Today, the weather in Castle Rock, Colorado was highly favorable for a quickie rocket launch. So, I packed up a few models and headed for Founders Park, a B-engine sized grass field on the east side of town.
On arrival at the site, I set up the launcher at one end of the field in accordance to which direction a very light breeze was blowing. After getting the launcher partially set up, I noticed that the breeze had changed direction slightly, blowing more toward a shorter span of the field. Picking up the launcher and range box, I moved operations about 30 yards upwind.
To my chagrin, the fickle breeze still couldn't decide which direction it wanted to go, so I picked up and moved a second time. This proved to be the ideal final location.
After prepping the first model , I walked it over to place it on the launcher. Oops, I had forgotten to affix the launch rod to the tripod. No worries, I've got it right here.....
It was then discovered that there was no launch rod lying next to the range box! Whaat??
I know I had packed one in the car and remembered carrying it onto the field with the rest of the launch gear.
I surmised that the rod had been left behind at one of the locations on the field I had previously vacated while trying to pick the optimum launch spot.
Re-tracing my steps, I searched all over for the missing rod. It couldn't be found. Anywhere.
Now, friends, you would think that a 36 inch length of shiny steel would not be THAT difficult to find in a closely mown grass field, but apparently it is!
I even ran back to the parking lot to see if maybe, possibly, I actually did leave it behind in the car. Nope. Not there.
I about-faced and executed a methodic search of the whole end of the field which I had occupied. Still no luck.
OK, no rocket flights today. I kinda' needed a launch rod for that.
All was not quite lost, though. I still had one task to accomplish.
I had packed along the glider from my recent Orbital Transport build with the intention of hand launching it for glide trim.
But now there was a new problem: I had spent so much time looking for that dang launch rod, the wind had picked up in the interim, thanks to some small rainstorm cells that had begun building to the west. Enough wind was now present to make it impossible to conduct trim tosses of the glider.
Egads !!
With a heavy heart, and no small amount of irritation, I packed up the gear to head home, conceding a complete and utter waste of an entire hour. All flight missions scrubbed.
Some days are better than others......