Rat Race 10

then on to the Bay Area

13 Jun - 1 Jul 2012

Rat Race experts Marty, Nick and Eric provide pre-launch mentoring

This is C.J.'s tenth Rat Race event at Woodrat Mountain in southern Oregon. I made it to the first one, then missed a couple when I went back to work at St. George. It's a well-run competition, now divided into two levels: the Rat Race itself for serious competitors, and the Sprint for newer pilots and those flying less than competitive wings. This year the Rat Race was the U.S. National Race-To-Goal Championship, and the whole event included 175 competitors. Surprisingly, this large number did not detract from the fun for C.J., and I found ample reward as a volunteer.
Our plan was to complete the Rat Race and maybe try to get in a flight at Whaleback before heading down to San Anselmo to visit with Ginny, C.J.'s sister, Wally, C.J.'s brother Rob and C.J.'s mom who is in a memory care facility nearby.

13 Jun, Wed - Out of North Bend by 0830 and arrived at the yurt up the east branch of Humbug Canyon around 1700. Too windy to consider flying but we did drive in to Ruch to get our RVHPA memberships at the Ruch Store - quite the deal; you can even pay by credit card. We thought that we'd eat at what used to be the Magnolia Cafe but it is closed on Wednesdays. We ended up taking Barb to dinner at the restaurant in Applegate.

14 Jun, Thur -Typically, it was cold at night but warmed up to a beautiful day. We spent a good bit of time on Geoff and Terry's wi-fi enabled porch checking email and downloading the magazine articles to be edited. In the evening, once it got dark, Barbara cranked up her 10-in Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope and did her astronomy-professor lecture. Saturn's rings were easily visible and we also saw the fuzzy shape of a distant galaxy.

15 Jun, Fri - Around 1100 we and Barb drove to Hunters, dropped the Outback off and rode up in Barb's truck, picking up a guy who was walking up the road. There were a few locals and more than a few visitors getting in a flight before the Rat Race began officially on Sunday. We both had good flights and landed at Longsword Winery. Raven drove Barb's truck down so we did not even have to retrieve. After 1700 we were able to register at the headquarters for the Rat Race. Then there was a meeting for the volunteers. I signed up for garbage removal at the HQ again and for helping at some meals and "fluffing" wings.

16 Jun, Sat - Practice Day - [Barb left in the morning to meet a friend in Portland, then fly to SLC to join another friend for a trip to Zion.] At HQ Mike held the usual long pilots meeting, then we went up to launch. This year there were two big school buses with auxiliary trucks for carrying our wings as well as various vans and pilot vehicles. The same group of retired guys were on launch cooking hot dogs and burgers for sale, and Gever was setting up a video camera and internet connection to provide real-time coverage of the Rat Race. I worked with Tom and Pete doing launch assistant stuff until every competitor had taken off. Then I launched - unfortunately just about the same time that Drew ___ threw his reserve above Rabies Ridge and drifted into a tree on the east side. I didn't like the conditions much and after only a short flight went out to Hunters LZ to land in strong SW winds. In the evening there was the mandatory pilots meeting; Steve was back this year with his margarita stand, and we had a big lasagna feed at HQ.

17 Jun, Day 1, Sun - (Sprint task: Woodrat-Rabies-Burnt-Cemetery-Donato) I worked launch assist again but conditions were better and the launch cleared faster. I decided not to fly at around 1430 and drove down with Jeff Mosher from the USHPA office. At HQ I found out that C.J. had made goal at Donatos. [The next day we found out that she had the top place among the women in the Sprint class, and ranked 15th out of 95!] She dropped her GPS off at Fiasco where the RVHPA fundraiser for the Hunters' charities was being held. Back at the yurt we had dinner with Debbie V. Earlier in the day C.J. had presented Mike and Paula Steed with their wedding gift t-shirt quilt. It was well received despite not being finished until their first anniversary!

Self-portrait at the yurt with Debbie V

18 Jun, Day 2, Mon - Almost everyone met for the pilots breakfast at Fiasco followed by the pilots meeting. At 1030 we left Fiasco on one of the two school buses. It had been chilly during  the night and was cool enough on launch for a fleece jacket and flight suit. (Squires-Rabies-Burnt-Jacksonville LZ-Dark Hallow)  Launch opened early at 1230 and I was finished fluffing by 1430. The wind had picked up by then so I rode down once again with Jeff M. to Fiasco. I worked on editing until someone told me that C.J. had landed at Hunters. I picked her up and we went to HQ to finish editing (took until 1930). Then we returned to the yurt for a re-run of spaghetti. It looked to be chilly so we covered all the yurt windows to at least keep the breeze from whistling through.

Giant steel red lilies

 19 Jun, Day 3, Tue - A cold night but sunny later with cu's. (Squires-Burnt-Rabies Peak-Wellington Ridge – Woodrat Launch-Valley View Winery) Since I had missed two days of flying, I took a day off from launch assisting and launched at 1155 when it was already soarable. It was easy to climb over launch to about 5000'. I headed for Burnt and sank all the way across arriving at barely better than the top and had to work back up. Than I crossed to Rabies Ridge and got over 6000' near a cloud, crossed to Squires (one of the turnpoints for the day) and climbed again enough to cross to the W and go part way across China Gulch. From there I glided directly back to Hunters LZ which was so switchy that I had a downwind landing to the east. I walked back to HQ and drove in to Medford for gas at Costco (3.549) and on the way back picked up some "worlds best" strawberries outside of Jacksonville. I drove out to goal at Valley view Winery to watch some landings and then returned to HQ to meet C.J. We had a good BBQ dinner at Red Lily Winery ($15 for C.J., comped for me as a volunteer). Also as a volunteer I got a Rat Race hat and, for the first time, a RR sweatshirt! We returned to the yurt to charge instruments.

C.J. at the pre-launch pilots meeting

20 Jun, Day 4, Wed - (Squires-Lower Rabies-Burnt-Squires-Burnt-Rabies Peak-Woodrat Launch-Longsword) Encouraged by my good flight on Tues, I again launched around noon. This time conditions were not as good and I had to scratch up above west launch. I tried Woodrat Pk w/o any luck, then back to the spine to scratch. It was getting too close to the launch-open time for the Race so I tried going over to the cell tower but found nothing. On the way to Hunters, I ran into a "puker" over SR 238  and took it up over Rabies where it ran out. I returned to Lower Rabies and then went west toward FlyAir then turned S to Longsword. I landed at 1304 and hung out there until 1530 or so when I got a ride back to HQ with Raven. C.J. was already there and we headed back to the yurt around 1700. It was early enough for a solar shower in the sunshine, followed by chips-and-cheese- for dinner.

21 Jun, Day 5, Thu - (Woodrat Launch-Burnt-Rabies-Burnt-Jacksonville LZ-Donato) After working on launch fluffing wings, by the time everyone had taken off, the wind had strengthened and i decided to ride down with Bob in the Civil van. Back at HQ I took care of the garbage and waited for C.J. to show up. Since the caterer at the last dinner at Red Lily had run out of food before everyone had been served,  we left early (1745) for Valley View Winery and the second catered dinner. The salad, two kinds of pasta, bread and cookies were excellent (and I had received a voicemail earlier that Mike and Gail were buying me dinner!) The weather was still great but Rick Ray forecast a no-fly day on Friday. By 1930 we were back at the yurt and it was getting windy.

22 Jun, Day 6, Fri - Even though it was sprinkling we went in to HQ at the usual time. There was a pilots meeting but it was mostly about awards, videos and animations. The volunteers were introduced and thanked. Later Gever did an online, live interview of Marty DeVietti about his flight on Thursday. Lunch was provided even though we were not going up to launch. C.J. and I returned to the yurt and hung out while it rained on and off until it was time for the fundraising dinner at Cantrall-Buckley ($30) Afterward we visited with Marybeth Wells in her Chalet in the campground, then drove her back to HQ where Dan had gone for the mentoring session.

