Rainy day in Arizona

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Wayco

Desert Rat Rocketeer
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Mar 23, 2011
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Location
Goodyear, AZ
A restless night last night got Sharon and I up around 2 am. This is not that unusual for us, we normally go to bed around 8 pm and get up between 3 and 4 am. Sharon runs a business, and is most productive early in the morning before the phone starts ringing.
This morning we discussed plans regarding a couple of our trailers, an older 20 ft. flat bed that we hauled our Jeep around on, and a newer cargo trailer we bought last year, to use for moving stuff between our home here in Goodyear and our summer home in Red River, NM. We also used it for a couple of launches that we went to last year that we didn't want to take our 27 ft., 10,000 lb. toy hauler to.

During our conversation, we noticed the pitter patter of raindrops on our outside cover over the work area. Weather underground had predicted light rain this morning, about .1 inches around 5 am. It was early.

At this point I should warn you that this will probably turn into a "@teepot" like blog.
I don't usually talk about my physical problems because they aren't serious, and don't limit my active lifestyle. Over the last fifty of my seventy three years of life, I have raced motor-cross bikes in Japan, made over 2000 skydives, done technical rock climbing, scuba dived, rock crawled my Jeep and all of these things (and more) took a toll on my old bones. When it rains, that can affect what I choose to do.

This morning, we discussed our plans to add a layer of 3/16" aluminum plate to this flatbed trailer:
trailer.jpg
We are planning to move it up to our property in Southern Colorado, and are concerned the planks will continue to deteriorate when exposed to rain and snow up North. I priced out the diamond plate at around $1500, so we tabled that discussion pending the development of the property we own in Colorado.

The other project is a continuation of the development of our new cargo trailer we bought last year. I built some racks for holding tables and rockets, some of which I documented in this thread:
https://www.rocketryforum.com/threads/life-times-with-hardline.172319/

The rack for the tables and the work bench worked out well, but these racks didn't:
racking rockets.jpg

The metal arms were not stable enough to keep the rockets from shifting, and after a trip down I-40 from Goodyear to Red River several of the rockets separated at the avbay and nosecone and were damaged.
We move a lot of stuff between our households, and I need a better way to move rockets.
packed back.jpgpacked rack.jpg

So I have plans to replace the metal arms and slotted rails with 2x4's and 2x6's that will be much more sturdy than the previous design.
But my body is telling me "NOT TODAY". So I think I might dig out that kit I bought a while back and do some research on "So Long".

Stay tuned, after almost 3/4" of rain this morning, the sun is starting to peek out....
 
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I’m in Glendale AZ for a few days. Thunderstorms woke me up at 4 am or so. Woke up again in time for the Starship lob #2.

The SSS launch was delayed until noon to let the road dry out enough to be passable. The younger guys went…. I decided to let the old joints rest.

I had planned to go to FAR this weekend to test a motor. But nasty weather all around.
 
Got a bit more work done on the cargo hauler today:
2023-11-19 Cargo hauler rack.jpg
I used the 6" darkstar as a guide for the space on the bottom rack, probably won't put the fincan there for travel, but want to be able to fit the largest rockets on the bottom. There are three 4" rockets on the next rack up, with plenty of space for smaller arms above.

Much nicer weather today, sunny with a high around 75*.

Thanks for posting up John, I thought we were supposed to see you this weekend, with a green barrel full of AP 200?
 

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