The wife and I took a leisurely drive to lovely Champaign, IL last week. I'm usually there in the snow season so it was nice to see the town while the grass was green and the sun was out. We had dinner with Chris and Carol from
Hobbico in the
downtown district. The downtown area had a cool vibe was very relaxed. Thursday we got the grand tour of the
Horizon facility. Can you say huge?! Kim and Steve spent the day with us and could not have been any nicer. It is amazing how much RC stuff flows out of that one huge building. We also toured the halls of the main office. It's sort of mind blowing to know that pilots like QuiQue Somenzini, David Payne, Seth Arnold and many more are quietly designing away in the Horizon offices creating new RC products for all of us to enjoy. Horizon is chock full of great pilots doing what they love to do - designing aircraft. I had no idea my friend AC Glenn even worked at Horizon, and I looked up and there he was! After our big tour Kim Payne drove us out to
Eli Field where they were preparing for the
Illini Super Jets event. They had a giant hangar area, a large paved runway and everything a good RC field needs. Sitting at a picnic table were a passle of blue shirted Team Horizon members. My good friend and fellow bandmate Pete Goldsmith was there. David Payne was there prepping a jet. David and I used to do the RC show circuit together for Hobby Lobby back in the day. The keyboard player for the Nallman Brothers, Pete Bergstrom, strolled up to say hi. We got to hang out with everyone and talk. Usually at a show we are busy running around getting coverage and the Horizon team is running around getting planes into the air and talking to the people. Being able to just sit and talk was a rare treat. One of the pilots that drove in for the show even hooked me up with a grape soda...nice. I was lucky enough to get Pete Goldsmith to give me some DLG thermal instruction. My wife and I had a great time in Champaign. Thanks to everyone that made it so fun!
