This morning I took off on flight #47:
Aloft, it was quite bumpy, so I landed pretty quickly. A couple hours later, the wind unexpectedly intensified, bringing massive dust devils to the lake bed:
Trish made more Pesach-compatible treats:
This afternoon, we relocated to my Parents’ synagogue parking lot, where we’ll be for the last two days of Passover. The blog will return on Sunday.
I got in a quick bike ride this afternoon:
Happy Passover and good Shabbos from Las Vegas:
This morning M and I drove down to our usual Las Vegas area camping location, Jean Dry Lake, so I could get in a morning flight:
Flight #46 take off:
There’s nothing to run into out here, so flying low isn’t a problem:
During my flight, I flew over a group of folks getting ready to launch R/C planes. Joining them was aviation photographer Eric B, who was testing out a new videography accessory for his DSLR and filmed me waving as I flew by:
Since we were running up against 3 hours after sunrise, which is the latest recommended morning flying time due to thermals potentially building as the ground heats up, I only flew for ten minutes or so:
After landing, we drove over to visit the R/C plane crowd. M had fun with Eric’s dog, which was quite large:
Barry and his friend flew a variety of planes:
This afternoon I went for a nice ride in the hills of Anthem. I’m waiting to receive a new clip for my cycling shoe, as I broke one mountain biking in Sedona, so my foot pulled out of the pedal half a dozen times on the ride:
Later this afternoon we moved the RV over to my parents’ synagogue, where it will be parked for Shabbos. Unlike curbside parking at my parents’ house, we can put out our slides here, but there’s only one circuit for the building’s exterior outlets, so we will have to make do with just one air conditioner. Hopefully it won’t be too hot.
Good Shabbos from Las Vegas!
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:
Today in homeschool, B made ice cream. The lesson explored why adding salt to the ice allows the cream to be cooled enough to make ice cream:
Shake shake:
It was actually pretty good:
B finished her Purim poster:
This afternoon I went for a ride north on Ogilby Road to Indian Pass Road. The pavement isn’t the greatest, but I love the scenery:
I then rode south on Ogilby Road to the interstate. After crossing the overpass, the road rather abruptly ends:
Good Shabbos from BLM land near Ogilby Road outside of Yuma, AZ:
This morning Trish took the kids to the Anza Borrego State Park visitor center where they received their Junior Ranger badges:
Meanwhile, I was riding up Montezuma Grade, a 3,900 foot climb over 10 miles. At the summit, at 4,500 feet, it looks a lot less like a desert:
Looking back towards Borrego Springs, I could see all the way to the mountains on the far side of Salton Sea:
The descent:
About halfway down, I stopped at the overlook which looks out over Borrego Springs:
The kids photographed a Lego desert scene:
In the afternoon, we hitched up and drove down to Salton City, which has a fascinating history. Laid out to accommodate tens of thousands of residents, the town only has a few thousand residents, leaving a vast grid of paved and signed neighborhood roads with no houses on them.
A city campground which has been abandoned now provides free camping. We set up as the sun began to set:
We’ve come here for a PPG fly-in that is scheduled to start on Thursday, so we were quite surprised to see that a number of pilots are already here. Most are staying at the full-service RV park next door, which has it’s own ultralight runway:
Not a bad place to spend a few days:
See the trip map for today’s drive and our current location.
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