Today, Wednesday, we decided to check out some new sites. Wind was light in the Gorge and it seemed like a good time to try to discover or re-discover some good slopes. We headed over to the WA side and tried to access our old site of “Windago Lane”. We found several back roads that looked promising, but were posted with no trespassing or private drive signs. Windago Lane itself had two no trespassing signs and a private drive sign. So no joy there. We also swung by Courtney lane, which looked to be promising for a South or Southwest wind. We cut our losses and headed toward Diamond Ridge to see how it would work. On the way we encountered a freshly born fawn and her mom in the center of the road. Mom, bounded off, but the fawn was so fresh, she could only crawl. She hid herself on the side of the road. So we grabbed a few pics and left her so mom would rejoin her.
Once we reached Diamond Ridge, we walked in the final 500ft so as not to scratch up the rental trucks.
Air was very light at Diamond. DJ was able to fly his Rifle 1M (electric version obviously). He had a couple tough landings but his plane survived. Before we left Diamond we did a once over to check out any future flying sites. No real luck and worse, we found recent evidence of a really big bear (huge skat) in the vicinity.
By now the day was exhausted and it was time to head back to Hood River. We checked out some windsurfers at the beach area at Hood before grabbing dinner at the Pfriem...Continue Reading

Our merry group headed out to Lumber about 12:30. We met up with TomFlyer and his wife. He was trimming out a Vindicator and also flew his PSS Flokerschmitt. It was a cold day for a change. Temp was shown to be 60 deg., but up on the slope with a 30+ wind it felt more like 45 deg. Our whole group stayed huddled near the bushes on the left side of the slope to stay warm. We flew most of what we brought. As always had a great time. I don’t believe any of guys had had major damage (maybe a few stress cracks and some broken bolts). We had some great screaming speed runs. Lots of ballast was used. I actually got my Gulp to perform an “egg beater” just like we use to perform with the FVK Bandit electric. It was awesome. As an added benefit we had a couple full size gliders play around on the ridge, working the ridge line above us. Also a USAF C-17 made a low flyby heading South from Hood River.
We flew on for a bit after TomFlyer left. Then we headed down to Double Mountain Taphouse. Had 3 pizzas and tried out the some local brews. We called it a night about 8:15 and headed back to our rental for some rest. Tomorrow we are planning for Diamond Ridge, with a stop by Windago lane (White Salmon) to see if it is now accessible. There has been some new construction in the area and Miami Mike suggested we check it out for access.

Goodnight all
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With a big NW breakfast under our belt, we headed over to the Washington side to test out Klickitat.
The wind was really rockin in Klickitat. Jose saw 33 mph on his wind meter (and the gusts were much stronger). Lift was tremendous at Klick. You just could not bring your planes down. We were forced to land all our planes on the road or along the slope. Unfortunately, our favorite landing site, across the road, now is closed to us. The new landowner has built a house, entry gate and has No Treaspassing signs posted quite predominately on all the fences. We accidentally landed a plane on his property and he was very reluctant to allow us to retrieve it. He also informed us that the slope side of the road is private property. So, it looks like future slope flying at the Klickitat site may be difficult if not impossible. After this depressing news we packed up and headed over to Grayback Mtn. Grayback had not changed much. There was plenty of “alpine lift” that went way out over the valley. Only two incidents of note happed while were there. Jose damaged his Mini-Destiny and DJ had the bejessus scared out of him when a snake went by his feet while he was flying (turned out to be just a rat snake).
We called it quits about 5PM to head back to Hood for a dinner at the Thai restaurant.
Tomorrow we’re planning to return to Lumber.
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A very good day flying. We started our morning with breakfast at Betty’s dinner. Then spent most of the morning in Hood River, getting supplies (suntan lotion, ice, water, soft drinks, etc.) Our choice of Lumber site was almost perfect for the wind direction. Wind was strong with only a few dropouts. No real crashes to speak. Only tragedies, were Ben leaving his 2nd transmitter antenna at home, I left a transmitter module back in the rental and DJ left his a wing rod back at the rental.
We flew until 4:30 and then headed into Hood for RC parts at the hobby shop.
No joy at the hobby shop for most of the parts we needed. So, it was off to Taqueria’s for a yummy Mexican dinner. After dinner we returned to the rental for an early night and watch the sun set from our balconies. Another awesome day in the NorthWest
Planning on hitting Klickitat for Monday.

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After two years we’re back out in the NorthWest. Today is a blur. Most of us had gone to bed at midnight, gotten up at 4:30AM and then spent almost all day flying across the country. By the time we had rounded up our rental cars and reached Hood River it was 5PM and we only had a couple hours of light left. We elected to head to The Dalles slope. It was close and easily accessible by car. The wind was whipping at 30mph and Tom swore he felt a gust twice that amount as we reached the site. DJ pulled out his combat wing. Amadeo his Electron. Tom and Ben had their Gulps. Jose and I elected to take pics. The air was a little to strong and turbulent for unleaded foamies. After an hour, with fading sunlight, we packed up and headed down to Clock Tower Ales for some IPA’s and good grub.
As I write this, Tom and I discussed the best slope(s) for tomorrow. With a 20mph wnw wind we think we’ll hit Lumber.

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