Roadrunner February 2014 Campout - Lake Pleasant

 

Roadrunners have had campouts at  Pleasant Marina campground on Lake Pleasant several times in recent years. On some Jeff Clyde has brought his boat and provided rides for interested members. Jeff could not come this time. Some of us found an appropriate spot nearby for target shooting and went  through a few rounds. As one of them, I must admit that I need a lot of work on my trigger squeeze!

The pictures this time all were taken in a Canon 350 D digital single lens reflex camera with a 28 – 135 zoom lens. I have a long learning curve to understand all of its features.

Near the lake is a small airport  from which sailplane rides are provided, as well as rides in seaplanes and an old biplane. We often see ultralights flying out of there.  Tom, Herb and I paid the airport a visit.

Here is a 1929 biplane. Its radial engine has 7 cylinders. We later saw it flying near the lake.

This single engine amphibian has room for several passengers.

 

And here is a twin engine amphibian we later saw flying over the lake.

The crop duster type plane at the left is taking off with a sailplane in tow.

 

And even this big amphibian took off during our visit.

This was the view from our campground looking at a small part of the marina. The land is owned by the Maricopa Water District. The 20 year lease to the builder and operator of the marina expired, and the District has taken over its operation. This a wide angle view of the scene.

Here is a telephoto shot from about the same camera station. The camera was not on a tripod, so its image stabilization seems to work well.

This view is from about the same spot but at a different  angle. The truck and two sailboats at the left can be seen in the wide angle shot above.

We did most of our visiting in the shade of a ramada in the grassy area around which RVs were parked. Tom Holz is at the left, then Mike and Barbara Williams with their new puppy named Boomer. They were hoping that Boomer would learn from the Fusts dog Emma some of her tricks. Boomer seemed interested in chewing on a ball but the retrieving part needs some work.

The marina at sundown on Friday night.

 

After many tries, I finally got a picture of Emma catching the ball. She usually caught it on the fly!

 

On Saturday morning we caught a ride on the little shuttle to the restaurant in the marina for breakfast. No, I didn’t drive – the shuttle drive took the picture.