Pocatello, Moon crash

Our accommodations at the Clarion Inn in Pocatello Idaho were not bad although anytime we stay at a place with outdoor facing room doors we know it is rolling the dice.  For dinner there was an Applebees within walking distance.  I downed a 20 ounce beer with my meal to take the edge off.

Our meals were a low calorie shrimp dish that included broccoli that was good except for one thing, they appeared to forget to cook the broccoli.  We asked the waitress if the broccoli was supposed to be served raw with the meal.  She said it was not so she brought each of us a side dish of steamed broccoli that was actually cooked.

We went to bed relatively early last night as we both have been dragging from a lot of poor nights of sleep on the trip.  Unfortunately that pattern continued last night.  I woke up for the first time at 11:59PM courtesy of some idiot that thought it would be cool to whistle a song loudly as he walked by the ground level rooms.  After that the rest of the night was on again off again sleep that had some odd dreams thrown in there.  The last one I remember had something to do with Rhonda Rousey trying out for the Olympic cross country skiing team.  It was very weird.

We actually set a 6 AM alarm this morning to try to get out on the road relatively early.  After breakfast we loaded the car and got some gas.  Gas fill ups in the Prius are almost fun.  I have had a number of stops where the bill has been less than $10.  We also ran the car through the car wash at the station.  It looks pretty terrible with a bug facial and road tar down the passenger side from our repeated run ins with road paving crews.

On our way to Craters of the Moon we stopped in Arco at the Pickle Palace, a famous hole in the wall that looks like it hasn’t changed in 50 years.  Cindy and I had some coffee and split a big, calorie packed but delicious cinnamon bun.  We also grabbed some of their world famous special seasoning that I was told about first by George from our running club.  Before we left Arco I showed Cindy the top of a submarine that is on display across from the restaurant.  I never understood how it wound up to be in Arco, Idaho but it is cool regardless.

We pulled into Craters of the Moon about 10am.  We filled up our two water bottles at the visitor center and then got our cave permit.  Since I was here last they began requiring a permit to go into the caves because of some disease bats were coming down with.  To qualify for the permit you have to vouch that you have not been inside a cave east of the Mississippi River during the last 10 years.

We entered the park and quickly stopped to hike a short portion of a trail.  Cindy was immediately impressed by the beautiful volcanic rock that was extremely  lightweight but sparkled like gold.  The park is at 6000 feet elevation so even a short walk got our breathing rate elevated.  When we got back to the car I dug in the luggage, looking for a light colored shirt to help reflect the warm sun.  I had nothing white, the lightest color I had was the yellow Iowa Hawkeyes shirt that got me so many comments in Mt Rushmore.  Oh well, I guess Hawkeyes it is then.

Our next stop was the Inferno Cinder cone which is basically a small mountain that is made entirely of cinders.  You were allowed to hike up it but before we did I took the quadcopter out for a flight, the first one since my crash at Yellowstone that sent debris into the prop motors.

I had fully charged all three of my batteries since Yellowstone in anticipation of flying again today at COTM.  I was a bit nervous but the copter took off and flew more or less normally.  However after only a minute or two I saw the status LED on the copter flashing red meaning the battery was already low.  WTF????

I was over a relatively flat cinder area about 50 yards from me so I brought the copter down there instead of risking flying it back to me.  My landing again had a little to much bounce to it, sending the copter props first into the cinders before the motors turned off.  There was no apparent damage but I was pissed the battery pack is apparently going bad.

I grabbed another one of my batteries and got a full 10 minute flight this time doing nice gradual loops around the area.  A nother couple had stopped in the same spot and found the drone interesting as I gave the husband basic info about how it worked.  When it was time to land the drone this time I decided to use the air snatch method where I just grab the quad as it hovers in front of me.  I didn’t want to risk another bumpy landing.

Cindy also filmed an impromptu 4 minute Tabata workout for her Fit FarmChick channel.  We figured it was a pretty unique opportunity to do so.  We then ascended the cinder hill.  The angle of ascension was pretty damn severe at spots.  By the time we made it to the top we were both sucking wind.  The reward for our efforts was a beautiful elevated perspective of the park.  The ancient lava fields are just like nothing else out there.

At one of the stops we started talking to an older couple.  The husband was ex-military like Cindy.  He asked Cindy if she had her “challenge coin”, something that evidently is handed out in various branches of the military in certain situations.  She said she did not have one.  The man reached into his pocket and showed us his which he apparently carries routinely.  Then when he reached out to shake Cindy’s hand, thanking her for her service he placed an object in her hand.  It was a small wooden wedge with a slot cut in it.

Cindy looked at the man confused.  He told her it was a challenge coin holder.  He said he makes them by hand and he wanted Cindy to have this one.  He said if she contacted her local Air Force office she could likely get her own challenge coin.  It was a very sweet thing of the man to do.  Repeatedly when I am with Cindy she will meet other former military members.  There is a true family feeling in those interactions, regardless of what time, what role or what branch of the military you were in.

