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Sunset on the beach, Canoa, Ecuador

December 7, 2003

Another year has come and gone. We hope this year finds you in good health and happy. Here’s a short update from Oregon.

Dan continues to paraglide. He has logged 92 flights with over 32 hours in the air so far this year. For Dan, the weekend is not complete unless he has been out flying and had at least one good flight. In January he spent two weeks in Ecuador flying in the Andes and along the Pacific coast. The trip had lots of spectacular scenery and some great flying when the weather cooperated. The highlight of the trip was soaring for over 4 hours and 45 minutes on one flight at the coast.

Work, which has gone even better this year, is now clearly secondary to paragliding, but it finances the sport and still gets 45-50 hours a week of his time. Freightliner LLC is profitable again so the pressure to produce has subsided a little from the intensity of last year. This year Dan and his “hoods R us” engineers managed to crank out four new front end systems for Freightliner plus changes to every hood mounting system on the Sterling truck line. M2 business class 100 and 112-inch BBC models along with a new 112 Columbia and an updated (read cost reduced) Century 120 model went into production. There are still a few more in the pipeline for next year as well as the continued emphasis on cost reductions and quality improvements.

Dan got serious about weight loss this summer. He had been working out pretty regularly for the last few years but his weight was starting to creep back up to the point where he was going to need a higher capacity wing for paragliding if he wasn’t careful. Thanks to Dr. Atkins diet he is now nearly 40 lb. lighter and looking at smaller wings.

Mary Beth has been dieting and working out as well. She has found it much easier to cook and stay on the plan when she and Dan are on the same diet. She has had similar results to Dan but prefers to keep the exact amount of her loss to herself. If you haven’t seen her in a few years the change is quite noticeable. Her problem knee is also much better and she easily keeps up with Dan when hiking.

Mary Beth continues her work as, among other things, the family chauffer. She drives Emily all during the week and on weekends often goes to the mountains or coast with Dan on his paragliding trips. She drives him up the mountain and then drives down to retrieve him after his flight.

She has been busy this fall helping Emily with Geometry and Chemistry. Mary Beth loves to teach and despite the occasional protests from Emily, Mary Beth has Emily on track for some improved grades. Mary Beth is still helping with Girl Scouts. Every year she declares this will be her last year for cookie sales but she always ends up running it for Emily’s troop.

Emily (15) is now a freshman in high school. Her social and academic calendars seem to be better balanced this year. Still a lot of time on the phone and instant messaging but with a little luck she will have her grades where they need to be to get into college and more importantly to be allowed to start driving. Swimming along with speech and debate are keeping her busy after school and on weekends.

She did a lot of horseback riding early in the year but now that seems to be giving way to dance. Tango of all things is one of her favorite things. At 15 she has the legs for dancing and luckily a much better sense of rhythm than her father. She went to Camp Collins YMCA summer camp again this year and still wants to eventually spend her summers there as a counselor.

Sarah (21) is in her third year at the University of Oregon and busy as ever. She is currently working two jobs. The first one as the public relations coordinator for the Women’s Center on campus and the second as a Director of the Assault Prevention Shuttle, a service that provides free transportation to members of the campus community that feel unsafe walking home at night. She is still majoring in Political Science and Public Relations, and though she is quite in love with her classes, she is unsure what kind of job to look for after graduation.

She spent the past summer in Oakland, Ca., much to the chagrin of her parents. She spent her time waiting tables at California Pizza Kitchen, tutoring some neighborhood kids, and having a good time. It was great for her to realize that she can make it in a new city, but she was happy to return to the comforts of Oregon. Sarah is learning, slowly but surely, how to become a grown up.

This past summer Dan, Mary Beth, and Emily spent a week in Ohio visiting family and friends and then a week of “beach therapy” at Litchfield Beach, SC. In Ohio Dan spent some time with his Mom and sister as well as attending his high school graduating class reunion. At the beach, a morning workout in thy gym followed by breakfast followed by beach time followed by an afternoon movie followed by dinner. Repeat that 6 days in a row while refraining from reading E-mail or doing any other work related activity and you are “cured”.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year…