April 20, 2001
Letter from Dan:
Dear John and Denise,
Just a quick note to tell you I reached a milestone in my flying
career. Yesterday during a lesson, my flight instructor told me he wanted
to get out, he said he wasn’t needed. So after 15 hours of lessons, I
soloed. Before I took off, I told the Ground controller that I was a
student pilot and he asked me if the instructor was aboard. I told him I
was soloing. He said he would alert the tower (I think he alerted the
fire and rescue personnel too.) I made three take off and landings (not
real pretty) but without any problems. After the second take off, the
Tower had me do a right hand traffic pattern and then put me in line with
other plane coming in for a landing. They made it a little more difficult
but I was able to comply and it was fun. What a blast!! My legs were
shaking the whole time and I almost knelt down and kissed the ground when
I got back. Afterwards, the instructor cut the back of my t-shirt off and
wrote my name, the date and drew an airplane and runway on it. He will
pin it on the wall in the classroom along with others there.
Now it’s on to getting my actual license. I’m continuing lessons and now
can fly out of Bangor when the weather is reasonably good; all by
myself. Speaking of weather, we are getting a wet raining snowy day here
in Maine. Trying to get Pirate’s Cove open for this weekend and this
doesn’t help much.
Love Dan
April 19, 2001
Letter from Donald:
Congratulations to Dan for his solo!
Hungary Joe (he’s Hungarian) travels around the country in his motorhome
towing his ultralight plane (a Dragonfly). His trailer is marked “Hungary
Joe’s Flying Circus”. Local hanggliding businesses set up aerotow clinics
with Joe where hangglider pilots can obtain their AT (aerotow) rating. As
a mountain-launch pilot, this will allow me to fly in Florida and other
places where they aerotow. Hungary Joe charges $15 or $20 a tow depending
on the altitude he flys you to.
The other weekend I went to my clinic at a gliderport up in Middleton
CA, a lovely area of CA, in a flat-floored valley on a plateau northwest of
Napa valley. The clinic was cancelled due to the weather and is
rescheduled for June. The following links can give you an idea of Hungary
Joe’s Flying Circus, aerotow, and the valley. Pictures were taken at the
previous clinic.
Don
Gliderport field –
http://www.speedgliding.org/pics/crazycreek03312001/theCircus.JPG
Group setting up –
http://www.speedgliding.org/pics/crazycreek03312001/startOfDay1.JPG
I camped under those trees –
http://www.speedgliding.org/pics/crazycreek03312001/endOfDay1.JPG
The tug –
http://www.speedgliding.org/pics/crazycreek03312001/tug2.JPG
http://www.speedgliding.org/pics/crazycreek03312001/thetug.jpg
The student –
http://www.speedgliding.org/pics/crazycreek03312001/launch1.jpg
The launch –
http://www.speedgliding.org/pics/crazycreek03312001/launch2.jpg
Gliderport from the sky –
http://www.speedgliding.org/pics/crazycreek03312001/air15.jpg
The valley –
http://www.speedgliding.org/pics/crazycreek03312001/air16.jpg
http://www.speedgliding.org/pics/crazycreek03312001/air12.jpg
http://www.speedgliding.org/pics/crazycreek03312001/air18.jpg
Packing up –
http://www.speedgliding.org/pics/crazycreek03312001/endOfDay2.JPG
Picture from David:
April 18, 2001
Pictures of Sarah from Amy:
April 16, 2001
Pictures from Nate in California:
April 11, 2001
AL and Sue reply to Jean’s offer of last month:
Dear Recipient,
It has been brought to my attention that there has been an offer from one of our relatives to give away free snow under much the same guise that I offered you all some time ago. BEWARE! This snow is Maine snow. As you may not know much of the Maine snow is contaminated with particles of material that have drifted inland from the Atlantic Ocean or has drifted downwind from the paper mills in northern Maine. Who wants to have minute bits of seaweed or lobsta entrails in their pristine snow. I can think of nothing worse than paper mill waste material mixed in with my snow. I understand that some of the “snow” being offered is actually shaved ice from Baxter State Park. This “snow” is manufactured from the real snow that has been compacted by the snowshaoe of the thousands of flatlanders who travel in the park. This ice material is transported to Washington County where some a retired couple manufactures “snow” Some people will do anything for a buck.
I fully realize that some of you may not comprehend of whom I am talking, so I will give you a hint as to her initials, they are Jean Herrick, oops I slipped up. Watch out for any offers from her, she is crafty, slick and sly. I have to go now, I have to thermal wrap a delivery of snow that I am going to send by UPS to a relative in California.
Be well, be happy and if you can’t, don’t come by here. Al
April 4, 2001
If we could shrink the earth’s population to a village of precisely 100 people, with all the existing human ratios remaining the same, it would look something like the following:
There would be:
57 Asians
21 Europeans
14 from the Western Hemisphere, both north and south
8 Africans
52 would be female
48 would be male
70 would be non-white
30 would be white
70 would be non-Christian
30 would be Christian
89 would be heterosexual
11 would be homosexual
6 people would possess 59% of the entire world’s wealth and all 6 would be from the United States.
80 would live in substandard housing
70 would be unable to read
50 would suffer from malnutrition
1 would be near death; 1 would be near birth
1 (yes, only 1) would have a college education
1 would own a computer
When one considers our world from such a compressed perspective, the need for acceptance, understanding and education becomes glaringly apparent.
The following is also something to ponder…
If you woke up this morning with more health than illness…you are more blessed than the million who will not survive this week.
If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation…you are ahead of 500 million people in the world.
If you can attend a church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death…you are more blessed than three billion people in the world.
If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep…you are richer than 75% of this world.
If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish someplace … you are among the top 8% of the world’s wealthy.
If your parents are still alive and still married … you are very rare, even in the United States and Canada.
If you can read this message, you just received a double blessing in that someone was thinking of you, and furthermore, you are more blessed than over two billion people in the world that cannot read at all.
Someone once said: What goes around comes around.
Work like you don’t need the money.
Love like you’ve never been hurt.
Dance like nobody’s watching.
Sing like nobody’s listening.
Live like it’s Heaven on Earth.