Oakdale Airport Improvements for PPG’ers

On By The Flying DutchmanIn Aviation, Powered ParaglidingLeave a comment
I learned to fly 24 years ago at Oakdale Municipal Airport.  It’s been my home base ever since.  So now that I’m flying my PPG I’d like to keep flying from Oakdale.  the only problem is that there isn’t much room for PPGs to operate there and the runway does not align with the prevailing winds there.  There is an unused 15 acre field on the airport property on the south side of the airport that would be perfect for PPG launches.  At one time it was being developed for hangars but was abandoned after asphault was put down.
Oakdale Airport Improvements
My buddy Dennis and I discussed this yesterday.  He does construction for a living and specializes in dirt grading and levelling.  He gave me some ideas of what would need to be done to make this field usable.  After a discussion of what could be done and for how much we agreed that this should be done in phases so as to keep costs below certain thresholds that would trigger a lot more bureaucracy and paperwork.  Phase 1 would be the green shaded area on the west side of the photo.  The entire land area of this section is a little over 7 acres.  Dennis suggested that the area first be disced so as to knock down the weeds and allow us to see the lay of the land.  Dennis knows someone who could do it relatively inexpensively unless the City has access to similar resources that would be cheaper for them.  After it is disced the area could then be graded and compacted.
My only concern with using only this area is the house just south of the airport.  This is shown shaded in yellow.  I don’t want to overfly that house at low level and start generating complaints that we don’t currently have.  However, with careful descent planning we can avoid the house.
The best option for not overflying the house would be to improve the green shaded area to the east.  Dennis expressed concern about removing the decayed asphalt in this area.  It would be very difficult to remove the weeds which would allow the asphalt to be recycled.  More than likely it would have to be dumped at an added cost.  However, being able to land in this area would align aircraft better with the prevailing wind and also avoid overflying the house.  The black line represents the position of Oakdale’s old cross wind runway which aligned perfectly with the prevailing winds there.  At any rate having access to this entire area would give us launch options no matter what direction the wind was coming from and would allow us to not overly any houses on landing.  We will also have to look at how we access that area. There are no roads so it would involve crossing the runway. I’m sure we’ll be able to work something out.

Anyway, I’m going to submit this to the City’s Airport Ad-hoc Committee and see if we can get some funds and a start date.

 

Buy a Wind Muff Will You?

On By The Flying DutchmanIn Opinion, RV LifeLeave a comment

I’ve been watching a lot of YouTube videos lately published by folks who live full time in their RVs.  I enjoy dreaming about living that lifestyle and like to live it vicariously through these folks.  The production value and polish they put on the videos is amazing but I have one nit to pick with several of these videlo vloggers.  I have seen more than one person, and sometimes a couple, that are doing a monologe or dialog about what’s going on in their lives but you can only catch about every 5th word because the wind is blowing so hard and distorts the audio.  But the folks putting the video up on YouTube just don’t seem to care whether you hear them or not.  They have to know because they do a lot of post video processing and editing.  I could go on but since a picture is worth a thousand words:

 

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Day Trip to Bodega Bay

On By The Flying DutchmanIn TravelLeave a comment

After the week’s drama of arranging things for our son, my heart stress test, and something I’m dying to talk about but just can’t… yet, Cristy and I decided we needed to hit the road.  Even if just for a day.  Bodega Bay was the destination of the day.

Normally it’s about a 2.5 hour drive from our home but we had to drop off a CD that Cristy sold to someone near Sacramento, and then we would drive from there out to Bodega Bay.  This pretty much turned it into a 4 hour drive but what the hey, we’re together, eating snacks and listening to music on Spotify.  Despite the traffic it’s pure bliss.

We ended up pulling into Santa Rosa at about 1pm.  We were going to try to make it for lunch in Bodega Bay but Cristy was getting hungry and we both needed a bathroom break.  Cristy checked her iPhone and found a place called The Naked Pig.  They sell all natural, organic, farm-direct-to-table food.  The greens for the salad were picked that morning on their farm, and the pig for the pork sanwiches was slaughtered the night before and smoked all night and morning.  You may feel sorry for the pig but he (or she) was delicious!

I had the Naked Pig Sandwich…yep that pig was alive the day before.   The freshly smoked pork was DEE-licious!

