Driving Slow on Sunday Morning

Typical gorgeous winter conditions here this past week. We haven't been going hundreds of miles, but we've had lovely flights. Yesterday Carl and I headed north hoping for a hundred. With a bit of a late start thanks me me pinning off way too early twice, we realized we weren't likely to make it that far. So instead we found this amazing fly-in community with a 5000 ft beautifully manicured grass runway. Everyone was tickled to have us there. Dozens came out to watch Carl land after me, then they offered us beer and food and bathrooms. I'm convinced we would have had a nice warm bed to sleep in had we not had a driver on the way. In the end, I even got a helicopter ride!!

The bald eagles are out in full force this time year. I had a nice 700 up thermal with one, but couldn't get the camera out in time. We found this one beside the road.

Paul and Lauren been going to this cool mountain biking park up north. Saturday was windy, so we spent the day up there trying to keep up with the British BMX champion. Lauren's handle bars suddenly came loose on a jump and she took a nasty little spill but still had fun riding with us all day.

Copa Conquer 2008 DVD

At the Canoa ridge race this year we had a well known documentary film-maker putting together a great little DVD about the race. Manuel been doing surfing films for some time now and it was cool having him and his beautiful fiance Elle out there getting so much footage of our flying both in Guayaquil and Canao. He has created a great DVD of the entire adventure and you can get one directly from me for $20 - just email me at naughtylawyer@gmail.com. If you've ever thought of coming down to the ridge race (or you can't make it down and want to make yourself feel really envious ;-) you ought to see this video. I'll say what I've said a hundred times before - this is the best competition I go to all year long and I will be going for as long as they put it on!

Here are a couple of short clips from the DVD.

Me & My Baby

Home in California for the first time in over two years. It's very strange being here, nearly like a foreign country, but not in the good way. Brooke picked me up at the airport and she's as beautiful and perfect as ever.