We hiked another trail that included Buffalo Cave.  Cindy and I were about to turn around as it seemed like we had walked further than we needed to according to the map.  We just then spotted the cave.  We traversed the short but tricky cave.  The ceiling was very low requiring me to cover most of it sprawled out Spiderman style.  Luckily I only had to do so for maybe 50 or 60 feet.

We had already spent a couple hours at the park and since we still have to drive to Salt Lake City today we had to watch our time.  I told her the only other thing I wanted to make sure we do is the Indian Tunnel which is MUCH bigger and longer.

The walk to the tunnel takes you right through the jagged lava field.  There is a very twisty and undulating small path you stay on for the hike.  Cindy absolutely loved the tunnel.  Even the portions where you are walking normally you have to watch your footing because of the uneven lava floor.  She really liked the sections that required you to climb over huge piles of rock to continue.  It’s also amazing when you enter pockets of dramatically cooler air in the cave, some 20-30 degrees less than the surface temperature.

I was mildly disappointed that since my last visit they did away with the weathered old wooden sign and trail markers.  (look at image at the top of the blog)  They instead replaced them with much more reasonable and longer lasting metal signs and marker poles.  Visually however they pale in comparison to what used to be there.

So we made it back to the car.  I told Cindy I had one more battery pack left, I wanted to just do a quick back and forth sortie over the lava field.  I thought it would make for some really cool video.  Cindy was nervous about me doing the sortie since the lava field I wanted to fly over was restricted ground and if something went wrong it would not be easy to get it back.  I assured her it would be no problem, just a  quick out and back.

So after waiting for a GPS lock I started the GoPro and sent the copter out over the lava field, maybe 20 feet above the rocks.  As the Phantom went out I had the solid green blinking light which means all is well.  I took the quad out maybe 100-125 yards, stopped it, turned it around and then started it back towards me at a slow and steady pace.

All of a sudden it looked like the copter stopped coming towards me.  Not only did it stop coming towards me, it was slowly losing altitude.  Cindy said to me “Is it supposed to be going down???”  The Phantom did not respond to more throttle, I knew that it was going down, this other battery pack must be shit as well.

As the Phantom dropped out of my field of view I just pulled the throttle stick down to kill the motor, hoping I can somehow minimize the damage.  I could absolutely not believe the scenario that Cindy was worried about, the scenario I told her she should have no worries about, had just occurred.  For the second time in three days I had crashed the Phantom, something I had never done before in Florida.

Now I had a real dilemma.  By nature I follow most rules and respect boundaries.  My copter was now sitting somewhere in the middle of an area of a national park that you absolutely were not supposed to walk across.  On the other hand I had a $1000 copter and $400 GoPro camera sitting out there.  I had to try to recover it.

To complicate matters we just passed a park ranger lead tour of Indian Tunnel as we came back to the parking lot.  I could still see the group but they were pretty far away.  I knew if the ranger saw my walking across the lava field he was going to have a shit fit and at best tell me to get off of it asap or at worst fine me.  At this point I cursed my decision to wear my bright yellow Iowa shirt. I stuck out like a beacon against the black lava.  I tried to actually stay bent over and low as much as I could to stay out of view the best I could.

The footing was in a word, treacherous.  This area was not designed for ffet, the lava field was uneven, sharp, and filled with a lot of loose rocks.  I had tunnel vision, switching between watching my footing and scanning the rocks for my expensive toy.  At first I thought the white copter would stand out against the rocks but what I didn’t consider was just how uneven the lava field was.  There were tons of holes and valleys the copter could be hiding in.

After circling out there in the area I thought the copter should have been for almost 20 minutes and coming up empty I was close to giving up.  I knew sooner or later I was going to get busted for being out there.  I had Cindy trying to direct me as to what area she thought the copter went down.  I yelled back to her to grab the controller and turn on the motors, I hoped I could get some sort of audio cue as to the location.

I then heard it, the distinct sound of a prop hitting something off to my left.  About 10 yards away I finally spot the Phantom in a rocky gully.  I was surprised that it was sitting upright and that all four props seemed to be intact.  I told Cindy to cut the motors so I could grab it.  It looked like the mount for the GoPro took much of the impact as it had separated and was laying underneath the copter. The GoPro was still filming.

As quickly as I could I made my way back to the parking lot feeling extremely lucky to not get busted by park officials and to recover my quad more or less intact. I also felt extremely stupid.  Those two shitty battery packs are going in the trash.  I still can’t believe it went down.

After the park we backtracked to Arco where we had lunch at sub shop that used to be a gas station.  Just like many small towns on our journey, they are very cool to visit but living there full time would be sort of terrible.

We are now actively pushing towards Salt Lake City.  Time dictates that we don’t try to get to the salt flats today.  Instead I am hoping to get up early tomorrow to see them before backtracking and heading to Las Vegas.