You know you are hooked when...

Well, I got a rack set up for my minivan. The only drawback is that I... own a minivan. And now, I'll keep it for another 100K miles to justify dropping the money I did on the rack. Part of it is a standard Thule rack that fits in my van's existing rack slots (the existing rack wasn't quite high or straight enough). The hard part was the front portion, which I had to have custom made at Hitch Crafters. Here we go... pics of a minivan, this'll drive traffic to my site.

I figured I needed to be able to drive the glider home when I bought it, which I've done... sort of. I've ordered one, but it has yet to be built. Wills Wing is the last manufacturer in the US and they are based in Orange, closer to my house than to the mountain. I picked Red and Blue accents on a white glider. White is the main color because its material is the best, in the same way that vanilla is, technically, the best ice cream (or at least my Pop said so from his days making it in college). My Falcon 3 will arrive somewhere at the end of January.

A lot of beginners buy used gliders to get rolling on the cheap, but I suspect that Icarus got his feathers off Ebay. Besides, $3K is not much for what you are getting (a flying contraption). In less gliding-friendly places (East of the Rockies, IMHO), there's more pressure to transition to more efficient (and harder to fly) gliders, but in the sunny skies over the windswept mountains of California, a beginner's Falcon has been known to keep pilots happy until the Sun's ultra-violet rays wear out the wings.

Wills Wing test fly every glider they make. When the test pilots come in for a landing, their feet often glaze the tops of the weeds for the last hundred feet or so. They are so efficient and smooth, they take full advantage of ground effect. Knowing they will test your glider is like knowing that the third baseman for the Angels took a few swings with your Louisville Slugger before it was shipped it to you... except, if your bat breaks, you don't have to reach for your 'chute.

I'm really looking forward to its arrival.