I finished packing my truck and trailer about 10 am on Thursday and discovered that I had lost the little adapter for the wiring on the trailer. So I drove into Phoenix (about 10 miles) to Camping world without brake lights to replace it. That is how my adventure began. While I was there I picked up a few extra big tent stakes. Talk about a premonition....
Headed West on I-10 with average traffic until I got to Quartsite and stopped for gas. AZ gas is about $3.40, but when you cross over into CA. it jumps to over $4.00. My truck holds 76 gallons, so I can top off in AZ and make it back across the border without buying gas in CA. Probably a good thing since it only gets 10 mpg.
Back on the I-10 to Palm Springs and I'm getting nervous. My navigator had to stay home and make money, so I'm thinking I missed the 62 highway North to Yucca valley. Figured out it was 3 miles ahead. Back on the road and Northbound up the hill the truck doesn't notice the trailer, and I'm ignoring the 55 mph speed limit for auto's towing just like most folks do in CA. Secondary roads to Lucerne Valley then North to the dry lake. I'm talking to Sharon and she is tracking me on her Iphone but I still manage to drive by the sign for ROC. Pretty good group of campers out on the playa, but I'm looking for Jack's yellow semi, and he's not there yet. So I ask around and find where he parks and find a group just West. I recognize Jeff G. from his pic's on the forum and park just past his group. I have a couple of buddies that want to camp with me, so I leave room. It was Blazingly Hot at 3 pm when I started to set up my camp, and the wind was picking up, so I did a basic setup. Wind was whipping everything around, but I had the West side tarp tied to the trailer, hoping it would hold. Once I had that done, I took my chair and water over and introduced myself to Jeff and a bunch of ROC board members. I'm not good with names, so I'm not gonna try to recall them. They had a thermometer that was reading about 108* and the wind made it into a blast furnace.
When I talked to Sharon later, she asked me if I was regretting coming and I said yes, but if I could launch a few rockets Friday, that would change. Eventually it cooled down slightly, but the wind was still blowing when I went to bed at 10:30. I have a queen size mattress elevated over the wheel wells in the back of "Grosser" my 3/4 ton GMC Sierra 4x4. People who camp and wheel with me regularly call it "Comfort's Condo". Unfortunately, it doesn't have A/C. Just a small 12v fan, which I DIDN'T need.
After a fitful night of sleep, I got up early and set up the kitchen sink and stove so I could make coffee. Two breakfast burrito's later, I'm ready to start flying rockets. Jack had shown up late the night before, and I went over to help him set up, which is my regular routine when he attends the SSS launches in AZ. Was he ever surprised to see me! This was my first out of state launch, and I was glad to see a familiar face. But he was swamped with customers and hadn't had a chance to get his trailer unpacked, so I jumped in and yelled "Make a hole!" in my Marine COMMAND VOICE. Everybody moved out of my way so I could get all the boxes out, and some of them helped too. Once we got everything set up and the crowd thinned out, I went and got my list. First chance I had to buy the bigger motors since I got my L-2, so Jack was really smiling by the time I had filled my list. Had to get the CSI tracking receiver too, planned a big 10k flight with the bunny for this launch. Jack only supports two of our SSS launches a year, so I needed my own when he wasn't there.
I pretty much blew my entire budget with that first pass through the trailer, then went off to spend more money registering. Another $70 for three days registration and a long sleeve t-shirt and I'm ready to prep my first rocket. Skippy ( Gerald Meux Jr.) showed up then, and I helped him set up camp, attaching my west side tarp to his pop up tent. We were distracted by the fliers meeting, which seemed to go on and on, with lots of warnings to drink water and don't go out alone. I had filled my camelback up with ice and water and took a drink every time someone announced it on the PA or I remembered. Drank over two gallons that first day and only pee'd twice. Now that the fliers meeting is over it's time to fly rockets, NOT. Kenny and Dave show up and I'm helping them set up, or at least directing them to the space I had saved between me and Jeff's camp. Can I launch a rocket now? YES!
