Rat Race 2013

20-30 June 2013

{{Check back later for more photos}}

This is C.J.'s eleventh year attending the Rat; she's the only pilot to fly in all eleven RR comps. We're lucky to have had a sponsor for most of those years - Barbara Summerhawk provides us with lodging in her yurt on the east fork of Humbug Creek - and since she is now semi-retired from teaching in Japan, she can be home during the Rat Race. This will be her first year to see just how busy the launch is when up to 200 people are launching in the space of two hours or so. One new wrinkle this year is that a "Super Clinic" has been added to the mix - about twenty additional fliers, some quite inexperienced, led by Kari Castle, Ken Huonjorgenson (who some say looks a lot like me) and Kay Tauscher. 

20 Jun, Thu - The drive: with our new Sorento, leave 0830, gas in Eugene, yurt by 1650. After dropping off our stuff we went to Ruch to get our annual RVHPA membership cards/helmet stickers at the store ($60, mastercard). Then we went to Fiasco to see if anyone was going to fly glassoff. We met Jeff Slotta who was sorting his wing out after a tree landing earlier in the day. [He said he had launched with tangled lines and ended up in a 150 ft tree. Forrest had to come help him get extricated.] We also heard that a pilot had crashed on launch and had to be helicoptered to the hospital. It didn't sound good so we went back to the yurt for a dinner of quesadillas. It was pretty chilly overnight and three quilts was about right.

21 Jun, Fri - We turned on the electric, oil-filled radiator before getting up, but it did not warm up the yurt the way the old propane stove/fireplace used to when it was working. I prepared oatmeal in the GSI Bugaboo teflon-coated pot - nothing stuck at all and it was easy to clean up. We went in to HQ around 1000 and later to Fiasco to find a carpool. Jeff Slotta drove us (incl Riss E, Wheely and Yuril?) up to launch in his vehicle even though he was not going to fly himself. I launched in a light west cycle and sank toward mid-launch and ran into some turbulent air and a strong but rough climb. Having VERY little bump tolerance, I opted to fly out over Hunter's LZ and land to the north in switch-y winds (:16). Two others landed as I was packing up but most people seemed to be climbing well above launch. After finishing my PB&J (while sitting on my folding butterfly chair), I started walking toward Fiasco. Part way there I got a ride with Joel from Austin, TX. [Later I found out that he had been the pilot involved in the second accident on Thursday having had a bad forward launch and plunging down the face, impacting with enough force to shatter his ski helmet and render him unconscious. However, he was quickly released from the hospital and seemed generally unharmed.]  While we were standing around at Fiasco talking with Rich from Maui, a  TVreporter tried to question Joel about his accident but he wouldn't admit that he was the victim. C.J. radioed from Longsword and I drove over there to pick her up, but then I had to return to Hunter's where I had stashed my wing. Then we went to HQ so C.J. could register and I could attend the volunteers meeting from 1700-1800. Afterward we returned to the yurt and made a good spaghetti dinner with the ground pork we found in the scatch-and-dent meat section of the otherwise-overpriced Ruch Store. Keiko, Barbara's guest from Japan and a top Japanese competitor, had arrived and we got to meet her. Barbara and Deb Vosevich had flown glass-off, Deb with a demo Delta 2.

22 Jun, Sat - It was cold again in the morning, not below freezing, but cold. C.J. and I left for the HQ and practice day about 0830. There was no problem parking (in shade, even). Uploading turnpoints took way longer than expected so the usual prac. day meeting was postponed. All the glider bags this year went in a big Hertz truck; C.J. and I rode in the white bus with Sarge (John Sargeant) driving. I decided to launch early and got off about 1205 when the pilots' meeting was beginning. I went left for a change and did not find much on the flank of Woodrat Peak. Then I flew to Mid and sank below the launch there. Out in front I found a thermal that got me to 3800 ft and I crossed to the radio tower at the south end of lower Rabe's Ridge. No lift there so I pointed at Fiasco (3:1 glide) but before I had gone very far, I found lift good enough to take me up Rabe's Ridge while gaining to 4600 ft or so. Where the ridge steepened the conditions became turbulent and I bailed toward Burnt Ridge. Before reaching the turnpoint, I turned south and crossed Bishop Creek to Mid and then out to the LZ where I landed to the N at 1302 (:57). After packing up I waited for an hour hoping for a ride back to the HQ but I ended up walking with my pack, a hot and sweaty hike. The water in the solar shower was hot so I washed up and hung around until C.J. got back from Longsword after 1630. We had the opening day Mexican-themed dinner at HQ; as one of my volunteer duties, I served salad. There were coolers of margaritas and sangria as well as a refrigerated beer truck with two taps. We got back to the yurt about 2200. It wasn't as cold but it was overcast and there was a shower about bedtime (2330).



