Sharon and I did our annual migration to Argonia, KS for the Kloudbusters Airfest 21. It didn't start out as smoothly as our previous trips. We prepped rockets over the last weekend of August and did some preliminary packing and work on the toy hauler. Sharon was very busy in the office trying to get all her work out, so it was primarily my job to get everything ready for the trip.
Final packing was on Tuesday morning, with most of the rockets loaded onto the bunk beds in the back, and a full load of water to balance them out up front. I made the mistake of not checking the tongue weight before we departed around 11 am and drove through Phoenix traffic with an unstable trailer. Once we got through the gauntlet of Phx. traffic, we stopped and moved a bunch of stuff forward into the bedroom. That made the rest of the trip to Holbrook much better, except for the weight of the water slowed us down on the serious grades getting out of the "gravity well" of the valley.
We spent the night at a nice RV park in Holbrook and had a surprisingly good meal at a restaurant nearby. The plan was to get an early start on I-40 before the trucks got out, and that worked great. We left around 3 am and didn't pass a truck for over an hour driving East on the interstate. After filling up both tanks in Holbrook, our next gas stop was in Tucumcari, NM. "Grosser" our '98 GMC Sierra 4x4 can hold 76 gallons of gas, and needs all of it to feed the big block 454 cid. motor. We get about 6.5 mpg. normally when towing, but the climb out of Phx. is pretty hard, so gas mileage is worse. We decided on this trip that this will be Grosser's last trip to Argonia. Next year, a new GMC diesel will do the job.
Next stop was in Dalhart, TX. We revisited the Corral RV park and had dinner in the trailer. There are no good restaurants in Dalhart. I was restless that night, and woke up very early. We left there around 2 am. Got into Medicine Lodge for the good gas prices and had a problem maneuvering to the gas pumps, so it took a while to get the fuel tank in the trailer filled. Last leg to the rocket pasture went pretty quickly, and we arrived around 8 am. The Wildman gang gave us a hearty welcome, and we started setting up before it got too hot. The wind was blowing, so we needed extra hands to get our tents up and the awning out. Once we were mostly done, Sharon took her 98mm casing and M1790 skidmark over to the Wildman camp so Tim could supervise her L3 motor build. This was the first 98mm either of us had done, but Sharon got through it with no help and very little supervision. Tim was busy selling all the new kits he brought to Airfest.
Later that evening, the grill was full of steaks and corn on the cob, so we had the steak dinner we missed in Dalhart. Sharon wanted to get her Gizmo XL off early, so we retired to the trailer as soon as it got dark.
Bright and early Friday, we got our registration packets, and I did a round through the campsite. Met a bunch of friends we had made on our previous trips, and picked up a few things on my shopping list. When I got back, Mosquito guy (Jerome) showed up and brought me a Dr. Rockets 38/480 casing I bought from him here on TRF. Sharon finished the prep. on her rocket, and we loaded it onto a hand truck so we could roll it to the pad. The hand truck made it easy to load into the back of Grosser, and off we went to the away pad RSO. Coop checked it over and helped get it on a 60's pad, and Sharon turned on the altimeters and stuck an igniter in it. All checks complete, we went back to the away tent to watch the flight. We were so occupied with getting it ready, we didn't take any pictures at the pad. I'm hoping Kevin will post up some of the shots he took.
The flight was perfect, all the way up until the landing, which didn't occur. There was a slight delay when it hung up on the power lines, shutting down power to the launch and nearby community. The Skidmark pushed her Gizmo up to 7999 ft.
After a futile attempt by the lineman to flip this 56 lb. rocket over the wires with a hot stick, and since there was no power to the lines, Coop undid the quick link and let the fincan drop to the ground. The Mobius camera recorded the entire event, and when Sharon edit's the onboard video, we will post it up here. The fincan landed in soft dirt, so there was no damage to the rocket.
The next task was to remove the bottle of champagne from the nosecone and get Tim and Roy to sign off on her successful L3 flight. The champagne was still cold when we got it out, and was enjoyed by many later that day after launching was complete. I immediately started flying my darkstars, starting with the Jr. It flew great on a J420 redline, with a little wiggle under thrust, and I watched the entire event, apogee at 4560 ft. Wind was out of the South, so it cleared the power lines and landed just North of the road. I was hoping to get off at least three of my Darkstars, and the 3" was next. It flew on a K750 red lightning to about 400 ft. when the motor burned through the casing just below the upper plug. Melted the body tube and the mobius camera, destroying the fincan. Fortunately, the burning fincan separated and the payload, avbay and nosecone with Eggfinder landed under chute. Fincan started a small fire, but was quickly put out by the Kloudbusters crew. It was pretty hot, and getting late, so I decided to cease flight operations and help Sharon celebrate her L3 flight. We had two dinners, Jackie's pulled pork butt and more corn on the cob, and Green chili stew and coleslaw with Pat and 'Retta G.
