Fri, July 7, 2006 - 4:42 PM
Today I went for a ride in a hot air balloon! Finally. You see, I purchased this ticket way back in November for my birthday, but everytime I scheduled it, the day turned out to be too windy to fly.
The sixth time was the charm. So I got up at 2am and drove down to Temecula. I watched them inflate the balloon, waited for the other 9 passengers to arrive, and got in the basket.
Believe it or not, an elevator is more turbulent than riding in a ballon. It was calm as glass, slowly turning around in circles so we could all see everything. We watched the sunrise from 2000 feet, then spent the next hour or so following the winds over grape vines until we landed in a field.
It was very exhilerating!
When I was finished with that, I decided, on a whim, to leave Temecula through the Anza-Borrego desert. It was very hot (over 110 degrees), but the trip was worth. The visitors center was closed, but during a short thirty minute hike I discovered hundreds of animals, including rabbits, birds lizards and insects. The desert seemed to be full of life.
After that, I drove further east to the salton sea, then up to Mecca, which is a small town in the middle of nowhere. But I had a goal in mind. There is a road through a place called Box Canyon which is spectacular. Since I have a geology background, the strange tilted rock formations were very interesting and told me many stories of how this area was formed.
I drive through box canyon and wound up at the southern entrance to Joshua tree. I almost went through the park, but decided it was just too darn hot. So I drove home from there.
One minor incident. I was going 70 miles an hour on the freeway, and someone almost slammed into the side of my car. Fortunately, and I say this truthfully, I am a very good driver with excellent reflexes, and narrowly avoided a high speed collision. I had to do some very fancy manuevers, let me tell you!
Vernon "Rhythm Genie" Lewis (Sun, July 9, 2006 - 7:24 AM)
way cool!
...on my 'To Do' list ;-)
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Unless otherwise noted, all photos and text is Copyright © Richard G Lowe, Jr.