August 15, 2014 Missoula Smoke Jumpers Base (and other stuff)

This morning we had a few things on our to do list.  First the chip in our windshield was fixed (we had made the appointment last week).  Second, our package arrived at the post office so off we went to pick it up.

Back home we had an early lunch and headed to the Missoula Smokejumpers Base.  We enjoyed the small museum that included 5 short videos on the history of smokejumpers, different aspects of smoke jumping, and the Mann Gulch fire and loss of life.

We signed up for the tour and at 1 PM it started in the museum.  Every piece of clothing and all equipment that the smoke jumpers use was explained.

From there we headed to the base where almost all of the jumpers were on duty.

This is the main sewing room where they make most of their working clothes.

This is where the parachutes are hung, dried, tested, and checked out.

The packing area:

If not used, the parachutes are repacked every 180 days. 

The boxes are packed with all their equipment and dropped with the smoke jumpers:

At this base there are two planes that are used.  They are packed and ready to go all the time.  This plane holds 10 smoke jumpers:

This plane holds 16 smoke jumpers:

The locker or ready room:

When the alarms goes off, the jumpers get ready in here, check each other out, and are in the plane within 10 minutes:

The jumpers work 14 days straight with one day off or 21 days straight with 2 days off.  They only work days since there are no jumps at night.

Most of the crews were here because of the threat of wild fires in the area – many storms are forecast and lightning is the big fear.

This was one of my bucket list items and it was wonderful tour.

Here are links for more information and more details on the smoke jumpers:

http://www.fs.fed.us/fire/people/smokejumpers/missoula/

http://wildland-fires.smugmug.com/McCall-Smokejumpers-2014/McCall-Smokejumpers-2014/n-VnkDb/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mann_Gulch_fire

http://smokejumpers.com/index.php

After the tour, we did more shopping – we are getting filled.   Late afternoon and evening we hung out listening and watching the storms.

Enjoy today.

November 17 - 18, 2013 Our Time in Mesa

Sunday, November 17

We had a slow start this morning and made our way to the Mesa Marketplace and Swap Meet.  We really did not need anything but it was good to walk around to see the “stuff”.   There is some beautiful things out there but, alas, does not fit in a motorhome - .

Our next stop was Staples to look at computers - both Andy and I hope to get new ones soon.  And, lo and behold, we found Utz’s Sourdough Pretzels on sale.  Those pretzels are made in the PA Amish area and they are probably the best pretzels I ever ate.  They are hard if not impossible to find once you leave Pennsylvania but someone did tell us that Staples does stock them.   YEA!!!

The rest of the day, I spent trying to get caught up on my blogs from Death Valley.  Now done through November 7 - 3 more days to go.  I took over 2000 pictures there and we only saw just a little part of the park.

Monday, November 18

We were up early and made our way to Auto Glass Boss on Main Street in Mesa.  We have double pane windows and every one of them has leaked.  Two years ago at the steps near Lake Havasu, we had Joe fix two of our windows (Thanks Jan and Chuck for letting us know about Joe.).  Since this year was our maintenance year, a few weeks ago we called Joe to talk about getting our other windows done.  So today was the day.

We had ALL (20 windows) of our windows fixed and the windows in the living area tinted (12 windows).  He did a great job and I highly recommend him if you have creeping seals on your double paned windows - very reasonable.  A link to his web page and number is on the right side of the blog under “Interesting Links”.  Feel free to tell him we sent you.

They finished up around 5 PM and we could have stayed there (he does have electric and water) but we decided to move on to our lot in Casa Grande - see next blog for details and stats.

Enjoy today.