The Road to Marfa (continued from page 6)

one peak at a time. It is an awesome view from above, as long as you do not think too much about the fact that much of the ground below is rugged, vertical, and solid rock. It was obvious that the lift was abating as I was losing altitude over and around Cathedral Mt. I became very focused on centering the lift and yaw string, and looking for signs of a fresh CU that would get me back up. I had several outs in preferential order; the abandoned Presidio County-Marfa field, a large WWII field which was the site of the competitions mentioned earlier, about 12 nm WNW and right along US 90, Alta Vista, a private strip on the site of a small WWII training field about 13 nm to the WSW but located on a secondary road, and my chosen next goal of Alpine, a public field about 13 nm to the north which did not look reachable over the surrounding hills lying between. So I just slugged it out for a while with departure altitude in mind if I had to run. I finally got high enough to clear the hills to Alpine and headed that way. Once I had Alpine made I was met with simultaneous relief and heavy sink over the north face of the hills. I called for Gene to hitch up the trailer and head for Alpine. He did with Bill Paris' help and was on the road quickly. Alpine lies in a bowl, pretty much surrounded by high hills, except for the passes where the highways and railroad go through. We were advised to stay away as it tends to be a sinkhole, so I fully anticipated that in helping me lose altitude as I made an approach to the field. As luck would have it, I hit about +8 kts on the averager and again had Marfa Municipal in sight for the first time in about 2 hours. As soon as I had final glide altitude to Marfa and over the mountains in between, I called Gene on the radio and asked him to turn around and go back to the field, which he was pleased to do. After I passed over the mountains the fun really began. The air was blue between Alpine and Marfa but full of Big Texas sized thermals. It was easy to top out at 12,700' on the way back. With a spiral here and there and porposing. It took me quite a while to get down, just cruising, enjoying the ride, and relishing the experience I had just had.

The next day was to be our last. Due to the late hour of the solar noon, there is almost no way to fly, leave that afternoon, and get anywhere on the way home to spend a night. But initially we planned to do that on Friday with an overnight stop in Big Spring. Gene also had been talking to a girlfriend in Michigan who wanted him to stop for a visit before he went to his summer cottage at the beach in New Jersey for the rest of the summer, so he was eager to head for home. Thursday's flight turned out to be a big disappointment after the previous day. After the normal tow to 7,000' and getting off in lift, I erred in not leaving quickly enough for the south where the clouds were higher. When I did leave I found very strong sink between the airport and town. In fact, I quickly got below glide slope only 2 miles from the field. I went back to the house thermal, the hydroponics plant and got back up to 10,500' but was never able to get away towards the clouds, which had receded further south. The main factor being the extreme turbulence both up and down which persisted. I finally got tired of being beaten up and decided to land and pack the plane for a departure the next morning.

Our trip home was through Dallas and across Arkansas as recommended by Bill Paris. We passed Caddo Mills, a soaring site; Hope, AR, Bill Clinton's hometown where a sign declaring that had been defaced by paint thrown upon it; Forrest City, AR home of the Memphis Soaring Club; and near the Mississippi River flood plain a large crop dusting operation with a fleet of turbine powered Ag Wagons close to the interstate. The route gave us different scenery for part of the trip and a reduction of 1 hour and 50 miles drive. We arrived at Terry just in time to dump the trailer in Kurt Ristow's spot before the rain we had been driving thru since we crossed the Mississippi at Cairo, IL hit. At home, a single malt on the rocks was in order in celebration of a safe and fun trip. I really appreciate Gene's willingness to come along and help, his company made the whole trip easier and more interesting.

The tough question is would I do it again? I think the conditions were better in early June but do not know if that is a normal pattern or not. It was a long and expensive ride for 9.6 hours in the air but the experience is so different from Indiana. On the other hand it was comforting this past Sunday to drift among the clouds between Noblesville Airport and Boone County Airport and have at least one landing opportunity within reach at all times.

– Jeff Melin