Ballistic Peach: 2011

Monday, May 9, 2011

Thousand Springs State Park

Karma & I visited the beautiful Hagerman valley in South Central Idaho this weekend. The area has amazing panorama views of basalt canyons, natural springs, wildlife and hot springs! Below is a slideshow of some photos from the weekend.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

1975 Alaskan Camper

We took a quick trip to Montana this weekend to pick up our "new" 1975 Alaskan Camper. The weekend was filled with snow covered mountains, hot springs, brew pubs, and some interesting chainsaw art.

From Alaskan Camper

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

The Design of Flight

When I was in architecture school I worked at the airport to help supplement my tuition and pay for flight time. Often I was allowed to help the A&P mechanics work on the airplanes and perform menial tasks for them. When the mechanics would rebuild or repair portions of the planes they would throw the old pieces into scrap piles and sorting bins I always thought that many of those pieces were art forms in their own right. The forms and curves of airplane parts are absolutely beautiful to me. When I am performing the pre-flight before I fly, the feeling of running your hands across the airfoils and propeller blades somehow makes you feel closer to nature. You can feel the principles and theories developed over the years that we now know as aerodynamics run from the tips of your fingers throughout your body. As we are embarking on this new company that will integrate architecture and aviation I have been researching other companies that incorporate design with aviation and came across this one.

I believe that this company shares the same passion for design and aviation that has shaped my life and career as an architect and a pilot.
interflight studios

I would like to finish today’s blog with a quote from Antoine de Saint Exupery – the famous French Aviator and author.

"Have you ever thought, not only about the airplane but whatever man builds, that all of man’s industrial efforts, all his computations and calculations, all the nights spent working over draughts and blueprints, invariably culminate in the production of a thing whose sole and guiding principle is the ultimate principle of simplicity? It is as if there were a natural law which ordained that to achieve this end, to refine the curve of a piece of furniture, or a ship’s keel, or the fuselage of an airplane, until gradually it partakes of the elementary purity of the curve of the human breast or shoulder, there must be experimentation of several generations of craftsmen. In anything at all, perfection is finally attained not when there is no longer anything to add, but when there is no longer anything to take away, when a body has been stripped down to its nakedness.”
Antoine de Saint Exupery

4:38:38 pm Zeitgeist Half Marathon

We ran the Zeitgeist half marathon today. It was a blast! Both Karma and I came in faster than our original goals. Karma was shooting for under 2:30:00 and she beat it by almost 10 minutes with a time of 2:21:44. I am super proud of her. It was so cool to watch her run across the finish line. My original goal was to be between 2:10:00 and 2:20:00 and at mile 10 I realized I could make it in under 2hours so I kicked it into gear and ended with at time of 1:53:19. Trent and Michele ran really well in addition to our friends Jay Stevenor, Sue Jurf, and JT Moore. JT and Sue finished the race hand-in-hand which was pretty cool. Bill and Patty Davis came out to watch the race and see Trent and Shelly finish and they brought Zoie along. Zoie gave me a big hug after I crossed the finish line. My Mom came out to watch the race too and it was great to have her support. The race was very well organized and there were almost 1,000 participants. After the race there was live music, food, and beer for tired racers. Below is a link to the zeitgeist website:

Zietgeist Half Marathon

Below is a list of the overall results for our friends and family

199
Tad Jones
Boise, ID
348
M
36
1:53:19
8:39
382
Michele Koci
Boise, ID
367
F
37
2:05:12
9:33
538
Jay Stevenor
Boise, ID
922
M
46
2:16:05
10:23
545
Trent Koci
Boise, ID
368
M
37
2:16:47
10:26
610
Karma Jones
Boise, ID
346
F
34
2:21:44
10:49
671
Sue Jurf
Boise, ID
352
F
39
2:27:34
11:15
672
Jt More
Boise, ID
470
M
46
2:27:35
11:15

The overall results can be viewed at the following link:

Zeitgeist Overall Race Results

Nina Simone

Nina Simone (Eunice Kathleen Waymon) was active in the Civil Rights movement in the 1960's. Nina Simone died of breast cancer in 2003. A brief history of Nina Simone's life is available on Wikipedia.

Nina Simone

The artwork on this video is amazing and captures the essence of the song, "Feeling Good".

The video below contains the song "Sinnerman" which was produced in 1966

King Hill Irrigation District

Karma and I attended the Centennial Celebration of the King Hill Irrigation District in Glenn's Ferry this weekend. My Great Grandfather Henry Jones was one of the original pioneers to homestead the land through the Carey Act in 1908. My Great Grandfather drew the first pick of land in the land drawing. His first choice was a parcel of land in what is called "Pasadena Valley". That land, coincidentally, would also be associated with our family through the marriage of Kathryn Mills and my Grandfather Wes Jones. Henry's idea was to grow orchards and the land in the Pasadena Valley was thought to be too hard pan for growing fruit trees so he opted for land just above and accross the river from what is now the town of King Hill. The land is still currently being farmed and is producing potatoes and grain.

The land in Pasadena was drawn by our "Aunt Nellie". My Great Grandfather Glenn Mills came out from Iowa to help Aunt Nellie farm the land. I spent a lot of time when I was young listening to stories told by "Grandaddy" of the great adventures he had in the early days of settling and exploring the land we call Idaho. Our family was some of the first to explore many areas in Idaho including the Sawtooth Mountains. The high alpine lake, "Lake Kathryn" bears the name of my Grandmother, a tribute from her father Glenn Mills.

