End of an Era in Fairhaven

It's the end of an era in the Fairhaven district in my home town of Bellingham, WA.

This afternoon, a crew of workmen used a large crane to remove the first two of the three Great Northern Railroad Pullman cars that have for years occupied the northeast corner of 12th Avenue and Harris Street, to make way for a new 5-story building.


Over the years, these cars have served as home for numerous businesses, including a dog grooming service and an espresso stand. But for more than a year, they have been empty, available to just about anyone who would pay to take them away.


Someone finally has. A woman in Pennsylvania has purchased all three cars and will eventually convert them into a restaurant. She is spending nearly $100,000 to move the cars. At one time, I had considered taking ownership, moving one to my property and the other two to Alger where they could become part of the Bellingham Society of Model Engineers. But the cost of moving them was too prohibitive.


By the end of the afternoon, only one car remained. It will be lifted onto a flatbed truck on Monday morning and taken to join the other two down in Burlington, WA. From there, they will be fitted onto specially made frames and loaded onto railroad flat cars for the cross-country trip to their new home in Pennsylvania.

Should Third-World Dictators Determine US Gun Policy

I am not a political person. But this morning I received a phone call that really burned me up.

I could tell from the caller ID that the call was from the NRA, as in National Rifle Association. So I was intrigued.

The woman on the other end identified herself and stated that she was calling on behalf of the NRA as part of a national survey. Would I be willing to listen to a recorded statement from the president of the NRA and then answer one question. So I said, sure.

In the recording, the president of the NRA stated that the United Nations is currently meeting in secret behind closed doors to pass a treaty that will ban guns worldwide.

After the recording completed, the nice lady came back on the line and asked me the single question:

"Do you trust third world dictators and Hillary Clinton to set gun policy in the United States?"

I kid you not. What kind of stacked, stupid question is that?

First of all, if the UN meetings are such a secret, how does the NRA know about them? Second, when has the United States ever signed a UN treaty without approval of Congress? We never signed the Kyoto Accord. And even if there was such a treaty and the US did sign it, how would that ever trump the Second Amendment?

So, of course, you know what my answer was, right?

I said, "Sure. I trust them."

Brighton Beach Memoirs

It's the beginning of another season of shows at the Bellingham Theatre Guild. The first show of the season is Neil Simon's Brighton Beach Memoirs. And once again, I will be the official Guild photographer. Cast and production photos will be posted to my Flickr site.


The play is being directed by the wonderful Teri Grimes from Bellingham High School and the cast includes several of her students, including my daughter Clarice. There will be a premier VIP performance on Thursday, September 24 as a fund raiser for the BHS Drama Department. Tickets are $15 and proceeds go directly to support the drama department. The price includes a lucious desert buffet during intermission, with many of the deserts created by my wife Genny. Tickets are available through me, cast members, BHS, and at Village Books.

Hey Guys...I'm an Expert!

I was recently tapped to be one of the experts on Autodesk's AutoCAD Exchange community website. It was an interesting experience. I had to fly down to Autodesk's San Francisco headquarters and spent a day in a small room with a film crew (cameraman, soundman, and a director) as well as my good friend Heidi Hewett.


The videos went live in August and from August 22 to 29, I was the resident online expert, fielding questions from AutoCAD users worldwide. I hope I was able to provide useful responses to the many questions that were posted.

Those questions, as well as the videos from our San Francisco session, are now archived for viewing on the AutoCAD Exchange site.

For my conversations with Heidi, go to the AutoCAD Exchange site and click on the link to "Hear the Difference."

Sad News About Vicki Cruse

Sad news arrived today from Great Britain. Vicki Cruse, whom I had met out in the Black Rock Desert last month when I was there chronicling the efforts of Ed Shadle and his North American Eagle land speed record challenge, died while practicing for an air show to be held at the Silverstone race track.


I learned of her death when I received a phone call from Ray Meese, photo editor of the Ventura County Star newspaper. Ray had found several of my photos of Vicki from Black Rock and wanted permission to publish them in her hometown newspaper. The article went live online later that afternoon. The article also appeared in the print edition the next day. (Click here to view the article on the newspaper's website.)


Vicki had flown into the NAE base camp in the desert outside of Gerlach, Nevada on Tuesday, July 7, and stayed with the team until Thursday. She spent time during the week familiarizing herself with the North American Eagle vehicle, in anticipation of her driving the vehicle to set a new woman's land speed record.


