Trailer backing class: Rocket Trip Prep

[TPC]

Maynard’s engineering class will be hauling their rocket to White Sand NM Monday to launch this week.

Set up the cones for the UCLA kids to practice trailer backing various ways.
Also did some serious towing around town.
Thru the gas stations, right turns left turns, merging on the freeway.

 

[4Waters]

Senior lot at Royal High

 

[LazyLavey]

Castaic ramp

 

[4Waters]

Are you going on the trip

 

[TPC]

Are you going on the trip

I'm standing by with the dually in Parker in case they need assistance to/from.
No parents, "we just mess things up."

The 2001 GMC has been a desert workhorse all these years and still at it. Monster cooling system.

 

[TPC]

Senior lot at Royal High

I didn't know if it was the schools or St Roses lot.
More people have learned to back trailers in that lot than USMC Motor Transport school.

 

[monkeyswrench]

Really, getting out of the LA area is the most difficult/stressful part of the trip. Hopefully with the trailer being an open setup, the crosswinds won't effect them as much either.
I hope the trip is boring and uneventful, and the launch goes perfectly!

 

[Flying_Lavey]

I'm sure you taught them that whoever is driving needs to be 100% sure the load is secure everytime and to not rely on others to check it?

And on the same note, I'm sure you taught them to snap the straps and say "that's going anywhere". We all know what happens when you don't. Lol!

 

[4Waters]

I'm sure you taught them that whoever is driving needs to be 100% sure the load is secure everytime and to not rely on others to check it?

And on the same note, I'm sure you taught them to snap the straps and say "that's going anywhere". We all know what happens when you don't. Lol!

Also, every time they stop do a walk around before taking off again.

 

[Xtrmwakeboarder]

I'm sure you taught them that whoever is driving needs to be 100% sure the load is secure everytime and to not rely on others to check it?

And on the same note, I'm sure you taught them to snap the straps and say "that's going anywhere". We all know what happens when you don't. Lol!

Lmao I catch myself doing that and always think about the Progressive “turning into your parents” commercials.

 

[DLC]

That is one HELL of a Responsibility!

please -
make sure the load is covered ( water & wind ) and secured
pack a cooler for drinks and food, just in case somone need to spend a night on the road , flat tire broken axle wheel hub etc
strapped down and checked, by every driver
all safety chains & lights and back up security straps & tarps

you never know what can happen….

a few years back I had to secure a 5 million dollar machine to a pallet and it stressed me out and it was only going to Phoenix from San Diego on a open flat bed 18 wheeler….

 

[TPC]

This trailer is our flat bed, just used for a practice trailer. It's not hauling the rocket.

The kids housed the rocket in a really cool enclosed 32' mobile lab Airstream trailer. I'll try and get Maynard to send some pix. Read that: Try.

 

[Runs2rch]

Also, every time they stop do a walk around before taking off again.

 

[grumpy88]

I just want to see a picture of the rocket

 

[4Waters]

I just want to see a picture of the rocket

And video of the launch

 

[OLDRAAT]

Will it reach Gascon's house?

 

[TPC]

Really, getting out of the LA area is the most difficult/stressful part of the trip. Hopefully with the trailer being an open setup, the crosswinds won't effect them as much either.
I hope the trip is boring and uneventful, and the launch goes perfectly!

Yes my thoughts exactly.
They want to figure this out on their own.

Check list I insisted on:
Driver trailer towing training.
Proper hitch connection w/chains and electrical.
Proper trailer tire pressure.

I hope this doesn't end up on the side of the I10 between Indio and AZ.
I've contributed as much as the kids will let me.

I'd prefer to be the person towing it.

 

[4Waters]

Yes my thoughts exactly.
They want to figure this out on their own.

Check list I insisted on:
Driver trailer towing training.
Proper hitch connection w/chains and electrical.
Proper trailer tire pressure.

I hope this doesn't end up on the side of the I10 between Indio and AZ.
I've contributed as much as the kids will let me.

I'd prefer to be the person towing it.

That's good that they want to do this on their own, most kids don't even want a DL let alone tow a trailer. Good for them

 

[highvoltagehands]

Good job TPC. Sounds like You gave the right amount of tutelage and allowing them to figure out the rest. Should be a great learning experience for them. Now I Can’t wait to hear the story.

