High Mountain Doings

Hoped-for Resumption

2011-08-21T12:25:00.000-06:00

I've been posting various photos on my Facebook account, but after an absence I want to start doing it here as well.

It's so far been a very busy summer. Patty and I did back to back days on the Arkansas River, then I didn't get on the water again until my daughter, her husband, and my grandson came for a few days in early August, 2011.

I'm trying to get work done on my motorglider project, and it's happening! I hope to post a bunch of photos showing my progress.

Patty has spent much of the summer in El Salvador, with recently a few days in Guatamala. That country looks wonderful in her photos!

I'm out of here for a bit. More later.

A Gentle Moderation

2011-01-24T13:36:00.000-07:00

I think the worst of winter, that is, the coldest, is most often between Christmas and New Year. That's past now. I'm still building fires in my wood burning stove, I'm still wearing my coat outside, and my three cats tend to remain inside. There is snow on the mountains, the pine trees on the mountain slopes are quite dark by contrast, and the valley floor is covered with yellow (once-green) grasses.

We're at least thinking about warmer times. Patty scored a Desolation Canyon river permit (Green River in Utah, through wild country). We'll be doing several other things as well.

The motorglider project is still going strongly. I just haven't gotten around to posting about it much.

Can't Post Photos....

2010-11-03T23:25:00.000-06:00

Used to be able to post photos on here, but now when I click the button for posting an image, it takes me to a window that doesn't include "browse." So I guess I'll have to do it somewhere else--like Facebook,

Home from the river

2010-08-28T11:32:00.000-06:00

It's the 28th of August. We got off the Lower Salmon River and then the Snake River on the 26th, mostly in Idaho though the takeout is in extreme southeastern Washington. Got home on the 27th, and here it is a new day with lots of things to do!

More will follow, including photographs.

El Salvador, Greens and Reds

2010-08-11T00:30:00.000-06:00

From top down, looking from Patty's large porch toward the nearest house. That house is on the other side of a small road down which a few cattle come every afternoon on their way home. Greenery is everywhere you look.

Next, a small red flower on the edge of Patty's porch. Not large, but with a goodly supply of red pigment and much fine detail.

Last, greenery and some red leaves a few feet out in front of the porch. The red serves to set off the green, or there would be no photograph here. I don't know that you'd call this country a rainforest, but it can't be too far from that. I've never personally experienced rain there, and this was my third visit.

El Salvador, a Country of Colors

2010-08-07T00:34:00.000-06:00

I only know the names of two or three plants, and not this one. But what a beautiful thing it was, with red leaves set against a green background.

Catching-up Time

2010-07-24T17:31:00.000-06:00

I'm behind in my blogging. So I'll be reading my notebook to see what I've missed, and soon be making more posts. I've been keeping notes, but just haven't been blogging them. This may be before, or it may be after, my rapidly upcoming trip to the bit EAA (Experimental Aircraft Association) fly-in and drive-in at Wittman Field in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

So stand by, and the posts will start to flow again. I tried Facebook for a time, but realized that posts made there don't remain there very long. Maybe there's a feature whereby you can read back more than just a little on there--I don't know for sure. I just looked on here, and could see back to my first in 2006!

Back to Blogging

2010-06-17T15:55:00.000-06:00

I've either been busy, or gone, so I haven't done much blogging for a bit. And even less posting of photos. But that's gonna change, I hope.

For now, I just came in from partially assembling the lever mechanism that will operate the speed brakes on my Sinus motorglider. I needed to satisfy myself that installing the top window won't prevent me from installing other components right underneath. That is, could I still get the speed brake lever where it needs to go with the window in place? I think so, and with the lever in place, I'm about to go install that window--which is a relatively permanent thing.

Home Again....

2010-05-22T21:29:00.000-06:00

I've been gone a lot, been busy a lot, and just haven't gotten around to posting very much lately! But I'm still around, and I may get back to it.

Remnants Preserved (out of order)

2010-04-16T21:02:00.004-06:00

The former "South Vietnam" presidential palace in Saigon has been preserved just as it was, with the president's desk, a radio room, a map room, meeting rooms, and a personal helicopter in back. I'm not sure when this was built, but it undoubtedly represents US tax dollars at work....

First, our guide in this large building...

A meeting room, a personal helicopter, and the front steps. Note that Ho Chi Minh did NOT live like this.

Same Bridge

2010-04-16T20:20:00.000-06:00

Here is the same bridge as below, in daylight with people on it, still quite red but seemingly less so!

Bridge to an Island

2010-04-15T00:00:00.001-06:00

A short bridge goes out to a temple on an island in Ha Noi's Hoan Kiem Lake. It is painted red, and lit with red lights. I found this to be one of the best subjects in Ha Noi for a photograph.

Especen Hotel

2010-04-14T23:32:00.000-06:00

This is the Especen Hotel, where we stayed in Ha Noi. Here, Patty sits in the lobby. I believe we're waiting for a cab to arrive. We sought out small, strategically located hotels and this one was recommended by a friend who had stayed there not long before. It was an easy walk several blocks over to Hoan Kiem Lake where there was a good eating place. Farther around the lake was a place where we did some shopping, and a place where I bought a new backpack that replaced one that was starting to tear. The backpack says North Face on it, but I have no clue whether it was a knock-off or genuine. It cost US $15. As it turned out, my first backpack was sewn up by a small shop right across from the hotel.

I had a problem getting my correct laundry back. First, someone else's laundry was brought, and then a pair of pants was missing. But presently, the man at the desk appeared with my pants! I think the guy was trying to do his best, and the laundry had made this difficult.

Ha Noi Street

2010-04-14T23:05:00.000-06:00

This is a city street corner in Ha Noi between our hotel and Hoan Kiem Lake, which is centrally located in the city. Nothing in particular is happening, yet life is going on for everyone pictured.

Ready for Ho

2010-04-14T22:51:00.004-06:00

A small girl in line to go see Ho Chi Minh.

All Lined Up

2010-04-08T12:33:00.000-06:00

More school kids lined up at Ho's mausoleum, which is an imposing stone building. I've thought that one of the best jobs in the Vietnamese military must be duty here! The guys who stand closer, particularly inside around Ho, are considerably more formal than this guy, whose job is to manage the line of kids. The reverence for Ho Chi Minh appears to be genuine in the extreme. It does not seem to be forced, as more cynical people who have not been there might suggest.

Onward from Saigon

2010-04-08T12:10:00.000-06:00

We had flown into Saigon (officially Ho Chi Minh City though almost everyone calls the city by its former name. Not out of disrespect for Ho, but because you just can't change the name of a city and expect the change to take hold!

Anyway, we walked around the city from our Saigon hotel. First to the Reunification Palace (former residence and seat of government while there was a "South Vietnam") and toured that. The large building has been maintained just as it was when the country was divided, and I'll come back to this after I prepare some more photos.

Then we went to the Viet Nam History Museum. I think we took a cab back after that, and flew off to Ha Noi the next day.

Ha Noi, at the mausoleum of Ho Chi Minh

2010-04-08T12:03:00.000-06:00

Here is a grade school teacher in Ha Noi lining her students up to file past Ho Chi Minh in his mausoleum. Let's note that Ho is to his country as George Washington is to the US. Possibly even more so. Ho is revered throughout the country, though most kids aren't able to actually go see him.

2010-04-03T21:12:00.000-06:00

The photo above is Saigon, taken from our hotel. The long white line in front of the truck is a motorscooter. Another is behind the first. There were a lot more private cars than I'd ever seen before.

We were met at Tan Son Nhat Airport by a hotel driver, and were driven to the Madame Cuc Hotel. I would not have the slightest clue where we were in the city except we had looked at a map before we ever left home, so we'd be able to walk to the Reunification Palace and then go to the Viet Nam Historical Museum as recommended by my friend My Hanh.

My Hanh met us at our hotel and we all went to dinner. She communicated with the taxi driver!

