Tarantula Trek 2001
Larry Vetterman and Mount Rushmore
There is a West Texas RV group that makes lots of trips together. Their latest plan was to head north from Texas and maybe hit Southern Canada. I was lucky enough to be invited on this particular scenic tour scheduled to leave the day after Independence Day. I was be able to spend only 3 1/2 days with them of their 9 day trip. Our group was heavily represented by educators as half of us are either are currently or were, teachers or education administrators.
On the evening of July 4th I was out at the airport preparing the airplane when I saw the first Tarantula of the season. These Tarantulas; you either see a bunch of them or none. I took it as a very good omen. Tarantulas are like a lot of RVers; they look kind of rough but they are really docile and good hearted when you get to know them. Also, they roam. You never see a Tarantula sitting in the corner like a Black Widow; these guys are on the road and traveling. Sounds like a good namesake to me.
An Early Start
I had to take off about 30 minutes before sunrise in order to be able to make the rendezvous at Lamar, Colorado at the appointed time. This last time I made a trip along this approximate route was in 1988 when Charles Shaw and I took off from Hobbs, NM in the late morning in our low performance 1-26 gliders attempting to fly to predeclared goals of Holly, CO and Lamar, CO respectively. We used each other to help spot thermals in the early part of the day, then separated later. The Canadian River Canyon was a significant barrier that day. I was down to about 700 feet struggling with this rough terrain just ahead, when I found the key thermal that took me up to around 13,000 feet, which was enough to get over the canyon.
South Rim of the Canadian River Canyon
After about 6 1/2 hours of flying, Charles and I were both successful in reaching our goals. These are still the longest goal flights, made in thermals, for 1-26 sailplanes.
The timing worked out pretty well, as I was on downwind at Lamar as Judy was clearing the runway. Now we were all flying together, somewhat slower, and much more economically than I am used to. The slower speed worked well when flying as a group, as it made it feasible for airplanes at the rear to catch up. Unless there is quite a speed difference, this takes forever, which just goes to show again, these small speed differences make very little actual time difference on shorter trips.
Now The Group is Together!
Nebraska Stream
We chatted as we flew along. Becky had never been to Colorado before, and unfortunately she was still not able to see the Colorado Rockies, since visibility was not good enough (only 50 miles or so). With the chatting, and photography, and trying to keep some kind of formation, time went very quickly.
Near the North Platte River
Rick's Airplane, With The Obligatory Texas Symbol
Wes had contacted Larry Vetterman, who was waiting on the ground at Hot Springs, South Dakota, when we landed at 11 AM. Larry was extremely hospitable and even arranged for all four of our planes to be hangared at this small airport. Judy's airplane and mine got to sleep with Larry's RV-4 and beautiful Rocket.
Larry Vetterman's Hangar at Hot Springs
Larry checked us out and on what we should see and he and Wes were able to come up with a used car, off the lot, for us to use since there was not a single rental car available. There had been a large Independence Day fireworks display, at Mount Rushmore, the day before.
Official Vetterman Highlighted Map
We all had a nice lunch with Larry at the One Eyed Jacks Casino. Exhaust systems were a topic of discussion, along with other things. There is a lot of labor in building one of these things. Larry said it is about one full day to build a Rocket system, and some of the work, like the bending, is farmed out. We also discussed coatings and wrappings. If you want to do this, I suggest you get someone else's system, as Larry has found out, through experience, that he cannot support systems that have these mods. If you just want an excellent exhaust system, with welds that are pure art, I suggest you get a "High Country" exhaust.
We took Larry's route through the very pretty, and very unusual Black Hills. The curvy roads showed us why this is such a popular motorcycle area, with the Sturgis Rally and such.
Rick Demonstrates to Judy How An Airplane Turns
The thing is, these curvy roads are slow. It seemed to us that 5 South Dakota Miles equaled about 25 West Texas Miles.
Judy, Becky, Rick and Wes at a Black Hills Lookout
Sue and Becky
When we got in sight of Mount Rushmore, several people commented on how different it is to see the actual thing, with all that is around it, as opposed to photographs. There are several nice views from far away, as one approaches. A couple of times the entire mountainside is framed by automobile tunnels.
At one point, we all made the short hike to the base of the rubble from the memorial. When I arrived at this spot a ranger was regaling we unwashed tourists with his tales. According to him, since it is such a sensitive site, Mount Rushmore is the number one terrorist target in the United States. Then he said the airplanes are forbidden from flying over it, and if they did, they would be intercepted by fighters from the nearby airforce base.
All of this rang pretty strange to me. I certainly could not recall any kind of restricted areas at all in the vicinity but I was not so sure that I felt like I could challenge him. Sure enough, when I got back to the car I checked my Anywhere Moving Map software on the IPaq computer and it showed an undesignated restricted area. Strange. When I got back to the motel, however, I checked the sectional and there is no restricted area, just the normal requested 2,000 feet clearance. The ranger had mentioned that he normally worked the parking lot. Sounds like a wise assignment from a superior.
Judy at the Entrance to Mount Rushmore