Pre-contest day at Mifflin

I arrived at the Mifflin airort at about 3pm, and was astonished to find that not all the good trailer spots along the main taxiway had been taken.  I guess this is one consequence of the terrible weather all through the northeast last week, and the Striediecks’ courageous decision to postpone/reschedule the contest.  The weather this week isn’t looking all that  good either (in fact, it is raining again as I write this), but it can’t possibly be any worse than last week!

As I drove up and parked my trailer, I was happy to see and talk to many of the ‘usual suspects’.  Sean Murphy (XC), Tim Welles (W3), Heinz Weissenbuehler (flying a Harris Hill Duo Discus), Mike McCarron (MC), John Murray (LX), Bob Jackson (RJ),  Moe Acee and Corky Gill (AC),  Hank Nixon (K21), Brian Milner (GJ), and those were just the ones I saw.  John Good (X) wandered up to say hello, and he certainly was no stranger;  John has been at every meet with me so far this year ;-).

After dropping off the trailer, I went off to find a place to set up the micro-castle, and decided to park in back of the maintenance hangar.  As I backed up the very slight slope to the hangar, I managed to dig the back wheels of my pickup into the damp ground, and had to get Moe Acee to pull me out with his 4-wheel drive vehicle.  After that experience I chose a different tack (literally) and backed in along the slope instead of up it – worked much better.

I had just about enough time to get the camper off the pickup, get it watered and fed (water and electricity hookups) before some light showers moved in and started dropping more water (oh boy, just what we needed!).  Sure is nice to be inside with a place to sit and write ;-).

Tomorrow’s weather forecast is for mostly sunny weather with light winds from the northwest.  Maybe we’ll get at least one contest day in before the biblical rains return – stay tuned!

TA