Blown out in Las Vegas

[huddlec]

I arrived in Las Vegas (Ron Peck's place - Spark's contact - Thanks, Spark) around 7:30 pm Friday, just in time for Friday night movies. Ron had rigged up a blanket to show movies outside. The kids went first and the movie for grown ups started at 8: 30. Constantine was showing. I'd never heard of it and it wouldn't have been a movie I would have chosen to see (horror genre), but it was fine, especially after having consumed a couple of Ron's frozen margaritas.
The next day Ron lined up some pilots to head for Jean Mt,?a 300' mesa near Jean NV,?long enough to handle several pilots if the wind is straight in. The prediction was for 15-30. When we arrived it was doing about 15, but real crossed from the left (south). By the time we'd finished setting up (around 11:30 or so), it was blowing around 20-30, with higher gusts. And it was an increasing forecast.? Ron was the only one to launch and while in the air, he radioed back that 'it wasn't a good idea.'? So the rest of us got to bag it in the increasing wind, with the dust blowing. I'd shown Ron the video Rich had made of some of our flying sites and while we were setting up, he and the other pilots had said how great it would be to have grass covered launches. I can see why. My glider and harness (and me) were covered with dust.?
After picking up Ron (who'd pulled off a scary, but good landing down below), we retired to a sports bar for beer and hot wings. When you can't do it, you talk about it.
I left there around 4 and drove to George and J Stebbins' place in Palmdale CA. I spent the night after taking a shower to remove the LV dust. The plan had been to maybe fly Sunday, but the weather wasn't very conducive for that. After lunch I drove the back roads (in part) to Ojai where I saw the movie In her shoes (great flic) and then hit the sack in the back of my truck on a side road next to downtown Ojai. ?(While on the road to Colorado, I spent 3 nights in the back of the truck?in church parking lots - Baptist, CofC, Catholic.? I'm really enjoying this life!)
The forecast is for showers until Tuesday evening. I've sign up for paragliding lessons with Eagle Paragliding in Santa Barbara for Wednesday and Thursday.?On Friday I head up to Big Sur with some SB pilots. The forecast is looking good for those days. I was hoping to get in some ground handling before the PG lessons on Tuesday evening. I have some more PG lessons scheduled when I return to SB. I'm hoping to have a P2 rating before leaving SB.
Christy
?
?
?
Spark <BagPipeFlyer@hotmail.com> wrote:

So Christy - how was flying in Las Vegas? Inquiring minds want to know ... 'Spark
301-462-8320
http://community.webshots.com/user/sparkozoid

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[mcelrah]

I was up at the Big Sur launch earlier this year - looks really sweet for either HG or PG. Can't wait to try it. Enjoy! - Hugh

>From: Christy Huddle <huddlec@yahoo.com>
>Date: Mon Oct 17 14:06:34 CDT 2005
>To: hg_forum@chgpa.org
>Subject: Blown out in Las Vegas

>
>I arrived in Las Vegas (Ron Peck's place - Spark's contact - Thanks, Spark) around 7:30 pm Friday, just in time for Friday night movies. Ron had rigged up a blanket to show movies outside. The kids went first and the movie for grown ups started at 8: 30. Constantine was showing. I'd never heard of it and it wouldn't have been a movie I would have chosen to see (horror genre), but it was fine, especially after having consumed a couple of Ron's frozen margaritas.
> The next day Ron lined up some pilots to head for Jean Mt,?a 300' mesa near Jean NV,?long enough to handle several pilots if the wind is straight in. The prediction was for 15-30. When we arrived it was doing about 15, but real crossed from the left (south). By the time we'd finished setting up (around 11:30 or so), it was blowing around 20-30, with higher gusts. And it was an increasing forecast.? Ron was the only one to launch and while in the air, he radioed back that 'it wasn't a good idea.'? So the rest of us got to bag it in the increasing wind, with the dust blowing. I'd shown Ron the video Rich had made of some of our flying sites and while we were setting up, he and the other pilots had said how great it would be to have grass covered launches. I can see why. My glider and harness (and me) were covered with dust.?
> After picking up Ron (who'd pulled off a scary, but good landing down below), we retired to a sports bar for beer and hot wings. When you can't do it, you talk about it.
> I left there around 4 and drove to George and J Stebbins' place in Palmdale CA. I spent the night after taking a shower to remove the LV dust. The plan had been to maybe fly Sunday, but the weather wasn't very conducive for that. After lunch I drove the back roads (in part) to Ojai where I saw the movie In her shoes (great flic) and then hit the sack in the back of my truck on a side road next to downtown Ojai. ?(While on the road to Colorado, I spent 3 nights in the back of the truck?in church parking lots - Baptist, CofC, Catholic.? I'm really enjoying this life!)
> The forecast is for showers until Tuesday evening. I've sign up for paragliding lessons with Eagle Paragliding in Santa Barbara for Wednesday and Thursday.?On Friday I head up to Big Sur with some SB pilots. The forecast is looking good for those days. I was hoping to get in some ground handling before the PG lessons on Tuesday evening. I have some more PG lessons scheduled when I return to SB. I'm hoping to have a P2 rating before leaving SB.
> Christy
> ?
> ?
> ?
> Spark <BagPipeFlyer@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>Quote:
>
>So Christy - how was flying in Las Vegas? Inquiring minds want to know ... 'Spark
>301-462-8320
>http://community.webshots.com/user/sparkozoid
>
>(end of quote)
>
> Yahoo! Music Unlimited - Access over 1 million songs. Try it free. (http://pa.yahoo.com/*http://us.rd.yahoo ... unlimited/)