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Cristy got a salad… yep those plants were alive that morning.

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I’m not a big salad guy but this salad really was delicious.  I’ve never tasted greens that taste so good!

We both got some strawberry-cream sodas made fresh to order.

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The wait staff was extremely friendly and courteous.  I can tell you we’ll definately be back!

After a few burps and some lingering at the table we hopped back into my trusty mini-van and once again pointed our noses to Bodega Bay.  About 45 minutes later we were driving along the coast looking for a beach at which to waste some time before we had dinner.  We ended up pulling off at North Salmon Creek Beach.  We walked past these very fragrant flowering bushes being guarded by a very laid-back sparrow.

The very short trail leads down some steps to the beach.  We spent about an hour walking along the beach and enjoying the sound of the ocean, talking, and watching the surfers.

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That’s about what the beaches usually look like on the northern California coast.  Bring a sweater.  It actually wasn’t that cold this day, it was almost 70 degrees but the sun never came out.

Some beach-goers have constructed windbreaks from driftwood.  You’ll find them all up and down the beach.  Some of them can be quite large and elaborate.

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We headed back up to the van and watched the ocean from the cliff for a while. The small creek you see is where Salmon Creek empties into the Pacific.  It was a very peaceful place to take a snooze.

Salmon-Creek-Beach

We decided to head back to the town of Bodega Bay and take a look around.  Highway 1 is very cramped through here and parking is at a premium.  We decided to just head to the touristy Tides Warf and Restaurant.  They have a gift shop and a fish market and best of all, a large mostly-empty parking lot.  We looked through the touristy gift shop and bought a few more snacks for the ride home at the fish market.  We decided to have an early dinner before heading back home.  You should couldn’t beat the view.

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We started the long drive back home and decided to just follow Highway 12 the whole way so we could miss the traffic on 101 and I-80.  This was a good call as it took us through wine country in Santa Rosa and Sonoma.   We’re not wine drinkers but if we were, this would be paradise.  The scenery was beautiful.

This isn’t my photo, I stole it from Google Maps to give you an idea of what we saw.  We have to remember to take more pictures.

Hwy-12

We finally arrived home at 10pm.  We were kind of worn out from the travel but it was a good worn out.  It was a great way to waste a Saturday.

 

 

 

 

 

God’s Unexpected Graces

On By The Flying DutchmanIn Faith1 Comment

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This morning I had the distinct displeasure of having my heart stress tested.  It would have been fine if it was just walking on a treadmill. I have no problem with that.  What I was not expecting was the IV needle they put in my arm and left there for the duration.  I didn’t know how many injections were involved in a stress test!  So they stuck the IV needle in so they could just stick me one time for all the injections that are involved.  I don’t get along with needles.

The bright spot in the morning came after the treadmill test.  I was talking to the nurse about my job situation and just off-handedly remarked that “Someone” had always taken care of my family and I and “He” always would.  Even in the next life.  Then she quoted a verse from the Psalms to me.  To which I replied “Oh, you’re a Christian too!”  She finished taking all the leads off me and as I was about to walk out she asked, “Do you mind if I pray for you?”

She held both my hands and prayed a beautiful prayer asking God to continue to care for my family and I through my job loss and search and for wisdom and for patience and… etc.  Afterwards I squeezed her hands and told her what a wonderful witness for Christ she had been this day.  I only regret that I didn’t pray for her too.  You can bet I will pray for her tonight.

Thank you Tammy.  You were a blessing to me today.

Unsettled Air

On By The Flying DutchmanIn Aviation, Powered ParaglidingLeave a comment

I wanted to start the week off right so I got up bright and early and tried to get a flight in before work.  There was no wind at home and wind was forcast to be nil all morning.  Sure enough I got out to New Jerusalem and the wind sock wasn’t moving.  It seemed like the series of storms that blew through northern California over the weekend were finally gone but they left a gift for me… unsettled air.  If you watch the video you’ll catch some swinging.  The camera doesn’t catch it all but trust me, the air was sporty.

