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V A C A T I O N Spring Break
Just returned from eye doc with a good report for now. So Joan and I (along with Gregg & Jan Healy) are departing in the morning for Florida. Greggs RV7A and my RV6A to Sun N Fun air show and then to Key West. Hope to return in about 10 days. I will take my Spot with me and if you want track my trip here is the Spot link. Nothing on it now but you can look at after about 10:00 am and something should be there
4/10/2010 Saturday
So far Gregg Healy and I have flown from Camarillo CA to Pecos, Texas overnight then on to Orange, Texas today. Gregg and Jan are turning into cross-country pilots real fast! It was almost a 4 hour flight. We’ll fly to Florida tomorrow. On the way from Pecos to Orange we had scattered thunderstorms and an undercast for several hundred miles. Picking our way through them with 496's & WX. It finally cleared below so we could fly VFR into Orange. It is a very nice place right next to Lake Charles, Louisiana. Lots of food – seafood - just love it too much! good thing I don’t live here. Tomorrow we plan to fly to Cledar Key FL and the next day on to Zephyr Hills FL where we have hotel reservations.
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4/12/2010 Monday
We left Orange TX yesterday and flew non stop from Orange to Cedar Key, Florida. Gregg had to stop short by an hour to refuel and stretch the legs. Jan and Gregg said they had a good old time talking to the southern airport people and it was well worth the stop. Cedar Key FL was great; it’s an island and the taxi lady who transported us from the airstrip to the hotel said it is like Key West was 40 years ago. Today we flew the ½ hour to Zephrerhills FL and rented a car to drive to the Quality Inn. Had an early dinner at a great buffet right next door. Tomorrow we plan to drive the 25 miles to Sun N Fun for a fun filled day.
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4/13/2010 Tuesday
We finally made it to Sun N Fun. We spent 1 full day there and had a real good time looking at all the airplanes and exhibits. We dropped off our oxygen bottles with Mountain High Oxygen, Oregon. They filled our tanks for free so Don purchased a gadget that measures your level of oxygen from a finger clamp. We have met many nice people. We picked up our oxygen bottles the next day while Joan & Jan spent the morning washing clothes, and shopping in Dade City FL - full of antique shops.
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4/15/2010 Thursday
After lunch we drove back to Zephyrhills, turned in our rental car and departed for Marathon Key, only a 1 1/2 hour flight. We had good weather except for the 25 kts cross wind. The people at the GA aviation FBO were great, got us a rental car and gave us all kinds of breaks. We took all of our stuff to the Ranch House Motel and went to a recommended fish market/restaurant with tables on the dock to watch the sun set while the pelicans dove for dinner. We had the best sea food in the world. After dark they turned on the lights in the marina and we could see 4 ft tarpon fish swimming in the harbor.
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After breakfast we drove to Key West FL and spent the day looking around. We even took a tour of the Ernest Hemingway house. It was very interesting and the tour guide was a writer himself. We must have walked miles up and down the streets looking at all the stores and the tourist people. We had balmy weather and had fun.
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4/17/2010 Saturday
The next morning we looked at the weather and took off for Zephyrhills FL to fuel up with bargain-priced gas for the next leg to Dothan, Alabama. We had marginal weather with rain and low ceilings with a few broken places where Don went up on top at 10500. We had stopped here a few years earlier and found it a very good place. We had better weather this leg with lots of broken clouds. I went on top at 10500 and Gregg flew it at 4500. I don't know what happened to Gregg's radio but he couldn't hear me for all of that leg. We landed and got the crew car and drove to the Courtyard Marriot where Gregg got us a very good price.
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4/18/10 Sunday
Today we left Dothan, Al and headed back to Orange, TX. We got a late start so didn't want to go any further as we ran into weather about 75 miles before arriving at KORG. I went high and Gregg went low. There was a lot of turbulence for me but I think it was smooth for Gregg. We landed about 3:00 pm and the manager put us in his big hanger that they call the (What a Burger) barn because of the orange and white stripped paint. He loaned us his extra cab pickup again and away we went to find a hotel.
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4/19 Monday
The airport manager asked us to return the truck by 8:30 am so we got an early start. The sky was overcast but ceilings were about 3000 feet. After airport advice, and looking at the weather, we all decided it was good enough to fly to Galvaston TX so we loaded up and got flight following to KGLS. It was OK until 15 miles away when the ceilings started to drop and convective weather popped up everywhere. We could see the cells on the 496 and tried to go around them but they were everywhere and thick. We went down to 500 feet and could barely see the water. Gregg & Jan were behind us, and I was concerned about them. We finally managed to find our way around all the cells and land on runway 31. We taxied to the FBO and waited to hear Gregg on the radio. We heard him call once and that was it. We waited for about 1/2 hour and the tower called me on the FBO phone and wanted to know
his plane color and number of souls on Board. Don told them to wait a few and to call Orange Airport to see if he went back there. Don hung up and called the FBO himself and the manager told him that Gregg was there - Wheweeeeeee.
Big relief! We got a ride from the FBO people to a nearby hotel. We checked in and then walked across the street to Moody Gardens Aquarium. We spent the afternoon there looking at all the extremely beautiful colored fish, as well as sharks, turtles, seahorses, penguins, seals, and all kinds of exciting sea life and exhibits. So here we are in our cozy room waiting for the delivery of our pizza and salad dinner.
Don't know about tomorrow we will have to check the weather and see.
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4/20/2010 Tuesday – Galveston, to El Paso and home
We liked Galveston and will have to return to see the old town waterfront. We got up early for us, 7:00 am, and got a ride to the airport from the hotel staff. I checked the weather and departed with overcast skies but VFR. We flew under the overcast until it became broken then on top at 8500 for the remainder of the trip to T27 El Paso’s Horizon airport. We could always look ahead on the Garmin 496 at the weather. They were really nice at all the airports where we stopped. The manager loaned us his personal car to drive to town for a hotel (no charge, only gas up). We were getting a bite to eat when we got a call from Gregg. He and Jan had flown from Orange to Junction TX about an hour out of Horizon airport. They wanted to stay in El Paso so made arrangements to go back to the airport and pick them up. We had a nice rest at the Microtel in El Paso, and Don finally got his Mexican dinner.
4/21/2010 Wednesday
Gregg & I both departed El Paso TX and had a good flight to Casa Grande AZ airport with light head winds. After fueling up we both looked at the weather and Don decided to go home and Gregg decided to stay in Casa Grande. It was clear on departure with about 20 kts of wind. After about 45 minutes we started getting clouds that were low in altitude. I started climbing to get on top. After an icing encounter I finally reached the top of the cloud layer at 16000 ft. (with oxygen, of course) we flew on top until around Palm Springs. We then descended to 14500 for the rest of the trip on top. Around 50 miles out from KOXR, we got permission to descend to 4500 just above KBUR (no further icing). At that altitude the plane heater actually worked and we got to warm up a bit before landing. We had head winds of 40 to 50 kts all the way with fairly smooth air. Cleared down to 2100 over KCMA and we landed right behind a big jet taking off from KOXR. I couldn’t believe how turbulent it was and how slow I was going - must have been 40+ kts of head wind. After that I had to taxi to the hanger and that was a challenge with such strong, gusting wind. I guess the hardest thing was opening & closing my T Hanger door to put the airplane away.
Saying goodbye to Gregg & Jan we all agreed we had had a really good time. I only wish we would have had better flying weather.
Don & Joan McMullen