Labor Day weekend in the Brainerd Lakes area. 2018.


out on Lake Edward

the tomatoes are getting ripe (weird black/red ones - they taste great!)

puttering along on Roy Lake:

Niiiiice!!!

Definitely a nice looking 140!!!

180Marty wrote:Definitely a nice looking 140!!!

After a ground up restoration that took over a decade of tinkering with in my garage I can safely say I know EVERY inch of that plane. Thank you for the compliment!

180Marty wrote:Definitely a nice looking 140!!!

I agree!

Kurt

A couple weeks ago: I had just bought a new 25 degree rated real down (unlike my previous synthetic one of the last 15 years) sleeping bag, complete with a removable fleece liner, a good one, from "Outdoor Vitals", AND a super cush insulated sleeping pad from "Moosehead". I flew into the Copper Basin (nearly 8 K where I was camped) late in the day and set up camp. Around 3 in the morning I woke up, not exactly cold but not exactly warm, so I got out my old bag (which I had carried as a backup) and that along with the new one did the trick.

Meanwhile, where I was camped was clump grass, an excellent test for the new pad, and I know my old Thermarest pad would not have been able to make the lumpy ground adequately comfortable, the new pad totally smoothed out the lumps, it worked great, plus it's insulation was appreciated. At sunrise, I got out to look at the plane's outside air thermometer ( a digital aquarium one, with a remote probe, less then 10 bucks), thinking meanwhile that the new bag was just "OK", figuring it was 35 degrees or so, well it was 19.1 degrees so the new bag did great! As did the pad.

Once the ice melted off and coffee was made (both pre-requsites for safe flight, Starbucks instant, good stuff) I realized this was going to my coldest start of the Rotax, cold soaked over night, unlike my winter ski flying when I keep it in my heated hangar and only shut it down for an hour or so. Somewhat to my surprise, it fired up like it was 50 degrees. To the Rotax geeks: one thought I had, since I now have the large 1" crossover tubes on my intake manifold on my Zipper Big Bore, they MAY have an unexpected benefit of making cold starts a non event. Just a theory. I do know that other cold starts in 30 or 40 degree temps with the stock intakes were not as instant as this latest 19 degree start, go figure. Later that same afternoon, back home, it reached 83 degrees!

To breakfast, with some fun along the way.


The LZ

The takeoff, too much wind to use the direction I landed, I'll take into the wind and downhill over downwind and downhill any day! Though it was the first time I used this "runway" as it's usually calm enough to takeoff where I land. The bit of a breeze I had that precluded my usual takeoff direction sure was nice on sticking the landing though.

And now for something completely different, one sexy airplane.....a Paggio, something like that, NOT a Beech Starship as I thought at first glance. The ass end strakes (or whatever they are called) are interesting, hell the entire thing is interesting.

courierguy wrote:To breakfast, with some fun along the way.


The LZ

The takeoff, too much wind to use the direction I landed, I'll take into the wind and downhill over downwind and downhill any day! Though it was the first time I used this "runway" as it's usually calm enough to takeoff where I land. The bit of a breeze I had that precluded my usual takeoff direction sure was nice on sticking the landing though.

And now for something completely different, one sexy airplane.....a Paggio, something like that, NOT a Beech Starship as I thought at first glance. The ass end strakes (or whatever they are called) are interesting, hell the entire thing is interesting.

I was in Italy a few years ago, and I saw a Piaggio in a matte military grey on the ramp in Bologna. That was a nice looking airplane.

AKA the Catfish.

Kinda neat stuff on the beach.

TVATIVAK71 wrote:Kinda neat stuff on the beach.

That's good stuff right there! I get excited when I find elk antlers...walrus tusks would send me over the moon.

So is finding those common, or not so much?

Hammer wrote:That's good stuff right there! I get excited when I find elk antlers...walrus tusks would send me over the moon.

So is finding those common, or not so much?

I would say it’s about as common as finding elk antlers. Usually it’s the whole animal and you have to remove the tusks or the head from the rotting beast. I found it isn’t so common to find already cleaned skulls with tusks just laying out in plain view. Some years quite a few wash up and others not many. I can only speak for the Bristol Bay area though. I heard much more wash up in the northern part of the state. Just make sure and register your find with US fish and wildlife.

Tomato farms and rolling hills near KLSN in California this weekend (Los Banos area, 45 southeast of SF)

evanr42 wrote:
Tomato farms and rolling hills near KLSN in California this weekend (Los Banos area, 45 southeast of SF)

Last month I was driving through that area north bound on I-5 and there were dozens of those tomato trucks on the road... every time they hit a bump in the road tomatoes would spill overboard. At least one of them bounced up into my grill.

Stumbled upon Fiddler in his 120 out on Koehn Lake, so he took me to the strip at Goler, then to check out the newly rennovated (last weekend) strip at Johannesburg - just barely outside of R-25!

Good time!

Looking at leaves today in the Cub. Fall 2018 is upon us...

Friends Flo and Ines from Germany are in town, so we decide to head to the lake and see the city first thing in the morning. Smooth skies and great friends come together for an epic flight and view of the city including the late great Meigs Field.

Yesterday flying to Gates of the Arctic: Arrigetch Peaks, Iniakuk Lake, Alatna River, Koyukuk River.

-DP