The Tale Spinner
Newsletter of the Tri-Area Flyers

 http://triarearc.org

(AMA Charter Number 4063, Radio Controlled Model Aircraft Club)

July 2003, Volume 4, Issue 7

Meeting Minutes:          (Next Meeting: July 8, 2003, Excapees RV Park)

                   Minutes of the 6/10/03 Meeting of the TriArea Flyers 

The meeting was called to order by President Wylie at 7:00PM at the SKP Clubhouse.  In attendance were: Wylie, Anliker, Pyles, Benjamin, Henley, Oaks, Moffett, Calkins, Phillips, Greene, Dantzler, Granger, Ryder and  Davis.  Jack Lemons attended as a guest. 

The minutes were read and approved and the Treasurer’s report indicated assets of $3391.89, comprised of $2694.89 in the bank and $697 in fuel inventory.  Anliker purchased 48 gallons of 15% Power Master fuel from a distributor in Battle Ground WA. 

It was announced that we would put up a transmitter impound rack near the sign.  The idea is to get us all more aware of potential frequency interference problems now that several of us are using the same frequencies. 

Painting of the storage shed was discussed and a pastel green color was decided upon. Anliker agreed to be the painting chairman (this means he is going to sit in his chair and give advice to the painters). 

Our Fun Fly is scheduled for Aug.16 with Sept. 13 as an alternate.  The program chairman did his best to set up programs into the next year.  These will be posted in the newsletter. 

Pyles discussed the new front page on the website and suggested we have a contest to find the best picture for the front page. 

President Wylie was the worthy recipient of the Crash-of-the-Month Trophy with the spectacular demise of his much- crashed Telemaster. His feeble defense of showing an invoice for transmitter repair would have been more effective if Webmaster  Pyles hadn’t already tried that ploy last year.  Granger was runner-up with his unsuccessful attempts to tame a high-performance  electric park flyer. 

Upon adjournment of the meeting, Stan Davis gave an interesting talk on pylon racing.  Eats were supplied by the Wylie and Granger households. 

Submitted by Bill Anliker, Sec./Treas.

OUR ALASKA ADVENTURE 2003 

(Or how we spent our summer vacation)

 CHAPTER 1

GETTING THERE 

We left Burlington, WA about 8:30 am June 17 and were soon at the border crossing at Sumas, WA.  There were only 2 cars ahead of us in the customs line so we had just enough time to get our passports and customs declaration card ready before it was our turn.  The man did not even want to see them!  He seemed to be more concerned about hard liquor, guns, and ammunition.  Anyway, he soon told us to have a good time and waved us on—total elapsed time perhaps 5 minutes including waiting on the other cars. 

We stopped in the small town of Lytton to fix lunch and just across the street was a store that had a cash machine and sold liquor.  I stocked up on both while Marg fixed lunch and we were on our way again.  We drove a total of 227 miles to Cache Creek Brookside RV Park and parked between 2 couples from our local area.  They were from Seabeck and Poulsbo and were also headed for Alaska, but intended to travel much faster.  It was quite warm so all of us gathered in the shade for a very pleasant happy hour. 

Our new friends woke us up the next morning when they pulled out before 7:00.  We slept in until 8:00 before getting up for a leisurely start.  We moved 204 windy, cloudy miles to Quesnel Airport Inn and RV Park.  The park cost about $18 US and has spacious full hookup sites with cable TV.  Diesel fuel appears to be about $1.80/gallon US, about $.30/gallon less than regular gas.  We got set up just before a thunderstorm came through, so happy hour was inside. 

Thursday, June 19 dawned bright and sunny.  We drove about 60 miles to a restored mining camp called Barkerville after its founder, miner Billy Barker.  The old town, which dates from 1862, is about 3 blocks long and 2 blocks wide.  The Canadian government has done a great job restoring the original buildings and replacing lost structures with other suitable ones.  The streets are dirt, but there are board walks on both sides of the main street.  Some of the buildings, such as the church are still used for their original purpose.  There were almost as many people, including children, in period costume wandering around as there were us tourists.  About half of the commercial buildings are being used for the original purpose—we had a very good lunch in the restaurant and I got a pasty and a sausage roll from the bakery.  Most of the other buildings were furnished in appropriate fashion for the locale and period right down to manikins engaged in various activities. 

During the drive back to Quesnel we spotted a small black bear and a big moose.  Beaver dams and lodges are relatively common.  It was still warm and sunny after shopping at the local Safeway, so we sat outside until it got cool. 

The next day we drove 265 miles through gusty winds and threatening clouds to Chetwynd Westwind RV Park.  They charged about $12.60 US for full hookups and large, level pull through sites.  We filled the bus with diesel in Prince George for the cheapest price yet, $1.67 US per gallon.  Along the way we saw 2 black bears and 2 moose (1 road kill).  It rained all night. 

Saturday June 21 we drove 336 miles to Ft. Nelson 5^th Wheel RV Park in gusty winds, but clearing skies.  We saw 2 moose and a calf plus a road kill along the highway today.  Had lunch and good pie at Mae’s where our trailer was repaired after a wheel fell off during the first trip. 

