Heading North

I came back from eastern Oregon via Hood River - the Kite boarding and Windsurfing capital of the world, well the western US anyway, OK maybe just Oregon, regardless, the wind blows here often and it blows hard. I met up with Kari who has just officially become a kite board instructor so I could be her first guinea pig. I had a nightmare with the Greyhound service (actually the complete lack thereof) the night before but at the risk of being branded a serial bitch, I'm not going to tell you about it. Short of saying it was bordering on heaven to get off the bus in a place like Hood River:



Kari went out on the board for a bit and she can make that thing move! Then we got in the water and she strapped me into the kite after a few brief but vital instructions. It's a whole lot of sail for one little human! It was good fun and we messed around until sunset just flying the kite which really is what the sport is all about. It was fun to fly it back and forth as you have to keep the kite in the 'safety zone' - this is the area of the wind where the kite does not have any power, outside of which you are likely to be dragged so hard that water will go in your nose and out your eye balls in a very comical but painful fashion. It keeps you on your toes - and as I found out it keeps Kari on her toes when you once or twice accidentally dip into the power zone. Sorry Kari ;-)

I was back in Portland for a night and then caught the train with Heike up to Seattle . For the non-flyers out there, this is what 2 (that is two) paraglider pilots kit looks like:



I also have camping gear stuffed amongst all that. We drove into Canada with Bill Hughes who is the competition scorer extraordinaire in this part of the world. We got to Golden and had a flight Friday afternoon in fairly light conditions. Gavin (good mate, Aussie pilot, can fly a bit) was already here and disappearing from launch for a 60Km out and return as we arrived. I only had one flight as I managed to pick up a cold somehow and am not feeling the best for flying. Rumour has it that people regularly get sick after they have been in the water at Hood River, nothing has been proven yet... Here are a few picks around the campsite at Golden which is a brilliant place, huge fields, nice shady campsites, occasional friendly black bear. The Columbia river flows in the valley here and it is large. The river itself is deep and fast flowing but it overflows at random points turning the better part of the valley floor into swamp land, and if there is one thing more at home in a swamp than a redneck with motorised pleasure craft, it's the mosquito. Don't misunderstand me, these are not normal mosquitoes. Then entire valley around Golden is like some kind of Olympic training camp for mosquitoes and the camp site here is the nerve centre, where only the strongest, fittest, most doped-up mosquitoes are allowed to train. Since arriving I've been bitten by mosquitoes on parts of my body I've never even seen. I grew up with the regular teenage skin issues bur right now it looks like I have acne on my lower legs.