23 Jun, Sun - It was much warmer with an overcast sky. Rain started at 0820; the meeting at 0900 was still  on. The meeting started late and went on and on until 1100 or later. Afterward C.J. and I decided to go to Medford and see about a new service provider for my smartphone. The only place around Ruch where I had service was on top of Woodrat; that wasn't much help when we wanted to communicate with each other to coordinate transportation (and it wouldn't provide any assistance if I crashed and needed help - C.J. at least had the borrowed Spot. This wasn't the first time I had been without service - all of Montana, for example, seemed to have no Virgin Mobile service). Greg at AT&T helped us set up a second line on C.J.'s account. Then he found a trade-in of $100 for my year-old HTC OneV and transferred my old number to a new Samsung Galaxy S4 Active (supposedly water resistant to 1 meter for 30 min). All this worked out well financially because they were having a "special" where we did not have to pay the $36 activation fee. And, of course we saved 10% on the tax because we were in Oregon. Our total monthly bill with minimum data (300 MB each) now is supposed to be about the same as were paying with C.J.'s old plan and my VM plan. On the way into Medford we stopped at the Jacksonville "farmers market" and ate our Rat Race lunch in the park in front of the old courthouse. While in Medford, we gassed up at Costco ($3.599) then returned to HQ where I began to figure out how to use all the new features on my new phone. At 1800 we drove over to Fiasco Winery for the big dinner for the Hunter's favorite charity. There was great BBQ ribs and chicken, and an excellent dessert of a shortbread cookie with one end dipped in chocolate and fresh strawberries (both from Costco). Around 2000 or so Eric Reed did a presentation on vol bivouacs - trips in India-Nepal and the "Sierra Safari" from Walt's Point to Lakeview. We got back to the yurt around 2200.

24 Jun, Mon - It rained overnight. In the morning a call from Barbara's new land line (no cell coverage for any provider up Humbug Canyon) determined that the day had been canceled and there was no pilots meeting. Chris went to Christina Ammon's to see if Josh and Michelle wanted to go to Oregon Caves National Monument. They were just getting up but they and several others wanted to go. We met at the Applegate Store so Chris and J&M could share a ride with us. We went via the main secondary roads to Murphy, Wilderville, Cave Jct and up the winding road to OCNM. After getting a short info lecture about bats and the whitenose disease,  we signed up for a 1415 tour ($4.25 each w/senior pass). Since we had to wait we wandered through the Lodge (built 1932). Hawaiians Pete and Tyler, Joey and his girlfriend, and Seattleites Julie and Lori joined our group of 15. The ranger guide was not as well-informed as some members of the tour group but the cave was full of good formations including the Paradise Lost Room reached by a steep stairway, and an Imagination Room with formations resembling a heart, George Washington's head, a camel, a Coke bottle and more. At the exit most of us took the longer Cliffside Nature Trail up to a cloudy viewpoint and back to the HQ and the Lodge. After a car shuffle (Chris wanted to eat lunch at the Lodge and J&M wanted to get back ASAP), C.J. and I took the fire evacuation route following blue signs on gravel roads FS4613, 4611, then Lower Ridge Road to Williams and Provolt and back to Applegate, arriving before J&M who had retraced our morning route in reverse. We spent a little time at the library (closed) downloading stuff and got back to the yurt around 1830. Keiko prepared a delicious dinner of udon, plus there was salad and good bread. Debbie had been to Costco and brought corn and a tuxedo chocolate cake. And we had fresh strawberries from Geoff and Terry's garden.


25 Jun, Tue - It was another "no fly" day even though the sky showed only a few fast-moving clouds. A land line phone call said that we were supposed to check in again around noon. At about 1000 C.J. and I went over to HQ where I spent the rest of the morning reading the manual on my new phone. Lunch was provided - chicken salad wraps on huge spinach flour tortillas. Afterward we joined Chris, Conrad, Julie and Laurie for a hike up the trail on Upper Table Rock (the easternmost mesa, the one with a VOR on the flat summit). It was about a three-mile hike altogether and we took our time to spare C.J.'s foot as much as possible. On the way back we stopped at the Rogue Creamery, not an ice cream place as we thought, but a high-end cheese factory and distributor. We saw some cheese priced close to $50 per pound! Back at the HQ I read some more of the manaual then we drove over to the Red Lily Winery for a good dinner of tri-tip streak, chicken brochettes and pulled pork, with cheesecake for dessert. We didn't leave the windy, and rather chilly, premises until 2130.

26 Jun, Wed - There was a late meeting at Fiasco (the $12 a head breakfast had been held there earlier). It was drizzling but we stayed dry under the big tent that had been raised for the charity dinner (Dave Palmer of Fiasco later purchased the tent for the winery.) Mike Hailey sent us to the top around 1300-1330 and we hung out in the cloud with some occasional chilly drizzle. After 1500 Mike canceled the Sprint task but sent the Race off on a relatively short task - WR - Rab-Pk - Poorman - Donatos (no one made goal). Most folks flew down under the low cloudbase but we rode to Fiasco on an almost empty school bus.C.J. worked on editing the alpha for Aug then we had burgers and salad for dinner. Back at the yurt, Barb had gotten the propane stove/fireplace repaired (just in time for the weather to warm up); we had some of Deb's cake for dessert.

