17 June 2026
The cousins' reunion came to an end today as my cousins when my Texas cousins left to fly back home. Before they drove away, we had one last gathering at the Applebee's near the hotel in Horseheads, NY. The waitress took the picture, so we got all of us in the shot!
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Left: Ev, Sally, Cheryl
Right: Clark, Jim, Pat, Ruth |
Clark and I were not heading back to New Jersey until the next day, so we asked the locals, i.e. our cousins, what we could find for entertainment in the area. The top of their list was "Visit the Harris Hill Soaring Museum". Given that resounding endorsement, we headed there for a look around and were not disappointed.
The soaring museum is located in Big Flats near Elmira, New York. We drove / walked around the property first and then went inside and toured the museum later. We learned some history as part of our exploration. Harris Hill is referred to as the "Soaring Capital of America" due to the topography providing favorable updrafts and ridges required for soaring contests.
Soaring is different than gliding in that gliding is the act of descending without the use of an engine while soaring uses air currents to gain altitude and prolong the time in the air. To quote results of a Google search: "... gliding is losing altitude, while soaring is defying gravity to stay airborne longer."
The first soaring competitions were held in Harris Hill starting in 1930 with this location becoming the official site of National Soaring contests in 1934.
The view from Harris Hill ...
Several big swings were positioned for easy viewing of soaring planes.
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| Clark checking out the view |
We certainly had beautiful weather for this excursion.
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| Dedication plaque located on the property |
Later, we decided to enter the museum to see their exhibits.
Many sail planes were on exhibit at the museum including the first sail plane to launch from here.
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Baker - McMullen Co.
Cadet II, Akron, Ohio |
A popular way to launch a glider from the 1930s to the 1950s was to use a "Winch Truck" like the one shown below.
Prior to that, from 1920 to 1928, a shock cord launch was used. The shock cord was a 200' long "bungee" cord pulled by up to 12 men to slingshot the glider into the air!
Transport gliders, like the one shown below, were used during World War II. They could carry one jeep, a 75 mm field gun, other large cargo, or could be equipped with benches to carry up to 13 full-equipped troops. They were used for invasions into Italy in 1943 and France in 1944.
Besides full-sized gliders on display, a panoramic display of miniatures showed gliders through the ages from the earliest models to the newest.
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| Early gliders |
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| Most recent models |
Of course Orville and Wilbur were included in the history of gliding.
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Wright Brothers flew gliders
from 1900 to 1903
to learn aerodynamics |
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| Wright brothers' plane |
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| Actual fabric from a Wright Brothers' Plane |
Not only men became glider pilots as far back as the 1930s. Audrey Artman, at the age of 19, set the woman's duration record with a flight of 2 hours and 5 mins with an altitude gain of 1200'. A year later, she broke that record for a flight of 3 hours and 15 mins with an altitude gain of 2400'.
Besides exploring the contents of the museum, we drove down to the hangar to see the planes located there.
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| Glider Hangar |
I noticed the "Come Fly With Us" poster and was intrigued.
I went in an inquired about the cost. At $140 a passenger would have 15 minutes of glide time, for $200 that number increased to 25 minutes.
It took several times of me saying so to convince Clark that I really meant it when I said I would love to go up in a glider. I finally got him convinced that I was sincere, paid my $140, and got my ride! He stayed on the ground as the photographer!
My pilot was a young woman, 22, who has been flying gliders for 6 years.
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| Meeting my pilot - Olivia |
I took one look at the glider and thought I might have made a mistake. The seating area was a small cubby hole at ground level. I said to Olivia, "If I get in there, I may never get out again!" Without hesitation, she said, "Oh, we'll get you out! No worries!"
Olivia put me in the front seat with my knees on either side of the steering control and my feet in danger of touching the foot pedals. The harness / seat belt they strapped over my shoulders and across my waist reminded me of an infant's car seat arrangement.
I had been warned when I paid that I could experience turbulence on the ride, and I wondered what I could touch / hold on to if I felt the need.
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| We're in a ready to go |
To get the glider up in the air, we had another plane come out to connect a cable to us and tow us up to speed.
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| Connecting the tow line |
Clark took a couple of videos of my flight.
I was expecting turbulence and experienced some vibration of the plane as we lifted off from the runway. Otherwise, it was a smooth ride. Olivia said it was bumpy earlier in the day but had settled down "flat" for the afternoon. I don't know if I was happy or disappointed by that news. At least I got my pictures in focus with the smooth ride.
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| Still being towed |
Clark took a picture of us from the ground point of view.
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| Here I am being towed to altitude |
I wondered as we were being towed up into the sky when and how the tow line would be released. Olivia, when I asked her, said we were at 1500 feet and at 2000 we would "cut the cord". I asked her how that happened, and surprisingly, she said that was my job. She pointed out the yellow ball beside my left knee, and on her say so, I was to pull it until it "popped".
