More Flying

Sunday, February 15, 2015 – Uvalde, TX

After Mass and breakfast I got some laundry started and Mike changed the oil on the Suburban.  I even took a short nap.  J  After Mike finished with the Suburban he worked on trying to figure out the problem with the green and yellow plane.  We are now thinking nothing hit the plane, but maybe there was a problem with the engine that caused the plane to crash.  The determination is that he will need to take the engine apart to see if he can find anything wrong with it.

He finally got Tony’s plane all ready to fly, so we took it out for its maiden flight.  It was a little windy out, but it flew great!

Video of Takeoff

Last Landing of the day!

On the third landing it was a little ruff, so he decided he better make it the last one for today, before he does some real damage.

It was another wonderful day!

Garner State Park

Saturday, February 14, 2015 – Uvalde, TX

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!

When we got up this morning the sun was shining, so we decided it would be a good day to go up to Garner State Park.  This park is supposed to be the most visited state park in Texas.  We packed the cooler and grabbed some food for a picnic lunch.  Then we stopped by HEB, which is the local grocery store, and picked up some lunch meat.  And off we headed for the park.

After paying our entrance fee we stopped by the visitor center to find out which trails would give us the best opportunities for sightseeing.  Of course the best trails were all marked as challenging.  :)  So we headed for the parking area near the pavilion and started out on trail 3, Crystal Cave Trail.

The trail was very rugged, but there were some beautiful view of the park below us.

We finally made it up to Crystal Cave.  It only goes back about 30 feet, but it was neat to explore.  Gracie and I went down first and Mike wanted to take a picture of me at the bottom of the entrance.  The first picture a little boy photo boomed the picture, then the next picture a guy came up and join me in the picture.  :)

Once at the bottom I took a picture of Mike at the back of the cave.

Then we took a picture of the entrance of the cave from inside of the cave.

On the way back down the hill we took the Painted Rock trail.  The rock was actually painted by the different football teams that used to come out here to practice many years ago.  The next couple of pictures are the view from the top of the rock.

Then we walked down below the rock and took a picture of the painted rock.  It is very hard to tell it is painted now, but you can somewhat see the blue paint.

This is just a picture of the trail head sign.

While standing at the trail head we heard a park ranger telling a group of people that below us was a retaining wall and tunnel below the road that was built by CCC back when the park was being built, so Mike and I decided to climb down there and check it out.  :)  We even walked through the tunnel.  Yes I walked through the tunnel.

Before heading back to the Suburban we took Gracie down to the river, so she could get a drink.  Of course she just had to go swimming.

At one point I was holding the leash and standing on a rock at the edge of the water when Gracie hit the end of the leash.  She ended up pulling me into the water.  My shoes and pants were wet up to my knees.  I was just glad I did not fall in any further since I had the camera in my back pocket.  I am also glad it was a beautiful day!

Once back at the Suburban we drove over to the picnic area and had ourselves a nice picnic lunch down by the river.  It was very pleasant and relaxing.

After lunch we decided to hike Old Baldy Trail.

It was a little over .5 miles up to the top.  It was a very steep climb, but the view was worth the effort. :)

On the way back down we took part of the Forsee Trail and the White Rock Cave Trail.  We did not stop and look in the White Rock Cave.  There were a lot of people there.  The downhill trail was just about as bad as the uphill.  Also you will notice in the picture the yellow footprints.  The trails here are marked very well, you won’t get lost.

We finally made it back down to the campground area and I just had to take a picture of the signs.

The next picture show is a picture of Old Baldy from the valley.  The trail takes you to the top of it.

Mike really wanted to go on the Old Entrance Trail, so when we got back to the Suburban we drove to the trailhead for the Old Entrance Trail.  This trail is actually the old entrance the CCC built.  The next picture is just the view from the parking area, then a picture of the trailhead sign.  :)

The road for the old entrance was .82 miles, and then Mike took a picture of me at the old entrance.

By the time we got back to the Suburban it was getting late, but we wanted to get Gracie a drink, so we drove down by the river just one more time an let her play in the water for a little bit.  We finally left the park, but before heading home we stopped by the gas station to get some ice cream.  :)

After dinner we took a bottle of wine down to Thomas and Patricia’s place and had a nice evening just talking and watching videos of their RC plane flights.

It was another wonderful day!

Aviation Museum

Friday, February 13, 2015 – Uvalde, TX

Since Monday is a federal holiday they were given a couple of extra hours off today, so we decided it would be a good day to go to the Aviation Museum out at the airport.  That is the way it works here.  :)

We did call ahead to make sure they were open.  When we arrived we were given a personalized tour of the museum by one of the volunteers.  The Uvalde Airport was once an air force training airport.  There were a lot of pictures of the young pilots that were either trainer or being trained here.  Our tour guide told us stories of when a pilot or the family of a pilot would return to see the museum.  It is a very small museum, but it has a lot of history in it.

After touring the museum our guide wanted to know if we had time to go see the planes in the hanger across the way.  Well of course we did.  :)  So we walked over to the next hanger and turned on the lights, there was a hanger full of older aircraft.

And for a price you can take a ride in one of them.  The Waco is $500/hour with or without aerobatics.  I think I would really like to take a ride in it.  :)

There were also a couple of pedal planes.  :)

I am sure both Alex and Avander would really enjoy them.

It was a very nice tour and I am very glad we were able to see it.  After a couple of hours we finally headed back to town.  We were going to stop by the Rexall Drug store and get some ice cream from the old fashioned soda fountain, but they closed at 3:00pm.  So we just headed back home.

It was another wonderful day!

Another Plane Crash

Thursday, February 12, 2015 – Uvalde, TX

The weather this week has been beautiful!

This evening we were out flying again.  Thomas and Patricia got out there several minutes before us, so when the batteries on their planes were done Mike still had a lot of flying time left.  This evening Mike was flying his big orange and yellow plane. 

Thomas and Patricia headed back to the shop to pick up a couple of other planes to come out and fly again.  While they were gone Mike said it was getting time to bring his plane in, but I talked him into flying for just a little longer.  I really enjoy watching him fly.  :)

Thomas and Patricia both got their planes in the air, so the runway (aka the road) was cleared for Mike to land.  So he was bringing the plane around when all of a sudden CRASH!  He hit the tree by the front pond!  When it hit the tree the wing got caught up in the tree and fuselage broke free from the wing and came all the way down and landed in the water. It is repairable, but it is going to take a while to repair it.

When I saw it crash I took off running for the plane.  Mike hopped into the Gator and drove over there.  He quickly pulled the fuselage out of the water and turned off the engine.  I told him to help me up into the tree and I would get the wing.  Mike did not think it was a good idea and after I got up to the first limb I agreed with him.  Soon Thomas and Patricia were both there to help us come up with a way to get the wing down.  We went over to the storage area and picked up some pvc pipe to see if we could dislodge the wing and get it down.  Thomas and Mike were successful, but there is a lot of covering that is going to need to be replaced.

Once we had Mike’s plane down we were just standing there talking and both Thomas and Patricia did minor damage to their planes on their landings.  I am beginning to think that part of the fun of the hobby is repairing the planes after flying them.  :)

I did feel bad for talking Mike into flying a little longer, but he said the problem was the pilot did not realize he was flying so close to the trees.

It was another wonderful day!