Day 23 - L & K Departure & Private RC Practice Session

We all slept in a bit after some exciting games of crib last night… exciting for Lauren as she pulled off a 24 hand on me! I tried to claw back but it was "not in the cards”. Kelly and Lauren split the next two games before bed.

Lauren and Kyle leave us today as they head to Disneyland for three days before flying home to the winter rains. Poor souls! We loaded up the truck and drove into the Hertz Rental station off HWY 10. Of course we made sure Kyle had his jacket this time :-).. it will never end now! It only took about 35 minutes in light traffic to get there so that was a bonus!
 
After saying goodbyes, they loaded up the Dodge Caravan and headed to Starbucks for a quick bite. They then drove off on HWY 10 towards Quartzsite, Blythe and Palm Springs.  Text reports throughout the day confirmed no speeding tickets and a steady west bound drive with a stop at Joshua Tree State Park. (They arrived safely.)
 
We headed back towards the RV Park but took a quick detour and filled one of the RV’s 30 pound tanks and the smaller 20 pound BBQ/fire tank. It came to $24 US. Not too bad. One of the RV Park folks had told us about the cheap propane at the Old West Machining and Welding spot in Apache Junction…. and he was spot on!
 
Once back at the RV, I proceeded to assemble the plane and charge up batteries while Kelly did a bit of laundry. We have access to a private RC field just out behind the RV section and I decided to get a few flights in. Kelly called for me as I reacquainted myself to the P-21 schedule. It went pretty good but she said my knife edge sucked… hey that’s why I practice! ;-)

Assembly station.

Kelly helped call the maneuvers for me.

Great flying weather!

Field shot.

Several of the RV park residence came over and watched my flights. It was great to have the field to myself and in short order, I quickly put in a three flights.  (that is all the batteries I have at the moment.) I have my Honda generator to charge but it was getting late and Kelly said the pool was calling her name!   

We took the plane apart and carefully loaded it into the truck for tomorrows practice session that I have planned with John Bentley. We will meet up over at the East Valley Aviators site around 10ish and get some practice rounds in. He flew there today and he was basically by himself!   Back at the RV, it was cocktail time as Kelly finished up some laundry and I did a bit of blogging prep. BTW the beer was very cold and went down exceptionally easy at this point in the day! The pool can wait :-)  

We went for a ride around the RV Resort and found the gate to access the State Lands in behind. We traveled along some gravel roads and enjoyed the sunset. We returned to the main area and met a couple drone pilots at the RC field.

Sunset rider!

Another great sunset.

Dinner was left over pork chops. Tomorrow Kelly will set up the quilting station while I head over to the East Valley Aviators site and practice with John and the gang. 

With each passing day the temps are less cool at night and a bit warmer during the day.. it feels great to just put shorts on! Bring it on I say! (possible cold front coming this weekend though!)

KM’s today: 129
To date KM driven:5141
Today’s Temps Low: 8ºc  High 26ºc