The good weather from New Year's weekend continued, so on Thursday, we made a lunch run to Lancaster to check out the remodeled cafe. They have done a nice job on it. After a good flight back, it is time for a serious bird bath. The Mouse is now clean and shiny again.
Then we get the wettest Jan/Feb we can remember. February is normally a busy month for us anyway with the annual Special Olympics Auction. But we don't get any break for a quick flight.
We had set aside a window for a long trip in the Mar/Apr time frame. We assiduously kept 4 weeks open by sliding it as necessary when things tried to infringe on it. By late February, it would begin March 12. Our friends who winter in Pompano Beach would be heading north on March 22, So that was our first destination. To that we added Saint Augustine, Charleston and Washington, DC. With routing and preliminary scheduling settled, all that we can do is wait on weather and go make sure the plane is ready.
I need some practice anyway, so Mar 5 is to be pretty with sunshine, low 70s and <10 winds out of the south. I go out to fly some and check out the plane. Concerned about the battery, I do the electrical check before I even open the hangar doors. The Beacon barely lights, the strobe flashes about once every 30 seconds and the stall horn only chirps instead of a beep. Find a spare charger and hook it up then go down to AeroMark. Mark says he will go load check it this afternoon (after being on the charger for several hours) and get back to me.
He finally checks it on Thursday and it has one or more very weak cells, so he sets up a new battery from his stock. It would be ready by Saturday morning, but it is again rainy, and supposed to stay that way until late Sunday. The system causing this is moving very slowly, so even though it will be nice here on Monday, it will still be bad over the Mississippi Valley until sometime Tuesday.
Checking weather Sunday for final plans, we discover that there will be a break from Vicksburg to Memphis on Monday, with everything south of Vicksburg and north of Tunica still expecting rain. Further, a slow moving front will arrive in Dallas Tuesday afternoon, meaning that we have to leave in front of it or stay home. There goes our plan to have dinner in New Orleans. So, the first revision in the original itinerary. We re-plan for Greenville, MS on Monday night and Lunch in Troy, AL and overnight on Tuesday in Gainesville, FL.
Monday morning, we are on the way to the airport by 10:00. Down to AeroMark to pick up the battery, back to the hangar to install it. Pull out and preflight. Sandra gets out a book while I taxi down to the fuel farm and put in nearly 50 gallons of gas. I then go up for a couple of touch and goes and back to the hangar. We push the plane onto the grass across from the hangar and go for lunch.
We are in the air by 1:30 , climbing to 5500 and droning along in smooth air with a nice tailwind. Passing El Dorado, AR, we start dodging clouds at this altitude, so we slowly descend to stay under them. We cross the river at 2500 and begin a real descent into 18R at Greenville. The landing sucks in the gusty crosswind, but no parts fell off, so we taxi in to the FBO and shut down. The line boy takes Sandra to the rental car place in the main terminal while I clean up the bird and check fuel.
We now have to find a motel. The FBO is little help, so we strike out on our own. The route we take doesn't show any motels or even much commercial development, but we do find a visitor center. They give us a chit for a discount room at Harlow's Casino. Right at the river by the interstate bridge, way, way south of town proper.
After checking in and freshening up, we begin looking for a place for dinner. The most intriguing place to pop up was called Doe's, located somewhere in the old part of town. Just before 7:00, we go looking for it. We have the street address, but have left the map in the room. I had called them while we were still deciding, to insure that they were open. But the battery on my cell was on its last legs, so it was now in the room charging. Contrary to what we remembered, the street does not cross the main drag, and we spend 20 minutes exploring rough narrow streets all over the northwestern part of town before we finally stumble onto the right street only a block from the place. It is not impressive in spite of the limited and very full parking. We enter through the kitchen of what had been a grocery store with attached dwelling circa 1940s. We are taken to a crowded room with mismatched tables and chairs and 3 large groups already in it. There is no menu, but we order shrimp from the choices offered by the waitress.
The food is excellent, but a bit pricy given the decor. We enjoyed it anyway and then went exploring. We found that the east side of the main drag is where all the commercial development is and after a couple of stops for items needed, we finally head back to the casino for the night.
