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By James Maddox
I arose, and made myself presentable, as best as I could, in anticipation of chance encounters with the opposite gender. Soon, I sauntered around the camp, greeting all of those that I passed, when I suddenly halted, very much aghast at the beauty before me. This figure, which was only a vision in my reveries, just a few moments before, stood before me in real life, an icon of delight! I had to meet her! As I came nearer, to her, I dug down into my quiver of opening lines, and came up with the one that had always worked for me in the past! I blurted it out with all the confidence of a rutting peacock, "Hello"! "Hello yourself" she replied. This conversation was beginning to drag on; I began questioning the time that it was taking to connect with her. I hoped that she was worth all of the effort that I was exerting. I continued on, however, and found out that her name was Skippy. Before I could ask her why she was named after a brand of Peanut Butter, I found myself in a jam! I found out that I had a rival for her affection, and this rival was now standing behind me! His name was Tony! It was too late to turn and run now, the damage was done. I had to be a man and fight for her affection. I turned to Tony and laid down my glove before him. He gladly accepted my challenge of a dual. We were to fight with swords. (My pistols were in the shop for repairs) We faced off, and I noticed a certain glint in my foes eyes. Unfortunate, I thought, that such a confidence was portrayed by someone foolish enough to be at the business end of my sword! Being the gentleman that I was, I allowed him to make the first move. He lunged, and I fought off. He lunged again, and again I repel his advance. Lunge, defend, lunge, defend, man this guy was good! I had a hard time fending off his attacks! I come to find out that he was trained, in battle, by a Russian coach, and was very skillful with a sword. I, however, was trained by…. I was trained by… hey, what's going on, why couldn't I remember who had trained me? Why, I hadn't been trained at all! In fact I didn't have the foggiest idea of what I was doing! This guy was coming at me, full bore, with that sharp pointy thingy, and I was going to die!!! I decide that the best defense was to throw down my weapon, fall to my knees and beg forgiveness, but it was to late, he lunged and I felt the cold hard steel pervade my soul, blood slithered down my pre-carrion being. Wait a minute, that wasn't blood, it was sweat. That wasn't steel I felt, running through my heart, it was heartburn from the dinner I had the night before. I wasn't run through, I was scored upon by an epee.
The forecasted rains had arrived at precisely the time that us early birds, had arrived at the Wild Cattle launch. Being the optimist that we were, we stayed at the top, even went to the trouble to build a fire. There we huddled all in our flight suits, waiting for what wouldn't happen, until Saturday, around noon. We were waiting for a clearing big enough to launch in. Enough said, we had to drive down. Those experienced Big Sur regulars brought alternate entertainment, which is where the fencing equipment came into being. Mike Stubbs and Mark Winegar brought the equipment to practice on during the non-flying times. Mike was gracious enough to lend me his equipment, and Mark taught me a few moves. Then, confident in my newfound knowledge, I found out that Tony deGroot knew how to fence, and had trained for 7 years. Enough said, I had to try out my new sport. That was the precise point where my pride left my body. I was killed time and time again by Tony's quickness, and skill. I don't think I was able to defend even one of his moves. Oh well, I guess I had better stick with Paragliding.
Sunday morning, and all of the indicators were positive. I made sure that I was around for the original drive up to the launch above the campground. A short, hike and off we went. I was finally in the air, after two days of weather delays. This is the real entertainment. Flying in Big Sur is always worth the wait, even for this short, early morning sled ride. After landing, I watched Chad show off his new skills at Paragliding aerobatics. He performed two SATs and then smoothly, transitioned to landing mode. Once on the ground, we quickly gathered up everyone and headed up to Wild Cattle. I was first off, and didn't have much luck sustaining much more than circling in small glide extenders.
When everyone landed, I was eager to gather as many people as I could, and we drove back up to try again. This time I was more successful, and managed to soar for as long as I wanted to. All in all, I flew four times Sunday. Two of the flights were soaring flights, that if I had more endurance, I would have not needed to land and drive back up. I have been to Big Sur on many occasions, when the weather was great, and didn't get four flights in! I stayed through to Monday, along with Chad, of course, and a few of his students. We were rewarded with one beautiful flight above the camp ground. But it started to rain, even before we landed. I guess we shouldn't be too upset with the weather conditions. All we needed to do, was be patient, and we were rewarded. Big Sur, what a great place!!!!! |
Saturday morning the rains were heavy. I awoke with the foreboding redolence of doom looming in the air. I looked out the window, with the innocence of thought that such an ominous presentiment would show itself on command, but life does not work that way!
