Flight 5 1941

I have been enjoying the Minnesota history photo Link Heath provided the other day.

Date:	30-OCT-1941
Time:	02:04
Type:	Douglas DC-3A-269
Operator:	Northwest Orient Airlines
Registration:	NC21712
C/n / msn:	2124
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 14 / Occupants: 15
Other fatalities:	0
Airplane damage:	Written off (damaged beyond repair)
Location:	Moorhead, MN -    United States of America
Phase:	Approach
Nature:	Domestic Scheduled Passenger
Departure airport:	Minneapolis, MN
Destination airport:	Fargo, ND

Narrative:
Crashed in fog due to icing. Twelve passengers and three crew were on board. The pilot Clarence Bates was the only survivor

Here is what else I could find:  The plane crashed where the Crystal sugar plant is now and the pilot Clarence Bates was found wandering 250 feet away.  He was thrown out the cockpit windscreen.   

 

Almost exactly one year later on October 28 1942 the 42 year old Clarence crashed a  B-24 Liberator he was testing for the military.  The crash happened at take off in St. Paul and he did not survive this one.  He is buried in Lakewood Cemetery in Minneapolis.  The following is written by his son from an obituary:

Clarence Bates, was a romantic, barnstorming white silk scarf and helmeted pilot in the 1920s and 30s.
He loved flying more than money. In that era the idea of greed did not enter the minds of those who were pursuing their dream. He joined Northwest Airlines as operation manager at Hector Field in Fargo in 1933. He flew the mail run to Chicago and Winnipeg in a plane with skis. Amelia Earhart was stranded at the Fargo airport and he invited her to our home for supper where she regaled our family with tales of her exploits. He was promoted to Minneapolis as co-pilot in 1934. When he became captain he was elected as chairman of the pilots union where the issue was safety, not money. His love of flying was shared by his fellow pilots along with his loyalty to the company under Croil Hunter.
My father was killed testing B-24s for the army on Oct. 31, 1942, while on his vacation from NWA. 

A nap sounds nice

Fatso from Form

A sneak preview of the NAHBS.  Ti, Softail, Modified Lefty fork.
From Mendoncyclessmith

Carver Fat bike with carbon fork

Image and info taken from davelees1 on the mtbr fatbike forum

Carver Ti Frame + carbon fork = 4 lbs. 10oz. for a size 19".

Carver Ti - Complete Build on BFL's = 30 lbs. 10oz.

Complete write-up and spec's can be found here: snowbikes.wordpress.com

The Iditarod Tail Invitational started on Sunday 2-26-12 at about 5:30pm MPLS time.  These are the early leaders and one of them will likely be the winner.


It is snowing a bunch meaning anything can happen.  None of the following will likely happen but a minor variation of all likely will.  A leader may get in  front of the snow storms and cruise on good trial to the finish.  The leaders may get caught in the deep new snow and then get caught by the others.  Everyone may push their bike 350 miles or camp out until spring.  Fat bikes are not snow shoes and you need a surface about as firm as it would take to walk without punching through.  The majority of the trail is much more thin than these early pics show.  If you happen to steer off of the narrow poorly defined path that has been packed by snow machines and bikes you will plummet waist deep in snow and have to crawl back out and up onto the trail to start again.  This is easy when minds and bodies are fresh and it is daytime.  They call it auguring in when you fall off the trail and find yourself laying on your side half buried in the soft edge snow.  Surprisingly hard to get out of this position.

Iditatrod Trail Invitational

Starts this weekend Feb 26 2pm Alaska time.  Some good links here to see the roster of racers, see better maps and photos of the course and learn about the rules.  I am pretty sure this will be the link when it starts to follow the race.  Basically you can just follow when people reach each checkpoint.


People I will follow in addition to whoever is in the lead include Jeff Oatey, Peter Basinger, Jeff and Peter are two of the best ever.  Louise Kobin is the female record holder to McGrath (the 350 mile race), Tim Hewitt broke the record walking to Nome (1100 miles) last year in 20 days.  Just 3 days short of the bikes, Geoff Roes foot racer (Jill Homers old boyfriend), Beat Jegerlehner foot racer (Jill Homers current boyfriend)  ooooo! imagine the tension.  Ok they are likely friends but still its an angle on the race.   