The photo on the left is a power pole showing wiring that is typical in Viet Nam. Wiring looks like this all over the city and country, so something is done differently there than here. You cannot keep these wires out of photographs, so you might as well incorporate them into your design!

Flying to Viet Nam

2010-04-02T00:21:00.000-06:00

It was March 10, 2010. We rose at an awful hour (I'd driven to Patty's house in Denver the afternoon before), and her son took us to the Denver airport to catch a United Air Lines flight to San Francisco that departed at six in the morning. From there, we took another UAL flight that went to Hong Kong and then Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam.

Airliners that cross the Pacific often do so by flying far to the north. I don't know whether this is a "great circle" route or if they just avoid jet stream headwinds enroute. On my globe, putting one finger on San Francisco and the other on Hong Kong, a line between them should be a great circle. We were well north of that. Though it was overcast, the UAL moving map (which they show for a few minutes between movies) showed us north of the Aleutian Islands.

We finally arrived in Ho Chi Minh City (still called Saigon by those who live there, though they revere Ho as their George Washington) later in the afternoon. Patty not only arranged all our flights, she also arranged our hotels. And there was a hotel vehicle waiting for us. Off we went into the city!

Above is a photo that must have been taken somewhere in extreme eastern Siberia. It's a total snowpack, though I was experimenting with something in Photoshop and the color isn't quite snow-like. Here it is, anyway...

Viet Nam in 2010

2010-04-02T00:01:00.000-06:00

I've decided to post photos from our March trip to Viet Nam on here, instead of on Facebook. The photos look better here, are easier to post, and they stay here longer. Everything is right. So next post, here we go!

Highest Saloon in America

2010-02-19T17:45:00.000-07:00

In Alma, Colorado, around 10,500 feet near Fairplay in South Park, is this saloon that claims to be the highest in America. It probably is! I was on my way to Patty's in Denver, had been stopped for an hour and a half just past Fairplay by an unknown traffic problem up ahead. Word came down the line that it would be another hour. I did what I'd been thinking about doing. I drove a mile or two back to Fairplay and turned north on Highway 9 over Hoosier Pass to Breckenridge and I-70. On the way, I stopped for a good lunch at this place.

Slow Progress, but Progress Nonetheless

2010-02-19T17:33:00.000-07:00

Progress has been slow lately. Too much else going on. I did get the rudder centering springs installed near the bottom of the vertical fin. These (top photo) run between the inside rear of the fin and the bottom of the rudder bar, to which the rudder will mount in a manner so that it'll be easily removable.

I also started on window installation, tentatively taping the top window in place with the blue tape. I will need to shine a light through from underneath, mark around the rim of the window (here seen still with its protective covering), and spray paint around that rim with black paint. This will result in a more professional-looking job. I have yet to discover just how the window will be made watertight.

Elevator Control Mechanism

2010-01-23T01:06:00.000-07:00

Here is the recently-mounted elevator control mechanism at the top rear of the vertical fin. When the horizontal tail mounts here, the elevator fits into this white piece and is thereby controlled. This will allow the horizontal tail to be removed at will--a very convenient feature for some people.

Since I don't yet know exactly how I'll set the elevator (equal movement up and down, or something else) I am not going to use threadlocker on the connection where the twistum is, yet. I put the twistum there to remind myself of this. Note that the other nuts seen here have red paint on them and also (invisibly) had blue threadlocker applied. The red paint will allow me to instantly see if these have moved, come inspection time.

Rudder Cable Connection

2010-01-18T22:35:00.000-07:00

Here are two photos of the actual swaging of the rudder pedal cables as they're connected to the bracket that will provide a base for the rudder.

The red paint marks the position of the cable against slippage as it doubles back around the horseshoe-shaped fitting and through a small piece of a rather soft metal. This will soon be squeezed (swaged) into very tight contact with the two cable segments. It did slip, as cable wrapped around like this is likely to do. But recovery was easy with the marks I'd made. Once swaged, the two cable segments are fixed in position forevermore.

The bottom photo shows the actual swaging of the rudder cable into its loop, for connection to the left hand hole in the rudder mounting bracket, which can turn 30 degrees in either direction, also turning the rudder. These cables come from the rudder pedals in the cockpit. This is a swaging tool, where you put it over the metal to be squeezed, and tighten the bolts to deform the metal around the two cables.

Rudder Cable Attachment

2010-01-18T02:02:00.000-07:00

This is a hard job that's continuing. That is, I didn't get it finished today. Mostly because it has to be right the first time, because a swaged cable isn't something that's easily changed.

The rudder cables connect to the ends of the bracket on which the rudder mounts. Pins in the rudder will fit through the two holes that are just inboard of the cables. Simultaneously, a fitting in the other (top) end of the rudder will slide down over the upper hingepin which was just mounted.

The thing here is, if there's too much slack in the cables, it appears that the rudder will work less well. In fact, if there's slack, the pedals will lean a bit farther forward though I want them to be 5 degrees aft of vertical. Too much of this, and the pedal would bottom out before it deflects the rudder fully! This can't be.

Get it right, and the pedals will turn the rudder without a lot of free play, and travel will be full.

Speaking of rudder deflection, I had to change the right hand rudder stop. This is one of the two hex screws seen here, with locking nuts on them. And blue threadlocker, to prevent problems.

I'm hoping I can get it all like I want it, marked, ready to be pulled out (I think it'll come out far enough, without me having to disconnect cables on their forward ends) to where I can swage it. That is, use my swaging tool to squeeze the bushings down around the cable for a good, solid connection.

Tightening the Nuts

2010-01-18T01:38:00.000-07:00

I saw that I needed a wrench unlike any I had. So off to town, where I got a wrench on which the wrench-head could turn to slightly less than 90 degrees to the handle. I taped the head onto the handle, to make sure it wouldn't come off. I also got some cord, taped the end of that to the wrench handle, and tied the other end to the hole there where the stabilizer will mount. This was, of course, so I wouldn't drop the wrench and have it go clank, clank, clank way down inside the fin.

Thus, after applying red threadlocker, I was able to tighten those nuts while easily holding the bolts with a hex key.

Upper Rudder Hinge mounting

2010-01-18T01:07:00.000-07:00

When I mounted the upper rudder hingepost, I first epoxied it on and was soon going to drill the bolt holes and get it bolted on as soon as I could. I didn't do this soon enough the first time, and the hingepin assembly got bumped and knocked off. At least, I now had a smooth base of epoxy to mount it to!

The mounting with epoxy went very well, per the last photo here. I peeled off the Peel-Ply after a while, didn't do any more work that day, and on the next day I drilled the bolt holes.

Getting the nuts onto the ends of the bolts would be a tricky business. I'd Dremeled the access opening larger, as directed, but the space below was still not very accessible. It called for ingenuity.

I used a Twist-um to hold back the vertical pushrod. Then I had to put washers on the two bolt-ends. I put a piece of masking tape around my finger, and folded another piece to make it sticky on both sides. I stuck this onto the tape that was on my fingertip, and stuck the washer to the other side (double sided tape would also have worked). Then I reached into the opening, washer stuck to my finger, put the washer onto the bolt, and sort of brushed my finger away from it, leaving the washer on the bolt-end. Then I could put my finger back in (sans tape now) and slide the washer down to the base of the bolt, so it wouldn't fall off.

Then I taped the locknut lightly into a 10 mm open-end wrench and was able to get it started onto the bolt. Snugged it up with the socket wrench that's in the next photo.

Lower portion of the tool in use

2010-01-17T00:15:00.000-07:00

The lower part of the hinge pin installation Bracket, and Paul Kuntz's alignment tool.

Closer View of Hinge Pin Brackett

2010-01-07T01:30:00.000-07:00

This is the upper rudder hinge pin being held by the jig. Once the jig is gone, it'll be ready for the two bolt holes to be drilled, and bolts installed. That won't be an easy job, as a later photo will show. The white dacron tape across the bottom of the bracket, held in place by some tape, is "peel-ply," which is for holding wet epoxy in place. When the latter is hard, the tape is easily peeled off. It worked really well. It didn't stick, even where it's saturated with epoxy.