23 Jun, Day 7, Sat - We went up the hill as usual after a shorter-than-usual meeting. The weather looked better than on the previous day but forecasts called for rain later. One school bus remained on top. Tasks were called and a dozen or so Race pilots took off (only one wind tech was willing to fly). Cloudbase was low and a few gliders whited out in the wispies right above launch. There were area of rain visible. About nine minutes after launch opened Mike "stopped" the task and cancelled the Sprint task. I would guess that,while Day 7 was technically flyable, the validity of the day must have been very low. Most of us rode down and the party started early. More of Steve's margaritas,as well as kegs and cans of beer were available. The awards ceremony moved from outside (where I received a large vase etched with "volunteer of the year", and C.J. received a big, engraved glass mug as a loyalty award for having attended all ten of the Rat Race events) back inside when it started to rain lightly. Dinner was different but good with kielbasa, macaroni and cheese, salad, and Raven's cake. I emptied my last garbage cans and we headed back to the yurt (leaving some rowdy drunks behind).

24 Jun, Sun - [On our way to the Bay Area] Chris A. had gone out partying after the awards dinner and hadn't gotten back to the yurt until after 0200, but we all got up at the usual time, prepared some "stiff" oatmeal with dried fruit, and cleaned up the yurt. C.J. and I left about 0930, stopped for gas at the Medford Costco (3.489) then drove south with a few stops including gas and a shared ice cream bar at Vacaville Costco. We ran into traffic from the NASCAR race at Infineon track along SR 37, but arrived at Wally's around 1730 for a pizza dinner with strawberries and ice cream (stopped at United Markets in San Anselmo). Ginny got home later.

25 Jun, Mon - Ginny called in sick for the next few days so she could continue taking care of her Mom who had recently had some medical problems and had spent time in the hospital. Mom F was back in Alma Via but there were questions about whether she could stay there. Ginny went to Alma Via and Wally went to work at Ed Levin. When I went out to the car, I found that I had left the drivers side front widow open overnight and a raccoon had climbed in. Fortunately it had "only" eaten all of our cookies and ripped up the bag of tortilla chips and not made more of a mess in the car. After cleaning up the car and doing several loads of laundry, we drove to Alma Via and had lunch with Mom F, Ginny and brother Rob. We stopped on the way back to buy food for dinner (and bought an inexpensive bottle of triple sec). Gin went to stay overnight at Alma Via but Rob came to dinner - he's staying next door in the neighbor's house.

26 Jun, Tue -We followed Rob to a car repair shop in San Rafael that Wally had recommended. Then Rob treated us to breakfast at a nearby restaurant. There was way too much food but we made up for it by skipping lunch at Alma Via. Later in the afternoon Ginny led us on a hike down the Tennessee Valley to the beach, about 1.7 mi each way. It was sunny but cool near the ocean. Later, Ginny went back to Alma Via and C.J. made dinner for us.

27 Jun, Wed - C.J. continued to work on proofing the alpha version of the magazine while I went with Wally to Mt Tam so he could test fly a new Arcus 7. I was glad to drive as conditions were definitely not soarable. Around two or three o'clock Wally and Ginny left for an overnight trip partly for a little getaway, partly to check out a new Alzheimers Care Facility in Folsom, east of Sacramento. (photo, right, C.J. and Rob with Mom F. at Alma Via)

28 Jun, Thu - We spent some of the late morning, lunch and afternoon at Alma Via with Rob and Mom F. We tried to find the San Rafael farmers market near the civic center but it wasn't happening there this Thursday. Wally and Ginny got back in the late afternoon and Ginny asked us to stick around long enough to go with her and Rob back to Empire Ranch Alzheimer's Special Care Center on Saturday. [We thought we might have been stretching our welcome already by staying until Wed or Thu but we were glad to stick around to back up Rob while Ginny and Wally took an overnight break.]

29 Jun, Fri - Thinking that a hike at Muir Woods would be fun, we drove up over the Mt. Tam ridge and down the narrow road to the national monument. The parking lot was full, not only the main lot but the overflow lot as well AND the side of the road was solidly parked up for what seemed like a mile. We continued down to US 1 and returned to Wally and Ginny's by that route. Later in the day we went over to Alma Via and we had dinner with Rob, Ginny and Mom F.

30 Jun, Sat - We didn't make as early a start as we thought but by 0830 or so we were on the road and the plan was to meet up with Ginny and Rob at Empire Ranch ASCC in Folsom. We stopped for gas at Vacaville and followed our GPS to Empire Ranch. Once there, we got the full tour and met some of the staff and patients/residents. Nice facility, if not as upscale as Alma Via, but with the advantage of a nurse on duty 24/7 and experience in dealing with difficult patients. By 1300 C.J. and I were on our way back to I-5 and a relatively short drive to Weed where we turned northeast on US 97 to get to the Whaleback LZ. There was no one around even on the Saturday before the July 4th holiday, but that made sense because the sky was overdeveloped in places and threatening rain. We found a nice ponderosa pine grove just 1/4 mile down Military Road from the LZ and set up our tent. After dinner we took a walk through the mixed juniper-pine-scrub-lava landscape with one eye on Whaleback launch, and the other on the clouds. Just as we were climbing into the tent for the night it began to rain, but it was only a shower.

1 July, Sun - We awoke in a cloud, but fortunately no rain. We were able to pack up the tent with nothing worse than a wet fly which I squeegeed off before we removed it from the tent. By the time we had descended to the Shasta Valley we were out of the cloud and it was sunny most of the way home.  After a gas stop at Medford Costco, we picked up a couple of apple fritters and some cherries at Safeway and stopped for breakfast at Rogue River State Park/rest area. After that it was just a long slog home with one stop at Salem Costco for gas. Part of the tedium was alleviated by a good program on NPR celebrating Woody Guthrie's 100th birthday. At home, the grass was really high and there were lots of strawberries and raspberries to pick.

Spring Fly-ins 2012

Frostbite
Dog Mountain
6-8 April 2012

G Landing at Dogpatch

6 Apr, Fri -  It was a good plan to drive down Friday morning because that was the only day that was flyable in normal conditions. A few folks flew on Saturday but the wind was from the east all day and again on Sunday. C.J. and I both got a flight in the early afternoon, and I went back up late in the day with Kim and Kathy Smith. Later was better and I managed to extend my flight to almost half an hour by soaring the treetops at the very edge of the lake. The temperature dropped down below freezing Friday night and we had frost on the exposed aluminum inside the trailer in the morning.

7 Apr, Sat - East wind predominated all day and only a very few pilots launched into the rotor. I rode up to the east launch with Kim and another PG pilot and helped Kim launch in a lull in the strong east cycles. He soared easily up over the back but when he attempted to start descending north of Dogpatch, he took a big collapse which the wing didn't recover from until close to the ground. He landed in several inches of water covering the meadow. Later, the potluck dinner was excellent with lots of choices and there was a keg of good beer, two kegs actually because Lenny Baron brought one to celebrate his 25th year of hang gliding. The temperature was not as cold as the previous night but the bonfire was the focal point of the evening. It was also a good place to present the USHPA Commendation Award to Larry (and Tina) for all they do as Dog Mountain site stewards.

Tina, Aaron, Kerie and Jade

8 Apr, Sun - The wind continued to blow from the east and C.J. and I decided to go find a trail to hike or snowshoe. We drove to the USFS ranger station in Randall and looked at the maps in the kiosk. Someone had mentioned a trail with a good view down toward St. Helens so we headed that way. However, not only was the road (26) closed due to snow, but there was a major bridge out as well. After walking out to look at the washed out bridge we drove back to the Cispus River and upstream to where the road to Burley Mountain forked off to the right. We only got a couple of miles up that road before snow and downed trees stopped the Trooper. Since it didn't look like a lot of fun to slog along the road in the dark forest, we headed back to Dog. The crowd had diminished considerably and we joined the exodus as well.

Considering the lack of flying, there was an amazingly large turnout of pilots, family and friends at Dog for Frostbite. More than fifty pilots bought keys and/or signed up for the spot-landing contest; and almost all 75 of the t-shirts (long sleeve cotton, this year) were sold. As always, Ralph Senter, the Dogfather, was a guest of honor complete with a newly-composed song by George Zatloka. Aaron Swepston received a hand-made looping glider trophy from Kenny Richardson for his many years of entertaining us with his aerobatics.

Colorado Springs USHPA Board Meeting

 20 Mar - 1 April 2012

This time it's me who has volunteered to serve as a committee chair and thus have to attend the semi-annual board of directors meeting in Colorado Springs. We decided to drive instead of fly so that my travel reimbursement will just about cover our expenses. And, to make the trip worth the long drive, we booked five nights at a Wyndham timeshare resort in Pagosa Springs, CO, for after the BOD. This time we did not even bring our wings, but we did bring along hiking and xc-skiing/snowshoeing gear.

