Well, it's not quite a road trip, but I've put the boys on burros... does that count? :)
Expedition It took another three hours to get back to land, but to give Ben credit he did manage to land the balloon not far from where we took off; maybe only 300 metres distant. It helped a lot that the wind changed direction after two hours and started blowing back the way we came, otherwise I think we might have been up there till after the sun set. Jimmy came running over as I clambered out of the basket and started tying it down, while Ben took care of getting the balloon deflated. He grabbed a rope and started tying off as well. "You took longer than I thought!" "We were quicker than I thought," I said. "There's a lake on the other side of the mountain, and there's signs that someone's been improving one of the streams that run from it. That's where we're going next, as soon as we've got the right wind and a good excuse for going that way in the balloon. The locals must know that their little secret is over in that direction... of course, they don't know how much steering we've got on this thing, so maybe we can just get blown off course a bit...." "Or don't take the balloon at all," said Jimmy. "It's huge, they'll see where it goes. Better to say you saw nothing and we hike over that way. The mountain's not that big." And that's how we ended up packing our bags for a three day chupacapra trapping expedition and setting out on borrowed burros heading north and switching to climb the mountain as soon as we were sure we were out of sight of the locals. We walked beside the animals up the top third of the mountain, and pretty much all the way down the other side since they were carrying everything for us. At the top, just over the peak so we weren't visible down in Elizabethtown, we paused for a bit to look over what was truly beautiful landscape, and I pointed out the lake, the river, and our probable destination. Then we headed down, kicking up small flurries of stones and sending rabbits running for their burrows. Late afternoon, as the shadows were getting long and the sweat was finally starting to evaporate from our faces and cool us down a little we came to a wide, shallow cave that had a natural stream running out of the centre of it. There wasn't much said, but it was clear from everyone's faces that this was where we were camping for the evening. There was still plenty of dry firewood littered around in the trees and underfoot and I had a fire going in no time, appointing Jimmy cook and Ben in charge of making tea. The food was nothing like what Josie had been serving up, but it was hot and it was filling, and if it tasted a bit like it had been sweating in the sunlight all day as well -- those were the breaks. After a while Ben got up and wandered to the back of the cave. I looked at the sunset, and then when Ben didn't return immediately, I looked round. He'd vanished. "What did you do with Ben?" I asked Jimmy. He looked round, then looked round again. "He was here a minute ago," he said, sounding worried. "You think the chupacapra got him?" I stared at Jimmy for a moment. "No," I said. "No imaginary monster got Ben. There's clearly more to this cave than meets the eye; let's go and find him and make sure he's not fallen down a hole and got himself stuck." "No need," said Ben, slipping out of the shadows. "This mountain's riddled with caves, you know. There's a big one back there, cool as well. And the sound of running water." "This stream?" Jimmy pointed, though in truth it was as wide as my forearm and half as deep. Good for drinking from, though. "No, too loud for that. I'd say our river that the locals go boating on runs through. If we went looking we could probably find a way right through to the other side of the mountain."
Greg - an expedition is an expedition, regardless of the form of transport, in my book :)
With the number of caves in the area, there's bound to be some interesting stuff to find. For an out of the way place like Elizabethtown, there sure is plenty of mystery to go around as well...
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Well, it's not quite a road trip, but I've put the boys on burros... does that count? :)
Expedition
It took another three hours to get back to land, but to give Ben credit he did manage to land the balloon not far from where we took off; maybe only 300 metres distant. It helped a lot that the wind changed direction after two hours and started blowing back the way we came, otherwise I think we might have been up there till after the sun set.
Jimmy came running over as I clambered out of the basket and started tying it down, while Ben took care of getting the balloon deflated. He grabbed a rope and started tying off as well.
"You took longer than I thought!"
"We were quicker than I thought," I said. "There's a lake on the other side of the mountain, and there's signs that someone's been improving one of the streams that run from it. That's where we're going next, as soon as we've got the right wind and a good excuse for going that way in the balloon. The locals must know that their little secret is over in that direction... of course, they don't know how much steering we've got on this thing, so maybe we can just get blown off course a bit...."
"Or don't take the balloon at all," said Jimmy. "It's huge, they'll see where it goes. Better to say you saw nothing and we hike over that way. The mountain's not that big."
And that's how we ended up packing our bags for a three day chupacapra trapping expedition and setting out on borrowed burros heading north and switching to climb the mountain as soon as we were sure we were out of sight of the locals. We walked beside the animals up the top third of the mountain, and pretty much all the way down the other side since they were carrying everything for us. At the top, just over the peak so we weren't visible down in Elizabethtown, we paused for a bit to look over what was truly beautiful landscape, and I pointed out the lake, the river, and our probable destination. Then we headed down, kicking up small flurries of stones and sending rabbits running for their burrows. Late afternoon, as the shadows were getting long and the sweat was finally starting to evaporate from our faces and cool us down a little we came to a wide, shallow cave that had a natural stream running out of the centre of it. There wasn't much said, but it was clear from everyone's faces that this was where we were camping for the evening.
There was still plenty of dry firewood littered around in the trees and underfoot and I had a fire going in no time, appointing Jimmy cook and Ben in charge of making tea. The food was nothing like what Josie had been serving up, but it was hot and it was filling, and if it tasted a bit like it had been sweating in the sunlight all day as well -- those were the breaks.
After a while Ben got up and wandered to the back of the cave. I looked at the sunset, and then when Ben didn't return immediately, I looked round. He'd vanished.
"What did you do with Ben?" I asked Jimmy. He looked round, then looked round again.
"He was here a minute ago," he said, sounding worried. "You think the chupacapra got him?"
I stared at Jimmy for a moment. "No," I said. "No imaginary monster got Ben. There's clearly more to this cave than meets the eye; let's go and find him and make sure he's not fallen down a hole and got himself stuck."
"No need," said Ben, slipping out of the shadows. "This mountain's riddled with caves, you know. There's a big one back there, cool as well. And the sound of running water."
"This stream?" Jimmy pointed, though in truth it was as wide as my forearm and half as deep. Good for drinking from, though.
"No, too loud for that. I'd say our river that the locals go boating on runs through. If we went looking we could probably find a way right through to the other side of the mountain."
Greg - an expedition is an expedition, regardless of the form of transport, in my book :)
With the number of caves in the area, there's bound to be some interesting stuff to find. For an out of the way place like Elizabethtown, there sure is plenty of mystery to go around as well...
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