My mid April I was suffering a major black powder withdrawal.  I hadn't launched rockets for over two months.  I made a vow of sorts that I wanted to launch some rockets before we had to go back to school (on the 24th).  I showed my Dad some stuff I had written about "rocket history" that I had made.  Then I told him that I planned to make some more rocket history that day.  And I did.
    At about 4:00 in the afternoon I decided that the time had come to launch rockets.  Unfortunately, no one wanted to come and watch.  I set off to launch alone.
    I set up the launch pad in the west launch field to try to prevent another rocket landing in the road (like Sprint).  It was kind of disappointing to have no one to share the launch experience with.  Oh, well.
    First up: Space Racer, for its second flight.  This time I gave it a B6-4 engine.  After the countdown I pushed the button and Space Racer screamed into the sky.  Riding the thrust of its engine it went incredibly high.  After seeing the first flight of Space Racer, I didn't think it had much promise.  When it reached apogee it was merely a speck in the sky!  I can't wait to fly Space Racer on a "C" engine!
    But the idea of having a promising rocket faded when I saw where Space Racer was headed: towards the road!
    I started off in pursuit of Space Racer, then turned back when I realized that there was no one to watch the launch site.  I scurried back to the pad, dismantled it and packed it in the huge tool box that serves as my range box.  Then I set off again.
    I scampered over a bridge across a creek.  However, there was still one more creek that had no bridge that I needed to cross.  Lucky for me I had my sandals on, so I plunged in waded across the creek.
    When I reached the other side I had to scramble over some rocks.  Then, after climbing a small hill I had to rush through a large field full of prickly things that hurt my sandaled feet.  I thought I would find Space Racer in the field.  But I didn't.
    After about a minute of hurting my feet I spotted Space Racer.  It was lying in the road!  There were a bunch of cars lined up at a stoplight on Colorado Avenue (not to be confused with Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena).  Space Racer was lying in front of the front car, which I think was a Toyota RAV4, whose tires were pointed straight at it!  When the light turned green Space Racer would have been reduced to just another piece of road litter.
    "There it is!" I shouted triumphantly.  I dropped the huge range box at the bottom of a fence that separated the prickly field from Colorado Ave.  Then, with a little struggling, I made it to the top of the fence and leaped off.  All I had to do then was run over to the rocket, pick it up, and run back.
    I did just that.  As far as I could tell, no one even noticed me.  No one even blinked.
    Surprisingly, the only really bad damage Space Racer sustained that day was when a fin broke off when I threw it back over the fence.  Oops.
    The story of this flight is very amazing.  It is incredibly unlikely that so many potentially destructive occurrences didn't happen.  What if the light was green when Space Racer landed?  What if Space Racer hit a car and I got in big trouble?  That flight is so unlikely that even I find it hard to believe, and I was there!
    I walked back to the launch site lugging the huge range box with Space Racer nestled safely inside.  I set up the pad again, this time for the fifth flight of SAM-66.  Since the previous flight, in January, I had lengthened SAM-66 by 14 cm.  I did this because I thought it needed more leverage for the nose weight, thus making it more stable.  With this added leverage I could do away with the washers in the nose that had previously provided nose weight.  The lack of nose weight lightened SAM-66, allowing it to fly better.
    The flight was rather mundane compared to Space Racer's.  It flew up off the pad on the second try.  Recovery was perfect and I packed up and went home.
    Flying model rockets is the best way to combat black powder withdrawal.