Day 545: Salton Sea PPG, Day 2

Posted on February 3, 2015 by Ben

Getting ready for a morning flight:

Other folks were in the air first:

It was a beautiful morning for a flight:

The birds were out too:

M was driving around on his motorcycle:

Coming in for a landing:

M kited my wing:

During the day we did homeschool. M worked on building a detector for spilled water. We found that with salty water, the wires could be much farther apart and still complete the circuit through the water, so salty water is a better conductor than fresh water. When we ran the water through our Brita pitcher, the circuit didn’t work at all, so we proved electronically that our water filter works:

B was having a good time in Chumash class:

More Tu B’Shvat mosaics:

Salton City is a town that just won’t give up. They maintain puddles of grass in the desert and call in a golf course. They even get mowed from time to time:

Towards sunset, pilots began to to take to the sky again:

Before taking off, I kite the wing to make sure no lines are tangled:

Now I have to look for other pilots before taking off:

Here we go:

Flying low:

Moonrise was wonderful:

Day 544: Salton Sea PPG, Day 1

Posted on February 2, 2015 by Ben

This morning I photographed our campground sign. Like most things in Salton City, it has seen better days. The campground, owned by the Imperial County Irrigation District, used to charge $8 a night to camp here, but they’ve since turned off the water and walked away, so it’s free now:

With the massive Salton Sea inhibiting the formation of thermals, I’m able to fly here all day long so long as I stay within a few hundred yards of the shore. I set up my PPG and drove it the 50 yards or so out to the beach:

While I flew, the kids rode their bikes on the beach:

We also fixed M’s motorcycle (again), so he put in some time on driving that:

While getting ready to do a sunset flight, a couple other PPG pilot flew by. The RV park a quarter mile from our camping area is hosting a PPG fly-in starting Thursday, but there are already a number of pilots here:

The air is thick here at 200 feet below sea level, so take offs and landing are easier, and the laminar on-shore breeze from the lake makes for smooth flying, especially in the morning and late afternoon:

I’m in the lead:

Sunset:

As we pack up, more PPGs fly over:

M’s motorcycle needs a fuel-up:

For Tu B’Shvat, Trish and the kids made paper mosaics representing various agricultural themes:

B had music class today. Having a bedroom wall made of whiteboard comes in handy:

Day 543: Relocating to the Salton Sea

Posted on February 1, 2015 by Ben

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.

Day 541: Drive to Butler Canyon

Posted on January 30, 2015 by Ben

Today we drove up Rockhouse Road to see how far we could get before the road became impassible. There were plenty of spots where tire placement was important to avoid scraping the undercarriage of the truck. At one point, Trish and Zaide held back a Desert Lavender bush so we could get through without scratching the truck:

Surprisingly, we managed to get all the way to about half a mile from where the “road” ends. At this point, it may be passable for an ATV, but we weren’t going to push our luck:

Fancy hiking hair:

M waits for us to get going:

We hiked up the canyon for about a mile, where a wall of large boulders encouraged us to turn around. Here we are coming back down to the truck:

On the way back, we stopped to hike down an “authorized vehicles only” road to find a water tower and manufactured home on a private inholding within the state park:

M had B photograph him fragmenting dried mud with his flying fists. Look out, Chuck Norris:

After our action-packed off road adventure, we reluctantly said goodbye to Bubbe and Zayde who will be heading back to Las Vagas. We got ready for our third Shabbos here:

Good Shabbos from Anza Borrego State Park:

Day 540: Art Day

Posted on January 29, 2015 by Ben

Today we gave my parents a break and had an art day. B practiced techniques from a “how to draw dogs” book she checked out from the library:

M practiced his culinary art by making a plate of scrambled eggs for me. Thanks M!

B decided to paint the rocks that the kids had previously laid out to spell our blog name. I hope it’s water soluble, “take only pictures and leave only footprints” and all that: