Young Eagles and Rides

In addition to travel, I have been giving a bunch of airplane rides.  A while back I made an offer to our pilot group offering people the chance to fly the Bonanza.  I got more takers than I anticipated and have been working through the list.  So far I have given 6 rides.  At the same time we have taken some friends out for BBQ and then my cousin came through town so I gave him and his wife an aerial tour of Jacksonville.

I was already on the ride kick and our local EAA chapter planned a Young Eagles rally for last weekend.  It had started as a small event but Haller Air Park had planned one a few weeks before but had to cancel and they had registered about 100 kids.  Our little event got big in a hurry as we tried to pick up the slack and while not everyone re-registered for our event, we soon had 80 people to fly.

Our planned date was Saturday but the weather was not cooperating.  On Friday we all huddled and made the call to move to Sunday.  The weather was supposed to clear Saturday night.  Well it didn’t quite clear in time and Sunday morning we gathered early to complete our safety brief and then we sat on the ramp waiting for the weather to improve.

Luckily by 11 AM we had safe weather and commenced the flights.  I did 5 runs flying a total of 13 kids and one Silver Eagle (an adult rider).  The weather kept improving and everything went smoothly.  In the end we flew about 66 kids, still waiting for the official count.

One of the planes flying kids was a bright yellow Aeroprakt-22LS.  This is a light sport aircraft which means it is fully certified but is limited to as to max weights and speeds.  After we were done with the kids the pilots were chatting and I offered the pilot, Ian, to swap rides.   As a bonus the weather had improved significantly.

We taxied back to our ramp and loaded up in the Bonanza.  I took him up North of the airport to see the old rice plantation and then we did some maneuvers before returning to base.

Then it was my turn.  The plane is a 2 seater.  It flies about 100 mph and has a much smaller engine but it is very light and feels quite peppy.  The doors are all plexiglass and actually are wider than the airframe so the views are stunning.  You can look straight down and ahead from the side door.  Takeoff was brisk and the plane climbs well.

We first headed to my house where we circled overhead.  CC came out and waved at us.  The plane is easy to fly with good manners.  The ailerons are actually much heavier than the Bonanza’s and you  need to be sharp on the rudder.  The Bonanza spoils you in that it has an interconnect between ailerons and rudder so for small turns you don’t need to use rudder.  After the house we headed to the beach where I got to try some maneuvers including steep turns and stalls.

The stalls were surprising to me.  First the plane can fly really slowly. We were well under 30 knots before stall.  Also the plane gives you lots of feedback.  You can feel the buffet in the controls and the airframe.

At the stall, the plane just started descending, it did not have a tendency to drop a wing.  Holding it in a stall you could easily control direction with the rudder and as soon as you released back pressure the plane is flying again.

Heading back to the airport I got to see some of the electronic features.  The plane is a 2014, almost new.  It came with both conventional and electronic instruments.  There is a large bright Dynon display that has full flight and engine instruments as well as a moving map that displays traffic and weather.  It even has HITS (Highway In The Sky).  The screen projects rectangles in 3D on the screen.  Fly through the rectangles and it will take you wherever you have programmed.

Ian me showed how nicely the plane could land.  I really enjoyed being the passenger for a change and having more time to just sight see without having to keep my focus on the airplane and engine.  The plane is serious fun and the visibility makes it great for enjoying the sights.

Mount Mitchell

We slept in Saturday.  Our goal was Mount Mitchell, the highest spot East of the Mississippi.  But first some reminiscing along the way. In the early 90s I used to take CC to Rutherford County airport to eat at the 57A cafe.  That used to be the airport code but it has since changed. The cafe never made sense to us.  It had about 8 seats and was run by a guy named John that both cooked and played guitar while you ate.

Never could figure how this place stayed in business and surprise it has been running 27 years.  One more fun fact it was only open 3 hours a day for 6 days a week.  The place was only a 10 minute detour on our mountain trek. We headed to Rutherford but stopped to take a stroll at the Purple Mountain Greenway, the big attraction in town.  It was a nice walk, nothing spectacular but was a good way to build our appetite.

We arrived at the airport and there it was, just like I remembered.  I had looked it up online and knew he opened promptly at 11. We walked in at 11:02 and found John but no food.  He had hurt his shoulder and was in too much pain to cook. We ended up chatting a bit and then with hungry bellies headed off to the mountain.

The drive to Mount Mitchell takes you up some winding roads.  We again interacted with drivers that liked to brake on the straight always and come to near stops in the turns but eventually we made it up the mountain.

