When we were in Anacortes, Washington in early April, we visited Mt. Erie on the southern part of Fidalgo Island. There is a wonderful view of the area from this 1,200 ft peak. The park there is well kept and you there are views in all directions.

While we were up there, we saw a man preparing his hang glider for a flight. We thought seeing him take off would be interesting, so we stuck around while he went through his preparations. When he was just about done, he walked up to me and said “So you’ll drive my car down?”

I paused and smiled. He said “I’m not kidding.”

He introduced himself as Konrad. He had a Volkswagen Eurovan with 175,000 miles on it. It was a stick shift, which has made it harder to find drivers as many drivers do not know how to drive a stick shift. After he took off, I drove his car down to the Lake Campbell boat launch. He had already landed. He told us that he has been flying for 20 some years, and that we should be careful about trying it as we might get hooked.

Here is a video of Konrad taking off and flying.

I have always wondered how a solo hang glider got his car down to the landing area. Now I know. He just asks someone to drive it down. My family followed me in the car we had taken up the mountain.