Overall View

2010-01-06T23:34:00.000-07:00

The big view of the Sinus, with the stabilizer temporarily mounted. No elevator or rudder yet. The pile of parts underneath the aircraft is considerably smaller than it was. The wings, of course, will not fit on until I get the fuselage finished and moved outside.

Rudder Mounting

2010-01-06T23:17:00.000-07:00

These photos are of the installation of the upper rudder hinge pin, which gets epoxied, and also bolted, to the dark fiberglass surface at the rear of the vertical fin.The jig seen here fits into the same holes at the bottom as the rudder will, and holds the upper hinge pin in the proper location for bonding and bolting.

Paul Kuntz in Washington state, a fellow Sinus-builder, lent me his jig. This saved me a day or two, and a trip to the hardware store to buy material and parts. One of the parts I'm sure I would have had to search all over Denver for. That's the small, cylindrical part on top with the set screw attaching it to the actual hinge pin that's being mounted.

The bottom of the jig mounts to the bracket that the rudder will mount to. I created two depressions in the bottom of the rudder so that the heads of two bolts can fit there.

The bungee cords hold the top of the jig, and the rudder hinge pin, in place while the epoxy hardens. After that, the bolts are installed. The first time I did this, Patty and I were trying to get it disassembled and the hinge pin got knocked off. Next time, I was more careful to keep it in place, drilling holes and installing the bolts quickly.

Horizontal Tail

2010-01-03T01:02:00.000-07:00

Here is the horizontal tail on my bench, which I padded with the very convenient packing material that came wrapped around these parts.

The job here is to install the pins into the fittings that extend from the left hand piece (the elevator), and tighten the nuts on each. You can't scratch the other end of the pins because they need to fit smoothly into the brackets on the right-hand piece (the stabilizer).

The piece of plastic tubing on the nearest pin is there because I found that with the tubing in place, I could grasp the pin without scratching it. Then I could tighten the nut.

I also installed a bolt mechanism in the hole that goes through the stabilizer, top to bottom, lining up with the threaded receptacle in the top of the vertical fin. The mechanism will allow the bolt to be turned (to remove the stabilizer) if the metal part surrounding the bolt is depressed, with the rim of the socket wrench or by some other means. When that part is up, it prevents the bolt from turning. This is a safety mechanism that will allow removal if desired.

Rear Bellcrank Assembly Finished

2009-12-08T19:53:00.002-07:00

The bellcrank assembly is finished now. I had to thin the washers (instead of using thick ones--Andrej at Pipistrel would like to know why I had to do this, but now it'll be difficult to measure the parts) by sanding them.

The red marks are mine, put there while trying to get the parts lined up so that I could put the bolts through. I had to use a small inspection mirror to see into the bolt hole, to get the final washer aligned. Working into a small opening like this was far from convenient.

I have since put red paint (supplied in the kit) onto the nuts and threads of the bolts, to make inspection easier. I'll be able to tell just by looking whether anything has moved. This bellcrank assembly will be covered by the lower rudder hingepin assembly, though there will be openings to look through, for inspection purposes.

Lots of work yet to do in this area, but securing this bellcrank assembly was a milestone.

I'd be happier if the vertical pushrod didn't "pull" over to one side as much as it does. I even loosened the upper bolt again (overcoming red threadlocker) but it remained the same. I don't think it'll hurt anything. I tightened it down again with a new drop of threadlocker.

This is at the bottom-rear of the vertical fin. The stabilizer and elevator will be mounted at the top of the fin. The Sinus is a T-tail motorglider.

I Was Quick

2009-12-08T19:33:00.001-07:00

About a foot of snow fell last night, and my Prius was in the garage. My 4wd truck isn't here now because it hit a deer and is being repaired. Was I stuck for several days? No time to lose.

I got my snow shovel and started digging. After some work, I had it so I would be able to back my Prius out, and get it pointed toward the driveway. There were still some tracks, though mostly filled, in the driveway. I dug one out almost to ground level. Then I went along the center section and shoveled away a swath of snow. I just didn't want the bottom of the Prius to drag. It's low-slung. I dug the other track, having marked it first by walking it. There was now a wall of snow on each side of the center swath, which I knocked the tops of into the center. I had a driveway again!

Then I drove the Prius out that driveway and parked it on the county road! I was done. As I walked back to the house, the wind began to blow. Had I waited even half an hour, there would have been big wind, blowing the snow, and undoing what I'd just done. Now, by the end of the day, my driveway is drifted shut again. Not light and fluffy anymore, it would be difficult to shovel. But my Prius is parked out on the street and that's a very good thing! Nowhere to go in particular, but I'm ready.

Tool for Sanding Washers

2009-12-04T01:56:00.001-07:00

This is a tool to help me sand the washers to make them thinner. I found a piece of wood and used my router to cut a shallow depression the size of a washer. Then I could sand the washer without it moving around. I'd been doing this another way--pressing the washer down onto sandpaper and moving it around with a small piece of plastic I had, but that piece of plastic was wearing out. So I made this and finished the job with it.

The white material here is sawdust from the sanding. The lower depression is one that I'd made first, and not very well. The edges of it broke up quickly. Then I made the depression where the washer is.

Help from Pipistrel

2009-12-04T01:45:00.001-07:00

While trying to figure out this washer-thing, wondering whether I was overlooking something simple, or was maybe using the wrong parts, I sent an email to Andrej Horvat at the Pipistrel factory in Slovenia. Andrej was very helpful as he always is. He sent me back an email telling me the exact sequence of parts that go onto that bolt. He sent me measurements of all the pieces, trying to get to the cause of the problem. I never did figure it all out--my dimensions seemed correct--but I did find a way to get the job done. It's great to have such support from the factory when working on a kit like this.

A Difficult Thing

2009-12-04T01:24:00.001-07:00

This had to happen, but it was sure hard--the connection of the upper pushrod to the bellcrank assembly. The bolt that is visible goes through one side of the pushrod end, then through a washer, then the bellcrank, then another washer, the other side of the pushrod, a washer, and is secured by the nut. The problem was that one, but not two, washers would fit. That's not enough! There's a bearing in the bellcrank and it needs a washer on both sides of it so that it's held fast while the bellcrank moves around it, working the elevators which are atop the vertical fin. Note the small space between the bellcrank and the sides of the pushrod. That's where the washers are.

Something was wrong dimensionally.... I needed thinner washers, not thicker ones as the instructions seem to say. So I bought some at the hardware store in town, hoping they'd fit right in. I'd noticed that in the box at the store, some washers differed in thickness. I bought six of the thinnest I could find there, but they weren't thin enough. I had to sand them down quite a bit until finally I got 'em both in place and got the bolt through!

I'll have to do the same thing for the bottom fitting, but I knew that I'd have to do the top one first or I'd never be able to reach it.

It was crowded work, and blind in many ways. I couldn't see into the hole to find out whether parts were aligned--until I thought of using my small inspection mirror. Then I could see where the second washer was, and could tug it around with the short end of an Allen key. Then the bolt wouldn't slide through--I think the bearing was turned just a bit. I put in a similar bolt from the other side and that straightened things out. Then I removed the second bolt, loosened the piece of tape that was holding the first bolt in place (not letting it fall out, making me start all over), and was slowly able to work the bolt in place. I'll loosen it to apply some red Permatex to lock it in place, but it's not coming out anymore!

Then I'll be able to do two or three other jobs in this same area, getting on with things. These washers have been holding me up for days.

Still Not Working

2009-12-03T02:10:00.000-07:00

Today I went to the hardware store in Buena Vista and bought washers. I realized that I needed a somewhat smaller size, and thinner if possible. Well, looking through a tray of washers, I noticed that some were much thinner than others! So I picked out six of those, thinking they'd work fine.

Well, they don't work. They're still too thick, so I guess I'll need to sand 'em down to be thinner. I do this by putting a piece of sandpaper on the bench, and sliding the washer around on it, moving it with a suitable object such as block eraser, or a piece of plastic. With enough work, I think I'll make it although I'd like to know why it isn't working as planned. It almost works, but not quite.

