Balloons and Beyond

(2025 Balloons and Beyond EP 0)

It is hard to believe that it has been nearly nine months since the last episode of RabbiTRAILS.   

Catching Up

We finished our 2024 Heartland series in December. The series included serving at Christian youth camps in Texas and Ohio, visiting four of the five Greal Lakes, and hiking and camping in New York, New Hampshire and on the backbone of Appalachians in Virginia and North Carolina. 

We returned home in September just in time for heavy rains, soggy floors and Hurricane Helene.

Helene’s winds caused considerable damage in Florida and south-central Georgia before devastating communities in the North Carolina mountains.  Pat and I did hurricane relief work with Samaritan’s Purse in Perry (Florida) and Valdosta (Georgia). 

Earlier this year, we saddled up Percy and Pap for a short camping trip with friends at two central Florida State Parks in January.  A month later we traveled to south Florida, camping at two state parks in the Florida Keys, Everglades National Park and Big Cypress National Preserve.   We had an international travel trip in April/May, and served at the Texas camp in June.  More on these travels in upcoming RabbiTRAILS episodes!

Forward to August 2025

It’s hot. 

It’s humid. 

It’s time to get on the road to find cooler temps and cool RabbiTRAILS!

Balloons…

We’re bound for the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta.

Imagine more than 500 colorful hot air balloons ascending at dawn into the New Mexico sky. 

From just a few feet away, hear and feel rushing hot air as bustling crews use propane burners to fill balloons for launch. 

And then they’re off, rising quickly and following air currents to the horizon.

We’ll be camping on the Fiesta grounds where we hope to capture the amazing experience.

Talk about cool!

…and Beyond

We’re planning lots of RabbiTRAILS before and after the Fiesta:

Our travels will take us to Georgia for family visits, Tennessee to hike in Cades Cove in Smoky Mountains NP, West Virginia to admire vistas at New River Gorge NP, and Kansas City for another family visit.  We’ll be on the watch for runzas and tanking as we cross Nebraska, and then continue on to the Medicine Bow Mountains in southern Wyoming.

We’ll then travel south to the western side of Rocky Mountain NP and continue to Mesa Verde NP where we will explore iconic Ancestral Puebloan cliff dwellings.

After the Fiesta, we’ll return east to Texas to visit Palo Duro Canyon SP, the second largest canyon in the US, and get really remote at Big Bend NP.  Our trip will end with a stop in the Ozark and Ouachita Mountains in Arkansas.

Taking the Long Road…

As you can see from the itinerary above, RabbiTRAILS involve more miles and days than expected. They are NEVER direct (or dull).

That’s the fun and challenge of taking the long road!