Tuesday morning is seriously cloudy with low fog. Our plan is to eat lunch in Troy, AL and overnight in Gainesville, FL. There is no business center, so I can't check the weather. We lay around the room until 10:30 and head for the airport. The weather on the airport computer indicates that our only problem will be getting out of here and this stuff is supposed to lift around noon. At noon, making Gainesville today is no longer possible, so we will try to get as far as Troy. I call the FBO and set up the usual arrangements.
We finally launch for just before 1:00. We bump along at 2000 until we find a big hole in the scattered to broken and climb to 5500. Rather than dodge among the tops, we elect to go on up to 7500. We're still dodging more and more tops up here, and after checking that upcoming airports are all reporting 4000 or better, we find a hole and drop back to 3500 nearly on top of Meridian NAS. Into much warmer air and many more bumps, we soldier on. We have to bear more easterly for a while to clear the edge of a hot MOA before turning direct to Troy. We are about 40 miles out when our ATC guardians come on with, "There is now a heavy shower over the Troy airport, What do you want to do?"
Sandra is frantically checking "NRST" on the GPS and I reply, "Center, we are still about 20 minutes out, Will the shower clear the airport by them?"
"Not likely, size and movement says it will be there for at least 30 to 45 minutes. Suggest Greenville, about your 3 o'clock and 12 miles."
"We're already looking at the data for it, we'll divert there to wait it out."
"Roger, report Greenville in sight."
In the haze and mist, we can't see the shower over Troy, but it is darker in front of us. To the right, it is much lighter and we are heading that way. We have no data on the airport in hand and Sandra is frantically paging through the data on the GPS to get things like runway numbering, CTAF, airport layout, etc..
I check their ASOS and call up the Unicom. I immediately get a friendly voice telling us that the winds are currently calm, and no traffic, runway is our choice. When I have the field located, left base for 14 is the best option. The landing ain't pretty, but we are down. Taxi to the ramp and shut down, greeted by a nice gentleman. When we tell him we have dropped in here to wait out the shower at Troy, he laughs and points out the dark smear to the east. It is obviously a really heavy shower.
Sandra heads for the facilities and is greeted on the walkway by a cat rolling on the sidewalk. she reaches down to pet her and then picks her up. The cat is not happy about that, so Sandra puts her down and heads for the bathroom. Meantime, I am calling the FBO at Troy to tell them where we are and get an update on the conditions there. It has been a heavy rain, but has now nearly cleared the airport.
Sandra comes out and sits on one end of a pew on the porch. The cat hops up on the other end of the pew and reads her the riot act about picking her up, then goes to another chair on the porch and curls up. Lesson learned; her asking for attention is NOT permission to pick her up!
We sit around for about 30 minutes, watching the cloud to the east and looking at the computer radar. I pet the cat, but make no move that can be interpreted as trying to get overly familiar. The shower has now cleared the airport and is now hitting the town to the south, so we launch.
This is another of those amazing sights that only those who fly low and slow get to see. The cloud bottoms of the shower are about 2000'. For the 15 minute flight, we only climb to around 1800'. We are in bright sunlight, but less than 5 miles to the right is a heavy rain shower. From the radar picture I saw at Greenville, it is about 5 miles across and nearly 20 miles long. What we see is a solid curtain of water from the cloud bottoms to the ground. The area on the ground where the rain is falling has a cloud of mist extending up and out like the cloud at the base of a waterfall.
We enter a right base for 14 at Troy and the landing is a little better, but not what I wanted. Taxi over to Pike Aviation and shut down. I call for the rental car and button up the bird. We carry the bags inside and make the fuel order for tomorrow and wait. The lady arrives to pick us up and drive to the Ford dealership to fill out paperwork, then to the motel. The motel's business center computer is out of service, so we can't check on weather for tomorrow. If it permits, we will try to make the rest of the way to Fort Lauderdale with Gainesville as the lunch stop instead of the overnight. Next, since we have not eaten a real breakfast (Not one in the way, way out of town casino.) nor lunch (FBO snacks waiting on the clouds to lift.) a discussion of where to eat dinner is in order. The place we ate before (2009) is no longer open and the desk clerk recommends the Mossy Grove Schoolhouse. He even gives detailed directions and some menu suggestions.