Doing this stuff, I'm thinking in metric but having to trash my mind sometimes by thinking in our traditional system. Bah.... The washers, I calculate, have to be about 0.7 mm thick.

Washer Thickness

2009-11-29T14:36:00.000-07:00

I've been unable to get two of the "1 mm" washers into the rear bellcrank assembly, shown three posts earlier. I just measured the thickness of these washers and they turn out to be around 1.2 mm thick. That's enough of a difference to explain why two of them won't fit. So...into Buena Vista to the hardware store (open on Sundays) to find thinner washers. I'll take my micrometer with me and try to find a size that'll work. Again, I wish the US had adopted the metric system long ago.

There are more assembly jobs that I can't yet do because doing them would cover up this bellcrank assembly. Getting washers that fit will be like breaking a logjam. Specifically, I'll be able to mount the lower rudder bracket, and go on from there.

Cabin and Gate Along T Road, San Luis Valley, Colorado

2009-11-29T10:52:00.002-07:00

Along T Road west to Crestone in the San Luis Valley, there is an old cabin, quite dilapidated, among some trees behind a wire fence and a gate. I don't know the history of this place, and it's challenging to photograph with regard to color balance. But here we are, with late afternoon sun in late November.

San Luis Valley near Crestone, Colorado

2009-11-29T10:46:00.000-07:00

T Road that goes from Highway 17 east to Crestone. The Sangre de Cristo form an impressive background a few miles away. Late afternoon in late November.

Rear Bellcrank

2009-11-22T00:06:00.001-07:00

This is the bellcrank mechanism seen from the rear, where the rudder will go. The pushrod is seen coming from the control sticks. The bellcrank translates its motion into up and down motion to work the elevator, which will be mounted with the stabilizer at the top of the vertical fin. There are supposed to be two washers between the pushrod sides and the bellcrank, but the ones I've tried leave room only for one. Maybe I'm trying the wrong ones, so I'll have to look through the parts bag.

Brake Lines

2009-11-21T23:45:00.000-07:00

This is the base of the right hand set of pedals. The white tubing coming out of the slot to the right of the pedals is the hydraulic brake line to the right wheel brake. The piece of purple fuel line that's glued over the white tube is to protect the fuel line from chafing. I used Gorilla Glue (pictured) to cement the fuel line piece onto the smaller brake line, but I'm not sure it's secured properly. We'll see, and maybe will use something else if need be.

Working Under the Floor, and Getting the Rudder Ready

2009-11-05T20:05:00.000-07:00

Top photo: Me reaching underneath the floor of the aircraft, where the control linkage is located. Working in here is less than fun. Often the work is with two fingers of one hand, blind, going only by feel, reaching through a hole where a control stick will mount.

The lower photo is of me unwrapping the rudder, which comes wrapped in clear plastic. Its installation will be a major step very soon. It will mount above the tail wheel on the back of the vertical fin, both seen here.

Static Source for the Variometer

2009-11-05T19:55:00.000-07:00

The bottom photo shows the 10 mm hole I drilled in the upper leading edge of the vertical fin of my Sinus. Then I fished out the end of the static tube that runs forward through the fuselage. It had a red string on the end, to make it easier to grab.

The top photo shows this same tube connected to the base of the static probe using a slightly larger piece of tubing several cm long. Warmed a bit, and with a dab of Gorilla Glue when it was about halfway on, I was able to slide it over the end of the static probe base. The smaller tube fit into the short length to the base of the black, and was fastened using Gorilla Glue (applied only to the smaller tube so that when I slid them together, the end wouldn't fill up with glue). A piece of shrink wrap (yellow) was placed over the joint, to further secure it. I slid a piece of wire into the end, and pulled it out again, to make sure the passage was open.

The black base got epoxied into the hole, and the junction of tubing will never, never be seen again. Never! So I tried to do it right.

The top of the blue tape on the left defines the direction in which the static probe must point.

Skinny Tools for Sinus

2009-11-05T19:28:00.000-07:00

Here's the set of skinny hex wrenches I made for reaching inside the tubing on my Sinus. One is 5 mm, the other is 4 mm. The latter (smaller one) is for the nut, which is on the left side. Remember the old saying, taught me by my dad, "Nuts to the pilot!" These fasten together the flaperon control tubes, which meet in the upper center of the fuselage.

I sawed off two ordinary metric hex wrenches and epoxied them into lengths of tubing that I found at our local True Value hardware store. The one on the left may look hollow, but it isn't. I had filed off rough edges around the end.

Denver Neighborhood

2009-10-28T02:43:00.001-06:00

The street as seen from Patty's house in Denver

Near Home in the Upper Arkansas River Valley

2009-10-28T00:37:00.002-06:00

The photo that shows Buffalo Peaks was taken several years ago. The snowy one was taken just days ago. The haybales were photographed very recently, and the trees a while ago.

Pier in Fog, San Simeon, California

2009-10-22T13:46:00.001-06:00

We had slept (uncomfortably) in the car very near San Simeon, and in the morning we walked out by the pier there. The one that's right below the Hearst Castle, which we didn't visit.

California Coastal Drive

2009-10-22T13:42:00.000-06:00

A drive down Highway 1 in California yielded these photos. It's a spectacular way to go! Not fast, but spectacular.

Early Snowfall

2009-10-21T13:24:00.000-06:00

Our first good snow of the season is falling as I type. The grasses in my yard are still standing tall, so the snow is sticking onto them, as in this photo taken by my woodpile this morning.

Tool Too Fat

2009-10-11T22:41:00.000-06:00

The tool pictured earlier with which to reach down inside the Sinus flaperon tubes turned out to be too fat. It wouldn't fit into the tube that already had the tip riveted on. I needed a new plan quickly, and I made a skinny tool for each side (one side needs a 5 mm hex key whereas the other needs a 4 mm hex wrench). And they worked! Patty and I each manipulated one from either side of the fuselage this afternoon and got the bolt/nut in place!

At first, I thought about using lots of blue Permatex (threadlocker like Loctite) but realized we'd have to unscrew this bolt and nut while mounting the wings, in order to mark and drill the side where the tip is not yet riveted on. So no threadlocker until then!

Photos and descriptions of the tools I made will follow soon.

Flaperon Bracket

2009-10-01T00:57:00.000-06:00

This assembly, at the top middle of the bulkhead behind the seats, mounts the two pieces of tubing that extend left and right into the wing roots, to work the flaperons. It looks simple--just four bolts. But it has to be installed correctly, or one tube will stick out farther than the other. We shouldn't have to bear asymmetry, should we?

It's not as easy as it looks. It mounts off center so you have to try both pieces of tubing to get it where it needs to be. It's not particularly easy to drill the holes but fortunately I'd bought a long drill bit in the appropriate size--5 mm.

The two openings in the gray bulkhead are for levers attached to the ends of the two tubes. The levers connect rather ingeniously to control linkages that come from the dual control sticks and from the flap lever between the seats. The bolt between the two tubes also goes through the hole in the flaperon bracket.

Making a Tool

2009-10-01T00:18:00.000-06:00

I need a long wrench--actually two long wrenches--to reach a bolt and nut that will join two pieces of tubing end to end. I'll have to reach inside the tubes from both ends. I was able to buy a set of wrench extenders. To make another, I bought the socket wrench, an adapter, and a long dowel. I filed the end of the dowel down to a square (roughly) to fit inside the wrench adapter. It'll at least work to get the nut in place. When I tighten it, it'll be with some thread locker applied. Maybe by then I'll have found a metal shaft that I will be able to turn harder.

Driving Home in April

2009-09-11T22:54:00.002-06:00

When coming home from a trip and entering my mountain valley in Colorado, I usually think about how good this feels--to have been somewhere, perhaps to do errands in the city, or coming home from a distant adventure as was last the case coming home from Cincinnati, then Santa Fe.

Well, I was only coming home from Salida, a town 20 miles down the valley. No big deal there, but it was a spectacularly beautiful late afternoon, almost evening. I wrote notes to myself which I'll use now.

Driving Home....

Home from Salida. The sun had just gone over the snowy peaks ahead, sunlight still wrapping around their summits. Near peaks looming, others going off stepwise to the north. Each jagged, pointed, all geographically associated by forming a straight line up one side of the Upper Arkansas River Valley.

Nearer, a few sprouts of green. Water flowing in irrigation ditches. Low houses, farm buildings, and sheds where tractors are. A pickup moving along an unseen road. Pieces of irrigation pipe scattered, about to be assembled. A few clumps of trees, not leafed yet. The highway stretching off ahead, one car behind with lights on, two coming, one with lights.

Rounded hills behind me, the high sweep of the Sangres beyond. Scattered clouds hovering, contrails far above, pointing toward major cities. Brown grasses stirring in the breeze.

Crawling Inside

2009-09-11T22:19:00.003-06:00

A recent bit of work on my Sinus required that I crawl back into the fuselage to mount the trim linkage. This will be operated by a trim control knob located between the seats, with cables going back to the linkage, which will be connected to the elevator pushrod with springs.

I had to crawl a number of times into the space shown below to do this work. Though on pillows, this was irksome, troublesome, and even a bit painful at times.

The second photo below shows the mechanism I installed. Drilling the mounting hole at the front (near) end wasn't bad, but the rear one was!

In the above photo, a static tube is on the left. This will connect a probe mounted on the vertical fin with a variometer on the instrument panel. This will provide rapid information about vertical speed, which is essential to soaring flight because you're looking for lift (rising air). You need to know when you're in that lift--right then, not several seconds later.

Next toward the center is one of the rudder cables, with a similar cable on the other side. These divide here, to be operated by both sets of rudder pedals. When I swaged these fittings, I hoped I'd never have to crawl in here again! But no such luck.

The metal piece mounted to the two bulkheads is the trim linkage. The lever in the middle of it will be operated by cables from the cockpit knob. The bottom will be attached through springs to the elevator pushrod, seen underneath the trim linkage and extending rearward.

Ripley, Ohio--a Big Step Toward Freedom

2009-09-09T14:53:00.002-06:00

The Rankin House, on top of a high ridge overlooking Ripley. This house was a "station" on the Underground Railroad.

Implements near another important Underground Railroad house down near the Ohio River in Ripley. I believe the owner was also involved in the casting of metals, hence these steel pots.

The Ohio River from Rankin House, and the town of Ripley below. The Ohio River was a very important goal for escaped slaves. Though still in danger from slave-hunters, crossing the river was an important step toward freedom. A large towboat makes its way upriver.

Drying

2009-09-09T01:49:00.000-06:00

Tents and sleeping gear drying on pavement at our last campground. It was a sunny afternoon and this worked well.

End of the trip in Oberlin, Ohio, a little west of Cleveland. Here, bikes were loaded into this truck along with baggage, and transported back to the Enterprise vehicle rental lot in Cincinnati, where our cars were. On the ride back, we stopped in Ripley, OH, to learn a bit more about the Underground Railroad.

Receiving these posts...

2009-09-08T00:12:00.000-06:00

When I signed up for this blog-thing, I put down a few emails to be notified when I posted. I thought they'd just receive notice that I'd posted. But they've received entire posts. Well, I just learned that one of these people has been receiving garbled posts where words overlap photos, and can't be read. Moreover, Blogger sends what I post first, though I commonly find errors in what I've just written, and make edits. But the first (unedited) version is the one that gets sent out, often making me look like some sort of illiterate fool. So I'm gonna cancel all of these. But do check my blog now and then, if your interested in what I post about!

Bike Ride, Late Afternoon Today

2009-09-07T23:57:00.001-06:00

I've been feeling a lot like a stump lately, without much physical activity. I felt that way again today, so later this afternoon, maybe 6:40 or so, I got on my Cruzbike for a ride. I turned toward my valley, following the county road east and then south for maybe three and a half miles, powering up the only significant hill, and also up the steepest one. I went to where I'd have had to cross a cattle guard which has presented difficulties in the past, so there I turned around and rode home. Mostly gentle ups and downs, and then the steady climb to my house--but it all felt great! That was about five hours ago and I still feel great. More like a person now than a stump, and this is a good change.

Wetness

2009-09-06T23:25:00.001-06:00

On the next to last night, rain fell hard for several hours during the night. I'd set my tent up as a "minimalist shelter" and it was exactly that in such extreme conditions. I'd packed with river duffel bags, but some of my stuff was wet because I hadn't done a good job securing my camp. Others had an even worse problem, but we had to pack up and go in the morning. At our last camp, many of us dried our things in the warm sun.

Not September--These Were All Latest July.

2009-09-06T23:02:00.003-06:00

A nicely lit field with farm buildings

At times, our bicycling route was like a tunnel through greenery.

In my experience, everywhere in the world I've been has its own way of making haystacks. This is central Ohio's way, well-illuminated in the morning light.

There were a couple of days with some serious hills. This was one of them, later in the day. Another day had hills, but they occurred in the morning and then were overwith.

(I've been trying to remove this photo because it's a duplicate. Blogger won't let me.)

A tree right by my camp that night. Hmmmm...is this an example of that old saying, "leaflets three, let it be?" Looks like it here, but I didn't notice anything at the time. And it was in a commercial campground where such things as poison ivy would probably be taken care of.

Camps and Steep Hills

2009-09-05T23:52:00.001-06:00

Another grassy camp, and our supply truck

A broader view of camp

One particularly steep hill. Somebody mentioned that these might be drumlins, but I forgot to notice. People are walking their bikes up, as did I.

Lunch Stop

2009-09-05T22:56:00.000-06:00

Lunch stop on a wet day

A Grassy Camp

2009-09-05T21:55:00.001-06:00

One of our camps. An advantage of a humid climate is lots of grass

Grandmother and granddaughter set up their tent. We had great camps each night of the trip.

Map Meeting, Farm, and Fog

2009-09-05T21:10:00.000-06:00

From top, Trip Leader Dave Cox speaks to the group during an evening "map meeting." Second down, Ginny also talks to the group. This was following our day of rain, during which I didn't do any photographs.

Last two photos--of a farmhouse across a valley, and a photo leaving camp in the morning. Fog hung in the air from all the moisture the day before.

On this post, I'm working with a newer layout screen. It seems better, and it shows the images again! But it looks like I'll have to type captions as I enter each photo. I can't seem to open up space between the photos for this purpose.

Another Evening at Santa Fe

2009-09-03T12:20:00.001-06:00

Back to August 27: Don Giovanni was, as usual, magnificent. Opera productions vary, so it was fascinating to see the Santa Fe Opera's staging. That is, how they staged it this year. It was much different from their last production of the same opera.

The final act of Don Giovanni involves the entrance of a statue--the man of stone--jokingly invited to dinner by Giovanni. I’ve seen this staged in several ways, most often with a large statue that appears from behind and comes forward. Or it might even be a large backdrop.

Opera staging is full of surprises. The stage at Santa Fe appeared to be blocked by other props, so that as the time approached, the possibility of such an entrance dimmed. Well, the statue (a man in a stoney-looking costume) entered from stage-front-left. Giovanni was by then eating dinner served by Leporello (who screamed and hid) at the opposite end of a long dining table. The statue at one point went offstage to immediately reenter from the opposite side (as a different man in an identical costume, I suppose) and then reappeared inside one of the props (likenesses of large cabinets) that were still there. Emerging from there, the statue sang the rest of his piece, and when it came time for the unrepentant don to go to Hell for his deeds, the cabinets all opened up and a bright light shone forth from each---particularly the center one, which was placed atop a trap door in the stage and grew to about three times its height. Into it lept Giovanni, last seen descending through the stage to the legendary place of eternal punishment, from which bright white light shone.

Last seen, that is, until the curtain calls, at which time Giovanni came onstage to thunderous applause for a job very well done. Of the two very different operas we’d just seen, Patty preferred La Traviata while I preferred, ever so slightly, Don Giovanni. It was a hard choice. Mediocracy is not part of the Santa Fe Opera experience. We're going to see La Traviata again this fall, in a University of Colorado production in Boulder.

Almost Forgot

2009-09-02T16:23:00.005-06:00

Here is a rusty old bridge along our route. We bicycled over it and on...

Note: Blogger isn't working properly. On their layout page (where I'm typing this caption now) the photo doesn't show. There's just a block of code that controls the placement of the photo. Though I can find the filename in that block and know what photo will show there, it's easy to miss one. But here it is.

I've been wanting to put my blog on my website anyway, so maybe this is a signal to get busy on that.

Cycling On

2009-09-01T22:16:00.006-06:00

A farmhouse and other buildings along our route

A stately house in one of the towns--probably South Charleston

Down the road we go!

Light and shadow, and a cornfield

Another Day in Ohio

2009-08-30T11:56:00.005-06:00

Our guide at Wilberforce University, during a visit to a local cemetery to visit the gravestone of an important Underground Railroad historical figure.

The old train station, maintained at South Charleston, Ohio. This was one of our lunch stops.

This is the Mama Rafael food trailer that was at each of our camps. I never saw it move, but it seems to have been pulled by a truck that also pulled a second trailer, I believe with electrical generator equipment.

This caboose was on display at Xenia, Ohio, which has a history as a railroad hub, now a rails to trails hub.

A Drive to Santa Fe

2009-08-27T15:56:00.002-06:00

We planned to leave by ten. In effect, after a stop at Wally World in Salida, it was effectively eleven. We also stopped at the Golden Arches in Salida, Colorado, and then at KFC in Alamosa. But presently, there we were, driving south into New Mexico. The geography is rugged, but because of the overhead sun, not so visually exciting at mid-day, except compared to the majority of places where it isn't so rugged.

We got to Susanna's, a friend of Patty's, who lives several miles southeast of Santa Fe. The GPS system did fairly well, given the address, except we had to figure out the last quarter mile or so ourselves. All was well. We were eating soon, and on our way to the Santa Fe Opera for a performance of La Traviata at eight. We GPS'd some of the turns we needed to take, in hopes of arriving back again in the dark of night.

Into Santa Fe in the morning for several purposes. My purposes were ill-defined, while Patty would meet with a lady who will be going to El Salvador in two weeks, to share relevant information. We went downtown, but soon decided to go back to our temporary home until later. Tonight we're heading back to the Santa Fe Opera for Don Giovanni. Home for both of us on Friday.

Don Giovanni will be a powerful opera. A derivation of the Don Juan legend, the complex story plays out and the don is eventually consumed by the fires of Hell, to appropriate orchestral chords.

I didn't understand a word of La Traviota (sung in Italian last night) but the role of Violetta was superbly performed by Natalie Dessay. What a powerhouse performance! I was thinking during the performance about the relationship between the singers and the orchestra—the exact timing of everything, the utter precision, the sometimes-quiet and sometimes-thunderous notes of the instruments, and how the conductor keeps it all working.

Patty combines the visual, the map, and the GPS and we get where we're going in fine fashion. Or else she drives, and I apply myself to the navigational problems at hand. It's a good combo.

To Xenia, Ohio

2009-08-25T00:43:00.009-06:00

Here is Xenia, Ohio, formerly a railroad hub. Now it's a rails-to-trails hub, and a nicely done town. Our destination for the night was Wilberforce University, in Wilberforce, just a few more miles along another bike trail.

More tents. Actually, these are the same tents as before. Just a slightly different view of them.

Morning has come. This is Ginny Sullivan, a representative on the trip from Adventure Cycling which is located in Missoula, Montana. I recently read that Ginny is the head of Adventure Cycling's effort to map bicycling routes.

This was our first camp. It was on a large lawn surrounding Loveland High School in Loveland, Ohio, which is only a few miles from Cincinnati. We made a lot more miles (about 27) along the streets and bike trail than we did in a straight line.

Bike trail, which we followed for most of two days. I'm unable to identify the places along it from memory, but by numbers in the photo filenames, this must not have been far out of Cincinnati.

Three of our group about to leave the Harriet Beecher Stowe house, which was actually more her father's house than hers. She only lived there three years. Her father was well known too, but I can't remember why. The house used to be far from the city but now it's well within the city.

Back to Papaturro, and the Swimming Hole

2009-08-24T18:41:00.005-06:00

Here is the main part of the swimming hole, just a few meters below the cascade shown in the photo below. Patty, Susanna, and others enjoy the cool water.

Papaturro, El Salvador, again for a moment. This is the stream entering a popular swimming hole a short walk from the community. The photograph is an illustration of something I've been working on lately--high density range, or HDR. This scene had a very broad range of brightnesses--far too great to be recorded in a single exposure. So I photographed it using two exposures. One was two stops overexposed and the other two stops underexposed, favoring the dark and the light areas, respectively. Then the two were merged. There's a way to do this in Photoshop. Results so far have been very interesting. I wouldn't say it absolutely requires a tripod, but a tripod is very helpful. It certainly does require a steady support for the camera.

2009-08-22T00:20:00.009-06:00

Individualized signage! I'm not sure whether this bottom sign was placed because George is a strong cyclist, or because he had a desire to follow the official Underground Railroad tour route as marked on the Adventure Cycling map. Anyway, turning right led to a beautiful ride shown in the photo below, while George's route went right over a big hill! George did in fact go over the hill.

Elsewhere, we had taken a turn off the route to reach one of our camps. When we left the camp, we took a shortcut back to the official route. But one or two people actually rode back in order to follow the marked route exactly! Somebody usually wants do this though I'm not sure why. The "official" route is just as arbitrary as another that is close, though it'll probably, except here, be the most well-chosen route overall.

Most of our tour was on roads like this one, not on city streets! This particular place was not right out of the city, but was in fact several days into the tour. This was actually a detour around a good-sized hill.

This was once the home of Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom's Cabin. After this, we rode a few blocks and got onto a bike trail that led out of the city.

The first leg of our tour was to ride out this city street on the east side of Cincinnati. It was uphill all the way.

This was once a "slave pen" in which newly arrived slaves were kept, up top above the beams. It's displayed inside the Freedom Center.

The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center near the riverfront in Cincinnati, where our bicycle tour began. Before starting, we toured the Center.

Underground Raiilroad Bicycle Tour, Ohio

2009-08-18T02:26:00.008-06:00

On the road, finally! We bicycled 27 miles to Loveland, Ohio, on this day.

Downtown Cincinnati, seen through the windows of the Freedom Center.

Carl, who I think is the director, gives us a tour of the Underground Railroad Freedom Center.

Our baggage went into this Enterprise truck that was at each of our camps. This is what's meant by a supported ride. Cindi gets her bike ready.

Near the Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, which is between the baseball and football stadia there. This is where our Adventure Cycling tour called Underground Railroad began. We took the cars to the Enterprise truck lot to park, toured the Freedom Center, had lunch, and bicycled away.

Flying Home

2009-08-17T19:02:00.004-06:00

Airborne over El Salvador, having taken off and flown southward for probably fifteen miles before turning northward in the direction of the Caribbean and Houston, Texas.

"Pushing back" at the San Salvador airport, in view of one of the several volcanic peaks in the country.

Ah, yes!

2009-08-17T18:31:00.002-06:00

There were two young cats living at Lolo and Esperanza's in Papaturro. There is no cat food in Papaturro. These guys live on scraps and whatever else they can find, and they seem to be busy at this most of the time.

Papaturro, El Salvador, again

2009-08-15T02:18:00.004-06:00

Lolo and Patty on the porch of his son's new house in Papaturro

A pot on a fire

Red leaves

Papaturro, El Salvador

2009-08-14T20:21:00.008-06:00

This is a more distant neighbor with whom we visited. This man understood the politics of the region very well, having lived in Honduras also for a while.

Patty sits on her porch with a group of neighborhood kids.

