A Southwest 737 ready to take to the skies in Oakland.

I just got back from flying to Idaho to go mountain biking again. I just can’t stay away from Tamarack Resort! The trails are awesome!

I figured that since I was back from an amazing and long road trip in a motorhome, I should try to ride every form of transportation I could within a week. So I got a ride in a car to the ferry and then I took a train to catch a bus. I then rode a plane and got a ride in a car to ride a bike. The ones I think I missed were:

1. motorcycle
2. horse
3. camel
4. piggyback

Can anyone thing of others I should have taken?

I think Southwest is doing an awesome job in this economy. I like knowing that at least some companies are doing a good job of keeping the customers happy. Being able to book flights and know what price I’m going to pay, regardless of if its two weeks out or 6 months in advance, makes me more confident and interested in continuing to travel. Its interesting to see how they are able to play smart in this time of $100 barrels of oil. How do they do it? Hedging fuel. Oh and with the other airlines starting to charge for baggage, Southwest has guaranteed my loyalty by not adding to the shenanigans that I already have to go through just to get to the gate.

When I’m not traveling in my 8 mile-per-gallon 1000 mile-per-smile motorhome, any trip I take in an airplane will be with Southwest Airlines. Ding!

Watching the sun rise from Cloud 9 in Idaho.

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Let me first say that I was mistaken in my expectations of Jackson Hole. I was assuming that since they are a world-class ski and snowboard destination, I expected them also to be a world-class mountain biking destination. Errrrrrr! Wrong!

The Teewinot Quad chairlift is the only uphill lift servicing mountain bikers.

1. The chairlift rises 500 vertical feet.
2. The trails serviced by this lift are either relatively flat out-and-back type or uphill and super-rocky.
3. The cost is $10.

1. This is an uphill ride of 5+ miles that you are not allowed to ride DOWN!?!
2. You must buy the Gondola pass ($19) to come back down.
3. A liftee told me last weekend they had a race up the Road that the winner road in 58 minutes! To get an idea of a similar climb- I climbed Sawtell Peak Road which was 10 miles and it took me 3 hours to get up it. The bonus was I got to ride down the same route! Imagine spending that much time and then having to sit in a gondola on the way down! 

1. This means that any trail that passes under where the Tram lines run is closed. WHICH IS HALF THE AREA THAT HAS TRAILS!
2. You can’t go over to the summit of the Tram even if you were to ride to the top or take the gondola, because it’s under construction.
3. I bet it would be fun – and I don’t know if they allow it – to take the Tram UP and then BIKE down. Check next summer – who knows?

I give this mountain 3 endo’s.

This is a sculpture, its pretty neat!
Click on one of the pictures to see details and purchase from the retailer.

So after all I’ve said, what did I actually do? I got the $19 lift ticket. I rode the Teewinot lift probably a dozen times, and tried every trail, although half were closed because of the Tram construction. I was done in 2 hours. I then went back to the parking lot, had some lunch, and then took the dogs for a long walk. I then went up the gondola with my camera gear.

This is the rose I found:

Click once on the Image to Activate QTVR (0.7 MB) - Quicktime is required to view.
Click and Drag to navigate the panorama. The Shift key zooms in, the Control Key zooms out.

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