The month was May of 2009 and the Albino Bowler went on an epic journey to the top of Mt LeConte in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  This actually marks the first time the Albino Bowlers trip was fully documented in video (and set to John Denver music to boot!), so I’ll let the video tell the story.  Prepare yourself…

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Special thanks to Jason Graf for putting the video together and awesome pix! Great trip!

– Dan Thompson

    If you’re a fan of canyons and big red rocks, this is the place for you.  Holly and I had a great time here and it ranked as Holly’s favorite destination of the vacation.  We

decided to go hiking while in the park (of course) and chose the trail to ‘Observation Point’.  The hike itself was 8 miles round trip, and had some pretty sketchy spots where the trail had literally been carved out of the cliffs.  The views all along the trail, and at the point itself, made the trip worth every second though.  Beautiful place!

Next stop on the trip; Page, Arizona.  Page is home to a pretty popular canyon named “Antelope Canyon”, which may not ring a bell until you see the pictures.  Antelope Canyon is a “slot canyon”, and was very much other worldly.  The walls themselves were, at times, as narrow as a few feet apart and reach close to a hundred feet in the air.  Holly and I spent several hours here, and to be honest, could have spent all day here.  It was absolutely fascinating and a blast to take pictures of (if you’re interested in going yourself, you can find my full review of the upper and lower canyons here on TripAdvisor.com).  As the sun moves across the sky, it completely changes the look inside the canyon and offers the chance for some truly unique photography.  I would highly recommend stopping by and checking this place out.  VERY cool.

After a short stay in Page, our next destination was Moab, Utah and Arches National Park.  Arches is also a stop that has been on my list for a while (Are you seeing a pattern here?  Lots of life list things on this trip) and did not disappoint.   The only thing slightly disappointing about the park is that there were just so many people there.  The land is beautiful there, but everyone is obviously there to see the arches… so finding one without people in, around, and on, gets to be a bit of a challenge.  I’d recommend planning a trip here during the winter when the crowds are minimal.  Regardless of when

you go though, you’ll be rewarded with some of nature’s beautiful wonders… you might just have to share them with a hundred or so of your closest fellow travelers.      Leaving Moab and heading South again, you come across a classic American West landscape recognizable by anyone.  Conjuring images of John Wayne and old Western movies with cowboys and Indians, Monument Valley is an American icon for sure.  Holly and I decided to

splurge a little here and stayed at The View in Monument Valley, which is built on the Indian reservation and quite literally just a stone’s throw away from some of the monuments.  Stunning location, and as the name implies, the view doesn’t get any better.  Very relaxing spot.     The final destination before heading back to Las Vegas was the Grand Canyon… but we managed to stumble upon something VERY interesting on the way just outside of Tuba City, Arizona; dinosaur footprints!   This place was CRAZY.  There had to have been hundreds of prints all over the place, permanently petrified in the rock.  It was as if someone had poured out concrete on the ground and let the guys just have at it.  This was definitely one of those little stops you make, not expecting much, and then you getting blown away by what you find.

Picking back up on our journey, we soon arrived at the Grand Canyon National Park.  Here we met some friends of ours, Jay and Jennifer Norris.  Jay and I had been discussing a trip out west one day in the office, and as it turned out had been planning to go around the same time.  Our itineraries were slightly different, but both included the Grand Canyon… so we booked it up!     Hiking is a must here.  We learned while in the park that only 1% of the visitors actually take the time to go below the rim of the canyon, so the Albino Bowler is a member of an elite group.  We chose the South Kaibab trail as it offers excellent views within a relatively short distance.  Holly and I made it as far as Skeleton Point, which is 3 miles down into the canyon, and offers a view of

the Colorado river, as well as an awesome perspective of the rest of the canyon.  The problem though is this… if you walk 3 miles down into the canyon… you have to walk 3 miles back UP.  And it’s straight up, or at least it sure feels that way.  Whew… EPIC.  I will say that the effort is greatly rewarded.  More people should get out of their cars and do this, but as you’ve probably gathered by now, I’m glad there were no crowds.      Two days at the canyon and it was time to head back

to big city lights and all the craziness of Vegas.  We did happen to randomly stumble upon another American icon on the way back though… Route 66.  I happened to notice a lot of Route 66 memorabilia in a gas station we stopped at and asked the attendant if it was near by… he pointed out the window and pointed to the street outside, “Yeah, it’s just right there”.  It wouldn’t have been right to have not taken a picture! Till next time, happy travels! – Dan Thompson

– Dan Thompson

    Apparently my wonderful sister-in-law thought it would be funny to sign me up for the Blount County Lock-up in support of the Muscular Dystrophy Association.  She had been volunteered and needed someone to take down with her, so I was the lucky guy.  I was a good sport and played along… admittedly I had no idea what I was getting myself into though.  This was the first fund raiser I’d ever been involved with (well, unless of course you count selling candy bars for Boy Scouts), so this was very new to me.  The Albino Bowler was just an innocent bystander. 