20 Mar, Tues – Left around 0730 and drove through a good snowstorm on Snoqualmie Pass, gas in Union Gap.  There was a bit more snow as we crossed the Blue Mountains. Gas at Costco Nampa and then on through Boise to overnight in Twin Falls at a Super8 motel. We went to Costco for gas and a sundae after a dinner of ham sandwiches brought from home.

21 Mar, Wed – The motel had a decent breakfast (there was even protein (!) - in the form of hard-boiled eggs) then we were on our way over Sweetzer Summit and down into Utah where we stopped for gas at Costco Ogden. Weather stayed good as we drove across Wyoming reaching Laramie around 1700.  C.J. worked on editing while I went out to get a headset at Walmart so I could arrange a Skype connection with John Dickenson, the Australian recipient of the Presidential Citation. Gas was relatively cheap at an Exxon station at $3.299. I also picked up a Little Caesar’s pizza for dinner in the Super8 motel.

22 Mar, Thu – No blizzards this year. Although it was 21 deg when we got up, the temperature climbed steadily all day into the low 60’s by the time we reached Colorado Springs. Since there was nothing we had to do (I wasn’t required to attend the training session for new directors), we took Robin Jones’s suggestion to check out the town of Manitou Springs, only a few miles west of CoSp. We stopped in the visitors’ center and found out about the seven local springs and picked up a couple of small plastic cups for sampling the water.  We ate lunch in one of the parks, then walked around town to all the springs and finally stopped for a really good frozen custard Girl Scout cookie mint “avalanche”. Back at the Antlers Hilton Hotel, we parked in the garage and attended the first general session of the board of directors meeting. The Ice Breaker was held at Springs Orleans, a restaurant on Pikes Peak Ave. All the directors and guests crowded into the upstairs room.  There were snacks and sliders and a cash bar. C.J. and I stayed for an hour or two before heading back to our motel. We had already checked into the LaQuinta Inn (north) on Garden of the Gods Blvd .

23 Mar, Fri – C.J. and I met with Jeff Mosher and Terry Rank, both USHPA office employees, as the Awards Committee from 0800-1000. C.J. took minutes and later I put the notes into the required report form.  We had lunch at the hotel (Judge Baldwin’s) with Tim Herr and Terry Rank – a working lunch so to say.  Later I mostly hung out and C.J. spent some time with the Publications Committee. After a visit to the USHPA office building, we had dinner with Martin, Mark F, Rich Hass, Margit (from Canada) and others at Il Vicino, an excellent little Italian restaurant on Tejon St. We shared a calzone and a salad and one of their own beers.

24 Mar, Sat – All day was devoted to general session. Along with the other committee chairmen, I presented my report. There was much more business at the general session most of it dealing with the insurance problem and the steps being taken to alleviate some of the safety concerns. We took a break at noon to have our traditional ice cream lunch with Mark Forbes. Around 1600 C.J. and I went back to the motel to change for the awards banquet. We got to The Warehouse (25 W Cimarron)  in time to help set up the tables for the awards and the computer, screen and projector with Terry and her husband Jim, Jeff M, Robin Jones and Eric, the IT guy. After we gulped down our dinner (served 30 min later than the plan) I emcee-d the awards presentation with C.J. doing a good imitation of Vanna White. Rich H presented the last two awards – The Presidential Citations and I followed up by connecting by Skype to John Dickenson in Australia so he could make his acceptance speech. It worked surprisingly well with small powered speakers plugged into my audio outlet. C.J. and I were among the last out at just after 2200.

25 Mar, Sun – After a stop at Costco for gas, C.J. and I headed south on CR115 then west on 50 along the Arkansas River. We made a brief stop at a tourist info place near Royal Gorge (which I had visited back in 1960 (?) on my way to Philmont). Admission now is expensive so we skipped the suspension bridge, gorge, train ride, cable car, etc. We turned south again after passing through Salida and had lunch in a city park in Saguache. At Wolf Creek Pass we stopped at the ski area to ask about xc-skiing. It was windy but not very cold even at 10,000ft. We got into Pagosa Springs by 1500 and checked into the Wyndham resort which is in “uptown”, about 3 ½ miles west of the downtown where the springs are. At 1800 we walked over to the activities center for a presentation on various activities and eating places. I guess at this time of year usually there is quite a bit of snow on the ground. There were a few piles below the steeply-pitched roofs, but that was it until you drove toward the pass and up a couple of thousand feet above the 7100ft valley floor.

26 Mar, Mon – We had one of those timeshare presentations at 0830 and scored a $50 debit card and some discounts. Back at the condo, we packed up for a ski tour and drove the 25 miles to the pass. It was very windy with some gusts threatening to knock us over so it may not have been the best choice of locations. The snow was very much “spring conditions” with the sun melting the surface enough to allow us to make tracks in the otherwise frozen surface, We were the only people on the Lobo Overlook winter trail and we didn’t get much more than 1 ½ -2 miles up the trail before deciding that the wind and decreasing temperature were just too much. We had lunch and started down. The descent was not as bad as we had feared and we made it without falling at all. On the way back to the condo, we stopped to walk up to Treasure Falls, and drove into downtown Pagosa Springs to see the springs themselves – not much to see from the outside. The strong winds had carried dust into the sky and the mountains were barely visible. On the way home we stopped for groceries at City Market.  It was good to get home and put our feet up; we were seriously tired.

27 Mar, Tues – After breakfast we got packed up for another trip and, on the way out dropped in to the resort office to see if they could do something about our phone which had no dial tone. We stopped in Pagosa Springs to ask the Forest Service about hiking and x-c skiing. He recommended the same hike the woman at Alpen Haus had: Chimney Rock, a set of Indian ruins about a three-mile walk beyond a locked gate. C.J. scored some new Smokey Bear goodies including a bandana. We drove out of town 19 miles to a parking area for USFS road 39 (Fall Creek Rd) at 9600 ft.  There was plenty of snow although it was seriously dusted with grit and somewhat chewed up by the snowmobile traffic since the snow last Sunday.  We climbed slowly, cutting a few switchbacks, to a good lunch spot at 1.6 mi (I had brought along the car GPS). From there we continued up more switchbacks until we reached the 5 km marker (10,400ft) around 1420 and turned around for a slow ski back down to the car (1520). It was a much nicer expedition than the cold and windy trip the previous day. On the way back we stopped to get gas ($3.79, up .04 since Monday) and a loaf of bread at City Market. After dinner we soaked in the hot tub attached to the condo section we are in.

28 Mar, Wed – We got out a little earlier and it wasn’t such a long drive to the base of Chimney Rock. As expected, the gate was locked to keep out motor vehicles.  The only other vehicle in the small lot was a mountain biker who told us about a trail that followed the top of the cliff band so that we would not have to walk the whole three miles on the gravel road. It was another beautiful, sunny day (but, just like yesterday, there had been frost in the early morning) and it was already warm as we started up the first big switchback. The trail was easy to find and it was much nicer to walk on soil and under trees and have a view out toward Chimney and Companion Rocks. At the top we walked the self-guiding trail to a reconstructed Ancestral Puebloan (Chacoan culture) pithouse and Great Kiva. After lunch we took the rough trail to the Great House (much like a smaller version of the structure at Aztec Ruins Nat Mon we visited in Farmington, NM last spring) high on the hilltop separated from Chimney and Companion only by a narrow, but steep, gap. Until we were on our way down, we had seen no one but the mtn biker and a Forest Service employee. Then, in the space of a few minutes we passed seven hikers on the road and eight more as we neared the bottom. We were a few minutes late for a meeting with Matt, our Club Wyndham Plus salesman and he wasn’t there (He called later to set up a 0930 meet Thursday. We were just as glad to go back to the condo and get showers before dinner.

