Sunday, June 30, 2019

Alex Made Me Do It!

Not sure when I have had a moment on a Saturday to do nothing, but yesterday was it, and nothing didn't last long! Reece found some furniture and asked me to go get it, somewhere on Punaluu Valley Road. Hmmmm, I know where that is; we know someone who lives there! I said I would go right away. As she got ready for work, I made a call to Alex: will it be flyable in 45 minutes? And of course the Pied Piper said yes. So here is a brief writeup of the day. Please excuse all the poor grammar and spelling mistakes in this sophomoric story!

I loaded my wing, hoping I remembered how to fly it, and headed to Kahana, oops, I mean, to go get furniture (shhhhhh). The people selling the furniture were really nice, and they helped me load it up. They told me they always see at least one wing up every day ... wonder who that would be.

Alex and I trudged up east launch in the punishing heat. The trail was a mess: downed trees and overgrown bushes everywhere, and choked with those little bugger seeds. At launch, upon dropping my rucksack next to Bob's rock, I got a text: did you get the furniture ... how does it look? I texted back, yes, and then, looks great. Accompanied by a picture from launch, captioned: Alex made me do it! I'm glad I was not one of her patients right then, because that needle would have been driven deep. She texted back: you fly, you need it. Which was true. So I did!

If you can believe it, Alex went first, and then I followed soon after. We got high at Kahana, and after a while I heard Alex on the radio, proposing that we head over the back to Sacred Falls. I got a little swirl in my tummy, since my bump tolerance is still not back, and my head is not totally in the cross country game. Plus I was a little tired, due to some craziness we had to deal with the night before ... but that's another story.

Alex directed me to head on over, and he would follow. Somehow he cruised over super high, while I got to Punaluu at 1,300 feet. The fun zone! Why did Alex make me do this? Scraping my way up in whatever little bug farts I could find, I saw Alex was already higher than high, easily over three grand already. I clawed my way up foot by foot, until I could at least make out my wingman a bit more clearly. Getting above Sacred Falls was gorgeous, with its many iconic cascades punctuating the lush green forest plateau. I hadn't seen that cloud soaked vista in over four years.

After a couple hours I called it; I'd had my fill of turbulent climbs over that mind blowing view, and I told Alex I was headed back to Kahana. On our high glide, we could hear the Makapuu crowd over the radio. We made it back to Kahana handily, then benched up there and headed the other way, across the bay. You'll never guess who made it there on his first go. You're right, it wasn't me. On my first attempt, I slid into the grovel pit, and it was not very nice down there, so I retreated back across the bay. On my second try I came in higher, but by this time the wind was easing off, and I saw poor Alex sinking down to Swanzys to land. He was greeted by a troupe of young gypsy campers who brought him a beer upon landing, which explains why we didn't hear from him for a while!

I turned back and called it a day, with a beatific smile on my face as I landed. I texted Reece that I was on the ground, and I may have muttered to myself: Thanks Alex, you made me do it!

As our projects on the house are slowly seeing daylight, it will be ... time to fly, get our gear and go!!!

2 comments:

firedave2 said...

Thom: It is good to see you back online. It has been quiet here.

We may need to change your handle to Journeyman, and Reece to General. Good fun. We have to have a club meeting, let us know if the palace is available?

Thom said...

No Parking here, have to come by boat or uber.