After digging in I quickly realized that MDA is all about helping children with neuromuscular diseases try to lead normal, fun lives through research, education, and direct assistance… definitely something I can get behind.  MDA really made it easy to raise money as well be providing participants with a web page to send people to where they could make their donations online using a credit card or other payment methods.  I was very encouraged that so many people were willing to help these kids out, even in these tough economic times.  Very cool.  So, how did I do?  Well, unfortunately I didn’t meet my goal,

but I did manage to raise more money than my sister-in-law!    I knew my competitive spirit would be good for something one day! All in all the Blount County drive raised $48,500, which is absolutely awesome.  That money is going to go a long way towards buying children wheel chairs, paying for summer camps, and research.  Thanks to everyone who pitched in!!

– Dan Thompson

– Dan Thompson

they played all AM. I know they filmed a bunch though, so you should check out their blog to get any details http://brightonboys.wordpress.com.

I did get out for lunch, which was cool. Check out these nachos man, Jay was not happy that I was stealing his chip but these things were the bomb. Speaking of bombs, whew – I’ll leave that one alone. After lunch dudes headed back out, got one run in and they shut the whole thing down. Before that was done I jumped into Jay’s binding on his board and rode a little. NOT a good idea, I totally jacked up my surgically repaired arm – I think it’s dislocated. I don’t know what to do, Dan is going to have to seriously consider Duke, Vandy or maybe that dude in Birmingham who repairs all the star athletes arms. I could probably get in there – I am a professional bowler.

Anyhow, they got some shots of me hanging out in the snow – yada, yada, blah, blah. They did get a couple of more runs in and the funniest thing happened. They had to ride the kids/beginners lift because it was the only thing open. So they found some powder and one of these kickers that throws you into the powder. Jay hit it first and Paul followed, problem was Jay landed and stuck in about 3.5’ of snow – oh boy it was funny. Dude was stuck for like 5 minutes trying to get out – on the beginners slope. Anyhow, the bottom line the day was over. These dudes did a little shopping and then we headed out.   Jay hit the hot tub without Paul. Dude totally jacked up his heel on his right leg – rubbed raw from his boot or something. He figured it

would be good for anyone to get in the hot tub, so he sat in the room, got caught up on email, etc and got ready for dinner. These guys took me back to the Corral but forgot to take any pictures!!!! It’s cool though, I slept in dude’s coat while these guys ate like pigs. I woke up smelling the steak though – whooooaaa, made me hungry. Dude’s turned in early tonight because they had to be up at 3:45 MT to catch their flight.

They packed me back up in my bed and headed out in the AM. Really the whole thing was pretty uneventful – well, expect that the people in Bozeman’s airport security were really confused about me. Paul left me in my bed in his bag, so they called a bag check on him. Paul had to explain who I was, but it was cool – they let me through. I think they felt bad because of my arm.     So the trip is done. These dudes are back to Knoxville tonight and I am back to Dan at some point, ready for my next adventure. This was a great time. I got to fly again, sleep a lot, play in the snow, eat nachos, workout with some P90x and generally see some of the coolest terrain in the world. I am a fortunate plastic figure athlete. Until the next time – thanks!

– Paul Sponcia

    We are staying at Bucks T4 Lodge. We have no idea why it’s called T4 or what the heck T4 means and no one else seems to know either. We got settled and Paul and Jay woke me up to go get a beer before turning in for the night. The place was crazy with all kinds of locals partying. Since Paul and Jay are old they didn’t even want to consider hanging, so they turned in for the night and so did I.

    The day started at 5:30AM Mountain time when I heard Paul rustling around. Actually he got up like three (3) times to take a potty break. He drank like 50 gallons of water on the trip – so as you can imagine I didn’t get a lot of peaceful sleep. Regardless, we went to breakfast – which was a lovely continental breakfast provided free by Bucks – and then back to the room to get ready. These guys are P90x fiends so guess what; they did StretchX to get things rolling. It was kind of funny watching two grown men roll around, stand, squat, stretch, etc all while watching it on a 4” screen in Paul’s iPod touch. Oh I laughed a lot watching these two clowns.