27 Jun, Thu - The meeting did not start until after 0930; meanwhile I took care of some garbage with the other guys who are also volunteering. We went up in the white bus again but today the sky was mostly sunny and all three groups flew tasks (Super Clinic launched early, then the Race, and last, the Sprint). Fluffers were needed and Roger Brock asked me to help out so I didn't even take my wing out of the pack until everyone had launched. [Earlier I ate my meatball sandwich while sitting comfortably off the ground in my new pack chair.] At 1451 I launched and found lift along the ridge, climbing in pretty friendly thermals. I headed over to Burnt and found more lift there to over 5K. Even though I had my GPS set for the goal field at Donatos, I left the ratty lift and flew toward LW-RABE sinking. I reached there above the ridge (barely) but not before experiencing a big, rippling collapse. I found reasonable lift on the lower end of the ridge, enough to let me make it to the 0.4 km circle around Squires Peak. By then I was low enough to have to head directly back toward Longsword where I had a soft landing. C.J. joined me there even before I was completely packed up. After helping her put her wing away I got a ride back to HQ with Paul Kunzl. I returned with the Kia to pick up C.J. and then went back to (solar) shower and review the 1308 alpha. I was supposed to be serving for the dinner at HQ but C.J. took my place until I was finished with the editing. After dinner we returned to the yurt around 2045.

28 Jun, Fri - As usual we drove in for the meeting and garbage pickup. We went up to launch around 1100 in the white bus. I helped fluff for the Super Clinic, then Race and Sprint. By then wind had picked up and the gaggle(s) near launch were not getting up. I decided to drive down and found an old Dodge minivan that needed to be returned to the HQ. I stuck with the paved road as the gas gauge and fuel light both indicated out-of-gas. I hung out at HQ until C.J. got back from the LZ. Jug gave her the names of some people wanting to sell their old Flymaster B-1 Nav flight computers (so they could buy the newest version). Eventually C.J. made a deal with Bill Briskie for $375. [Really glad that Preaher had just bought my old Dragon2!] Later we got together with Jack Brown who showed us how to use the Alaska Airlines website to get a stand-by flight on his "buddy pass" for our trip to Alaska. About 1830 we returned to the yurt and fixed the left over spaghetti and sauce for dinner along with a salad. Deb came over later and showed C.J. and Barb her photos from her Colombia trip.

29 Jun, Sat - It's the last day of the Rat; we had the usual meeting and garbage collection and took the white bus to the top for a lightwind forecast day. I wasn't scheduled to assist on launch so I got my wing ready to fly and launched at 1155, just as Gail (or Kim Phinney, the social media/Spot person) was taking the group photo. I was low man in a gaggle of 8-10 wings and soon took off on my own to LW-RABE. I found enough lift to work all the way up to Rabe's Peak (3800ft) at 5?00ft. As usual, I choked on the rougher air and altitude and bailed to the south along the ridge west of China Gulch. Sinking, I crossed Flyair and found enough lift on the west slopes of lower Rabe's to climb and cross Hwy 238 and head toward Squires. I had a good view down to Raven's "resort" and could even pick out Dan and Mary Beth's new Chalet A-frame. Then I headed back W to land at Longsword (:55).  The weather was back to more normal "hot" and there was a long wait before I got a ride back to HQ even though Sarge was staging the white bus at Longsword for moving  large numbers of pilots who were expected to land farther down the Applegate valley. Finally I begged a ride with local pilot Forrest back to HQ. C.J. called to say that she had had a great flight with her new vario/flight computer and had landed south and west of the river north of Cantrall-Buckley with four others. She later got a ride with the landowner back to Longsword and then shuttled to HQ. We cleaned up with the solar shower and enjoyed some draft beer from the refrigerated truck along with chips/salsa and veggies/dips. Dinner was late at 1900 and I was a server again. The Award ceremony followed and was one of the best in all the years we've been going to the Rat. Gail had chosen etched glass vases for trophies. In addition to all the placing pilots, Dave Wheeler got an award for all has done with his Spot webpage for safety and ease of retrieve (also for his work on WTSS and scoring). [Earlier LeAnn had showed me how to use http://xcfind.paraglide.us on my phone to locate C.J. on a map. Conrad also showed me how to cut and paste the "I'm okay" Spot message to Google Maps search function to see the same thing.] We stuck around after the awards ceremony for some of Raven's decorated cake, then C.J. said goodbye to everyone and we returned to the yurt pretty late (2230?). Chris came in even later around midnight.

30 Jun, Sun - We got up at 0715, had some oatmeal, then packed up and cleaned the yurt. By 0930 we were on our way home. We stopped for gas in Medford, gas and lunch in Eugene. There was some slow traffic on I-5 north of Portland and again north of Olympia, one a gaper block. We filled the tank at Costco in Covington, although we didn't need that much gas since we were getting 27 mpg (indicated), but we were stopping in Eugene anyway. We also picked up some groceries and milk at Freddies. We were home by 1940.

