Uvalde Day 7: Cats and Movies

Today was a slower day, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t have anything to say about it! Today was a longer task, so I decided that I would go and take advantage of the time that I would have. I went to go see the movie Atomic Blonde, which I did thoroughly enjoy. I have never had a theater entirely to myself, but today I got to experience that. I did feel a little awkward sitting in the theater entirely by myself, but I was enjoying myself so I feel like my money was well spent.

I really do wish I had taken a video of what I had seen today. Being able to watch glider after glider dive out of the sky at high speeds, was something that even I must admit was absolutely amazing. The way that the wings would shudder at the speeds they were going, and the way the streaks of water would form as the pilots dumped it in preparation for landing.

The cat at this bed and breakfast is without a doubt one of the nicest cats that I have met. If you were sitting down outside, it will jump right over on your lap and just chill there. It really doesn’t like its picture being taken though. I got a few shots out, but it kept jumping up and running away. I decided to be nice and just leave him be, because he was really nice to me.

I know this one is shorter with less pictures, but not too much happened today. I will try and make my life more interesting and get out and do something tomorrow (lol). But until then!

 

 

Uvalde Day 6: BBQ and a Sweet View

Today, I was a little worried I would have to start hitching up our trailer to go retrieve a hopeless pilot in a field. The gaggle was tasked to the south today, where cloud base was no higher than 3000′ MSL in its worst spots. However, lucky for me, the glider that my dad is flying is a HPH 304 Shark, which has a jet. Because of this, I was saved the hassle of trying to find him, and I was able to go to the BBQ that was hosted by the Contest Director, Mark Huffstetler at his own estate.

The property that the BBQ was hosted on was absolutely amazing. They had their own personal lake in their backyard! It was almost surreal just how large and expansive the backyard was compared to something that you would see in the suburbs of Southern California.

The BBQ that we were at was a bring-your-own-meat kind of deal, so I had to run down to the local H-E-B to get some barely above average steak. The crew there cooking it however, did a fantastic job, I believe they were both from the restaurant at the airport Hanger 6. Once the meat was out of the grill, it smelled and tasted like a slab of meat that you would find at a high end restaurant. Other than the meat, the other food provided was exceptional and really made a fantastic meal.

I found this little guy and couldn’t help myself.

I don’t know if I can talk up the view enough, it really was spectacular. Everything there was just so serene, I do think I could live there. Or maybe not, considering the heat. That is something I will have to consider another day.

After digging through some folders, I found these pins! I don’t know if I was supposed to be wearing this during the contest or what, but hey, they are here now. I still have pins from when I was in places like Tennessee, Argentina, Slovakia, and many more. The pins that you get that say “crew” on them is something that I like to collect, kind of like how people would collect post cards. It lets me know where I have been, and it helps me remember the great memories I had in those places.

I know this post is very jumbled and the ideas are not very well structured, but you will have to forgive me. I am having some kind of allergic reaction to the wasp/hornet/??? sting that I got yesterday, so I took some benedryl to help alleviate some of the swelling. That really is not helping me stay awake to write this, so that might explain the lack of structure. I am going to be making two posts tomorrow, one for the daily Uvalde update, another to go over what I talked to my host family in Slovakia about. Tune in to that tomorrow, and I will see you then!

Uvalde Day 2: The First Practice Day

You might be wondering, day 2? What happened to day 1? Funny story, I left my SD card in my laptop, and didn’t notice that none of the pictures I was talking were being saved until I tried to record a video in the late afternoon. At that point, I got frustrated enough that I just said screw it, I will start this tomorrow. So, here I am now, technically it is day 1 of me writing, but it is the second day of flying for the 18m Nationals in Uvalde Texas.

There is one thing that I have noticed while here in Uvalde. The miserable, unbearable heat. The past two days it has been above 100° F, with humidity near 50% all day. I am unable to express just how oppressive this heat is. I will be sitting in the drivers seat of my car, in the shade, with the AC on full blast and still be sweating. The electric bills here must be through the roof because of how hard the air conditioners have to work. Good thing we went to work early!

This morning we got out to the airport early to get the glider ready, as we didn’t want to sit around moving the glider around in the heat. Once we got it all buttoned up, we towed it down to the line, where we found ourselves the first people out there. Something I noticed that would come into light later that one wing was significantly heavier than the other. If I am going to be completely honest I thought it was just me being lazy so I just ignored it. We later found out that one of the wings was mysteriously missing water…

The pilots meeting was productive, as everyone was doing their “Hi I am so and so, and I will be running this and that for the duration of the contest.” Although I was not paying much attention as I was looking up the used prices of BMW Z3s. Unfortunately out of my price range I found. Anyway, the task for today was not exceptionally long, it led the pilots up north first, then down south, and then back to the airport. Today was a fairly strong day so I had no worries.

For the first time today, I used the live tracker on the SSA website, and it took a few minutes to understand, but once I had gotten it down it was interesting to follow the different pilots. My dad’s was not updating accurately, so I had to somewhat guess when I would need to go and get him from the airport. He wasn’t too happy when I came a few minutes late, but in my defense I thought I was half an hour early.

Putting the glider away was a breeze, as we have had a little practice yesterday with the tie downs and the covers, although I really do think we should have put it away as it is thunder storming as of writing this. I guess I will have to see how it works out tomorrow!

 

 

 

Uvalde, 18m Nationals, and Bed & Breakfast

The open road is something that I have always underappreciated. Until now. My idea of “just me and the open road” was driving down the freeway with other cars by my side, watching the suburbs roll by. However, driving to Uvalde , Texas has been absolutely mind blowing. There was a point while driving here where there was not a town with a population larger than 50 for more than 250 miles. There are not words I can use to describe just how vast the Texan country side is. I really wish I would have stopped and taken some pictures, or had my dad stick my camera out the window and take some pictures but the thought never came to mind.

The city of Uvalde is home to Garner Field Airport, which is the main reason I am here. My dad, Sean Franke, is flying the 18m Nationals here, in his HPH Shark, which has a jet sustainer. This is not our first national, as we have been traveling the country and the world for gliding championships for years (Tennessee, Michigan, New York, New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, Argentina, Slovakia, and more!). This is the first time he is flying in this “division” of gliders, so how he will do is still unknown. Today we just dropped the glider off at the tie down area, and called it a day. Although I hear tomorrow is an early start…

We are a day early, so the tie downs are a bit empty

Never before have I stayed at a Bed & Breakfast, however Live Oaks Bed & Breakfast has me fairly impressed. I have not stayed at another bed and breakfast, so I am not too sure if I am giving it fair judgement, but the grounds are full of things to do, the owner is very fantastic, and the rooms are very clean and neat. There are three separate “cabins” outside of the main house. We are staying in the cabin “treehouse”, which is the farthest cabin from the main building. Slightly bland from the outside, the inside is very well decorated. My only complaint is that there is only one bed, which leaves me on the pull-out-bed-couch.

The “Treehouse”

My room for the next two weeks

The main house

The Nationals do not start until Tuesday of next week, until then it is practice days. I am hoping that it all goes smooth, but the rougher it gets the better writing material I have! (haha).

 

Glideja Vu

 

I didn’t know that gliders delivered tofu but hey whatever works….

Song: Initial D – Deja Vu