Chapter 41 Well, it's 2006

The Annual.


Tuesday after New Year, I went to the 'drome to complete the oil change and discuss annual with Dave. We have examined the aileron hinges and pushrod ends carefully and determined that the only significant play is in the outer pushrod ends. The hangar will be available on Thursday, so I gathered up the part numbers and called Tex-air.

Thursday, I taxied the bird over to Dave's and we went to lunch. After lunch, we got her inside and started opening her up. In the process, we noticed a drip under the nose. Careful inspection determined that it was coming from the boost pump weep vent. I had seen some drips there before, but they always stopped after a few drops. This time, the drip continued. Pull the cover plate and sure enough, that hose is attached to the boost pump. Best guess; diaphragm is leaking. New pump required.

We called it a day and I went to the house to look for a pump. By Friday afternoon, the choice had been narrowed to a salvage pump for almost $400 plus shipping or a rebuilt pump for a little over $500. Some choice, order the rebuilt one.

Tuesday, I went by Tex-air and picked up what parts had come in along with an air filter and some things Dave had ordered. Install the air filter and start re-assembly of the airplane. On Thursday, the rest of the parts are in and while Dave works on the pushrod ends, I assemble the new pump and prepare for installation. When I start to insert it into the clamp, I discover that I have it backwards. The fuel line comes forward and has an elbow into the pump. The out line has an elbow from the pump to continue forward through the firewall. There is a weep line hole top and bottom with a plug to go in the one that will be on the top. If I install it the way I have it, the weep hole on the bottom is plugged.

Back to the bench and strip the allen socket trying to get the plug back out. Leave that for Eric to fix and go home. Friday late AM, I return to find the pump ready for re-assembly. Do it right side up this time and it goes right in. Hook up lines and wires and check it out. It pumps!

Saturday morning, all that remains is final buttoning up and a bath. We do the button up, pull it out onto the ramp, push the next plane in and go to lunch. After lunch, I give it a good bath and it is ready for a check flight. Thorough preflight and Dave and I pile in and fire up. New pump sounds just fine, all other sounds are good so we take off. Up to Gainesville for a little gas.
I make a nice approach in a slight crosswind and run out of airspeed while I still have appreciable altitude left. Good healthy bounce, give it a little throttle and wait. Dave is saying "more throttle", and I give it a little more while I am fighting for directional control while keeping the nose from dropping. The throttle takes hold and the plane starts flying again. I have to brake for the turn off instead of the normal roll out and we taxi up to the pumps.
On the way back, we discuss and demonstrate various methods of setting up a crab in a crosswind. Dave takes over for a little bit and demonstrates lazy eight's. The bird is back, and my landing at Aero Country is much more normal.

Roger's Ride


One of Sandra's long time teacher friends had mentioned to Sandra that her husband would like a ride. I had met Roger a few times at various functions and like me, he is retired, so going somewhere during the week would be no problem.

After another lousy weekend, the weather cleared on Monday and was expected to remain clear through Thursday. So I call Roger on Monday evening. He can "arrange" his schedule to meet me on Tuesday.

Tuesday, we meet at Albertson's at 10:00. He is even more enthusiastic than he seemed on the phone as we drive out to the airport. Park the car in the mud, change my mind and gingerly back onto the taxiway. Try another spot and back onto the taxiway. Finally park on grass beyond the next hangar. Open the hangar, pull out the Cessna, preflight the Beech and pull it out. Put the Cessna back and close the hangar. We are ready to go.
There is plenty of gas on board, so we light out for Paris. After a quick look at the sectional, Roger can easily determine our location and then locate other points in view. He has some trouble with the things that come with practice, like identifying a lake by the color change at the horizon, but that does take practice. We make a loop around Paris and head south towards Sulphur Springs and lunch. A Cessna is doing pattern work there and I explain from his transmissions where to look for him. Roger spots him before I do.

Decent landing in a gusty wind with a crosswind component to it and we taxi up to the FBO. Get out, chock the wheels and stroll into the FBO. Attend to calls of nature, wander around and then walk to The Red Barn. We order the Special of the Day which is Chicken Fried Steak. While we are waiting for food, Roger takes out his phone and calls Priscilla. "Guess what honey, I am eating Chicken Fried Steak at the Red Barn in Sulphur Springs."

We eat and talk. Some of the talk is not even about flying. Then walk back to the FBO. Watch a Cessna pull in and shut down. We meet the occupants as they walk up the steps, a student and instructor coming for lunch. Then walk the line and saddle up.

After I get it leveled out and trimmed at 3500', I turn it over to Roger. He works with it a little and gets direction pretty much under control, but is all over the place for altitude. "Relax, Roger. Feel the yoke, don't grip it.". Much better! We head over here, then over there, generally going west. Finally, I say now head over those 2 little lakes (the water treatment plant north of Greenville). He keeps the yoke until we are over Farmersville and it is time to clear across McKinney.

Into the pattern and I make a fairly good landing. Taxi in to the hangar. John is working on his Yak, so after putting the Mouse back in it's nest, we stand around and talk a while. I think Roger enjoyed his day.

Back to Longview


The BAC schedule for 2006 doesn't show any fly-ins for the South Central Region, so I guess I ought to do something about that. Aero Country is not a good location. There are no facilities there, no gas, no parking ramp, no FBO with a lounge, etc.. So if I am to set one up, it will have to be somewhere else. I got to thinking about Longview. Good towered airport, central location, excellent FBO. Why don't we make another trip over there and look it over from that standpoint and talk with their people? Why not?

Sunday morning the 28th is beautiful and Sandra hasn't been in the plane since we got back from Sugarland, so off we go. Hop over to Sulphur Springs for gas, passing through some rough air that extends from pattern altitude to 2000'. Then on to Longview and on climbout, the ground bumps end about 2500'. There is forecast for mild to moderate turbulence all day below 8000, but we sail smoothly along at 3500. We hear someone complaining about the bumps at 2500, and we advise Longview approach that we are smooth at 3500. The other plane immediately requests higher.

The briefing had said that runway 17-35 was closed, and to expect landings on 13. The surface wind is around 10 knots at 190. We are cleared to land straight in on 13 and are lined up perfectly 15 miles out. As we descend below 3000, the air gets progressively rougher. When we are about 5 miles out, the tower advises us that runway 17 is now open, would we prefer that? Of course, we will enter a right base for 17.
Not a bad landing considering the gusty wind and the bumpy approach. Taxi into KRS and shut down. The line guy recognized us from the trip last month. Sandra goes inside while Ryan and I talk generally about Musketeers and fly-ins. He gives an in-depth tour of the facilities and Sandra and I take the minivan to town for lunch. Back from lunch. We talk some more and then saddle up for home.

We join a 3 plane conga line for takeoff and turning out are cleared to 4500'. It seems intermittently bumpy all the way up and level at 4500, it is moderate turbulence. I figure that the rise in the bumpy layer from earlier has now reached this altitude and am resigning myself to a rough ride home.
 
Listening to the other chatter, it seems that the higher you go up to 8000, the rougher it gets. Just as I am about to inquire about trying 3500, Approach asks how the ride is at 4500'. I tell him it is rough and that I would like to try 3500.

He clears us to descend and we go back down. At 3500, Sandra cannot work the crossword puzzle, but it is much better than it was higher. We tell Longview that and relax for the rest of the trip home.

Passing over Caddo Mills, we were intrigued by the ground traffic there. We finally realized that we were watching tow planes taxiing over in front of gliders and taking off. Another new sight!

We descend to 2000 over Lake Lavon and swing around into the pattern at home. Taxiing up to the hangar, we discover that we have a new hangar mate. It is a pristine, beautifully restored Cessna 140, just purchased by John's son. The sizes and types of the planes in the hangar now dictate that ours is in front which means no more moving the 152 in and out.

Weather...


Thursday, 2/2, I felt the need to fly. It was a beautiful day, so I went to the airport with the intention of taking Dave to lunch somewhere. He couldn't make it due to an early afternoon engagement, so the ABS gang went for a quick bite and then I wandered around the airport for a while, winding up back at the hangar. Mike, the owner of the Cessna 152 that we had to move is there removing his nose strut for rebuilding. We talk planes and flying for a little. He has never been in a Mouse or any of its brethren, so I offer him a quick ride.

We go out over Celina and he does some basic maneuvers. He seems impressed by the smoothness and stability of the bird. We fly around some more and then back in to finish removing his nose strut.

Then follows another period of yucky weather. We finally get another pretty day on Sunday 2/26 and decide to go for lunch at McGregor, TX. This town is south west of Waco and only a few miles from Crawford, but George is in India and the restricted zone is at it's small 3 mile size.

Off to Mesquite for gas and then on to McGregor. We pick up flight following and can hear 2 other planes somewhere behind us also going there. We are released from Flight Following just past Waco and begin a descent. Waco Approach advises us that a Cessna will also be inbound behind us, but they are still 9 miles out. I aim slightly south of the field and swing into the downwind from the 45. We hear the Cessna announce maneuvering for the downwind entry.

As I level out on the base leg, there the Cessna is. Pattern altitude, southbound between me and the runway. She passes about 300 feet above us announcing that she has the plane on base in sight. How she considered being between the downwind and runway at pattern altitude "maneuvering for a downwind entry", I'll never know.

Oh well, no harm, no foul. We taxi in and park. Go potty, get the car keys and recommendations for a place to eat. The recommendation is the Coffee Shop, "George eats there when he is in town". Nice little place with excellent food.

Back to the airport and our baby Beech is cowering on the line surrounded by 7 Cessnas. I pat its nose and reassure it that we love it and we are off for home. Pick up flight following from Waco Approach so we can go back across downtown Dallas, and drone north. Smooth uneventful flight, nice landing, taxi in, hangar the Mouse and head for home.

