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 |
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 |