- Joined
- Jun 6, 2011
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So-finally made it back from Springfest! I had a blast! Saw some old friends and made a few new ones. I'd be hard pressed to say whether I liked Eldorado dry lake Or Jean best, but Eldo was easier to get to(just drive off the hiway!). So lessons learned:
1) Pay attention to those little details. Wednesday I had a blowout on what looked to be a perfectly good tire. Mind you these had come off my wife's Dodge she thrashed when a belt let go and we decided it wasn't worth the new pumps/radiator, etc. but the tires were good! (ahem-we'd just lost another one the week before off the same car). The Viking Princess declares 'we need new tires"! So-four new tires on Thursday-cuts into rocket prep time-oh well...
2) Get new tires and go to Costco to load up on supplies. Engine light comes on-WTF??? Again, the Viking Princess declares "I'm not driving to Vegas with an engine light on". Fine-go get it checked out. No. 6 cyclinder not happy at idle-fouled injector or bad plug? Works fine at RPM-erase the message. No light=happy Viking Princess.
3) Spend Thurs nite getting three new rockets built. Can't find anything I need including a custom made bulkhead for a nose cone sled-crap! Needed a 54p aeropack mount-waddid I have? 2 paper ones. Dang- Okay-friction fit it is. Last minute surprise- I need a 4 grain 38 CTI case- I have a ton of 3 and 6's ( I like clusters) but no 4-crap! Buy one at the launch. (Did they have any-no.)
4) Panic sets in-it's late and things are drying. Get parachute dims and dig thru bags of chutes-screw it-throw them in the van. Same with reloads. I look like a crazed vendor with no organizational skills. Hastily print out thrustcurve pages for 2 rockets-I'll chose when I get there.
5) Get on the road really late and then run into hellacious traffic-finally get clear and Mr. Hotrod overheats the van on the long grade up. Have to pull over and cool the beast off. Viking Princess not happy.
6) What happens on the lake stays on the lake=especially in Vegas.
Moral? Start earlier with the prep. Don't try and make new rockets the night before.
Lessons learned? Rocketeers are the best people you will ever meet. I'm happy they even let me hang around. It was a great time! Cameras work best when used (even if you put new batteries and a huge new card in it). They hide under the seat. Sunscreen works best out of the bottle (and the bag from the drug store). Bring a couple of small rockets for new rocketeers (That's you, Al-see you in October!) Bring a full roll of duct tape-you never know, but that last 20 feet on the roll is a dead giveaway you are a cheapskate. Above all-NEVER ask what could go wrong next. The Rockets Gods don't like that question!
Overall, I really did enjoyed the day and hope to see you on the playa real soon. Without a sunburn.....
1) Pay attention to those little details. Wednesday I had a blowout on what looked to be a perfectly good tire. Mind you these had come off my wife's Dodge she thrashed when a belt let go and we decided it wasn't worth the new pumps/radiator, etc. but the tires were good! (ahem-we'd just lost another one the week before off the same car). The Viking Princess declares 'we need new tires"! So-four new tires on Thursday-cuts into rocket prep time-oh well...
2) Get new tires and go to Costco to load up on supplies. Engine light comes on-WTF??? Again, the Viking Princess declares "I'm not driving to Vegas with an engine light on". Fine-go get it checked out. No. 6 cyclinder not happy at idle-fouled injector or bad plug? Works fine at RPM-erase the message. No light=happy Viking Princess.
3) Spend Thurs nite getting three new rockets built. Can't find anything I need including a custom made bulkhead for a nose cone sled-crap! Needed a 54p aeropack mount-waddid I have? 2 paper ones. Dang- Okay-friction fit it is. Last minute surprise- I need a 4 grain 38 CTI case- I have a ton of 3 and 6's ( I like clusters) but no 4-crap! Buy one at the launch. (Did they have any-no.)
4) Panic sets in-it's late and things are drying. Get parachute dims and dig thru bags of chutes-screw it-throw them in the van. Same with reloads. I look like a crazed vendor with no organizational skills. Hastily print out thrustcurve pages for 2 rockets-I'll chose when I get there.
5) Get on the road really late and then run into hellacious traffic-finally get clear and Mr. Hotrod overheats the van on the long grade up. Have to pull over and cool the beast off. Viking Princess not happy.
6) What happens on the lake stays on the lake=especially in Vegas.
Moral? Start earlier with the prep. Don't try and make new rockets the night before.
Lessons learned? Rocketeers are the best people you will ever meet. I'm happy they even let me hang around. It was a great time! Cameras work best when used (even if you put new batteries and a huge new card in it). They hide under the seat. Sunscreen works best out of the bottle (and the bag from the drug store). Bring a couple of small rockets for new rocketeers (That's you, Al-see you in October!) Bring a full roll of duct tape-you never know, but that last 20 feet on the roll is a dead giveaway you are a cheapskate. Above all-NEVER ask what could go wrong next. The Rockets Gods don't like that question!
Overall, I really did enjoyed the day and hope to see you on the playa real soon. Without a sunburn.....