We are home safe after a glorious time, a mix of fine flights and nice times on the ground.
Map of the trip.
We left out on a Saturday morning, filing IFR to get through the overcast. In minutes were were in the sunshine, putting on sunglasses and continuing the rest of the trip in VFR conditions. Our first stop was in northern Wyoming .
Nowhere, Wyoming
Cheap avgas here, not much else.
The next morning there was an area of low ceilings and visibilities on a straight line into our destination, so I altered the path north just a bit. we flew over the patchwork quilt of farms, over the Missouri river, across the Mississippi. we stopped in eastern Missouri for fuel and a lunch break, then headed off to our first destination, Asheville, Tennessee.
That flight was one of the prettiest on the trip. We stayed low across Kentucky, admiring the hills and colors. The wrinkled valleys of Tennessee were spectacular to me, particularly the huge lakes and fingers of the TVA project.
Our friends in Asheville picked us up at the airport and the very next day a "twilight zone busman's holiday" event began.
The toilet did not flush so well, and the drain in the basement flooded. Mr. Rooter came out, cleared the pipe and declared it needed replacing. I work for a commercial plumbing outfit and assessed the situation. It was going to be at least 5 grand to get started replacing this sewer line using Mr. Rooter, so I rented an excavator and we did it all the following afternoon. By nightfall our house and the neighbors ( we replaced their line too) were happily flushing and showering once again to the tune of about $1400 total, including Mr. Rooters ridiculous $740 bill.
Vacation? Hah!
We recovered from that the next day and drove up the Blue Ridge Parkway.
http://www.blueridgeparkway.org/
Craggy Gardens looking east.
Upper Linville Falls.JPG
I did not get a good picture of the most spectacular man made feature on the parkway, so here is a link.
Linville Cove Viaduct.
For the next few days, we played cards and visited until late each night, walked around Asheville during the day and had a great time. Our friends loaned us the spare car, and we took it down through Greenville, South Carolina, Clemson, Anderson, then across the Savannah river below the Hartwell dam into rural Georgia.
Hartwell Dam.JPG
We went to historic Washington, Georgia on the way to Augusta.
We were heading to Savannah, and the next morning we took an Oglethorpe trolley tour.
It was the best ten bucks we've ever spent on vacation. Rachel was our guide and driver, and she is running for city council. She knows her city and was one of the best storytellers and speakers we have heard.
Factor's Walk.
Bidding the fine old city farewell, we departed north over the Talmadge Bridge..
Next stop, Charleston, South Carolina! Our friends had traded in timeshare points for a 5 star room a short walk from the historic district.
It was too muggy in Charleston for us North westerners, so we took it in small doses. The next day we headed back to Asheville for the next flying leg of the trip, to the Virginia/DC area.
Our hosts were going to be busy working, so we rented a car and also used the Metro to explore the Mall and museums of DC. We visited the Smithsonian Castle, then the Air and Space Museum.
The original 1903 Wright Flyer.
No trip is complete without a visit to a zoo, and there are few finer than the National Zoo.
Aviary subject.
Mom had suggested a visit to Jamestown, where this little experiment of our nation started.
It was a fine idea, and getting there on the colonial National Historic Parkway was wonderful.
Colonial Parkway.
Bypassing the living history museum at Jamestown Settlement, we opted for a tour of the actual site of the settlement itself, only recently rediscovered in 1995.
Archaeological dig within the fort, as viewed from atop Civil War earthworks in the fort area.
What a juxtaposition of our history that represents.
Continuing on to Virginia Beach, we waded in the warm Atlantic waters at sunset. Walking to the waters.
Night falling at the beach.
We returned to Virginia, visiting the Air Force Memorial near Arlington Cemetery. It was a somber place, with the capitol city before us, Arlington next to us, and the subtle colors of the repair work at the Pentagon as a vivid reminder of troubled times and lives lost.
Reflections of the memorial and skyline in the marble.
That evening we took a drive through the Mall and capitol area, viewing the memorials illuminated at night.
Sunday we departed for Danbury, Connecticut, to visit a college friend who caught the flying bug from me and recently got his license. He and his wife put us up for a couple of days, and we took some drives around the area.
Housatonic River.
We left Danbury on an IFR flight plan, waiting on the ground about 20 minutes for NY approach control. They needed to make a "hole in the sky" for us to occupy.
