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Brian Wrote:

   I picked up Ludo and Karine at the airport after a long flight from Paris to Detroit to Seattle late Tuesday evening.   At the luggage pickup we found that the handlers had mashed Ludos' wooden fighter box.   The kites weren't damaged fortunately.    I got them back to my house where they turned in early to recuperate from the jet-set lifestyle.

   On Wednesday we took a tour around the Seattle area, stopping at Great Winds Kite Shop where Ken gave us a tour of the loft and showed us part of his kite collection.   We continued on to the U-District, Freemont and Renton.

   Thursday, we stopped off at the St. Vincent DePaul thrift store just down the street to do some last minute shopping where Ludo found a Carom board for his collection and I found an Indian Chief / Tabasco motif silk tie that I knew Philippe just had to have.   Then we hit the road to Ft. Worden via the Ferry to Bainbridge and the Hood Canal Bridge.   Ludo and Karine were surprised to see Bison just before we got to Chimacum.

   On our arrival, we found several NFKA members already out flying, so we had to join them before everyone went in for the welcome-to-Ft-Wdn coldcut dinner.   We got our room assignments, went flying some more and then went to the local Mexican restaurant for Margaritas, then up to the dorm front steps for discussions and bug juice.   Eventually everyone turned in for the night.

   Ludos' Friday morning class was well attended, with Bruce Lambert helping out as teachers' assistant.   It started out a bit slow though.   I took a room in one of the houses across the field this year and forgot to bring an alarm clock.   Eight O'clock rolled around, and I was nowhere to be found.   I also had Ludos' equipment and supplies in my van, so nobody could start until I was locted.   It got sorted out eventually.    Sorry.   I took care of the campstove and hot oil for the donut / spoolmaking demonstration.   Everyone made a pieced together paper and bamboo Chilean fighter kite.   After lunch they all ajourned to the parade ground to test them out and fly MORE FIGHTERS!

 

Back row: Dave Jam, John McKenzie, ?, Ludo Petit, Tom Humphrey, Bruce Lambert, Chuck Lund
Front Row: Jeannette Mandanas, Jeff MacInnis, Sharon Musto, ?

   The Saturday NFKA meet went off just fine.   I was occupied in the rest of the Ft. Wdn process, so I didn't get much time to spend on the field.   Someone else will have to write up what happened.   Later in the day, Ludo went looking for some free space to build a demo Kerori kite for class the next day.    We finally ended up in the hospitality area of the Schoolhouse.   That evening we went down to the Thai restarant for dinner, then to Tom and Katrinas' house for Strawberry/Kiwi pizza and Brownies/icecream.   One of the highlights of the house tour this year was Katrinas' International Harvester horse truck.    Very retro and impressive.

   Sunday morning I found out that Ludo and Karine had won the Fort Worden 2000 Hapi coat in the raffle the night before and delivered it to them in the class.   Ludos' Sunday morning class started out a little better prepared.   The Kerori class started on time and most of the attendees got their kites completed with little trouble.   Getting the cross spars bend matched up was the most difficult part.   Ludo demonstrated a multicolor kite skin painting technique using a sponge dipped in multiple colors.    I ran the campstove donut cooker again, and John brought a glass sphere to mold the spools around.   Neil Smedley offered to trade his gorgeously finnished wooden fighter box to Ludo for some of Ludos' stock of kites.

Back row: Ken Conrad, Chuck Lund, John McKenzie, Randy Shannon, Kerine, Ludo, Charlie McClary, Jerry Fincher
Front row: Susan Sadow, Gary Goodenough, Karen Gustavson

   After lunch we packed up everything in preparation for a quick exit.   A last bit of flying was attempted on the parade ground.   A few touch points were flown, Richard and Ludo flew a couple last manjha tests just before the rain set in and we left for town.

   Bruce invited Ludo, Karine and I down to his house for a shop tour and dinner so we stopped there after a tour of the Kitsap Penninsula and a trip over "Galloping Gertie" - The Tacoma Narrows Bridge. We dropped off Ludos' old high milage fighter box with much Manjha Club history attached for refitting there as well.

   Monday was another Seattle Tour day.   We went downtown for shopping at the Pike Place Market.   Last time Ludo and Sarah came here they toured the upper level and Ludo was surprised to find all the lower levels and bizarre shops there.    We went to Westlake Center for lunch and found a new (to me) Indian restaurant with very good food.   Then on to Freemont for some more shopping and a walking tour of the shops.   After that we stopped off at George Peters' house in Lake City for dinner with West Indian cooking and genuine Grenada Cocoa.    Yummy!

   When we got back to Renton, Ludo asked me to build a Buka for him so he could see how I go about it.   We took pictures of the process, so I hope to be able to write up a Buka Workshop page soon.

   Tuesday we all slept in and then took our time getting last minute packing details in order.   When we got to the airport, they wouldn't allow Ludos' new/used Carom board as carryon luggage so he had to tape it to his new fighter box so it could be loaded in the luggage compartment.   Other than that, everything went rather smoothly.

   Thanks again to Ludo and Karine.   Hope to see you again soon.

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