NARAM 47!!

A week of friends and rockets.

NARAM has become an event that Kathy and I have really come to look forward to.  It's odd too.  We spend weeks working so that we can drive for days and work a week only to drive for days and work for a week or two recovering.   But it is very satisfying.

Announcing new products, meeting up with old friends and making new ones.  Special projects and events that we bring to NARAM and that we get to see also.  Mornings socializing around a cup of coffee, field setup and getting into the atmosphere of NARAM then evenings of activities and more socializing.  Don't get me wrong, it is all very hard work, but it is also very satisfying and enjoyable.

Typical day has us up by 6 or 7, on the field by 8:30 or so (though we were late most days this trip), back to the hotel by 5:30 for a quick shower and out by 6pm for dinner and many activities and social events that would go late into the night.  Then repeat.

This particular NARAM held many special features for me personally as well as for FlisKits.  It was great to join up with some old friends such as Carl, Gordon, Scott, Bruce, Carl, Sheryl, Bruce, Mark and too many more to mention.  This was also the event where we demonstrated the kinds of fun you can have with foam cup rocketry with the massive Dudley Do-Right rocket.   Standing over 18 feet tall and using over 130 cups, the Dudley Do-Right was over 5600 cubic inches in volume and with a cluster of 4 D12 motors was the largest (by volume) model rocket to ever fly.  We flew her 4 times at this event including the last flight with CHAD staged D12 motors for a total of 8 motors.

This was also the event where I logged the 500th flight on my Sprint'73 model.  After inviting Gleda Estes to fly it on her 499th flight I then invited Vern to fly her on her 500th flight.  I've waited years for this moment and it was all I could have hoped for.   After a successful 500th flight, I then donated the model, along with a plaque to Vern and Gleda Estes to include in their museum.  That was one of the high points of the week.

Another high point was at the dinner banquet where I was honored to present Mary Wolf with the first $500 FlisKits scholarship.   I could not imagine our first scholarship going to a more deserving rocketeer and the look on Mary's face made it all the more worth while.  Congratulations Mary and good luck in the future!

And then there are the McLawhorn's.  Carl, Sheryl and Bruce.  What a great group of fine folk.  You may know them better as the proprietors of SEMROC model rocket company.  We know them as true and good friends.  Having only met them at a Whitakers, N.C. launch during our first year of operation, we have grown to be fast friends and thoroughly enjoy each others company.  It was great to be neighbors for the entire week and look forward to more outings in the future.

With that said, please enjoy this photo album from NARAM 47.   It is broken up into 4 parts with about 30 images in each part.  You can click on a thumbnail on the left for a full size image in this frame.

jim