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Posted By:
Hal Brown
Date Posted:
Jul 10, 2014
Description:
The forecast for West Texas and the High Desert was hot and windy. The wind was headed in a progress opposing direction. The best hope for some progress was an early start. It’s daybreak and we’re already late. The wind was up earlier.
Date Taken:
Jul 10, 2014
Place Taken:
Coleman, TX
Owner:
Dan Nickens
File Name:
Oh_Dark_Thirty.jpg - Photo HTML
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Category:
502, N346PE
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Oh Dark Thirty - Puff Flies Home Day 3 |
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Read what others had to say:
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Dan Nickens - Jul 10,2014
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It’s never too early for a splash.<br />But it might make for hot and slow later.<br />Such are the trials and tribulations of a desert seaplane.<br />
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Early Splash
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Dan Nickens - Jul 10,2014
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In a dry country, all paths lead to water.<br />Or oil.<br />
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All Paths Converge
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Dan Nickens - Jul 10,2014
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Tracing contours is a tedious task for cartographers, except in west Texas where all the work has been done naturally.
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Level Lines
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Dan Nickens - Jul 10,2014
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Nothing will interrupt orderly agricultural enterprises quicker than finding black gold under the dirt.<br />Ah, but when the price of oil goes down, there will always be the need for food. It’s the best cash crop insurance.<br />Until the water runs out.<br />
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AgInterruptous
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Dan Nickens - Jul 10,2014
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Psychedelics must be in widespread use out in the Texas flat farmlands. I wouldn’t worry about the farmers, though. It’s the pilots that are most at risk flying over the funky stuff. <br />Of course not every pilot is addicted. Some fly over and don’t bother to look.<br />Sightseeing Teetotalers?<br />Or pilots on a mission of flight not distracted by psychedelic daydreaming.<br />
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Fine Lines
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Dan Nickens - Jul 10,2014
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Someone has made a long line in the sand lying just underneath the desert scrub.<br />Such are the constraints of a thin steel tube full of hot black crude trundling to the horizon. <br />Or maybe, barely contained in a bulging pipe live with pressure, a poisonous, explosive mixture of gases blasts towards a refinery.<br />Either way, a mark has been left.<br />
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Thin Veneer
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Don Maxwell - Jul 10,2014
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Dan, are you sure it wasn't some of those Ancient Aliens that Erich von Däniken claimed to have identified?<br /><br />What do you suppose makes the right side of that line look 'softer' than the left side? Is it the low sun angle on the rounded earth?
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Dan Nickens - Jul 11,2014
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Well spotted, Don. My theory is sand drift due to the prevailing winds but I could go with sloppy ancient aliens too.<!-- >'"><br><font color=red size=6>' or > missing in user HTML. Please fix the HTML.</font> -->
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Dan Nickens - Jul 10,2014
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Out in vast desert the struggle between scrub and sand ebbs and flows. Sometimes the sand breaks free. Sometimes the scrub subdues the sand. Nothing makes for more scenic desert drama than such conflict!<br />To break into Hollywood it’s going to have to happen quicker. The audiences’ attention span is measured in seconds, not in decades.<br />
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Free Sand
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Dan Nickens - Jul 10,2014
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The green has the high ground. It’s the winner.<br />Today, maybe. But see the way the sand rolls away down into the swales and valleys? A strategic retreat, just biding time for when the rain doesn’t come. Then see who wins.<br />
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Green Crests
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Dan Nickens - Jul 10,2014
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Where the sand blows free, it mounds in waves marching over a crust of desert caliche.<br />See? Sometimes the green wins, sometimes it’s the sand.<br />The sand will always win in the end. It’s the Second law of Thermodynamics. Entropy is where it’s all headed.<br />The law doesn’t always win. I’m cheering for the outlaws.<br />
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Waves of Sand
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Dan Nickens - Jul 10,2014
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News Flash: What started as a small hole in the West Texas scrublands is rapidly widening into a yawning chasm. At the bottom of the crater a mysterious dark green liquid has been seen consuming surrounding sand walls at a prodigious rate.<br /><br />The ground around the terrestrial equivalent of a black hole is raft with radiating cracks. Jack rabbits have been seen fleeing in terror at the growing monstrosity.<br /><br />The Department of Homeland Security is urging calm. Herbert Homely of DHS suggests that nearby residents shelter in place and use duct tape to seal their doors against the growing threat to bureaucratic stability.<br /><br />At least one aerial tourist is unconcerned. “Excellent!” he was overheard to say. “In another few weeks it will be big enough for SeaReys!”<br />
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Dark Green Hole
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Dan Nickens - Jul 10,2014
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Don’t blink! It’s Wink. It’s one of the few spots where thirsty airplanes can refuel out on the high plains.<br /><br />Fuel is truly self service. Fill up and just leave a note with the amount pumped and an address for a future invoice (whenever someone who cares shows up). Mine arrived in the mail many weeks after my passage.<br />
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Wink Field
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Dan Nickens - Jul 10,2014
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Imagine the horror a lawn care professional feels when he sees something like this! No mowing! No trimming! Just an occasional asphalt patch job.<br /><br />Well, there is always hope for the working man. It looks like the pavement could use a good sweeping.<br />
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Lawn Care Nightmare
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Dan Nickens - Jul 10,2014
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So there you are, a mesquite bush minding your own business, trying to scrape out a living in the dry lands, and all of a sudden a downpour uproots you. Your dry and brittle bones end up stuffed into a dry creek bed with only a trace of the passing.<br /><br />Well, what’s the point, really, in fighting the dry.<br />
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Washed Wood Bones
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Dan Nickens - Jul 10,2014
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When the landscape falls from the flat table lands there must be a need to show that it is happening by wrapping the ridges in clearly defined contour lines.
