April 26-28, 2013
Frostbite is a fly-in and fund raiser for Dog Mountain, a flying site owned by Port Blakely timber company. We usually try to make it down there because if the flying isn't super, the party usually is.
4/26 Fri – We did not go down to Dog today because C.J. felt
that her foot wouldn’t take two days of walking around on a rough surface. A
strange thing happened around dinnertime when I got a message from Geo Tracker
on my cell phone saying that the Sorento’s battery was low. Later I went out
and found that the parking lights had been on since? Even though the ignition
was off. I had to use the Trooper to jumpstart the Sorento; then I ran it for a
few minutes hopefully to recharge the battery.
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| Sorento and Aliner at Dogpatch |
4/27, Sat – Packing had been easy because we were going for
only one night and needed just breakfast and a couple of simple lunches. We
brought along Max’s wheeled walker and C.J. will wear the aircast boot when she
is outside the car or trailer. The car started on the first try so I guess the
battery had recovered from its drained state of the previous day. We got out of
North Bend before 0900 after stopping at the library to pick up a Sunday paper
from a stack outside the entrance. The Sorento pulled the trailer easily even
on the steep grade to Tiger summit on Rte. 18. When we got to Dogpatch, the
parking area was pretty full and some motor homes, tents and trailers were
parked outside the usual hang glider area near the LZ. We found a spot in an
island between two entrance roads not too far from the gathering spot (and the
single, overworked outhouse). After setting up and hanging out for a while I
got a ride to the top with Terry Crippen. The wind was splitting the ridge,
coming in from the NW. Launching was possible, and there was even room to the
right of the launch ramp, but there were reports of rough air, and the sun had
become obscured by the clouds. The temperature had dropped from the highs
caused by the earlier sunny weather and after standing near the edge of launch
and talking with Dave Auman (?) for quite a while, I was chilled. I ended up
taking Debbie and Greg’s pickup down for him to the gate (where I sat for a
while since he did not have his new Dog key in the truck) and back to the LZ.
By then it was after 1230 so C.J. and I had lunch. About 1500 it began raining,
typical light NW rain and we hung out in the trailer reading until 1800 when we
went over for the potluck dinner and music. Fortunately the rain had tapered
off to just occasional showers so eating wasn’t too uncomfortable. Val, Paul
Gallagher’s wife, did a nice set of her songs on the flatbed truck stage with
accompaniment by Mike Dailey on drums and Dave Chadwick doing his thing. After
that Jade Swepston did a couple of songs accompanied by her keyboard. The
subsequent offering were not as polished and we drifted back to the trailer to
warm up and get some sleep.
4/28, Sun – It rained most of the night on and off but it
didn’t get very cold. We got up around 0800 and made oatmeal for breakfast. We
were a little out of practice for living in the trailer not having used it
since last fall some time. Also, having it be rainy made it harder because
stuff like shoes could not be left outside. There were occasional bits of
clearing followed by more squalls that came down the lake. By 1100 the weather
had cleared enough that folks were beginning to pack up gliders to go to the
top. Three or four paragliders were the first to fly. However, I couldn’t get
enthusiastic to lay out my wing in the wet (probably muddy) launch and land in
the wet LZ, besides I could see another squall coming down the lake. By then we
had already packed up the trailer, hooked it to the car and moved to where we
could drive out without being blocked in. Around 1145 we left and drove through
some pretty heavy rain on the way to Morton, then showers on the way home. We
took a rest stop at Alder Lake Rocky Point CG and then drove to Covington where
the GPS helped us find Walmart. I bought some portable toilet deodorant and a
couple of canisters of propane, and C.J. got some seeds. We got gas at Costco
[Overall mileage (after the reset from a low battery) was 21.1 mpg on the odometer
and 20.7, calculated, when we got gas on the way back at Covington.] and did
our grocery shopping for the week. We were home by probably 1430 and I managed
to back the Aliner into the driveway with no more than usual difficulty. I
probably should have gotten the stuff out of the refrigerator (and porta-potti)
then because by evening it was raining again. One problem I discovered at
Covington was that the top had not been firmly attached to our collapsible
water carrier and it had leaked in the back of the Sorento. Fortunately, most
of the spill had been confined to the new cargo mat so the carpet got only
splashes of water. Only the folding chairs and a folded tarp got wet (and the
tarp protected my paraglider from a serious soaking).
