I launched more rockets on November 5th than any other single day since I began model rocketry fifteen years ago, with my son, who was 5 years old at the time.  The weather was perfect, a sunny and unseasonably warm November day with hardly any wind.  I had a couple of Ziploc bags full of B6-4's and C6-3's, the last of two Estes bulk packs I had purchased many years before.

After we launced the Metalizer with a couple of B6-4's, and at least one C6-3, it was the end of the day, so the Derrig and Owen and I decided to do the last flight with a "big engine".  The wind had kicked up a little...  the Metalizer weathercocked towards the school building towards the west...  as soon as the chute deployed I wished I had used a smaller chute...  the Metalizer drifted...  drifted some more...  towards the trees and the ditch on the east side on the field...  then over the trees on the bank and out of sight.  Panic!!

The boys were already scrambling down the bank to recover the rocket when I got there.  Luckily, the thorny weeds and steep bank slowed them down long enough for me to get to the bottom of the bank and keep them out of the water in the ditch.

What we found at the bottom of the bank could only be called the "Miracle in November".  The rocket had narrowly avoided the rocket-destroying trees, and landed within inches (inches!!) of the cold, dank, water.  A dramatic, emotional, and somewhat poignant recovery from two serious rocket hazards.  From tragedy impending to tragedy narrowly avoided.  This ummmm, momentous moment in our model rocketry career had to be documented with photos.

Having recovered the rocket, we proudly left the field of glory, rocket held high, smiling and laughing, and smelling slightly of sulfur.