Phantom Sunday etc. (long and rambling)

[mcelrah]

Bought a new motorcycle helmet last week - kinda hoping it would
serve for hang gliding, too - sturdier, maybe. Nah - too heavy - but
a big improvement over the old, ill-fitting full-face M/C helmet I've
been suffering with. So I rode out to Ridgely today and forked over
250 clams for another 670 gram Icaro full-face hang-gliding helmet.
This is almost exactly twice what I paid for a very nice M/C helmet
with the opening/closing face feature, too. Oh well, the Ridgely
boys need the business... Also discovered my 4005 vario doesn't work
after the accident (I thought it was just dead batteries), so it's
being sent off to Florida for repair (I hope - else I guess I have to
buy a 5030 to replace it (8 (8

Highland was doing several tandems and the sailplanes were flying.
Carlos, Elis, Marc F, & Mark C were among the flexwing flyers.

The overcast was over D.C. and Ridgely - but not over the Bay. Go
figure...

Gassed up the Phantom (new rule - always fill it up all the way) and
set off for Jenkins. (I had wanted to fly to Kentmorr, a grass strip
a mile south of Bay Bridge, but it's inside the mode-C line, so I
bagged it.) Couldn't find Jenkins (not in the database on my GPS),
but did find my way to Massey (no activity there). Amazing how
difficult it is to navigate in the flats - gotta use a roadmap. Flew
into a "kettle" of birds - and there was palpable lift! Got cold at
2500 so descended. Christian was aloft in his Millenium (cross
between a rigid hang glider and a sailplane - joystick vice weight
shift) when I arrived back. Thought about taking station on his
wing, but he was pretty fast - hard to catch - and I thought I might
distract him on his approach. Got weathervaned a bit in ground
effect by the crosswind as I landed on the grass, but the gear didn't
seem to mind. (We need new tires on the mains.) Also, there's fluid
(what?) leaking out of the aft portion of the engine block. 1 hour
25 minutes/5 gallons.

Paul G and Steve: I am "Mr. Mom" next weekend 'cause Sallie is going
to visit her family, so I (probably) can't stay and camp at the EAA
fly-in at Petersburg - gotta go home Saturday night. Can get another
parent to take Jasper to soccer game (maybe keep him overnight, but
gotta work on that). Lessee, if I ride the M/C to Ridgely and catch
a ride with Mike in the RANS, then Paul rides the M/C to Dinwiddie
and flies back with Mike. But that only works if Paul can stay over
both days, which I think is not true. Simplest thing may be for Paul
to fly over with Mike, then catch a ride back Saturday evening with
Steve and me as far as DC, then I guess I drive him back to
Centreville. I dunno - too complicated. Will have to think about it
more later... Also, may want to pick up my glider from being
repaired at Manquin NE of Richmond...

The family of the 14-year-old who is taking HG lessons have a cargo
trailer that the dad has fitted out as a camping trailer - very
impressive, but you gotta ask "why?" - he probably could have had a
store-bought one for what he has in it... Anyway, I was interested
in the trailer 'cause he had a glider carrying tube on top and I
thought it might be an answer for trailering a trike, but it was too
narrow (6 feet - gotta have the kind with the wheels in wheelwells
vice outboard to get the 7 feet we need) and too heavy (1500 empty).
Keep looking.

Didn't make it to the Wings and Wheels thing Saturday at Hummel on
the Rappahannock - Jasper had a soccer game. Also, showed up at
Bob's BMW for walk-in service at 7:45. (Service department opens
at 9:00.) I was fifth in line - first guy had gotten there at
6:00!!! This is like getting tickets to a rock concert! Bob himself
comes out and serves coffee and donuts at 8:30. We all admire
eachothers' bikes. Then the Bob's staff starts wheeling out the new
and used bikes for display. You ogle the expensive machines and sit
on all of them while you wait for your bike to be worked on. By the
time I left, some guy had pulled up with a barbecue on wheels and was
grilling ribs for the crowd. What an event!

I was in to have a rattling heatshield on the muffler replaced, oil
change and interstate pegs installed. Turns out two out of five lugs
on the muffler for the heatshield have been welded, so the new one
would rattle anyway. Cheap solution: toss the heatshield. I like
the new pegs which mount on the crash bars in front of the leg
fairings. It's not straightlegged like you see on the Harleys, but
you get a different seating and leg position for long rides. I still
have 37,000 miles to ride this old bike 'till it gets to 100k (many
BMW riders don't stop there - I've only ridden 5k of it's 63k), but I
lust for a pretty red R1150 RT...

Cheers - Hugh
"Cars? BMW makes cars, too?"

P.S. Have a great time in New Zealand, Jim!