Throughout the week, she also pitched in at every turn, even spending several hours helping to prepare lunch for the NAE team members and other visitors.


Her Edge 540 stunt plane was a beautiful thing to behold and before she left the desert, she put on a show for us. Vicki was meticulous in maintaining her plane. Unfortunately, she was flying a borrowed aircraft while in the UK and something went terribly wrong. She was unable to bail out and crashed when the plane suffered a mechanical problem.

It's a terrible loss on so many levels. Vicki was a wonderful person. She was completely at home with the NAE team and I know that everyone looked forward to having her join the team's efforts. She will be missed very much.

Flying High at Sea Fair

I managed to get myself invited to a Sea Fair party. My sister Lori had recently been in touch with an old friend from summer camp when she was around 14. He now lives in Seattle. And obviously, his home overlooking Lake Washington was a fantastic vantage point to watch all the action.

Amazingly, this is the first time I've ever attended Sea Fair. Twenty-two years in the Pacific Northwest and this was the first.

We also had a perfect vantage point to see all of the people who were trying to cross Lake Washington when the I-90 floating bridge was closed. They obviously made the best of the situation. The were allowed to venture a short distance out onto the bridge to watch. There was a similar crowd across the lake on the east side of the bridge.

Many of the Blue Angel's passes ended up going right over our heads. Not bad.

The airshow was fantastic. This was certainly not the first time I've ever seen the Blue Angels perform, but it was one of the best views I've ever had. Quite a sight to see them out over Lake Washington, with Mount Rainer and the city of Bellevue in the distance.

The unlimited hydroplane races weren't bad either, although I would have liked to have had a closer spot from which to watch those. Maybe next year. Hydroplane racing on Lake Washington factors into my book project, so I may just have to get a much closer, personal look at these amazing machines before too much more time passes.

I've got a few more really great photos of the day's events on my Flickr site.

Black Rock Desert - Day 4

It's the final day of this week of testing of the North American Eagle here in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada. The goal for today is to try to get the vehicle up to 500mph. The team also plans to do its first turn-around. Everyone is hopeful. The stretch of desert that the Eagle is going to run on today is much harder than where they ran the first two days.


It takes more than an hour to tow the vehicle from the hanger at the 3 mile mark out to the new start line at the 12 mile mark. Once it finally gets there, I've got to get into at least one photo.


The first run is absolutely flawless. Ed gets the Eagle up into the mid 300mph range. Everything looks great. The only issues are that the desert is still a bit soft, the nitrogen charge in the front suspension is gone, so the vehicle is riding on the front springs only, and as a result the dust deflectors below the vehicle that help prevent dust from being sucked back into the intake ports have begun to come apart. There's some initial talk about just practicing turning the vehicle for a return run, but as the wind dies down, Ed decides to do it for real.


I loan a team member my video camera to record the entire turn around operation. In a real record attempt, the rules say that the vehicle must make a return run and pass back through the 1 mile timing strip within 60 minutes. It takes less than 40 minutes to turn the vehicle and get it prepped and ready to make its return run.


This time, Ed plans to go to after burners at the 2 mile mark, so Keith Zanghi and I go down to the 2 mile mark to watch. It's amazing how quickly the flare goes up, letting all workers and spectators know that the vehicle is ready to roll.


As we watch at the 2 mile mark, the Eagle flies past, but we see no after burner. This run looks to be about the same speed as the first run.


In reviewing this specific photo of mine afterward, the engine specialists are sure of what happened. Ed did indeed try to kick in the after burners. But they did not ignite. You can clearly see the cloud of fuel just beyond the tail cone in this image. It has not ignited. The question becomes, why not? What kept the afterburner from kicking in?

After the second run, Vicky Cruse climbs aboard and goes through the procedures for starting up the big jet engine. Once that's done, we head back to the base camp. It takes another hour before the vehicle makes it back to camp. In the meantime, we all have lunch and then, around 3pm, Vicky has to leave. She buckles in and the puts on an air show for us all before she heads back to California.


Her Edge 540 is truly an amazing plane, and we see why she was the 2007 US World Champion aerobatic pilot and remains one of the top aerobatic pilots in the world.


To complete the day of testing and training, Per Wimmer gets strapped into the Eagle, goes through the startup procedures, and then goes through an actual power-up. Afterwards, he reports that it was quite an experience.

I've got lots more to write about this week. I've also got lots of video. But the connection from out here in the desert is not nearly as fast as what I have at home, so I'll be posting more once I return and give my car a very well deserved trip through the car wash.