Junk Yard Wars 2009

I got back from the Grand Canyon with 2 days to get ready for JYW. Derek came down to help with set-up, and my son cut a runway in the field for us. I had the luxury of having the days to clean the Quonset, sweep floors, set up tables and stuff because, oh yes, I don’t have to go to work this year!

Flyers started to arrive shortly after 9 to lay claim to a table, and start forming the teams. By shortly after 10, the start time, we had 14 people ready to do battle in 4 teams. We had a few firsts this year, Mark was not late, the rural participants outnumbered the city boys, we had rookies on 3 of the 4 teams, and for the first time, one plane just wouldn’t fly. Walt was not able to compete this year, but he did stop in to take some pictures, and liberally sprinkle advice around the room, thanks for coming Walt.

The builds started shortly after junk found its way back into the Quonset. It became obvious very quickly that there were for very different approaches to the common tasks. By the end of the build, we had four planes to test fly (three worked, but not the three the safe money was on). Here they are:

This entry from Murray and Team sports a V-tail and lots of power on a clean fuse, a great all round performer.

The team of all pro’s chose to go the glider route. This very light aircraft sported a beautiful polyhedral wing and a very small V-tail. There are no pictures of it flying because, well, it didn’t but the team negotiated the use of a previous Junk Yard Wars creation to compete with.

The Rulers team (the only team with a woman) created a plane nicknamed “the Tank” It was a meter long, and had wings sheeted in aluminum. The plane was designed to withstand the combat round.

Last, but not least, was the team lead by Derek. The creation from that back table was by far the most unusual plane ever to come out of JYW! Dave and his son built a great fuse while Derek and Terry built a very odd wing. The resulting plane was a great all round performer with the exception of the glide. It may have been the fastest plane out there, thought they were unable to win the first of two races before the event was called on weather.We had a huge windstorm blow in late in the competition and cause the cancellation of the second race, and the combat round. I think Chuck sensed that we would not get to combat, so using the borrowed twin prop plane, he chewed through Murrays plane during the race.

We retreated from the field and gathered in the house for lots of food (thanks Donna!!!) and the retelling of the days battles. We handed out the trophies, grand champion (the Tank) and the booby prize (the Pro’s). Derek just opened Mountain View RC World and brought a beautiful J-3 Cub down as a door prize (thanks Derek). Chuck was the winner, and I can’t think of anyone more deserving!

Thanks to all who attended, helped, cooked, carted food, and cheered us on. I had a great day, well worth all the work. Maybe we should set the date for next spring before I have to join the work force again?

Hey Buddy, Can You Spare All Your Dimes?

Sept. 20th

I was washing the car window at the gas station yesterday when I was approached by a large, scruffy man. He said to me, “I am trying to raise $10.00 by selling my knife.” I thought to myself, "This is either a very creative crook or an idiot! So let me get this straight, I am supposed to pull out my wad of cash while you pull out your knife. I can’t see were this could go wrong, can you?" It was at that point that I wished I had my big 3 foot machete strapped to my back. Oh yeah, that’s been done already. Sorry, Crocodile Dundee.

As we head out on the road today we have decided to take a bit of a different route back home. Murray is great to travel with--he seems to think that the journey is as much fun as the destination--so on that note, it would seem to make sense to go home a different way. We are going to go home via Las Vegas! For those of you that are spatially challenged, go to Google maps and see if this makes sense.

It turns out that neither of us have seen the Grand Canyon. Every time I have gone to Las Vegas, I have considered it but decided it was just too far to go. I think that it is ironic that the one time I go to Reno is the one time it is not too far to go. I love this year off thing! Soooo we are going home via the Grand Canyon.

Sept. 21st

Today started very early with a call at 4:50 a.m. from the bus company insuring we would be on the bus to the Grand Canyon. By 5:50, we were on a bus to go to a gathering center where we were to get breakfast. This turned out to be a coffee and small packaged Danish. The 'meal' was followed by a bus ride with a talentless comedic driver.

We stopped at the Hoover Dam briefly for pictures. I couldn’t believe how much water is missing from the lake! There is a theory that the government has dropped the lake level as a preventative measure. You know, in case the dam is blown in a terrorist attack. I tend to favour the lack of rain/overuse theory myself, but who knows.

