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November 8. 2004

Photos

After leaving Tony’s Ranch the Jackson family
was taken by Tony to a hotel in Tucson. We were living the high life,
with the kids getting their own suite, and Kristine and I also getting
a suite. It was a very nice gesture by Tony, making the trip a real vacation.
Tony picked us up early from the hotel and took us to the Desert Museum
in the middle of Saguaro State Park. Saguaro is the name of those really
big cactus plants that you see in western movies. It was quite impressive
seeing the entire landscape littered with them. The museum was well worth
the two hours we spent checking out the sites. This particular museum/zoo
was rated number two among all zoos in the USA. I forgot my camera so
I don’t have any photos of it, but great memories.

Later that day we went to “Old Tucson”
where many of the western movies were made with John Wayne, Clint Eastwood,
Kirk Douglas, and even the Three Amigos was made there. We got a really
cool studio picture of Tony, Kristine, Alex, Matthew, Emily, Dane, and
I in our western garb. I dressed like a confederate soldier, Emily and
Kristine like bar women, and the rest were a mix of cowboys, bankers,
and robbers. It was a fun time for everybody followed by more ice cream
than a human is meant to eat. We finally got to go to Tony and his wife,
Dominique’s house on the hillside outside of Tucson. Wow, what a
beautiful place. It is an adobe house, perched over the town with mountain
views in all directions. The sunset was one of the best I have ever seen.
Saguaro cactus plants in the foreground with a fiery sky from directly
overhead all of the way to the horizon. I still didn’t have my camera,
but won’t ever forget that one. Tony and Dominique are building
a guest house that was supposed to be done by the time we got there but
you know how those things go, twice time and twice the money. Their guest
house will include a large pool and plenty of fun space, so I am sure
they will have no shortage of guests!

On our last day, the Lunt family, and the Jackson family
went to Phoenix to paddle in a wave pool that Peter Zwagerman organizes
once a month. Peter is also the director and one of three founders of
a whitewater park project in Phoenix. This park, if successful in raising
the $8 million in needed funds, will be the first for profit whitewater
park ever made. It is an exciting project and my partner Tony is looking
at being involved in this project as well. The park’s primary business
will be rafting and the interesting challenge will be balancing the parks
schedule in a way that makes it functional for kayakers, rafters, and
other user groups. The founders have been collecting information from
other parks in existence are convinced that it can be a profitable business.
If they can get the project off the ground and prove that it is a good
business, then the pathway will be cleared for other business people who
want to build similar parks in their towns. I am interested in the park
for many reasons, and mostly want to see that it is successful as a venue
for kayakers and profitable for the investors and founders. That combination
is best for the future of for profit parks. Certainly, it is not a free
place to paddle, but neither is a ski mountain. It will simply be the
best whitewater in Phoenix!

The wave pool was a fun surprise. I had no idea that
I would be doing air loops, helix, donkey flips, cartwheels, etc. in a
pool, but I did! I primarily surfed the “West Wall” which
is one of the 10 wave patterns that they can produce and we used during
the session. You literally take off against the wall and do most of your
moves right on the wall. The wall is smooth so it is safe and not worrisome.

Both of Tony’s boys paddled in the pool. Alex
is 11 and I taught him to roll in about 5 minutes, then he was off surfing.
He surfed the little waves for about one hour then went to the big ones.
It was quite impressive to watch. Matthew learned to roll from Jessie
Stone, so he was pretty bombproof and took to the big waves immediately.
Tony and Dominique had fun watching their two sons having a great time
surfing and really enjoying kayaking. Both of them will do well on the
river.

Here are a few photos of the pool. We are sitting in
row 24 on an American Airlines flight to Dallas, then on to Nashville,
and finally a short ride to Rock Island- I want to hit the hole today
if possible!!!

🙂 EJ

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