This flight, although IFR due to ceilings in Danbury, was typical for the trip. More smooth sailing and nice views.
We stopped in the outskirts of Buffalo and rented a car. We brought our passports and headed for the Canadian side of Niagara Falls for the night.
American Falls in the evening.
Canadian Falls through the mists.
The spotlights, Skylon Tower in the mists.
Sunrise from our balcony.
We loved our day at Niagara falls, then flew low all the way around the Great Lakes in one day to Sheboygan, Wisconsin ( just saying Sheboygan makes us smile). We were hosted there by a brand new FBO with a fine restaurant that fell over themselves to makes us feel at home.
http://www.burrowsaviation.com/
Picture of plane at Burrows.
From inside the Restaurant.
At sunset.
Sheboygan is the home of Johnsonville Brats and the Kohler corporation. There were two G-IV or G-V Gulfstreams, 3 Citations including a Citation X, and a Falcon on the competitor's ramp. Talk about big bucks at a county airport! The next day we toured the Kohler design center and savored a bit of Americana along the way.
I KNEW it was good for you!!
The availability of hotels, courtesy cars, and reasonable fuel guided us to our overnight stop, Sidney, Montana.
I had not been looking at the outlook provided by the national news folks, and flew right up to some really nasty weather in Montana. It was perfect VFR into Sidney, but low ceilings, visibility, and the promise of ice in the clouds westward greeted us the next morning.
I took a look and decided on an end-around that took us to Logan, Utah, about 50 miles north of Salt Lake City. It was a nice VFR flight there, with only some bumps over the mountains into Logan.
The weather was bad going to worse, and a day's stay would not improve it. On the contrary, There was snow in the forecast for morning. I briefed and filed IFR in one leg all the way home. We had about an hour of IMC (Instrument meteorological conditions) for the first part, but the weather improved dramatically and we were on top in smooth air from south of Boise all the way home.
Over Baker City, Oregon.
I'm sorry I could not make it to Florida as planned. I was going to meet up with some ATOT friends.
CLIFFS:
1)wife and I flew and drove to 27 states in three weeks.
2)visited old friends
3)?
4) profit!
Map of the trip.
We left out on a Saturday morning, filing IFR to get through the overcast. In minutes were were in the sunshine, putting on sunglasses and continuing the rest of the trip in VFR conditions. Our first stop was in northern Wyoming .
Nowhere, Wyoming
Cheap avgas here, not much else.
The next morning there was an area of low ceilings and visibilities on a straight line into our destination, so I altered the path north just a bit. we flew over the patchwork quilt of farms, over the Missouri river, across the Mississippi. we stopped in eastern Missouri for fuel and a lunch break, then headed off to our first destination, Asheville, Tennessee.
That flight was one of the prettiest on the trip. We stayed low across Kentucky, admiring the hills and colors. The wrinkled valleys of Tennessee were spectacular to me, particularly the huge lakes and fingers of the TVA project.
Our friends in Asheville picked us up at the airport and the very next day a "twilight zone busman's holiday" event began.
The toilet did not flush so well, and the drain in the basement flooded. Mr. Rooter came out, cleared the pipe and declared it needed replacing. I work for a commercial plumbing outfit and assessed the situation. It was going to be at least 5 grand to get started replacing this sewer line using Mr. Rooter, so I rented an excavator and we did it all the following afternoon. By nightfall our house and the neighbors ( we replaced their line too) were happily flushing and showering once again to the tune of about $1400 total, including Mr. Rooters ridiculous $740 bill.
Vacation? Hah!
We recovered from that the next day and drove up the Blue Ridge Parkway.
http://www.blueridgeparkway.org/
Craggy Gardens looking east.
Upper Linville Falls.JPG
I did not get a good picture of the most spectacular man made feature on the parkway, so here is a link.
Linville Cove Viaduct.
For the next few days, we played cards and visited until late each night, walked around Asheville during the day and had a great time. Our friends loaned us the spare car, and we took it down through Greenville, South Carolina, Clemson, Anderson, then across the Savannah river below the Hartwell dam into rural Georgia.
Hartwell Dam.JPG
We went to historic Washington, Georgia on the way to Augusta.
We were heading to Savannah, and the next morning we took an Oglethorpe trolley tour.