Spring Break '06

We have an ongoing list of specific places we intend to go as the opportunity presents. We discovered that there will be a BAC fly-in at Peachtree City (just outside of Atlanta) on the first Saturday of Sandra's Spring Break. If we can make that, then it should be easy to go from there to Savannah, GA which is high on our list of destinations.

Sandra can take off Friday afternoon, so the plan is to fly as far as east Mississippi Friday afternoon and the rest of the way on Saturday morning. Dark is 6:30 in east MS, and we cannot guarantee departure before 2:00. Total distance to Atlanta is 600nm, so 4 hours Friday will leave 2 hours on Saturday morning. Looking for good fuel stops in east MS, I discover Louisville. Small town with minimal facilities, but good notices on Airnav.

Our normal fuel stop would be Sulphur Springs, but that would leave a 350nm leg to LMS. I know that there is over 2 hours gas in the Mouse, so I look for a fuel stop further east. The choices are Mt Pleasant, Atlanta (TX), Texarkana and El Dorado, AR. El Dorado is a little too far. Texarkana is awfully proud of their Avgas. Atlanta, according to Airnav may or may not have fuel, and is seldom attended. Mt Pleasant it will be even though that will leave a 292nm leg to Louisville.

By Wednesday night, the long range weather is looking favorable except for forecast clouds and rain in Savannah on Tuesday. But that is 6 days out, highly subject to change and we can always stay an extra day, grin!

Getting to Atlanta.


Thursday night, the Redhead packs her stuff and heads for school on Friday morning. I finish my flight planning, pack, get briefed and head for the airport at 11:00. Open hangar, load bags, preflight and take the van over to Dave's so Eric can work on the AC. I am back at the hangar by 12:00 as a north south band of clouds moves in from the west. They appear to be above 4000' as forecast, but they do drop a sprinkle of rain on us.
Sandra calls right after 12:30. She is on her way, but concerned by the band of clouds. I pull the Mouse out leaving room for her to get by and close 2 of the hangar doors. She arrives and backs the T-bird into the spot where the Mouse normally lives. I close the doors and assure her that this band of clouds is no deterrent. We can see indications of sunlight on the east and west horizons as well as some blue sky over us.

Saddle up, fire up and taxi out. Take off right at 1:00PM and turn east. Mt Pleasant is 90 miles, so we only go to 3500 and don't bother with Flight Following. We fly out from under the clouds around Greenville and the visibility continually improves in smooth air. Fly direct to OSA and enter the empty pattern from the crosswind. The wind is light and southeast at ground level and I make a good approach. Well, except that there is a deep drainage ditch across the approach end and I stay a little high on final. You don't want to be short here!

We float a little longer than normal, but the touchdown is so smooth that I am afraid to drop the flaps for fear that the wheels are still in the air. Taxi to the pumps and fill her up. Hit the potty and saddle up. Take off at 2:15 and turn out to the east. We have been on the ground for 20 minutes.

I pick up flight following and we climb to 5500'. Visibility is excellent with only a hint of clouds way off to the southeast. If all goes well, we should be landing at Louisville around 5:15. We pass between Atlanta and Wright Patman Lake. Into Arkansas and over the Red River, passing just north of Lake Erling. We can easily see Springhill, LA on the south end of the lake and Magnolia, AR ahead. Just south of Magnolia and then pass just north of El Dorado. Next major landmark is the Big River.

We cross it right on course, over the end of a large island with a big horseshoe lake beyond it. But now, the clouds to the southeast are much closer. Soon, they are just to our right. The only problem is that it is very hazy under them and all our landmarks are to the south of our course and there are no useable VORs. We soldier on by the seat of our pants. When we identify the Kosciusko town and airport, we know that we are less than a mile south of the line and Louisville is 20 miles ahead. Angle a little bit to the left and begin a descent. I have just identified the little lake west of town when ATC releases us with "Lima Mike Sierra is 9 miles at 12 o'clock.".

We are coming in perpendicular to the runway and there will only be a few buildings midfield on the far side to help us find it in a heavily wooded area. I think I have it and then am not sure. Just as I realize that it is a stretch of major roadway, Sandra finds the airport dead ahead. I have to do a 360 to get to pattern altitude before entering the crosswind. From the wind ripples on the lake, I know that I will have a left crosswind on 17, and though firm, it is still a good landing. Taxi to the fuel pumps and shut down. 382nm with one stop and 4.1 hours on the clock.

Sandra walks across the ramp to get the courtesy van while I make the picture then gas up the Mouse. Load the baggage into the van and push the Mouse to a tiedown and tie it down for the night. The idea is to have everything ready so we can make a quick exit tomorrow morning.

