Hobo Jungle

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Or, one of these.........

[Tramp]

Jon, great video. My dad and I attended that show in the early 70s. It sure has grown.

[MurphOnMillerAve]

...That MUST be a cowasaki...

Now, That's clever and funny!

[webenda]

...That MUST be a cowasaki...

Now, That's clever and funny!

Only in Poland.

[dougdagrump]

Wayne, Don't know how they handle but several make a fairly regular appearance at the Escondido "Cruisin' Grand" events on friday evenings. The grandson was with us last friday and and after seeing them wants one for he and grampa for cruise nites.

Sarge, In this day and age seeing that many Goonie Birds still airworthy borders on a miracle. Still have vivid memories of riding in a "Starduster II", open cockpit biplane, performing some hellacious stunts. Surprisingly, even on the outside loop, I was able to keep breakfast down. The only thing that kept the video from being a 10, will give it a 9.9 though, no StaggerWing Beech.

[webenda]

The only thing that kept the video from being a 10, will give it a 9.9 though, no StaggerWing Beech.

Mr. Grump,

If all 10,000+ airplanes were to be included in a 5 minute, 6 second video, the video would have to run at 33 frames per second with one aircraft per frame. Something had to be left out. Now go drive your bumper car somewhere... say over to the San Diego Air and Space Museum. No staggerwing there but they do have a Horten 229 Flying Wing. (Have you seen it?) I would love to examine the airfoil on that thing to try and figure out how it is stable in pitch.

Here are some images of EAA Beechcraft Staggerwings:
http://www.eaa.org/photos/1001/gallery. ... =&shownew=
Enjoy.

[ANG retired]

Or, one of these.........

Ahh, a redneck, a welder and a case of Keystone or Mickey's Big Mouth.

As for the aircraft, can't watch video, way too slow web connection... HOWEVER, given my druthers, I love the sound of a radial cranking up, and warming up on the ramp.

[webenda]

I have observed Union Pacific's problems getting traffic in and out of the Tucson Yard. Sometimes trains are backed up for ten miles.

What about Oshkosh? In-trail landing separation between light aircraft is supposed to be kept at least 3.45 miles. Take a Cessna 170. Landing speed with flaps has a wide range, 55-100 mph. Typical is 67 mph. With a separation of 3.45 miles, a Cessna 170 could land every 3.1 minutes. It would take 21.5 days to land 10,000 aircraft at that rate.
Parallel landing doubles the runway throughput... 10.8 days.

747 and Gulfstream on parallel approach at LAX.jpg (116.23 KiB) Viewed 2694 times

Bunching the aircraft together by a factor of 2 could get 10,000 aircraft landings in 5.4 days.

Allowing formations of aircraft to land nose to tail helps. In that case air traffic control tells the flight formation, "Please be aware, if you identify yourself as a flight, those in the flight are responsible for separation within the flight." If all landings were a "flight of five" it would take 2.2 days to land 10,000 aircraft.

I don't know how they do it, but I find air traffic control of 10,000 aircraft in seven days to be the most frightening job I can think of, right next to bomb disposal.

[webenda]

Any idea what the flames were from at 2:28?

A rare Night Air Show, complete with the explosive "Wall of Fire" and fireworks, caped off a memorable final evening on Saturday, July 31, 2010.

[webenda]

I switched to Mercedes Benz (GLK).

This GLK?

[MartyE]

My pup went home after 2 days here with me at dad's. It's amazing how those pups get into you heart. When Gomer's opens up later the first rounds on me. It's payday and the kitty is already low so I might as well splurge on my friends.

[MurphOnMillerAve]

I switched to Mercedes Benz (GLK).

This GLK?

Yup. Dat be it (but in black.) In fact, I was in that position once, last winter, due to taking a smartassed off-road (my first, last and final) sojourn into the hills of NY (or was it PA?), getting myself in a whole lotta trouble. But you wouldn't want to read that story here, ol' Wayne - it might take too many words.

Nyuk nyuk.

P.S. Wish I had that license plate, though, Mr. Clever Man.

[webenda]

Marty! You seem to be changing.

Murph,

So that was not you terrorizing the woods in a white GLK. You were doing it in a black GLK.
Tell us about it. What else do we have to do in the Hobo Jungle except yak and drink. I'll buy one for you at Gomer's.

After Marty, I've got everyone for the next round.

[MurphOnMillerAve]

Ok, You asked for it. It was last winter, and I was headed back to NJ from a quick visit to the Cortland area of NY. I was traveling paved roads completely clear of any of the recent snowfall. In fact, it was a bright, severe-clear blue sky day. Peaceful. Restful. Too relaxing (apparently.)

