C.J.’s Birthday at Kiona Airpark

Memorial Day Weekend 2016

Thanks, Tina and Larry!

C.J. ready for her birthday flight

Although the weekend started out rainy, we left Sunday (in the rain) and drove down to camp at Tina and Larry’s new property near Randle. It’s on a grass airstrip and has a big hangar that fits both the Dragonfly and their Cessna (plus one or more set-up hang gliders when necessary. We parked just outside the fenced backyard (where we had parked on our last trip down for Hazel’s fourth birthday was recovering from the removal of several large conifers). The weather had gone from rainy on the way down to sunny around Morton-Randle so we all went over to Dog for an afternoon flight. I thought it was blowing too hard for paragliding but it looked reasonable for the hang gliders. A lone mini-wing pilot was packing up in the LZ. C.J. had a good launch and flew for 1hr 10min and then had a good landing although she had to run hard, surprising in the wind (but later we surmised that the berm at the west end of the LZ is blocking the wind and/or causing rotor). Back at the Jorgensen’s we had a late dinner of grilled steak and over-roasted potatoes and carrots. We picked up some ice cream to go with the chocolate-chip scone-based strawberry “shortcake”.

Monday – We were lazing around in our sleeping bags when we heard a gentle tapping. Opening the door we found Hazel who wanted to know why we were still sleeping. Apparently she doesn’t have a shy bone in her body because, after cleaning the wet grass off her feet, she climbed right into bed with us. There was plenty of room in our zipped-together sleeping bags but it wasn’t long before we all got up. Hazel took off and we made breakfast. Larry had lots of projects to work on; I helped him with scrubbing the pollen and stuff off the greenhouse. Around 1430 we went over to Dog again. Six or eight pilots had landed in the LZ already after having decent flights (Aaron and Kerry, Paul Dees, Kenny, and others). We drove up and C.J. got set up while I talked with Dave and Diane and Kim. They got launched before Larry, Tina and Justin came up to fly. I tried several times to get off and then decided that it just wasn’t going to work for me and packed up my wing. By 1800 the wind had switched mostly to the north and only a few wings were in the air. C.J. said that Tina had reported ugly air and had landed. But a few minutes later she said that maybe it was the transition and by now maybe the air would be smoother. I jumped on that suggestion and took off to the north after only a couple of tries. It was soarable but the air was not completely settled and it wasn’t all that pleasant. I kept trying the north, then the west face, back and forth as conditions changed, and eventually went out and landed for about 0:21. Travis joined us at the airpark and Tina served up crockpot pork with potatoes and salad. She also had put up crepe paper streamers and had baked a birthday cake for C.J. It was a really nice party. Hazel gave C.J. a necklace she had made. Fortunately we still had the Umpqua ice cream left to go with the still-warm cake decorated with an almond glaze – and candles, maybe not 69, but quite a few.

Tuesday – We stayed over to avoid the traffic, and because it was already late when we finished dinner. We left around 1100. Though I had considered checking out the Cowlitz Falls Campground County Park to see how it would be to put in our kayak (or inflatable kayak) to float/paddle down to the day use area where the lake backed up by the CF dam begins, we just drove the usual route home. [All the trans-Cascade passes were open by this weekend.] Stopping at Costco Covington for gas and bananas, we also shared a hot dog for lunch. Fred Meyer had milk on sale and we also got a can of shortening so I could make some more scones. We had stopped near the Soldiers Home in Orting at the Spooner Farm fruit stand and got a half flat of strawberries that were as good as those we bought in Medford (11.50, yesterday’s picking). We were home early enough to unpack, rest a little and then go to the KT Squares plus workshop where there were some new dancers. At the end we managed to bumble through some advanced dancing – amazing after missing two weeks.

Larry and C.J. taking off in the Dragonfly