Day 567: Flying, Biking, and Homeschool

Posted on February 25, 2015 by Ben

This morning the winds that we’ve had for the last four days have gone, so I went for a morning flight:

Flight #36 takeoff:

It was a bit bumpy, so I decided to just fly over the area and look at all of the tiny RVs below:

In homeschool today, M did an experiment involving igniting gases liberated by mixing hydrogen peroxide with water:

B built a project involving two ICs that plays a game. When light 4 lights, the two players each try to touch their wires together first. If the left player wins by touching the wires together first, light 3 turns off and light 2 turns on. If the right player wins, light 5 turns off and light 6 turns on. If either player touches their wires together before light 4 turns on (signaling “go”), the LED segment display indicates a foul with the letter “F”. Here, the right player has fouled, so F is indicated and the right players light 5 has transitioned to light 6 to indicate that the right player was the one that fouled:

This afternoon I rode north on Ogilby Road, it being the only paved road here. At mile 11 or so I passed the ruins of an old structure:

Tonight we had a campfire and roasted marshmallows. We burned the stump of one of the dead ocotillos we had harvested:

Day 561: Padre y Madre Mine – Aerial Recon

Posted on February 19, 2015 by Ben

This morning I took off a couple hours after sunrise on flight 35:

I flew east to visit active mining near the Padre y Madre Mine, which was first worked in the late 1700s. The modern mine is a pit mining operation. The massive pit is to the right, and the sandy terrain under me is all tailings:

The Cargo Muchacho mountains rise up to the north. I briefly entered the canyon that contains the massive American Girl pit mine, now idle, but I was concerned about unstable air coming up and over the mountains, so I decided against going over there:

This brown butte was also interesting:

I passed by (and over) all sorts of off road vehicles heading out to explore the area:

We had a full day of homeschool today, including B’s math lesson with Trish:

Trish and B made hamantashen:

M and B collected and chopped up a couple dead ocotillos for firewood:

Trish made a doll hat for B’s doll:

In the late afternoon, the kids and I went for a bike ride to explore abandoned mines in the area:

On the way home we found half a car in a wash:

The kids love doing their campfire, even though it’s in the mid 70s when we do it:

Trish created some Purim art based on the artistic style of Keith Haring:

Day 560: Back to the Wild

Posted on February 18, 2015 by Ben

This morning we left Paradise Casino and did a bit of food shopping. We then stopped at a Laundromat, where we did the laundry and M appears to have attempted to jump start his modeling career:

Leaving Yuma, we drove about 15 miles west and north to find a location to camp until the warranty approvals for RV work have been received by the dealership. We passed some old mining structures in the Ogilby Hills:

We finally found a spot with the right amount of seclusion, phone connectivity, and flat enough terrain to launch my PPG. The cactus my parents purchased for us in Borrego Springs a couple weeks ago is doing quite well:

The ocotillo here are in bloom:

M and B found a couple jumps to ride their bikes over:

I set up my PPG and decided to go for a flight:

Liftoff of flight #34:

It was a lot of fun flying out over the area and seeing all the RVs. There must be over a hundred of them spread out over a pretty big area.

M practiced his kiting:

B gave kiting a try for the first time:

We were treated to an amazing sunset:

The kids dragged over a dead ocotillo and we had a nice campfire:

We’re looking forward to spending about a week out here.

Day 558: Flying to the Glamis Dunes

Posted on February 16, 2015 by Ben

This morning I got up early, hoping the winds would be calmer than yesterday so I could fly to the dunes. Flight Service gave a good report, and winds seemed mild, so I got ready to take off:

Kiting the wing to make sure all the lines weren’t tangled:

Liftoff for flight #33:

So long RV:

The entire area between the RV and the dunes is a massive dry wash:

Extensive dikes have been built to channel flood waters under the railroad tracks at periodic trestles:

Flying out over the dunes was amazing. There weren’t many people out on the dunes this early:

The dune field is roughly 40 miles by 6 miles. It’s amazing to think that it would take a good amount of time to climb even one of these dunes:

Coming in for a landing back at the RV. The air became progressively worse as I came in for a landing:

I was excited about this flight, as it’s the first time I used the PPG for the use I had in mind when I decided to purchase one. I was able to see an object in the distance and fly over to explore it. Hiking or driving the dune field would be difficult to impossible, but from the air, exploring the dune field was easy.

Trish was inspired by how amazing the weather was while drinking her morning coffee outside:

The kids got some biking in between home school subjects:

This afternoon we left the dunes and drove south and east to overnight at the Paradise Casino in Yuma, AZ. Yes, that’s right, the same casino that hosted us on Day 173. I managed to get in a short ride before nightfall, heading north to pass by vast tracts of agricultural land growing lettuce and other leafy vegetables:

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

Day 557: Dune Flight Attempt

Posted on February 15, 2015 by Ben

Shabbos was unpleasantly warm. Even with humidity only in the teens, 88 degrees is too warm without fans or air conditioning.

Since we arrived on Wednesday, it’s been too windy to fly here. This morning, winds were out of the east at 5MPH or so. Flight Service reported light winds and a stable weather pattern in the area, so I got set up:

Liftoff for solo flight #32. The goal was to fly the 4ish miles to the dune field and explore the area:

Unfortunately, winds aloft were quite strong, and I at times I found myself following a ground track nearly perpendicular to the direction I was pointing. I decided to go back, and with a bit of work I was able to line up for a successful landing.

Back on the ground, I demonstrated kiting to M:

Wind conditions were by this time strong enough that bringing up the wing resulted in M being skidded across the ground as the wing came up. Note the skid marks his shoes leave as he’s pulled forward by the wing:

In addition to their other homeschool, Trish and the kids did an art project in which they created cutout paintings over another painting in the style of Rex Ray, who coincidentally died this week: