I've been gone a long time, almost a month, and although I flew my heart out for seven straight days at the Rat Race near the end of that trip, somehow that didn't stop me from pining for the sweet smooth air of my home skies and the familiar lush scenery below. After a long, damp, grey day at home today, trying to catch up on work, I cooked dinner for the family and then snuck out to Kahana to see if there might be a last minute window of flying opportunity.
When I pulled around the corner of the bay, Woody was already up in the air, and I scrambled up to join him as fast as my out-of-shape body could go, launching shortly before six. It was about ten degrees north of the typical trade direction, but I was hopeful that would be enough for a bay crossing. While Woody practiced his gyrations around north launch, I climbed to more than two grand over Puu Piei, and chatted with Frank, Dave and TommyRD on the radio as they were finishing a late flight at Makapuu. Woody started to work his way up to join me, but I was racing the fast falling dusk, so I blazed out under the low clouds and across the bay.
I ventured past Kaaawa to Kualoa, for a quick glimpse of Mokolii and Kanoehe Bay in the twilight gloom, before turning back to flee the thick dark clouds building offshore. I flew back to Kahana, where Woody was playing low over the ridge, but the black clouds were close behind. So I continued on to the clear skies above Punaluu, climbing above the front of the ridge there before hopping over to Hauula, where I landed in the park as the sun was setting over the North Shore.
After confirming that Woody would retrieve me after he packed up at Kahana, I sat myself down in the park to enjoy a solitary tasty beverage, as I watched the last of the sunbeams light up the tops of the clouds out over the ocean. Man, is it great to be back.
Friday, June 29, 2012
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4 comments:
Beautiful..........welcome home.
Thanks, I needed that.
I have been waiting for new stories and this will hopefully be the beginning of many more this summer.
Glad you snagged a window. I got to move to Punaluu.
This was the best coffee I have sipped in awhile, I gotta say it, its about darn time!
Welcome back!
You have a propensity for snagging those cool windows of opportunity.
I need to move to the windward side!!! :)
Mahalo for the story...
=-) Sharky
Hi,
My name is Jane and I'm with Dwellable.
I was looking for blog posts about Punaluu to share on our site and I came across your post...If you're open to it, drop me a line at Jane (at) Dwellable (.com)
Hope to hear from you :)
Jane
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