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By Denis Denning - Plumville, PA
Greetings
from the western foothills of Pennsylvania's Appalachian Mountains and
may I remind you all that yes, there is kite life between Philadelphia
and Columbus, Ohio.
Last Fall I was sitting on top of a hill at
Milo Weaver's air strip watching one of my granddaughters fly the
"Harper's Ferry Delta" I had made for her. April had her
kite on a "store bought" plastic spool. Sipping a 12 oz. "Genny"
I was enjoying life to the fullest watching her play with the
wind. The hawks and her delta were soaring on the thermals
against a background of beautiful cumulus clouds and one of the deepest
blue skies I had ever seen.
She had quite a bit of line out and
I noticed that as she was bringing it in the task appeared to be
approaching the point of drudgery. In order to keep her from
becoming disenchanted with her flying experience I offered to help wind
the kite down. I gave her a cold coke out of the cooler and we
discussed the facts of life, like, all the line you let your kite take
out you eventually have to bring back in. Because April is a
smart young thing, a straight "A" student I must brag, the point was
easily made.
I was standing there knowing fully well how
grandpa got sucked into such a situation and decided that the answer
had to be some sort of sky reel.
After the flying session was
over I came home and went through my files pulling catalogs from kite
suppliers. The prices for the type of reel that would do what I
had I mind ran anywhere from $40.00 to
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