This is the porch of Lolo and Esperanza, near-neighbors of Patty where we often ate.

This is Patty's house in Papaturro. A large porch is a common feature in this warm country where it rains a lot. Her house is not crooked. I could not figure out perspective control in this version of Photoshop.

House across the walkway from Patty's. This was taken from her porch.

Large leaves that must have a real name, but I think of them as "elephant ears!" Behind Patty's house.

A butterfly lands on a flower right behind Patty's house.

Teresa's Neighborhood

2009-08-06T11:56:00.007-06:00

Down the tracks, across the next street, morning light shines on a walking man, playing kids, and several less-than-energetic dogs.

Teresa's home fronts this railroad track and a branching walkway, in which these boys are playing a game using a ball.

This is Teresa, a friend of Patty's for years, who once helped care for Patty's now-grown kids, and at whose home we've stayed twice now. Last year and this year, while we were enroute to Joya de Ceren.

San Martin, El Salvador

2009-08-05T21:03:00.008-06:00

The market areas seem to be along sidewalks sheltered underneath a curtain that hangs from the side of a building. This would protect a bit from sun and rain.

Here is another selling area just a few meters from the other, also under a canopy hung from above.

This stack of bread was off the sidewalk at the end of the block, just inside a wide entryway, not designed to be wheeled out. Looks like a feast of well-made breads.

This seller was displaying his goods, which were mostly if not all breads, right beside the bus a few minutes earlier.

San Martin is actually a part of San Salvador, the capital city. Or at least adjacent. Here, on a crowded city street, the green bus has just turned the corner and gone on, so the street is for walkers again.

Joya de Ceren, El Salvador

2009-07-18T19:38:00.002-06:00

Another group of ruins, also under a shelter. This group isn't far from the other two.

Joya de Ceren is a group of Maya ruins just a few kilometers outside San Salvador, the capital city of El Salvador.

I just came back from spending ten days with Patty in her town of Papaturro, which is about 35 miles NW of the capital. We did travel a bit by bus, and this was one of those trips. Papaturro is out the highway to Suchitoto, and then down a very rough, rocky dirt road over two miles. The rocks appear to have been purposefully set to avoid problems with mud. There are many rocks, all set very close to each other to cover the road.

Some of the ruins, showing the shelter that covers them

Walkway up to the gate, where a guide met us and took us through the ruins

Patty reads the sign at the entrance to Joya de Ceren

Bus from San Salvador to Joya de Ceren

More Sinus Work

2009-06-23T20:20:00.007-06:00

Most recent work has involved getting the rudder cables, from the pedals to the rear, connected. This may not sound like a long job, but it certainly has been. There are four cables (from the two sets of pedals) that need to be double-swaged and connected with cables that go on to the rudder, as will be shown in another post, as soon as I work up the photos.

This shows the center part of the cockpit, where the two control sticks will attach to the black metal bar seen through the square openings. To get that metal bar to fit in, I had to do what's shown below:

This is a view from holding the camera down through one of those square openings and making the photo blind. No flash here. Except with a mirror, I've not been able to see what the camera photographed. I had to Dremel away a lot of material shown here on the upper portion of the indentation in the center post. This allowed the metal bar to fit into place. It would not fit before. I did the work blind, by holding the Dremel tool where near where it needed to be, turning it on, and cutting some of the material away. Then I would feel the notch to see if I thought it was big enough, and it finally was. The metal bar, seen here on the right, partly installed, finally fit. The opening through which light is coming is the right hand square opening seen above. I was unable to get the mirror into this space while also using the Dremel tool (an electric rotary tool into which I can install any of several cutting bits).

This is the tail of the Sinus, where the rudder will mount. The slotted rod is the elevator pushrod which will mount to the lever that's beside it. The bolts with red paint around their tops are bolts that hold part of the mechanism inside the vertical fin. The red paint was applied with a paint applicator (a felt tip pen with paint in it). The paint will provide a quick way of looking to see whether a bolt has moved during aircraft inspections.

Inside the fuselage: This is where I've been working in recent sessions. It's rather uncomfortable. I've been connecting the two rudder cables which emerge from the two white lengths of tubing to two cables each that run from each of the four pedals.

Denver Tonight

2009-06-20T00:54:00.002-06:00

No motorglider work today! I drove to Denver this morning and afternoon to get Patty at the Denver airport (DIA). She'd been in Washington, DC, visiting with family, one of whom was graduated a day ago. She gets on another airplane at six Sunday morning, so I'll take her back to DIA and then go home.

("Was graduated" is the proper expression here, though while driving I just relistened to a Teaching Company CD course on the development of human language. This particular lecture was about how all language changes over time. It may be that "graduated" is so universally used that its the defacto-standard. Languages can work in many ways--in at least one, you don't sleep--rather, you "have a sleep." Other such expressions work similarly.)

Anyway, we're both about done in by our deeds this day, and are in danger of collapse. So we're about to give it up for the night.

Hike Near Kenosha Pass

2009-06-19T00:22:00.006-06:00

While taking Debbie to the airport to fly home, she, Patty, and I stopped for a hike near the summit of Kenosha Pass, which borders South Park, Colorado. Here is a view that overlooks northeastern South Park. It was one mile (more exactly, 1.03 miles by GPS) from the trailhead.

Here come Debbie and Patty down the trail.

The trail, which is a segment of the Colorado Trail, passes through heavy forest most of the way to the viewpoint pictured above.

BalloonaVista 2009

2009-06-16T19:30:00.005-06:00

Patty, my daughter Debbie, and I got up early on Sunday morning, June 7, to observe the balloon launches at BalloonaVista, an annual event held here. Patty and Debbie did more than just observe--they also got in line for a short, tethered liftoff!

One of many balloon flights that morning, seen here against the Collegiate Peaks.

We also went to the site near Buena Vista the evening before, when balloons would be inflated and lit up (momentarily, by their own internal propane burners). The display was spectacular against the late evening sky.

Desolation Canyon

2009-06-16T02:26:00.002-06:00

In the very recent past,this season, in Desolation Canyon, Joe Hutch Canyon Rapid was very much intensified by a debris flow that came down a canyon (in fact, it was Joe Hutch Canyon) from the right. There are said to be huge rocks the size of cars and trucks strewn about on the gravel fan, and apparently the first part of the rapid is now steeper. The water therefore goes much faster, and it piles up against a cliff where the river turns a little to the right. It's done that for a long time, but now the intensity of the place is way up!

It seems to me that all rapids on the river are changing in a cyclic manner. Say a rapid has almost washed away whatever obstacles stand in the way there. The rapid is therefore a mild one. But now suppose that a giant debris flow (a slurry of dirt, rocks, and water) comes bursting down the tributary canyon and really ups the intensity of that rapid! That very instant, the river starts to erode the bed of the rapid, rocks wash out, and before long, that rapid returns to the milder version of itself. The rapid is cyclic. It will endeavor to clean out its channel and become a milder version of itself. But a rapid is most often associated with a tributary stream, and this may flood again. The cycle continues...and I suspect that Joe Hutch Canyon Rapid is at the top of its cycle right now!

Slickhorn Canyon Photos

2009-06-05T22:13:00.002-06:00

The photos of Slickhorn Canyon, posted five posts ago on here, are probably very much out of date now. A HUGE flash flood roared down Slickhorn a little over a week later (I'm not sure about the exact date) and I'm sure a lot of sediments (including boulders) have been rearranged or swept entirely away.

I'd love to see the place again now! Other canyons entering the lower San Juan were similarly affected. As I've written before, this is how the continent develops, as chocolate-colored floods move stone toward the sea. Things change.

Geology Field Trip Gone Wrong, and Compensation

2009-05-30T23:46:00.008-06:00

This afternoon there was to have been a geology field trip here in the Upper Arkansas Valley. Maybe there was one. Three of us showed up at the junction of Highways 50 and 285, but no trip leader was in sight. We supposed that others had gone to the OTHER junction of 50 and 285, about a third of a mile south. The two highways coincide for about that far before Highway 50 splits off and heads east toward Salida and Ocean City, Maryland.

