Hey all! Just thought I’d give you a postcard from the road! Kelly and I let out of Louisville on Thursday night. We made good time (even stopping by an outlet mall where Kelly exercised amazing discipline both in purchase and in efficiency) and got to the Academy of Model Aeronautics site with enough time to set up the tent in the light. We were, however, surprised, to find a troop of Boy Scouts in the camping area when we arrived. No problems, though — it actually made me reminiscent of my scouting days.

Friday was Handlaunch day at the NATS, and the weather was crap – which means it was great for a contest! Windy and overcast, it had rained the first night a bit, and it threatened to do so the whole day. Thermal activity was boiling in the morning, but it quickly dissapated into what I think was some sort of low-level temperature inversion (think of it as a “cap” on the field) and thermalling was rough. Ed Franz, the contest director, loves to punish the handlaunch competitors, and the tasks were *real* long. One wrong move or one missed thermal and *pow* you were out of there! I flew pretty well during the middle of the day, but I really fell apart at the end of the day, and ended up in 9th out of 19. My buddy Bruce Davidson flew to 2nd place and fellow LASS-mate Ken Marks ended up in 15th. I’ll do better in Unlimited on Wednesday/Thursday and then in RES on Friday, right?

Friday night was rain, rain, rain and our tent has some leakage issues, so we were a little damp. Despite that, Saturday was beautiful and I hung around with “Team Polecat” as they bucked the trends and flew a 60″ ship in an event that usually calls for planes that are 160″ in wingspan. Kelly and I split around 2PM for Detroit, making a stop in Fort Wayne at their H&M store.

Today we went to a Detroit Tigers game, and had a blast! The weather has been very mild (low 80′s ) and a nice breeze was occassionally around. Kelly got to see her beloved “Pudge” Rodriguez, and we both enjoyed a day at the ballpark.

This evening, we headed out to another H&M store in Ann Arbor, and then drove north up State street to the University of Michigan area. What a cool little town up there! We walked around for a few hours and ate sushi and ice cream.

Tomorrow, the Henry Ford! Right now, there are photos here: 2006.07.23 – Detroit. Soaring related photos are here: 2006.07.21 – NATS Handlaunch and 2006.07.22 – NATS Cross-country.

This Thursday, Kelly and I are headed for vacation, bookended by me competing at the Academy of Model Aeronautics Soaring Nationals in Muncie, Indian, better known by it’s competitors as just the NATS. You may remember that last year I went to my first NATS and I managed to do pretty well. Hopefully, I can repeat that performance this year, but in all reality I’m just there to have fun.

The Soaring NATS is actually a number of different events packed into a week-long span. This year, I’m flying handlaunch, Unlimited and RES. Handlaunch being planes under 60″ launched by hand, Unlimited being winch-launched planes of any size, and RES being rudder/elevator/spoiler only planes. Handlaunch competition is on Friday, July 21st, and my next event, Unlimited, doesn’t start until the 26th, so Kelly and I have plans to go up to Detroit and kick around there for a little while. We are going to hit a Detroit Tigers game and go to the Henry Ford Museum as well. Not to mention that Kelly is most excited about going to H&M, the “hip Target”.

Photo courtesy of Charles Frey. That is a RES plane I’m throwing there, by the way. Handlaunch planes are under 60″ in wingspan.

Remember how I said I was going to make a large catapult and call it THE POWER OF LOVE? Well, I did it! It took me only a handful of hours to complete over the 4th of July weekend, and at M@ and Sara’s 4th of July Party, it made it’s debut!

M@ was kind enough to video the thing in action (firing incendiaries) and put it up on YouTube:

Behold the Power of Love!