29 Mar, Thu – We decided on a lazy day with a later start after scrambled eggs and ham.  At 0930 we met again with Matt Kubiak to try to understand how Wyndham could be offering us such a good deal on Club Wyndham Plus. The numbers he presented looked like we could do a down payment using our points from Highland Resorts in Arizona and then pay off the rest by giving our 210,000 Wyndham points back to Wyndham for two years. Meanwhile we could continue to pay WorldMark and use our WM points for condo stays. Club Wyndham Plus would pay our RCI dues and there would be a very small ($14/month) assessment and no maintenance fees. We couldn’t find a catch and returned at 1430 to sign a bunch of forms.  In between times we had lunch and played a round of miniature golf.  Later we took a walk around part of one of the lake and then returned to the condo to get packed up for an early departure.  I spent some time going over the contracts and other forms and found that we had agreed to pay two monthly charges from our checking account – one was the loan amount to pay for the 105,000 points, and the other was a monthly charge of $66.75 for the CWP assessment amount.  I left a message with Matt’s cell phone for him to call us to answer some questions (He had said he would call us at 1700, but did not.) At that point, C.J. and I were not sure if we wanted to leave early before we had a chance to straighten this out – we would not have signed up for a $801 annual maintenance fee, about twice what our Highlands Resort fee is/was.

30 Mar, Fri – Matt never called back so we got up at 0630, had breakfast and cleared out of the condo.  Then we went to the Wyndham office and met with Matt’s manager who eventually had us write on a piece of paper that we had decided to rescind our contract (#) member number (##), sign and date.  He took back all of the signed forms copies we had. Not only was there an $801 annual maintenance fee, but we had signed a form that said we would pay a down payment in six months of more than $6000. And we would have to keep paying the maintenance fees on our Highlands Resort ownership. And the paper that explained how we could use points to offset our maintenance fees said that 1000 points were worth $210 toward maintenance fees, when really a decimal point had been omitted and 1000 pts equaled only $2.10! The deal had definitely been misrepresented!  Around 0840 we got started toward home through Durango, [Just past the entrance to Mesa Verde we stopped at Sleeping Ute Mountain rest area – very nice place, for a rest area] Cortez, then a stop at the visitor center in Monticello, gas in Moab ($3.82), up past Price over Soldier Summit (stopped at a new rest area with a almost full-scale model of a locomotive on the way down). We hit I-15 around the beginning of rush hour and did a slow crawl in the Sandy area almost to SLC, then it was slow again north of SLC.  We stopped for gas ($3.56) and a Costco dinner ($10) in S. Ogden around 1800. Then it was only 45 minutes or so up over the pass at Mantua to Logan and our Super8 for the night.

Mar 31, Sat – When we left the motel after the usual sugar and starch continental breakfast, we drove along Logan’s main street. It looked a little like Ellensburg with its old buildings – very well kept-up and most storefronts filled with businesses. We left around 0745 and cruised over dry and sunny Sweetzer summit and stopped at the rest area just before the junction with I-86. Our big stop of the day was at Malad Gorge State Park ($5) where we walked across the 140 ft pedestrian bridge over the Devil’s Washbowl and then followed the edge of the gorge as far as it went, about a half-hour walk. Then we drove pretty steadily to Boise where we had lunch at Costco ($3.14) and filled up with gas ($3.65). Our last stop was at Sierra Trading Post where a sale was in progress but we found nothing that we had to have. It was another 2 ½ hrs to Pendleton where we had reservations at the Knight’s Inn. Going over the Blues we ran into rain and the temperature dropped from the 73 deg at Malad down to 35 and snow. It had stopped raining by the time we drove into Pendleton so we could take a walk around the historic downtown. We decided to eat at Stetson’s, a western-themed restaurant attached to the motel building. The owner greeted us and served as our waiter and occasionally came over to chat with us. The prime rib, salad, and dessert were all very good and the cost (we shared one 12-oz prime rib, dessert and a couple of drinks) was just about covered by the $50 gift card from Wyndham Pagosa. The motel is clean, warm and dry, fine for an overnight – the folks who write the terrible reviews in TripAdvisor.com must have much higher standards than we do, or they are just whingers.

1 April, Sun – Surprisingly it was sunny when we got up at 0730 although it had rained overnight.  Breakfast in the lobby was all sugar so we just took some milk and used the room microwave to make regular oatmeal. We were on our way by 0840 and Pendleton looked much more interesting in the sunshine as we headed north passing the River Walk and the Round-up Arena.  There was a lot of wind as we drove along I-84 and it continued on I-82 as we crossed into WA. The only stop we made was for gas at Costco Union Gap ($3.83) and we were home around 1300. There was an abrupt change in weather beyond Ellensburg and we had rain and snow over Snoqualmie Pass and rain all the rest of the way to North Bend.

We had a good time in Pagosa Springs skiing and hiking and, if it hadn't been for the timeshare scam, it would have been even better. I'll bet Pagosa Springs is really nice in the fall and I'd like to be there when it is snowy sometime.

Oahu and the Hawaii Paragliding Association

 28 Feb - 8 Mar 2012

The Hawaii Paragliding Association at Makapu'u Overlook - group photo for the magazine

After just completing a long trip down to southern CA, we had no intention of going anywhere until the BOD meeting in Colorado Springs in March. But C.J., staff writer for Hang Gliding and Paragliding Magazine, had been tasked with a series of articles about the USHPA chapters around the country. She had already done one on an East Coast chapter, the Tennessee Tree Toppers,  and was thinking that the next one should be the winner of the USHPA Chapter of the Year award for 2011, the Hawaii Paragliding Association. When she contacted them with the usual set of interview questions, Alex, the president, and others encouraged her to get the answers in person. Pretty soon local Oahu pilots were offering to meet us at the airport, provide a place to stay, and, even, a car to use! C.J. didn’t put up much resistance and within a couple of days we had tickets for the next week.

Thom surprised us with a lei greeting

28 Feb, Tues – C.J. and I left for the airport at 1245, a surprisingly civilized time to begin a trip. We had made a reservation through AboutAirportParking.com online for a reduced rate at Extra Car (about $5.30 per day) so we parked there, shuttled to SeaTac and used a cart to get our three prepaid checked bags to the Alaska Airlines counter. On the plane we had a row of three seats to ourselves as the third person moved up to an empty row. There was no meal service but the third beverage service included a Mai Tai just before landing in Honolulu.  We were met by Thom Therrien who held a “Hawaii Paragliding VIP” sign and had leis for each of us. What a welcome! Thom drove us in his pickup across the island [in the dark so we didn’t see much…but it was nice and warm] almost an hour to Hau’ula on the windward coast and John and Ginger Mallard’s home where we had a guest room and bathroom to ourselves.

29 Feb, Wed – John took us up to Tamura’s, a supermarket in a small strip mall in Hau’ula so we could buy fruit and oatmeal. Back home John made some bread to go with breakfast (from the same Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day book that C.J. uses). Later Alex Colby came over [He lives only a few minutes away] and took us down to Pete “Reaper” Michelmore’s house in Haneohe where we picked up Alex’s old “cream puff” Honda Civic which we were being loaned. [On the way we saw a small crowd gathering on the beach. When we stopped we saw that a Hawaiian Monk Seal had decided to crawl up onto the sand. We made another stop at Kahana Bay to walk out on the large beach LZ. Down the road a few more miles we pulled into another state park to talk to some paragliders who were kiting. We also stopped to check out a restaurant on a pier which we later found featured in the April Sunset magazine.] After filling up with gas (not THAT much more than Pac NW prices at $4.25/gal) we drove to the H3 and over/through the hills to Pearl Harbor. It was a bit late (1400) but there was no line and we had no trouble getting our free tickets for the last shuttle at 1500. We also rented an audiotour which they nicely fixed up with two headsets so we could share the one player. There were several buildings and exhibits to tour before the time set to meet for the interpretive movie before the boat shuttle to the USS Arizona Memorial. We grabbed a quick lunch from the snack bar first.  The boat ride out along “Battleship Row” with Ford Island on our right did not take long and we had about 20-30 minutes on the Memorial, long enough to see what remained of the sunken ship and to reflect on the thousands that died and are still entombed within it. Back at the Valor in the Pacific National Monument we had about an hour to visit exhibits we had missed and complete the audio tour before they booted us out. We returned on the H3 to the windward, and cloudy, side of the island getting back to John and Ginger’s around 1800. John made a pizza crust for us so we ran up to the store and got some cheese, sauce and some salad makings. Good pizza! After dinner we hung around and chatted with J&G.