It was the best ten bucks we've ever spent on vacation. Rachel was our guide and driver, and she is running for city council. She knows her city and was one of the best storytellers and speakers we have heard.
Factor's Walk.
Bidding the fine old city farewell, we departed north over the Talmadge Bridge..
Next stop, Charleston, South Carolina! Our friends had traded in timeshare points for a 5 star room a short walk from the historic district.
It was too muggy in Charleston for us North westerners, so we took it in small doses. The next day we headed back to Asheville for the next flying leg of the trip, to the Virginia/DC area.
Our hosts were going to be busy working, so we rented a car and also used the Metro to explore the Mall and museums of DC. We visited the Smithsonian Castle, then the Air and Space Museum.
The original 1903 Wright Flyer.
No trip is complete without a visit to a zoo, and there are few finer than the National Zoo.
Aviary subject.
Mom had suggested a visit to Jamestown, where this little experiment of our nation started.
It was a fine idea, and getting there on the colonial National Historic Parkway was wonderful.
Colonial Parkway.
Bypassing the living history museum at Jamestown Settlement, we opted for a tour of the actual site of the settlement itself, only recently rediscovered in 1995.
Archaeological dig within the fort, as viewed from atop Civil War earthworks in the fort area.
What a juxtaposition of our history that represents.
Continuing on to Virginia Beach, we waded in the warm Atlantic waters at sunset. Walking to the waters.
Night falling at the beach.
We returned to Virginia, visiting the Air Force Memorial near Arlington Cemetery. It was a somber place, with the capitol city before us, Arlington next to us, and the subtle colors of the repair work at the Pentagon as a vivid reminder of troubled times and lives lost.
Reflections of the memorial and skyline in the marble.
That evening we took a drive through the Mall and capitol area, viewing the memorials illuminated at night.
Sunday we departed for Danbury, Connecticut, to visit a college friend who caught the flying bug from me and recently got his license. He and his wife put us up for a couple of days, and we took some drives around the area.
Housatonic River.
We left Danbury on an IFR flight plan, waiting on the ground about 20 minutes for NY approach control. They needed to make a "hole in the sky" for us to occupy.
This flight, although IFR due to ceilings in Danbury, was typical for the trip. More smooth sailing and nice views.
We stopped in the outskirts of Buffalo and rented a car. We brought our passports and headed for the Canadian side of Niagara Falls for the night.
American Falls in the evening.
Canadian Falls through the mists.
The spotlights, Skylon Tower in the mists.
Sunrise from our balcony.
We loved our day at Niagara falls, then flew low all the way around the Great Lakes in one day to Sheboygan, Wisconsin ( just saying Sheboygan makes us smile). We were hosted there by a brand new FBO with a fine restaurant that fell over themselves to makes us feel at home.
http://www.burrowsaviation.com/
Picture of plane at Burrows.
From inside the Restaurant.
At sunset.
Sheboygan is the home of Johnsonville Brats and the Kohler corporation. There were two G-IV or G-V Gulfstreams, 3 Citations including a Citation X, and a Falcon on the competitor's ramp. Talk about big bucks at a county airport! The next day we toured the Kohler design center and savored a bit of Americana along the way.
I KNEW it was good for you!!
The availability of hotels, courtesy cars, and reasonable fuel guided us to our overnight stop, Sidney, Montana.
I had not been looking at the outlook provided by the national news folks, and flew right up to some really nasty weather in Montana. It was perfect VFR into Sidney, but low ceilings, visibility, and the promise of ice in the clouds westward greeted us the next morning.
I took a look and decided on an end-around that took us to Logan, Utah, about 50 miles north of Salt Lake City. It was a nice VFR flight there, with only some bumps over the mountains into Logan.
The weather was bad going to worse, and a day's stay would not improve it. On the contrary, There was snow in the forecast for morning. I briefed and filed IFR in one leg all the way home. We had about an hour of IMC (Instrument meteorological conditions) for the first part, but the weather improved dramatically and we were on top in smooth air from south of Boise all the way home.
Over Baker City, Oregon.
I'm sorry I could not make it to Florida as planned. I was going to meet up with some ATOT friends.
CLIFFS:
1)wife and I flew and drove to 27 states in three weeks.
2)visited old friends
3)?
4) profit!