That concludes the first day of launching, I will post up more soon.
Final packing was on Tuesday morning, with most of the rockets loaded onto the bunk beds in the back, and a full load of water to balance them out up front. I made the mistake of not checking the tongue weight before we departed around 11 am and drove through Phoenix traffic with an unstable trailer. Once we got through the gauntlet of Phx. traffic, we stopped and moved a bunch of stuff forward into the bedroom. That made the rest of the trip to Holbrook much better, except for the weight of the water slowed us down on the serious grades getting out of the "gravity well" of the valley.
We spent the night at a nice RV park in Holbrook and had a surprisingly good meal at a restaurant nearby. The plan was to get an early start on I-40 before the trucks got out, and that worked great. We left around 3 am and didn't pass a truck for over an hour driving East on the interstate. After filling up both tanks in Holbrook, our next gas stop was in Tucumcari, NM. "Grosser" our '98 GMC Sierra 4x4 can hold 76 gallons of gas, and needs all of it to feed the big block 454 cid. motor. We get about 6.5 mpg. normally when towing, but the climb out of Phx. is pretty hard, so gas mileage is worse. We decided on this trip that this will be Grosser's last trip to Argonia. Next year, a new GMC diesel will do the job.
Next stop was in Dalhart, TX. We revisited the Corral RV park and had dinner in the trailer. There are no good restaurants in Dalhart. I was restless that night, and woke up very early. We left there around 2 am. Got into Medicine Lodge for the good gas prices and had a problem maneuvering to the gas pumps, so it took a while to get the fuel tank in the trailer filled. Last leg to the rocket pasture went pretty quickly, and we arrived around 8 am. The Wildman gang gave us a hearty welcome, and we started setting up before it got too hot. The wind was blowing, so we needed extra hands to get our tents up and the awning out. Once we were mostly done, Sharon took her 98mm casing and M1790 skidmark over to the Wildman camp so Tim could supervise her L3 motor build. This was the first 98mm either of us had done, but Sharon got through it with no help and very little supervision. Tim was busy selling all the new kits he brought to Airfest.
Later that evening, the grill was full of steaks and corn on the cob, so we had the steak dinner we missed in Dalhart. Sharon wanted to get her Gizmo XL off early, so we retired to the trailer as soon as it got dark.
Bright and early Friday, we got our registration packets, and I did a round through the campsite. Met a bunch of friends we had made on our previous trips, and picked up a few things on my shopping list. When I got back, Mosquito guy (Jerome) showed up and brought me a Dr. Rockets 38/480 casing I bought from him here on TRF. Sharon finished the prep. on her rocket, and we loaded it onto a hand truck so we could roll it to the pad. The hand truck made it easy to load into the back of Grosser, and off we went to the away pad RSO. Coop checked it over and helped get it on a 60's pad, and Sharon turned on the altimeters and stuck an igniter in it. All checks complete, we went back to the away tent to watch the flight. We were so occupied with getting it ready, we didn't take any pictures at the pad. I'm hoping Kevin will post up some of the shots he took.
The flight was perfect, all the way up until the landing, which didn't occur. There was a slight delay when it hung up on the power lines, shutting down power to the launch and nearby community. The Skidmark pushed her Gizmo up to 7999 ft.
After a futile attempt by the lineman to flip this 56 lb. rocket over the wires with a hot stick, and since there was no power to the lines, Coop undid the quick link and let the fincan drop to the ground. The Mobius camera recorded the entire event, and when Sharon edit's the onboard video, we will post it up here. The fincan landed in soft dirt, so there was no damage to the rocket.
The next task was to remove the bottle of champagne from the nosecone and get Tim and Roy to sign off on her successful L3 flight. The champagne was still cold when we got it out, and was enjoyed by many later that day after launching was complete. I immediately started flying my darkstars, starting with the Jr. It flew great on a J420 redline, with a little wiggle under thrust, and I watched the entire event, apogee at 4560 ft. Wind was out of the South, so it cleared the power lines and landed just North of the road. I was hoping to get off at least three of my Darkstars, and the 3" was next. It flew on a K750 red lightning to about 400 ft. when the motor burned through the casing just below the upper plug. Melted the body tube and the mobius camera, destroying the fincan. Fortunately, the burning fincan separated and the payload, avbay and nosecone with Eggfinder landed under chute. Fincan started a small fire, but was quickly put out by the Kloudbusters crew. It was pretty hot, and getting late, so I decided to cease flight operations and help Sharon celebrate her L3 flight. We had two dinners, Jackie's pulled pork butt and more corn on the cob, and Green chili stew and coleslaw with Pat and 'Retta G.
That concludes the first day of launching, I will post up more soon.
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