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:

The wind continued to be gusty and variable, so I decided not to fly tonight. Hopefully tomorrow morning will be better:

Day 555: Tortoises and Ospreys

Posted on February 13, 2015 by Ben

This afternoon, the kids came running in to tell us that a Desert Tortoise was crossing our road. This was pretty exciting, since Desert Tortoises are a threatened species, with densities thought to be as low as ten individuals per square mile:

Terrance, as we decided he would be called, made a run for it:

He managed to get out of the road:

When flies landed on his eyes, Terrance would pull back his head against his leg to get them off:

Terrance loves salad:

Today we also saw an Osprey flying by:

Trish practiced her drawing:

…and we got ready for Shabbos:

Good Shabbos from Imperial Dunes National Recreation Area!

Day 554: High Dunes, High Winds

Posted on February 12, 2015 by Ben

One of the reasons we came here was for me to fly over the Algodones Dune Field a few miles south of here. Unfortunately, yesterday’s high winds continued today, so I’m temporarily grounded. I spent part of the afternoon turning ten hours of Salton Sea PPG video footage into a nine minute video. I’ll post it next time we find WiFi.

The kids drew flowers and made their drawings into buttons as part of studying Russia in Geography through Art:

At sunset we went for a family walk:

The road north from here is very soft in spots, so I think we will leave here by driving back the way we came, even though in that direction the road is also very soft.

Day 553: From a Sea of Salt to a Sea of Sand

Posted on February 11, 2015 by Ben

This morning we packed up the RV and left the Salton Sea. I was sad to leave, as the PPG flying there is fantastic. Hopefully we will be back again soon.

Update: Here’s a video montage of solo flights 14 through 31, which were flown at the Salton Sea:

We drove south and east around the southern end of the Salton Sea. Trish wanted to photograph an art installation at The Slabs, which we very briefly visited on Day 174. The art installation Trish wanted to photograph was in the center of The Slabs, and we decided we didn’t want to expose the kids to that, so Trish took the truck to The Slabs while the three of us waited for her in the RV:

People that live here year-round add their own quirky structures and art to this abandoned military installation in the middle of nowhere:

Eventually Trish made it over to Salvation Mountain, a religious-themed structure built of plaster over hay bales :

Trish came back to the RV and we continued east to the Imperial Dunes National Recreation Area. We stopped at an overlook to view the 45 miles by 6 mile dune filed, the largest dune field in the US:

M and B climbed a nearby dune and tried sledding down it with mixed results:

The dune area required a permit, so we drove just out of the permit area to overnight on BLM land. It’s nice to get a little solitude after last week:

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

Day 552: Salton Sea PPG, Day 9

Posted on February 10, 2015 by Ben

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.