In Lakeview, Oregon 1998

riving to Lakeview from Santa Barbara would have normally been quite boring, especially leaving town at 10pm, driving all night. But we were driving the Hummer! In-route movies included Total Recall (Arnold Schwartzenegger, of course!) and the X-files episodes, along with our favorite CD's. The GPS Navigation System kept us on the right path, except once when we had to argue with it to stay on highway 5! We took turns sleeping and driving, so the trip went real good. The Hummer cruises along rather effortlessly at about 85 mph, once you get the 8,000 lbs rolling! Finally reached Lakeview at around 1pm, and found Hunter's Hot Springs Resort.
      Once we arrived, we quickly fell back asleep, a bit groggy from the trip. Woke up about 5 pm and decided to go up to see launch at Black Cap mountain. The wind was still whipping up the shallow slope at six o'clock, but the hangies were launching and boating about in the bouyant air. Kiwi was the first off in a paraglider, and he slowly made his way out front, going up all the time. Josh was off next, in a brand-new red Mad Max - a prototype comp wing from Pro Design. Lee Kaiser flew the X-pert wing by Nova, and a little later proved its glide ability with Josh, Kiwi, myself and a few others following him straight out into the flatlands in glass-smooth air. The evening flight was smooth and sweet, a great way to begin the stay here in Oregon.
     Thursday we had a huge breakfast and took care of copying some maps for the comp. The day was getting windy from the south quickly, so around noon, we headed for launch. It was cross from the south, but Kiwi, Nate, Josh, Ladio (??) and Todd launched, with a few of them working weak, windy thermals a few miles up the valley. The wind continued to swing more SSE, so I decided to fly back to the hotel while the others drove down. Downwind speeds were over 35mph as I followed Hwy 395 back to the landing zone by the geyser. Later in the day I flew Harvey tandem in strong, smooth glass-off conditions for over an hour.
     Friday was windy, so we explored to the east in the Hummer. Drove to the (very) small town of Plush, then returned over the top of Black Cap to see if it had died down any. It had not, and even later when we came back up for the evening glass-off, it would just not stop blowing!! %#*&!^@?$
     Saturday was the first day of the comp, but we sat on launch waiting for the wind to swing from south to west and get soarable for five or six hours before GW called a spot landing contest at the Hot Springs Resort for a dinner in town. Othar got the prize after many good attempts, including mine where I hit it just fine and sat down - something I never do! I guess I just kind of lost my balance or something. Oh well, that's all I need is more food, as if we don't eat enough here! I took Norma for two tandem flights, and we just enjoyed the beautiful evening soaring lightly on small bubbly thermals in light wind. Hope tomorrow is better...