Friends

Photos of a gaggle of gliders waiting for conditions to improve to launch at Bauer.

Sunday afternoon July 29, Shadd, John Russell, Crazee Mike, Sam Cox, Liz Holt, Berg, myself, and David, a friend of Shadds who drove for us, went to Commodore to fly. Most of us set up, and felt the wind at our backs for an hour or so. We had a discussion, and decided to move to Bauer for the evening glass off. We all set up, and watched Crazee Mike do a nice sledder in the Swift. Mike got the longest flight of the day. After Mike packed his glider up, we stood around some more, waiting for it to get better, and I decided it was soarable. I launched, and went nearly to the train tracks at about 20 ft above the ridge. When I turned to head back, I got below the ridge, and never got back up. I kept trying to milk it for all I could, and ended up with not enough altitude to make any of the more desirable lower LZ's, landing in the sagebrush about halfway between the mowed "landing strip" and the clear area to the east where Shadd landed a few minutes later. Shadd launched next, and got a slightly shorter flight than I did, but he did make it to a desirable LZ. Liz launched next, and conditions were even worse for her. She got one little pop that extended her glide enough to make it into her regular LZ. Berg arrived shortly to pick her up. David had arrived to pick Shadd up shortly after he had landed. I had left all my bags, velcro ties, etc at the top, so I wasn't able to start bagging my stuff until David arrived (graciously with my bags). Shad and he had things to do, so they asked if I would be able to ride back up with Liz and Berg, who were around a berm from us.

I said "Sure, no problem" without checking to make sure they were still there. My mistake # 1.

After getting my stuff bagged, and gathered together, I went to ask Liz and Berg to swing back by and pick my stuff and me up. They were gone. I went back to my stuff, watching for any sign of activity at the top. Forgetting I am with a group of friends who have the same attitudes as I do and you make sure everyone is accounted for with their rides, I get ready to start hiking for the top. I like to blame thoughts like this on my high percentage of gray hair in addition to the lack of Newcastle I had with me at the time. My mistake # 2.


I get the only Newcastle I had brought on the expedition (My mistake # 3), which I had placed in Shadd's cooler earlier in the day, and finished it about the time I was at the halfway point.
Looking at the empty bottle, I try to decide to continue to be a tree hugger and pack it out, set it down, or see how far I can toss it. The tree hugger won, so I carried the bottle with me. When I finally top the ridge, I see the Hajjimobile at the other end of the ridge starting down the hill to come and get me. It is at least a half mile away from me. I had started waving my empty Newcastle bottle when I topped the ridge, hoping it would catch a glint of sunlight (I was still in the sun at this point) so whoever was driving the Hajjimobile would see me before they started down the hill. When I get within 300 yards of the 3 people next to the cars, I realize through a process of elimination, it is Liz who is driving down. When Berg, John, and Sam see me, they all start laughing, with Berg laughing so hard he is rolling on the ground. Having had one Newcastle during my hike up the hill, I can see SOME humor in the situation. I would have been able to see a lot more humor, had I had two Newcastles. I also know that Liz (one of the most congenial people I know), not having had a Newcastle, (even though she does bring some very fine brew) will probably see no humor at all in the situation when she arrives at my stuff and I am not there. By the time I get to the guys, they have settled down, Berg is no longer rolling on the ground from laughing so hard, and John is not bending over from laughing so hard. We discuss whether Liz will be able to load my stuff or not, with mention made of her comments earlier in the day that she can load her own glider by herself. I then remind the guys that my glider weighs nearly twice what her glider weighs, so we decide John should call her. Liz did QUITE an ADMIRABLE job, and IN SPITE OF NOT HAVING a Newcastle or three, she is able to laugh about it all. I felt bad about her packing everything up for me, but not bad enough to go back down there to help her!

When she got to the top, she asked why I didn't call anyone. I said I had left the phone in the Hajjimobile, at which time she mentioned she had tried to call me when she arrived at my stuff, and my harness started ringing. OOPS!!! I think I owe Liz quite a few Newcastles!!!

Even with everyone who flew getting only sledders, Liz making the decision she REALLY likes the light weight of her new Falcon 3 (she knew this already, but loading my Northwing T2 reinforced it), and me hiking up the hill, we all decided we had a good time, and it was definitely better than a good day at work.

