Day 970: Flying Goosnecks, Valley of the gods, and Monument Valley

Shabbos at Goosenecks State Park was quiet in our dispersed camping spot.  We walked along the rim and enjoyed the views.

This morning, I got up early and launched flight #103 from the RV.  The view from above was fantastic!  Our RV is the the lower left corner of the frame:

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Flying over the canyon:

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I flew northeast for ten miles to reach Valley of the gods:

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Coming back to land:

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Trish made a great breakfast:

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On Friday, there was a bit of tire slippage getting the RV into position, creating a layer of fine dust which captured these mouse footprints:

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We left the RV at Goosenecks and drove up the Moki Dugway.  It’s a one-lane gravel road with 10% grades and 5MPH curves:

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Views from the top:

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Driving back down:

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Views of the Moki Dugway from a pullout:

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On the way back to the RV, we drove through the Valley of the gods, which we last visited in 2011:

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We hitched up the RV and said goodbye to Goosenecks:

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Our next stop was Monument Valley.  We visited Monument Valley in 2011, but came in from the other side, so we didn’t get to see this view on the approach:

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We saw wild horses too:

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The goal of visiting Moument Valley this time was to fly out to the monuments from the Goulding’s Lodge airstrip, the only airstrip near Monument Valley.  The airstrip can be used for $50, or by Lodge guests, so we opted to stay in their dry camping, no services area for the bargain basement price of $40 a night:

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Setting up for launch:

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The air was really bumpy, so I didn’t stay up for long:

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This video has today’s two flights, as well as tomorrow’s flight here at Monument Valley:

See the trip map for today’s drive and our current location.

Day 684: From Beaver Dam to the Dells

This morning I got up at 5:15 and went out for an early morning ride in the countryside around Beaver Dam, Wisconsin.  This is America’s heartland, folks:

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After doing homeschool in the Walmart parking lot under torrential rains, we packed up and drove west to the amusement park town of Wisconsin Dells.  Mt. Olympus Water and Theme Park had a fifty-eight dollar deal which included one night at their full hookup RV park and two days of admission for four people to the theme park:

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We avoided the waterpark half of the park and spent all of our time with the go-karts and rollercoasters:

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I’m not a roller-coaster rider, but Trish and the kids rode Pegasus, which has a 45-foot drop:

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Pegasus was enough for B, so Trish and M rode Cyclops, with its 76-foot drop:

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Trish and M then rode Zeus and Hades 360, with 85- and 140-foot drops respectively.  After that, Trish decided she was done riding roller coasters.

The kids rode the Manticore, a giant rotating swing ride:

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Wood coaster detail:

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We’ll be back tomorrow!