First up is Reduke Nukem on an H123. Good flight and short recovery, the wind was still pretty calm. Eyeball guess put it about 3k ft. This rocket is my workhorse, I fly it a lot because it's so easy to prep. No altimeter, so I keep the flights below 4k ft. Motor deploy with the delay set to whatever Thrustcurve suggests.
Next up was Duke Nukem, a dual deploy version of Reduke, and my first HPR rocket that I got my L-1 with. I had wanted to fly the AT I59 for a long time, and it had finally arrived. Stable launch but not very fast, so I was able to track it with binoculars for quite a while. Suddenly there was an orange fireball and smoking parts flying away, and I lost sight of it. Never saw it again and the event occurred at about 5k ft. so I had no idea where to start looking for parts. It was already getting Blazingly Hot, so I decided to wait until it cooled down and look for it later.
Called Sharon and gave her the bad news, lost a stratologger and a 38/480 Dr. Rockets casing along with my L-1 rocket.
:sad:
I decided to fly something smaller for the next flight, an Estes Executioner with a 29mm MMT. Flies great on a G64 drilled down to 6 sec. Got about 1500 ft. and the wind took it for a ride. Surprising how easy it is to see stuff on the lake bed. As I was walking West toward my rocket, I noticed someone I had met earlier, Bob Brown camped at that end. Bob borrowed my CTI 4 grain casing to fly one of the loads I had bought earlier, a K160 long burn. I stopped to talk to him and met two of his sons. Stanley offered to retrieve my rocket, and jumped on his quad. Saved me a walk, and since it was already Blazingly Hot, I appreciated it. I thought 108* was bad yesterday, but it got hotter on Friday. Talking to Bob, he offered to help me look for Duke when I cooled down and that put him on my buddy list for sure. With the wind up and the temps..... well you know..... I went back and secured the camp for the day. Got in my truck and started it up to cool down for a while. Figured out that a 38mm CTI 6xl casing fits nicely between the seat and the gas pedal, and if you adjust it just right you can get the motor to run at 1000 rpm, nice and cool for it and me at the same time.
Around 6:30 pm I put fresh ice in my camelback and turned on my Iphone gps and started out to find what was left of Duke. Stopped at Bob's trailer to tell him which way I was headed, and started walking. Bob said he would be out shortly with the quad. Walked about a mile in a generally NW direction, stopping occasionally to scope the area with my binoculars. Found some small rocket parts, none of which came from my rocket. Bob drove by on the quad, never saw me. I kept walking and the next time I stopped, I noticed he had too. Looking through the binoc's, I saw him pick up a green and orange rocket and my heart leaped! He found it! Shortly my cell phone rang and it was Bob describing Duke, complete with everything intact. Stratologger beeping out 4900 ft. When I told him to bring it back to me, he asked where I was. Somewhat confused that he had driven right by me, we met on the road a short time later. Duke had been drug quite a ways, sanded two fins down and destroyed the paint, but it was sure good to see him again. Had to call Sharon to give her the good news. After a thorough inspection, I discovered that the motor nozzle had disintegrated, creating the fireball and shrapnel I had seen earlier. Downloading the data from the altimeter showed a blip in the velocity line right about where burn out should have occurred. I walked back to camp and checked my GPS, I had walked over two miles and only gotten half way to where Duke landed. Maybe I will bring my Jeep with me next time I visit ROC.
Stopped in and cooled down at Bob's trailer, he had promised me a beer in return for the use of my 4 grain casing. He was planning on flying the K160 Saturday am, and I would use the same load on Sunday am. We talked rockets for an hour or two while I got comfortable on the couch with Kojak, their 80 lb. pit bull...... It was definitely his couch, but he was pretty laid back about sharing it as long as I scratched his ears.