Some people walk or ski the 350/1100 miles

Lot's of snow this year is the report.  

Best coffee I have roasted in about a year.

Honduras Cup of Excellence -Finca Ovidio
With only 15 hours of rest this is already proving to be a fantastic roast.  Sadly I was keeping it for a special event since it is a cup of excellence winner and a little pricey.  Now I know I love it and it is all gone.  A special event in this case turned out to be no more other coffee to roast. 
The first crack was so quiet I was into a rolling second crack before I  figured out what was going on.  I couldn't figure out why first crack was so late and sounded just like second crack.  Looking back I actually had a pretty good roast and hit most time/temp marks as I would have wanted.  Ideally I would have pulled this roast just before second.  The beans are just a tiny bit darker on the front end of the taste in the cup than I would like.  Otherwise this roast turned out great.  I love this coffee.  
  

Tom's cupping wheel tells the tale with high numbers in all areas.  Balanced but not boring.  



For Tom's write up go here

Hike on Bluff Creek

My favorite grocery getter

Silver and Blue

Last weekend Ella, me, a bunch of locals and our Sponge Bob fishing rod competed in the Chanhassen Feb Fest fishing contest.  We didn't catch any fish but did set some deserving minnows free, ate good food, went on a sleigh ride, found out that I can throw Ella about 30 feet over the ice and enjoyed a bonfire out on the ice.  That last one weirds me out every year.

Ella using my two legged chair like a boss.

Ice seemed about 8 inches thick.  

Ella preparing to be ice tossed for a new record.

I sure love my little Ella.  

Bear?

Mazy and I followed Bluff creek into an area rarely visited by people and found lots of animal tracks.

 Deer, turkey, coyotes and raccoons were pretty easy to identify but not these.   

   

I think the big ones may be a black bear.

Thunder

 This is David "Thunder" Smith.  He is the person that gave me the idea that I could roast my own coffee.  He spends some time in Negril Jamaica and I got to know him on our honeymoon in 2000.  These are recent pic's I got after I friended him on Facebook.  How I face book friended David who I think spends his time in the Red Ground area without electricity or plumbing or WiFi I don't exactly know.  I am just glad I some how did.  (Thanks Marty)

 What I do know is that last time I was with him he climbed a Mango tree next to another friends land, Rasta Pete, and made the best juice I can remember drinking.  He also roasted some coffee from the Blue Mountains of Jamaica over a fire like the above pic's show.   A short time later at home I found green coffee at Bill's imported foods and copied what I saw.  I moved on to old air popcorn poppers to roast and now to a steel drum on a rotisserie in a gas BBQ grill to allow for larger batches.  

 I see David did the same.  Kind of.

 Rasta's I have had the pleasure to know have not only been great people but also great capitalists.  But don't tell them that.

Thanks again Thunder.  

Nice night ride

I would like to do some camping along this trail.  Lots of good spots.  

New phone love

I have been enjoying my new phone.   Samsung Galaxy Nexus
I love the ice cream sandwich software, big screen and Roboto font.

Chinese New Year

Fantastic food at Heaths house.   Thanks Ling Hui.

My trip to Florida

Went to Sanibel island with the family to visit the inlaws and see Susan's youngest brother Mike get wed to the very wonderful Shelly. 

I took a bunch of pics of my favorite subjects and could not pic my favorite so you get them all.   

Ella carried the rings and Maya forgot to toss the flowers.  

With Cousin Lucia

I think Maya's grimace kind of smile looks a little gangsta.

  After the wedding Susan and I took an express ferry to Key West to meet the Icelanders.  Other than these boats the morning we left I forgot to take pics of some of the other cool stuff on the trip so I just borrowed them from the web.

Things I liked about Key West  include chickens all over, six toed Hemingway cats and an open gay community.  

I went paddle boarding and loved it.  It was easier and more efficient than I thought it would be.  Kind of like going for a walk on water.  My board was a lot bigger than the one in this pic.  

Once back on Sanibel I got to watch a giant dead Manatee wash up onto shore.  I touched it.  The scene kind of looked like the pic below except my manatee did not have a head.