Blanchard Bash

31 May-2 June

The fly-in a Blanchard was scheduled for the weekend right after Frostbite at Dog Mountain but an unseasonal snowstorm caused its cancellation. Jeff and Stacey Beck re-scheduled the Bash for the weekend after Memorial Day. By then C.J. was pretty sure that she would be ready to fly on her birthday, the 31st. All that was needed was for the rain to stop and the skies to clear by Friday.

31 May, Fri - On the way up I-5 we had to go through the detour around the collapsed span of the Skagit River bridge at Mt. Vernon. It was pretty slow. Then we got gas at Costco and headed over to Camping World to look for a reclining chair with a footrest for C.J. (It was her birthday, after all - and I had a sale flyer and a $25 coupon.) Strangely enough, there were no recliners that had a separate adjustment for the footrest. We ended up with a nice, padded rocker and a separate ottoman. We got up to the Beck's around noon and had our pick of the parking spots for our Aliner. We stuck it next to the fence on higher ground to

Honza does a dance move on launch

be out of the wet area. Jeff had already built a huge bonfire and was just doing a last minute cleanup before going off to fly (to Lookout, we heard later). We went up to launch and C.J. took a flight and I drove down to pick her up. Then we went back to launch for another flight. This time we both flew and C.J. stayed up while I launched later and had a nine minute extended (not very) sledder. I left C.J. to pack up while I went back with Roger (I think) to get the Sorento from launch. That was enough and we returned to the Beck's to hang out with the other early arrivers. C.J. got good use out of her new chair and ottoman. After asking a number of local folks (including Delvin Crabtree who was camped nearby in his '98 Chalet) about a good place to eat and celebrate C.J.'s birthday, we settled upon Chuckanut Manor right at the base of Blanchard Hill. The Friday night crowd was not a problem and we were able to get a 7 p.m. reservation with no difficulty. We decided that it was warm enough to eat outside on the deck with a view of the tide flats and the bay across to Samish Island and beyond. The special was a buffet which included crab, oysters (breaded and on the half-shell), shrimp (cocktail and breaded), mussels, as well as flatiron steak, pork rib and prime rib. There were salads and veggies as well. Everything was excellent including the rich chocolate cake we shared for dessert. Back at camp there was a small fire in the BBQ pit so we hung around for a while. It was kind of chilly as we got ready for bed but it must have clouded up during the night as it seemed to get warmer through the night.

1 June, Sat - We got up at a reasonable time (i.e., not very early), had oatmeal for breakfast and wandered up to the trailhead just in time to sign in for the DNR work party. REI was one of the sponsors and provided blue "volunteer" t-shirts and 20%-off coupons. There were also lots of snacks available as well as bottled water. This year the other large group was the mountain bike coalition. The pilots all went up to launch (on the newly graveled road with new culverts) and did a bunch of trimming, weed cutting and raking. Before noon people began to fly and C.J. took a flight. I went down to pick her up and by the time we got back to the trailhead lunch was almost ready (about 1400). The volunteers had prepared BBQ chicken, brats, and other sausage. There was salad and lots of chips, as well as homemade cookies and brownies. Soft drinks and beer were available. Back at launch C.J. took another flight but the conditions had not really turned on yet. I flew later and was able to soar about 300 ft over launch but not enough to go way back and get over the Oyster Dome. I thought the air was not particularly smooth and too full of other wings. After 45 min. or so I flew out over the bay far enough that I could look down at the deck of the Chuckanut Manor before I landed. C.J. had gotten a ride to launch and driven the car back to the Beck's. I got a ride up in the back of Jeff's pickup with a couple of hang pilots and a pg from Eatonville. By 1900 or so the potluck was getting started and there were tasty snackies to keep us going until the marinated chicken and baked salmon were cooked. There was a good assortment of main dishes, salads and desserts (including C.J.'s rhubarb-blueberry crisp). When it started to get dark Jeff used a propane torch to light the big bonfire. The dry Christmas tree on the top flamed high and the sparks left trails of light. Later I was at the sink washing out the crisp pan when I heard a loud THUMP and then a hubbub from the crowd. I thought it might have been an explosion as in fireworks, but it was Jim Wagner hitting the side of Jaro's van at the end of the zipline. Fortunately he didn't seem to be hurt; we didn't get a good look at the dent in the side of the van to see if it was a cartoon-shape of Wagner a la Wiley Coyote.