We continued on to an Indian reservation on the west rim of the canyon. I remembered the first time my dad flew me out the the badlands in Alberta. We were flying in a little Grumman TRII across the flat farmland, and then a huge gash in the earth opened up. The badlands are a spectacular for sure, but coming over the rim of the Grand Canyon is all that times ten! The site has two very different lookout points, one with an airbridge that arcs out over the canyon .

The view from the bridge or the edge is straight down 4,000 ft. The bizarre part about the whole site is that there are no railings or ropes! You can walk right to the edge and dangle your legs over if you want. I didn’t, but I did lay down on my belly and look over. The claim is that no one has ever fallen over, but I don’t believe it. If it hasn’t happened yet, it will happen in the future.

The second viewing place is called Guano Point, a finger of land that extends out into the canyon. This site was more impressive than the first for me and included two tall rock mounds. If I climbed to the top, which I did, the view was an amazing panorama of the whole canyon. Murray stayed on the path and took pictures of me and other individuals he felt would soon accidentally plummet to their death. Disregarding the danger, the Grand canyon is an amazing experience!

On the return trip, we were able to get a few pictures of the new bridge being built at the Hoover Dam site. After the bridge opens, traffic will not be allowed to drive over the dam. The new bridge is very impressive, and I can’t wait to drive it. My first thought after seeing it is, "What a great site it will make for BASE jumping…"

the Devils Playground

Sept. 22nd

Started back home today. We had breakfast at the new Viva McDonalds down by Circus Circus. This is the biggest McDonalds I have ever seen, but trust me, the food is the same. We don’t know were we will end up tonight but are guessing it might be Helena, Mt. I forgot how long the valley north of Vegas runs and how abruptly it ends. We just finished climbing a long gentle slope towards the mountains, and it appeared that the road just ended in a sheer rock wall. It turns out that the road enters a very narrow winding canyon and climbs a few thousand feet up over the mountain range. Very spectacular, and I can’t believe I don’t remember it from the last time I drove this road 20 years ago.

I am writing this as we drive. Murray is driving right now. You might think it odd that I would have to mention who was driving while I type, but in our family, it is important. There are stories of my dad typing his sermons with his old Royal typewriter sitting on the seat next to him, steering with his knees. This was said to have happend on the back roads of Saskatchewan, in the 1960’s, but I like to clarify should any of my siblings read this and wonder if I picked up his bad habit. Dad may deny he ever did such a thing, but he is getting to the age where we can tell him that really he did it, he just can’t remember any more. The reason I started to tell you this is so you understand if the tenses in my paragraphs aren’t consistent. Sorry to my editor who will try to figure it all out. (The tenses I can figure out; it took me a while to figure how your dad was driving and typing in the "1060s," however! -cds-)

Murray is very conscientious about driving the speed limit (as we all should be), and he sets the cruise control precisely on the limit. I have noticed today, though, that he is setting the cruise on going-home speed--just a little bit faster but well within the 10% the police may give you. The speed limit down here is insane! Most of the freeways are 75 mph, but today we found two sections of the highway at 80 mph! At that speed I like to have the option to raise the landing gear at pull up.

It's Not Just Planes Flying in Reno this Week!

We had another great day at the races! The weather was cooler in the morning with a bit of cloud, but it heated up in the afternoon--as did the racing! The boys pulled out a few more stops today to finish in good place for tomorrow's money races. The supersport class was very fast, but the unlimited class turned the first 3 laps at more than 500 mph! These are the fastest prop planes in the world!

We made it down to the other end of the runway today to see the vintage planes on display and the jets. There were some beautiful old planes there, including one of my favorites: a DC-3. Other great planes included an Albatross Flying Boat and a great Waco biplane. Maybe it is nostalgia or an understanding of the work that goes into restoring a plane, but I sure appreciate seeing the old girls in flying shape. Just because a girl is getting older doesn't mean she's not fun to fly anymore, you know!

