2004 Buffalo Mountain Fly-in

I guess I made it about 8 miles down the road when the gust front hit. Did you happen to read in any papers about the wind damage in Kansas and Oklahoma that day? Well, this was part of it. That storm was HUGE! The gust came from my right side. My PVC front rack is not designed for crosswind. It has rope bracing but there's still plenty of wiggle room and wiggle it did. When the front end of the glider shifted over a foot to the left, I knew I needed to do something. I wasn't going to be able to outrun this sucker! Right about that time, I noticed a farm road intersection. There was a short row of trees on the north side of that road. I hit the brakes and curled in behind those trees for some protection. It worked well as the wind knocked down and the glider was steady on top of the truck. I estimated the gusts at over 50 mph without exaggeration. I didn't even dare get out of the truck to close the tailgate, which I had left partially latched those few miles back. So there I sat. All alone with nothing but my thoughts. Hmmm! What's the worst that could happen? Tree falls down on my wife's pride and joy (the SUV) and taking the glider with it! The storm spawns a tornado. What about hail? Lightning? Nothing I could do but wait. I know, I'll send Lily a text message while I'm doing nothing. No cell service here--but wait, I can still write it and send it later. So I pecked in the message using up all available space (three text pages max). But that took a good half hour so by the time I was finished, the storm pretty much passed. I was sitting there staring at a mini river forming in the road in front of me. I had no idea that that much water had fallen. I also had no idea how much damage had been done by the wind. Papers said that some areas experienced hurricane force winds. I believe it! The evidence came soon enough as I passed aged oaks felled by the roadside. One large billboard was curled over on itself. This was no normal storm.

So what do you do when your trip that is so dependent on good weather just falls apart on you? Do you continue on in hopes of finding good weather at your destination or do you head back to the house and figure out something else to do. Those were the questions swirling through my head as I made my way south.

The weather in front of me wouldn't show any signs of real improvement until I was about an hour north of Talahina. Ohhh how I would have regretted going home if I had done so! The sun was shining and real cumulus were flowing overhead as I pulled into the Talimina campground to get a much needed shower. I spotted a HG on a truck and introduced myself to Don Kreger who invited me to have a cup of coffee and meet his significant other, Kathleen and friends Harry and (I've forgotten Harry's sweety's name). I took my shower and then took him up on his offer. We relaxed and traded war stories for over an hour and then decided to head up the hill. I was thinking there might be too much west in it to be able to launch but there would be plenty to do up there regardless. Mel always welcomes a helping hand at moving deadwood, stones, small growth, etc.

Those accomplishments were not to be. It was blowing in! Light but useable. Tom Graham was already in the air on his way to a five-hour plus flight (ask him about his landing or better yet, ask OkyDave about the landing--no, Dave said it wasn't a landing--you gotta ask!) Franz, a PG pilot launched just before we got to the ramp and was already skying out. This was promising. There was Mel, Dave Morton, Dan Shoemaker, Mike Kelsey, Greg Chastain, Bruce Burrus, Claude, Tre, Diane (driver extraordinaire), John Russell, Warren Puckett and Pete Hammer as well as various family members. It took a while given the light and slightly cross launch conditions but every pilot got off well and all were in the air pretty much at the same time. At one point, there was this one beautiful cue that formed just west of launch. Everyone in the air at the time converged on it--I counted nine of us, someone else counted ten circling above launch as the lift drifted that way. (Some did better than others at picking up the direction to circle!) It seemed like there was lift everywhere. Greg ventured across the valley to the Potato Hills and made it back with room to spare. This was a day that you had to chose when you were going to come down. There was not a sled ride to be had. Getting low was no big deal. Hug the headwall and find lift. It was that simple. Of course, on such a day, all that thermal activity meant a hot landing zone. Every landing was an adventure with some having more adventure than others. A little aluminum got stressed here and there but all landed safely, those who made it to the LZ . . . You gotta ask!:-)

Then people started disappearing down the road. Some drove south and some headed west. Four of us, Diane, Dave, Bruce and I, decided to find dinner in town. We stopped at all the favorites only to find them closed for the Sunday/Holiday. The only one open was Circle J. I know now why it was last on the list. Why they were even open is beyond me. Suffice it to say, there were numerous complaints about the service and food but hey, how often do you get to dine in a room that had the air conditioner off all day so as not to lower the temperature of the water in which the baby blind cave frog tadpoles were being raised? What a treat that was! I'm not sure how many there were but they were numerous, tadpoles that is. Since the flying was so good, there was no dampening our spirits and we managed to put up with the odd service and undelivered, then uncooked food with laughter and sympathy for the waitress.

As we left the restaurant an hour and a half later (they had lost our meal order), Diane spotted fireworks through the trees--the show had started! We jumped in her truck (with three gliders on top) and headed to the parking area. We all agreed that, for a small town, they had a very nice display. We then slipped out fairly quickly to avoid the traffic. It worked.

Dave invited us to stay at his cabin. What a place that is. It's going to be a solid home when it's finished. We each picked floor space somewhere to set up a bed. The wind blew all night issuing a steady rattle of Tyvek siding and the periodic opening and closing of the vent in the eaves.

Diane fixed us eggs and bacon for breakfast on Monday morning. We hung out at the cabin until nearly noon and then moved over to launch. Conditions were stronger than Sunday and straight in although drift had a bit of west in it. Since I wanted to hit the road not too late, I decided to launch at about 1:30. With any luck, I'd be able to log some time and still get home at a reasonable hour. Although the drift was stronger this day, the thermals were better developed and easy to take straight to cloudbase. For nearly an hour, I had the mountain to myself. I whited out a couple times, made it across to the Potato hills twice and back and just enjoyed being able to climb nearly anywhere.

After two hours I decided to call an end to this spectacular flying weekend. I worked myself over to the vicinity of the LZ and had to core sink to get down. At 500 feet I noticed the socks doing weird things. So I just moved over to an area of lift and climbed a few hundred feet while the socks settled down. It's the first time in my career that I've ever been able to put off a landing from such a position! Mel landed just after I had finished lashing the glider to the top of the truck and asked if I had a beer. I said no and he said, "Do you want one?" I said sure but I wouldn't want to take his only beer and he said something like he probably wouldn't offer his only beer but since he had two it wouldn't matter anyway! And he proceeded to pull two cans out of his harness! We popped the tops and toasted the great flying we'd had this weekend. I agree with Mel's contention that summer has finally turned on and that good flying days are back. There's plenty more to be had. We now just have to go and get it.

I want to thank everyone who made my stay there so enjoyable--Don and Kathleen for your hospitality; Tre for noticing my loose buckle during my hang check; Mel for all the hard work you've put into developing launch into such a good one and for the cold beer that couldn't have come at a better time; Dave for opening up the cabin for all of us to crash; Diane for driving, frying and being an all around fun spirit; Bruce for driving my truck down on Monday and everyone else for being so fun to fly with! It was a very successful weekend, one I hope is repeated many times over!

May your Thoughts Soar!

Len