As excited as
I’ve been anticipating getting out to Stead Field for the 49th Reno
National Championship Air Races all week, I’ve also had a little pit of fear
camped in my gut, that when I crested the hill on Red Rock Road (where you turn
onto Lemmon Drive to get to “The Fenceline”) that I’d be greeted by the Washoe
County Sheriffs manning a roadblock and turning all us cheapskate race fans
away. Not an unfounded fear given last year’s tragedy and the general state of
our litigious society these days…
Well, as luck
would have it the coast was clear…Fenceliners would not be denied our week of
fun! Granted The Fenceline experience is a far cry from what it was before
9/11, when only some three strand barbed wire fencing kept those too lazy to
step over it, off the field of battle.
The 2001 Air
Races were cancelled in the wake of 9/11 and the General Aviation grounding
while the FAA and the Federal Government sussed out the new lay of the land.
When racing
returned in 2002, the dilapidated three strand was replaced by a stout,
chainlink fence with three strands of tight, serious barbed wire on top to keep
interlopers out.
Still, The
Fenceline was our little secret…all 5000 of us Fenceliners! That show is closed
now too, but that’s a story for another time. Today was a happy day at the
races.
The
weatherman didn’t lie, it was just under 90F, and for the mast part the winds
were light to moderate.
As I pulled
into “my spot” I recognized the neighbors from 2010. New pickup, same old
contractor’s trailer, same old wise guys…
I’d timed my
trip perfectly, I had just enough time to rig the new camera, deploy my camp
chair and chat up the neighbors before Unlimited Heat Medallion 1C came down
the Chute.
How nice to
hear the old warbirds flying low again! Music to my ears. These are the slowest
of the Big Unlimiteds, around 150 MPH slower than the Gold Race Contenders.
I captured it
all with the new camera, and eagerly rushed to the car to download and view the
HD video…not exactly the wow-factor images I was hoping for. All out of focus
except the occasional telephone pole and power lines…
I launched
the .pdf of the camera’s operator’s
manual and verified my settings.
Here’s the
issue. The sun really. Cameras don’t have the eyepiece that you look through
anymore, they’ve been replaced by beautiful LCD screens. Alas in the bright
high desert sun, all you see is reflections of the sky, your face, or that
blazing yellow fishing shirt you wore for sun protection.
I’ve thought
about this since last time I was out in the Valley Of Speed (2010), and every
time SturgeUrge and I go fishing. What I need is like one of those antique 3D
stereo photo viewers the Grandma used to have…like you see on Antiques Road
Show on PBS.
It’s either
that or what I call the Ansel Adams Wedding Veil, the black cloth hood that old
time photographers with their big sheet film (or glass plate) View Camera.
For now, I’ll
cobble something together out of Manila folder stock, some cardboard, duct tape
and flat black spray paint. I’ve got the pistol grip with the tripod mount.
I found that
if I find a place where the shot misses the fence and powerlines, the
auto-focus doesn’t get confused…pity, my favorite four foot ladder is
languishing a the Ancestral Digs…
Oh yeah, one
last thing…it turns out I’m eligible for the Senior Discount…I’ll be buying a
ticket for Friday’s Races…to see the lay of the land, post tragedy, and to get
a closeup look at some aviation history.
A discount is
a discount, but I’m not sure what I’m feeling about this situation…
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