Its not just planes flying in Reno this week; I took a flight of sorts myself. We were looking for the Hilton to find a two-for-one all-you-can-eat buffet. As fate would have it, the GPS took us to the site where the Hilton used to be. When we stopped to check the coupon, I had the wrong hotel anyway; it was Harrah's, not Hilton. (Ooops!) But our adventure landed us in a parking lot that had this great rig that lifted you 180 feet into the air and dropped you like a ball on a string. I was the ball. I couldn't talk Murray into going with me, but he did take a great video. Check it out.

This rig gets you going from 0-60 mph in 2 seconds. The best, or worst, part is that when you get to the top of the arc, you pull the release pin. If you watch the video, you can see me fumble for it a bit. I did not want to pull the wrong pin! The lines are a bit slack when you pull the pin, so you drop straight down before starting the arcing path. It was quite a rush, and I am glad I tried it. Murray, you don't know what you are missing!

'Til I write again, I will keep thinking about going fast and turning left. (It seems to be a trend here in the States right now anyway)!

OH BABY!!!!

What can I say about today but, "Oh baby!" We arrived just after 8 a.m., and the first race of the day was already underway. As the day progressed, the planes went faster, got louder, and I loved them more. I loved the planes. I loved the people. I love pylon racing!

Okay, let's get to some detail. The Reno National Championship Air Races are about full-sized aircraft flying around a closed course as fast and as low as they can. There are various types of aircraft competing in different classes. (Follow the link or google Reno Air races if you want to know more.) The first race of the day was a class called Formula One. When I started flying r/c pylons racing--too many years ago to admit--this was the fastest class of r/c plane I ever flew. Our models were loud and just about as fast as the real Formula One aircraft, pushing 200 mph.

We decided to get a pit pass today and go backstage, so to speak, where the pre-race action is. It took us almost six hours to make our way down the pits to the far end as we stopped all along the way to look at aircraft, take pictures, and watch the next heat of racing. We didn’t need a program to tell who was up next, because we could watch as they would pull the airplane out of the pits onto the apron and start them up. I took a shine to the CzechMate, a Russian Yak. Later in the day, she would nose out to win the field favorite, only to be knocked back to 5th for cutting a pylon. Damn those pylon judges! I smell an American conspiracy here!

Between racing heats, we were entertained by stunt planes and military teams. The Blue Angels performed for us. They are no Snowbirds, but they are pretty good. We were also treated to some great stunt planes and a special flyby of the new U2, plus many more great flying displays. Okay, I will stop there as I am sure most of you are bored now.

Here is the thing: All day, my mind was on the brink of overload--just the place I like to be. I could feel myself in those planes; feel the pull, feel the snapping of my head, feel the hard G-forces through the corner, all the while planning how I was going to get past that plane in front of me. I spent much of the day in the cockpit with those pilots. I am tired and sore from holding on so tightly! When I wasn't pseudo-flying, I was planning my next plane, a CzechMate, for our e-racing, and a ducted fan version of the Vampire jet.

It was great to share today with Murray, and I haven’t forgotten about those of you back home, but today I was not thinking about anything that didn’t go fast and turn left. What an awesome day! Now, I wonder if there is any way I can learn to surf on the way home.

And here are thoughts from Murray... I also had a very enjoyable and informative day. I don’t have background knowledge about aircraft, so I experienced sensory and information overload all day, even though I was asking basic questions. But I did learn a lot. There were always interesting things going on, and just as one was finishing another was starting. This was also a day with many photo opportunities and a time to practice with the camera. Digital is great! We just took pictures all day and filled the memory cards, then culled in the evening to get the good ones. What a great day! The only downside? I underestimated the Nevada sun....I should probably use sunblock tomorrow.

Well I Have Definitely Never Been Here Before!

Another great day today! We left Pocatello this morning and headed west into no-mans land. The roads are great, and there is little traffic. There were a few trucks hauling sugar beets (or at least we think that is what they were hauling.) A gaggle of bikers passed us, all on BMWs. We concluded that it would be a very boring trip on a bike since there are few corners and lots of bugs.