It took me quite a while to get to sleep that night, temps stayed over 100* til pretty late.
I'm gonna take a break now and continue this blog later. Stay tuned. Lots more on this adventure to come.
Headed West on I-10 with average traffic until I got to Quartsite and stopped for gas. AZ gas is about $3.40, but when you cross over into CA. it jumps to over $4.00. My truck holds 76 gallons, so I can top off in AZ and make it back across the border without buying gas in CA. Probably a good thing since it only gets 10 mpg.
Back on the I-10 to Palm Springs and I'm getting nervous. My navigator had to stay home and make money, so I'm thinking I missed the 62 highway North to Yucca valley. Figured out it was 3 miles ahead. Back on the road and Northbound up the hill the truck doesn't notice the trailer, and I'm ignoring the 55 mph speed limit for auto's towing just like most folks do in CA. Secondary roads to Lucerne Valley then North to the dry lake. I'm talking to Sharon and she is tracking me on her Iphone but I still manage to drive by the sign for ROC. Pretty good group of campers out on the playa, but I'm looking for Jack's yellow semi, and he's not there yet. So I ask around and find where he parks and find a group just West. I recognize Jeff G. from his pic's on the forum and park just past his group. I have a couple of buddies that want to camp with me, so I leave room. It was Blazingly Hot at 3 pm when I started to set up my camp, and the wind was picking up, so I did a basic setup. Wind was whipping everything around, but I had the West side tarp tied to the trailer, hoping it would hold. Once I had that done, I took my chair and water over and introduced myself to Jeff and a bunch of ROC board members. I'm not good with names, so I'm not gonna try to recall them. They had a thermometer that was reading about 108* and the wind made it into a blast furnace.
When I talked to Sharon later, she asked me if I was regretting coming and I said yes, but if I could launch a few rockets Friday, that would change. Eventually it cooled down slightly, but the wind was still blowing when I went to bed at 10:30. I have a queen size mattress elevated over the wheel wells in the back of "Grosser" my 3/4 ton GMC Sierra 4x4. People who camp and wheel with me regularly call it "Comfort's Condo". Unfortunately, it doesn't have A/C. Just a small 12v fan, which I DIDN'T need.
After a fitful night of sleep, I got up early and set up the kitchen sink and stove so I could make coffee. Two breakfast burrito's later, I'm ready to start flying rockets. Jack had shown up late the night before, and I went over to help him set up, which is my regular routine when he attends the SSS launches in AZ. Was he ever surprised to see me! This was my first out of state launch, and I was glad to see a familiar face. But he was swamped with customers and hadn't had a chance to get his trailer unpacked, so I jumped in and yelled "Make a hole!" in my Marine COMMAND VOICE. Everybody moved out of my way so I could get all the boxes out, and some of them helped too. Once we got everything set up and the crowd thinned out, I went and got my list. First chance I had to buy the bigger motors since I got my L-2, so Jack was really smiling by the time I had filled my list. Had to get the CSI tracking receiver too, planned a big 10k flight with the bunny for this launch. Jack only supports two of our SSS launches a year, so I needed my own when he wasn't there.
I pretty much blew my entire budget with that first pass through the trailer, then went off to spend more money registering. Another $70 for three days registration and a long sleeve t-shirt and I'm ready to prep my first rocket. Skippy ( Gerald Meux Jr.) showed up then, and I helped him set up camp, attaching my west side tarp to his pop up tent. We were distracted by the fliers meeting, which seemed to go on and on, with lots of warnings to drink water and don't go out alone. I had filled my camelback up with ice and water and took a drink every time someone announced it on the PA or I remembered. Drank over two gallons that first day and only pee'd twice. Now that the fliers meeting is over it's time to fly rockets, NOT. Kenny and Dave show up and I'm helping them set up, or at least directing them to the space I had saved between me and Jeff's camp. Can I launch a rocket now? YES!