One pull and "bang" the line dropped from the front of the glider. The towing airplane took off like a "bat out of hell" banking to the left, and we went right! I said, "Wow, that plane took off in a hurry." Olivia replied, "They have to get out of the way fast!"
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| Tip of airplane wing in picture! |
Clark also took a picture after the towing plane had left us.
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| I'm gliding / soaring! |
I was amazed as we glided through the sky how much control Olivia had of our movements. At one point, she easily made a complete U-turn in a very tight space. She was a great pilot - skilled, confident, and friendly!
We could see the Chemung River below us, and Olivia pointed out another interesting site to me -- a monastery. I was too slow to get an aerial picture, so I looked it up using Google later.
She said, "You see those white dots down there? They're sheep!"
All too soon we were on our approach to the landing strip to come in. I was curious, as I could not tell in the museum, what a glider has for wheels. The wheels on a glider are in a row down the middle of the plane with a small wheel on the tip of each wing. At rest the wing is basically lying on the ground.
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| Landing pad |
Clark took a picture as we made our landing approach.
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| Coming in to land |
and a video (that I had to split because it was too long to upload as one file)!
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| "Okay, we're back. Now how do I get out???" |
Once on the ground I had to figure out how to get out of the cramped space. In my last two blog updates I mentioned the strained muscle in my thigh from the 20-mile bike ride. It was still weak today. Olivia grabbed me under my right arm and told Clark to grab under my left. The two of them then lifted me to my feet so I could climb out!
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| Plane ride over! I'm out! |
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| Ev and Olivia - new "besties" |
As we walked away, Clark said, "Were you supposed to tip her?" I said I was wondering the same. The pilot of the tow plane was sitting nearby waiting to tow the plane up again, so we asked him who said, "It's not expected, but it is appreciated." Given that I turned around and walked back to the plane, Olivia was already back in the plane getting ready to go up again.
She jumped out and asked, "Did you forget something?" I said, "Yes! I forgot to give you a tip." That got me a big hug before we said our goodbyes one last time.
We left Harris Hill around 3:15, so we still had plenty of time left in the afternoon for more fun. With the bicycles in the car, it made sense to find another trail and go for a ride. I had done some Google searching and found the Lackawanna Rail Trail. Information on the trail said it was paved and about 8.5 miles long. We decided to check it out. (We would have no Outfitters to help with transport as we did in Wellsboro, so it would be a roundtrip ride.)
I was too busy riding to take pictures, so all the photos are to Clark's credit! We rode from the Elmira entry point to the Lowman location and back again. We traveled approximately 5.5 miles each way with an average moving speed of 9.8 mph. Being paved, this trail required less energy than the ground up gravel of the Pine Creek trail. The roundtrip ride took us just about 1.5 hours.
At the very beginning of the ride, I did not know if I was going to enjoy the trip. We biked through a bug storm. I thought that, if it continued, I would have to stop to put a bandana over my nose and mouth. I would need wipers for my glasses! Fortunately, the bug storm was short-lived.
The trail runs along side a major highway with lots of traffic, so trucks and cars could be seen to our left.
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| Highway signage! |
A couple of times we had to swerve to avoid running over a snake crossing the path.
A not-so-far distance down the trail, we came to an area where we could see the waterway to our right.
Clark liked the wild flowers growing on either side of the trail.
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| Flower-lined section of the trail |
We passed a park bench with a bike rack next to it. Clark stopped to look at the view.
When we arrived at the Lowman trail stop, we found nothing of interest and decided it was a good place to turn around. That is when I set my phone up to calculate our distance and speed. The many mile markers we saw along the way were unhelpful as they forgot to put the mileage in the circle.
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| Mile Marker with no mileage! |
18 June 2026
We decided after our bike ride in Elmira that we would go straight home today. Prior to that, we thought we might look for a trail somewhere along the way. This morning we both agreed that we would rather just get home. As we traveled the highway heading for Pennsylvania and ultimately New Jersey, we rode along side where we biked yesterday.
The bike trail was not visible through the foliage.
We did see the same road sign that we saw on the trail for Lowman and Wellsburg as well as the semi-trucks that we heard from the trail.
I grew up with the beauty of northern Pennsylvania and southern upstate New York. I took it for granted. It really is quite breathtaking!
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"Country roads, take me home, Pennsylvania!"
(apologies to John Denver) |
For the past few days, we have had a crew working in our backyard fixing our walkway to the boat and the steps down to the dock. Sadly, our amazing getaway was over, but we were both anxious to get home and see the progress.
The steps were complete when we got home.
We went from this ...
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| It was very bad and dangerous! |
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| Collapsing steps and rotting retainer wall |
to this!!
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| Amazing!!! |
