Maybe an also ran for this thread....

There I was on my way from the Soaring Club of Houston to Fault Line Flyers
(just N of Austin) only about 20 nm from FLF and at about 1000' agl in the
PW5. Couldn't make Sybert, a little strip 15nm from FLF, and was looking
over a nice, dark, plowed field as my landing spot. Then I saw a buzzard
circling nearby. My ugly savior. As I rolled into formation behind him, he
glanced back, flapped his wings and was gone. No point circling in the sink
he had left. Set up to land in the field. On downwind doing a final check
of the field, a four foot length of corn stalk rose directly in front of me.
Hit the boomer and took it all the way to the top.

Lessons learned:
Dark plowed fields are my friends.
Buzzards lie.
Cornstalks don't.
Multi-core thermals are the norm.