Now let me say something about small town airports. If we had flown in here cold turkey, we would have been in deep do do. But I had called yesterday and knew the skinny. When I called, the phone rolled over twice before a nice lady answered. She confirmed that she did represent the airport, so I asked about transportation and lodging.
"Not a problem, honey. There's a roll up garage door on the hangar to your right when you taxi in. Open it and get the van out. There is two good motels in town and neither of them are ever full. Pull up to the gate and it opens automatically. To get back in, punch in the Unicom frequency. Y'all have a safe flight."

That is all there is to it and we found everything just as described. The van is an old Chevy Astro, but it runs good. There is a hand drawn map with the motels and probably every eating place in town located. The office is open and the lights are on motion sensors. We attend to potty and head for town. The only non-chain, non fast food restaurant in town for dinner is next door to the Best Western, so we go there. Check in and take the bags to the room. It is just good dark when we walk over to the cafe for dinner. The motel has no breakfast, but the room has a refrigerator and microwave, so we drive over to the Wal Mart to get breakfast stuff and add some gas to the van so we won't have to do that in the morning.

The room faces west, so I can get no good feel for the weather at 5:45, but we get up anyway. We would like to be airborne by 7:30. It is a 2 plus hour flight and we lose an hour entering the eastern time zone, so that would put us at Peachtree around 11:00. When we emerge from the room just before 7, we find that there is several layers of clouds with the bottom one too low to fly under. Hopefully, it will burn off quickly.

We get to the airport just after 7, load the plane and Sandra puts the van away while I preflight. The radar and satellite pictures don't look good, and flight service is even less optimistic. Everybody in MS and western AL has multiple layers from 700 to 4000 ranging from broken to overcast. We sit and wait. I check the satellite pictures, I go out and scan the clouds, I get an update from Flight Service, I kibitz while some men are trying to figure out how to stabilize and then remove a hangar door that has blown off it's track.

By 10:00, it has raised up enough that I feel confident we can leave soon. We run back into town and grab a quick bite at McDonalds and saddle up. Take off and head east. Sure enough, the bottoms are just above 3000'. We bump along at 2700, looking for a big hole. We have several pilot reports from the area reporting the tops at 4500-5000. Finally, just east of Macon, MS I see sunlight on the ground from way to the right, ending just to our left. I start the climb before we get to the hole and then turn south. The hole is several miles long and bends further to the right. We are just passing 4500 when Birmingham comes on, "November Four Lima Bravo, verify that your destination is Fox Fox Charlie.".
"Uh, that's affirmative."
"We show your current heading as 210."
"I know. We are climbing through a hole to get on top. Another 500 feet and we can begin turning back east."
"Roger Four Lima Bravo, maintain VFR."

At 5500, we are not above the tops, but are above most of the clouds. There are lots of big holes where we could get back down and they should get bigger as we go east. The only problem is that we no longer know exactly where we are. We are somewhere south of Tuscaloosa and with limited ground visibility, we could easily miss what landmarks there are. I set up the La Grange VOR with the idea that we will "see" it soon and we can stay north of it until we get better ground visibility.

The tops keep getting higher, but the bottoms are rising also. Finally we go down to 5000 then 4700 and we are under the few remaining clouds. It appears that we are between Childersburg and Sylacauga. This is soon confirmed by the prominent ridgeline just east of there. Confident again, we pass just south of Ashland instead of north of it then over the large lake east of it. We are back on course. Passing south of the large power plants, Atlanta vectors us further south. We pass between Newnan and the Coweta County Airport and Atlanta releases us for the approach to Peachtree-Falcon.

We cross over and enter a left downwind for 13. Not such a good landing, I had to add a little power to smooth out a bounce, but no big problem. We have been looking for a gathering of mice on all the ramps and as I turn off the runway, a Sierra comes onto the taxiway from the ramp entrance to my right. We go straight across onto the ramp and pull in beside a nice looking Sierra. We can see 2 other Mice on the ramp and 3 people standing by the exit from the FBO.

One of them is Doug Muse, the sponsor/host for this event. The other two are a couple whose name I cannot remember. (I never was good at names, and as I get older, I get worse) They had flown their Sport up from Florida. Doug makes his picture so that we will get credit while Sandra goes in to get our car. The Fly-in is essentially over, and our plane was the seventh arrival. We all stand around or sit in the FBO for a while and then Doug saddles up the Sierra next to us and heads for his home field. We get our bags from our plane, order fuel and prepare to leave when the two men from the other Mouse come back from wherever they have been. His is a name I recognize from the Musketeer boards and he also recognizes me from this journal.

Eventually we head out to the motel. It is easy to find, but we drive on, looking for a Sonic so we can get some tea and a small bite. Peachtree City is so upscale that it doesn't have a Sonic, but we find a Chick-fil-a and get tea and some chicken nuggets to tide us over until supper. We also see a place called the Georgia Shrimp Company which sounds like a good bet for dinner.
We still have 3 hours of daylight, but Atlanta proper is too far away for any meaningful sightseeing, so we head for the country. West to Noonan, capital of Coweta County, made famous by the book and movie "A Murder in Coweta County". We drive east out of there to a small town named Sharpsburg which advertises it's antique shops. Not much to see there, so we head back to Peachtree City.