The land is very brown anywhere they are not pouring water on it and very flat for a mountainous area. The road seems to follow flat lakebeds between the mountains, then pops up over a pass to drop into the next valley. We left the I-84 at Twin Falls to go south to the I-80. In doing so we crossed the Snake River canyon, a very impressive sight. Murray, unlike my dad during the trips of my childhood, stops at scenic pull-outs. I don't know why anyone would want to jump that canyon on a motor cycle!

The scenery got drier and rockier and flatter the higher we climbed. Murray had his afternoon snooze, and I listened to songs on my phone. I think my singing (that is what I call it; Murray might disagree) woke him but just in time to come down into a very large, flat lakebed. On more than one occasion on this trip Murray has made a comment along the lines of, "I wonder were everyone is? Oh, I bet they are at work!" or "Well, I bet they are just taking attendance about now, huh?"

In the afternoon, Murray asked where my little computer was. He thought it would be a good idea to turn the road math we did yesterday into a spreadsheet today. For about an hour we created a spread sheet to assist in the design of the electric commuter car. We confirmed the road math from the day before and then added more new features like automatically calculating the weight of the battery and the number of cells required. I just love it when he refines my rough concepts!

We had a great chicken dinner at the Circus Circus casino in Reno tonight and stopped at Walmart to get some fruit, cereal and milk, and drinks to fill our little fridge. The races start at 8:00 tomorrow morning, and I am very excited. The Rare Bear is back this year along with many Mustangs and a few Sea Fury's. I guess I should publish this and get some sleep now. Have fun at work tomorrow! I won't be thinking of you, but don't take it personally.

Newtons, Watts, and Windmill Blades

What a great day, not often you can say that about a 12 hour drive. Murray and I left early this morning for a week at the Reno Air Races, one of two remaining things on my bucket list. For reasons I don't understand, Murray didn't want to take my firefly? I can't understand it, I drove this very highway with my firefly about 19 years ago, and she has put on 522,000 trouble free kms since then. I conceded to his better judgement, he is older, so we took his car.

The first thing I noticed is how much I had missed talking with him. He noticed there was no need to find a radio station... The first cool thing we saw was a train load of windmill blades, these are huge blades! We also saw many of the windmills in the Lethbridge area, and across the boarder near Great Falls.

By Ulm, Mt, we had the Junk Yard Wars plane designed. Murray said no pushers this year, we built a plane with a prop in the front, and one in the back. On launch on the second flight I cut Murray's fingernail clean through in 3 places when he didn't move his hand fast enough. This year, no pushers! Look out competition, we are not holding back this year!

Next came the Electric commuter car I am planning. This task required a snooze in the middle for Murray, but 350 mile and some great road math later, and I think we have some solid numbers to work with. If you see someone on a motor cycle being pulled behind a truck buy a fish scale, don't worry, it's probable just us.

12 hours of planning, pondering and pontificating, what a great day!

So You Don't Want My Money?

It seems that this week has been about changing our technology. I have spent many hours on the phone with the land line telephone company, the cell phone company, and the internet provider. We finally cut the land line, something I have wanted to do for many years. We spent many hours rearranging cell phone plans, adding texting, and trying to get the online interface to work. But the oddest experience was with our internet provider.

I will not mention the internet provider's name in case it rings a bell, but I will say that the problem is around billing. This is not the average problem with billing; the problem is that they seem incapable of sending us a bill! I am not sure how many people call their company asking to get a bill, but I have had to do this four times since we got our service with them less than a year ago.

Don't get me wrong, the internet service is far better than what we had before. (Our options are very limited in the country.) The only problem is that they have NEVER sent us a bill. I wish that meant that we did not owe them anything, but the system seems to keep track of that part just fine. The problem is with a safety feature incorporated in their system: The store selling the service is not allowed to sell an antenna to an unserviced area. Fine. But I knew the service worked well in our area because I tried a loaner antenna before we bought ours. It is just that the system does not seem to be able to deal with rural addresses.

The solution was to put the store address on the contract and change the billing address later. I took the antenna home, and it worked great! I phoned in and set up our e-billing (great, no paper!) and all was right with the world, I thought. But the bill never came. Two months into the contract, I made the first call. "Oh yes," there seemed to be a problem with the address, but now it was all fixed up. NOT!