We waited, and then gave up. One of us had driven down to the other junction, and had seen two cars parked there. We surmised what must have happened. The geology trip had gone, though the junction we were at is the one commonly used for such meetings.

I went down to the other junction, got my bike out, and rode up the pass for about a mile. While doing this, I noticed a road on the other side of the canyon. All the times I've driven Poncha Pass, I hadn't noticed this. After biking (and I wasn't as energetic today as I've been before) I drove up there on County Road 115. It leaves Highway 285 near Poncha Springs, passes through a nice little group of houses, climbs, and returns to the highway about a mile up Poncha Pass.

Along the way is a large green water tank, which may be part of the system that sends water to the Salida hot springs pool. Farther, there is a very dilapidated set of buildings with a much less dilapidated swimming pool. Maybe this was a hot springs pool at one time.

This triplet of pine trees is right beside the parking place by the bridge, about 100 yards off Highway 285, about a mile south of Poncha Springs, Colorado.

This is the bridge across the creek, just off Highway 285, as above.

Rudder Pedals

2009-05-30T23:27:00.003-06:00

Here are the rudder/brake pedals installed in the Sinus. The brake pedals are the smaller horizontal pieces above the rudder pedals, which are the longer horizontal pieces. Aircraft brake usually work by tipping your foot forward. They're toe brakes.

Just this afternoon I removed each of the bolts, applied blue Loctite (actually the Permatex brand) and tightened them up again. So I'm committed to my installation!

An Error Fixed

2009-05-26T23:41:00.002-06:00

This is one of the knobs to pull on in order to move the set of rudder pedals closer or farther forward. A small length of braided cable will pass through the hole seen here, to pull on the release mechanism. This knob will be just above the aft end of the rudder pedal and brake assembly.

But I drilled the holes about a mm too large, and the rim of the silver-colored blind rivet would pass through, where it was supposed to rest on the rim of the hole. What to do? I drove to both ends of my county in search of a solution. I knew I needed to put something around that rivet, and make a way for the it to engage the rim of the hole.

It looked like 5/16" hard copper tubing might work, but the store in Salida was out of that size. I drove to Buena Vista, where there's another True Value hardware store, and found the tubing I thought would work. Dropping the silvery rivet in, I found that it just barely needed to be pushed into place! The ID gripped the rivet perfectly and the OD fit into the hole snugly. Excellent!

I had also bought a flaring tool, with which I flared one of the ends on each piece. Being hard copper (or more likely, an alloy thereof), not flexible, with thin walls, I was hoping the tubing would flare rather than crack. It worked fine. My error was reversed. The next morning I fixed the assemblies in place with a small amount of superglue, and I'm back in business.

I'd drilled the two bottom holes on each side correctly, having discovered my error before I got there.

Now to figure out the rest of the hardware for the rudder/toebrake assembly. I've mounted the pedal assemblies on both the pilot and copilot sides, and I've threaded the rudder cables through them from where they attach on the firewall.

Clay Hills

2009-05-26T22:10:00.003-06:00

Clay Hills was zoo-like, but maybe that's the price. Oh well. This takeout is actually in a beautiful area, but the aesthetic benefits tend to be lost under these circumstances.

It was almost worse. The shuttle company hadn't brought our vehicle from Mexican Hat! The paper had evidently been put in the wrong pile. One of their drivers was there for somebody else, had a cell phone, and placed a call to headquarters. A driver soon left there with our vehicle, so we didn't have to spend the night in this place and the day ended well.

Slickhorn Canyon

2009-05-26T20:30:00.005-06:00

Ah, cool water! This deep pool is truly a gem of the desert. Unlike the much smaller pools below, this one is too deep to touch bottom on one side. The temperature is perfect. Later in the season, this pool may have a layer of green algea, but not on this day!

The trickle of water down the canyon had dried up, and I was worried that the pool might not be good. But it was good. It's fed by a spring. There are other pools above, about which I know little.

More smooth limestone up the bed of the canyon.

Slickhorn Canyon, at mile 66.7 or so, is one of those wonderful experiences that you want to enjoy as often as you can! At first, you need to climb up along a very old road and then back down into the bed of the canyon. This bypasses a difficult drop. Once in the bed, it's like walking up a gray staircase of limestone. Ledge after ledge, each one lying above others, deposited at the bottom of an ancient sea, make your walkway. You can step up each new ledge, or you can at least climb up easily.

There was once a plan to drill for oil near the mouth of Slickhorn, so a rough road was built along the edge of the canyon, finally leading down to the mouth of Slickhorn, where a final job would bring an engine to the site. But with a few hundred yards to go (having come from the railroad at Gallup, NM) the machine tumbled over the edge and was destroyed! You can still see some of the wreckage below.

Government Rapid

2009-05-26T20:18:00.006-06:00

Ray and Teddy ride the tailwaves in Government, which is at Mile 63.

Looking out across the tongue at Government. Follow that tongue and you'll just have fun being swept safely past the several rocks on the right.

At low water, Government Rapid is mostly a rock-dodge. But it turned out that we had around 5K cfs! That makes Government into a real rapid with a tongue and a fun series of tailwaves. There is a slight left-turn to the rapid, so as always, you don't want to get stuck on the outside of a curve. But given that, you follow the tongue and ride the waves!

Johns Canyon

2009-05-25T00:30:00.004-06:00

This is the base of the sometimes-waterfall at the mouth of Johns Canyon. Dry for this photo, I've also seen a broad torrent of water cascading over the brink here. I didn't see a small dribble of water. I saw a full-on flash flood. It lands about where Teddy is standing, meaning that you can walk behind the waterfall where Ray is.

Honaker Trail

2009-05-24T20:09:00.009-06:00

Rock near camp at the bottom. I'd love to have seen this one come down!

Passing The Horn. The trail goes right along one side of it.

Patty on the trail

Ray starts down the steep trail again, going past the cairn.

The top! Patty examines the cairn. If you know how, you can drive to this place fairly easily from near Mexican Hat.

This place is called The Horn--a flat place in unflat terrain.

Up we go... Teddy, Ray, and Patty

This tall cairn marks the bottom of the Honaker Trail.

Down the River

2009-05-24T19:52:00.003-06:00

Underway down the river. Ray and Teddy float along.

A rock in the river near our Honaker camp

Mendenhall Cabin, Two Views

2009-05-19T16:12:00.005-06:00

An overall view of the Mendenhall Cabin, looking north toward the rim of the canyon. The trail comes up from the right of the photo, and another trail goes steeply down to the river to the left, on the downstream side of the Mendenhall Loop.

Collapsed wood in the Mendenhall Cabin

San Juan River

2009-05-18T21:58:00.012-06:00

Evening, the San Juan River near Johns Canyon.

This inlet at the mouth of Johns Canyon was made during the times Johns has been an active waterfall. I've seen it flowing at such a time. The water crashes down with a mighty roar and it could easily move large rocks then.

An area of rocks near the edge of the river, near the mouth of Johns Canyon.

The edge of the river, our first evening. It had been higher a few days earlier, as shown by the lines marking high water. The water would rise considerably during our trip though it wasn't obvious, even by the water sticks I often put at the edge of the water at night. The blue and white is our bowline--out of focus in this photo.

The Mendenhall Cabin, atop the neck of Mendenhall Loop, now somewhat broken down. Why was this cabin built? How did Mendenhall get here? Was this his only home? What happened here? What sort of life did Mendenhall lead? What do we know about Mendenhall?

Well, we do know a little about W. E. Mendenhall. You can know a little about him, too, by going here:

http://www.sharlot.org/archives/history/dayspast/text/2000_02_20.shtml

The landing to walk to the neck of Mendenhall Loop, seen here nearly over the top of Ray's head. The route goes up the ledge against which the boat is beached, but a small landslide has covered some of the ledge. A rough trail (not bad for a Canyon Country trail) goes up a little, to get over the rocks of the landslide.