Friday, October 24/2014

Well, it seems to have finally quit raining.  The skies are clear and all seems well.
Lorne spent the morning servicing his truck as he chose not to drive today. Instead he thinks that today is a good day for taking us for a ride in his airplane.
I am sooo excited about this.
The flight was phenomenal. Lorne taxied out of the hanger and to the end of the runway where we boarded and took off!! Marilyn, who has been up more times than she cares to remember stayed at home. She volunteered to take pics of us taking off and she got a few good ones.
While we we taking off, a lone elk was eating the fresh young grass on the airstrip and as soon as he heard the approaching plane, took off into the bushes. That....was a very good thing!!
Once we were airborne, Lorne headed towards the Town of Sparwood as this is where he goes to fuel up. We landed there, took on fuel and once again headed off into the wild blue yonder.
I kept thinking "WOW".  It was totally awesome.
Lorne toured us up and down the Elk Valley and being the wonderful tour guide that he is, shared with us all sorts of wonderful information and anecdotes. He has lived in this valley all his life so certainly has stories to tell.
We flew for a good two hours I would think until finally, returning to his runway and landing. The whole trip was incredible.
Once we landed, we returned to the house, had a quick bite to eat and then headed off on yet another road trip. There would be no cooking for us today and it was time to road trip and eat out.
We were taken to several of the areas we had flown over earlier in the day and we got a whole new perspective on the lay of the land. There are certainly some beautiful homes nestled in and amongst the trees and lakes here. Once again, it was awesome.
We ended up in the small town of Jaffary which supports a local Bar and Grill and had a great meal and some great conversation with friends and relatives of Lorne and Marilyn.
All too soon, it was time to head home.

Lorne taxiing up with the plane

Tonight will be an early night as we are all feeling the need for a good night's rest.
John spoke to the repair shop today and the truck is going in on Monday morning to get the transmission looked at.
I see the Riders played football tonight, and lost to Calgary.....DAMN!!  That is not good!!

Lorne's hanger

Lorne and Marilyn's house

1953 Cessna

John, Marie and Lorne - just before take off

Getting our headsets on

Looking at camper from inside the airplane

The Instrument panal

Taking off

Airborne

The surrounding Mountains

The yellow tamarack was very apparent from the air

Marie enjoying the flight

At 6500 feet - awesome

The Elk Valley and the Town of Sparwood

Coming in for a landing to fuel up

Fuel tanks in each wing

A huge coal mine

Town of Sparwood and the Biggest Truck in the world.
See that little green thing at the bottom of the picture?  That is the truck!!

The Elk River

These mountains sit at about 9000 foot elevation

The Town of Fernie

More yellowing tamarack and some smaller lakes

This is a huge reservoir - extends about 75 miles

The bridge over Lake Chookanoosa (I probably spelt that wrong)

Lorne's Mom's place

Elk River Canyon and dam

Hole in the side of the mountain

Snow in them there hills!!

Back on the ground and waiting to go back
into the hangar

Mule deer ( or black tails, as Lorne calls them) near one of the little lakes

They were not concerned by us at all

This one actually was lying on the shoulder of the road.
He did get up when we passed but did not leave the road.

This deer was chillin on the green grass of a lake home.

Clay Hoodoos near the end of the reservoir 

Hoodoos and the reservoir in the distance

A popular pet cemetary.  

"Buddy" lies here