We enjoyed the views and can now say we have been to the highest place East of the Mississippi (6684 feet). It does not compare to the Rockies but was a lot of fun.  On the way down we took the side nature trail. It was cool up there, low 40s. We had Jackets and gloves as we walked along the shady trail. There was a good bit of ice slowly melting and we kept passing people in shorts and T-shirts.  We are Floridians.

Heading off the Mountain, we once again got stuck behind slow pokes on the Parkway.  It is not just the slowness, it is the unpredictability of them braking at random, makes it much harder to pace behind them.  We did follow some people that were driving less than limit but predictably, it was much easier.

Eventually we came off the mountains.  We were getting hungry and I was on the lookout for food.  Saw several chains and then Smokey and the Pig was there and gone.  I spun around and headed back to check it out. CC had the pulled pork and I had the Brisket.  Food was very good and we met the owner. By the look of his Apron, he is in great shape.

We headed back via Lake Lure.  It was nothing special and we were soon back in Greenville.  Our friend had invited us for dinner so as the sun set we headed over.  He grilled some tasty steaks and we had a nice night eating and chatting. 

Saturday it was cold out for our departure (40F). The ride was a bit unusual. First we did not have much headwind and second we had no storms to dodge. I associate coming home from Greenville with a line of storms at Savannah to circumnavigate but today was clear.

Leaf Peeping

I had an extra vacation day because I chose to work one of my previously scheduled vacation days.  I had been watching the weather all week and was pretty confident that the mess of rain that was causing disasters throughout the week would move through by Thursday night.

It did and we decided to see if we could catch some of the late Autumn colors. We caught some but the Carolina leaves were either mostly done or washed away by last weeks rain.

Our plan, leave early Friday and head to Greenville, SC.  We landed at GSP, Greenville Spartanburg International. Like our last trip, the service was great and being an air carrier airport, Avis is right there.  We quickly checked in, got our car and were off to Caesars Head State Park. 

The park is known for it’s overlook and hiking trails. I also figured we could scope out where the best leaves might be. Leaf reports were a bit ambiguous as to what to expect  We arrived at the park and headed to take a look. Great day, but the leaves at the lower levels seemed to have been trashed by the weather.  The 3000 foot level seemed more promising.

I had scoped out some waterfalls at different levels to hike mixing leaves with falling water seemed like a good idea.  We loaded back up and headed to Looking Glass Falls. As we worked the back roads North heading from South Carolina to North Carolina, we crossed a bridge and CC remarked the river looked very nice.  There was a parking area so I pulled in to take a look.

We had stumbled upon Triple Falls. The sign said the hike was .5 miles so off we went.  The trail was still damp but was mostly gravel base so not too mushy. It started flat but then headed up at a pretty steep grade.  We trudged a bit more and were rewarded with some spectacular falls.

The rain which had been so miserable, had swelled the falls.  Talking to a local, we apparently were seeing the falls at a peak time, he said the leaves were better higher up.  Even though we had a great view, the path headed further up and we decided to see if there was a better view.  Up we went a few 100 yards and came upon stairs. The stairs went down.  

CC remarked that every down stair would require an up stair later.  I questioned this logic but in the end I believe she was correct. The stairs lead to the base of the falls.  The views from the flat rocks were excellent. After some pictures, we trudged up and then back to our car. Hooker falls is also accessible from the same lot but it required 2 miles of walking and the pictures were not impressive.

We were soon back on the road heading to Looking Glass Falls.  These falls are high value, not because they are the best falls or the best views but due to ease of access.  You basically park yards from the falls. You can just look or for a bit of work take the stairs down to the base for a closer look.

We took the stairs and met three nice monks from Burma. We took pictures for them and chatted a bit. Then we were off to our next falls.  Along the way we had splashes of color as we drove but no consistent mass of foliage. In many places we were too late or the season was likely not happening.

Our path took us up onto the Blue Ridge Parkway.  It is has great views and overlooks. It was also cooler.  Now Thursday night it was 88 at 6PM at home. When we left it was 44 at the airport and arriving in Greenville it was 40.  On the Parkway the elevation kept the temperatures in the low 50s.

Some places that were shaded had ice against the rock faces.  We drove along the parkway stopping at overlooks and eventually arriving at Skinny Dip Falls.  It is supposed to be .4 miles each way but my pedometer says it is closer to .6 miles. Also they are cute falls but the path is only so-so and it was squishy in places.

