Day 4 - It wasn't a fluke

Friends from Washington and Oregon were rolling into town. Thursday was very hazy, the result of the worst forest fires in decades. 150,000 acres were burning in central Washington alone.
The winds at launch were light again, but the haze suppressed the thermals until later in the afternoon. I launched after 4 PM and climbed quickly above Mt. Seven. I figured it was unrealistic to hope for another good flight, but I got one nonetheless. I followed the same strategy--be patient, get high, stay away from the rocks. I managed about 50 kilometers in about three hours.
Several memories stand out: Being joined south of Mt. Kapristo by my friend Steve after he made a great save. Flying with Marty DeVietti of Ellensburg on his first cross country flight past the "Coke bottle," a surreal looking radio tower in the middle of nowhere. Fleeing from a jaws-of-death canyon and finding myself low over a park-like meadow. The meadow was so beautiful that I wanted to stop for a picnic. But I found a thermal there--smooth, fat and tall--and the meadow receded thousands of feet below me as I made a most delightful save.