (Trulove) on their bikes, Michael on the ATV, Bill on Chris' bike and Judy on Ty's bike. Well, the course was rather daunting and Judy didn't do so well on a 450 with toes barely touching the ground. Michael ended up driving Judy on the ATV with Ty on his 450 as tour guide. All (except for Ty) were fully challenged on the course which is not for the faint of heart, let me tell you.

Saturday morning brought clouds and a forecast of snow so the Snow's were off for the trip home. We looked back on our hiking, camping, dirt biking and ATV riding experience as a once in a lifetime event to remember!

As we arrived at the Canyonlands airport to retrive our airplane for the ride home we had great hopes of brushing out teeth and washing our faces. Hard to believe, but... no water. There was literally no water at the entire airport and they put buckets of water in the bathrooms for self flushing with instructions on the stall doors!

As we took off (with stinky teeth) from Canyonlands we had the unique opporunity to fly over the Adelman/Trulove camp area with some steep turns over the camp grounds and wing waves. From the air we could see them all waving back.

The flight back over the Rockies was a bit more adventurous due to a low cloud layer with icing in the clouds. We were able to safely slip between the mountain tops (in the low passes) and the cloud layer and to our great relief, the cloud bases lifted as we proceeded toward the highest ridge of moutains for safe passage. The remainder of the trip, was, well... boring in comparison. No hair rasing events or Rockies to cross.

Overall, a Thanksgiving to remember for all.

Thank you to Holly, Chris, Skylar, Orion and the Truloves for a great Thanksgiving.