Butch Van Artsdalen was a world class surfer back in the day. He’s also my cousin. Here’s a short excerpt from a Bruce Brown film…
Travel Day – Ashland to Fort Bragg
We spent the majority of Friday driving from Ashland, Oregon to Fort Bragg, California. There’s not a lot to complain about though because the scenery is beautiful. We would love to spend some time in the area around Yreka. It’s a beautiful place.
We stopped off in Redding to walk across the Sundial Bridge.
We drove on and on and finally got to take a break when traffic came to a standstill on Highway 20 between Willits and Fort Bragg. It is a gorgeous place to be stuck.
We finally got to our hotel an hour and a half later than we had planned. We decided to go explore a little before heading out for dinner and we ended up at the Pomo Bluffs. What a hidden gem! We spent the afternoon just walking around the bluffs and breathing the fresh air.
There were only a few other tourists other than us there. It was wonderful.
After dinner at a Noyo restaurant we took a wrong turn, a very fortuitous wrong turn, and ended up at the mouth of Noyo Harbor. We were treated to the most gorgesous sunset.
The next day we played tourist for half the morning and drove home. Nothing really special to report there. Al in all we loved our trip to Ashland and Fort Bragg and would love to WILL visit again!
Here’s a little treat… The surf at Pomo Bluffs
Ashland Oregon – Day 2
This morning we woke up and headed down to the Ashland Food Coop for some breakfast and to do a little shopping. They have a buffet style food bar with all organic non-GMO foods. It was delicious! We went into the rest of the store to buy some water and stumbled on a nutritional wonderland for Cristy. Every homeopathic health suppliment and medicine you can imagine was there along with a huge variety of locally grown fruits vegetables, meats, and dairy items. We ended up only getting a few snack items, water, and coconut water. It even puts Whole Foods to shame. We really wish we had something like this back in Modesto.
Then we headed back to the cottage so Cristy could get ready for her massage and soak at Chozu Tea Gardens. She elected to have a deep tissue massage. First they had her go sit in the dry sauna for 10 minutes or so to soften her muscles up then she showered and spent an hour getting her muscles worked out by the masseuse. Then we spent another hour soaking in one of the private hot pools (since we forgot our bathing suits). It was heavenly. Then we finished up with 15 minutes in the dry sauna, a shower, and then went off for lunch. Sorry, no photos from inside. Please note that if you go there after 6pm it is clothing optional so if simple nudity offends you, please go there before 6pm. We got there at 8pm and were given wraps to wear. Some folks were wearing them, some folks weren’t. At any rate, you can avoid this if you get there earlier in the day.
A note on Chozu, they also have a tea and sake bar and can serve light meals. If you are evern in Ashland, please check them out!
After our soak we headed downtown to find some lunch. We ended up at a place called Pangea. Cristy had a salad and I had a vegetarian panini
Afterwards we explored the town until dinner time. We ran into a great little place along the creek that runs through downtown and had a wonderful dinner.
For the rest of the evening we just relaxed back at the cottage and enjoyed the views. We wanted to rest up because tomorrow we’re driving to Fort Bragg, California. Catch you tomorrow.
Ashland Oregon – Day 1
For our combined birthdays I decided to take Cristy on a trip to Ashland, Oregon. It’s a college town that has a kind of hippie vibe that we enjoy. Most of today was spent driving up here. We are staying at Chozu Bath and Tea Gardens. They have two cottages next door at which you can stay. I didn’t get any pictures of the cottage today but I’ll take one tomorrow. Chozu is just a quiet place to soak or get a massage and enjoy the quiet gardens, something we could really used after the last year.
I’ll have a full write up of our full day in Ashland tomorrow. In the mean time enjoy some of the travel photos.
Oakdale Airport – Tuesday Morning
The winds finally let up enough for me to get out the ol’ bed sheet and lawn mower and fly around my stomping grounds in Oakdale. Was not a very long flight because it started getting “thermally” out there.
