Fall Board Meeting 2012

Newburgh, NY

October 17-20 2012

This would be my first fall board meeting as chairman of the Awards Committee. C.J. would participate in the Publications Committee and we would both attend the General Sessions. A number of the board members planned to fly into a NYC airport and drive a rental car to Newburgh, but C.J. and I booked tickets right to Stewart Field through Detroit. We would rent a car for the second part of our trip – a week in the Berkshire Mountains.

17 Oct, Wed – We were up at 0315 and out at 0415 for our 0700 flight on Delta. We parked at America’s Best Value Inn/Parking ($56 through airport parking.com and took the free shuttle to SeaTac where we dropped off the pre-paid duffelbag at the bag drop, certainly less time-consuming than standing in line to do baggage and boarding passes. Our home-printed boarding passes worked fine to get us on the plane. There were some views across western WA including some Cascade peaks with a dusting of snow. It was cloudy across most of the rest of the country until MI where we landed several minutes early at Detroit (DTW). It was a good thing the flight got in early because our connecting flight was way on the diagonally-opposite side of the terminal and through a tunnel. We were last to board the small commuter plane (12 or 13 rows of two-per-side seats) and we had the last row. It was a short flight to NY where we had views of the Shawangunk Mountains and New Paltz as we approached Stewart Field (Now Stewart International Airport, SWF). A call on my smartphone (where I had entered the number) got us a shuttle to the Ramada Inn. Once settled in at the not-very-luxurious hotel, we took a walk around the local shopping area – not as easy as it sounds because there are no sidewalks at all in the area. We checked out a couple of eating places before returning to the Ramada where we had arranged to meet Mark Forbes, Reg. One Director, for dinner. After checking out the choices on our phones and iPads we decided to go to Billy Joe’s Ribworks, in Newburgh right on the Hudson River. There weren’t any vacant parking spots in the lot – must be a pretty popular place – but we found lots of room near the Newburgh-Beacon Ferry. Wednesday night was all-you-can-eat buffet night (12.99) – there was lots of pulled pork, fried chicken, smoked turkey drumsticks, and sliced brisket with peppers and onions (plus corn on the cob, green beans, watermelon, rolls and more). We were seated on a covered porch where we could see boats and the ferry chugging past; the sides rolled down for the cooler fall evening and the overhead heater kept it at a comfortable temperature. The meal was good and we probably would have stayed a bit longer but around 2000 the loud 60’s band started up again and it was just too noisy to talk. We had had plenty to eat so after leaving we didn’t try very hard to find the traditional ice cream place. We did check out the small ferry terminal before hopping in Mark’s rental car for the drive back to the Ramada (and, for Mark, to one of his favored, one-floored family-run motels). The Ramada was definitely not one floor: there were two floors but the hallways were interrupted by sets of stairs going up as the hotel corridor went uphill to the west. We were on the second floor; there was no elevator and, besides the stairs to our floor, we had two other sets of 3-4 stairs to get to our room (which came conveniently equipped with a microwave and refrigerator).

Exec Dir Martin gives his report

18 Oct, Thu – We got up at 0715 in time to go to the restaurant for the included continental breakfast before the meetings began. Breakfast included scrambled eggs (of dubious authenticity) so C.J. did not have to resort to the usual carbohydrate-heavy continental breakfast. We had a chance to sit and talk with Robin Jones from the office, Paul Voight from Pinebush, who organized the meeting location, Bill Bolosky, Rich Hass, and Josh Cohn. Dan Tomlinsom, Reg Nine Director) was hoping to fly Ellenville in the a.m. but Paul said he thought it would be blown out (it was). Later C.J. and I took a walk over to Walmart to get some tea, crackers and soda while the Executive Committee met. After lunch I sat through a 3-hr training presentation on board governance and then short semi-annual reports by Rich (Pres) and Martin (Exec Dir). After a break we reconvened in the room next to the restaurant (which was in use by a country line-dance party) for the “icebreaker” which had a cash bar and enough hearty appetizers for a dinner. There were a few local pilots present but no one we had met before. Later the staff showed “Live the Dream”, a really good promotional video by Seth Warren and Sarah Close funded by crowd sourcing using Kickstarter on the Web. Dennis Pagen showed a clip from a DVD of a base jump from the top surface of a hang glider at the Coupe d’Icare. A second try by another base jumper ripped the sail and caused another parachute deployment. Back in the room C.J. finished up editing and then I began editing until the battery ran out of charge.

Dennis Pagen at Yobo Oriental Restaurant

19 Oct, Fri – Same breakfast but with more USHPA folks. I worked on finishing up the magazine editing in the morning while the other committees were meeting. At 1430 I convened the awards committee with C.J., Paul and Ryan Voight, Bill and Sharon Helliwell, Dan Tomlinson, Jeff Mosher and Bryon Estes ( a former recipient of the HG IOTY). All went well enough but next year I need printed summaries for each candidate – I had only one 40-page compilation, and Jeff had another one organized into separate pages for each candidate. Afterward I wrote the report and uploaded it to the USHPA server. Around 1800 we joined Dick Heckman ad Dennis Pagen for dinner at the nearbu Yobo Oriental Restaurant.

