Some people retire and head for the rocking chair. Not so in our town. Retirees and young folks alike are very active in River Bend. The longer one lives here the more one hears of residents having diverse and interesting backgrounds and achievements. This page shows some interesting hobbies of our residents - the kind of that many of us envy and wish we had done. Let me hear about yours...


Experimental Ultralight kit from Kolb Company called the Firestar. It's a two-seater with a 52 hp ROTAX engine (used in snowmobiles). Runs on regular gas. 10 gallons gets 4 hours of flying time. Top speed 70-75 mph.	Kermit has been licensed to fly since 1957. The Ultralight replaced a sailboat that the couple sold but has yet to be flown awaiting FAA approval. Beverly, who did some of the upholstery work and covers for the plane, is concerned of course but not to worry because the plane itself has a parachute if all else fails.


Cockpit is pretty bare	Engine is started with a rope like a lawn mower	The hardest part is just getting in says Kermit	All settled in and ready for takeoff

Reinhold Wind said he always wanted to raise bees. So he built a couple hives and with the help of a neighbor built a nice enclosure to keep children from getting stung. Last Spring he purchased two packages of bees, each with about 15,000 bees and a queen bee and started two colonies in the hives.


Reinhold started to lift the top off the hive but the bees began buzzing around me so he changed his mind. Whew!	See the bees...	Lots of beautiful flowers are in the front and back yard of the Wind's home for the bees.

That's exactly what John Curran, a retired U.S. Army Captain at 287 Shoreline Drive did!

John found his dream C-123 cargo plane in the Arizona desert in 1998. It was a derelict that had been exposed to the weather for 13 years but it only cost $1. After getting it airworthy, which took some doing, John and his crew flew it 2000 miles to Schenectady, NY where John lived at the time. The Fairchild C-123 was the precursor to the more common C-130 cargo plane and was used extensively in the Vietnam war. With aviation fuel currently averaging $3.50/gal and the tank holding 2600 gallons, a fill-up costs $9100. John obviously doesn't do a lot of pleasure flying in his "Ponderous Polly" and counts on air shows such as the recent 2005 Cherry Point Air Show to provide an appearance fee and reimburse the owner for the cost of fuel and oil..

Al lives at 102 Virginia Court and loves to build things, things that most folks would never even attempt. Here's a deluxe panoramic MS Flight Simulator, a home-built SUPER computer and a home-built Pontoon boat:

Here Al is getting ready to takeoff in a twin-engine Cessna in his Microsoft Flight Simulator. It's no ordinary Simulator because it uses 3 flat display screens synchronized to give a wrap-around view out of the cockpit window. I flew it and found the experience similar to flying a real airplane. It took a SUPER PC and lots of hardware and software to make Al's Simulator work. Wow!


It started with Al building his own computer - a SUPER Giga one - 2.4GHz, 3.32 GB RAM, 203 GB Hard Drive. He gave a presentation at NBCUG!	Approaching the runway at the airport in Sitka, Alaska.	When Al's not flying his MS Flight Simulator, the three screens turn into a panoramic bubbling fish tank, which I thought was real when I arrived.	Al's garage is where he built his Pontoon boat from a kit. The boat now docks at the River Bend Marina.	What a nice deluxe Pontoon boat! Three hulls makes it very stable. A Yamaha 25 moves it right along.	Al dropped by my dock for a couple photos. Bon voyage Al!