May 30

Finally, a day that doesn't suck! The thunderstorm assault of the last week seems about finished, although it has left large pools of water where dust devils should normally be spawning. But today at least we made some distance; Scott went 42 miles, which is the best flight we've had so far. Scott never climbed above 3,000 feet agl, and had the two lowest saves of his flying career, both under 200 agl. On his trace it shows he landed, the same altitude as the airport. His secret was, "Butterflies, they were coring right with me." He wasn't joking. The lift was light, never more than 200 up, so it was a good flight for Scott. He was in the air for almost four hours, which is pretty amazing given the conditions. Butterflies, Grasshopper.

Pete Foster from Flagstaff is now part of the crew, he learned to tow and has been having at it. He asked me not to report "anything until I go 100 miles.  Kim Csizmazia and I took a couple of tandem flaps, but seemed unable to find thermals, we'll work on out butterfly technique...

Crossroads is packed with pilots from all over the US, plus a large contingent of sailplanes. Crossroads and the sailplane pilots pooled resources for a massive barbecue tonight, which set new standards for open quantity eating and belt gain.

The forecast for Monday is better yet, but we need to have the ground dry out, it was really limiting the lift today. I have yet to see a dust devil here this year, but we have seen some tornadoes so I guess that evens it out.

June 1