1 Mar, Thu – We hung out until noon when Thom and Alex came over and we all went out to lunch at Surfin’ Tacos near Tamura’s. C.J. and I had some of our meals left so we took them in case we needed a snack later during our trip to the North Shore. Since it wasn’t going to be a flying day we took our snorkel gear, including the fins borrowed from John, and headed out through La’ie passing the Mormon Temple, BYU, Hukilau Beach and the Mormon-run Polynesian Cultural Center. We skipped La’ie Point and drove through Kahuku with its aquaculture and shrimp trucks. A mile or so past Turtle Bay Resort, we pulled into the unpaved parking area for Waiale’e Beach and walked down to the SW end where the offshore wind was blocked by a grove of trees. The water looked kind of shallow and the waves were rolling in but there were some small islets only a short swim offshore. The water seemed warm enough so when three Australian women told us this spot had been recommended as having lots of fish, we got our gear out and changed into swim suits. C.J. went right in and snorkeled out to the island but it took me the usual long time to decide to get all-over wet. Eventually we paddled around the bay together spotting a few tropical fish, some coral, and a couple of gray sea cucumbers – sparse enough that the Australians had left after only a few minutes. From that beach we continued southwest past Sunset Beach, and many surfing breaks including the Banzai Pipeline down almost to Waimea where we stopped at Three Tables Beach for another go at snorkeling. This time we used our fins and I pulled on my shorty wetsuit (it was after 1600 and starting to cool off). There were lots more fish but the waves and shore break were much stronger. We stuck close together this time. There were other, a few, snorkelers and some stand-up paddleboarders in the water but it certainly wasn’t crowded. The big scuba-type fins were awkward for snorkeling on the surface. When we got out and dried off we drove southwest out of Waimea as far as Turtle Beach where we stopped to check out the beach. We didn’t see any turtles and it was getting kind of chilly in our wet clothes. Suddenly C.J. spotted whales offshore spouting and breaching; so it was worthwhile having gone so far before turning back. We stopped at a fruit stand near Turtle Bay for a pineapple and a mango (overpriced, but delicious) and at Foodland in La’ie for crackers and some chocolate covered macadamia nuts for our hosts (and us…). We got back to the Mallard’s around 1900 and had our leftover lunch for dinner. Later John showed us some videos about another of his hobbies, tree climbing.

2 Mar, Fri – Sunshine in the morning had us up a little earlier but wind forecasts were for high winds and SE so flying was “out” again. Around 1130 we took the car and drove south with the goal of hiking up Diamond Head. On the way we went by the Makapu’u LZ in a state park where we stopped for a look around. We also stopped at the Makapu’u Lookout where we ran into George Selvy, our Ameriprise financial advisor. We had no idea where the Makapu’u launch(es) was or any other launch except Kahana so we drove right by Koko Crater and its LZ at Sandy Beach without even noticing. The GPS, signs and maps helped us find the Diamond Head State Historical Park where we parked in the crater accessed through a tunnel. There were lots of other tourists/hikers on the switchbacks and tunnel leading to steep stairs into the artillery command/observation bunker at the summit. The trail was about 1.5 mi RT with a 600 ft elev gain and the views were worth the trip. Although it was getting near rush hour (1530) (Should there be a rush hour in hang-loose Hawaii?) we drove on in through Waikiki to Honolulu. We found a city-style Walmart with a parking garage and a Sams Club on the third floor, and bought smaller, lighter, and cheaper snorkeling fins and some cookies then got back on the road again. Traffic continued heavy and we made very slow time until we were out of the city. That put us in Hale’iwa around 1800, too late to stop and explore the tourist-oriented town. The North Shore appeared to have gotten pounded by a rain storm recently and we ran into rain before we reached Kahuku. We stopped at Surfin’ Tacos again to buy fish tacos to bring home for dinner. Apparently it had rained off and on in Hau’ula most of the afternoon (while we had been hiking in bright sunshine at Diamond Head).

3 Mar,  Sat – John offered us a chance to try stand-up paddleboarding so we rode with him to Kahana where Alex met us with his board, too. We put on wetsuits in case we fell into the cold, brown river water. After a short intro, C.J. and I paddled up the river until it narrowed and the current got stronger. We returned to the beach and met Bonnie (Bonita Hobson) who went off paddling with John while we drove to Alex’s house for a chicken quesadilla lunch prepared by his wife Dorothy. We met their son Logan, and daughter Amelia who was home with a cold. After lunch (and by then John and Ginger had joined us) we decided to go see if Koko Crater was flyable so we all piled into Alex’s CRV and drove there over Makapu’u Lookout to Sandy Beach Park where we could see people flying in front of the crater. We drove up toward Koko Crater Botanical Garden where we left the car with Ginger and hiked up a narrow trail to the lower launch. The report from Pete was 18-20mph with lulls to 15 so C.J. did not bring her wing. The climb was not bad at all and the sun was filtered so it wasn’t too hot. Winds were nowhere near as strong as reported on launch and I took off after John; still, I got snatched into the air before flying away to the right toward the SE wall of the crater. Lots of pretty smooth ridge lift gave me confidence to move in a bit closer to the wall and eventually get over the crater rim on the lower (SE) side. I got maybe 800-900 ft over launch and when I decided to go out to land after 30-40 min, there was no problem penetrating to reach the grassy Sunset Beach park. The kiteflyers mostly kept their kites out of the way of landing paragliders. Ginger counted ten gliders in the air at one time and there seemed to be twice that many people in the LZ visiting, eating and drinking. We left with everyone else around 1900 just as it was getting dark and joined a dozen pilots (three of them visiting Canadians) at Saigon, a Vietnamese restaurant in Kaneohe. C.J. had a combi plate of eggroll, garlic shrimp and short ribs and I ordered “rare beef pho” which came with a big plate of fresh basil, bean sprouts and lemon wedges. We left there around 2100; it had been a very successful day.

4 Mar, Sun – Word had been passed to the members of the Hawaii Paragliding Association over the last several days to meet at 1030 for a group photo at Makapu’u Lookout followed by flying (hopefully), a club meeting and a picnic/barbecue/party at the LZ. Alex gave us a ride to the gathering with a stop to get some beer and sausages at a grocery in Waimanalo. By 1000 we were meeting up with around 50 members and family of the HPA at Makapu’u. Weather in this one section of Oahu was partly sunny, unlike the rain over most of the rest of the island. A couple of pilots had already flown from the launch at the Lookout, “Manic”, or from just above the beach, “Crazy Man”. Later more flew from “Juice” located above Sea Life Park (another launch, “Cactus”, is high on the top of Makapu’u). After the photo we all went down to the park/LZ and people set up shelters and gas grills, table and chairs. Alex held a meeting and then we all grabbed potluck food including John’s pork chili that he had started cooking at 0400. There was plenty of other meat, sausage, chips, and beer (although, like most parks in the NW, alcohol is not allowed). C.J. and I wandered through the park past the heiau (established, or some say, re-established in the ‘70s) up to Juice to watch folks launch – a pretty tricky operation especially with the power line so close behind and above the takeoff. Joey, Mike “5-0” and the Canadians from Vanc. Is. Cornell and Charlie were flying, among others. The party continued until around 1600 when we left with Alex. There had been an occasional spit of rain but as soon as we headed north we ran into rain and then heavy rain. The street leading to the Mallard’s was underwater in places. During the evening John helped C.J. load a newer Photoshop and a newer iPhoto to her computer. We had some improved Kraft mac and cheese for dinner.

5 Mar, Mon – The power was out around the neighborhood (from 0430-1100) but John got his MSR Dragonfly stove out to make coffee. Later I used his Teflon GSI backpacking pot to make oatmeal. [The milk hardly stuck to the pan at all and I ended up buying one for us from Campmor when we got home]. Alex came over with Amelia bringing our wings which we had left in his car because it was raining so hard when we got home last night. Some local guys had cleared the storm drains at the end of the street and the flooding had receded. C.J. and I took off at 1400 to visit Hale’iwa on the North Coast and to drive out as far past Dillingham airfield toward Ka’ena Point as the pavement went. Along the way we stopped at a couple of beaches to watch the big waves crashing way out in the ocean as well as into the nearby shore rocks. In Hale’iwa (the ‘w’ is pronounced with a “vee” sound) we got a shave ice at Aoki’s – “local mix” flavor which is  a big scoop of shave ice over a scoop of vanilla ice cream with adzuki beans in a plastic coneholder, all covered with pineapple, mango and Li Hing syrups. We sat outside the shop to share our shave ice and barely missed having a young girl spill hers on us. Afterward we walked through the town checking out the surf shops, galleries and Hawaiiana boutiques. From there we drove out as far as we could toward Ka’ena Point until turning back around 1700 when we reached the road end. We wondered where the PG launch might be but did not spot it. Heading back to Hau’ula along the North coast, we stopped at Foodland to buy a Huli Huli (rotisseried) chicken, a pineapple and a baguette to share with John and Ginger for supper. Weather on the North Coast had been mostly cloudy with some sprinkles but as we got back to the corner at Kahuku/La’ie it started raining again. Later in the evening there was thunder (rare on Oahu) and more heavy rain.

