R&R

After putting it off for every reason under the sun I was more than ready for R&R after nine months of deployment to Kuwait. The plane ride over took about a day and a half and I suffered severe jet lag after arriving home. A positive note is that I volunteered for baggage detail so I got to sit in the front of the plane with all of the important people. The old DC-10's don't have an actual first class since the planes were built four decades ago.

One of the things that made this vacation so awesome was that Brian had bought me (and himself) a GoPro HD camera for Christmas. We could now film practically anything we did. The first day or two we just had some family time and met up with some friends at a few lake bars before heading off to the OBX for a week. One of the first things we did was surf fishing with Brian's coworker Shaun. While waiting for him we played some soccer on the beach with Hilo.

Then did some body surfing without Hilo.


As the sun was setting we cast out


Me


Brian


We were shark fishing and I was the only one to catch a shark (Brian caught a stingray). Unfortunately, I only caught a baby black tip hardly larger than the bait fish we were trying to catch.


Wednesday night we did a little bit of sailing on the Neuse River on Brian's San Juan 21.




Throughout our time in the OBX we rented some surfboards and gave it our best in the small swell off of Atlantic Beach.


Brian


Me


There also was a lot of relaxing and seafood dinners at local establishments. That's one of the best things about the OBX.


We had to wait for the perfect weather conditions, but we finally got to go kiteboarding with a local shop that is just starting up (Blown Kiteboarding). The conditions were epic and Brian and I breezed through the training and surprised the instructor Michael when we both got up and rode off on our first try. Footage is in the video at the end of the blog. It was a blast and I think we may have a new hobby to "blow" money on...

Mama G and I went back immediately after to try and get to the Butler Rehearsal Dinner. I didn't make it but was able to meet up with some friends at Amos' in Cornelius to watch Appetite for Destruction, a Guns and Roses cover band. We later headed over to Vinnie's for another mini reunion.

Saturday night was the Butler wedding and I was pretty darn excited about it.


They wrote their own vows and it was an entertaining and sincere ceremony.


Of course I had to show off my dance moves


Erik flung the garter belt over his head and it hit me square in the chest. Knowing that it meant I would be the next to get married I ran across the dance floor as fast as I could to get away from it.




We spent a day on the lake jumping off of the dock, riding in the canoe, and taking a boat ride to the Rusty Rudder. Just a note that I'm not a lazy drunk. Brian was the only one paddling because at the time he was considering doing a 100 mile race in a canoe/kayak in the OBX. So I was just helping him train.


Hilo enjoyed jumping off the dock too. He can't resist when someone goes swimming without him. I bought him a doggie ladder that he can use to get back in the boat without assistance from his human friends.


The Rudder



Tuesday morning we got up before sunrise to take a hot air balloon ride. We met the guys in Cornelius before driving up to Troutman to takeoff next to the Lowe's Hardware off of Exit 42. They asked Brian and I to help spread out the balloon and inflate it but it got a little hot after the burners came on.








Mooresville from above. The guy wouldn't take us over Lake Norman because he said it was too big and there was no where to land. We've seen people do it many times before but apparently it wasn't this guy.




We made our first landing in a small field next to some houses and after some arguing between the staff we decided to take off again and try and find a more suitable area to land which we did after crossing Hwy 150. The guy was pretty interesting as he had sailed to Cuba 15 years ago, fell in love with a young girl and picked her up in the ocean after being searched by Cuban authorities as he departed for the United States. He was a better romantic than hot air balloon pilot. He had no idea where we were as we sailed above Mooresville.


After the hot air balloon we had a family day at Carolina Adventure World in South Carolina where Brian and I rented dirtbikes and Ma and Pa hopped in a Yamaha Rhino side by side.


Beaver Lake on the edge of the 2,600 acre property.


Brian and I ended the day with a drag race...guess who won




And yes, we did get just a little dirty





Wednesday was spent recovering after a long day on the trails but we managed to get to "The Pit" in Mooresville to practice for our NASCAR driving the following day. I was the fastest on the track that day but my victory wouldn't last long...


As previously mentioned, Thursday morning we were going to drive a NASCAR stock car with the Richard Petty Driving Experience. Dad was the fastest on the track that day going 140mph at Charlotte Motor Speedway. It was surprisingly more difficult than we expected and the eight laps we got (for $450) weren't enough to get comfortable and go faster. Although somehow Brian managed to get almost 16 laps since another driver had a spin out while he was the track. They used their own video cameras which were crap and the DVDs they gave us are in a format I can't use to post here so sorry there's no in car footage.


Me driving by


After NASCAR, we headed up to Jonesville to go skydiving. This time Mama G would be joining us! We ran a little late because of the accident at the speedway so they could only take us up one at a time. Mama G was up first because Brian and I were skeered.


Perfect form



Brian signed up for the video/photo package and guess what, they had just starting using GoPro's as well.


Plane ride up


1...2...3...


There he goes!




Under canopy


Not sure if letting Brian fly was such a good idea...


But I guess they made it down okay


I was last



Afterwards, we hung out with the guys who ran the shop and had a few beers (only after the plane was parked!). Usually driving a NASCAR and skydiving would be enough for one day but I had one more little surprise for myself (I can be selfish)...

We drove out to Lenoir and met Ernest who was quite a character. He had pioneered hang gliding in North Carolina in the 1970's and had been flying ever since. Just to give you an idea of how cool this guy was, here is a look at the toys in his hanger.


He bought a camper for the bed of his International truck (the largest pickup ever built and only 149 were ever made) but it was too tall to fit in his hanger.


The Fresh Breeze Xcitor which I had originally come to fly in


It didn't take much convincing but he recommended we fly in his hang gliding trike.


This picture is funny because he almost forgot to make sure I had my seat belt on. He said "I'm sure I would have caught it later..."


And we're off!




Landing


The next morning we were headed to the U.S. National Whitewater Center to do the new Canopy Tour which is an incredible ropes course. It started raining almost immediately and then the lightning came so we had to get a rain check.


That night we found out that the gun range in Mooresville was actually open so I taught my fam how to fire a Beretta 9mm like we use in the Army. Brian was an excellent shot.



Teaching Mama G. She did really good and I think she liked it.


Video of most of the stuff we did on my R&R...