 

[TPC]

The Cup is designed around the Intercollegiate Rocket Engineering Competition – for student rocketry teams. This competition hosts teams from American and International Colleges and Universities. With over 150 teams registered in 2022 from around the globe, the competition will be challenging for the participants and exciting for spectators. University students will be launching solid, liquid, and hybrid rockets to target altitudes of 10,000 and 30,000 feet.​

 

[TPC]

 

[4Waters]

View attachment 1128563

Are they in NM

 

[monkeyswrench]

Retro toyhauler! There used to be a guy that trialered his hot rod to Goodguys events. I think he had an old polished out Shasta he towed. He hinged the back, and had ramps.

 

[TPC]

Are they in NM

Yeah.

 

[4Waters]

Yeah.

That's great, to be honest the dad in me was a little worried.

 

[TPC]

That's great, to be honest the dad in me was a little worried.

Yeah I've been stressed out.
They're pulling it off though and they're all first timers at this.

 

[4Waters]

Yeah I've been stressed out.
They're pulling it off though and they're all first timers at this.

That's a long trip towing for first timers

 

[TPC]

That's a long trip towing for first timers

Yes it is. Keeping parents at a distance is part of the plan. I get it. We're not in Little League anymore.
Other than a pic, mom just got a message asking to have his work cloths cleaned.
Maynard in a suit working at a weapons MFG in Moorpark for the summer.
The trucks center console is a treasure chest of trailer dohickies that the kids have had to tap into like clevis pins:

Amazing the stuff that's built in a 15 mile radius around us.

 

[The Prisoner]

My first rocket I still have my “rocketeer” certificate from summer camp when I was 12.

 

[TPC]

Retro toyhauler! There used to be a guy that trialered his hot rod to Goodguys events. I think he had an old polished out Shasta he towed. He hinged the back, and had ramps.

He was onto something for sure.
Lance was making one for awhile. They Suddenly stopped, but its a terrific TH. They came loaded, no options. Even had a Sat dish standard.
A few out there if one pops up I want it for our river trailer. Keep the golf cart in it.

 

[monkeyswrench]

Amazing the stuff that's built in a 15 mile radius around us.

Surprised the hell out of me what was built in plain-jane tiltups in Ontario when I was working out there. There are some very impressive minds at work both designing and building in SoCal.

 

[The Prisoner]

Surprised the hell out of me what was built in plain-jane tiltups in Ontario when I was working out there. There are some very impressive minds at work both designing and building in SoCal.

Would have been cool to work here. Except you have to know math. They wouldn’t have even let me cut the grass with my math grades.

Skunk Works - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[Xtrmwakeboarder]

Yes it is. Keeping parents at a distance is part of the plan. I get it. We're not in Little League anymore.
Other than a pic, mom just got a message asking to have his work cloths cleaned.
Maynard in a suit working at a weapons MFG in Moorpark for the summer.
The trucks center console is a treasure chest of trailer dohickies that the kids have had to tap into like clevis pins:

Amazing the stuff that's built in a 15 mile radius around us.

I knew that kid was going to be a rocket scientist!!!

 

[monkeyswrench]

Would have been cool to work here. Except you have to know math. They wouldn’t have even let me cut the grass with my math grades.

Skunk Works - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

My Grandfather worked at Aerojet, Rocketdyne and a few others. Rockets with sliderules I think the guys from the 60's would be incredibly impressed with what the college kids can dream up and build now.

 

[Flying_Lavey]

My Grandfather worked at Aerojet, Rocketdyne and a few others. Rockets with sliderules I think the guys from the 60's would be incredibly impressed with what the college kids can dream up and build now.

Except they'd laugh if they asked the college kids to calculate a re-entry trajectory with no computers or calculators.

 

[Nanu/Nanu]

What an honor @TPC to see your child excelling. Than you for sharing photos and your son's story!

Kind of a funny story. I went to work at white sands missile range once....

To fight a fire in one of the ordinance ranges. Haha that's how smart I am. Luckily our crew was smart enough to stay outside the boundaries. It's not uncommon to fight fire on or near the ordinance ranges but this was the only one I had ever heard explosions on. Haha it wasn't as cleaned up as they said it was.

 

[4Waters]

Would have been cool to work here. Except you have to know math. They wouldn’t have even let me cut the grass with my math grades.

Skunk Works - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

My uncle worked there, true SR71 top speed is still classified

 

[TPC]

I stopped off at my friends machine shop a couple miles from the house.

He was turning submarine periscopes with a double acme one reverse thread on a really tricky type metal.

Also on the CNCs running mini Mazda-style mini rotary engine rotors for cruise attack drones.
All this 100 ft away from the el Patio bar.

Then friend Igor got the Honda SXS & mini truck racing contract.

