Flying 5/2/08 - Adam and Alex
<b>Flying 5/2/08</b><p>Adam and Alex - Flying 5/2/08
Adam and Alex visit - and we three amigos fly again...
It's been about 18 months since I've seen Dr. West. He's been back in South Africa inundated with field work and life in general. He had been working in California for a month and stopped in for three days last week. Alex had a brief break from work, and flew in to SLC to reunite the three amigos for the weekend.
We picked up Alex from the airport and got a late lunch before heading out to the north side. Spending time with these two is just awesome. We delved right into meaningful conversations about how life's treating each of us and got caught up in general. Which brings me to digress about a classic Alex moment: The previous night, I'd spotted a mouse in my house. I wanted to get rid of it ASAP, but Amber didn't want me to kill the cute little furry thing in the process. The next day I spotted the mouse running underneath the couch, and Amber, Adam and I spent five minutes chasing the little guy then Adam finally slammed a large metal bowl over the critter. I left for yoga, and Amber and Adam drove miles away to release the mouse. (Adam mentioned that they'll come back if you release them within a mile of the house)
There's a mouse in the house.
So, over lunch we're recounting the mouse catching story to Alex and he pipes up with, "Yea, Jo (his girlfriend) and I caught a mouse in our house and it found it's way back from four miles away. Adam skeptically said, "How could you possibly tell it was the same mouse", and Alex shot back immediately, "Because I marked it's ear with a Sharpie." We broke out laughing. Apparently Jo and Alex were arguing about the likelihood of the mouse returning. Alex pinned the mouse in the tupperware bowl he'd caught it in and marked it's ear with a Sharpie before taking it four miles away and releasing it. The story is something only Alex would do and an classic example of his existence.
The wind was a little strong when we arrived at the north side and they've started construction on the $750,000.00 park improvement project, so we looked around and the guys said hi to everyone who hadn't seen them in a while. Eventually we set up the Spectrum and I took a quick hop. The wind was quite cross to the ridge, and pretty rowdy, so I landed on launch after a couple of minutes. (the regular LZ has been torn up by earth movers.)
Landing on launch sequence.
Dive toward the gully between the PG and HG launches...
Relax as you pass through the rotor and let the glider settle in...
Rise up to the launch runway...
Scrub any remaining energy on the gravel runway.
Adam preparing to launch. Photo by Alex.
We waited a bit, and I took another hop. Conditions had improved, but still weren't very enjoyable. I landed again in the launch / setup area. After maybe another hour of visiting with the pilots present, Adam launched and promptly benched up in the dicey looking conditions. He spent 30 minutes staying high and boating around enjoying the air. Adam eventually landed west of the PG launch, and Alex went over to take his hop. We told Alex to fly for thirty minutes or so and land down below, and we drove down to take pictures of his landing.
Alex's touchdown. Photo by Adam.
Greg Billow landing. Obviously I had my shutter speed set incorrectly. :(
One of the most unique characters at the Point. John F. landing.
After Alex landed and broke down, we raced home to change clothes and slam down some food so we could make our 8pm racquetball reservation. After a couple games of cut-throat, Adam found his groove and ran away with the score. We left the recreation center sweaty and spent at 10pm. Limited time together means maximum activities.
Airtime: :15. Flights: 2. 