The trees are bare so I can see an old Susquehanna RR signal tower perched on a hillside across the river from my jaunt down Rt.11, which is set low in the valley. I decide to take myself up into the hill to my left (I'm headed south) at the first available dirt road, to position for a photo-shoot across the valley at the tower.

I check out the shoulder and dirt road surface as soon as I pull off the two-lane rural roadway, knowing it was only a few days before that snow had blanketed the area. Fine. Dry. Solid, except for one minor puddle. (See recently taken photo#1942 of the exact spot.) The whole dirt road up the hill looks dry. So, I proceed up the hillside road, noting that The Bucket (my GLK's nickname) is as wide as the roadway itself.

At the top of the rise, the road levels out, for a bit. Immediately, I find myself in what looks like a simple layer of snow that has not melted, but in reality is a disquised bog of grey dirt, mud, snow, and ice, which has accumulated there. Apparently, the rest of it had melted away from the hillside and left the dirt road dry, w/ just that little puddle remaining at the bottom.

I slowly, gently, w/ a light touch on the gas peddle (even though my whole being wants to gun-it and get thehllouttathere) nudge the Bucket through the bog, out the uphill end of it, further up the road. The wheels are spinning only a little and the *** (both of ours) is wiggling only a little, side to side. I can feel The Bucket digging in further as it progresses farther uphill.

Up ahead, I spy a steep driveway (that term is relative) which is cut, to my right, into the hillside above me. A cliff descend below me to my left. So, I decide to back into the depression to try to face the car back down the hillside. Nope. No go. I can partially back in, but the hillside and the Bucket, which sinks in even further, will have none of it, spinning its wheels a little. I decide not to panic. And the VERY NARROW roadway has me facing out over the edge of the downhill side. I turn right, deciding to cont. up the "road", looking for another way out. The road gets steeper and narrower, and I can see it quickly becomes a path into the woods, w/ snow, deep, everywhere among the trees and across the pathway. Considering getting out and walking for help, though I am miles away from anybody, I look out my driver's window and cannot see road surface at all, but I can see the TOPS of trees. Aside from climbing out the roof (the back is loaded with boxes), I am imprisoned. The Bucket continues wiggling and sinking.

I pull down my visor mirror and say to myself two things, "Control yourself" and "WHAT have you gotten yourself into now, jackass?" Next, I offer a prayer to St. Jude Thaddeus (for hopeless causes.) I know I don't dare go farther up that ever-skinnier path. It's time for a decision, part of which includes wondering if I should keep the seatbelt on. I decide to do so in case the car rolls down the hillside, back down to dry, nice-day Rt.11. I see a little space up ahead that seems wider than the path, just before the woods really close in tight. I decide to go for it. Gently. And with patience.

I successfully reach the space and in 28 moves (yes, I counted them,) forward and backwards, manage to get the Bucket facing dowhill again, toward the shoulder turn-off and its little melt-water puddle. I decide to let the car take its own time down the hillside, applying the gas only a tiny bit. The Bucket does not waver the whole way down.

At the bottom, I put the car in Park and get out. I kneel down and massage the DRY dirt, look up into the bright sky and say, aloud, "THANK YOU, Lord. I will never do that again."

And that's the tale of my ONE-and-ONLY off-road drive. (But likely not the last jackass tale we'll hear about that kid called Murph, from Miller Ave. )

[kerr]

Murph - why I miss lead sleds!
Several years ago, I owned an immaculate 70's Olds Delta 98. We were invited to a mountain top in upstate NY for a shindig and I never even considered the possibility of there not being a road. When we got to the base of the mountain, the blacktop ran out and the signs for the shindig pointed up what looked like a cross between a footpath and a riverbed. In fact exactly like that picture of the white Mercedes!

Well it was so steep, narrow and loose that it was real hard to find traction and the cras hood was so damn long you couldnt see any nearer than about twenty feet in front, so you had to kind of guess where the obstacles were that you'd seen ahead and were now needing to be steered around. It was a bloody long way down on the left though trees would have probably caught us if we'd gone over.

Then to my horror ahead was a real sharp turn and a final rise of about twenty feet but about 45 degrees with a whacking great boulder sticking clear up of the center right at the top! There was no way to reverse and I had the wife and kids in the car.

So I floored her!

That wonderful V8 kicked in like a booster rocket and she shot up the incline so fast we cleared the boulder with the sump and although there was a mighty crash on landing all it did was crush a muffler but not enough to stop it from working.

Good old General Motors, what a bloody fantastic engine, what a great car. I still miss owning it, it guzzled gas like a Saturn rocket but it was fast, it handled and you could drive all day and feel perfectly refreshed. Damn I miss those lead sleds.