Check in to the Best Western and schlep our bags up to the room. The keycard won't work! The green light comes on, but the handle won't open the door. I hotfoot back to the lobby and bewail our predicament. The girl behind the desk laughs and tells me the secret. I go back up to the room. Approaching the door with a big smirk on my face, I insert the card and PICK UP on the handle. Works like a charm! Someone had replaced that latch with one meant for a left-hand door.
We relax for a few minutes and then after freshening up, head for dinner. The restaurant is everything we hoped for and more. We even had dessert and the bill was still less than $40. Back to the room to watch the weather and go to bed. We don't have to get up at the crack of dawn tomorrow.

On to Savannah.


Sunday dawns mostly clear with some high clouds. The plan for today is 229NM to Savannah with 2 stops along the way. We eat the motel breakfast, pack up and check out. The other couple from the fly-in are also checking out and we didn't even know they were there. Out to the airport, drive directly to the plane and load the baggage. I do the preflight while Sandra returns the rental.

Inside, I call the Savannah FBO to warn them of our impending invasion and arrange car and room, then get the weather briefing. No significant weather along our entire route, just some stratiform clouds well above our altitudes. So off we go just before 10:00.
Turn out to the east and contact Atlanta for flight following. We are told to proceed on course, remaining at or below 4000 for about 10 minutes. We pass between Griffin and Hampton, noting the large facility that appears to be a NASCAR track between Clayton County airport and the town of Hampton.
 
Approaching Jackson (Doesn't every state have a Jackson?), we reach 5500 and then between Jackson Lake and Monticello, Have to deviate and drop below 5000 to go under a long finger of cloud. Beyond that, it is clear as far as we can see. We pass north of the power plants on Lake Sinclair and directly over Sparta.
Handed over to Augusta, they inform us that R-3004 just went hot and we should turn to 130 to clear it. Hmmm, the sectional says that this area is only hot by NOTAM with 24 hours notice. The briefing had mentioned that R-3005 (south of Savannah) would be active. Oh well, we go directly over Stapleton and Wrens Memorial, looking 15 miles to the north at the town of Augusta.

Just across the Savannah river, I request descent into Barnwell, SC and am cleared for descent at my discretion. The sectional requests that pilots remain above 2000 feet while passing over the Savannah River nuclear processing plant and we are still at 3000 when we pass the east end. I hasten our descent at this point as we are already looking straight down the closed east west runway. Pass over to the other side and execute a nice landing. Taxi in and shut down.

Why stop here? Several reasons. It adds South Carolina to the states we have visited. Fuel at Savannah is higher than a Halloween cats back so we want to arrive there needing as little fuel as possible. And last, but not least, I lived here from '53-'55 while my dad built the Savannah River Project.

The nice lady in the FBO recommends the Sunday Buffet at the Winton Inn, but we better hurry before the church crowd gets there. So we pile in the FBO Lumina and head for town. The streets are generally familiar, but the hill from the creek to the town square is not nearly as steep as I remember it from delivering newspapers. We find the Winton easily and the buffet is excellent. Sandra has the fried chicken and pronounces it better than her sister makes.

The Winton Inn is in the throat of a Y with the tail going on to Allendale. We go around the corner and back towards town on the east leg of the Y. My memory and sense of direction and proportion tell me that it should come back into the east side of downtown after we cross the railroad tracks. The tracks are no longer there, but the evidence of a railroad right of way are and we come up on the school complex to our right. I now know exactly where we are.
We turn right on Hagood and go past the school complex. An old Spanish style building had been condemned in 1952, but re-instated for the influx of people in 53 when SRP started. It is now gone. The new consolidated school, opened in 52, but used for high school only in 53 is now the administration building. The new buildings where I started the 7th grade are still behind where the old school was.

The 3 houses between the high school and the N-S railroad tracks are still there and much smaller houses than I remember. My first schoolboy crush lived in the middle one. The N-S tracks are also gone, but the evidence is still there. We miss the turn into the "subdivision" and turn around in the parking lot of what was then the Hagood Heights Baptist Church.

Back into the "subdivision". It was hastily built on an old cotton field to house some of the influx of workers in 53 and consisted of a row of single family houses fronting on Hagood and a large loop with duplexes inside and outside of the loop between Hagood and the E-W railroad tracks. The E_W track ran in a deep cut to go under the N-S tracks crossing them on the SW corner. Across the tracks to the south was a huge peach orchard.
The area now has many large trees and we could not see the RR cut from the street, but the duplexes are still there. The are all run down now and some of them appear abandoned. I could identify the one we lived in by counting from the west end of the loop and back from the entrance road which crosses the center of the loop. It is one of the better maintained structures in the group.
From there, dogleg north on the street that ran along the east side of the N-S tracks. It was on this street that a dog bit me while I was riding my bike home from the grocery store. We never found the dog, so I had to take rabies shots. The grocery store building is still there, but vacant and crumbling.
Back to downtown past the street where my newspapers arrived at 5:00AM every morning. Stop and put some gas in the Lumina and back to the airport. Sit around and talk with the FBO lady some. Admire the expansion and renovation plans. Marvel at the airport cat who appeared as a full grown cat in 1984 and has run the place since. Yes, I said 1984, and she seems to be in very good health, spry and active (Miss Millie, by name).
Saddle up and take off for Allendale, 10 miles to the south. The problem is that the gas tanks at Barnwell are being replaced, but I wanted to go to Barnwell. Barnwell had a courtesy car for the visit, but no Avgas. Allendale has gas, but no courtesy car. So we go to both.

