Linda Salamone's Blog

Here we go again- long delay getting this out- sorry! Life's been in the way a bit.

So Day 5 and 6 were cancelled, and that means that Task 5 was on Day 7 (Wednesday). Corinna was the only one to goal and I don't remember much about the first part of the flight but I do remember a huge climb to 7K but no climbs after that. It was a tough flight. I tried to pull another low save off at the end and it didn't pan out. Mark had a big retrieve on his hands because I landed yet again quite a ways away from a locked gate.... I was very grumpy. I found that Kari landed a little past me so I wasn't the only one who had a problem with the big blue hole. Judy did AWESOME on this day, proving that a kingpost isn't always a detriment. I was 7th for the day.

Task 6 (Day 8- Thursday)- Rick and Mandy had left yesterday morning and so had a lot of volunteers. My sister and Corey arrived so that was pretty cool. The task on this day was changed 3 times much to Dave Glover's dismay.... We saw a huge Cu-Nim developing off to the west and we just didn't feel like sending everyone STRAIGHT to it. So instead we flew straight north but the storm grew into our path. I had shut my radio speaker off for a little bit when it got noisy- when I came back on, I radio checked and when Fred answered me I said I had had my radio off for a while. No one ever said another thing as I flew next to the rain to the TP until I heard Kari say she was on the ground. I pressed on and dove for the TP, getting a little wet in the process. I glided as far as I could and saw the gust front below me in the trees. I headed way east to outrun it but wound up landing in a 40mph headwind. Not a lot of fun but at least I didn't have to run out my landing.... Primos and some other rigids landed a little later in my field (a landfill) and they said their task had been cancelled. I didn't know it then, but so had mine. Probably should have figured that one out sooner....

Task 7 (Day 9 -Friday) So even though I was inclined to call a shorter task (we did make a short 'alternate' task) we had a 85 mile downwind called. At this point we had not undercalled a single day and I was thinking we needed to. More T-storms in the forecast but Davis said they are in the forecast EVERY day so what the hell. I was doing really well this day, going fast, staying very high. Raean was struggling with her VG cord again and her harness was coming undone from top to bottom, but she was very tenacious and didn't let it stop her. She actually fueled my flight as I realized what she was dealing with. I stayed with Big Natalie (Natalia) for much of the flight and we both got very low over Silver Springs. I finally climbed out and got very high again- like 6K - high enough to see the storm to the west and the dark sky ahead. I had a way around the immediate cell with altitude to spare, and I saw a way around some of the stuff ahead- but the call came today from Dave Glover that the task was stopped. Stopped not cancelled- which I knew was good because I was ahead of most of the pilots. So I would get a decent score- turned out to be the best score I ever got- over 800 points for the day for 4th place.

On the homefront, stuff was getting wacky for my babysitter. Her dog had bitten my son on the lip and she had spent the wee hours at the ER having his face sewn back together. Friday afternoon my daughter blasted her ankle and the babysitter spent the evning between the pediatrician and the orthopedic specialist with her. Earlier in the week, Mark had run Dana over to the walk-in clinic with a raging case of Strep Throat. So inside a few days, all three of my kids had fallen apart. Mark was soothing the babysitter by asking her 'which kid did you break today?' every time she called. Poor girl is getting married next month and she will most likely never have children....

So I find out on Day 10 that I am in 6th place over all now. I am totally psyched that I have clawed my way up from 12 since the first day. Kari and Corinna are still duking it out as we go into task 8-
I got off tow and found NOTHING. I went for a relight but got some lift climbed out slowly instead. Very slowly. So slowly I got impatient. I went off to start at like 2000 ft. I did get a decent climb over Groveland and got to base at 3700'. Then I got decked. I was so crushed and I was certain I lost my 6th place spot. I held it together packing up but when Mark got there (another locked gate!!!) I just had to bawl. Last day and I was so disappointed. After all the girls hating me for being on the nightmare task committee and big Natalie throwing my cell phone in the pond (unrelated) and PMS and sick battered kids and camping for way too long I just lost it. Mark and I picked up Judy and he dropped us back at Quest (it was SO close by) and we waited to see Kari and Corinna come into goal. And that never happened. Disappointment all around when we found Kari back but with her glider on top of Brian's truck. I went a whopping 9 km today!

So the awards happened Sunday afternoon and I was happy to find I had held onto 6th place. We began the drive back to Rochester via Trenton Georgia. We dumped Judy off at 2am after barely rolling to a stop and continuing on. Dana tried to get gas with cash (remember cash?) and was unsuccessful. So she stuck my debit card into the reciept slot and it sucked my card up. Wow. But it got spit back out and the rest of the trip she laughed her ass off about the look on my face when it disappeared. Monday we get home and busy doing wash and cleaning up and right when the evening is winding down Emily (on crutches) finds my old cat Turtle half dead on the 3rd floor bathroom floor. So back out the door Mark and I rush to the Vet's. She is in renal failure and not likely to make it through the night. I'm not ready to say good bye when I hadn't even said hello yet to her so we give the okay to treat her. I started my new job at 8 am and visited her at lunch today. She is a little better but it is a short reprieve. I hope to get her home so I can have a chance to be with her in her last days. It's cast a shadow on the fun of the meet. Silly thing, really, but I have had her for 16 years and I just can't bear the end right now. So Adam with his stitches and Emily with her crutches and me with my half dead cat... Mark has a few more retrieves left in him, I hope...