20 Oct, Sat – Same breakfast every day. There was a long general session with various minor wranglings. We had lunch at Anna’s Café on Main in Newburgh with Mark and Nick Greece. The gyros were tasty but there was a dearth of ice cream shops in the area. Back at the General Session there were more committee reports and mine did not come up until quite late. No one disputed our choices. Earlier in the day we got to see the preliminary version of the “Wheels Up” film on the flying wheelchair project. It was really good. The Board meeting will be in Seattle next fall – first time since about 1985. Dues are going to go up to $99 to make up for the huge increase in cost for insurance. And the family discount is being cut from $32 to $18. We did not get going for dinner with Mark until nearly 1900 – across the I-84 bridge to Sukohthai Restaurant in Beacon. The restaurant was busy enough that we had to wait, but the food was excellent. By the time we finished it was just about 2100 and the local Beacon Creamery was closed. We had to settle for a Friendly’s a few miles to the north in Fishkill. The ice cream was okay but the wait was long and the servings quite small – Friendly’s is not on our preferred list. We got back around 2200 in time to pack most of our stuff and charge my almost flat phone (using the GPS function to find restaurants and such really drained it, I guess).

The Tuthill section of the cemetery

21 Oct, Sun – You know: same breakfast again. About 0930 I took the Ramada shuttle to the airport, the only passenger, while C.J. finished packing up and moving out. After fending off a bunch of upselling from Budget, I checked out a Ford Fiesta with Florida plates. [It might have been fun to upgrade to a RAV4 but not for $10 more per day. Besides, the Fiesta got better than 35 mpg.] Around 1000 C.J. and I got started for Washingtonville in quest of

Civil War Monument

the cemetery where her dad is buried. After getting mixed up by the St. Mary’s cemetery entrance and the relocated entrance to the Washingtonville Cemetery, we found our way in and, with a little searching, found the correct Tuthill plot (located behind the big funeral home on Toleman Rd.) After some photos C.J. suggested that we try to find my family’s graves in Walden since we were going to drive through there anyway. Wallkill Valley Cemetery is much larger and my memory was hazy – it’s been 38 years – about the location. We found the cemetery but had no luck finding the graves even after calling Wayne for his help. Naturally, the cem. office was closed on Sunday. Heading on through Walden I managed to find the street leading to Overlook Terrace and we drove up to look at my folks' Walden home where I lived for only a short time. It hardly looked changed although there was a new street running parallel to Overlook behind the house. Along the way to Ellenville we stopped for an ice cream lunch in Pinebush and did not find the turnoff to Paul Voight’s house and business. Near the crest of the ridge we took a scenic detour through Cragsmoor which came back out on Rte 52 right at the entrance to the road to the E-ville takeoff. The GPS helped us find Cohen’s Bakery again on this trip and we waited for a just-baked loaf of raisin pumpernickel bread (well, ¼ loaf, about two lbs, $8 worth). We also picked up a grab bag for $2.50 which was labeled “choc” and turned out to contain two éclairs, two cream puffs, and four chocolate and almond paste rollups – great deal. The E-ville LZ was pretty empty except for Bryon Estes and another instructor who were working with a couple of students on the conical training hill at the east end of the LZ. Bryon said it was windy up at launch level so there hadn’t been anyone flying. Shortly afterward we saw someone launch and it looked like he or she was staying up. We didn’t stick around but waded back out of the soggy field and returned to the road. The trip over the Gunks on Rte 44-55 was colorful with autumn foliage and there were plenty of other people out admiring the view, so many that Minnewaska State Park had run out of parking space and was turning away cars. We couldn’t see any climbers on the cliffs from the road, but all those parking lots were full, too. After a stop at Jenkins-Lueken’s orchard stand to get some fresh cider, we ran into a traffic jam trying to get through the narrow main street of New Paltz. We tried to avoid the worst of it by turning north toward Rosendale before crossing the Wallkill River. Nothing looked familiar along the route although I knew that I had spent time out in the Rosendale vicinity doing field geology. [I did spot one of the mines that followed a layer of bluestone or something along the dip of the formation.] We stopped at Walmart in Kingston to stock up on groceries since the resort we were heading for was in a small town without a large food store. We crossed the Hudson to Rhinebeck, went north on Rte 9G, then followed 9, 66 and 22 to where we turned off on Brodie Mtn Rd to Hancock, MA, and Vacation Village in the Berkshires, an RCI gold crown resort across the road from Jiminy Peak Ski Area (arriving about 1715). Checking in was easy and we were glad to settle into our small, one-bedroom unit with a tiny kitchen containing a microwave, two-burner hot plate, and a full-size refrigerator. Most of our travel day had been sunny but it got overcast later in the day. We were hoping for a clear day Monday to visit nearby Mt. Greylock.