Today, for the fourth time, I called and begged them to send me a bill. At this point I have tried e-bills, I've tried e-mails and I've tried paper. Can you imagine a provider of internet services having to resort to paper to communicate something as simple as how much I owe them! It must be very embarrassing to admit to your customer that for 10 months your high tech company hasn't managed to do something as simple as billing a client!

There are two words in "customer service," but it the word "customer" often gets lost in the process. The internet service is great, but they forget the customer who is requesting that service. And this provider is not alone; every single corporation I have dealt with this last week has had the same issue. When a customer reports a concern, nothing is ever done about it. I have never phoned my cell phone provider when they have not been "experiencing higher than normal call volumes"; when obvious problems with a website are pointed out, the person handling my phone call is not equipped to address it. Even simple things like giving their customer service phone number as an alpha sequence instead of a numeric one are simple mistakes to fix. My cell phone (a "smart" phone--yeah, right!) does not have alpha values on the number keys so I can't dial the alpha values without looking at a house phone. Are all companies so big that they employ no one who is empowered to have anything fixed without a committee being formed? What happened to common sense?

I am now at the point of being irritated enough with one of these companies to say, "put me through to someone that is authorized to solve my problem, or put me through to your cancellation department." When I tried this with my home phone provider, they put me through to the "rewards and customer loyalty department." I no longer have a home phone! Call me on my cell. But at this rate you may only be able to get a hold of me with smoke signal by the end of the month--but check with your county first, as they may have a burning ban imposed!

why?

Age does not always bring wisdom; sometimes it just brings complacency. I am currently looking after my two grandsons on their home turf--a half-day into 3 days on my own with them. Those who know me can tell how desperate my daughter must be for a break! It is not my daughters wisdom that I am questioning in this blog, however, but that of most adults in general.



When the boys are out at the farm, there is a constant stream of questions. My aunt said, during a recent visit, that when I came out to the farm as a young boy, I was the same way. Today I am in their territory, and the behavior is the same. Questions about everything but mostly "why?" Why is there no 90 on the minute side of the clock? How do they know what colour dinosaurs were? What is the name of my feet? And each answer I give is followed by the same followup question: "why?" I know that many adults find this very tiring (Talk to me in a day or two; I probably will, too!), but so far the constant questioning has only served to stimulate me into asking my own question: "why is he asking why?" The simple answer is, "he wants to know." The reason most answers are followed with a "why" is...well, because I don’t give very good answers!

At what age does this questioning stop? Why does it stop (ok, slow down)? Our tolerance for adults with this behavior tends to be very low. I know because I provide a learning environment for adults for a living. Every year, I run across students who simply will not ask a question any more. They have been made to feel stupid or embarrassed, or they have simply lost the desire to learn anything they don’t have to learn. We have all run into those adults who won’t stop asking questions, too, but it has been my experience that more often than not they ask questions to hear their own voice or get attention--not so much the quest for knowledge.



So why does my 4-year-old grandson have it right? When we quit asking why, we quit seeking the truth, quit seeking new knowledge, and quit questioning that which is accepted, but may be settling for something that is wrong. Ultimately, this can lead to the conditions necessary for a genocide. It is the actions of a child that remind me the importance of asking the question and continuing to ask until the answer we get truly makes sense. My grandson does not have the ego that makes him afraid to ask again when the answer I give does not make sense. He keeps asking. In the classroom, I have to remember that just because I gave an answer does not mean it was a good answer or that it made sense to the asker. My job is to keep coming up with different answers to the same question until the asker truly understands. If all my students behaved like my grandson, we would not cover as much material, but everyone would get an A because they would truly understand.


We all need to act more like the child we once were; we cannot fall into the trap of complacency. Not asking "why" leads to being manipulated by the press, our leaders or even our kids. Not wanting to ask "why" is a symptom of our loss of interest in the workings of the world around us. Being scared to ask "why" is a symptom of our insecurity. As school starts this week, remember to be more childlike, remember the thrill of discovery, remember that its okay not to know but it is not okay not to want to know. This advice is not just for students. I believe this holds true for all. Thanks to my grandson for continuing to ask "why." We all need to be more like that.