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Vince
Endter
'02,'03 Go-For-It
Champ
(7/1/04 11:14
am)
216.103.80.211
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St. John record
encampment
Nancy and I will be leaving for the 3rd annual St. John record
encampment on Thursday night. Nancy will have her portable zoo with
her. We will be camping on top of the mountain. I plan on flying
Friday and Saturday. I have to be back in San Jose on Sunday to meet
with Felix from AIR.
The site record has been set on each of
the previous SJRE. Lets hope we can keep the string
going.
Vince
|
Vince
Endter
'02,'03 Go-For-It
Champ
(7/4/04 6:45
pm)
216.103.80.211
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New site
record!
This might be premature, but here are the results of the third
annual St. John record encampment. For the third year in a row a
site record has been set. The new absolute distance record for St.
John is now 144.4 miles!
Here is the track log for the
flight:
www.flyatos.com/v/stjohnrecord.jpg
Nancy,
two dogs, a parrot and myself arrived at the top of St. John on
Thursday night, about 10:00pm. Greg Sugg was already set up in his
trailer. Greg had just arrived from King and Lakeview where it
overdeveloped every day. When he arrived in the afternoon, St. John
was overdeveloped and raining. He was thinking, “Here we go
again”.
Friday morning looked great. CU’s were popping over
the mountain by 10:30. It looked like it would be just Greg and I
for today. I set up my glider early and started doing some of the
tuning I had learned in Austria. I got 3 of the 7 items done. As a
final preflight, I check the control cable where it goes over the
pulley and found one of them frayed. It was not like this before I
left for Florida in April and this was the first time I had set up
my glider since then. I decided not to fly even though it looked
like a 100+ mile day. I called Rich Sauer and asked if he could
bring some 2mm cable and his swaging tool when he came up on
Saturday. He said he could. Greg decided he did not want to fly
alone so we all went down to the river and went
swimming.
Friday night Matt and Lori, Todd and Suzie, and Leo
came to camp at the top. Greg had a fire permit, so Matt built a
nice fire and we sat around swapping stories and lies. On Saturday
morning Rich, Bill, Linda and Kim drove up along with Ernie, Jon
James, and Lou. It looked like we had a good turnout. The CU’s did
not start popping until 11:00. It was not until 11:30 that they
started to stay over the mountain. I made a new cable and got my
glider all set to fly (thanks for the help Rich). By 11:50 Todd,
Rich and I were hooked in and ready to launch. I was trying to get
an early launch, since last year we did not launch until 1:30. I was
hoping that the extra hour and a half would add up to a new record.
The old rigid record was 96 miles and the flex wing record was 92
miles.
Todd, then me and then Rich launched. We three were
in the air by 12:02. We climbed almost directly to 9,300’ and headed
north. The winds were all over the place. They were 20 mph from the
west up high (this put us in the lee side) and east, south, or west
lower. After leaving St. John we tried 5 thermals in the first 20
miles and never climbed more than 300’ in any of them. They were
shredded with cores all over the place. About this time the rest of
the guys launched and started heading our way.
Rich was
concerned that we had launched too early. We finally climbed 1600’
in a thermal and headed toward Paskenta (the 30 mile mark). I had
taken 2 hours for the first 30 miles. Rich and Todd took a different
line than me and were one thermal behind at Paskenta. My glider was
flying great, at least 5 mph faster with the same bar pressure and
sink rate. I was flying 10 mph faster than Todd at the same sink
rate. For the first time I felt I was noticeably out performing
Rich.
For the next three thermals after Paskenta I would top
out and try and wait for Rich and Todd, but they fell behind and I
decided to speed up. I covered the next 30 miles in an hour and
twenty minutes. Rich and Todd were 10 miles behind. I hit a hard
section from 50 to 70 miles, only two thermals and some really long
glides. When Rich and Todd hit this section they hit the deck for
about 64 miles. Jon and Greg were still in the air at the 50-mile
mark. Leo was down north of Paskenta and Matt had landed just south
of Chrome (21 miles). Ernie landed somewhere but no one new exactly
where.
The thermals so far where still very broken and hard
to core. They were also rough. With the changes I made to my glider,
I now had to push out while thermaling, which was tiring my arms. At
the 70-mile mark the thermals got better (higher and stronger). I
had been climbing to 5,000’ agl but now was climbing to 6,000’ agl.
I covered the next 30 miles in an hour. At the 90-mile mark I
climbed to 8,200’ msl and figured I had a new site record as well as
the first 100-mile flight from St. John (and, sorry Scot, the coffee
can).
