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June 2003 - Middletown, Ca
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6/22/03
Location: Middletown, Ca
Wind: 7 mph
Duration: 35min
15.8.10
I
met up with Archie Hicks, who has a wing, but, so far, no motor, and his friend Vic on his 1800cc Honda,
at a 160 acre horse ranch in Middletown, Ca. This is about 45 min. from my house. I must thank David
M. for the use of his land. What a gorgeous piece of property.
When I was setting up and doing
my pre-flight there were no horses in sight, but they must have seen us and started to approach us.
I was surprised that they were so interested. I knew that the sound of a small lawn mower on my back
wouldn't bother them, since they are used to the sound of tractors. But we actually had to shoo them
away, so they wouldn't be in the line of the prop stream.
It's in a beautiful valley surrounded
by mountains. I launched easily and promptly climbed to 1000', but as I approached the mountains I was
being bumped around quite a bit from the rotor off the mountain in front of me. So, I came down to 400'
and the air was much smoother. Followed Putah Creek for a while, watching the jack rabbits and turkey
vultures from my lawn chair in the sky. As always - beautiful.
I can't wait for Archie to get his
motor. I'll have someone to fly with on a regular basis. What a treat.
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