Tues 15 July touchdown
Arrived L.A.X 3:45pm after close to 12 hrs on the plane,tired malnourished and cramped. The hour spent on the tarmac in London waiting to take off was especially fun.The worlds favourite airline hasnt left me in the wordls favorite mood but at least the armed crue cuts at U.S customs don’t insist on a cavity search…My flying budding Vic,who knows exactly what to smoke to get you in the worlds favourite mood, did his bit toward melting the ice caps by meeting me at the airport in his too tall two storey S.U.V canyonero ranchero or whatever and took me on the coastal route to his house via a Thai diner on the beach…nice one Vic… visited a couple of paragliding sites started research on rvs to buy and crash at vics…the large ornimental hall clock welcomes me to America every hour on the hour all night…but this is America and nobody is shot…nice

Wed 16 lift off
Hang with Vic today…eat a huge yank brekky and go out see vics guys at work..drive Vics vet…1st flights at deer creek one of the local sites…an easy enough take off but a tight landing on the side of a canyon road…I start to see its not quite for beginners but not so bad…nice conditions for a maiden flight …thermic to 200m over takeoff and fun learning the sourrounding terrain… fried batterd seafood lunch…my arteries are still shrugging it off…2nd flight is a sleddy at a coastal mountain… I miss the beach landing and am in the sea to my waist!!on the rocks!!!cane my vario!!!!vic tells me they have all done it twice so I don’t feel so bad..but what a doughnut…still nobody was shot…hire car…find room
Thurs17 on the hunt

Vic comes by with loads of maps and shoots off to work… I have a sub for brekky and begin route planning for serious rv hunting …Drive allover looking at rvs by the dozen…begin to develop repetitive strain from all the salesmens handshakes…see some good deals…and 03 double slide 26k miles fully loaded with nice interior catches my eye…also need to see an 05 with low milage Eat a fantastic steak dinner and crash…no shooting...
Fri 18 narrowing it down

Sub for brekkie…Loads of rvs on the biggest lot iv ever seen.drove into l.a…given the hard sell all day…not enough food for this shit and too hot to listen to jabbering salesmen…sorry salespersons all day…I wonder if they all use the same dentist with smiles like that…met vic for a steak…flying all day tomorrow…nuff said
Sat 19 The ghosts of deer creeks

Met vic for brekky… drive to deer creek to fly…hurrah…the mountain is completely covered in cloud…boo…vic assures me the boys will fly anyway and I think he is joking then at the top we almost fall over laughing as the unmistakeable sillouette of a phantom like glider materializes alone out of the dense mist slides across our path and disappears back into the fug like an apparition…wtf…the ledgend of the ghost of deer creek is born…as we pull up on take of another half dozen pilots are taking turns to fly one at a time in the soup that has enveloped the mountain…I am informed California state law prohibits paraglider pilots from not flying every day and to not do so would be unconstitutional…the state department had just upgraded the nations alert status to orange(whatever that means) so not wanting to be mistaken for a terrorist I get ready for the strangest flight Ive have ever had…preparing to hurl myself into the misty void it occurs to me the bhpa would have a fit…what does cavok stand for again?strangely enough everybody flys and even more strangely for Americans nobody is killed…this cant last…we leave and go to little sycamore known localy as lil sickie whore where things are much more normal but dying conditions make staying up tough…2 sleddies…more red meat for dinner... wrestle with video editing…threaten to shoot it… bed



Sunday20 on the up
Too big pasta brekkie quick look at local rv dealer…over to vics and then to deer creek…scratchy to start but clears and lifts nicely by midday…fly till 3.30 practicing top landings and begin to realy feel connected thermalling on my glider again after growing rusty in the uk and begin to get reacquainted with the sky… great day with 2 to 3 hours in the air…start to get used to flying with no vario…becoming slightly more sensitive this way and love every precious second in the air…more wind soon I hope but not much in life soon but flying so it must come…another exelent steak dinner after viewing and editing the day on vid and still…life is hard J
Monday21 more rv hunting

American breakfast tv serves up shootouts dumped bodys and hysterical 911 recordings…no wonder some people don’t want a t.v… on the surface all is well but anybody whose eye you catch here immediately asks you with a big smile if you are well… sometimes just to make sure you are not an armed crazy I think…drive loads of miles looking at r.vs again and decide to have a deal on one at last…I have seen dozens…a cool spacious 04 model with all life support systems intact…the process of changeover may take Days with all the red tape…have to go back tomorrow for more schpiele…but am a little exited at having somewhere portable to live…there is still a way to go but things are happening…meet vic and eat Mexican dinner…more technowrestling…bed