6 Mar, Tues – The sun was out when we got up but this may have been true only on our part of the island according to the HPA Windlines’ Chatterbox. I walked down to the beach and toward Hau’ula a ways. On the return trip it started raining and that was it for the rest of the day weatherwise. John had gone to work at 0900 and we just kind of hung around [Well, C.J. was working on the HPA article, of course] until 1500 when we went out to get some postcards, stamps, milk (and beer for Pete). We drove down to Kahana to see how the beach LZ looked. Even though someone had dug a trench, most of the water was flowing from the sand berm on the beach back to the river (which has its usual outlet to the south but can washout the beach in a storm). John was home by the time we got back and we had another delicious homemade pizza for a snack. Later Ginger served a really good soup made from the Huli Huli chicken bones, kale and sausage. We sat around drinking wine and talking with John and Ginger for most of the evening.

7 Mar, Wed – It was cloudy with rain showers again. C.J. continued refining her article about the HPA, and experimenting with her new iPhoto and Photoshop. I finished reading The Hunger Game on my Nook Color. At 1630 we loaded our luggage into John’s truck and drove to Kaneohe for drinks and dinner at Hale’iwa Joe’s, definitely more upscale than the Saigon pho restaurant. There were a dozen HPA folks there so we had a big table and the food and Mai Tais were good. C.J. and I went for a walk with Bonnie and Amelia around the garden and pond below the open-air restaurant. C.J. almost lost a shoe and Bonnie’s back got splattered by mud. The party broke up around 1930 when Thom and his wife Donna drove us to airport. We were there early enough for our 2130 departure (although there were a few glitches like the security sticker falling off one of our checked bags after it had gone through the scanner). The plane was completely full and pretty warm while we were waiting at the gate. After reading and doing a crossword for a while, we both tried to sleep the rest of the way back to SEA. It was cold (below freezing) when we arrived around 0530 but our car was running with the heater on when we got off the shuttle at Extra Car. We got home around 0630 and slept until 0900 in a very cold (50 deg) house.  Despite the rain, the trip to Hawaii had been a very pleasant break in our northwest winter.

 The Hawaii Paragliding Association members were as good as their reputation for welcoming visiting pilots. We certainly got the royal VIP treatment and enjoyed the feeling of ohana, or family, in our week with John and Ginger, Alex, Thom, Pete, Bonnie and all the rest of the members and their spouses, children and friends. C.J. got her article finished, found a couple of great photographers and managed to convince Nick, the editor, that the whole magazine should be the Hawaii issue.

Winter Road Trip to California

5 - 19 February 2012

5 Feb, Sun - C.J. and I thought we were escaping the gloom of the Pacific Northwest for the gleam of sunny southern California, but the skies were clear when we pulled out of North Bend sometime after 1300.  We made it down to Vancouver before having to stop for gas at Andresen Costco (3.39) about three miles off I-5 in Vancouver.  The route to Dave and Janet's was still in our memory - good thing because we couldn't think of the address (6700 SW Canyon Drive) so the GPS was no help.  We had a nice visit, catching up on the several years since we had gotten together.

6 Feb, Mon - We left shortly after 0900 to stop at a Michaels in Beaverton to get a scrapbook.  Then we cruised down I-5 mostly in sunshine stopping for gas at Medford Costco (3.41). I checked the front tires for tread and decided that we'd be fine if we didn't run into a bunch of snow on the road - and how likely would that be since we were heading for California, right? Of course, as soon as we climbed up Mt. Ashland, we saw snow alongside the road and encountered strong winds.  No snow across to Weed, but at Shasta and beyond there was a surprisingly large amount of snow on the ground along the road (which was bare and dry).  We finally ran out of the wind and stopped for the night at a Walmart behind the outlet mall in Anderson. We were the only RV in with a bunch of trucks, but by morning there were a few motorhomes and trailers.


7 Feb, Tues - Up at 0715 but cooking oatmeal in a double-boiler takes a long time so we weren't on the road until 0915. There had been rain overnight and it was still drizzling - welcome to California. We stopped to visit Bill F in Williams for about 25 minutes (He had a medical appointment to get to.) Gas at Dunnigan Petro with a Good Sam/Petro/Flying J discount card (2 cents off per gal, 3.51). We continued S on I-5 to Modesto and then E on Yosemite Blvd/CA 132 to Coulterville

Snuffs scoping out a bear locker

(no gas) then up through the foothills on Greely Hill Road.  We were sort of surprised to find not one but two gas stations there and filled up with what we thought was very expensive gas (3.79). The road wound up and down through pine forest with lots of deer until we intersected CA 120 and climbed to 4900ft at the Yosemite entrance station (manned, even in the off-season). Just past the gate we turned into Hodgdon Meadow campground where we were the only campers (!). It was still drizzling and pretty cold but there was water in the (heated) rest rooms (and electricity - could have charged a cell phone).

O'Shaunessy Dam at Hetch Hetchy

C.J. at the Ahwanee

8 Feb, Wed - Up at 0715 to blue sky but continued cold. Nice to have the furnace for the occasional shots of heat before bedtime and during breakfast (although, the range itself warms things up pretty well while cooking). Leaving the trailer behind but stowed and ready for travel, we drove back out of the park and into the Stanislaus National Forest. Evergreen Road took us past the Evergreen Inn Resort and Camp Mather, a San Francisco City Park family camp, to the entrance station for the Hetch Hetchy section of Yosemite. After a 5100 ft high point it was slightly downhill for the next several miles along the old RR grade used to haul materials for the O'Shaunessy Dam which flooded the Hetch Hetchy Valley in the early 1900's after the SF earthquake (which had shown how inadequate the city water supply was at that time). We started hiking by crossing the dam and walking through a 100 yd tunnel to the trail that paralleled the lake shore. At 2.7 mi we passed Wapama Falls on several bridges and went another 1/4 mi or so to a lunch spot with a good view of the falls and back down the lake to the dam.  Heading back in pleasant to hot sunshine we passed the only people we had seen on the trail all day and returned to the Trooper. The ranger on duty at the entrance station thought that we would be able to find a camp site in the Valley so we finished packing up and were on the road by 1505.  We climbed to 6200 ft at Crane Flat and had some nice views of the Valley as we descended to the floor at 4000 ft. As predicted, Upper Pines CG had vacancies, lots of vacancies, but it was dark and cold already.  We set up and then drove over to Curry Village to pay for our one night ($10). Then we drove to Yosemite Village, and on a whim parked at the Ahwanee Hotel where we spent an hour in front of the huge fireplace charging computers with C.J. working on her Tennessee Treetoppers article for the magazine. (No free wi-fi unless you were a guest, however).  At 1800 we went back to our dark, cold campsite where C.J. cleaned up a bit and I filled our water container at the dump station.

Lost Arrow near Upper Yosemite Falls

9 Feb, Thu - I turned the heat on at 0715 and the trailer warmed right up so we were up, breakfasted and packed up in time to be at the Yosemite Falls trailhead at Camp 4 by 0955. Passing several school groups on the 60-plus switchbacks, we reached Columbia Rock in an hour, about one mile and 1000 ft elevation gain. It had a great view up the Valley. Getting off the trail we stopped for a snack a short distance below the Rock at another good viewpoint, but a Yosemite guide leading a dozen fifth graders and parents knew about the spot, too, and arrived to have lunch with her charges. It took us almost as long to get down but neither of us had any knee problems even though the trail really reminded me of Mt. Si. We were on our way out of the Valley by 1410 with a stop to walk to the base of Bridalveil Fall and another, briefer stop at Wawona Tunnel View. We passed over Chinquapin Summit (6000) where the road to Badger Pass ski area and Glacier Point takes off. There was quite a bit of snow

Yosemite Valley from Wawona Tunnel

 but it did not quite cover all the ground.  We passed the Wawona CG (lots of room) and the

Self portrait at Columbia Rock, Yosemite

Wawona Hotel (closed for the season) and exited the park at Mariposa. There were long downgrades to the San Joaquin Valley, Fresno, and Visalia (gas stop at Costco (3.59) and groceries including a rotisserie chicken). Past Bakersfield as it was getting dark we started to climb over the 4100ft Tehachapi Pass and down to Mojave (2750 ft) and the Passport America Sierra Trails RV Park for the night (time for a shower and some internet use). On the weather radio we heard that today's temperature of 76 deg. had broken the previous high record for Feb 9 in Bakersfield. [Maybe that was why we had to run the A/C driving through the San Joaquin Valley and Mojave Desert.]