2 June, Sun - Breakfast got started around 0900 when Jeff , Stacey, Roger, and other volunteers began to cook sausage, scrambled eggs and blueberry pancakes over the charcoal fire. There were a lot fewer than the 70 or so people who had been there the night before so it wasn't quite an impossible task. [The sign-in sheet showed approximately 46 people (pilots mostly) who donated $25 or more toward the Blanchard Bash.] After breakfast Honza and Jesse gave a (fund raising) presentation on the Red Bull X-Alps. A couple of the rules/guidelines have been changed this year - there can be two helpers for each competitors, and everyone must stop between 2130 and 0530 except for one all-nighter. It had been cloudy all morning but when we started driving up to launch with Chris and Patricia, the sun came out - maybe it had been sunny on the west side of Blanchard all morning??? Conditions looked even more "north" (actually W and NW) than the previous days but an occasional launch would stick and climb out for a while. C.J. had jammed a toe on her left foot when landing on Sat (or maybe it was Fri) and her other foot was sore anyway so she did not think she would fly. I wasn't crazy about the conditions and finally

Honza shows his "Pilot Needs Ride" sign

decided that we might as well get headed toward home. It was about 1600 when we headed down the hill and it didn't take long to pack up and hook up the trailer to get on the road. But it was just about the worst time of the day for trying to get across the Skagit River on the Burlington detour so we decided to take a long detour instead over Fir Island down south of La Conner. We would think of it as exploring new territory, not as a "short cut". Our maps were not very detailed and the GPS directions were somewhat dubious, but we found our way down the secondary roads past a number of tulip farms and vegetable stands and back to I-5. We reached home around 1900 and ate the leftover pizza.

North Deer Fence

We had a makeshift fence between the house and the fence along the north side of the yard made of deer netting. For some reason I had built a gateway frame in the middle of it. The deer netting was getting pretty torn up at the gate – probably one cat or another had clawed a way through it. So it made sense to consider replacing the netting with something more permanent.

6 May, Monday – After drawing out my plan for the fence – two-sided cedar with 4-in by 6-ft fence boards hung on 2x4 pressure treated rails held up by the present gate, the house and a couple of 4x4x8s, I bought the materials at Chinook Lumber (about $144). I had put the first 4x4 in on Sunday, the second one and some of the rails today. Since the 4x4 was slightly rotated out of line, I had to cut some of the ends on an angle.

7 May, Tues – After a hike (Azalea Park down to the RR grade and back) while C.J. was at her physical therapy session at 1030, I finished placing the rails cutting them to size using the miter saw and dabbing the cut ends with wood preservative. I nailed the fence boards up on both sides of the north half of the fence. It was actually starting to look like something.

8 May, Wed – C.J. had an appointment with Dr. Ngan then we did some shopping. When we got back I put up the outside boards on the southern part of the fence. That night we drove in to Issaquah to see the musical Chicago at the Village Theater.

9 May, Thu – During C.J.’s PT I hiked a loop to Azalea Park and back via the Silent Creek Trail. Back at home I put up the last fence boards. The gate was complete except for the gate.

10 May, Fri – I had thought that there would be easy-to-find plans for building a wood fence gate on the Internet, but most of what I found was a generalized description with few illustrations. I drew my own plans. C.J. needed some more fabric for the quilt she was making for Desiree and Ryan Voit’s baby so we went to JoAnne’s in Bellevue. We also stopped at Costco and Home Depot where I picked up five 5.5in x 5ft cedar fence boards ($7). I had gone into HD to get a replacement Ryobi drill and batteries but they were sold out (Later I ordered them online). In the evening, I replaced some of the deck boards that were rotting out on the ends.

11 May, Sat – I picked up three cedar 2x4x8 rails from Chinook ($20) and built the gate frame with a diagonal brace. It came out pretty close to square. Then I nailed on the five wide fence boards plus the two narrow ones and trimmed the length to about 48 in. (low enough so C.J. could see over the gate) Temporarily I clamped it to the gate post.

12 May, Sun – We had the first rain of the month overnight. It didn’t affect the new gate so in the morning I leveled it up and attached the hinges. The last step was to screw the latch in place and it was all done. Hopefully it will keep the deer out of the garden, at least from this side of the house.

Frostbite - Dog Mountain 2013

 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.

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).