First up is Reduke Nukem on an H123. Good flight and short recovery, the wind was still pretty calm. Eyeball guess put it about 3k ft. This rocket is my workhorse, I fly it a lot because it's so easy to prep. No altimeter, so I keep the flights below 4k ft. Motor deploy with the delay set to whatever Thrustcurve suggests.
Next up was Duke Nukem, a dual deploy version of Reduke, and my first HPR rocket that I got my L-1 with. I had wanted to fly the AT I59 for a long time, and it had finally arrived. Stable launch but not very fast, so I was able to track it with binoculars for quite a while. Suddenly there was an orange fireball and smoking parts flying away, and I lost sight of it. Never saw it again and the event occurred at about 5k ft. so I had no idea where to start looking for parts. It was already getting Blazingly Hot, so I decided to wait until it cooled down and look for it later.
Called Sharon and gave her the bad news, lost a stratologger and a 38/480 Dr. Rockets casing along with my L-1 rocket.
:sad:
I decided to fly something smaller for the next flight, an Estes Executioner with a 29mm MMT. Flies great on a G64 drilled down to 6 sec. Got about 1500 ft. and the wind took it for a ride. Surprising how easy it is to see stuff on the lake bed. As I was walking West toward my rocket, I noticed someone I had met earlier, Bob Brown camped at that end. Bob borrowed my CTI 4 grain casing to fly one of the loads I had bought earlier, a K160 long burn. I stopped to talk to him and met two of his sons. Stanley offered to retrieve my rocket, and jumped on his quad. Saved me a walk, and since it was already Blazingly Hot, I appreciated it. I thought 108* was bad yesterday, but it got hotter on Friday. Talking to Bob, he offered to help me look for Duke when I cooled down and that put him on my buddy list for sure. With the wind up and the temps..... well you know..... I went back and secured the camp for the day. Got in my truck and started it up to cool down for a while. Figured out that a 38mm CTI 6xl casing fits nicely between the seat and the gas pedal, and if you adjust it just right you can get the motor to run at 1000 rpm, nice and cool for it and me at the same time.
Around 6:30 pm I put fresh ice in my camelback and turned on my Iphone gps and started out to find what was left of Duke. Stopped at Bob's trailer to tell him which way I was headed, and started walking. Bob said he would be out shortly with the quad. Walked about a mile in a generally NW direction, stopping occasionally to scope the area with my binoculars. Found some small rocket parts, none of which came from my rocket. Bob drove by on the quad, never saw me. I kept walking and the next time I stopped, I noticed he had too. Looking through the binoc's, I saw him pick up a green and orange rocket and my heart leaped! He found it! Shortly my cell phone rang and it was Bob describing Duke, complete with everything intact. Stratologger beeping out 4900 ft. When I told him to bring it back to me, he asked where I was. Somewhat confused that he had driven right by me, we met on the road a short time later. Duke had been drug quite a ways, sanded two fins down and destroyed the paint, but it was sure good to see him again. Had to call Sharon to give her the good news. After a thorough inspection, I discovered that the motor nozzle had disintegrated, creating the fireball and shrapnel I had seen earlier. Downloading the data from the altimeter showed a blip in the velocity line right about where burn out should have occurred. I walked back to camp and checked my GPS, I had walked over two miles and only gotten half way to where Duke landed. Maybe I will bring my Jeep with me next time I visit ROC.
Stopped in and cooled down at Bob's trailer, he had promised me a beer in return for the use of my 4 grain casing. He was planning on flying the K160 Saturday am, and I would use the same load on Sunday am. We talked rockets for an hour or two while I got comfortable on the couch with Kojak, their 80 lb. pit bull...... It was definitely his couch, but he was pretty laid back about sharing it as long as I scratched his ears.
It took me quite a while to get to sleep that night, temps stayed over 100* til pretty late.
I'm gonna take a break now and continue this blog later. Stay tuned. Lots more on this adventure to come.
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