Road trip!! GA to FL

[skyskijason]

Here we go again! This time for fun though. Me and my boys (5 & 8 yrs old) are going to a hydrofoil water ski event in Lake Placid, FL next weekend. We'll be trucking down I-75 from almost TN to Valdosta on Wed. afternoon. Then thurs AM we are going to Tampa to visit some fambly. Thurs PM we're going to Sebring/Lake Placid for the 8th annual Florida Fly-In!! On sun, we'll head home up US 27 to I-75 all the way back to N. GA.

Haven't decided if we are taking ski boat. We have a few boats we can commandeer down there, but we LOVE ours sooo much... (its not like the 'extra' fuel is gonna cost us too much!! )

We should have plenty of grease, but always enjoy meeting other VO'ers - so if you are along our path, drop me a line and hopefully we can stop by!

Here's a pic of a hydrofoiler friend doing an extreme move. "Ball and Chain" is what Geno Yauchler calls this (wrapped) backflip/360*/helicopter manuver! This is at a FL Fly-In a few years ago...

[Marv]

Sounds like a good time Jason...hope you guys enjoy it!

Cool pic by the way! Did you take that?

[skyskijason]

Sounds like a good time Jason...hope you guys enjoy it!

Cool pic by the way! Did you take that?

It will be a great time. The pic(s) by Ian Lauder I think?? Once upon a time, it seems like 80% of all published water ski photo's were done by him. He was there that year... I stole this pic from a web page and there was no credit with it. For lots of crazy pics and vids check out foilfreaks.com and follow their links to other foilin' sites. At one time, I knew almost anyone you'd see in a pic riding a hydrofoil. These 'Fly-In' events are just informal gatherings of 'foil junkies'. The FL event gets a big turnout because it will be the first time most people ski for the season. Mike Murphy (inventor of the Air Chair and later Sky Ski) always makes FL, as well as many pro riders. Its a blast to go boat hopping and skiing with some of the biggest names in the industry. Unlike most other water ski disciplines, most of these guys and gals are very down to earth and will teach you as much as you can learn at these events - for FREE

[muns53]

My good friend has an Air Chair - it's his favorite boat toy by a long shot.

[waytallwhitey]

LUCKY!!!

[Marv]

Jason, a bit off topic, but did you guys have any damage from the rough weather about a week ago?

I know we had some tornados roll through a week ago this past Friday and then the "low level gravity wave" (or whatever the weather man called it) on Sunday night/Monday morning.

Tornados missed my town, but the gravity wave tore a LOT of stuff up. Thousands of trees blown down, houses damaged, power outages, signs blown out, etc...

Just thought I'd ask...

[skyskijason]

Thanks Marv, we didn't get much of anything here - just normal thunderstorm stuff. The potential was there though and the weather radio did holler all nite... How'd y'all make out? Any damage at your place?

Our house sits a little over 2000ft above sea level and the mountains right around us go up to almost 5000ft. Between the cooler temps and wind shear, most of the time the storms weaken by the time they get here. That system did give us a good dose of rain we desperately need!

[Marv]

Thanks Marv, we didn't get much of anything here - just normal thunderstorm stuff. The potential was there though and the weather radio did holler all nite... How'd y'all make out? Any damage at your place?

Our house sits a little over 2000ft above sea level and the mountains right around us go up to almost 5000ft. Between the cooler temps and wind shear, most of the time the storms weaken by the time they get here. That system did give us a good dose of rain we desperately need!

Good to hear you guys came out okay. I heard that N. Georgia had some rough weather too, but wasn't sure if it was your neck of the woods.

No major damage to our yard or house, but one fellow did have a tree down in his yard on our street. Around town was a different story though. The low level wave really tore up a lot of things around the Scottsboro (and immediately surrounding county) area.

We've had more rain than I can handle just about. Last year we were in a drought, this year the ground can't soak it up fast enough. My yard has had water standing in for most of the last month. Starting to look like a swamp!