Marfa, Texas-Long

Although I grew up not terribly far away, until I flew gliders and attended
one of Dick Johnson's soaring camps, I was pretty much completely unaware of
the wonders of the Big Bend region of West Texas. Now I feel the need to
get down there regularly. There are many interesting regions in the US but
I can't think of anyplace remotely similar to the transpecos area.

One of the three or so most memorable glider flights I have had was at one
of those Easter camps on a very windy day, the kind where many people will
not fly because the thermals will be "all torn up." Fred Cuny, in his
ASW-19 and me in my Mini-Nimbus happened upon each other after takeoff and
started flying together. We headed west in strong conditions to near the
Rio Grande then flew southeast along the river until flying back up toward
Marfa. I couldn't believe the terrain. It felt to me like I was flying
over the surface of the moon. I just had not seen this kind of country
before. Hard to describe. It is rough with a lot of strangely shaped
volcanic peaks, escarpments, overt faults and all kinds of jumbledy rock.
When flying here you sure aren't "in Kansas anymore." There are a very few
small communities, but mostly this is just wide open ranch country.

On Veteran's Day I called up a geologist friend to see if she wanted to fly
with me down that way. She didn't know what she was in for. We took the
power plane down toward Alpine then inspected the Glass Mountains which are
an extension of the Capitan Reef that constitutes our local Guadalupe
Mountains. After that we worked our way down toward Terlingua Ranch with
numerous detours to more closely inspect the stunning rock stories taking
place all around us. We landed at the dirt strip at Terlingua to find we
had missed the famous chili cookoff by a couple of weeks.

On the way back home to Carlsbad I was monitoring the CTAF at Marfa when I
heard Burt Compton taxiing out. I had never met Burt but called him on the
radio to ask if we could look at his glider operation. He quickly cancelled
his own flight to, very hospitably, show us around. He and Kathie have
finished a large hangar and assorted amenities. The hangar is adjacent to
the runway 3-21 taxiway. The 3-21 runway is in the process of being
resurfaced. Their personal gliders as well as John Byrd's Discus are in
there along with two Blaniks and a Cessna 150/180 towplane and another
towplane in process. Also evident are many artifacts of a fun atmosphere;
things like the shaded outdoor tables, hammock and musical instruments
strewn about.

The Comptons have bitten off a pretty ambitious thing here. Yes, it is an
unbelievable soaring site at about 5,000 feet elevation that hosted a great
world championship nearby. Yes it has varied and incredible terrain.
Fairly benign near the airport and to the northwest with a mountain range to
the north and all the rough country a ways to the south. Yes, soaring guru
Dick Johnson picked this place for the spring thermal and wave flying
potential. The problem though, is related to the benefit. This place is a
long long way from anywhere. To enjoy the unique benefits it is necessary
for most people to make an effort to get here. Once here, people would find
that the village of Marfa and the Paisano Hotel and the soaring are probably
startling different than what they are used to.

Now I have to admit I am not impartial. Burt gave two strangers, Louise and
I, great Marfa Gliders tee shirts as we left. When we left I flew with
Burt up to see where John Byrd lives up on the slopes of the Davis
Mountains, a little west of where Ned Wilson retired to his house up on a
little volcanic mesa above his grass strip. When I first saw Ned's place, I
wondered if there was a better place to retire to.

Burt's url is http://www.flygliders.com/

Larry Pardue 2I
Carlsbad, NM
http://n5lp.net