Sierra Canyon Snow Shoe Trip to Matrimony Ridge

I have had a really busy year so far but yesterday I finally got to go on another snow shoe hike with the Sierra Canyon Hiking Group. My last snow shoeing expedition to Andesite Peak on New Years day was wonderful but the trip to Matrimony Ridge yesterday was just as good or better. The book Snowshoe Trails of Tahoe: Best Routes in the Tahoe Sierra By Mike White Has a great description of this trip.

The trail head was near the Kingvale exit off of Interstate 80. We parked under the freeway and snow shoed south about 2.75 miles and 1000 feet of elevation gain. It didn’t seem too hard and the scenery was fantastic. The weather was great too. In fact I was almost too warm.

At the top we sat on some rocks and had lunch before heading down.

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If you would like to see all of my pictures from the trip you can see them here.

Winter Travels

We made it home from Iowa Tuesday night. The trip reminded me of the good things and the bad things about Midwest winters and how difficult traveling in the Midwest in the winter can be. On Monday we drove to the Ceder Rapids airport and Duke returned the rental car while I lugged the bags inside. When I got to the airline counter the lady informed me that all flights out were canceled and that driving to another airport Like Des Moines or O’Hare wouldn’t help because the whole area was having the same fog problems. We changed the reservations for the same flight on Tuesday and rented a new car from a different company because National now said they were out of cars even though we had just turned ours in and obviously no one was going to be coming in to the closed airport to rent a car!

On Tuesday it looked like planes were flying even though it was snowing pretty hard by the time we left for Cedar Rapids. We arrived at the Eastern Iowa Airport and optimistically checked in. The flight from Cedar Rapids to Dallas was scheduled to be on a small three seat across jet. We flew in on the same kind of plane. It holds about 40 people but the cabin is so small that Duke can’t stand up straight in the aisle. I was surprised when we boarded the plane pretty much on time. There was snow and ice on the windows and wings so I was glad when they started to spray orange stuff to de-ice the plane. But then pilot announced that there was bad weather in Dallas so we would be waiting in Cedar Rapids for about an hour until air traffic control let us take off. After an hour of sitting on the plane on the ground watching more ice  and snow build up on the wings I was getting more and more nervous. I was sure that we would again have the flight canceled. But instead they started to de-ice us again and the pilot started to taxi out to the runway.

The de-icing process used two liquids one orange and the other a green gel like substance.  As we taxied to the runway the second green gel substance was still on the wings. Apparently it is supposed to stop new ice from forming on the wings even though it was still snowing pretty hard. At the end of the runway the pilot announced that air traffic control wanted us to wait another 5 minutes. Five minutes later he announced that it would be another five minute. The green gel on the wings seemed to be doing its job but I was expecting the next announcement to be that we were going back to the terminal to de-ice again or perhaps even to have the flight canceled again. Instead after five more minutes we pulled out onto the runway and started down the runway to takeoff. As we built up speed the green gel was flowing off the wings. I suppose it was my imagination but it sure  seemed like we took a very long time to build up enough speed and lift to get off the runway. In spite of my worries we made it.

We kept climbing. It was pretty bumpy but eventually we got through the turbulence and clouds . The blue sky and sun above the clouds was wonderful. I don’t think we saw the sun the whole time we were in Iowa except maybe on the first day when the temperature was -4 degrees Fahrenheit and the wind chill was -25. That was bone chilling cold.

We were about 90 minutes late getting into Dallas. We had to rush to make our Reno flight. But we made it and arrived home in Reno safely about 9:30 pm.

The good things about winter in the Midwest include the fun you can have doing things like sledding and snow man building

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The first picture is of Duke and his nephew, Paul, racing. The next picture is of Duke and me getting ready to race. The snowmen are Wilbur and Fred built by Paul and Vicky.

I was inspired to write this post after reading the blog post Thirty Below on the Flight Level 390 blog.  Dave who writes Flight Level 390 is a commercial pilot and a very talented writer. His blog is well worth reading regularly. Thirty Below is about what it took to get out of Edmonton recently.

I’ve been home four days and I’m leaving again tomorrow. Dad and I are driving the truck back to Escondido. We are going to pick up another load of his stuff. My sister B is flying in to Escondido Thursday night. The three of us will then drive Dad’s van and our truck, loaded to the gills, back north to Reno. Dad moves in to his new apartment on Saturday.

In Iowa

Duke’s Mom died Friday. Although she had cancer and we knew she didn’t have a lot of time left it was still a shock. She was a wonderful and very special woman. She made a difference in all of our lives. Duke and I flew to Iowa yesterday. The funeral is Friday. We think we will be back in Reno next week

The Real All Americans by Sally Jenkins

I recently read The Real All Americans by Sally Jenkins. The book tells the story of the beginnings of American football and the Carlisle Indian Industrial School during the late 1890’s and early 1900’s. There are multiple different themes in this book. The interweaving of these different themes makes The Real All Americans a fascinating and illuminating book.

The football history part of the story educated me on a subject about which I knew almost nothing. The name Pop Warner is a familiar one but I didn’t know about his life and what he contributed to the game of football. I also didn’t know that Pop Warner once coached at my alma matter, Iowa State University. I didn’t realize how brutal a sport football was in the early years. Did you know that "1904 was among the dirtiest and most violent college football seasons ever played. There were twenty-one fatalities and more than two hundred serious injuries across the nation." and "in the 1905 season there were another eighteen deaths and 149 serious injuries reported."

Understandably after these two years there was a big push to abolish football. Major rule changes were implemented. As a result of the rule changes the forward pass was developed. In 1907 the Carlisle Indian football team was the first team to "throw the ball deeply and regularly downfield".

The story of the Carlisle Indian School and of what was happening to American Indians as they were integrated into American society is also fascinating. I didn’t know that the government created boarding schools to educate Indian children. It is always disturbing for me to read about how we treated the Indians. The Real All Americans is especially interesting because it gives a balanced view of this period in American history and how through football the Indians were able to fight back. The Indian culture educated the white culture as much as vice versa. The story begins and ends with the 1912 game between the Army West Point football team and The Carlisle Indian School team coached by Pop Warner. 

In addition to Pop Warner the familiar names who played football during this period include Jim Thorpe, Dwight Eisenhower and Omar Bradley. Theodore Roosevelt was big fan of the game. The Real All Americans is also the story of Lt Col. Richard Henry Pratt  who founded the Carlisle Indian School.

The back dust cover flap of The Real All Americans sums up the book well. " The Real All Americans is about the end of a culture and the birth of a game that has thrilled Americans for generations. It is an inspiring reminder of the extraordinary things that can be achieved when we set aside our differences and embrace a common purpose."

Even if my teams didn’t win the play off games last weekend it seems appropriate to recommend The Real All Americans as the Superbowl approaches. I thoroughly enjoyed it and can highly recommend it.

My Dad’s House is For Sale in Escondido, California

If you know someone who is looking for a beautiful house in the San Diego area with a marvelous garden and a stupendous view then please tell them to look at my Dad’s house.

You can click  here to look at the listing and the virtual tour.

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As I have mentioned before my father is selling his house just north of San Diego and is moving to Reno. He is on the waiting list at the Classic Residences by Hyatt in Reno.