Taking the Plunge – Replacing the Subaru

 and eventually the Trooper as well

24 March 2013- After almost a year of considering what to do about the 8-year-old Outback which was showing signs of becoming expensive to repair (overheating, CEL indicating time to replace the catalytic converters, etc.),  the actual event went rather quickly. With our tax refund safely deposited in the bank, I started to search online using Kelley Blue Book (kbb.com). It gave me a big list of choices for relatively-new, used small SUVs. I had pretty much decided that if we were going to keep the Aliner, then we would need a 6-cylinder vehicle to tow it [I waffled back and forth on this and finally went for the V-6 because there were hardly any I-4s available]. If we were going to continue to fly and hike, we’d better have at least all-wheel drive and good ground clearance. The Ford Escape fit the bill but Consumer Reports didn’t have much good to say about the 2012. The magazine, however, liked the 2012 Kia Sorento and ranked it only slightly below the smaller Toyota RAV4 and Subaru Forester. So I narrowed it down to the 2011 and 2012 Sorento. Performance Kia in Everett caught my eye with a Certified Pre-Owned 2012 with the full manufacturer’s warranty: 5 yrs/60,000 mi full-coverage and 10 yrs/100,000 mi engine/drivetrain (but, two strikes: it had over 32,000 mi on it and was dark green, not C.J.’s favorite color). I planned to go up there Monday the 25^th to take a look anyway. Saturday night I spent a few more hours looking on the Web and noticed that Kia of Puyallup had a titanium (i.e., gray) 2012 with about 23,000 mi for $22,899 (that was the internet price, $26,931 on the window). On Sunday I went down to Puyallup more to get in some practice dealing with used car salespeople than in expectation of actually buying a car. Fortunately, KOP is a low-pressure dealership, or at least Scott Clymer was. I looked at the titanium Sorento, noted that it had the third row seats that I did not want (and then found out that all V-6 2012 Sorento LXs had the third row). I looked at some other Sorentos including some high end ones and finally went back to test drive the titanium one. Lots of power, but we’ll pay for that with lower gas mileage (although Scott claims that the V-6 loses only about one mpg vs. the I-4; we’ll see). Scott took the Outback keys to have it appraised and I settled in for what I figured would be a long wait. I was surprised when he came back within a relatively short time with an offer for the Outback. It was about a thousand dollars lower than I had expected so I asked him to ask his manager to squeeze some more money out of the trade. The result was an increase of $500 bringing the total to $4700. Good enough. Next we filled out some paperwork before bringing me to Ryan, the financial guy. There was a big chunk (9.6%) added for taxes and almost $300 for registration, license and whatever. Then Ryan started checking my credit rating and trying to find a loan rate better than I could get from Bank of America (3.49%). Apparently I have a really good credit rating because he was able to get the APR down to 2.50% from Alaska USA, and he was also able to lower the payments if I purchased an extended warranty. I had done some researching on my smartphone while waiting for Scott to finish doing the trade-in appraisal and found that USAA was offering a 72 mo/ 60,000 mi pretty good warranty for $1850. There was a strong recommendation however to get the manufacturer’s warranty rather than a third-party contract if possible. Ryan offered a 10 yr/100,000 mi bumper-to-bumper warranty with towing and car rental from Kia for $1250. [The price wasn’t obvious at first because it was quoted as $X more per month, but Ryan was willing to break it down into actual costs.] Another deduction was possible if I signed up for three years of oil changes at KOP for $347 (to assure that I kept to the terms of the warranty). In addition I purchased an alarm/tracking system (Geo Track, similar to Lojack) for about $6 extra per month (which is right around the amount that USAA will discount my insurance bill for having a tracker that police can use to find a stolen car). The whole thing ended up being about $304/mo for 6 yrs. Scott moved the Sorento into a breezeway and put the Outback right behind it so I could move all the stuff from the spare tire area, under the seats and out of the door pockets and console into the new car. It was after 3 p.m. by the time I finished and left the dealership, so on the way home I stopped to get some lunch at Costco and fill the tank. I hadn’t checked the gas filler hatch at the dealership and now I found the hinge was not firmly attached to the vehicle. That’s something they’ll have to fix along with the broken sunglasses holder. When I got home C.J. was ready to go for a ride so we went out to the North Fork road just to see how the AWD/locked differential worked on a dirt road. We also tried the downhill brake control that keeps the vehicle going slow on a steep hill automatically. We noticed that there doesn’t seem to be a thermometer readout on the dashboard even though there appears to be a temperature sensor in front of the radiator. Also, the air bag seat sensor does not detect C.J. is in the passenger seat when she is sitting on a pillow. We’ll have to get that worked out or she won’t have the protection of the air bags.

25 Mar, Monday – I called USAA to drop the Outback and add the Sorento. I also dropped collision and comprehensive on the 11-yr-old Trooper. There was an overall savings of about $20 per month. Now all I have to do is sell the Trooper! Later I went to the bank to get the Outback title from the safe deposit box, and pay off the balance of the old home equity loan. After exchanging emails with Adam at KOP, I called the service department to see about making an appointment and to see if they had any ideas about the how to deal with the passenger air bag problem. I couldn’t make an apt until the service guys received the paperwork from Scott and Adam, and they didn’t have a fix for the air bag except to try a smaller and firmer pillow. I researched and then ordered a bolt-on hitch and the trailer wiring from eTrailer.com and then read the detailed instructions for installation. It looks pretty straightforward and when I looked under the car and took the tail light off, everything seemed to be where it should be. While putting stuff in the Sorento I found a ticket from Alamo, so I guess that this vehicle had been a rental before KOP bought it at auction.

26 Mar, Tuesday – Scott called me this morning to check on how I was liking the Sorento. I told him about the air bag problem and he said the same thing - a smaller, firmer pillow. Later I tried various combination of pillows and none worked.

27 Mar, Wed – I had a dentist appt. and afterwards stopped into Lee Johnson KIA to pick up an accessory catalog and price the cargo mat (not available for the 7-seater, have to special order). In the afternoon I drove C.J. in to Issaquah for her appointment with Dr. Ngan. The passenger air bag OFF was illuminated. I hope we can find a workaround.  In the evening I surfed a KIA forum without finding anything (except for a couple of photos showing what the rear area looks like after removing the seats – four bolts each)

28 Mar, Thu – KIA of Puyallup called to schedule the service that needs to be done: fix sunglasses holder, install Geo Tracker, fix gas filler hatch, and figure out what to do about the passenger seat air bag sensor. Next Thu at 1030.