We climb straight out to 2000'. And immediately start looking for the airport. Look (and head) a little east. Look and head a little west. We can hear a Twin Commanche entering the pattern there, but we can't see the airport. We finally find it a little to our right as the Twin is on downwind. He turns final as we enter the downwind. Another good landing and we taxi up behind the Twin at the pumps. I get out the towbar while Sandra approaches the airport cat. The cat snubs her, but strolls over to me, tail high. After pleasantries and a good head rub, the cat carefully inspects our nosewheel and towbar, then lies down in the shade of the wing.

After the Twinkie leaves, we fill the Mouse and take off for Savannah, another 53nm south. We call Jacksonville Center for Flight Following so we can ease our entry to the Savannah Class B. We soon have SAV in sight and we are just to the west of a straight in for 18. Savannah approach vectors to 130 "for sequencing" and we fly nearly back into South Carolina before they turn us back towards the runway.

Long straight in and another good landing. We wait on the off ramp while 2 F18s taxi across the runway to the ramp then on to the Signature Aviation ramp. We have a little trouble spotting the line guy, because he is wearing a gray uniform standing between us and a set of open T hangars. He blends with the shade of them very well. We finally get parked and after the cockpit cleanup, stroll into the FBO. Sandra signs out the car and gets maps, etc. while I do the obligatory pit stop. The place is very busy, but we soon are ready. I walk back to the plane while she gets the car. We pile the bags in and head out.

It is only 3:00, so we hit a Sonic just outside the airport and go exploring. Not much but industrial on the northwest side, but we eventually wind up on Bay Street. Down MLK to the visitors center and hit the brochure racks. With a large stack which naturally gets dropped on the sidewalk as we walk back outside, we sit down to plot and plan. The trolley tour leaving at 4:30 seems the best bet since the ticket this evening will also allow us to hop on and off all day tomorrow. We take the tour so we will not be flying completely blind in the morning.
The tour takes nearly an hour, so we decide to go check in to the motel (Other side of the airport) and plan tomorrow. There is still some cloudiness over the Mississippi valley, which may indicate that the long range forecast for rain in Savannah on Tuesday is still valid. There is more to see in Savannah than we could manage in one day. Guess we will have to stay until Wednesday morning.

Looking through the brochures for a place for dinner, we settle on Love's seafood. It's a long 15 mile drive on I95, but the ads and quotes make it seem worth it. The atmosphere does seem nice, but the service is abysmal. The food is good, but our entrees sat under the heat lamp too long.

Savannah, Day 1.


After breakfast, we head into town, arriving at the visitors center parking lot before 10:00. Since things start 2 blocks away, we set out on foot. The old town is laid out such that you will never be more than a block from a square, each of which is a shaded oasis with fountain, statue and benches for resting. Of note is that the statue or memorial in each square is not related to the name of the square. James Oglethorpe's statue is in Chippewa Square and I don't remember who or what is honored in Oglethorpe Square.
Up to Oglethorpe Avenue and around the Civic Center to Orleans Square. In preparation for St Patrick's Day, all the fountains are spouting green water. Admire the fountain and move on to Chippewa Square. This square was used as the backdrop for the "life is like a box of chawklits" scene in "Forrest Gump".
We continue east to the Colonial Park Cemetery. Burials stopped here in 1855, and Sherman's men nearly destroyed it in 1865, removing and defacing markers and digging latrines. After the war, the citizens attempted to restore as much as possible, but the east wall is lined with the remains of markers that could not be put back because no one knew where they should go.
Going south from there, we go through Lafayette square and Calhoun square, then west to Monterey square. From there south to Forsyth Park with it's elaborate fountain and the Confederate Memorial. The Memorial is being renovated and is nearly covered with scaffolding. From there, we head north up Whitaker and then to Madison Square, crossing Chippewa Square and on to Wright Square.
We then board the trolley and ride down to the waterfront. We walk the waterfront, stopping for lunch at the Cotton Exchange Tavern. Then back up the Ballast Stone ramp and across Factors walk. Up at street level again, we walk to Reynolds Square, Johnson Square and Telfair Square then back to City Market.

