I have watermelons growing! rather stoked to finally have some growing on the farm as most years melons have done shit all for me. I have a bunch on the plants right now that I hope get nice and big.

It was apparently just MY day to fly Tekoa as no one else wanted to go. The winds looked perfect in the forecast so I was on my way south early.

I got to the gate a bit after 10:30 and dropped my bike at the gate before driving the sled to the top.

I stepped out of the car to see the sock standing in the wind and had a few reservations.

That was until I watched the cycles and realized that it was ONLY thermic winds as they would build then die fully between. It was PERFECT! I hauled my gear to launch, my Evora wing that I am too light for and my pod harness.

Miss timed the first launch attempt but the second was perfect and I was easily in the air.

Got to finally play in the thermals without being constantly terrified of the turbulence. I was able to start mapping where they were starting at on the terrain and fly in and around them. I could feel the pull of the thermals but being by myself I really didn't want to go anywhere so made sure to pop out of them and stay at the mountain.

I got myself bumped up nicely over the mountain a few times and the lift was rather strong at times, up to 3.6 m/s or about 1200 ft/min up. I got a bit of a ways from the house thermals and felt some of the other thermals that built farther out.

It was SO NICE to not be scared and to be able to focus on the flying. The paraglider felt WAY MORE like a car does to me... My hands move in an automatic way to counter the wing's movements and I rarely if ever have to look at the wing. I can feel what it is doing overhead.

SO... I had the bike parked at the base by the gate which is 1300 feet below the launch and a few miles along the road. It was near 90F and near noon and I was not really wanting to have to ride in the heat. I had been eyeing the ridge the whole flight with the idea of a top landing... I'd never even tried one before.

I kept getting lift in the thermals on the east side of the face so I stood on the speed bar pretty far and flew towards the junk yard in search of the sad sinky sound on my vario. Which I DID find. I had to make a couple laps to get back into it and ride it down.

I was watching the top wind sock regularly and had seen a north cycle hit from a thermal a minute or two before.

I stayed on the bar as I came in lower to the hill and I was lined up straight on the road.

Feet out of the pod and trying to feather the brakes to get a flare as I was coming down a bit cross to the wind.

I landed a little fast but easily ran it out and quickly reached up for my C lines to pull the wing down out of the air.

It even landed on the trailing edge like it's supposed to!!!!

HOLY SHIT!!!! MY FIRST EVER TOP LANDING!!! You can see the wind sock in the left corner! I LANDED THAT CLOSE TO LAUNCH!!!!! 200 feet from launch and 300 feet from my car!!!!!

That rock I found in the pod, I apparently picked it up on launch and it got an hour of airtime.

As I began driving out I made the turn onto the road and had to stop and stare at the birds. A little falcon was flying around and just PARKING in the air. It hovered directly over one spot staring down at the ground then would dive down before swooping off and parking in another spot.

It's that dot in the air in the center.

This was super nice to drive down and NOT have to ride my bike up there to get the car.

Traffic on the way home was super easy and fast.

The fly catchers are nearly fledged.

Little dudes are hopping all around the nest area now. They have to since they are running out of room.

First garlic used from our harvest. Siberian and it was gloriously delicious.

We got a nice glow in the evening on the trees.

Rather late dinner but super tasty.

Then I finally remembered to hook the trailer up for the grain run I have done this morning.

I went and got grain and will be emptying it in a bit. I need to weed the old garlic garden so I can spread grain on it to till in then stuff spuds in the ground for a later harvest. We are going to go berry picking again on the mountain, sort rocks, pick in the garden, and try to keep the house cool.

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