29 Mar, Fri – I spent a little time looking beneath the Sorento to see how I would route a wire from the hitch area to the battery – looks easy once I get it in front of the rear axle. It’s just a matter of following the existing wires. I’m considering buying the trailer brake installation kit from eTrailer. That would provide all the circuit breakers, ring terminals, wire tires, 7-way RV plug receptacle and hanger and two 25-ft lengths of 10 ga wire. Later I tried folding the second row of seats up and the passenger-side seat would not fold. When it does fold, that part of the rear seat folds twice. One more thing for the service guys at KOP to look at. [I put the comprehensive coverage back on the Trooper because I remembered that I wanted to replace the windshield before trying to sell it.]

[continued to detail all the mods and service in my written journal...]

Spring Board Meeting 2013, and a little road tripping

 Colorado, March 12-21 2013 
                         Colorado Springs and Granby

Three sisters at Garden of the Gods

12 Mar, Tue – Left home at 0930 in rain which cleared by eastern WA, gas at Yakima Costco, and again at Nampa Costco. We stayed in a Super8 and heated up our dinner of pre-cooked meatloaf in a Frybaby.

13 Mar, Wed – Drove from Twin Falls to Laramie, gas at Costco Ogden. We stayed at a rundown Ramada Inn and had a rotisserie chicken for dinner.

14 Mar, Thu – Drove down from Laramie in sunny and relatively warm weather. Checked into an accessible room at the Antlers Hilton. Took Robin Jones as our guide to Manitou Springs for frozen custard, a short tour of the arcade and a drive up to the cog railway station. We were back early enough for the start of the 1600 USHPA General Session. Icebreaker party at Springs Orleans.

15 Mar, Fri – Committee Meetings, Dinner at The Ritz with Rich Hass, Patrick Hajek, Doug Stroop and

16 Mar, Saturday – BOD general session, Awards Banquet. Among other things, Wally got the Rob Kells Memorial Award witnessed by not only Ginny and C.J. but also Mary, Dave and Matt who came all the way from Chicago.

17 Mar, Sunday – Got pretty much all packed up and went to breakfast on Tejon Street with Wally and Ginny and Mary, Dave and Matt. Later we met at the visitor center of Garden of the Gods for a walk in the sun on the paved trails.

 

A short trip to the west side of the Rockies

March snow on Berthoud Pass

17 Mar, Sunday (cont) - When we left the rest of the folks at Garden of the Gods around 1430 the weather was somewhat unstable with a bit of hail/sleet but mostly sunny skies. As we drove north to Denver and then west into the mountains, the sky clouded over. Once we hit US 40, it began snowing lightly and blowing across the road. Berthoud Pass (over 11,000 ft.) was totally socked in with heavy snow and a slippery road surface. Temperatures stayed in the 20’s as we drove down through Winter Park, Fraser and Tabenash. It was still snowing and blowing hard when we arrived at the Worldmark resort in Granby, elev. about 8000 ft., just after 1800. There wasn’t much more than remnants of snowdrifts in the Granby area even when we got up the next morning.

G self-portrait near Lulu City

18 Mar, Mon - I had brought skis and snowshoes hoping for a chance to ski the Kawuneeche valley on the west side of Rocky Mountain National Park but conditions were looking less than ideal. However, when I called the ranger station just after 0800, they said that there was always more snow in the park than there was around the relatively low-precipitation area of Granby. Sure enough, as I drove the sixteen miles to the park entrance the snow began to cover the fields and, even better, it was snowing with the temperature in the teens. A quick stop in the visitor center gave me a chance to talk with a ranger and get firsthand information on the many trails. I thought going up to Big Meadow would be a good option but when I stopped at the Green Mountain trail head for Big Meadow I found the trail to be steep and narrow – fine for snowshoes, but I wanted to ski if possible. Just as at the VC, I was the only car in the parking lot. Another several miles put me at the end of the plowed road and the trailhead for the Colorado River Trail which goes north to the site of the old mining settlement, Lulu City. Again the parking lot was empty and the trail was packed but covered by a couple of inches of new snow and more was coming down. I’d get to break trail, not an onerous task due to the light, fluffy snow. The temperature was about 16 deg. F when I left the trailhead around 0940 and I soon was stopped by a steep climb and had to remove my skis to gain the top of the 200-ft ridge. Once up, the skiing was mostly rolling hills through the forest with the baby Colorado River on my left. There were lots of tracks of small critters in the new snow

