Fog, Fog go away

Today was my last flight in 2018.  Overall a pretty good year.  I flew less than I wanted but I probably would say that any year.  There was the matter of work, family, and other responsibilities.   I had hoped to get a few more trips in at year end but the weather has been the pits.  First we had some extreme fronts and then the last few days some serious fog.  I still logged 157.7 hours.  I also did a good bit of training and maintained my instrument currency and proficiency all year.  Those are different but will be the subject of a future post.

Travel wise, we covered 6 new states.  I did 11 in year one so there are 31 left.  5 or 6 years and I will have them all.  Today we had early morning fog again but unlike Saturday when it hung around and around, I knew it would clear a bit earlier.

I decided to take CC to DeLand for a burger.  The airport restaurant advertises the best burger.  Heck their email is bestburger@airportginmill.com.  It is a fine burger but not sure if it is best.  It is feet from the ramp and has a nice outside deck.  It was 80+ today but with the breeze and some shade was quite nice to sit outside.  Did I mention December 31 was 80 degrees?

Climbing out we had a cloud deck to climb through. It was thin but fun as we leveled off right above the deck.  You get the sensation of really moving when you are just feet from the clouds.  The reality was that at 4000 we had a 30 knot headwind so in fact we were moving slower than normal.  Since DeLand is only 77 miles it did not prolong the trip greatly.

On the way home the headwind should have been a tailwind.  We got some of it but it had abated somewhat so we only had 25 knots pushing us North.  Seem like that always happens and the headwinds are stronger than the tailwinds.  I didn't mind too much as the weather was great and I was enjoying the flight.  Happy New Years!  More adventures to come in 2019.

Coast to Coast

Sunday I made up for leaving CC at home.  It was a clear brisk morning with great visibility. I figured greater than 50 miles which meant you could easily see across Florida.  Now we all know we live on a peninsula but standing on the ground you don't really get the sensation.

We climbed through the clear morning air to 8500 feet.  I had picked a spot about 10 Northwest of Ocala.  Florida gets skinnier and coast to coast distance is only about 90 nautical miles.  Crossing Palatka we knew that we were gonna have a good view as the West coast became pretty clear.  At 8500 we circled North and could clearly see both the Gulf and the Atlantic.  The above picture is the former and the latter below.  The Atlantic is grainy but was clear to us.

Sitting up there you really get the whole peninsula thing but that was yesterday.  Today we were off to the West coast.  One nice thing about the plane is you make some trips that just would not make sense in a car.  I had noticed that my second cousin and her family were in Clearwater and CC then mentioned that an old friend was back in Clearwater as well.

It is only an hour so I thought brunch.  Just about a year ago our friends were in St. Pete and we met them at KSPG. Today we were heading to KCLW, Clearwater Airpark.  The flight over was easy though we had a bit of headwind.  Clearwater Airpark is nestled among the houses which makes it a bit hard to see.  Also today was hazy, could not see across the state.  We still managed to find our way and our friends were nice enough to drive us to Brunch.

We ate at Lenny's which was packed and good.  My only complaint is the menu is long and complicated.  Our family met up at the restaurant.  It had only been about 35 years since we last saw each other.  We caught up but eventually Brunch was over and we headed back to the airport.  The selfie shows us with our family.  The flight home was quiet and uneventful.  We wished the controllers a Merry Christmas.  The plane is now fueled and in the hangar waiting for our next trip.

To Market, To Market

We had big plans today.  A family trip to the Immokalee farmers market.  I had waited out the bad weather and everything looked perfect.  We awoke to an odd smell.  Something was not right with the heat.  During the night it decided to break.  A quick look at the system showed me the fan was not fanning.  Removing the cover, the problem was apparent.  I studied mechanical engineering but know enough circuits to diagnose a fried relay.

Someone would need to be left behind to find and wait for a repair person who could get us running again.  Since I was the only pilot, I was off the hook and since CC was the only remaining person up to the challenge, she was left behind.....

With the heat challenge in capable hands we were quickly on our way.  It was supposed to be clear but we had a layer at 2000 feet on the way out.  We were soon on top and enjoying a smooth ride South.  The view was nice today and we could just about see both coasts as we flew down central Florida.

Arriving at KIMM I needed to be on my game.  The runway is 5000 feet with turn offs at 1000 and 5000 feet.  If I didn't want to have a long taxi, I needed to nail the landing.  Luckily the Bonanza makes this easy.  Fly a stable on speed approach, cross the runway end and pull power to idle and you can easily land and stop in 1000 feet.  I did all of the above and we did.

At Immokalee, we topped off for the flight home and went in to see about wheels.  The market was about 2 miles away.  The airport has a crew car you can borrow so we did.  It was a nice little Ford.  2 miles is not a really long walk but it would have been a schlep with all the produce we were about to buy.

The market is a series of stalls with independent vendors.  There is an element of haggling but in most cases the quoted prices were quite good and we just paid the tourist price. 

Rachel and I initially were going to look at all of the vendors before making any purchases but some vendors were better than others.  One engaged us as we walked by and sliced an apple for Rachel to taste.  It was our first purchase.  We kept adding on and periodically dropping things at the car.

Eventually we had as much as we felt we could eat before it spoiled.  Our total bill was $22 for all this:

Not too bad.  There were better deals if you wanted to buy by the case but we can't eat a case of tomatoes.  We already had some veggies at home so we should be set for the holidays.   Heading home was easy.  On the way back we added some gas to the airport car and remembered to leave the keys before flying home.

Usually when heading North they keep you between Orlando and Tampa to avoid restricted airspace.  I assume that it is not in use because of the holidays and they ran us up the West side of Orlando.  We were going to pass about 10 miles West of Disney.  A polite request to the controller and we were cleared to cross about 3 miles West which gave us a nice view.  The picture above shows the Kingdom as it retreats behind our wing.  While cool to see it is much less impressive from above.

We did have good Coast to coast views though.  I could clearly see the gulf coast to my left and the Vehicle assembly building on the East coast to my right.  Our arrival into Jacksonville uneventful and we soon had our produce home.  Also CC found a repairman and the heat is once again working.