I rode with Paul, tucked inside the front pocket of his nice down vest jacket. Honestly this was a comfortable spot – warm and out of harms way. My first shots came not too long after they got on the mountain as you can see me here with Paul. I got to actually ride the lift too, which was a bit – well FREAKY. I mean this thing is a long way off the ground and I don’t exactly weigh too much and the thing has no way to strap me in.  So, Paul had to put his hand behind me to make sure I was safe. Anyhow, it was a neat day. I got out again when they had lunch and talked to the waitress. She was pretty cool, hardcore snowboarded from South Africa via Oregon.  Those pictures are on Facebook too. It never got above 13 degrees today and it snowed about six (6) inches, but I managed to stay

warm in the jacket and really just took at easy while these guys tried to figure the mountain out. The place is almost 4000 acres and has a lot of variety so they spent most of the day checking out every lift and run they could get access to. This way they will have a game plan for the mountain.     When we got back they were dying to get in the hot tub, but I wanted to try and make a snow angel. I tried, it was

OK, but with my arm the way it is and the fact that I am a plastic action figure it was challenging. So, rather than freeze I hung out on the side and actually got in the water as well. It was really toasty, which was nice. I didn’t go all the way in, just got my feet in the water. So, all in all it was a cool day. I was pretty whipped too so when they went to dinner I asked if I could just hang at the hotel and watch football. They forgot to turn the TV on though, so no football for me.     When they got back they started working on their snowboards, catching up on emails and they also dove into a study on Worldliness. These guys are pretty cool in that they try to tie in their

faith with these trips. They tell me it’s a chance to not just go have fun with a hobby, but appreciate God’s creation and have intentional time to focus on God’s word so that they can grow as a part of their trip. Pretty cool – I learned a lot of stuff I didn’t know. If you want to check out more then check out their blog at http://brightonboys.wordpress.com.    That’s it for today, day one. I hear tomorrow they are going to get me out and hit kickers with me. I have no idea what that means but apparently it will require them to hold me in their hands while they try to jump off something and the other guy will take a picture. I guess we’ll see how that turns out. I will tell you this, Montana is a beautiful place and I can’t wait to see more of it tomorrow.

– Paul Sponcia

   Myself and the rest of the Albino Bowler team anxiously await what 2009 has in store.  The glue was barely dry on his arm before he was on the road again.  This time he’s off to Big Sky, Montana to do some

snowboarding with Paul Sponcia and Jay Norris.  It’s the Bowler’s first time traveling with them, so it should be interesting to see what they come up with (pictures are already showing up on Facebook).  Since he’s going to be involved in some extreme sports, we went ahead and gave his shoulder a good wrap so hopefully there won’t be any arm malfunctions on this trip.  As for the rest of the year?  Well… who knows.  Hopefully he’ll add another continent to the travelog (how about a trip to Asia, Africa…. Antarctica anyone???), or maybe a country or two that he has hasn’t visited yet.  Whatever happens though, I’m sure it’ll be entertaining.  The web site has also gotten a slight upgrade with the addition of a photo album.  Several readers suggested it, so we made it happen.  It’s quick and dirty for now, but watch for this to become more organized here in the future.  We’ll keep the most recent pictures first though for easy viewing.

   From all of us, to all of you, have an AWESOME 2009… and happy travels!

– Dan Thompson

    Striving to give him the best life possible, and hopefully even restore him to a state in which he could bowl again, I decided we should buy another Albino Bowler and sacrifice it in the name of spare parts… so the “spare parts Bowler” (SPB) was purchased… and the operation began.

I should have seen the dark clouds looming when I realized that 2 of his 3 now rusted screws were stripped out… but alas, I pressed on.  I drilled out the screws knowing I’d have to replace the chest piece anyway if his bowling action was to be restored.  About 15 minutes later, the deed was done.  The Albino Bowler was once again in pieces.  Not to worry though, we now have a shiny new bowler ready and willing to give of himself so that the original can live on… or so I thought.  I proceeded to unbox the SPB, and that’s when the gravity of the situation was realized.

It would seem that our friends over in China who put together our pigmentally challenged friend, in their infinite wisdom, decided that they should change the way the fellow is put together.  Undoubtedly to save on the huge cost of the three screws… they have been deleted.  Yes, the newer models have no screws, and thus cannot be safely disassembled and scavenged.  That my friends… is just plain wrong.     So it’s glue and pins again for the old guy, and he may well be permanently in a sling.  He’ll live to travel another day though; this, I promise.

– Dan Thompson

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– Dan Thompson

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