Red Hills Work Party Rescheduled

On By The Flying DutchmanIn Aviation, TravelLeave a comment

Yesterday a small group of us were supposed to drive up to the Red Hills Strip to help theIMG_20160326_102107506 owner, Jack, remove a tree that is leaning dangerously close to the runway.  If you look just left of the airplane in this photo you will see the tree.

The plan was to cut this tree down and one other dead tree on the property also located next to the runway.  However, weather did not cooperate.  Two of the folks in our work party, who also had the chainsaw, were going to fly in.  Since there are no IFR approaches to this runway (unless you count the railroad tracks that run next to it) it was decided that we would postpone the work party.  Even if they drove up the rain would make for slick footing which is not optimal for working with chainsaws.

IMG_20160326_113513757The the bright side of the rain this past weekend is that it ought to make the Red Hills stay absolutely beautiful for our Memorial Day Fly-In!

 

Surveying the PPG Field at Oakdale

On By The Flying DutchmanIn Aviation, Powered ParaglidingLeave a comment

IMG_20160501_181823289I wanted to get in an evening flight today and after consulting my favorite wind forecasting website Windyty it seemed like winds might be favorable.  I packed up my PPG gear, hitched up the trailer, and drove out to Oakdale.  However, when I got there there the
air was pretty unsettled.  There were thunderstorms nearby that were falling appart so it was actually pretty windy out at the airport.  I knew I wouldn’t be able to fly so I decided to take another look at the area on the airport that I would like to have developed as a PPG area.

A friend with earth moving equipment said he can level the area for us but I’m going to approach the city about reimbursing him for expenses.  My buddy seems to think it would be a relatively minor thing to flatten it out.  I hope so.  I’d love to keep flying from Oakdale.  Here are some shots of the affected area.

Drive Through Gold Country

On By The Flying DutchmanIn Travel2 Comments

It’s been a stressful couple of weeks so I decided to take a day trip with my wife up Highway 49 from Mokelumne Hill to Nevada City.

It was a pretty windy day down in the valley so it was refreshing to be up in the foothills where the wind wasn’t as strong.

We decided to stop off at Auburn Airport for a surprisingly delicious lunch.  Usually airport food isn’t all that great but the cafe at the airport is really good.

We finally made it up to Nevada City.  We spent some time walking the streets and checking out the shops.  It’s my job to carry shopping bags.  Luckily there were only two and they were very small.  Cristy bought some super-duper special herbal tea of some kind and some Cacoco Drinking Chocolate.

Nevada City starts rolling up the sidewalks at about 5 pm so we headed back down to the valley to head back home.  Sorry I don’t have many pictures of Nevada City.  I have to remember that folks like to see pictures and not just read words.  Something I need to work on.

Is This As Good As It Gets?

On By The Flying DutchmanIn FaithLeave a comment

In the movie As Good As It Gets, a man who suffers from obsessive compulsive disorder leaves his psychiatrist’s office angry and worried. As he walks into the waiting area where other patients are seated and stops and asks…

“What if this is as good as it gets?” he asks and then he leaves. The patients remain frozen, pondering the possibility.

It’s a funny moment but it also gives me pause to think seriously about the future.  Such as, where will you go after you die?

I attend Bible Study Fellowship at a local church.  We meet in small groups and discuss the Bible study lessons we were given the week before.  Afterwards there is a lecture on the Scripture we just studied.  During the discussion group we had a visitor from another BSF group across the country.  He related something remarkable from his prior week’s lecture at his home group.  What he said was…

“If you have not accepted Christ as your Savior, then this life is as good as it gets.  If you have accepted Christ as your Savior, then this life is the worse it will ever be for you.”

So what’s your perspective?

If you claim Christ as your Savior then you have a destiny that is wonderfuly beyond your imagination.  Forget the cartoons portraying Bugs Bunny with wings and a halo sitting on a cloud playing a harp.  Never get your Bible doctrin from cartoons.  It is a marvelous glorious destiny we have that has defied explaination from those whom have witnessed it and returned to write about it.

If you don’t need Christ or God or you think all the fun people will be in hell, then whatever you have in this life will be your reward.  That’s it.  It’s all you get.  Hell will not be a forever party.  That will be happening in the new Heaven and the new Earth.

It’s the best offer in all of history.  Believe in Christ, ask Him to forgive you, and you will go to Heaven.  Simple as that.