10 Feb, Fri - We were up a bit earlier (0645) than usual hoping to get to Marshal early enough to fly so we had a breakfast of granola and scones before hitting the road around 0830. There was lots of desert along the north edge of Edwards AFB; then we turned S on US 395. [What do the 125,000 people who live in Adelanto DO?] We got to the Andy Jackson Air Park around 1045 and ran into Wayne Maxwell who showed us how camping works now that there are three terraces for RVs above the landing zone. We drove Wayne to launch (no room in either of the shuttles since this was the first day in six weeks that looked flyable) stopping for gas along the way (3.67) at a cash-only station. It was already soarable at noon and I launched right after Wayne who toplanded to do an adjustment. The air was thermally and rough; I got up

G at Andy Jackson Air Park, Marshal TO on skyline

100 ft over and then down as low as 500 ft below, then regained to several hundred feet over. I spent most of the time on Cloud Peak but it wasn't enough fun to continue and I landed before an hour was up (:50). Barb, Wayne's wife, was kind enough to drive the Trooper down.  There were lots of people flying, hang and para, although most of the hang gliders were launching at Crestline. C.J. got to 5600 ft from the 4000 ft launch (LZ at 1700') and flew for an hour and a half.  Later we went into town to get some cash at an ATM.  Back at the LZ, C.J. worked with her computer plugged in at the LZ (free wi-fi, too) while I finished my book relaxing in the trailer which never got really hot.  We heard on the weather radio that there are supposed to be strong winds from Saturday at 1000 to Sun 1000. I tied down the roof just in case. I had some problem connecting to the wi-fi because I had an old protocol saved from the last time we were here. The next morning someone helped me delete the old file. C.J. had no trouble with her new Mac.

"Shower in a tank"

11 Feb, Sat - Up at 0815 to fog which changed to drizzle then light rain. 
We had a leisurely breakfast of Welsh griddlecakes. Clouds were low but there was a sun break around 1115. Wayne asked us if we wanted to take the shuttle up at noon (You have to call ahead to reserve a spot.) but neither of us felt inclined so we hung out in the trailer and LZ shelter through showers and decreasing temperatures. Finally by 1700 we needed to turn  on the furnace for a while. (Not a problem because the voltage reading on the battery was staying around 12.8). C.J. made good progress with her TTT article and I got my computer connected to the wi-fi []. The plan for Sunday is to go visit Davis and Belinda; winds are supposed to be strong same as today when it never happened.

12 Feb, Sun - We got up early enough (0715) to have a meal of scrambled eggs. By 0915 or so we were on our way to Cathedral City near Palm Springs. We ran into into a traffic jam on I-10 near Banning where construction had blocked the three right lanes leaving only one lane.  Looking at the westbound traffic we could see the backup there extended for miles.The delay put us at Cathedral RV Park around 1100 where we found the Oz Report World Headquarters, Davis and Belinda's new fifth-wheel with a storage area/garage/office in the rear. Nice rig! After a tour and some chatting we all headed over to Las Casuelas Nuevas, a very nice Mexican restaurant. The weather on the east side of the Sierra was nice enough that we could sit outside on the shaded patio sheltered from the wind we had noted when we broke out of the clouds just past Banning Pass. The buffet brunch included omelets and waffles as well as prime rib, large prawns, salmon, taco-makings, enchiladas and chil rellenos. There were platters of fresh fruit and choco-bananas with coconut. And there was also a wide choice of dessert items including two flans, cheesecakes, and ice cream.  The prime rib and prawns were excellent. After we returned to the RV park C.J. shared her Israel scrapbook with Belinda while Davis used his "ice machine" to treat his shoulder which was still recovering from surgery to re-attach a torn ligament.  Davis used his smartphone to check out traffic on I-10 - still a mess. So, after getting gas (Valero, 3.73; forgot to check if there was a Costco; there was and it was right on our route), we took CA 74 south and west from Palm Desert through the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto National Monument and over a high (4900') pass, near Hemet Lake and descended through a pine forest to a dry, rocky canyon.  Our route took us past the Soboba Indian Reservation (and flying site) and back to I-10 at Beaumont. We stopped at the Ralphs  on University Pkwy for a few grocery items. Back at the Flight Park, I tried to get our little generator running to charge the trailer battery but it would not start - probably old gas. We weren't hungry enough to make a regular dinner after that big brunch.

13 Feb, Mon - It was raining when we finally got up after 8 so we went looking for a library or somewhere

Barb and C.J. below 'The 750', LZ below

we could hang out with internet access.  Library hours at the nearest branch we went to had been curtailed (1500-2000) due to budget cuts. So we tried the Cal State campus but there was a parking fee. We ended up at a Starbucks on Univ Pkwy where C.J. found a seat and an electrical outlet in the busy shop. I went out and wandered around the small shopping area eventually settling for "free" wi-fi at McDonalds without any outlets.  After I ran my battery down, I went back to a much-less busy Starbucks to charge up and catch up on email. We hung out there until 1400 when we returned to the trailer for lunch. Afterward we hiked to the 750 launch with Barb Maxwell who showed us several routes. No PG were flying but a couple of HG had launched from the 750 earlier. We ran into some rain spits on the way up but the real rain (along with some small hail) did not begin until we were within 100 yds of camp. The rest of the day and evening were cold and rainy; the thing about it always being warm and sunny in southern California wasn't working for us.

14 Feb, Tues - Up at 0715 as the sun warmed the trailer (whoo hoo!). We charged our computers and C.J. worked on editing until it was time to get ready to go up to fly. I wrote a check for camping and day use ($40) and paid Joe, the shuttle guy, $20 - flying here is pretty expensive. Launch winds were light and somewhat switchy and it took me two tries to get off. Lift was abundant under the 6000' cloudbase over the mountain and I climbed for a while before crossing to Cloud Pk. It took me a while to get up but conditions were less turbulent than on Friday (or I had gained some "bump tolerance"). I flew beyond "Regionals", where the Wills guys (Ken Howells and Mike) were setting up their test flights, to Devils Canyon then back to the east of launch. Eventually I flew out front and found more lift and had to search out some sink to circle in to get down. Winds were switchy in the LZ and I came in from the W and landed in the SE corner while another pilot landed from the NE toward the SW. C.J. had landed a bit before me and we hung out in the sunshine with the other pilots until most people had landed (but not Dean Stratton who was over Pine Mtn last I saw him. C.J. worked on some more editing at the LZ while I took a shower in the converted tank up near the ranch house. The evening was clear and promised to be cold, but later the clouds rolled in and kept the temps from plummeting. [Good thing, because we hadn't charged the trailer battery since last Friday and were getting a little concerned about how much we could run the furnace...no problem so far running it as little as we did.]

15 Feb, Wed - We got up at 0700 and had a quick breakfast of granola before we packed everything away. We were on the road by 0830 and stopped for gas at Costco (3.73) just off the 210 at Sierra. Then we continued west past Cucamonga (still shrouded in clouds) and Kagel (likewise) until we hit I-5 and started

Descending The Grapevine

up The Grapevine. Electronic signs stated "Snow through Grapevine" but there was no sign of snow. But then we ran into rain, mixed rain and snow, and at the summit of 4100' Tejon Pass, snow. Descending, the road was icy and the windshield was getting coated with ice. We saw a car that had skidded into the median barrier being pushed out of the traffic by a CSP car. We continued down in low gear with the trucks - no problem with the trailer. (I couldn't decide whether to disable the brake controller or not and just left it on as usual.) By the bottom of The Grapevine we had gotten out of the snow and shortly afterward the sky cleared. Then it was a long boring ride up the flat valley with a stop for gas (4.02!) along the way and another stop in Patterson to mail C.J. and Chris's Rat Race entries. Traffic was surprisingly light for East Bay rush hour on I-580 until we got to the big merges near Hayward where the 880 comes in from the south and even that wasn't too bad. We crossed the San Rafael-Richmond Bridge ($10.50!) and took Sir Francis Drake to Larkspur and BonAir to pick up a pizza at Papa Murphy's. Wally met us on Bolinas with the parking permit for the trailer which we left on the street. It was 1900 before we ate and Ginny didn't get home from work until after 2130.

