I was sweatin'.....

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The corporation by whom I'm employed allows my work group co-workers and I to get together once a year on the company tab and then the expenditures are limited. The past couple of years the group got together to spend a night in a motel, a nice dinner and go to a hockey game. Though I played hockey as a kid, I'm not much for watching sports except football and baseball. So this year when the subject came up I opened my mouth and said "How about a jet boat trip tour of Hell's Canyon?" The Snake River starts in Yellowstone Lake in Yellowstone Park and flows southwest across southern Idaho but then it turns and runs straight north separating Idaho and Oregon and then Idaho and Washington. Hell's Canyon is the deepest canyon on the North American Continent. It starts about 140 miles south of Lewiston. The Hell's Canyon dam is about 108 miles south of Lewiston. So.....they said check into the costs....I did and they approved it. Date 9/29/2007. So....on Friday, 9/28/2007..it rained....not like it does on the coasts of Washington and Oregon but that nasty drizzle that if it continues for 24 hours we get .3-.5 inches and the temperatures on Friday got up to a high of 58º F. I'm thinking tomorrow...OH BOY! The LOML and I discussed it and we invited all 22 people over to our house for a cookout following Saturday's trip.

Saturday morning, dawned.....48º F....but clearing.....soon it actually cleared.....we boarded the jet boat at 0745 and departed at 0800. It kept on clearing and the temps kept going up. That afternoon it actually got up to 65º F. We saw some very hearty rafters...or crazy depending on your view. Look at the one photo ...can you see the guy in the kayak?

We saw golden eagles, mule deer and Bighorn sheep. The high country had fresh snow...first of the season. We stopped at the famous Kirkwood ranch which was ranched by Len Jordan who later was Governor of Idaho and a US Senator representing Idaho. We went through several class 3 and class 4 rapids. There were 26 adults and 4 children on the trip and we all throroughly enjoyed ourselves. Later Sharon and I hosted 22 people at our small humble home for a cookout. Our oldest son, the deputy sheriff came over 3 hours before we got back from the boat trip. He and his wife put together the salads Sharon had fixed and cooked burgers, brats and hotdogs to add to the pork ribs Sharon had already fixed and put in the slow cooker.

That evening after everyone left Sharon and I collapsed. Sunday I insisted she remain in bed. I put up all the tables, chairs and did all the dishes from the previous evening.

It was a tiring and fun day!

Photos for those of you not familiar with Idaho....Hell's Canyon....God's Country IMHO!

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Ken,

Great pics! Looks like fun.

BTW, my grandfather was born in Idaho in the 1880s. It really is pretty country... but just a tad cold for a southern california boy... ;)

Thanks,

Bill
 
Beautiful Scenery, Ken. After my flying career was over, I toured the lower 48 by 18 wheeler for a while,:D, and always enjoyed my trips up through your part of the country, (of course, they always sent us Southern folks up on the Northern routes in the dead of winter),:rolleyes: (I think the dispatchers must have been related to Bruce's Bosses that send him to Alaska in the winter):rofl::rofl::rofl:.

From the looks of that high country, I hope you've finished your shop insulation job, and got the heater ready to fire up, 'cause it aint'a gonna be long now............;)

Looks like it was a fun trip.:thumb:
 
Great pictures Ken. :thumb:

IMHO, that beats the heck out of a hockey game.

I would guess that everyone had a great time.

So, how are you going to top that for next year??:dunno:

You'd better start planning now. :D

Karl
 
The outfit I worked for prior to the current folks (AF contractors) used to give the group of four of us a FIFTEEN dollar gift certificate so we coould get a pizza at Chrstmas time. That's $15 for the group, not each.

Better than nuthin', I guess. :rolleyes:
 
Jeff......Those from mid-west farming areas would be amazed at how they farm here. Lewiston is in the bottom of the Snake River Canyon. North and south of us are high elevation prairies where they raise peas, lentils, wheat and rape seed (mustard). They have hills on the prairies and farm it all. They often use tracked tractors (cats) and the combines have hydralically tilting bodies so they can harvest their crops. The heads on the combine follow the terrain while the body of the combines remain horizontal. IF the body of the combine was allowed tilt the grain would pile up against the side. The result ....the combines flip and roll down the side of the hill. Every couple of years you see where some farmer was injured or killed. The hydraulics failed, the body tipped....the grain shifted and the combine rolled over and over to the bottom of the hill. The LOML had an uncle who came out to visit his daughter's ILs. They lived about 40 miles east of us. Uncle Wayne came out during harvest and was totally amazed at the way they farm here. He was a retired Illinois farmer.
 
Ken, that is a little different than the farming in the midwest:eek: Not that far west of where I'm from in NE KS I've seen crews cutting wheat with a gang of 10 combines offset in line and 10 semi's waiting to be loaded. Large fields out there!
 
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