Sunday was a 167-mile run to Muncho Lake J & H Wilderness Resort (for sale).  It was cloudy all day, but the wildlife spotting was great!  The day’s bag was 2 black bears, 2 caribou, 3 moose plus a calf, and 3 or 4 large herds of Rocky Mountain Stone Sheep with many babies.  It cleared as we set up camp and we took our chairs down to the lakeshore for some sun.  After perhaps 15 minutes we noticed some strange splashes in the lake and coming toward us.  Sure enough the rain had sneaked in behind us and sunning was over. 

Monday June 23 we moved 162 miles to Watson Lake Campground Services.  It was cloudy most of the day and we saw 3 black bears and a cub plus a moose along the highway. Had a 1 mile construction area followed by a 10 + one.  Another shower during happy hour ran us in.  We toured the Sign Forest (over 47,000 at last count), but did not find the one we put up.  The roads have continued to deteriorate and we drove 50 or less about half the time today. 

June 24 we went 172 miles to Mukluk Annie’s for free dry camping, a free boat ride, and a great salmon dinner (not free).  Today we saw a large brown (grizzly) bear right on the shoulder of the highway.  The rain drove us in again! 

Wednesday we trekked a whole 97 miles to Whitehorse Pioneer RV and were able to get into our favorite area, a wooded hill.  The bus took on 60.4 gallons for a 10.4 mpg average since the last fill up.  Our discounted fuel cost was about $2.00/gallon US. 

Thursday, June 26 was play day with a tour of the only brewery in the Yukon, lunch at Boston Pizza, and a 2 hour tour of the Yukon Wildlife Safari which features animals common to the region such as musk ox, bison, sheep, goats, moose, etc.  I got a picture of a wolverine wrapped around Marg while she was petting it—with razor sharp claws over an inch long!  We topped off the day with happy hour outside with a campfire and no rain! 

After washing the bus Friday we drove to Stewart Crossing Whispering Willow RV Park right on the Stewart River.  The park was shabby and the mosquitoes were plentiful.  We drove the car to an old silver mining town called Mayo.  They were celebrating their 100^th anniversary that evening and the old town was probably as dressed up as it ever gets. 

Saturday June 28 we arrived in Dawson City in the heart of the Klondike.  It was nearly a 2 hour wait to get the rig across the Yukon River on the free ferry, but we found a great camp site in the Provincial Park right on the river—just as it started raining again.  We probably had 25 miles of gravel road getting to Dawson City and none of it was mentioned in the Milepost.  The Rain stopped and the sun came out during dinner, so we ended up the day with a nice campfire. 

On Sunday we wandered around Dawson City.  All the storefronts were freshly painted and the boardwalks were much improved.  The streets were still gravel and dusty, but the traffic moved slowly, so it was not bad.  We ended the day by taking in the show at Diamond Tooth Gertie’s—mostly can can dancers and mildly bawdy songs.  During part of the show Pete got the attention of some of the dancers and he wore their lipstick all the way to camp! 

Monday June 30 is Top of the World highway to Tok, AK.  The highway was supposed to be paved for 2/3 of the way and it was—more or less.  There were many frost heaves, potholes, and rough patches that served to keep speeds low on the pavement.  The 60 miles of gravel was much worse with some of the worst wash boarding we have ever encountered.  At times our speed was less than 8 miles per hour and it still felt like the rig was going to shake apart.  The last time we took the road it was all gravel and it took us 6 hours to travel the 180 miles.  Even with the pavement it still took us 6 hours!  Some of our stuff had shifted around, but we have found no damage so far and everything is working OK.  We had lunch in beautiful downtown Chicken which is about 3 businesses long—very easy to capture the whole thing in 1 picture.  Dinner was at Fast Eddie’s, a nice restaurant in spite of its name.  What about the scenery on a Top of the World Drive?  To start with, you really do feel as if you are on top of the World as the views go to the horizon with green hills white streaked with snow.  Much of the drive is above tree line.  We even encountered a few snow patches by the side of the road.  Very pretty does not cover it!

Photo's from the Field:             (double click the photo to make it larger)

Club members (from left to right) Bill Anliker, Lonnie Philips, Dick Benjimin, and Ken Oaks	Dick with the "alusive North Star" preparing for flight	Lonnie Philips made a few modifications to his vertical stab to make the plane go faster.	Club members (from left to right) Ken Oaks, Dick Benjimun, Roy Green, Lonnie Phillips	Pete Granger with his "park flyer" as discribed in last months newsletter
Bill Anliker and his Dehavalen Beaver	Brian Anderson and his	Interest launching method?	Lorne Nisbet and his "other" airplane. He is really flying it well!	Bruce Scott dusts off the Ultimate 120!
Bruce Pyles still trying to get a handle on flying patterns with his Kois 60

 

 

Editors Note:

Last month I made a comment about Pete and his "Park Flyer".  Upon further consideration, and watching him fly the model this month, I retract my statement about Crash Trophy.  We don't need a special one as I suggested;  he should have won it hand down.  (Just kidding!!)