I have some of the best friends in the world in the hang gliding community.

In Search of the "V"

This evening (Thursday), after I got off work, I went to try to find Launch at the "V" above Bountiful. Someone had told me to take Skyline Drive and it would put me at the "V". They told me I would run into Skyline Drive if I went east from the 400 North exit at Bountiful off I 15. Thirty miles later, I am coming down the road that runs up Farmington Canyon. More than half the drive was in the dark, as I didn't get done with work til nearly 8pm, instead of the 5:30 I had hoped for. At one point, I was nearly as high as launch for Francis Peak, and another time I could see Ogden to the west and Morgan to the east. This would be a nice scenic drive to do sometime when flying is not an option, but it wasn't what I had in mind for this evening. I saw a guy on a bicycle riding up the road, and he had probably done 10 miles up the hill when I saw him. If I had turned around and went back down the way I went up, I was going to ask him if he was training for the "Leadville 100". If you haven't heard of it, the Leadville 100 is a 100 mile mountain bike race that starts and ends in Leadville, Colorado, elevation 10,000 ft or thereabouts. It never gets below 8,000 ft, and I think it goes through 12,000 several times. Maybe even 13,000 ft. If you haven't walked around at 12,000 ft in a while, let me remind you there isn't much oxygen there. If I ever find launch for the "V" I am going to take photos, and maybe get someone else to take photos of me launching from there.

Things are looking UP!

I got to fly this morning for the 3rd day in a row. A record for me in the last two years! And I just realized the 3 days were at 3 different sites! Paul Voight from New York graciously gave me a shirt from a "fly-in" they had in 2004 at Ellenville, NY, and it came yesterday. The shirt is Pink with Blue screening on it, and matches my glider! I wore it today, and it was great. I got to the South side late, and John and Guy Lindbergh were still flying, and it was starting to get a little rowdy. I started setting up my glider and the wind was strong enough I couldn't get the sail tensioned. I started to pack up, and decided to wait a few minutes before putting the bags back on the glider. The breeze eased up, I moved the glider 20 feet farther back from the edge of the hill, and turned it sideways. I re-started the set up process, and within ten minutes I was ready to get my harness out, hook in and fly. I launched, and flew for about twenty minutes. For the first few minutes of the flight, there was a red tailed hawk in the air with me. It seemed like he was spotting the thermals for me. A few minutes later, there was the same hawk, and I think a Kestrel. A few minutes later, there were two red-tailed hawks in the air with me. I have been able to fly a few times when one of the "Locals" was the only other one in the air with me, but this was the first time I had ever flown with two of them. It was really special to have been in the air with three different locals, with both combinations of two of them in the air with me. As I was starting to drive away, I got a phone call about a job possibility, that will be acceptable pay, and also have the possibility of starting to work tomorrow. If it works, the next several months, I will be working six days a week, but the extra money will help things out.

All in all, a GOOD day!!!

Did the interview for the job, and I think it will work well for me. I'll be driving a dump truck, and will be starting on the evening shift, working from 4:30 pm til 2 am, which actually works good for me. I have difficulty getting up four cracks before dawn if I'm going to go do something important, like flying, and sure enough don't to want to get up that early to do something like work! The owners of the company, Tom and his wife Joanna seem like good people, and I think I will enjoy them. Joanna is interested in trikes, so we might be able to get someone interested in aerotowing us!!! Things continue to look up!!!

Looking for Work

I quit the over the road trucking job June 30. The communication problem seemed to be getting worse, and I couldn't deal with it anymore. The money had been falling off, and putting up with the poor communications weren't worth it anymore.

Photos are shown in the order I took them starting left to right then down and left to right. The first two are of the Hajjimobile with all the stuff I had in the truck, plus my glider, the Northwing T2 I bought from OB1, the Santana tandem and my Bianchi road bike which wouldn't fit in the truck. I carried my HG harness, and my complete PG rig with me.