We hop the trolley back to the Visitors Center from there. It is only 1:30, and we are pretty much walked out, so we head over the Talmadge Bridge for Hilton Head. Hilton Head is not just next door to Savannah, it is 30 miles of back road away. We stop at the obligatory visitors center on the way for a stack of brochures. The flavor of the place is very apparent when one of them titled "101 things to do at Hilton Head" has the last 40 items beginning with "golf at...".

Although the beach to the high tide line is "public" there are only 4 points of public access on the entire island. They are not marked on the main road, you have to hunt for them. We finally found one and walked on the sand for a while. The Redhead got her feet wet in the Atlantic Ocean and we picked up a few shells. Then the trudge through very soft sand 1/2 mile back to the car just as the parking meter ran out.

Next stop is the Hilton Head Lighthouse. We use the map in one of the brochures, the same one that had served us so well finding the public access beaches. The lighthouse is inside the gated Sea Pines Golf community. Day admission, $5.00. We miss one turn on the very excellent map, but eventually find the lighthouse. It is at the entrance to the marina and surrounded by boutique shops. We look at the lighthouse and then Sandra goes boutique browsing while I browse the marina. It took longer for a 70 footer to come in, maneuver and get tied up than it takes us to taxi in, park, pick up the car and hit the road.

We walk out on the pier and watch the sun getting lower in the sky. The breeze is getting cool and I don't have my jacket, so we decide that we will find a place for dinner on the island and then head back. The thick booklet with this good map has a section on eating places, so while Sandra drives back towards town, I read through that section. One place sounds good, but where is it? Look on the map. I can't find the map. Look for an ad. I can't find the ad, although I know I had seen one. Look on the map. This booklet doesn't have a map any more. While I was looking in the dining section, someone ripped the map out and burned it.

Park in a strip mall, in front of a doctor's office so we are not in the way while we make a methodical search for the missing map. This book, stapled in the middle has 80 pages, kneeboard size. Normally in the tourist booklets, the map is inside a cover or in the center. This map finally surfaces again, 4 pages from the back. Reassured that I am no crazier than usual, we select a place called Marley's. The address is Park Plaza at Greenwood Drive. Park Plaza is not on the map (which went temporarily missing again) and Greenwood Drive runs 1/3 of the length of the island. Call and get directions.

We find it after only one wrong turn, and before we go in, I call FSS for an outlook briefing for tomorrow. We aren't leaving, but I just want a justification. Sure enough, a band of clouds and rain are due tomorrow morning. Drat, we'll have to stay another day!

After a fine dinner, I go into the supermarket across the parking lot and purchase a roll of quarters for laundry. Then back to the motel and hit the Laundromat.

Savannah, Day 2.


Sure enough, Tuesday morning shows high clouds over us and lower clouds to the west. After breakfast, we head for Tybee Island. Finding an accessible beach is much easier here. We admire the lighthouse (closed on Tuesday), and the coastal fortifications (also closed on Tuesday) and wade in the surf some more under lowering skies with blustery winds. Definitely not sorry that we are not flying.

We drive on through town and walk out on the big pier. It is drizzling a little rain, but not much. We drive around to the backside of the island and go out on a pier into the back channel. It is definitely gray and threatening to the west.

We now look for someplace to eat. The booklet for Tybee is not as thick as the one for Hilton Head was, and the map is a foldout inside the back cover, so we have no trouble selecting and finding The Grill. They are a little understaffed and a large party has the patio occupied, but we are in no big hurry. We have just been served when the skies open up and it simply pours. The food was excellent and we enjoyed a leisurely meal while the rain fell, then slacked off and then quit just as we were ready to leave.
By the time we drove back to Fort Pulaski, the sun was out and the skies were rapidly clearing to the west. However. There is absolutely no wind, no breeze, no stirring of air whatsoever. The humidity probably topped out at around 450 or so and the gnats came out. Ah, this is the Low Country I remember!
Fort Pulaski like most military installations was built for the previous war. It was built on Cockspur Island and commanded both the south and north channels of the Savannah River. It was considered impregnable when seized by the Confederacy in January of 1861. If the north was to blockade the south, this fort must be taken back. If it could prevent an invasion from the sea, it could also prevent commerce from sailing from the port of Savannah. So in April 1862, the union forces began a campaign to take the fort. The ace in their hole was the possession of rifled cannon which allowed them to shell the fort from Tybee island, nearly 2 miles away. They breached the southeast rampart in 30 hours of shelling and the fort surrendered.
Leaving Pulaski, the only stop left was Fort Jackson, just down river from Savannah proper. This fort was built to revolutionary standards in time for the war of 1812, but saw no action. It was upgraded in the 1840s and held by the Confederates until Sherman took Savannah from the west. Being state funded, it is not as well restored as Pulaski, but was interesting nonetheless.
From there, we headed back to the room to rest our weary legs. Two days of walking on brick and cobblestone streets, beach sand and climbing steep narrow staircases had about done for our legs. After a short nap, we found a local place for dinner and retired for the night.

