Fluffy goes flying

Yes I Know the trip is over - the US bit, but I know there is a little girl in St Annes who is wondering where her fluffy toy is...

This is a picture of Allan getting his glider ready. Do you think Allan knows what's in the cockpit with him today? Katie, did you know about those goggles...

End of blog

We will be updating teamdingo.blogspot.com from now on - but not as often until we get a little closer time wise to the world championship date in Argentina. (they are in Jan 2013 at Adolpho Gonzales Chavez).

Here's a pic of us at Niagara Falls taken a while ago...

Radical steps

Need I say more...

Visiting in UK

Kirby Lonsdale.

(flying trip in US now over, returning soon to Aus, then New Zealand then World champs in Argentina in dec/jan. )

UV Degradation

:-/

At Banning

Municipal a/p; Allan didn't make it back! Got here late last night so we are de-rigging this morning.

Not very busy airfield considering it's in spitting distance of LA?

Picture- getting ready to de- rig.

Overlooking Pacific

At Cabrillo National Monument, Point Loma, San Diego.

Warner Springs Airport

Our current address, nr San Diego.

Sunset two days ago. Might get some time to process some pics .

Joshua tree Nat Pk

Got to walk up to a viewpoint overlooking San Andreas fault and Palnm Springs- will probably see an arial there...

If I do you can see below sunset at Mara Oasis and an example of a Joshua tree, which is actually a yukka type grass . Got quite a few interesting pics of these 'trees' now but on the Fuji.

Iphone images of Vegas

The 'love' show was amazing. The sound quality of the Beatles music was fantastic: my eyes leaked most of the show...

Trip to the Grand Canyon

We went on the Grand Canyon railway to the canyon, spent about 3.5 hrs there.

Walked along the rim being chased by a storm, me having left my waterproof in the RV!

Took some great pics (here are the iphone ones) and got robbed on the train by train robbers on the way back!

We were also entertained by some musicians on the train. A full day!

The plain photo is minutes from the canyon edge just to show the contrast...

Just saw this

All happening at Williams Arizona!

La Posada

A hotel in Winslow ARizona on the old route 66 and originally a railroad hotel.

Eagles fans may recall a line about standing on a corner, if not just take it easy...

As you can see it is an art museum as well. The Elk painting is by Tina Mion, one of the owners - and I bought a postcard so that's where I took the photo- not in the museum! Dead animals from shoots are usually stuck on the wall, but here it's given nice clean white sheets and a bed.

Outside in the garden a fish...

Petrified

Forest that is! (Arizona)

Some iphone pics...

The mural is from inside the petrified forest inn.

The sunset was a couple of days ago at the 'city of rocks' which are behind me in the picture, but those iphone shots didn't work.

Grommit gets the message...

Arriving at City of Rocks State park; we camped here overnight two nights ago.

Unusual lunch

At the adobe cafe- espresso and blues music live! With a shared spinach & feta omelette...

Mishap on the Road

Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Tyre is flat

On way to El Paso a car flagged us down. Turns out the offside trailer tyre had exploded - the guy saw it!

Then he couldn't start his car and we were going to use the RV coach battery (his was very poor and showed evidence of boiling over and corrosion, how he started it at all is a wonder?). Then a sheriff pulled up and he had jump leads!

To change the trailer tyre we used the RV blocks as the jack couldn't get under axle. In el paso now waiting at a tire shop (not a misspelling)

A : See Details(Google Map)

Hummingbirds & Quintus

We are camped in Guadalupe National Park - a few hundred yards of roads and 80 miles of trails - so not many visitors.

On a walk up to 'Devil's Hall' which followed a 'draw' or creek a long way, we saw a few hummingbirds. Very difficult to capture with a camera as they won't keep still. Here is a shot which was grainy due to using 30x optical zoom without a tripod; was leaning on a stick, but still... As it was grainy I stylised it into a watercolour effect using photoshop.

The same bird is pictured in the tree.

The other bird is a Quintus dumping water over Marfa hanger; they have 10 water tanks, no 11 including fin I guess! The pilot is either Andi (one of the designers) or Tilo, the manager of Schemp Hirth.

At Guadalupe NP

Here is a view painted by a guy called Clark Cox.

http://freepages.college-alumni.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~kysor/clarkcox.html

Two more days at Marfa

Hi all, well we are about to leave Marfa after 3 great days flying. Three of the Germans have been here too - Andy, Tilo and Charlie, and are planning to stay for up to 2 weeks. Andy is the chief designer of the Quintus and Tilo is the current manager of Schempp Hirth.

Here's a shot of Tilo filling the Quintus - what a beautiful aircraft.

Yesterday I took a run down to Big Bend National Park. The countryside is daunting but the run is quite safe if you just hop from airfield to airfield. I had a B1 bomber pass straight underneath me - also daunting - but cleared me by 2000ft. It was too quick for me to get a photo.

On the way back there was a cloud street that ran 160km without needing to turn - great fun. Here is a shot of the old military airfield that was the base for the Sunship Game. You can see trees growing from the runways...

Evening view

From the hanger, Marfa Texas.

Carlsbad Caverns & Natural Arches NP

A few photos... The glacier is in Great Basin NP, the photo below it was taken in Arches NP at MOAB.