That's Pad Chief to You

Well I hope every one has a good relaxing memorial day. I know I will because I have a busy 2 weeks coming up. It is once again time to go to the farp, which stands for Forward Arming Refueling Point. Basically it is where we armament dawgs make our money. The Apaches will come land at the farp and we will load some 30mm rounds and rockets up then the pilots will go shoot at some targets.

At a farp the spots that the helicopters land at are called farp pads. The head guy in charge of each pad is called the pad chief. And lucky me I got put as the pad chief for the number one pad. This is good and bad. I am looking forward to doing this because I love working at the farp. It's always awesome, loading up rounds and rockets with blades spinning and feeling the immense power of the aircraft as it lifts off the ground just feet from where you are standing. But the bad part is that the number one pad is usually the busiest.

This is supposed to be a two week long gunnery with the Apaches firing during the day the first week and at night the second week. However it is supposed to storm and rain off and on this entire week, so I guess we will see how much ammo we actually go through.

My Name is Andy

I don't know how many of you watch the show "My Name is Earl". I do, and I laugh every time. For those not familiar with it the main character, Earl, wins the lottery but promptly losses the winning ticket and attributes everything that had gone wrong in his life to karma because he has a led a not so good life.

While recently I have had my own sting of bad luck, or karma if you will. Roughly 2 weekends ago Wilson, Stoskopf(one of my other friends) and myself decided to drive on a mountain trail that is very scenic and beautiful. Wilson and S. rode with me in my Jeep because Wilson's car overheated on the trip up the mountain to the main parking spot before the trail begins.

A little while into the trail I pulled off into a side spot so we could get out and take some pictures. Wilson decided this would be a good spot to ramble off into the woods to pee. S. and myself had the bright idea to sprint back to my jeep dive in and pretend like we were going to leave Wilson behind. I know this wasn't a very nice thing to do but don't worry I learn my lesson.

We begin sprinting back to the jeep which just so happens to be parked on a loose gravely spot with a truck parked right next to the drivers side. See where this is going. I went to turn to get around the truck which sent my left foot skidding backwards and down I went. Like a sack of potatoes.

I managed to tweak my knee pretty good, I think I'll have a pretty sweet scar from it though. But the worst part of it is that I had my camera in my left pocket, which, other then my knee, managed to absorb the brunt of the fall. It peeled back the metal casing on the side and cracked the screen. Awesome. All for trying to leave a friend behind.

So last Friday I got a new camera only to have to return it tonight because it also decided to quit working on me. I guess all I can say is karma is no friend of mine.

Some pictures I took before the fateful incident.

Drum Roll Please!!!

The weather has finally cleared up enough so that I could wash my Jeep and take some half way decent pictures of it. So here it is. My (new to me) 2005 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo 4x4.

There you go. Now I am going to bed because I'm tired.

Final New Mexico

I'm sure everyone is know sick of hearing about New Mexico so this is going to be my last post about it. In fact it really isn't even about New Mexico. It is just going to be some pictures from the return trip. Everything was covered in snow so it was a much prettier drive back then it was there. You may remember the picture of Chimney rock from a earlier post when it was mostly covered by the fog, This is what it looks like on a clear day.

These pictures are from Wolfs Creek Pass. This was the twisty turning mountain pass we had to drive through.

 

On the last picture, if you click on it to make it bigger you can see the road on the side of the mountain. It is the snowy strip in the center of the picture. The next grouping I took at a scenic overlook that was halfway up the mountain.

 

And finally a random last grouping.

 

 

This was one of my favorites from the return trip. I think the little house and barn look so cool against the mountains with the low hanging clouds.

Also many of you may have heard, I did buy a 2005 Jeep Grand Cherokee on Friday. However the weather here has been very crummy and has not been cooperating with my plans to take pictures of it. Once it clears up I will be sure to take pictures and post them for your viewing pleasure.

Get Away From The Edge!

I could just hear moms voice shouting that as these pictures were taken. This was at the semi dried river bed that Wilson and I walked around at during the day on Sunday. I saw this small out cropping and had to have Wilson take my picture because I know that mom would freak when she saw it. I tried to get Wilson to go stand there too, but he didn't feel safe there.

 

 

Here's the view looking down from where I was standing. Not too far if you ask me.

 

 

 

I wanted to climb to the big rock in the second picture and have my picture taken there too, but Wilson wouldn't let me.

    This is the rock I was standing on as viewed from the other side of the gorge.