Fun in the Sun

Although the pictures and progress reports from the construction site have few and far in between, the work continues. With just a few workers on site, the plastering of the interior and exterior walls has taken longer than usual, but since we're not moving in soon, I guess it doesn't really matter.

But here at home, the work continues. I've managed to finish the guest bathroom, laundry room and most of the master bathroom and the walk-in closet here at home in Camarillo. The only thing left to complete is the bathtub and tiling in the master bathroom and I can't start on that until all of our house guests are gone. That should only be a few weeks more.

The guest bathroom - before

The guest bathroom - after

The master bathroom - before

The master bathroom - after


Sunday was a beautiful day here so I decided not to work today, go out and have a little fun in the sun and headed down to our local airport to do a little flying. I made arrangements with Mike, the instructor at SkyRider ultralights (http://www.skyrideraviation.com/), to do a short 15-20 minute flight around the farmlands that surround the airport. It was a perfect day for flying with just a gentle breeze and warm air, so that jackets wouldn't be needed. While I was waiting for Mike to show up at the airport, I met some other people that were also planning on spending their day doing an introductory flight, so we all sat and waited.

Donna and David were from the small town of Santa Paula, 15 or so miles from Camarillo, where they run the Santa Paula Inn (http://www.santapaulainn.com/), not too far from the Santa Paula airport. The Santa Paula airport is well known in the flying community and has many custom planes flying out from there. It also has one of the top aerobatic schools in the world. Unfortunately, they do not have an ultralight airport there, even though it would probably be a perfect place for one. So Donna, David and their friend Mark all came out to the Camarillo airport to try their first rides in an ultralight aircraft. Both Donna and Mark had previous flying experience, but none of it was anything close to an ultralight. But they were all up for the adventure.

This is what we would be flying in today.

Flight instructor, Mike and Donna ready for flight.

David and Jeffrey doing a little practice at taxiing up and down the runway.

Mike and Mark after Mr. Toads Wild Ride.

All in all, it was a great day. A good time was had by all. We came back in one piece and I think we're all ready to go again. I put together a short video of my flying adventure that I hope you enjoy. It gives you a small idea of the freedom that these ultralights give you while flying. This is a dream of mine to get an ultralight for our home in Belize. There are currently around three or four of them in the Corozal area and one of the owners even has a private airport. That will be another thing for me to explore when I return in November.