Today's flight, has been brought to you by the words "light" and "variable". That describes the conditions Cody & I found out at the Short Divide today.
We set up under mostly blue skies, about 80 degrees, with some nice cu-streets forming on the horizon. We did not have "high" expectations for the day, but we were hoping to get high enough to go XC. After setting up, we hang-waited for over an hour, as the wind cycled from 0 up to 10 mph, but never staying consistent.
The conditions never really improved much, so at 5 pm I finally "ran off the mountain" and started working every bit of lift I could find. I managed to climb about 250' over launch, but the thermals just didn't stay together. I was eventually flushed out to the lower LZ after a nice 20 minute flight. I watched Cody from below, as he waited for a better cycle. He had a nice little flight of about the same duration in similar "light and variable" conditions.
While breaking down, we talked about how our longer flights in the past few years might have slightly spoiled us. Even though we didn't get high, go far, or fly for hours, it was still one of the best ways to spend any afternoon - hands down! We are very fortunate to have many sites to choose from, less than an hour away, and to just have the opportunity to experience flight in it's purest form.
It's good to be alive! - Airtime: 20 Minutes!
It started with the short parade - twice around the block...
...which even included farm animals!
Then we went to the paper-rocket construction and launching. The "rockets" are made by forming paper around a piece of 1/2" PVC pipe (identical to the "launch pad"), adding tape, tape, and more tape... attaching tail fins, a nose cone,
and any additional "artistic" final touches. The dads are usually patient enough to help the kids go first (for fun),
but then the "big boys" get serious as the real "competition" begins! Last year they flew over homes to the street on the next block. Some of the "secrets" seem to be: A very snug fit around the pvc pipe, lots of tape to prevent a "blowout", tissue stuffed up in the nose cone to add some weight (but not too much), and even a sprinkle of talcum powder to reduce friction on lift-off! 
The compressed-air rocket launching pad is made with some 1/2" pvc pipe, connected to a lawn sprinkler switch with compressed air going in one end. A solenoid with a 15' wired remote switch creates the launching button.
Despite the cold rain, he managed two hits, and crossed the plate once. His team was up 4-0 when they finally called the game after the 3rd inning.
With the advent of warmer weather, the time for an occasional night out in the treehouse has arrived.
Landon, Jordan (work buddy) and I watched the Jazz B-ball game from 25' over the backyard Friday night.
The Jazz had 2 chances in the last 12 seconds to send it to overtime and a game 7, but neither shot fell :-(
Cody has been eyeing Mckenzie Mountain from his backyard for many years, and today we finally hatched a plan to make it happen. So we loaded up gliders, gear, and two four-wheelers and made the short drive to the small LZ. Along the way we stopped and talked to a couple of landowner farming friends of Cody, to make sure it was OK. One of them said, "...yer welcome to it, but I doubt you can make it up that road!" The other one said, "...that's fine, but why would you want to jump off a perfectly good mountain? Yer just *#%&*'n crazy, that's all!" So, with their "blessing," we loaded both gliders and gear onto one of the 4-wheelers on a well padded high-tech 2x4 rack, and started up a narrow canyon leading to the top.
The "road" was actually more of a "route" or jeep trail, which was quite overgrown with scrub oak. Cody seemed to know the way, so I just held on to gliders and gear and mostly ducked behind him to avoid the constant branch whip-lashing.
Our rack set-up actually did quite well, and within 10 or 15 minutes we were through the brush and up on the dugway switchbacks.
At the top of the draw we could see all the way down to the LZ at our starting point below. We made it to the top in about 20 minutes from the LZ 1,300' below, and soon identified a nice, wide-open launch for the light NW breeze. On launch it was near 80 degrees, sunny, with light cycles building up to 8 or 10 mph.
We set up and were ready to launch before 5 pm.
The view was spectacular, with the backdrop of snow-capped mountains, and green fields blanketing the valley below. I finally allowed some distance from the mountain to take a few pictures. This caused me to lose focus on the lift, and eventually have to go out and land. The RLF (restricted landing field) is quite tight, but does not produce much of a pucker factor because the consequence of overshooting it is just an increasingly uphill landing. Both Cody and I had great landings, providing cheap entertainment for the farmer spectators taking a break from their spring planting to watch. 
We broke down our gliders, and then used the other 4-wheeler to quickly cruise back up to the top to retrieve the other one.
Although the flight was most enjoyable, the "bomb" down the overgrown road was a kick too! We made it back well before dark, and committed to return another day with some pruning shears and work our way up. We will look for a southerly, XC kind of day, as this site has the potential for some serious miles! Thanks for the awesome adventure, Cody! 
JOSH! - It wasn't easy getting him there, but he did take and pass (doing quite well) his driving test this morning. Keri & he arrived at the DLD at the appointed time, only to discover that our van registration had expired less than one day ago! The examiner was (fortunately) very understanding, and allowed them to go get the vehicle inspection and registration done, and then return for the driving test. And the rest is, as they say, history!
Anyway, if you are out on the streets, don't say I didn't warn you! (Way 2 Go, Josh!) NOW if we can just figure out how to keep him HUMBLE!
