April will now always be regarded as a good month for me. Through all of the people I have met in this hobby, all of the coaching, and assistance I have received through this whole experience, none of it made more sense than on April 11th.

I have always said that this community is chock-full of people ready, willing and eager to help with whatever you need. I've seen numerous people helping with projects that are beyond their territory, outside their normal ring of friends, and so on, just to be involved, and to lend a hand. It really is incredible to see such varied backgrounds mesh so smoothly, it really does boggle the mind.

So along my way to design and build my Level 1 rocket, I got tips and suggestions from all sorts of people, and my design changed quite a bit from start to finish. By the time I was done, given the suggestions that everyone had given, I was very confident in my construction, design, and methods of madness that this was going to be cake, but I still needed a few pointers to be sure that everything was in check before I signed my flight card & loaded the pad.

I drug my Brother & Dad with me both for moral support, and media collection. As you can see, they were busy. The morning drive was nice, and smooth, and getting on the lakebed was not difficult, even though we had just seen record rains in January, and there were reports as recent as a week ago of standing water on the lake bed. This had us slightly worried, but everything seemed to be okay. The lakebed was a little moist, but those that had spent the night said it was from overnight rains, rather than standing water. As we got there the ROC group was just setting up, and we volunteered to help out a bit while things got going. The motor vendor is who I was waiting for, so I could buy my cert motor. I was hoping What's Up Hobbies would show up so I could buy CTI hardware, and a reload to fly, but Rocketmotion is who showed up, and they only carried Aerotech Products. Thanks to the great community that is rocketry, Chris Williams, whom I had previously seen at two launches volunteered to let me borrow an Aerotech motor case to fly with, and I bought an H123 from Larry at Rocketmotion.

As this was my first reload, I wanted to have someone look over my shoulder as I built it to make sure I did it right, and Wedge Oldham was nice enough to take a break from his duties, and B.S.-in' to help out. It went together smoohtly enough after I had found someone willing to lend some grease (I came ill-prepared) and some wind-less shade. There was an issue with the sleeve that was resolved with a hack-saw & some sand paper. After that was all loaded, it was time to pack my chute. Again, Wedge stepped up, and was willing to help with all of my questions. How tight the nose cone should be was another issue I had. After everything was properly adjusted, I paid my Tripoli dues, and filled out my flight-card, headed up to the pad, and got everything set up.

There weren't a lot of people there on that day, as compared to even normal monthly launches, but I got a LOT of Congratulations, and a lot of positive comments on my rocket, which made me feel not only 'welcome' but 'at home' in this club. As soon as I can afford to attend 6+ launches per year, I will join, and not look back. The people, the atmosphere, and the way things are run is top notch, and it really does work well.

My flight was a success, even though it got some road rash from being drug across the road, and the mud and the much on the other side of the highway, and I was on cloud nine. It would have been considerably more difficult if it weren't for this wonderful group of rocketeers, both locally, in ROC, and nationally, in ROL Chat. It is because of these people that I have the education I had, and all of the tools necessary to have a successful Level 1 flight, a solid design, and solid construction. Education is vital to this hobby, and I've gotten one, and not only will I continue to get one, I will do my best to share it with others.