He asked to borrow one of my SXS and when I dropped it off he had some CIA grand Cherokees in the shop being industrialized.

They all tell me:
“The production work like luggage compartment latches for Boeing and Airbus pays the bills, the military work pays the savings account.”

 

[monkeyswrench]

He was turning submarine periscopes with a double acme one reverse thread on a really tricky type metal.

Also on the CNCs running mini Mazda-style mini rotary engine rotors for cruise attack drones.

There used to be a shop in El Monte of all places, that did "etching" for the pneumatic silencers on nuclear subs and carriers. Channels were made in some unobtainium discs, that produce opposing wavelengths to cancel out it's sound, as well as adding limited back pressure. They also made manifolds and control valves.
Any machine work or fabrication like that is artwork to me. Skill, innovation...vision.

I've seen one of those Wankel engines in a case...comparable to a camera case, like an Anvil. This was maybe 15 years ago. Very few mechanical things are both "cute" and "badass".

 

[TPC]

Kids lived through a monsoon last night. Wet sand and gravel for miles.

Maynard took advantage of the trucks 4WD and tow straps to help others.
What an adventure for the kids.

 

[DarkHorseRacing]

My Grandfather worked at Aerojet, Rocketdyne and a few others. Rockets with sliderules I think the guys from the 60's would be incredibly impressed with what the college kids can dream up and build now.

Hey cool, my grandfather also worked at AeroJet, back when it was AeroJet General in Azusa. He worked on designing the hardened electronics for a DSP spy satellite, among other things. He couldnt even travel for like 5+ years after he left the company due to the clearances he had.

 

[boatnam2]

I'm sure there will be a few rockets going off in the ole airstream.

 

[monkeyswrench]

Hey cool, my grandfather also worked at AeroJet, back when it was AeroJet General in Azusa. He worked on designing the hardened electronics for a DSP spy satellite, among other things. He couldnt even travel for like 5+ years after he left the company due to the clearances he had.

My grandfather started at Vard Machine in Pasadena during and post war. From their, I know he went somewhere in Burbank for a while. I've pieced together he was at Aero Jet General from about 60-65, and then RocketDyne doing some stuff involving missiles with flachettes until about 68? He ended up managing some machining operation for an FMC division after that. He past away in '72, 5 years before I was born. Most of what I found out was through my grandma, and digging though old papers when my parents past away.

 

[TPC]

Weather delays.
UCLA re scheduled to launch between 9 and 11.

LIVE:

Maynard joined a mostly Asian engineering fraternity by invitation.
First thing he pick up at the Frat house was playing poker and PBR.
Also the fraternity just gave him a $5000 Scholarship and invited to move in.

 

[TPC]

Ok.
The kids got fucked as did 14 other teams - some from Europe at big expense.

They were told they didn’t need insurance,,, but then before launch,,, they were told they did.
De-fuel, done.

So the teams packed up and headed home.
Still a fantastic effort.

Alice and I wanted to pick up the trucks gas cost but Maynard stubbornly felt different and got the trucks gas reimbursed.

That’s how that kids rolls.

The 2001 GMC 2500 HD holds so Much sentimental value to us.

It’s done so much, been on so many adventures and never let us down.
Maynard spent much of his Childhood in a child seat in the back taking in the world passing by.

I at first wanted the kids to take the dually but Ali nix’d that. She said; “It’ll start throwing codes and the kids will never make it.”

Good take.

 

[4Waters]

Ok.
The kids got fucked as did 14 other teams - some from Europe at big expense.

They were told they didn’t need insurance,,, but then before launch,,, they were told they did.
De-fuel, done.

So the teams packed up and headed home.
Still a fantastic effort.

Alice and I wanted to pick up the trucks gas cost but Maynard stubbornly felt different and got the trucks gas reimbursed.

That’s how that kids rolls.

The 2001 GMC 2500 HD holds so Much sentimental value to us.

It’s done so much, been on so many adventures and never let us down.
Maynard spent much of his Childhood in a child seat in the back taking in the world passing by.

I at first wanted the kids to take the dually but Ali nix’d that. “It’ll start throwing codes and the kids will never make it.”

Well that sucks

 

[monkeyswrench]

I'm pissed off for them. They're nicer, more well behaved individuals than I was at that age...and probably now as well.

I'm glad they made the trip with no issues mechanically, or with the trailer towing. I can't believe they screwed over all those students and families. Either through miscommunication or neglect, they ruined a lot of people's dreams.

On a side note, can we strap some axles on it and try for a land speed record?