Ginny, Mom F, C.J. at Alma Via

16 Feb, Thu - C.J. and I hung out and got caught up on email while Ginny went to deal with her mom's podiatrist appointment and Wally went out to pick up a new knee brace. Around 1500 we drove over to Alma Via, Mom F's nursing home. After a tour with Ginny and visiting Mom, C.J. and I took a walk through the nearby Northgate Mall. Later we met G&W and Mom for dinner in the main dining room of Alma Via. On the way back to Ginny and Wally's I picked up a few gallons of gas at a new high price ($4.05), hopefully enough to get to Costco in Fairfield or Vacaville on our way home Saturday.



17 Feb, Fri - Both Ginny and Wally had to work today so we just hung around until 1330 or so when we went into San Rafael to Orchard Supply to get a wrought iron support for hanging a hummingbird feeder outside Mom's window. We returned to Gin's (after getting a few more gallons of gas) and didn't head over to Alma Via until after 1600. When we got there, we found a TGIF party in the main lounge with wine, cheese, crackers and fruit. We were late for dinner in the main dining room but tonight Mom finished her whole meal unlike last night (and I knew enough to order an extra entree of the small-appetite-portioned meal). C.J. installed the scrapbook-style "who-am-I" composites in the frames outside her mom's room. Wally had gotten stuck in traffic (westbound lanes of the Bay Bridge were closed for maintenance or something) and didn't make it to dinner but was home by the time we got back. He was rested enough to get his new custom surfboard out to show us.

18 Feb, Sat - Wally had to work so he left pretty early. We got out after 0930 and breakfast with Ginny. We drove the usual route stopping at Costco Vacaville for gas ($3.79) and supplies (bread, rum, oranges, and maple syrup for Ginny). We stopped also for a few minutes at Williams to check out a space above Bill's counter for a possible spice cabinet [Bill was off at a shooting competition somewhere.] with Ginny who had arrived at the airport not long after we got there. We bought gas at Safeway in Redding ($3.81) and continued on in sunshine until we ran into a snow shower going over Shasta. Just inside the Oregon border we hit a real winter storm and only got out of it as we descended toward Ashland. We filled the Trooper again at Costco Medford ($3.46, five cents higher than two weeks earlier) and drove north in the dark to Canyonville to "camp" in the new rest stop above the Seven Feathers Casino. - pretty chilly so we ran the furnace several times before, during and after dinner. The rest stop has a nearby restroom building unlike the casino dry-camp RV area we parked in two years ago. For a rest area it was very lightly used - there were two trucks parked down at one end and we heard only one other truck come in for a quick stop. Later we found that there a a truck parking area on a lower terrace behind the service station.

19 Feb, Sun - I woke up at 0715 and reached over to turn on the heat because it was pretty cold inside (the thermometer showed 40 deg), only to find that all we got was cold air - apparently the propane tank was empty (last filled in Bath, NY, in mid October...). I checked by lighting the stove: yup, there was a flame for only a few seconds. That meant no hot breakfast as well as no heat.  So we packed up and were on our way by 0830 heading for Roseburg. After much indecision, we stopped at a McDonalds for cocoa and  Egg McGriddles (not as good as Egg McMuffins). We had sunny weather as we motored north, made a gas stop at Costco Wilsonville ($3.46) and again at Covington ($3.44). We ran into a rain squall south of Olympia where we hit a rest area and made some sandwiches. We were home by 1545 and unpacked the car and trailer. C.J. cleaned the fridge and I scrubbed out the porta-potti. The battery showed 12.8v even though we ran the refrigerator on 12v power all day.

Snow Storm

16-21 January 2012

 

Snow started falling on Monday, continued through Tuesday and then started raining and freezing. When the snow and ice slid off the roof it made a louder than usual "Whoomph", crushed some bushes and tore off the end of the rain gutter. North Bend lost electrical power Thursday and we were on our own for wood heat and the Aladdin lamp until 1430 on Saturday.

The CBCC annual party went on as scheduled Saturday evening at Aaron and Kerie's even though their power was still off. Fortunately it came back on shortly after we got there. The roads were not too bad getting there although some were closed due to many downed trees.  Rather than turn around and go the long way around, we drove around one set of barriers and weaseled through between trees and debris south of Auburn.

Christmas Letter 2011

Whoo hoo! Another great year of retirement in 2011 – we re-connected with friends we hadn’t seen for years, started square dancing again, and managed to squeeze in three big trips.

A surprise tax refund gave us the impetus to escape the gloomy winter weather with a trip to Israel. C.J. and I joined a very small group of experienced folks going to paraglide above such biblical sites as the Sea of Galilee and Mt. Tabor. We also did the pre-dawn hike up Snake Path to the top of Masada and spent a day in the Old City of Jerusalem. Who would have thought that Israel would jump to the top of the list of places we’d like to re-visit?

Closer to home, we made two big road trips.  In May we drove down to northern Arizona via Death Valley. The weather was chilly at night (except in DVNP), but dry – just right for tent camping. We left the trailer at home because we had booked time at two resorts to use up time-share points that were otherwise going to expire. We stayed in Pinetop where we hiked some fabulous trails starting at 7000 ft. Then we moved to Flagstaff for a few days, where we made a quick trip up to the Grand Canyon and also visited The Craters (a flying site), Walnut Canyon and Lowell Observatory. We camped with some Arizona pilots at Mingus Mountain, which offered up an outstanding flight on Memorial Day. Our Golden Access Card enticed us to pop into several more of the SW parks and monuments, including driving the scenic Cottonwood Road through Grand Staircase-Escalante.

We were traveling 18 days on our SW trek; our Fall Color trip (code name Leaf Peepers) lasted 45 days and 10,000 miles! This time we took the trailer expecting the weather in September and October to be less than optimum, but we lucked out with only five days with any rain at all. You’ll have to check out our blogs if you want the full story but, briefly, we had five glorious days of hiking and touring in Rocky Mt. NP, followed by several equally glorious days in Michigan, mostly on the Upper Peninsula. We visited friends in CO, NY, VT, NH, and NC and family in DE, VA, and IN. We made it to Kitty Hawk in time for the celebration of the 100^th anniversary of Wilbur's soaring flight. We hit the golden aspens, red maples and most of the rest of the fall color just about spot on, and visiting with friends we hadn’t seen in decades, and family that we never see often enough, really made the trip special. Returning through Wyoming on Halloween we ran into a widespread snowstorm and were glad to be able to get over the last high passes safely.

When we weren't off traveling, we did lots of hiking, skiing and snowshoeing in our "home" mountains, got back to “plus level” square dancing, kept up our Village Theatre subscription, and continued to fly our gliders. C.J. participated in her ninth Rat Race at Woodrat Mountain and we had a fun flight with Wally when he and Ginny were up here for an overnight trip up Lake Chelan to Stehekin. C.J. has been keeping busy with her scrapbooking, mostly on line.  I’ve done a few woodworking projects but nothing major.

Our latest excursion was to Victoria BC to celebrate our 35^th anniversary on Thanksgiving. We stayed for a week in one of our time-share condos, had High Tea at the Empress (a real splurge), toured the city, the Royal BC Museum and the Parliament, and did a couple of hikes outside the city. Even though we missed having a turkey feast (and all the Black Friday deals), it was a great way to celebrate.

If you are really interested in the details about any of our trips or other activities, check out C.J.’s digital scrapbook at http://sturtevantcj.blogspot.com and/or George’s travel blog at http://sturtevantg.blogspot.com.

We hope you and your loved ones are healthy and happy.  Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays!  Write and tell us about your 2011.  You can reach us both at georges@nwlink.com.

C.J. and G on Snow Lake trail, Feb 2011

Love,


C.J. and George

BTW, the photos on the Christmas card above are from (clockwise from the large one with flowers), Arsuf (Israel), Colorado Rockies, Crater Lake, Jerusalem, and Crater Lake.