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.