Count me as guilty. I’ve done a few things in my life that violate our country’s laws, like exceeding the posted speed limit, but I’m now fixing that by driving slower than the speed limit. In a couple more years, my slate should be totally wiped clean.
Something else I violated, or at least think I did, was the National Association of Rocketry safety code. This was many years ago, and I can’t remember whether I ever signed the sheet that came with an Estes-brand model rocket.
For several years, my son and I built model rockets and flew them successfully. I think that might have helped him eventually join the United States Space Force. I’ll have to ask Gunnar that question sometime.
Being a hot rodder at heart, I couldn’t help but put a couple of solid-propellant rocket engines on a toy car and light them off on Fern Lane. That was the road in front of our house in Alaska. This goes against the safety code.
With a crowd of spectators watching, the car set a new land speed record for that stretch of asphalt before running off the road and crashing into a neighbor’s truck tire. No damage was done.
Knowing I wasn’t setting a good example for my son and other kids, I performed my next experiment in secret, much like Lockheed’s Skunk Works. This entailed stuffing three rocket engines onto one rocket tube. Balance is essential for a model rocket to successfully lift off and go straight up without problems.
Taking my creation to a large field, I lit it off and watched as it danced in every direction possible before heading toward some houses and then changing course. The parachute eventually popped out, and I retrieved things. Some kid had been watching, and he walked up asking me, “You didn’t balance it, did you?”
I quit tinkering with rockets then and experimented with making Gunnar’s gravity-propelled AWANA model cars faster with some illegal modifications. I didn’t know that went against the rules at the time, as I’d never read the instructions. I suppose that’s akin to telling a police officer you didn’t know the speed limit after being pulled over.
One of the first cars I helped Gunnar build, with me doing 99% of the work, jumped out of its lane much like that wayward rocket, and took out several other cars. You guessed it. Improperly balanced.
I’ve had the same problem towing trailers, opening several heavy toolbox drawers at once, and leaning out too far while using a ladder. That last one hurt. Just recently, I wrote a song titled “I landed in Heaven.”
It’s an imaginary tune with a serious message. You can find it on YouTube under the same title beginning October 22nd. Look for a photo of a large homemade rocket ship on the cover.
