Tyson Taylor writes in this edited version to the Houston Yahoo
Group:

Previously I was the first one to launch and I was a bit too early
to make it stick so I definitely didn't want to go first again. Radio check,
Jeff K is probably too busy coring a thermal to get on the horn right now. Oh
well, time to launch.

Tiki and I had a smooth tow and she dropped me off upwind about a mile south of
the airport. But somehow I didn't find what it was that Tiki dropped me off in
and I decided to glide upwind a bit more and try the cloud directly to the
south. There was nothing! I looked over my shoulder to the north and there is
Ted way up at cloud base and I'm starting to panic down at 1700'.

Radio check, nothing. So I did my best glide downwind to Ted's thermal and
thankfully it provided me with a lift back up to 2500'. Yet Ted was even higher
than I, easily at 3000', but the light SE wind had carried us towards the
highway and Ted booked it back to Wharton Regional. Off to the North I catch a
glimpse of Jeff K's wing making a turn off, Rich 2 and Jeff B had launched.
Radio check, silence. The cirrus clouds had us covered up completely.

At 2500' what was left of Teds' thermal was starting to fizzle out and I glided
parallel with the highway going north finding little bumps to keep me afloat.
There seemed to be a bit of wind that was smooth at altitude and I was taking
stock of the situation.

As a pilot who has only flown in Wharton, TX., thanks to Cowboy Up. I knew that
(with the wind the way it was) I was only going to be able to drift a little bit
further if I was going to be able to make it back to the airport safely. Safely,
what I mean by that, "making it back safely" is not landing in the "no landing
zone" that Cowboy Up has. There is a line from the windsocks that is a no
landing zone. If you land before it you have to buy a case of beer or land in
the adjacent field to the east which is rough and lets just say I don't like
that field either.

It was the the line in the sand moment. I glanced back at the airport knowing
that I'd be gliding upwind losing a bunch of altitude, and maybe, just maybe
find another climb out if I was lucky or there was a gaggle of fifteen or so
falcons (the birds, not the Wills Wing single surface hang gliders) downwind
perfectly illustrating the presence of a well defined thermal.

Jeff K at this point was no where to be seen, the radio has transformed into
extra weight, but, with the promise of lift just a skip away I broke the leash
that was Wharton Regional Airport, alone, or at least I thought I was alone.

Right away it felt liberating and I was rewarded with a fantastic thermal of the
200-300fpm variety. The falcons were all over the place! Marking lift all around
and we gleefully drifted downwind circling, listening to the vario sing her
song.

I have believed for a long time that the birds are very smart creatures with
very good memories. It's amazing really and from time to time you see in the
news a researcher makes astonishing discoveries about birds and their ability to
remember. The way I see it, the birds are always watching us, with their ability
to spot a rabbit two miles away, they are watching us easily, specked out up in
the clouds, watching how we go about our lives, there is always birds watching
us. As I drifted away from Wharton airport, I was met with a full escort of
birds. It was as if they knew I was going out of the nest for the first time,
and by escort I mean it was as if every bird that I saw flying around my "nest"
came out to come visit me on my flight. They wouldn't let me go fly alone, not
on my first cross country, it was the warmest welcome I've ever had.

As I topped out with the falcons, our local bald eagles came out to visit me and
gave me a solid lead out on some mighty fine thermals. There were three of them
mom, dad, and Jr. bald eagles and we glided beautifully downwind together in
formation. Never have I been so close to nature at this point, literally eight
foot away from a full grown bald eagle and family. We locked eyes.. It was an
absolutely incredible feeling, majestic, spiritual. At this point I pretty much
morphed into a bird myself and we soared together all the while my vario sang
one of my favorite songs, 400fpm.

And just like that, the eagles were nowhere to be seen. More than likely they
went way above me, to keep an eye on me. Anyway by this time I am approaching
the Colorado River and I set a course over a town where there was either a cloud
forming up or dissipating. Surprisingly I hit a nice thermal on glide over a
forested area and I went back to make a turn in it. I was at 1800' and was kinda
nervous. There were LZ's everywhere and I had to tell myself to just relax and
stay focused. So I did and I realized I was getting thrown off because the wind
had died down and I had a nice climb up to 2500' again. A buzzard came up to
visit me, and we climbed out together.

I decided to head towards better formed cloud and I glided with what was left of
my south east breeze. I had a beautiful glide and I was going places and it was
neat to see these little towns from my point of view. After a while I began to
miss the sound of my vario. I was below 2000' again and I had plenty of options
for landing in fields that were way bigger than my "nest" field so I mellowed
out.

I kept on gliding, looking out for anything, but I was just sinking out and I
did everything I could to block out the LZ blues that was starting to play in my
head. Then, I spotted a group of about ten buzzards and a lone falcon. They were
doing what I was doing just trying to stay buoyant. Soon enough I was down at
their level of 600'. We weren't sinking but we weren't gaining. All of us doing
lazy turns in this corner of a field.

It was lore passed down to me that sometimes you have to wait for thermals to
trigger. If you find yourself in zero sink, just be patient. So I waited with my
mob of buzzards. I was thinking that this must have been a good show for the
people living in the trailer across the way. "Hey honey grab me a beer, we got
one of these kite dudes bout to land in our yard!" I thought.

Before too long, like tuning the dial on an old am/fm radio, I started to hear
my favorite station. My trusty Flytec 4005 vario started to pick up on the
pulses of the brand new thermal. A gap opened up in the oppressive cirrus
blanket, and the sun shined through to warm up our wings.

Next thing I knew I was banked over as far as I had ever banked and I was wing
tip to wing tip with my gang of buzzards. The vario was singing as loud as she
had sung for the whole day, 600fpm. My left shoulder was killing me since I tend
to favor left turns in thermals for some reason, and I switched to a right turn
once I was a bit more up. I relaxed and listened to my favorite jams on my 4005
all the way up to 3000'. It was chilly up there and I was smiling with my gang
of buzzards. I went on another tasty glide along with a couple of my buzzard
buddies as the gap in the cirrus filled back in.

There I was setting up my approach, still one buzzard stayed with me, and I
couldn't believe that this amazing journey was about to come to and end. There
was what seemed to be a tailwind on every part of my approach and it just turned
out to be no wind at all. I skimmed along the ground half a second too long and
missed my flare window and landed on my knees. Oh well, it was kinda
disappointing because I had a perfect no wind landing on the Sport 2 155 last
week, but that's all I was doing, focused on landing practice.

I just had a remarkable flight that drained me mentally and I waited to the last
minute to get my head out of the "thermal game" and on the task at hand, a no
wind landing, which is very demanding. After that low save I couldn't give up on
the day and thus I paid the price for not being completely on point for my
landing.

All I could do was laugh out loud at how incredible the adventure I had just
experienced. Michael and Jeff K came and picked me up. Cold beer never tasted so
good.

As always, thanks so much to everyone for helping me get to this point in
flying. It is very special to me. Thank you thank you thank you know who you
are.

Thanks to Larry Bunner.