The Canadian Escarpment sign photo was taken southeast of Las Vegas, New Mexico. I had hoped there would be a site suitable to launch one of the gliders and get a flight in on the way home. I should have gotten the altimeter out to check the vertical rise from the valley floor to the top, and spaced it. There is more than one highway which climbs up onto the escarpment, but I don't recall if any of the other roads have a launch site that would be easily accessible. I would estimate the vertical to be fifteen hundred to two thousand feet above the valley floor.

The photo with all the trees is south of Taos, New Mexico. I stopped in Taos and had lunch at Michael's Kitchen, undoubtedly the best Mexican food in Taos. Their food is so good, you can have it without having a beer to go with it. They don't serve any alcoholic beverages there, and they still stay very busy. Michael's is a couple of blocks north of the Square in Taos, on the west side of the highway going thru town, if you ever get a chance to stop there.

The next two photos are from the Rio Grande River Bridge west of Taos, where I made my second bridge jump in 1982. The LZ I used is the triangular shaped area in the center of the photo. It looks pretty flat, with not much obstructions from 700 feet above. Looks can definitely be deceiving.

The Buttes are the Brazos Buttes, which are west of Taos on US Highway 64, about fifteen miles East of Tierra Amarilla, New Mexico. I camped out at a picnic area overlooking these Buttes at the site where I took this photo of them the night before I jumped the Rio Grande Bridge. The Aspen trees in the area are currently plagued with web worm, and appear to be dieing, which is really sad to see. This area is definitely one of the prettier parts of Northern New Mexico, in my opinion. This range extends north to Cumbres Pass, where you can ride the Cumbres and Toltec Narrow Gauge Railroad that runs between Chama, New Mexico, and Antonito, Colorado. I think the scenery on this train is even more fantastic than the scenery on the Durango train, sixty five miles West of Pagosa Springs, Colorado.

The next photo is of the sign marking the Continental Divide where US 64 crosses it west of Chama, New Mexico. North of here along the Divide (about fifty miles) is Wolf Creek ski area in Colorado, where they usually get some of the most inches of snow in the lower forty-eight. Most of the "Fourteeners" in Colorado aren't very far off the line of the Divide as it moves north.

I got back to Salt Lake Tuesday evening July 3, and stopped by the Point on the way to the house. I had flown at Wallaby Ranch the week before, and the velcro on the lower zipper on my HG harness wasn't holding. I had replaced the zipper some time back and used 1 inch velcro, instead of the regular 2 inch velcro. I had tried to "knee out" before I took the zipper out, and wasn't able to break it loose, so I thought I would use 1 inch instead, and it wasn't holding anymore. I got in a nice 45 minute flight on my paraglider. I had bought the G Sport from Dale Covington over Memorial Day weekend, so now none of my gear is borrowed. I slept most of the day on the 4th, then flew my hang glider Friday morning after adding more velcro to the zipper. A group of us were going to do some platform towing on Saturday, but the 2nd pilot to launch had problems and ended up in the hospital. My theory is he went thru a fairly large dustie immediately after launch, and couldn't compensate enough to overcome the problems the dustie caused. He doesn't remember exactly what happened yet, so we don't know for sure what the exact cause was. Hopefully he will eventually regain memory of the incident, and shed some light on it. Memory loss is pretty normal if there is head trauma involved on a deal like this. I hope to get the photos from the camera downloaded sometime soon, and update some of the older posts awaiting photos.

While I was at Wallaby, I was visiting with Mike Barber, and he commented "I won't live somewhere that has a traffic report." Traffic within a 15 mile radius of Wallaby is usually light enough that there is no need for a traffic report. The last time I was in Washington state, it seemed like most of the state was laid back enough that it might be possible to not feel the need for a traffic report, even in Seattle! I attribute the phenomena to the use of medicinal marijuana. Use is common enough to offset the crack in the public water supply. I think there is a conspiracy among the auto manufacturers, oil companies, and auto repair people to put large amounts of meth or crack in the public water supplies in most of the United States. This causes people to drive in various states of altered consciousness, creating more sales for each of the three groups. The various medical related businesses and professionals may also be involved in this conspiracy. I think the insurance companies are receiving kickbacks from the people involved in the conspiracy, also. Of course the insurance companies keep raising their rates to compensate for the increased costs, so they may be gaining profit also, and be directly involved in the conspiracy.

Drive safely, the life you save could be mine!

Write if you find work!!!