At the 100 mile mark the real fun began. I would have
to climb over a 5,000’ pass and cross the Sierras to continue my
flight. Just past Round Mountain and 4 miles before the pass I
climbed to 9,600’ and had the pass easily. I was on my way to
Burney, 114 miles from St. John.
There were plenty of LZs
around the town of Burney and I was down to 2,000’ agl. To go any
farther, I would have to cross 9 miles of forest and another
mountain range 2 miles across. I climbed in 100 fpm for 1000’. I had
drifted to the southeast and my course was to the northeast. Just as
I was getting as far as comfortable from my last LZ in Burney, my
thermal turned on a little and I was back to 7,400’. This was just
enough to get me across the forest and then mountains to Fall River
Mills.
My designated goal for today was Fall River Mills
(127 miles). I headed for the airport hoping I could make it with
the altitude I had. Just before arriving, I hit one of the best
thermals of the day and climbed to 10,100’. Fall River Mills is in a
big valley. To continue I would have to cross another mountain
range. The wind was now from the northwest and I had to fight a
cross wind to stay on course. The area in front of me was completely
shaded by clouds. I crossed the next mountains with 500 feet to
spare and never hit another bump of lift (but lots of turbulence). I
noticed an airport at the town of Bieber. I had just enough altitude
to make a normal aircraft approach and landing, 144.4 miles from St.
John, almost 50 miles longer than the previous record. This was my
longest flight in both distance and duration (6 hours and 3
minutes). This was also a record for Nancy to retrieve. She left the
mountain an hour before we launched (it takes that long just to
drive down). She stopped twice for gas and was only 2 miles behind
me when I landed. She drove for more than 7 hours and 250+ miles.
Here is a picture of me after 6 hours in the air and my new
“Bruce Barmakian hairdo”:
www.flyatos.com/v/vince_hair.jpg
Rich
and Todd got the longest flex wing flights of the year. Greg and Jon
got their second best flights from St. John. Ernie also got his best
flight for St. John. I will leave it to him to tell his
story.
My new goal is to fly to Lakeview from St. John. If
anyone has the GPS coordinates for the center of the spot at the
Lakeview LZ, please email them to me. It would be great to end a
220+ mile flight at a spot landing contest.
Edited by: Vince
Endter at: 7/5/04 7:56 pm
|
Hangfly
Club Secretary
(7/4/04
10:53 pm)
198.81.26.7
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Records
WOW!!! You are the man, Vince!!!
Way to go!
CW
|
Ralph
Hyde
Unregistered
User
(7/5/04 9:33
am)
209.206.254.91
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 Fly to
Lakeview!
Great flight, Vince! When I saw your tracklog to Bieber, I thought,
wow, you're almost to Lakeview.
If you make it, you can stay
overnight at my house. It'll be a long drive
home.
Coordinates for Hunter's LZ:
N 42 13.21
W 120
21.98
|
Donna
Matthias
Club VP
(7/5/04 1:34 pm)
69.110.163.40
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Re: St. John and
beyond
Vince, congratulations on your flight...what an animal. Like the
hair by the way. Nancy you deserve a huge "hug" for being the woman
that you are. Having the forethought to leave the mtn. an hr before
Vince launched and to keep up with him. Congratulations to the both
of you.
~Donna 
|
Ernie
Camacho
Club
President
(7/6/04 3:40
pm)
24.5.51.30
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Ernie's
flight
Vince reported: "Ernie also got his best flight for St. John. I
will leave it to him to tell his story." And then Vince submits a
turkey award nomination, saying: "I'll be the first to nominate
Ernie for landing in Grindstone canyon. He can fill in the
details."
So, Vince, you've put me on the spot. I guess I'll
have to tell my story. Actually, I think it's a story - cautionary
tale, really - that should be told, in the "do as I say, not as I
do" vein.
For readers who don't know me, I'll say that
although I've been flying hang gliders for over 30 years now, I'm
still a 3rd string (not varsity, not even junior varsity) pilot.
I've been trying to fly XC from St. John for many years now, but so
far the best I've done is Alder Springs Rd, for about 17.5 miles.
I've never gotten past Grindstone Canyon, just to the north, before,
but this time I did cross Grindstone, making it to 19.5 miles before
having to change my flight plan and land at 17.57, a new personal
best (grin). But I'm getting ahead of my story.