Looking back across a bridge at my tracks

but I didn’t see any of them. I lost the trail as I crossed the upper part of Shiplers Park and broke trail through the woods back to the slope on the east where I picked up the drifted-in trail. Shortly before reaching the meadow/park where Lulu City is/was located, I saw large tracks crossing the trail, big enough to be moose! And, sure enough, about 30-50 ft. into the trees, there was a large moose. My attempts to get a good picture were foiled by the darkness, the snow and by the equipment – my cell phone camera. Nevertheless, it was pretty exciting to be so close to such a big critter. Amazingly quiet, the moose moved deeper into the forest as I looked down at my camera; when I looked up, it was gone. Another quarter hour of skiing put me at my 1130 turnaround time in the park just S of Lulu. With the wind beginning to gust strongly and the track rapidly disappearing, I was ready to head back. This time I stuck with the trail on the sidehill and found that it had been wiped away by a small avalanche – no wonder I hadn’t been able to find it earlier. Crossing Shiplers Park again my tracks were almost totally gone – glad I wasn’t relying totally on following my tracks back to the trailhead [The Backcountry Navigator app on my phone and the built-in gps worked very well, better than a map, in fact] . Near Crater Creek there were the ruins of a cabin and a sign pointing to a privy, maybe remnants of the mine that Shipler had worked. After a few more gusts of windblown snow I pulled on wind pants and zipped up my parka, but it was too cold to stop for a lunch break although it was right around noon. It wasn’t until I was within a mile of the TH that I saw some additional ski tracks and later some snowshoe prints. But I never saw anyone on the trail. There was one person with snowshoes just leaving his car (IA plates) as I skied into the parking lot around 1250. The road had been plowed through the Kawuneeche Valley so the trip out was a little faster although I did stop at the VC to report the avalanche covering the trail. There were moments of sunshine on the way out along with snow gusts. I stopped at City Market in Granby for some stuff that C.J. needed before returning to Worldmark where C.J. had been working on editing all day.

Devils Slide along I-84

19 Mar, Tuesday – We packed up and headed home around 0900, a day earlier than I had first planned [I had thought that it would be okay to drive home in two days. But after the grueling trip out to the BOD, I figured that three days would be more comfortable even if we had to pay for another motel night.] The trip along US 40 was scenic with canyons and passes, especially Rabbit Ears Pass, to traverse. The west side of Rabbit Ears looked great for XC skiing and there is a Worldmark resort in Steamboat Springs which is only about 15 miles away. We didn’t stop in Steamboat to check out the resort but continued on with less and less snow visible through Craig (grocery stop). Then we passed through the area we had flown and driven during the Dinosaur national hang gliding meet. We wondered if we could find the launch after all these years. We got gas in Vernal (3.499, better than western CO) and drove into the Uinta Basin and over Daniel’s Summit which appeared to be almost completely a snowmobile use area. We continued along the east side of the Wasatch through Heber, I-80, I-84 and down to Ogden (gas at Costco, 3.229) with a stop for a photo of Devils Slide. Then it was only a few more miles along I-15 to Brigham City where we checked into a low-budget HoJos. We heated up the rest of the chicken soup for dinner.

20 Mar, Wednesday – Since our last two days would not be as long, we decided to visit the

C.J. at ATK (Thiokol)

Golden Spike National Historic Site about 30 miles west of Brigham City. Along the way we sidetracked to the ATK (Thiokol) display of the rockets for which they had provided solid fuel. [It was about two miles farther along SR 83 from the turnoff to GOSP.] It was drizzling as we wandered through the display and it continued drizzling when we got to the Golden Spike visitor center located near where the Union Pacific and Central Pacific had met to complete the first transcontinental railroad. We didn’t do much outside because of the rain and because C.J. had to stay on the paved walkways. The usual 10:00 tour of the building where the two locomotives are kept during the winter was not available because there was a busload of fifth graders alternating touring and visiting the displays. We’ll have to return, an easy detour from I-84 near Snowville. On the way to I-84 we passed the rest of the huge ATK complex; it would have been great to have had a guide who could have explained what we were seeing. There were lots of what looked like ammunition bunkers and some large, windowless buildings with what seemed to be escape chutes. We stayed on I-84 only to just beyond Snowville where we detoured west on secondary roads to pass west of the Blackpine Mountains along the Raft River valley. At Malta we turned west and passed over Connors Summit (5000 ft.?) and through Albion, Declo and Burley before returning to I-84. We stopped to check out the winter clearance sale at Sierra Trading Post in Meridian, ID, got gas at Costco in Nampa and reached Ontario by 1730. After taking a few minutes to get out of the howling wind in our Motel 6 room, we went back into Idaho to the Hideaway Grill in Payette for a steak dinner. The temperature had been climbing and falling all day as we drove from sunshine into rain and back. By late afternoon the temperature had reached a max of 68 deg before dropping back into the 50’s and 40’s. We were hoping for good weather for our last day but reports have been talking about snow.

21 Mar, Thursday – Up at 0730, prepared oatmeal in room microwave and on the road by 0900. Sunny skies turned gray and then, when we reached the summit of the Blue Mountains, we ran into snow. There was some slush in the right lane and a little snow in the left. It all dried up as we came down to the flats and it got windy. We stopped at Costco Union Gap for gas and an ice cream bar and then made it home (sunny at the pass, drizzle turning to rain in NB) by 1530 or so. C.J. checked the home answering machine and found that her appointment for Friday had been canceled. Rescheduled for Wednesday – several more days before she can resume weightbearing on her right foot, a disappointment.