Ranger training
The on-playa Ranger training was this past weekend.
Tool & Answergirl made their way to the playa in the Cessna, with a pit stop in Spanish Springs (N86), which is a pretty interesting airport. The reason we stopped there was because it has the cheapest fuel in the area. The field is a dirt strip which is certainly long enough for my plane. The interesting bit is the hillside right next to the field. To land on runway 16, you more or less fly at a cliff then hang a hard left and the runway is right under you. So you can't be too high (as I was) or you might miss the field entirely despite it's length. I did not (go, go, gadget slip-to-land) but I did land past midfield and had to taxi all the way back to the fuel pumps.
The weather was unbelievably perfect. It was overcast, which made me a little nervous, as rain would mean no landing on the playa and a return to the Reno area, but the result was a cool day all the way up to Black Rock and almost all day after we got there. The playa was very firm and there was no dust all weekend, despite the usual high winds. Yay!
The training itself was a blast and it was great to see everyone there. Usually training is kinda boring, 'cuz we've heard the spiel many times before. Camping makes it better. Answergirl and I arrived in the afternoon, so we'd missed all the intro stuff and caught the more interesting tail end. I also went to a shift leader training the next morning and that was actually very useful; we had a lot of good discussions that I found very valuable.
There was also a very pleasant trip to Frog Pond, which involved some GPS-assisted but mostly zen nagivation and skilled driving on Bustin's part. Hot springs rock. I'm quite jazzed up for Burning Man now. Lets go!