I was the
last to launch on Saturday. As Vince mentioned, people were
launching earlier than usual because they wanted the big miles. I
was the only one to arrive that morning - the others had spent the
night on the mountain - so they were already set up when I started
to assemble my glider. By the time I was ready to launch I found
myself alone. Not a good sign. Luckily, the wind was blowing
straight in, and at a satisfactory speed, but it was a bit bumpy
(Greg thought it was because the top of the inversion was at our
altitude today). Normally I wouldn't fly without someone there to
help in case I blew my launch, and St. John has a launch that's easy
to blow. But I convinced myself that I would be OK. Then, as I'm
standing on launch, waiting for the air to steady out (that
bumpiness, remember), a bump picked up my left wing and toppled me
over off the right side of the ramp. Not pretty. Nothing was
damaged, besides my ego, so I wiggled out of my harness, got the
glider straightened out, and eventually launched. I went immediately
over to the switchbacks, and the first thermal I bumped into took me
right up. When it started to peter out, I headed over to the mother
lode, at the top of the mountain, and found another nice thermal at
the edge of a cloud shadow that took me right up to cloudbase at
8500 or so. I pointed my nose north and headed out, figuring I could
follow the clouds and find more lift. That was the quickest
on-course I'd had at St. John, a good omen, I thought.
Ha!
Now this is the first cautionary note, for those of you
taking notes. I had to make a decision whether to follow the clouds,
going deep, deep into the mountains, or head out to the ends of the
ridges where I could be within an easy glide of an LZ at (most) all
times. I know that Kurt and Scot like to follow the clouds, but most
others do fine on the 'knees'. I normally follow the knees, too, but
I also normally find myself without lift and landing sooner than I'd
like. This time I figured I'd go for the clouds.
Leo, ahead
of me like everyone else, said that he'd only lost about 1500 feet
on the first crossing. I lost more like 2500 ft., but I found lift
on the next ridge and climbed back up nicely. Now you must realize
that this part of the flight, from St. John to Red Mt., is a matter
of jumping from one ridge to the next, kind of like what we do in
the Owens. The ridges here though, are flatter, extending deep into
the wilderness, so that you have to judge just how far in you can go
and still be able to glide out to the valley.
So, I'm
climbing up on each ridge, then crossing the gap to the next one, to
find another thermal. The thermals were pretty weak, but I was able
to work them up to 5000 or 5500 ft. before the next jump. Then I got
to Alder Springs Rd. You can't miss it because it's a real road
going up along the south side of the ridge. Most other roads in this
area are dirt. And you can't miss it because there's a big creek on
the north side - Grindstone Creek. This creek has gained a
reputation as a suck hole. Leo got caught by it and barely made it
out to a decent landing. Bob Stanley got caught by it and almost
didn't make it out of the canyon, busting both down tubes in a
downwind crash on the first available non-rocky spot he could reach.
I helped him hike his glider over a mile out of there. The common
wisdom is to cross Grindstone as high as possible, at least at 5000
ft.
Well, I was above 5000 ft, and back here at the top end
of the canyon, it's shallower than down at the mouth so there
shouldn't be as much of a venturi. I should be able to cross easily,
and I did. But, this canyon is wider than the ones I've been
crossing, and I lost more altitude than I'd expected to before I got
to the other side. I was expecting to be above the next ridge, but I
found myself not quite making it. That's OK, though, 'cause I'd been
finding my thermals on the south side of each ridge (I'm traveling
toward the north), so I should find one here shortly. Well, I didn't
find one right away, so I started following the ridge out, expecting
to encounter a saving thermal at any moment.
I did run into a
spot of lift and turn, only to find nothing. After a little while, I
was low enough that I'd better forget about getting up and
concentrate on getting out. It looked like I could skirt around to
the end of the ridge I was flying along, staying in close to the
hill to stay away from any venturi, so I flew my best l/d speed.
Hmm, I started to sink faster than I'd thought. Now I was trying to
determine if I could make it straight out the mouth of this canyon.
It looked do-able, so I kept flying. Hmm again, I was sinking even
faster. Damn venturi! It started to look like I wouldn't even make
it as far as Bob did! The canyon gets deeper here with sheer walls,
where before the sides were more gently sloped with vegitation most
all the way down to the creek. I didn't want to be going downwind
through that gorge with no options except to flair before I hit the
ground. The only recourse at this point was to put it in on the
hillside. The hillside next to me, the north side, has no road that
I know of, and a whole lot of dense brush all the way to the ridge
top. I immediately turned right and headed back across the canyon to
the ridge that has Alder Springs Rd. going up it. I could see a nice
clear area, surrounded by brush, that would make a great LZ. I
headed for it, but found myself sinking below it - damn that
venturi! - so I took what I could get, a big expanse of brush,
chamise to be exact, and set up an uphill landing using the chamise
as my "ground". The landing was nice and soft, with the control bar
a foot or so off the ground. Now what? I pulled out my back up
radio, put on my half-wavelength antenna, and got in touch with the
chase crews - Lori in this case - to give them my GPS coordinates.
