Departure day

Tandem, check. Solo wing, check. Carry on, check. Personal item (back pack), check. 

Smooches and goodbyes to my girls, (sniffle), check. 

After a morning deluge of rain today, the clouds parted and near gale force winds ensued. As I recall it rained on the bus ride down last year too. So it is eerily similar to last time. A good omen I think. 

 This time around, however, I'm riding the bus solo to LAX where I will rendezvous with Juho. Last time I rode (and flew) with my esteemed colleague Brian who is known lovingly in Colombia as "the pilot of the Bumblebee Tandem" (El Piloto del bipleza abeja?).  Brian left a week ahead of me to go play and warm up, so to speak, ahead of the tours. Nice. 

We had time for some Wolfgang Puck's pizza.  Seemed expensive till we tried it. 

Juho works with Eagle in Santa Barbara and is a solid pilot and van driver extraordinaire. He should be only flying and not driving on this trip, though I suspect he will be super helpful nonetheless. 

We found a comfy couch with an outlet--A true premium experience at the airport. 

Got a full charge on the phone just as it is time to board. Gotta go!

T-minus 4 days and counting...

It was this time last year that I was  fortunate enough to get to go and guide with Eagle Paragliding in Colombia, and I'm going again!  We have three sold out week long tours back to back in the paragliding hot spot known as Roldanillo Colombia. 

As I pack up my gear, our dog Sam marks it by rubbing his face on it so I can take his smell with me. Nice!

Gliding tandem in Santa Barbara

I've been happy to get a dozen or so tandems in in the last month to get back in the groove and make sure everything is tip top. 

Yours truly driving the bus in SB

The weather has been cloudier as of late, sunny mostly, windy and at times chilly too (cold for here anyway). So in final preparation I mowed the yard one last time till I get back. Yep, really. 

This is what It's like in Colombia, remember?  Warm, humid, and puffy cumulus clouds to show the way.  

I'll try to keep the blog alive again this year.  So much fun is hard to remember without some note taking along the way.

Hasta pronto!

Marty, AKA:  Martín