Day 924: Flying Ak-Chin

Posted on February 17, 2016 by Ben

This morning I launched flight #94 from near the Ak-Chin airport. I flew out over the adjacent farm land:

The goal was to fly over the massive Asarco Sacaton pit mine near Casa Grande, but the air was pretty bumpy, so I turned around and came back. I flew over our camping area before landing:

Landing:

In addition to doing homeschool, B drew this butterfly:

I sure hope Trish sells some of these soon, we’re running out of room:

This afternoon I went for a perfectly dull bike ride, riding 10 miles out and back on a straight and flat road. I think total elevation gain was about 150 feet:

As I returned to the RV, fellow PPG pilot Jay was launching from his yard, which is adjacent to our camping area:

I launched flight #95, again hoping to get to the pit mine but forced to turn back due to bumpy conditions:

Day 923: Ogilby to Ak-Chin

Posted on February 16, 2016 by Ben

For the first time in days, the winds let up enough to fly, so I launched flight #93:

After breakfast, I took the kids for a bike ride. B had to repair her third flat since arriving here:

We rode our bikes out to the Obregon pit mine:

We passed this mining structure on the way back:

We hitched up, drove over to the border, and walked into Mexico to pick up Tricia’s glasses:

While waiting in line to return to the US, we saw two people climb the fence and enter the US illegally.

Continuing east, we crossed into Arizona:

As we were driving through Yuma, we saw an RV dealer with a selection of truck campers. We’ve talked about downsizing to a truck camper once the kids move out, but after looking at even the largest truck camper with two slides we decided they are still too small:

We also stopped for diesel and propane. During our grocery stop at Walmart, we saw this PPC fly by:

We continued on to overnight on abandoned land next to the Ak-Chin airport near Maricopa, Arizona, where I hope to fly for a couple days.

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

Day 922: Day Trip to Mexico

Posted on February 15, 2016 by Ben

This morning we left the RV in Ogilby and drove the truck to the US border crossing, walking across into the village of Los Algodones, Mexico:

This town makes almost all of its money from medical tourism. All the storefronts are dentists, optometrists, and pharmacies:

We did our dental cleanings and Trish had an eye exam for a pair of glasses, which we could pick up in a couple hours. We will instead come back tomorrow to pick them up.

The sidewalks here are choked with vendors selling all types of souvenir-grade items:

We got in line to return to the US:

On the other side of the wall, home beckons:

This afternoon, Trish made her first monogramed item:

In electronics class, M made a battery using pairs of pennies and dimes as the anodes and cathodes, and vinegar-soaked paper as the electrolyte:

Tonight the kids dragged over a dead Ocotillo and we had a campfire:

The fire was big enough that the kids had trouble roasting marshmallows without getting burned:

We threw on the rest of the Ocotillo:

Day 921: Hanging out at Ogilby

Posted on February 14, 2016 by Ben

Shabbos at Ogilby was hot but nice. In the morning, Jonathan and Canyon flew the area for quite some time. I went for a walk and met two fulltime families with young kids, Justin and Anne of tinywheel.house and Willi and Julia of RememberToExplore.com. Towards evening, Jonathan and Canyon drove back to Glamis to fly over the roughly 150,000 visitors at Glamis this weekend, one of the two busiest weekends at Glamis.

Winds were too strong to fly today, so in addition to homeschool we did other things than needed doing. Towards afternoon the light falls dramatically on the Cargo Muchacho Mountains:

Trish photographed more of her crocheted creations:

The kids tried out the bubble wands Trish picked up at the last Walmart:

The sunsets here always impress:

M did some fancy biking:

Sunset selfie:

Day 919: From Glamis to Ogilby

Posted on February 12, 2016 by Ben

This morning I launched flight #91 and flew east, away from the dunes:

On the way back, I could see most of the dune field from this altitude:

There are now many more RVs here for the three-day weekend:

Again, flying the dunes:

Oh hello there:

Jonathan and I followed this group for a bit:

This video contains this morning’s flight, as well as all the previous Glamis flights from this week:

After the morning flight, we packed up to escape the ever-increasing dust and drove southeast to the Ogilby Road and American Girl Mine Road area. This BLM area is just a few miles from the southern end of the Glamis dune field, but its far enough away that we’re spared the crowds: