Flying in the valley of Ben!
Flying in the valley of Ben!
Ben led several flights around the valley where the town of Welton is located.
The river wash was a lot of fun, with low-level flight right on the deck of the riverbed between two roads with power lines a couple of miles apart. No water in the riverbed (which is about 150' wide), a few trees along the course maybe 10'-15' high to slalom around if one chose to do so. At the west end of that run, there sits someone's rock house built on a small knoll, that is just large enough for the home.
Near the west end of that "river" run are lots of green fields that provide a nice contrast to the dirt and rock in the valley. There is a canal filled with pretty blue water south of the interstate (I-8). Stock yards add to the senses, too.
Just to the south of Barry's airstrip (several private ones are near) are steep rocky mountains that jut out of the earth like some science fiction novel's cover. They can be seen in the background of some of the above photos.
Flying through the small valley between two of the ranges made me feel like I was flying on some foreign planet. No shrubs, grass, or any type of plant life. Tire tracks in the dust/rocks was the only sign of humans having been there. On the drive down from Portland, I had been listening to a western book on CD, and flying through that tiny rock valley made me think of someone lying in wait in the old west times to ambush any trespasser with a rifle!
On the further-south side of that range, is a round-roof BLM shelter built near some natural water tanks in the rocks. Flying over the water pooled in those tanks looked like mirrors placed there, reflecting the sky. Just to the east beyond, someone has built a mock missile silo site. It has a ring of round covers on the ground, and is surrounded by rather large models of missiles, all point outward around the perimeter. Three real, but derelict, tanks are close by, all pointing to the east. A hidden message?
When Ben led me over that missile site, he asked me on the radio if I had my machine guns ready, and then he did his strafing run, with sound effects.
I had a long two day drive to attend, almost 1,300 miles from home. So, I was tired and was trying to catch up on my sleep on Saturday AM. Ben came by the Toy-home a couple of times around 8 AM to try to get me up. The Ben S. version of a snooze alarm that doesn't give up, and gets more insistent until it REALLY wakes you, and you have to get up for it to shut up!
Each time that he came by, spoke to me, and then left, I drifted back off in dreamland. But, Ben didn't want me to just dream about gyro flying. He wanted some flying partners to show off the wonders of that area.
So, when I had gone back into a deep sleep, I awoke with a start, as a large explosion erupted, echoing back and forth between the mountains. Sounded like maybe a half stick of dynamite or more (but it wasn't dynamite). That jarred me awake! I figured I might as well out of bed, since he wasn't giving up.
Still groggy a while later in the AM, he later sent Kathy, Carl's friend, with a blunt message asking when the "#@*&%!" I was going to get the gyro off the trailer, rotorblades mounted, and get to flying! Kathy is a really nice, friendly, and funny, sixth-grade elementary school teacher that isn't the typical school-marm! Ben and I commented to each other that we liked her a lot!
I'm kinda hoping Ben doesn't come to the other gyro events this year, so I can get all my sleep!
I can just imagine hearing him snickering while he read this...I did ask Kat if she has three, and not just two boys!
So, a warning: If another fly-in is held there, don't go expecting a lazy-just-about-no-one-is-flying event.
There were six gyros and one airplane there. Three Sport Copters (Walt, Ben and myself...all three having different powerplants), one KB-2 (Dave B.), a RAF (Cal), a Carl-Linator type (Mark & Britta's), and Mike's (friend of M& B's) airplane (Stinsen?).
Have some video taken with my digital camera, but the clips are less-than impressive due to the camera's auto focus shifting around between in or out. A major project to splice the good parts from the bad, compounded by it being my first experience editing video. Later down the road it might get done...