Later I also asked them to notify the authorities so that anyone
spotting the glider wouldn't get alarmed. As luck would have it,
Lori was being followed at that moment by a CHP officer. Authorities
notified.
OK, half the story is over. Time for lessons
learned. In retrospect, here's what I should have done:
1. I
should have been higher before crossing. I could have worked the
lift longer and gained a few hundred more feet.
2. When I crossed
over and found myself below the ridge, or better when I first
noticed I wasn't going to make it over the ridge, I should have
immediately turned back to the Alder Springs Rd. ridge, where I
could have made a landing higher up and closer to the road.
3.
Instead of crossing where I did, I should have worked my way down
the ridge, getting closer to its end, before making the crossing.
That way I would have been able to get way out into the valley in
case I blew the crossing.
OK, back to the story. I landed
about half way down the side of the ridge, about 500 ft. (altitude,
not distance) below the road (which is part of the old Alder Springs
Rd. on the opposite side of the ridge from the new Alder Springs
Rd.). I was in the middle of a big expanse of chamise, with generous
quantities of poison oak thrown in. No sweat, I'll just take a
waypoint so I can find my glider again, then hike out with my
harness bag to meet the retrieve crew, then we can go back for the
glider. Ha! I found myself on my hands and knees, and on my belly,
snaking through the underbrush, dragging my harness bag behind me on
a tether. After a few hundred feet of this I gave up on my harness,
leaving it next to one of the few pine trees and taking a waypoint.
Then it was back to crawling through the underbrush to get my
dehydrating body (did I mention that I'd left my water back at the
glider thinking I'd be back there in a jiffy?) out of there. After
several hours, and both the retrieve crew and me thinking that I'd
have to be carried out, I finally made it through the brush to Matt,
waiting on the other side of a wall of chamise
(Marco...Polo).
That was Saturday. The goal for Sunday was to
get my harness out. I found my way to the top of the north ridge to
a point where I could see my glider. My Toyota Tundra is now
officially a hang gliding retrieve vehicle. Both sides are heavily
brush marked, and both my mirrors have been knocked back by brush. I
directed Greg, on the other slope, down to the spot where I could
see a break in the brush, a line going down to that clearing I'd
missed landing in the day before. Greg used pink flagging tape to
mark the trail, but was stopped by a line of poison oak. Wouldn't
you know it, everyone, me included, is allergic to it.
I got
Matt and Lori to come to where I was (a four-wheel adventure for
them) while I went back over and started down to get my harness. You
see, there's poison oak down there, and I'd hate for anyone else to
get it, so I'll take the bullet. With Matt and Lori spotting me
through binoculars, and by using my GPS, I found the harness without
too much crawling, then it was a simple matter of hiking it back
out. Ha! Leo told me later that it took me 4 hrs. to go down and
back, and I just barely made it back. Did I mention that the
temperature had to be over 100? The gallon of water I took got hot
enough to make tea with.
That was Sunday. Monday most
everyone had to go home. I was planning on going back down, locating
my glider, and breaking it down so that it couldn't be seen by a
passing airplane, causing search and rescue to be called out. Both
Matt and Lori decided to join me, just to be sure that I made it out
in one piece. They had the great idea of finding some pruning shears
to help clear the path. Up to this point I'd been using a small
machete and Greg's hand axe, which I lost. Without the pruning
shears, the task would have been un-do-able. They were going to Mary
Quiberg's to ask her, but passed her on the road instead and what do
you know, she had pruning shears and a saw in the back of her
pickup. So, with my clearing a path through whatever poison oak we
encountered, and with me punching through several stands of poison
oak to find easier paths for Matt and Lori to follow, we eventually
made it to the glider. Breaking down the glider wasn't that hard. We
cleard out the few chamise bushes that were holding the glider in
the air, pulled all the battens and de-tensioned it, then stood it
on its nose and folded the wings. Once in the bag, we hoisted it up
on top of the chamise and it settled in a few feet off the ground,
where hopefully no mice will make a home out of it.