The falls don’t have great views and with the extra water, many places that might have a better view were not safe.  We walked out thinking meh. Too much work for not enough view. We had one more shot a mile down the parkway. Graveyard Falls which did not have great write ups but we took a chance.

The lot had great mountain views.  The path was .2 miles to a fork then .2 miles either way to the upper or lower falls.  We took the lower fork and this time the distances were right. A bit wet in places but great views.

We went back to the fork and headed for the upper falls.  About 50 yards in it became a mud bog and we decided to turn around.  It was time to head back to town so we headed East across the parkway. The parkway is great but not all drivers are.  The speed limit is 45 and it is a good road. The problem is you have drivers that think 30 is a good speed and hit the brakes randomly to boot.

Combine this with no passing zones and it can be slow going when you want to head out.  After being behind some frustrating people we left the Parkway and headed back to Greenville.  I called an old friend and found out we just missed seeing his wife as she was departing on a business trip.

We arranged to meet Downtown to catch a show at "Cafe and Then Some".  This is a dinner theatre that has been running since 1978. They create locally sourced shows that are a mix of comedy and music with lots of local references. They had just started the Christmas show and it was not quite done.  The actors were still on book and they improvised a bit and interacted with the audience more than normal.  

Tickets were half price due to this.  Personally I liked the spontaneity and thought it added to the humor.  CC knew they cast and after the show we visited for a bit and got some pictures.  It was getting late and after the climbing I was ready for some sleep.

Southern Hospitality (#29)

It was time to head home.  The distance straight line is 1544 miles.  Given the shorter days and the 3 hour time difference against us, it was not very  practical to fly home in one day.   We had a basic plan how to get home, head East, but lots of options as to what we would do exactly.  We decided to head out early and see how far we could go.

There is some high terrain on the direct route so I routed us over Monument Valley for the terrain and the view and then angled South to Albuquerque.  From there we headed East and landed at our first fuel stop, Santa Rosa New Mexico.  Pulling up to the pump, things looked OK until I saw a message on the screen saying out of order, call this number.  I called and got the local police department.  I explained the issue and they said they would check and call me back.  We waited a bit and I started looking for an alternate, it was a good thing we did not stay as no one ever called back.

I still had a good bit of fuel (a good reason to never land with minimum fuel) and I had looked at lots of  fuel stops when planning the trip.  Hereford Texas had a great price 30 and was minutes East.  Landing in Hereford we found a working Self Serve and more.  On final I had the sense that I had entered a cattle barn.  Opening the planes door, I was sure I was in the barn.  Hereford was also pretty windy as in a solid 20 knots plus gusts.  We did a quick turn and were in the air on our way to Oklahoma.

On the way out we had flown the Texas Oklahoma border.  It is not very straight so you can move in and out of each state while heading straight.  Our next fuel stop was Ardmore Downtown chosen because the reviews were good (Santa Rosa also had an excellent recent review).  The reviews were accurate this time.  Cheap gas and nice facilities.  It also means I have now landed in Oklahoma, 28 left.

We had looked at both Shreveport and Meridian as our overnight.  Shreveport looked like a nicer stay with a Riverwalk while Meridian got us further.  In the end my sense of the front we were about to fly through said to go the distance and overnight in Meridian.  The weather was good so we pressed on.  We landed in Meridian a bit before sunset.  I had checked hotel availability that morning but when I tried to book the local Fairfield I found out that it had sold out while we flew.  The staff at Meridian Aviation is great.  When we arrived the staff apologized that they were out of courtesy cars but that they could run us to a hotel.  We just needed to find a hotel.

Before I started on the hotel search I wanted a snack.  We had been on the move and had subsisted on some granola bars.  Meridian FBO has a great snack area with free snacks, OK it is payed for by the gas but no incremental cost.  They have Hot dogs, chili, nacho topping, ice cream, waffles, Tea, Lemonade, popcorn, Pizza at some hours and more.  I had a chili dog and CC had one as well.  CC also had some soft serve Ice Cream.  One other cool feature of Meridian, we got to park in a line of Navy Jets.

I started trying to find a room and got stuck on hold with Holiday Inn express.  The staff had a book of hotels and while I was on hold got me a room at a nearby Holiday Inn.  They also got us a great rate.  Then they ran us over.  There was an IHOP across the street for dinner and in the morning they brought us back to our plane.  Incredible service!!!  Shreveport was covered in storms which validated yesterday's decision on where to stop.  There was only a 100 foot layer at 2000 feet on our way home.  A flash through the clouds and 2:25 later we were pushing the plane back into the hangar.  Another successful trip completed.