ESTESLAND, Colorado USA — Ted's Travelogue: Four of us left from Minneapolis MN at about 9:00 AM Friday, and, after some interesting adventures in North Eastern Colorado with a deflated inside left rear RV tire, made it to the NARAM launch site Saturday around noon.

The site is relatively flat rangeland, with dry grass, cacti, and the occasional barbed wire fence. The airport is about two miles away, and the sky on Saturday was full of perhaps the most varied flotilla of vehicles anywhere in the United States: Parachutists by the dozen, gliders, motorized gliders, light planes, the occasional Air Force jet, and, of course, rockets.

Home on the range. Click to enlarge.

Over 220 rockets were launched between 7:00 AM and 3:00 PM Saturday, and approximately 270 more on Sunday — everything from Micromaxx to H impulse motors, clustered and staged, boost gliders and rocket gliders, oddrocs and 3FNCs. The launch rate was slowed only briefly by passing thunderstorms (mostly breeze and lightning on Saturday, more of the same and a brief downpour on Sunday). We met lots of people we had known only from RMR and the Forums — Bob Kaplow, Peter Alway, Tom Prestia, Chris Taylor, Trip Barber, Steve Lubliner, Greg Elder, Mark Bundick, Bill Stine, Matt Steele, and there are others we haven't yet run into.

The organization has been great! It is also great to see such support for the kids: For example, attendees received a registration package including two Quest Micromaxx rockets and a Quest launch controller for the kids, a kite (in the event of wind, all the kids are supposed to go fly the kites, which is supposed to immediately calm the breezes and allow launching to resume).

Model rockets of all sizes -- John Greg Simonsen (NAR 72765, TRA 7138) had this Maxi-Omega on static display. It isn't quite ready to fly yet, and just slightly exceeds the 3.3lb weight limit for the site. Click to enlarge.

There is long list of vendors, here. BMS, Apogee, Rocket Vision, Saturn Press, Nano Rocketry, Space Modeling Solutions, Totally Tubular, Tango Pappa Decals, Quest, Recovery Technologies, Ring Rocketry, Holverson Designs, Missile Works, AeroTech, and more! I'll have more to report on them later this week.

Interesting sights on Saturday and Sunday have so far included Doug Holverson's styrofoam prototypes of his existing balsa kits, Chris Taylor's line of Micromaxx kits, including gliders, Tom Prestia's beautiful 1.6X Mars Lander flight, Robert Alway's backward recovering superroc gliders(?), a couple of rattlesnakes, and all manner of vintage Estes kits and scale ups of same.

The competition starts Monday with 1/4A parachute duration and B streamer duration, but the sport range will remain open all week.