The Jimmy Buffett so long to summer tradition continues in 2015

Dana, Andy, John, Lance, Amy JB2012

Becca and Darla JB2013

Since we moved to Wisconsin, we have made a tradition of going to the Jimmy Buffett concert at Alpine Valley every August with a growing number of friends and family (mostly pilot friends). As painful as it is to think about, it is indeed a "so long to summer" for those of us living this far north. Darla and I went in 2012 and were blown away by the circus atmosphere that follows Jimmy Buffett around on his summer tours. In 2013, we invited her sister to come and she loved it too. In 2014, we barely made the show as family commitments had us tied up until the last minute. This year, I was determined to "go a little bigger" than ever before. I thought it would be fun to skydive then head to the Buffett festivities early. I didn't have many takers on that action but I planned it anyways. When Friday afternoon at the DZ came, I was surprised to find out the plane was going to 18000 feet, with me in it!! Of course I had to film the whole event with my go pro and it was absolutely amazing. Here is the link to the skydive video.. Skydive Milwaukee from 18000 feet

If you have never seen a JB show, drop what you are doing, find a show near you and get there! It's really more about the tailgating party that happens beforehand, at least in Wisconsin. It's a lot of fun to people watch and in general just a great time. It does make for a long day so bring food, water, games and whatever else you think may be fun for you and your fellow tailgaters to do!!! I had the go pro on hand so this is what the pre concert festivities look like..   Jimmy Buffett Alpine Valley 2015

Enjoy the rest of your summer!!!

Skydiving and we!!

 

Just about 25 years ago, I decided I wanted to Skydive. I called my younger brother Clint and he was up for it so out we went to Skydive Arizona in the town of Eloy. We took the initial course and we were hooked!! We jumped together the whole summer until Clint went to Japan to serve a mission for two years. I continued jumping for awhile after that but eventually, too many other (more important) things took over and skydiving got shelved. Fast forward to a few months ago, I am reintroduced to the sport by Mike Lalley, a local AFF instructor and all around good guy here in Wisconsin. I went through a complete AFF ground school and then did a few AFF jumps before they signed me off to jump again. I forgot how much fun it is to freefall and canopy fly!! The more amazing thing is this time I got my wife Darla to do it too!! Although I am fairly certain it was the very good looking Australian instructor Jarad who actually convinced her to do it. Check out the photos and video... 

This photo is of me jumping with roller blades on  in the early 1990's

Darla with her Jump instructor--woohoo!!

Skydive Milwaukee!!

Moorings BVI report

At anchor Jost Van Dyke BVI

In short, our Moorings vacation to the BVI was amazing. This post will only have a sampling of the many awesome anchorages we spent time at and I doubt the photos will do them much justice. Suffice it to say that all of them were amazing. Overall, Moorings did a great job. If I had to complain it would be that the check in/out procedure is a little slow. Waimea, the Beneteau 42.3 we were on was a great boat and we experienced no failures of any sort all week. We condensed a 10 day itinerary into 7 days, so we kept up a good pace sailing around but every place we went was worth it. Cooper island, the baths, bitter end, Eustatia island, Anegada island (the best), Cane Garden bay, Sandy Key, Jost Van Dyke, Sopers Hole and Norman island were all amazing! I created 3 videos that do a much better job of describing our trip than my writing ever could, the links to them are at the bottom of the post. I highly recommend using moorings for any of you thinking about a sailing vacation. Enjoy!!

Me after arriving at Anegada!

Beautiful rainbow at Bitter End Virgin Gorda BVI

Eustatia Island looking out to sea

The first Video adventure in the BVI is 1 minute long and was done with an ipad and imovie
Adventure in the BVI

The next video is 2 minutes long and was done with my go pro 4 and the go pro software using one of go pros pre-formatted templates.
Go Pro BVI short

The last video is done documentary style and is 30 minutes long. Go pro software with me doing the narrating and video editing and music manually
Go Pro BVI long

Game on!

 After a year of planning, preparing, spending money and the like, it's go time! The Moorings experience has been great so far and we are expecting a smooth transition onto the boat just as advertised. Our flight Monday starts in Milwaukee and goes through Charlotte on our way to Charlotte Amalie St Thomas. We are staying the first night in St Thomas and taking a high speed ferry over to Tortola to get on the boat first thing Tuesday.
 Our Arizona counterparts are doing Miami St Thomas from Phoenix, so they have a little longer journey than we do. Since the Moorings boats come with everything, there have been a number of conversations about what to bring. I travel a lot and I have learned over the years how to pack really lightly and still not appear as I have just rolled out from under a VW bus after a week at Woodstock. Believe it or not, I can live quite comfortably out of my backpack for 10 days or so. The real trick is how do I get my wife to consolidate? Oddly enough, after a try or two, we have got her down to a backpack as well--lets see if that holds up until travel day.
 I added a photo of my 10 day travel kit which includes toiletries, clothes, camera gear and an ipad along with everything else you would expect to carry on a long trip like this one. Bon Voyage!