Family Photos

Tyler and Krayton taking a hunting break.

Krayton restoring the 120 year old barn on the Double Rafter Ranch, Parkman, WY.

Krayton, Santa and Andy (Andy is the ass without the red hat) For several years Krayton hauled Santa around the streets of Laurel during the Christmas season.

Frontrow: Chelsie (Kerns) Warner, Druann, Lila (Kimmel in broccoli box), Clara Kimmel (pouting), Meagan (Kerns) Kimmel, Grant (Kimmel),Tim Kimmel, Mae Kimmel (pouting).

Backrow: Marcus Warner, Krayton, Jill Havert (Tyler's fiance), Tyler Kerns (Jill's fiance)

Columbus Creek Camp, night #2 while trailing to the Big Horn National Forest

Competeing in the Sweetheart Division where we both ran the 8.8 mile run, biked 42 mile to Laurel and then paddled 22 miles to Billings. We won our division in 2003 and 2005. (We were the only couple in the division.)

This is one of our favorite snap shots after the finish of a 200 mile race from Mt. Hood to Seaside, Oregon. One thousand teams of 12 runners in two vans enter this race every August.

Until the kids were old enough to carry their own sleeping bags, it was Krayton's job.

This was my most memorable one-day hunting trip with my family. It snowed about 14 inches the first night but we were warm and snug in our wall tent with the cook stove blazing. Tyler was about five and after 8-10 cups of hot chocolate he was bouncing around the inside of the tent like a moth around a barn light. Notice that he is barefoot during this coffee break from hunting. The elk were safe that day.

My first political white lie. During Laurel's Aviation and Technology Celebration the Golden Knights did their areial performance and needed to ceremonially hand their baton to a representative of the county. As traffic was jammed all around the Laurel airport I was asked to stand in as Commissioner Kennedy. I spouted out an impromptu welcome speech and accepted the baton.

Mesa Arizona marathon. If you want to experience life from a different perspective run 26.2 miles. That distance commands respect. The first 20 miles are easy; it is the last 6.2 that tests your resolve.

After seeing a frozen column of ice in the front yard of a house in Laramie Wyoming one Christmas, Krayton has never been the same. This is his most recent creation and if the December weather cooperates he has even bigger plans for 2009.

This is Lillian. She was born in 1963 and is powered by a 145 horsepower engine.

She is a Cessna Skyhawk, and could seat four, but two of the seats best be fairly small, or Lillian couldn’t get off the ground.

I bought her from my stock broker in Billings, sold her to a couple fellows in Havre, and she now lives in Idaho.

At this time I was looking for an older woman, and Vivian was born in 1947.

She is a Stinson 108-1, which is a tube and fabric 150 horsepower aircraft.

She also sat four, with the same disclaimer that two of the butts should be small.

Unlike Lillian, Vivian was a tail dragger. Note the location of the third wheel on the tail.

It takes special training to be certified to handle a girl like Vivian.

Vivian now lives in Miles City.

She was born in 1955, had 225 horsepower, and was also known as a Cessna Skywagon.

She could honestly carry four big butts, and, like Vivian, was also a tail dragger.

It was with Daisy Mae that I experienced my first engine failure and had to “dead stick” a landing at the Laurel airport.

There is a saying in aviation that any landing you can walk away from is a good landing. Any landing where you can use the plane again is a great landing.

My dead stick was a great landing. Daisy Mae now lives in Texas.

This girl never had a name. I guess I am getting trashy. She is a 1953 Piper Super Cub and has a 150 horsepower engine.

She could only seat two but would lift anything you could stuff in the door or tie on the struts.

She also was a tube and fabric tail dragger.

She was a small and slow thing that preferred pilots who were around five foot six.

She was a tight squeeze for me. She now lives in Bozeman.

I haven’t named her either. She is a 1961 Cessna Skywagon with a 260 horsepower engine.

She is a cousin of Daisy Mae, but with a few design changes, she is an enormous load lifter.

At 1500 pounds empty, she can easily lift another 1500 pounds and power along at 150m.p.h.

She has a big engine and an overly long prop.

This puts the prop tips speeding near the sound barrier, so, like a mother-in-law, she can be a little loud.

She lives at my house.