This morning it was too windy to fly, but the kids did get some homeschool done.  B completed her caribou drawing as part of studying Russia in her Geography Through Art class:

Trish did some art of her own:

In the afternoon we drove over to visit Greg and John. Greg took M for a ride in his RZR:

M actually drove it for the last half of the route.  Greg is a brave guy:

Greg let me drive with B for a quick spin.  The RZR handled impressively on rough terrain.  It was fun!

We said farewell to John and Greg, hoping to see them here next year.  Back at the Salton Sea, I went out for two flights before sunset:

The forecast is calling for gusty winds tomorrow, so this was probably my last flight here at Salton Sea:

I had a total of 17 flights over the last nine days, not bad at all!  I’ve more than doubled my number of solo flights since training thanks to this week’s flights.  I feel like I’ve improved my launches and landings considerably, and enjoyment is starting to edge out nervousness when I get ready to fly.

This morning I drove over a few miles inland to where Greg and John had repositioned in Greg’s RV.  From there, Greg and I went for a flight, exploring the canyons and washes just west of Salton City:

Trish meanwhile was photographing shore birds back at the Salton Sea:

B and M did some biking between homeschool lessons:

I went out on a sunset flight.  The air was completely smooth, and I used the PPG’s trimmers for the first time to adjust the wing speed.  My flight was about 45 minutes long:

Tonight the kids build a campfire ring and collected enough wood to have a little fire:

Shabbos here was just amazing, with non-stop flights all day long.  There must be over fifty pilots here this weekend!  I walked over to the RV park and said hello to all the folks I remembered from last year.  A number of pilots flew PPGs in from Glamis, a three-hour flight, then flew back in the afternoon.

This morning I got up early to get in my 11th flight since we arrived:

I took off and was joined by Greg, who comes here each year with John.  We had a great time flying together and filming each other flying:

Greg is a second year pilot.  We jokingly called him “ten minute Greg” last year because his flights were so short.  Today we flew for about half an hour:

Here’s a frame from Greg’s video of our flight:

The skies are busy here today, even as some pilots head home or reposition to fly the dune field at Glamis:

M and I replaced the kill switch on his motorcycle:

We drove into Indio to watch the weekly Polo match at the Empire Polo Club:

We arrived at the end of the second of five periods of play in the match, called chukkers.  Between chukkers, the spectators take to the field to replace divots made by horses and riders:

It was sometimes hard to understand what was going on, but there’s no denying the excitement of watching a dozen horses and riders thundering towards the goal posts:

At the end of the chukker, the lawn Zamboni comes out:

More crowd-sourced divot repair:

The final chukker:

The score was tied at the end of the match, but after applying the appropriate handicaps, one of the teams did win:

During our trip to Indio, we bought propane, filled the truck with diesel, bought gas for the PPG and M’s motorcycle, visited an ATM, and mailed a couple letters.  While Trish and M did the food shopping, B and I did the laundry.  It was a busy day!  On the way back we visited this building-side mural Trish had heard about in one the towns along the highway:

Our last stop was to fill up our water bladder at the Arco station to fill up the RV.  We got home a bit after sunset.

This morning started with another flight. John and Karen were out for a ride from Borrego Springs and stopped by to watch the flight, so I kept it short:

There are more and more pilots arriving every day:

More electronics projects in home school:

The shore which from a distance looks so idyllic is in fact composed of layers of rotting fish, killed off by periodic algal blooms and high levels of agricultural runoff: 

Powered parachutes are less aerodynamically efficient than PPGs, so they require massive engines attached to large carts that usually seat two people:

I took a sunset flight as well:

M chases the pilots:

Russ and his son D were out again:

D practices his foot drags, flying inches above the ground:

Russ decided to come up next to me.  I was startled when I noticed him:

Low flybys:

Another powered parachute:

It was another beautiful flight in amazingly smooth air:

B rides across the “beach”:

Another amazing day at the Salton Sea: