Long EZ

Having been a pilot for just over 10 yrs now, I have always wanted to own my own plane. Rewind to El Monte Airport circa 1996, I am training for my pilot’s license. It was a normal day at the field when over the public address system, which broadcasts the control tower’s communications with all aircraft in the airspace in and around the airport, a pilot inbound for landing announced that he was having a problem with the throttle on his airplane. He indicated that he either had to keep the plane’s throttle set either full on or completely off. There was no in between. If he set the throttle to off, the plane’s engine would quit. It is pretty hard to land a plane when the pilot cannot adjust the throttle as needed while flying an approach to landing. If the pilot were to cut the throttle and the engine died, he would have only one shot to make the landing and if he left the throttle on he would be going way too fast to land.

Well, I guess the pilot decided that he would keep the throttle on while doing “S-Turns” on final approach to landing to keep his speed down so when over the runway and the engine was cut off he would be going slowly enough to land.

While looking for the plane on final approach I saw was a small, sleek, jet fighter-looking airplane called a Long EZ and thought, “that’s the airplane I want!”

Fast forward to 2008, and at the prompting of a good friend, I reached out to an owner of one of these planes, who keeps it hanger’d at a local Tucson airport. I sent him an email asking if I could meet him to see his airplane and ask him some questions about it. He emailed me back the next day saying that would be fine with him and to tell him when I would be in town next. I told him that I would be there in a few days and he said to meet him at the airport that weekend. After calling him the night before I would meet him at the airport, he told me that he had room for a passenger for his flight to have lunch at a nearby airport the next day and needless to say I said I would love to ride in the back. You will find some pictures of the Marc’s plane and our flight that day below:

Preflight

Snug fit

Head on

Very fun (and snug)!

Turning final at Eloy

Very cool cloud formation on leeward side of mountain

Same cloud formation shot out over the wing

Marc putting the plane away

Post flight

Casa de Blackstar

So, I told you in my past posts I have been in the market for a home, well almost 2 months ago I signed a contract to have a new home built, yeah! Oh, and in Tucson, yer money goes a bit further than it does in LA.

I chose a model to build based on an already built home of the same model I had seen at another development I had been looking in. (sorry Shannon, I know I shouldn’t use a preposition at the end of a sentence, old habits die hard!) After deciding not to put an offer on a home in that other development, due to a huge flood plan issue, I looked in this much nicer part of town, location, location, location. Not only is it in a nicer part of town but also it is less than 15 miles to the office!

As you will see in the pictures, my development backs up to a mountain range in the Tucson area and the view from my back porch, or the area that will be my porch is amazing. The clincher/confirmation that I made the right choice on this specific development happened as I was leaving the sales office after signing the contract. While I was heading to the car with my agent I spied two guys on their mountain bikes, rolling off a trail-head approximately 100 yards from my driveway, then putting them on top of their car and driving away. Ummmm yeah, I think it is a fit!

Enjoy the photos below, more to come in the next few day, peace….

View from front yard

View from what will be the back patio

The park next to my house

A few of my favorite things....

This nearly year on active duty, away from my civilian job, has provided some really cool experiences like flying around in really cool military helicopters, wearing night vision goggles, shooting really BA guns and stuff, it has kept me super busy. Busy enough to have made more than I spend, way more..... I have been able to purchase a few things that needed replacing like a new laptop, Mac this time but more importantly a new mountain bike!

It could be said I like to ride the bicycle just a little..... and after riding my old mountain bike for more than 12 years I decided to buy a new one. My old mtb frame had actually broken while on a training ride with Chrissy B. in Big Bear (Chrissy, Greg C. and I did an adventure race together) for an adventure race like 8 years ago. Luck would have it that the mechanics at the bike shop at Big Bear Mountain were able to fix the frame (rear derailleur cable braze-on) with 2 zip ties and I was able to not only finish training for and compete in the adventure race, but went on to race the same event the following year and continued to ride the bike with the fix for nearly 4-5 more years! 2 zip ties is all it took, if only those guys knew that their emergency fix would hold for nearly 5 years, hey, it worked why would I replace it. Thanks guys!

I was able to retire the old Balance MTB with the help of a good buddy of mine Guy J. who was upgrading his ride and gave me his old bike (a GT), which was an upgrade for me since it was a full-suspension bike. It was a bit of boat anchor compared to the Balance but it was free.... so it ROCKED as far as I was concerned!

So fast-forward, I am in ABQ at Performance Bike Shop looking for a pair of bike shorts when I started talking the manager (Mike H. who is good Pennsylvania boy like yours truly) about really wanting (not needing, wanting) a new MTB bike. I told him that I have been dreaming about the Specialized Enduro, which is a bike that is a kind of hybrid MTB, both good at cross-country riding and non-technical downhill and freeride riding. Lots of suspension travel but still pretty light weight. Mike say that his store has a bike that is spec'd pretty much the same way as the Specialized but about a 1/2 to 2/3 the price! Well this baby was a beaut! And after calling a couple of west coast Performance Shops we were able to find my size (large) and got it shipped to ABQ and I picked it up. It is a DREAM to ride! When you ride it, it keeps saying very quietly but firmly - "Go FASTER, Go FASTER!"

I have been able to ride it a few times since getting it, on my fav trail in Tucson, Fantasy Island. Fantasy Island is essentially 18 miles of one way, single track, some flat and fast, some twisty and very technical with lots of ups and downs. One this is consistant on the whole 18 miles, cactus all around the trails and mistakes, ie going off the trail can be a bit painful! It is located to the eastern most boundary of Davis-Monthan AFB here in Tucson where my unit is located. Check out a few pics of the bike and the entrance to Fantasy Island trail network.