this past week, I took a drive up to see my old pole vaulting buddy Rex Mayes, who owns and manages a glider port in Williams, CA. I have not seen him since I came home on leave from the army in the early eighties and by the looks of things at Williams Soaring Center he has done very well for himself.
https://www.williamssoaring.com/about-staff.html
Rex just landed from towing up another glider and posed for this shot.
Rex and his twin brother Rusty Mayes were always very industrious sort of fellows when I knew them back in high school, and not only did they do the hard work helping with their family's ranch in Vacaville, but also had rescued and rebuilt several cars from burnt out hulks( two Austin Minis, a Jaguar and a Fiat) into racing machines. As if going to high school full time and pole vaulting was that was not enough to keep him busy, Rex and Rusty also learned how to fly airplanes and gliders while in their teens. Their late father use to tow and fly gliders and manage the glider port out of Pena Adobe in Vacaville and taught them both how to fly and manage the business. Situated right off of Interstate 80 and to the West of The Buttes Rex's has built up a family business in Williams. For the past couple of decades, Rex and his wife Noelle, who is also a pilot, have together taught their sons Ben and Nick how to fly and maintain airplanes and gliders at a very young age with each of them sitting in the seat of a glider before they were out of diapers. Today, after a nice lunch prepared for us by his wife, Rex had his son Nick show me around the airport and let me take pictures of all his inventory with two hangers full of gliders and airplanes, a machine shop and a repair and build/paint shop where he employs several other people and has another company working inside.
Nick Mayes told me that this little aircraft was his favourite.