The Centennial Celebration was at the Glenn's Ferry high school and it was absolutely packed!? It was great to see so many people in attendance. My cousin Ken Jones was the master of ceremonies and did an excellent job presenting. His wife Jan Jones coordinated the catering and did a great job with logistics and also found time to make cake for everyone attending. My Grandfather Wes Jones gave the prayer before dinner and also talked about the history of the area and the importance of the irrigation district.? We saw a few familiar faces and also made some new friends.

The Centennial Celebration was a great success. We learned a lot about the history of the project, of our ancestors, and most of all were able to meet members of the community that keep the area productive and keep the tradition of farming alive.

Travis Pastrana Double Backflip

This is one of my all time favorite videos. Skill, concentration, years of preparation, and determination all coming together in a split-second to produce something exraordinary. It says something to me about the human spirit.

Happy Anniversary

Today is Karma and my Anniversary. This morning BoBeau and Hank and I made a little video to let Karma know how much we appreciate her. I am so lucky to have her as a partner in this life. Happy Anniversary Karma!

Patty Wagstaff

Patty Wagstaff is one of my all-time heros. She is an absolutely amazing pilot. I love how passionate she is about the sport and I also have huge respect for her outlook on life. She uses a combination of creativity, concentration and skill to perform some of the worlds most difficult, precise, and beautiful aerobatics.

One Old Friend

There is an old saying, "One old friend is better than ten new ones".

This is our friend Matt Haley. He was our room mate and friend during College at the University of Idaho. Matt lives in Portland now, and to prove he is a city slicker, he opted to bring his oversized suitcase camping with us this weekend. We camped up at High Valley with him and his parents on thier property overlooking the valley. There is a private lake that we took Karma's inflatable kayak out on and a little paddle boat that Matt's parents have. We saw tons of wildlife. Sandhill cranes, eagles, osprey, & deer. On Saturday, Matt, his Dad & Karma took the dirt bikes up into the mountains and picked huckleberries. They found a ton of them! On Sunday morning I made huckleberry pancakes and Karma, Matt & I went for a 25 mile dirt bike ride on some of the old logging roads for an increadible view of the valley below. Karma and I are really blessed to have such great friends & family.

Gunnison Colorado | Motorcycle Trip

We had an amazing trip to Colorado this last week. Below are some photos from the trip.

Tad gearing up for the trip...waiting for Aaron & getting wired on coffee on the first morning.

A.J. & Tad ready for the trip

Scott (Wingman) Joined us from Portland and rode with us down to Gunnison. I don't know what he is pointing at & neither does he. We were heading across this amazingly remote area in Southern Idaho on Highway 81 between Idahome and Malta. It is one of the straightest roads I have ever been on.

Yes, I was the only one on the trip with hair. I had to ride with these two "cueballs" the entire trip down :). Just joki'n guys. Just remember the headblade http://www.headblade.com/ We did joke around about me shaving my head. Maybe next time....Yeah Right!!

What is he pointing at!? Next stop was Bear Lake. The border between Idaho and Utah cuts the lake in half. It is this amazing blue color and is gigantic! We had a little sand rally where we were spinning broadies and taking speed runs on the beach. Not an easy task with slick tires on. It was a blast. A.J. had the wildest ride and was throwing big rooster tails of sand in the air. We all made it back onto the highway without dumping our bikes in the sand.

Tad at Bear Lake.

The one drawback to the Triumph Bonneville is that it doesn't carry much fuel. We decided to push on to the next town for gas and just as we were about running on fumes we found this gas pump in the middle of the desert. It looked like it was deserted. There was no attendant or anything. Thinking we were in dire straights we pulled up to the pumps & sure enough just insert a credit card and start pumping. As we left we went around the next little hill and on the other side was a town...Kimmerer...hidden in the desert. We weren't as far from civilization as we thought! :)

We stopped in the town of Green River and bought some food to cook over my stove and a 12 pack of PBR. We strapped the beer to the back of my bike and headed South to Flaming Gorge. I saw a creek crossing on my GPS and gunned it to get down there before it got dark. I'm sure the guys were thinking, "Where is he going with our beer?!" We got to the crossing and it was Black's Fork of the Green River. We rode out onto this mud bar. We contemplated staying right next to the river, but were concerned if the river might rise in the night so we moved to higher ground. A.J. dumped his bike after getting stuck in the mud. Here is Scott pointing at me. The map says that this is where John Wesley Powell's expedition started from in 1869. This is God's country down here! We tried to swim in the water, but the banks were so muddy and the water so silty, that we decided to forgoe the bath since we figured we might actually be more dirty from swimming in the water!

A.J.'s self portrait on his engine case.

Packing up for another amazing day of riding. This was a beautiful morning. It was starting to sink in what we were really doing out here. Starting to forget about work and the stress of everyday life.

Brit Rocker "Red Winged Blackbird" at the "Flaming Gorge" on the Green River after crossing the border into Utah. Thanks for the cool shades "Chopper"!...and I know you guys were envious of my hydration backpack by this day...even though you were yanking my chain about wearing it early on the beginning of the trip.