It's that one glorious weekend every summer where all of us California rocekteers come together at Lucerne Dry Lake and enjoy three days of launching day and night, bugging the FAA for altitude waivers in real-time and watching our buddies crash and burn with a good laugh and a beer.

Last year was a great learning experience, and I took the lessons I learned from building and my failed flight of "Ambitious" to heart. Not to mention that your local rocket community is amazingly wonderful. Anytime a stranger will pull you aside to help, you know you're in good company.

Here's some shots of Ambitious from last year on the pad and in flight:

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/8213306/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/8213335/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/8213344/

My kit this year is a lot smaller, about 1/3rd the size of Ambitious, but is expected to reach the same altitude range (2500-4000ft). In addition I did a more through job on the construction of the rocket itself, learned tips and tricks thanks to a buddy of mine, and will place photos on here once the paint job on it is done. For those curious, I'm flying on a H-motor (a Cesaroni H125 Skidmark), so it's a bit more than your usual Estes kits will let you fly.

I also have more money this year [thanks to missing Califur], which means that I'll have the option to repair my rocket if it breaks and attempt a flight again the next day, not to mention more motors for more flights!

I'm super stoked, and feel ready to finally get my Tripoli Level 1 certification.

Also a hello to the continued stream of Watchers I keep getting, I hope many of you will be at FA:U where I'll be hosting a panel about how you can build your own rocket.

"You're a rocket engineer if you fly them; you become a rocket scientist when one of your own explodes."