It took
us a very hot, exhausting hour or two to walk back up to our trucks
(Lori beat both Matt and me back), then we were almost done. A bath
in the lake, and returning Mary's shears, and we were on the road
home.
Epilog:
The glider is still there, waiting for
either rescue or Armageddon. My plan now is to spend next weekend up
there, pulling the glider out. I'll make one or two sets of wheels
for it and take a couple of days getting it up the hill. By starting
early in the morning and stopping before it gets too hot, I should
be able to get it out. We'll see. After having watched the movie
"touching the void", where a mountain climber with a broken leg
dragged himself out over a 4 or 5 day period, I'm sure I can do this
relatively meager task. And hey, I'm getting my body in
shape!
Bottom line: altitude is good, venturi is bad, give
yourself options.
I want to thank everyone who gave up their
flying days to help me on Sunday and Monday. On Saturday, everyone
in the chase vehicle, Matt, Lori, Leo and Greg, stood watch and gave
me encouragement as I struggled through the brush. Matt and Lori
took up spotter duty on Sunday, and made the hike with me on Monday.
Greg and Leo helped flag the trail and carried my harness bag once I
got it past the poison oak barrier on Sunday. All of them risked
exposure to poison oak, which I hope none of them contract. I've had
it in the past and it's not pretty. Much to my amazement, I haven't
started itching yet, although I did most everything except eat it
over the three days. Thanks again, it's friends like you who make
this life what it is!
Edited by: Ernie
Camacho at: 7/13/04 3:16 pm
|
Leo
Jones
Unregistered
User
(7/6/04 4:23
pm)
66.52.165.186
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Grindstone
canyon
"Grindstone". It's a pretty name isn't it? It gives you some idea
of what it's like.
Look, canyons are canyons. Onion valley in
the Owens, Ramshorn at King, Grindstone north of St John. The
principal is the same. Stay high and don't go far back because a
deep canyon through mountains will probably create its own local
conditions - specifically a wind will blow through it from one
direction or another, creating a venturi effect that will suck you
in if you get low.
Grindstone canyon is by far the biggest
canyon we fly over north of St John. It goes back a long way into
the mountains and makes a big gap through which the winds, blocked
by the mountains, will pour through. It has a reputaion with the
locals. It's a big enough obstacle that it is often the factor that
cuts short XC flights north from St John. I have been stopped by it
on at least four occasions, twice turning back and landing by Alder
Springs road, and twice not making it across except by flying around
the north side of the canyon mouth. However I have always stayed
near the mouth of this canyon when crossing, and have never had a
problem making it out to a road.
Grindstone canyon has NO
roads into it. It's really wild. And I don't think any of us
appreciated just what that "brown fuzzy cloak" that carpets those
hillsides was, until we got to inspect it close up, trying to rescue
Ernie. It's a 10 ft+ thick impenetrable thicket of chapparral,
extremely difficult to crawl through, consisting of various types of
woody shrubs, some very spiny, and LOTS of poison oak. You cannot
see 5 ft into it. When we located Ernie on Saturday it took him over
two hours to travel about 300ft through this stuff. On a 40 degree
slope in 100 degrees it's not a fun experience.
Sunday it
took five of us and all day to retrieve Ernie's harness! Being very
allergic to poison oak I was not prepared to get into this stuff, so
Ernie did the grunt work until he got to a point where we could get
to him and help without crawling through it. Even so I managed to
get a pretty good dose of the stuff (it always gets on the most
sensitive parts!!). I sincerely hope that you don't come down with a
massive case of it Ernie.
Forget "going deep" unless you are
at such a height that you can safely make it out. No XC flight is
worth going through this stuff. Look, we are all in this together.
We cannot fly XC at all unless we support each other and do it as a
team. Learn from your mistakes, because when you fly XC you will
necessarily involve all your buddies who are with you.
And
don't anyone land in Grindstone canyon again, ever.
Leo
|
Ernie
Camacho
Club
President
(7/6/04 5:05
pm)
24.5.51.30
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Picture
this
To help illustrate what we're talking about, here's my track
log.
I've added a straight line
from the top of St. John to Red Mt. Red is the end-point of the
route section over the hills. After Red, you typically go out into
the valley toward Paskenta. Vince tells me that he usually goes
straight from St. John to Red, not venturing deep. Leo's advice
about staying out toward the end of the ridges is worth
heeding.
