This is a wonderful site. A good friend sent it to me, and I have been trying to click it everyday. It is for real, and it really helps all the stray & abandoned animals. Check it out, and try to click it when you think about it. Or better, make an icon on your desktop so you don't forget it !! ! ! !

http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/clickToGive/home.faces?siteId=3&ThirdPartyClicks=ERA_012208_ARS

Lookout Mtn. Flight park had it's second very successful annual Chili-cook-off last night. Lee organized it again this year, and did a marvelous job at it. I don't know the exact head count, however, I believe that it was over 100 hungry folks showed up for this middle of the winter off season party. There were 15 entries this year( 7 entries last year), a keg (which probably added to the numbers, haha), and all the fixing to go with it. Thanks to all that donated chili, the cornbread makers, volunteers that put out all the fixings, and Rick Jr. (shown below, and first in line) for playing his guitar & singing during the get-together.
Lia won 1st place this year, and recieved $105.00 as prize money. Followed by: Nancy took 2nd,,, Rochelle took 3td, and Carl & I tied for 4th.

I couldn't get a shot with everyone in it. However, think you can see from this shot,,which is about 1/2 of them, that everyone is ready for warmer & more flyable weather season. I truely miss the saturday, weekend get together with families and friends. I have had enough cold weather to last me the rest of the year !! ! !!

I don't know if my picture of the deer , inspired him or not, but Dub got a nice 9 pointer last week. I believe that it was a 10 pointer, and one of the points broke off. He is going to mount this one for his living room wall. I just know Cindy will be oh so pleased, haha! Congrats bro!

We actually got some snow this year, on top of Lookout Mtn.. 3" worth. Hopefully, it will kill all the bugs for this next year.

I shot a 16 pointer this year(with my camera). This pic is for Dub,,,I couldn't do what he wanted me to do, don't think google would bail me outta jail, haha!

Let's take a little journey back in time. Can you imagine back in the day when there was only the different tribes of Indians in North America? Back when the Indian cheifs would name certain things, and places. Indians are responsible for naming a large amount of town, and places. Every man can speak a little bit of the language. If you dont believe me,, imagine this. The Cheif has just come to rest in this beautiful place, and it's time to name it. All the braves and himself are sitting around talking about the days hunt, and trying to come up with a name. When out of the quiet evening air, comes his wife demanding him to do something,,,,,,, thus the name.

I had to pull over after taking this pic, best laugh that I've had in months ! ! ! Hope that you can see the humor.

Today was another great fly-day. Conditions were strong later in the afternoon, gusting to 30mph at times. However, before that a lot of pilots were able to get safely in the air and enjoy as much ridge soaring as they could tolerate. I say tolerate because, it was a day for the polar-bears ! Below cloud base 500-1000', it was approx. 34 degrees. The airtime ranged from 1 hour to over 3 1/2 hours. There was also reports of the thermal strength of over 1,000 fpm with the same amount of sink. I know 2 pilots, Rich & Paul, flew all the way to Rising Fawn & back. I didn't get a chance to talk with Carl, I'm sure he went somewhere.
All of the weather sites that I consult( and my friends in Huntsville), ADDS, Intellicast, Launch Code, and the local Covenant College website, showed alot of west components in it. Nothing could have been further than what actually happened today. There was actually more of a northerly direction during most of the day, until very late in the day on the surface, which turned WNW. This switch at the end of the day was the saving grace for alot of the pilots still in the air. Rich even made the comment of how switchy that it was in the mid-afternoon conditions. He said that he was getting a bit chilled, and had almost decided to land. He then said he saw what the windsock was doing, and headed back to the ridge for another hour to let it all calm down in the LZ. As anyone that has flown here on a Northerly day can attest to, the rotor over the foothills will keep you frosty on your approaches ! Putting it mildly of course, for the weak at heart, hehe.
It was great to look up at 5 o'clock and see about 20 gliders in the air.
My flying gear got stolen when I was in a hotel in Dallas, TX, on a business trip. I had to buy all new gear, and was able to do it thanks to my homeowners insurance. My new harness was ready, and Matt Tabor tweaked it for me yesterday. Jerry, the sail, harness, parachute master, had it ready with all the small fixes today at 3:30/ 3:45. As you know from reading above,,,it was Honkin' at that time. My first flight in it wasn't going to be in that rodeo/ rowdy air ! So, I just helped John Stokes, and Jeff wire alot of pilots off. I had no doubts about launching or flying in it, it was the landing for the first time, that I wanted to nail. I wasn't 100% sure or unsure about it, so I chose to fly another day. As any safe, conservative, COLD pilot would do. So, I drove down to the LZ to give some body rides afterwards, and watch the entertainment of the landings. Fortunately,,,I was pleasantly disappointed by not seeing one terrible or exhilarating landing out of all of them. I was told I was too late, the winds had calmed down and had a steady direction, unlike earlier. Thanks Dale !
Ian has promised me some pics from the day, and I will post them as soon as I get them.

I put this particular song on here for two reasons. One,,, Randy was so ready for his 4th mountain launch, and the wind was preventing it( as you can notice from the windsock). And it was the song that came to my mind while watching him hang-waiting. Unchain my heart and set me free. Also, to get your toes tapping.

The tailwind did die down enough for him to safely get another sledder in today. He also nailed his landing. Great aggressive flair, no stepper, on his feet not far from the cone. Judy didn't fair as well on the training hill this morning. Nothing broken, just a little hurt pride, I suppose. At least one thing is out of the way in her flying career---she doesn't have to worry about any more tree landings. One is usually enough, ha ha ha!

I visited Pocahontas today,,, hope Cpt. John Smith didn't mind :^}

Roddy & Rachael were our host again this year for New Years Eve. And what a lovely time we had.

There was only one thing warmer than our host & hostess, and the feelings of the fellow pilots, friends,and the camaraderie. There's a picture of it below.

The first moments of 2008. If we knew we were going to make it this far,,,you think we would have taken better care of ourselves????? The rest of the pics will be loaded on Dan Barkers site. Look under "Lots of Pics" link to the right.

Happy New Year to all.

This is Dave Miller( Kid Dave,comedian extrodinare) & his lady. The following is his latest email post for us.

Yo peeps, homeys, and LMFP G's,

Happy new Year!!!! Now I can say without jinxing it; we made it all the way thru 2007 without an ambulance, medical flight helicopter, or any emergency vehicle for that matter being called to the landing field. (Yeah, I know about the people picked out of the trees off the launch, but that's not my jurisdiction.) As far as I know, there were no hang gliding injuries of any significance in the landing field!!! Outstanding work, people!! Our number one priority is always safety. Then beer. Wait, safety, then openly mocking poor landing technique, then beer. Wait, wait. Safety, then towing, THEN openly mocking poor landing technique, especially if involves bent aluminum, then beer, then good will towards men. Yeah, that's it.

Wanna thank all the LZ staff for a great effort this year. My co LZ manager Eric, tow pilots Trevor and Joel, Tandem guys Steve, Rex, Dan Zink, Mike Labado, mechanics Virgil and Pablo, and all around guy Alex.
I couldn't ask for a better group of guys to work with. They make those long 12 hour summer days seem more like 11 hours and 45 minutes. Gentlemen, I salute you.

Also would like to thank everybody for their cooperation when it came to keeping the pool locked, keeping vehicles out of the field, and avoiding the airplane hangars. It makes life so much easier with everyone's help and cooperation! We have a great membership here, and I have enjoyed the last 4 years working for you. Thanks again!

I'm pretty much outta here for the winter, doing standup in clubs across the country, but hope to be back in the spring for another season of flying. Look forward to seeing everybody then.

Happy New Year!!!

Dave miller