This morning I drove out to the “neighborhood” where we checked out property yesterday, hoping to fly.  At 6,400 feet, the air is pretty thin, and with hardly any wind I had a hard time launching.  After six failed launches, I finally launched flight #96, but only after running for what seemed like forever, at one point gaining a few inches of altitude and then settling back down to continue running.  Once I did takeoff, the rate of climb was very low even with the engine screaming at maximum power. 

By the time I successfully launched, it was coming up on three hours after sunrise, which is the end of the safe flying window due to the potential for thermals.  The air was a little bumpy and seemed OK, but I played it safe and landed after just a few minutes.  The whole point was to see what it might be like to fly from land we might buy here, so it was worth the effort:

Trish did some blow art today:

B tried it as well:

I went for a ride this afternoon, breathing hard in this oxygen-poor air:

Good Shabbos from Concho, Arizona!

We awoke to a beautiful morning at our dispersed camping location near Show Low, Arizona:

So many channels and nothing is on:

The reason we came up this way was to look at cheap lots for sale in this area which we could use as a summer getaway from Phoenix.  At 6,400 to 7,000 feet above sea level, this area is only three hours from Phoenix but is 20 degrees cooler.  We looked at this one acre lot that backs onto a lake:

We continued up the road to Concho, Arizona, where we set up at this Arizona Game and Fish Department free campground on Concho Lake:

We really liked this area, where there are hundreds on one-acre lots for sale.  Not many takers so far:

I don’t know when the “neighborhood” was platted, but the ancient street signs are still here:

Back at the campground, we walked the 50 feet down to the lake:

Tonight, M was on dinner duty.  It turns out that with supervision, he can make a good dinner:

See the trip map for today’s drive and our current location.

Today we said goodbye to Barak and Shoshana and their kids.  Thanks for hosting us again!

We drove northeast to Payson, Arizona, where we picked up the generic USFS Junior Ranger books:

As we approached Show Low, Arizona, we were stopped by this accident:

That’s never good:

We continued on to overnight at a dispersed camping location just outside of Show Low, Arizona.  Trish did some watercolor painting tonight, and used salt to add an interesting finish to the work:

See the trip map for today’s drive and our current location.