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Wrapping Ridges
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Dan Nickens - Jul 10,2014
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Oh to go crawling around a green grimy gulch, exploring the gnarly land!<br /><br />But there just isn’t enough water for a SeaRey, and the land looks a bit too rough for a loaner airplane.<br />
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Green Grimy Gultch
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Dan Nickens - Jul 10,2014
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Gulches happen. This one is just starting out.<br />Who cares?<br />Who cares! It’s a baby gulch. Everybody likes babies!<br />Maybe if you’re a gol’durn gulch lover.<br />
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Hint of Gulch
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Dan Nickens - Jul 10,2014
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Just a trace of water can leave a stain on a dry land.
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Water Stain
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Dan Nickens - Jul 10,2014
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Out of nowhere a giant airfield appears! It’s not on the map, but it’s out there.<br /><br />Why here?<br /><br />Maybe it was a war training field. No wasted rained out training days here.<br />
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Suddenly Aviation
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Dan Nickens - Jul 10,2014
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Even a deserted airfield can have a comfortable terminal building and concrete parking pad. This fancy terminal is brightly colored and adorned with lots of useful informational signage. Want to know how high you are? It’s on the wall. Want to know where runway 32 is? Follow the arrow. There’s even a large arrow on the ground showing where you’ve come from.<br /><br />It’s convenient too. There’s no pesky security line. The gate is wide open. No terrorist would dare to be so brazen as to risk the scorpion stinks, rattlesnake strikes or a rain of lead from six gun fire to get in here.<br />
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Desert Terminal
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Eric Batterman - Jul 10,2014
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That windsock looks new.
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Dan Nickens - Jul 10,2014
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Yep. No bullet holes.
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Dan Nickens - Jul 10,2014
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If it ever comes, drainage is ready to receive it. Deluges welcome.<br />Maybe not so welcome by the high ground. It’s losing ground.<br />
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Ready for Rain
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Dan Nickens - Jul 10,2014
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You want a Hollywood cattle wrangling icon for your wild western? Here it is: Guadalupe Peak is ready for stardoom.
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Classic Peak
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Dan Nickens - Jul 10,2014
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They’re HERE! Out in the desert! Alien invaders! They’ve landed in enormous green saucers! A close encounter of the fourth kind? Don’t try to fool me by agreeing.<br />They’re just crop circles.<br />See! The crop circle believers were right!<br />
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Alien Invaders
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Dan Nickens - Jul 10,2014
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Whiteout probable. Sunglasses required.
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Flat White
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Dan Nickens - Jul 10,2014
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White under blue,<br />There’s no subtle hue,<br />No sophisticated tone untrue<br />Nothing to misconstrue<br />It’s such a simple world view<br />But we’re just passing through<br />And so onward we flew.<br />
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White Out Ahead
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Dan Nickens - Jul 10,2014
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Rolling. Rolling. Rolling on the desert. Big wheels keep on turning…So the crops will keep on growing…and the farmers will keep on earning. Roiling. Roiling. Roiling in the desert.<br />Not even close to exactly the lyrics sung by CCR.<br />
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Rolling On
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Dan Nickens - Jul 10,2014
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“Oh, give me land, lots of land under starry skies above<br />Don't fence me in<br />Let me ride through the wide open country that I love<br />Don't fence me in<br /><br />I want to ride to the ridge where the West commences<br />And gaze at the moon till I lose my senses<br />And I can't look at hobbles and I can't stand fences<br />Don't fence me in”<br />(Lyrics by Robert Fletcher and Cole Porter)<br />Could you please stop that infernal howling!<br />It’s singing.<br />That’s far from singing. And don’t worry about fences. You’ve already long left the corral.<br />
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Wide Open Empty
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Dan Nickens - Jul 10,2014
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Another giant black head pimple!<br />You’re crazy. Maybe it’s heat stroke.<br />It is getting hot, but not as hot as it has got. Or will get.<br />
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Cool Cinders
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Dan Nickens - Jul 10,2014
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Wanderers winding through the valley can appreciate the natural terraces tending to stabilize an unnaturally steep angle of repose. It might still be prudent to wear a hard hat in the all too likely event of raining rock.
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Stepped Walls
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Dan Nickens - Jul 10,2014
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Avast! Blackhawk off the starboard bow! Battle stations! Battle stations!<br />You idiot! I told you not to try and fly off the grid! No radio! No transponder! Splashing every little spot of water! Well, now the gig is up. Here come the feds.<br />Yeah, but we’re innocent.<br />Tell it to the judge, if they don’t ship you directly to Guantanamo. <br />Maybe we’ve just wandered into a restricted area? Check the map.<br /><br />A quick check of the chart showed I was definitely outside the military restricted area. That was small relief: the CBP also operates Black Hawks. Had my flight profile been flagged? It’s one thing to contemplate the theoretical possibility. It’s a whole ‘nother notion when the Blackhawk is headed directly for you.<br /><br />Well, almost directly. It crossed in front of the SeaRey by a 1000’ (or maybe 5000’, whatever, it was close enough). Then it turned west and I got to chase it. No. I didn’t catch up.<br /><br />It was flying over the McGregor Range, part of the Fort Bliss, Texas compound. We were just south of a live fire range. And, where are those dirt covered bunkers that used to store nuclear weapons? One of them was recently found to be radioactive.<br /><br />Maybe flying so low isn’t always such a good idea.<br />
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Dangerous Games
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Dan Nickens - Jul 10,2014
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There are plenty of dry, dusty towns in west Texas and southern New Mexico. Chaparral was the driest and dustiest I saw.
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Dustytown
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Dan Nickens - Jul 10,2014
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Is the enjoyment of seeing beautiful, naked rock deviantly voyeuristic behavior?
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Naked Rise
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Dan Nickens - Jul 10,2014
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When the canal goes dry, how long until the unnaturally wetted landscape follows?
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Dry Line
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Dan Nickens - Jul 10,2014
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Black basalt and red rhyolite cinder cones together in one neighborhood? It doesn’t really fit the norm. Black basalt is pretty common in cinder cones, but rhyolitic flows typically originate from large stratovolcanos.<br /><br />But, then again, nature is anything but typical.<br />
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Tale of Two Hills
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Dan Nickens - Jul 10,2014
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Desert greenery.<br />The weeks before our flight, weather maps showed a big area of rain over the desert SW. Now, under dry blue skies, the resultant green was showing outside the open canopy.<br />
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Desert Greens
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Dan Nickens - Jul 10,2014
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All great game trackers are prohibited from using SeaReys in the desert. It’s so easy it’s cheating.<br />It’s probably a cow. Cheat all you want.<br />Cool! Wrangling by SeaRey!<br />
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Easy Tracking
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Dan Nickens - Jul 10,2014
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Who parks their car miles from the nearest road?<br />Someone having the worst possible cross country family vacation.<br />Cool. “Are we there yet?” can finally be answered with real finality.<br />
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Bad Vacation
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David Geers - Jul 10,2014
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Dan Nickens - Jul 11,2014
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Same M. O., David. If he is using rental cars he is probably wanted on several continents by now.
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Dan Nickens - Jul 10,2014
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Dan Nickens - Jul 10,2014
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There were lots of oozing puncture wounds afflicting the earth’s crust in this rugged neighborhood.
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Magma Mounds
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Philip Mendelson - Jul 12,2014
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Dan, THANK YOU! for taking us along! You Rock!!!
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Dan Nickens - Jul 10,2014
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What’s a great big pile of green rock doing out in the volcanic fields? <br />It looks like a veneer of lichen to me. The only way to tell for sure would be to land and see.<br />Okay.<br />What! On that heavily swaled road! In a loaner plane?<br />Hmmm….probably not. <br />
| | Attachments:
Hard Greenery
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Dan Nickens - Jul 10,2014
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“The air up there in the clouds is very pure and fine, bracing and delicious. And why shouldn’t it be? – it is the same the angels breathe.” (From Roughing It by Mark Twain)<br />Same as down here, then.<br />You must not blame me if I do talk to the clouds. (Wrote Henry David Thoreau)<br />
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Fair Clouds
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Dan Nickens - Jul 10,2014
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One square acre with no reason to mow.<br />Nice.<br />Nice if you’re a hermit.<br />
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Lonely Home
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Dan Nickens - Jul 10,2014
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When the Dirt Devils take flight it’s time for low and slow flyers to find a safe haven.
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Dusty Tornados
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Dan Nickens - Jul 10,2014
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Flying into Deming in summer is always coming in hot. After a mere 7.1 hours in flight we were brought down by the roiling, furnace-like air. Time for a mid-afternoon nap in cool, air-conditioned Motel 5 comfort.
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Coming in Hot
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Buck Bray - Jul 11,2014
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What a grand adventure, Dan. All from the closeup view of a Searey with an entertaining dialog and skillfully taken photos. Thought I might be flying my Searey to Seattle with my son to college, but alas we will keep our wheels on the pavement and spend time in Colorado with family.<!-- >'"><br><font color=red size=6>' or > missing in user HTML. Please fix the HTML.</font> -->
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