Adventures in Llano, TX

I guess I write this like you are sitting in front of me and we are having a chat (with tea and an English accent apparently). I just came back from my first soaring contest in Llano, TX. I was not real excited about going, but it turned out to be a very fun experience. The contest started on Monday, but unfortunately for Andrew the weather wasn't great and he didn't get to fly until Wednesday.

On my first day of crewing Andrew landed out (not at the airport). Luckily my good friend Nicole was with me because I didn't have a clue what I was doing and she was there to keep me laughing about it. Another one of the contestants and his wife (John and Vivienne) helped me hook up the trailer to our car so that I could go get Andrew out of the field. All of the people helping us were very concerned that two city girls wouldn't be able to handle this, but we felt confident that we could handle anything that came our way.

Then we met Bryant. As it happened, Andrew landed in a field that had a lock on the gate. We had to get a key before I could get to him. Bryant owns a car lot in Llano and everything about him screams "I'm a Texan, I like to make people feel inferior to me and I don't like planes (especially in my field)." Needless to say he was not the easiest person to deal with. He ended up sending us out to his land with two of the men who work the land. It turned out really well because the two men helped Andrew put the plane in the trailer.

I was in contact with Andrew this whole time and his directions to get me to the field included "turn at the goats." This is what we were dealing with. All in all, it was a great adventure. Something we can laugh about for many years to come.

The rest of the days were calm. There was a lot of waiting in the hot sun, but Andrew landed at the trailer every time after that. I couldn't believe it was so fun, but it turns out that I was able to get to know everyone really well and the soaring community are some of the nicest, most helpful people I have ever met! I will even surprise myself by saying, "I can't wait until next year!"