We're going to Jackson


The distance home from Savannah is one very, very long day, or two easy ones. We can stop for the night in Raymond with Thelma and Terrell and make the easy flight home the next day. Wednesday morning, it is cloudy in Dallas and moving slowly east. Maybe, we can beat it to Jackson, and it will pass quickly enough to allow us to go the rest of the way on Thursday.

I had looked at the lunch/fuel stop in Tuskegee, AL, but a call there last week confirmed Airnav notes that the facilities and attendance were not dependable. So I opted instead for Auburn-Opelika. We are wheels up by 9:45 and on our way with a northerly wind forecast to become more easterly by afternoon as we get further west. Our route is to be west over Claxton, Vidalia and Eastman then turning right 15 degrees, south of Perry to pass north of Columbus. The air is clear and oh so smooth. I spend a lot of the time with my hands in my lap, doing a light tap dance on the rudder pedals. We make all the landmarks along the way and Atlanta nicely vectors us to the north of the restricted area east of Columbus. Knowing where we are when they allow us to turn west again, I set a course that soon has the towns of Opelika and Auburn dead ahead.

I pick up the AWOS and learn that the name is "opa-leeka', not "opa-like-a" as I had always thought. No harm, enter the crosswind and land nicely on 36. Taxi in and park as directed. Order fuel and the truck is already on the way. Sandra picks up the car and suggestions for lunch and we are off. The place is called Niffers and it is obviously a college hangout, but the food is excellent.
Sandra calls Raymond to give them a probable arrival time and we are off. I pick up Atlanta Center on climbout, but they drop us over Martin Lake, telling me to contact Montgomery in another 10 minutes. At 4500, it is now a little rough, so we go on up to 6500 and the Redhead dozes off. We pick up Montgomery and they drop us as soon as we are west of their airspace. They don't even suggest a frequency to continue flight following.

North of Selma, Sandra gets out the Flight Guide and looks up the approach frequency for Selma. It is Montgomery, so we look up Demopolis, 40 miles further west. Call them (Another Atlanta frequency) and set up flight following the rest of the way. Drone on just south of the Demopolis airport and on to the Memphis Sectional. Pass over the Kewanee VOR and follow I20 to Jackson.

Soon we can see Jackson ahead and I start thinking about descent. We are at 6500', Raymond is 250'. Adding 1000' to pattern altitude, we have to descend 5250'. About five miles before the Jackson airport, I request a descent. Jackson approach advises, "Descent at your discretion, remain at or above 3000 until I advise.". No problem, we are still above 3500 over Hawkins when approach clears us to Raymond. We spot the field several miles out but still have to do some serious S turns to get to pattern altitude. The wind favors 12, but only barely. Enter the downwind and make a long but smooth landing.

Sandra gets the stuff we will need for overnight and calls Thelma. I hit the potty and then go out to gas up the plane. I made a picture this time before I moved the plane. Hot start number one worked fine and I taxied over to the gas pumps. I'm just finishing up when Terrell strolls over. We talk to the man from the Cessna 182 behind us and then I hop back in to taxi to parking. Hot start number two also worked fine. Taxi in between 2 Cessnas and shut down. Button up and tie down, then walk back to the FBO with Terrell.
Out to Riggs Manor, sit around and talk while high clouds move in from the west. Into South Jackson for dinner and back to talk some more. Ten o'clock weather doesn't look good, but what can we do. If it clears enough by 2PM for us to leave, we can still get home by dark.

Thursday morning is gray with multiple cloud layers again. Flight Service opines that there will be several bands of rain move over us during the day. But if we could go to Monroe and start, we could easily get to Dallas. The other fly is that it is expected to get cloudy with rain in Dallas by Friday afternoon.

We eat lunch in the Manor, sit around and then go to dinner at the Swinging Bridge in Byram. Friday morning, there are still some thin clouds overhead and moving to the east, but clearing to the west. Flight Service thinks that the clouds will begin arriving from the west over Dallas by noon, but remain above 6000' until late afternoon.

And then home


We launch at 10:00 into smooth air with almost no clouds in sight. 150 miles to Minden, LA for lunch with no problems. The courtesy car dies if asked to idle more than a few seconds, but we find the City Bakery for lunch. The sandwiches on fresh sourdough were delicious. Back at the airport, the computer weather says that Dallas now has high clouds, but the rain is still several hundred miles to the southwest.

Off the ground just before one, we still see no clouds to the west. By the time we are over Caddo Lake, we can see high clouds to the west, but the ground visibility is still good. By Lake of the Pines, it is obvious that the clouds are thickening ahead, but they are still way above our 4500'.

Crossing north of Tawakoni with Lavon in sight, we begin a slow descent. At 2500' over Lavon, the clouds above us are at 5000', but the visibility is still good and we can now see the landmarks of home. Swing north over west Allen and into the pattern. Good landing and we are home.

It has been a good trip, two new states, 7 new airports (including the Redhead's 100th) and one more priority destination done. Unload the plane and Sandra drops me off at Dave's to pick up the van while she heads for home.