In looking at my track, I remember starting the
crossing over Grindstone pointed straight at Red. I wasn't even half
way across before I started angling toward lower and lower parts of
the far ridge 'cause I could see that I wasn't going to cross over
where I was aiming at. If I'd aborted the crossing and gone back to
the previous ridge as soon as I could see I didn't have clearance, I
could have saved myself, and others, a lot of work.
Edited by: Ernie
Camacho at: 7/6/04 5:11 pm
|
Vince
Endter
'02,'03 Go-For-It
Champ
(7/6/04 5:54
pm)
216.103.80.211
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Re: Picture
this
First my apologies to Ernie when I wrote "Ernie also got his best
flight for St. John". I should have written "Ernie got his furthest
distance from St. John".
Here is both Ernie and my track logs
for the same day:
www.flyatos.com/v/our_tracks.jpg
In
all my flights from St. John, I don't remember ever flying further
left of the course line than this track. I have never seen any value
in it. When flying with pilots who do, they usually end up behind me
or on the ground just past Paskenta.
I always fly from St.
John with enough altitude to glide to the road, not just the valley.
With a rigid this is easier, but I still have never arrived at one
of the ridges lower than the top. Even in my Super Sport I was never
out of gliding distance from the highway. My best with that glider
was 21 miles. I flew straight from St. John to Elk Creek, then up
the highway.
Vince
|
Ernie
Camacho
Club
President
(7/6/04 9:13
pm)
24.5.51.30
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More tracks
Greg Sugg wants to add his track
logs to this discussion. He's got all his
St. John tracks saved together so you'll be able to see the pattern
of his flights. You'll see that he always crosses Grindstone at
about the same place.
He's even got a track log from when he
came to get me in Grindstone Canyon. You'll see it coming in on
Alder Springs Rd., past Gillaspy Ranch, and ending by Powder House.
|
Dave
Clement
Member
(7/7/04 6:43 pm)
68.124.228.222
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Re: More
tracks
Vince, You might find this story interesting. Back in the early
90's I was returning from flying in Lakeview coming south on 395 and
I passed a Oregon truck with three people crammed into its small
cab. Not thinking anything I drove on and shortly came to the State
Border stop near the Calif. line. The little pick-up pulled up next
to my vehicle and the passenger asked where I was heading. I told
him the Sacramento area and he asked if he could catch a ride with
me to Hat Creek. I said sure! The conversation quickly turned to
hang-gliding and he stated that he had landed a few miles north of
the border into Oregon. I asked him if he had taken off from Hat
Creek and he stated yes!. I asked if he wanted to go back and
retrieve his glider and he said no, he wanted to prove to the guys
he was flying with that he flown that far, so we continued our drive
to Hat Creek where I met the other pilot friends of his. His name
was Doug Harbough or something like that. So that was the new record
for that site. I 'm not sure if it still is. So a guess Lakeview is
definetly possible from Hat Creek. Doug was from the Concord area at
that time. So keep on flying you might just make it to Lakeview.
Dave Clement 
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dveneman
Unregistered
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(7/7/04 7:55
pm)
66.14.240.80
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Grindstone
Canyon
Quite a retrieval story Ernie.
Try Zanfel for the poison oak.
It worked quite well for me and you should be able to pick it up
over the counter.
Dan Veneman.
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Charlie
Nelson
Member
(7/7/04 10:56 pm)
12.72.136.76
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weekends aren't
for relaxing, evidently
Vince, you really did something great this time. Bravo! Thanks for
posting all your stories; I have learned a lot from you .
The
most important thing being, XC is a fun challenge!
Nancy, all
pilots worship you from near and far.
You keep on chasing your
pilot no matter what. I'm sure you have some stories too. If you
have time , could you post your perspective from the driver's seat?
Way to Go.
and Ernie, an amazing yarn.. I'm planning on
my first XC north from St John this summer, and your Grindstone
exploits will not be repeated by this pilot. The track logs are
really helpful. 
As a
surveyor , I wade through poison oak to make my living ,
and if
you can't find that Zanfel stuff, which I haven't heard of yet, then
my old standby, 'Technu outdoor skin cleanser' works and is
available at any drug store. You have had the rash for about 2 days
now, but it will still work , barely. You can wash off the plant
oils with Technu. The best part is you put the stuff on and rub the
rash for 1 minute and it feels great while you wash the poison off.
first use cold water rinse, then if it still itches , rub the Technu
in for 1 minute again and rinse with scalding water. THAT feels
really great. these are the directions on the label.
many of my
co workers have failed to get relief  because they
didn't rub for the full minute.
Charlie
Nelson
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