Saturday, August 14, 2010

back in Minden

Few more LV impressions
New York

MGM Grand - the place we stayed in and it's been a great choice
We made it back in one day and took a different route (Mina, Tonopah, Hawthorne).
on the way back
ghost towns with gold mines
It took us just 7 hours included coffee and gas stops to get back. Coming back to Vegas - there's really no need to spend there more than 2 nights. How many times can you run up and down the Strip? We took a great roller coaster ride at New York-New York yesterday and this was FUN! We chilled out in Studio 54 last night. Nice place, good music and lots of party people even on Thursday. To be honest though ... how many nights can you spend dancing?
Men have it easy to get dressed up for the night
... it took us the whole day and thousand fittings to find the right dress for me
Taking into consideration the fact that men just hate shopping I have to say that I've never seen a more patient man than Zig. After the 10th fitting I started hating myself for not liking any of the dresses I've tried. He stayed calm and just didn't show any signs of impatience or anger. I'm really impressed.
We are back on the Ranch and got everything ready for tomorrow's flying ... we'll see if the weather will cooperate. One way or the other I'm just having the time of my life :-)

Friday, August 13, 2010

viva las vegas

Second day in LV and we are still alive. The way down here war pretty exciting and scenic and I had to clean the inner side of the car window on the passanger's side - Ziggy's nose and open mouth were sticking to the glass all the way down here.
we survived the trip through the Death Valley
...it's been pretty hot though
As I said Vegas is a place everybody just has to see once in their lifetime. Two days over here are just right. We walked the strip up and down yesterday and have been trying to find a proper dress for me for the night in the club. Since I never had to dress up properly in the US I didn't have anything like this with me. Most of the night clubs on the strip have a dress code. We finally managed to find a beautiful dress for me and I'm gonna wear it tonight in the Studio 54. Ziggy is so well known over here that we are on the guest list anyways ;-)
LV
LV
We'll be heading back to Minden tomorrow.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

bishop


Rich, Tom, Zig and Jim after derigging a PW-6 this morning
Since the weather seems not to be too promising for the following days we made a quick decision, packed up and moved direction Las Vegas. We just arrived in Bishop and are staying here for the night. We had a steak and a bottle of red in the place I know from my last Bishop visit. I always kept saying that Vegas is the place everybody has to see once in his lifetime. Once is enough though. So I have to keep my word and show Zig around. He's been more excited with the views we had on our way down to Bishop. It's a beautiful scenic drive but there is more to come when we hit the road through the Death Valley tomorrow morning.
the gadget we got for Mike at WalMart
Tony looking at the bills he has to pay
on the way to Bishop
beautiful nature
Minden...we'll be back in two days!

Monday, August 9, 2010

first flights

watering up for the test flight
We finally got up. Ziggy got the BFR and a check out in the Duo. After that he went up with Taper in his DG 500 for a nice ride over the whole area (Mono Lake, Mina...). I flight tested the TW. It looks like the old Borgelt took crap and is now showing all kinds of weird stuff. Good that the Sage is working properly. I guess we will have to live with that. We don't need no stinky varios, do we?
before the first solo in KMEV
Since Zig did well on his check flight I decided to let him fly TW today and he really enjoyed it. It looks like he's getting addicted to this place just like I did and will keep coming back again and again. 
As usual we have problems with weather. After a few awfully hot and blue days we're getting ... thunderstorms. The first Cu's pop up way to early for this place (around 9 am) and overdevelop very quickly. Everybody was on the ground around 2 pm today. Those who waited to long had to land in a very nasty conditions with gusty winds switching directions within seconds. The closed runway had to be utilized as well. 

Zig and Mountain Mike on Tony's porch
There is a funny story I had to laugh at: Carlotta's and Leo's twins are being raised in an atheistic way and don't know all the stories about Jesus. They got to see a picture of Jesus somewhere and go: "oh! look! Mountain Mike!" Cute kids.
And by the way ... the weather should improve in the next few days. This means less moisture, instability and smaller chance for thunderstorms. We will see. You never know with this place. It this is not gonna be the case we might head for Las Vegas for two days.