Remebering the Time of Wings
Just remembering back when I had rigid wings to fly with. Happy Memorial Day. Please remember those who have fallen in battle. They secured my right to do this.
Raw Video Footage from Red Hills 2016
Here is the raw footage as I got it from Red Hills this year. It’s nothing special but it was fun. Enjoy!
Red Hills 3rd Annual Fly-In
A little over three years ago my friend Joey Myers and I were visiting with Jack and Myrna Moyle telling them about a group of guys I had been flying with. We regaled them with stories of Johnson Creek and the High Sierra Fly-In over in Nevada. I commented how their runway would make a great fly-in destination. Jack loves airplanes and said he’d love to see some of the airplanes our group was flying. I asked if we could have a fly-in on their property and they agreed.
This year was the third year we had our low-key fly-in and it was the best yet. We had about 16 airplanes show up or stop in. Airplanes began arriving Friday morning. We had folks come in from Santa Maria and Santa Rosa, Oakdale and Calaveras. A great mix of local and cross-country folks. We even had Steve Henry’s old Yee Haw! Higlander show up with it’s new owner on the last day of the fly-in. Friday was just a day to chill out and set up camp. Jack and Myrna arranged for us to drive into Jamestown for dinner. We stopped in at Morelia Mexican Restaurant. Dinner was delcious! I wish yours truly would remember to take pictures though. After dinner we headed back to Red Hills Ranch to watch the sun set and tell lies well into the evening. It was a really warm evening so no campfire. We just enjoyed the cool breezes.
The next morning we piled into our airplanes (I am airplaneless at the moment so I bummed a ride) and headed out to Lodi Airport (103) to have breakfast at the Lodi Airport Cafe. We met up with a few others that were heading out to Red Hills and had an enjoyable breakfast catching up with old friends and getting to know new ones. Afterwards we caravaned back to Red Hills.
Around lunch time we had a small water bombing and spot landing contest. Rob Farlane took the water-bombing prize and Aaron Bartels took the spot landing prize. Well done guys! For the rest of the afternoon we all just kicked back and enjoyed the ranch.
Saturday evening was our pot luck dinner. There was tri-tip, pork, chile, salad, and a host of other delicious goodies. Julie brough some of her signature wine and Tom grabbed a crate of apricots from his apricot factory. 🙂 No one ever goes hungry here. Eating and drinking went well into the evening when we talked, looked at stars, spotted satellites and even spotted the International Space Station going by.
Sunday morning there were some local fly-outs and folks just generally packing up. The highlight of the morning was Myrna’s breakfast of bacon, sausage, scambled eggs with peppers, and pancakes. Delicous! After breakfast goodbyes were said and then folks flew off into the clear blue western skies!
This was a very successul event but we did learn a few new lessons this year. The fist lesson was that just because some really skilled pilots make this strip look easy, doesn’t mean it is easy. This is not a beginner strip. Pilots who are inexperienced at landing off airport in a mountain environment MUST get short field, and mountain flying training before attempting to land at this strip. The liability waiver and informational video will be ammended to address this. Other lessons we learned will be addressed before the next fly-in.
Thank you to everyone who showed up and we look forward to seeing you all again next year!
Edit:
Raw video footage is located here: Red Hills raw video footage
Rodeo Harnes Strap Modification
After about 12 hours of flying I noticed that the threads on my right hand strap were starting to fray. This seems to be happening due to the strap rubbing on a retaining clip as the canopy pulls the strap upwards as it starts generating lift. To prevent this I bought some UMHW tape and wrapped it into a tube around the area that is rubbing on the harness strap. The UMHW has adhesive on one side so this should allow it to stay in the tube shape I rolled it into. I have about 50 feet of it so I can make plenty more if it needs to be replaced at some point. I’m hoping that this will prevent any more chaffing of the harness.
Nirvana Rodeo Engine Maintenance
I finally ran into my first engine-related maintenance item. Too many words to type. Please enjoy the dulcet tones of yours truly.
Air Prayer 