We head out shortly after 6:00 and after a stop at Wal Mart, find it easily. It IS an old school house and the auditorium which would have seated maybe 100 is the dining room. The service is excellent and the food was outstanding. We both chose the smoked pork chops which turned out to be as close to ham steaks as you can get and still be pork chops. We were stuffed! Back to the motel where Sandra hit the treadmill and I walked around outside. Then to bed.
Wednesday morning is a carbon copy of Tuesday. Low clouds and lots of them. We ate breakfast and headed for the airport. At least here we have access to computers. I soon discover that the clouds end about 40 miles southeast of here, so if we can get the ceiling up to 2500, we can get out. The two planned legs total 480nm, or about 5 hours flying time with one stop. If we can get away by noon, we can easily make it since noon at Troy would leave us about 6 hours of daylight. After 1:00, we will probably have to overnight in Gainesville.
We roll down the runway just before 12:30 and climb slowly to 7500. We have to drop down to 5500 and then down to 5000 to avoid the clouds. But Tallahassee tells us "Maintain VFR. Altitude at your discretion." We wind up around 5000 until our descent into Gainesville. It is a shaky approach passing through a couple of light showers, but a nearly decent landing. Taxi in and shut down. Order fuel and go into the FBO to assess the situation.
We lost an hour to Eastern Daylight time, so it is 3:45. Sunset is a little after 7:00. The leg is 249nm or 2 1/2 hours. If the weather is OK, we can do it. The clouds become scattered to few just south of here, so we are rolling on 11 right at 4:30 again getting a little water on the windscreen on climb out.
We plan to avoid the Orlando class B (And the ubiquitous TFRs) by going to the Lakeland VOR and then the Pahokee VOR on the southeast corner of Lake Okeechobee. Level at 5500, there is only an occasional cloud to dodge, so we drone south. Over Lakeland, We start reminiscing about Sun n Fun and the dinner at Bonefish Grill. We turn 40 degrees left and Sandra takes over while I relax. Soon, we can see Lake Okeechobee and the lowering sun makes the few clouds around our altitude look very dramatic. Handed over to Miami Approach, we drone on and when we can see Ft Lauderdale, we request descent and Miami hands us off to Lauderdale approach. We are vectored to a left base for 08 and have little trouble getting set up.
As we flare, we suddenly realize that the sun is directly behind us and our shadow is racing down the runway ahead of us. This is a very unusual sight. I make a good landing right on top of it. Using progressive taxi from Ground control, we taxi to the FBO on the far northeast corner of the field. Sandra calls Betty immediately and I check the tanks for a fuel order. By the time we get things unloaded and the fuel truck starts fueling, Betty and Michael arrive. Although they live in Pompano Beach, their condo complex is literally around the corner from this corner of Fort Lauderdale Executive. Like one block east and 3 blocks north.
It is now well after 7:00 and we are hungry, so we swing by their condo to drop off the bags and go to dinner at a place named Carlucci's. It is great Italian food and good company. Eventually, it is back to the condo for some more talk and then to bed.
Thursday morning, we easily fall into their routine. Coffee with the gang at the clubhouse and late breakfast at the casino. Michael and I make a Sam's run while the girls lose some money at the casino. Then we lay around the condo napping until time to go to dinner. We eat at the Pompano Beach Bonefish grill. Twist my arm. That's enough, I'll go. Friday is a repeat, except that Michael and I go get a haircut while the girls casino and then we all lay around the pool all afternoon. Late in the afternoon, Michael and I are on Condo watch and the girls are running errands when I hear big engines going over. I rush onto the patio in time to see a four engine plane flying away. We are under the downwind at FXE, and the plane is probably landing. From this angle, only one airplane has this configuration and silhouette. It has to be a B29 and there is only one of them flying, Fifi.
Friday evening, the entire gang met for dinner at The Old Florida Seafood Company. It was a fine party with good food, good friends and much fun. Then back to the condo to prepare for a morning departure.
Saturday morning is gorgeous. We get to the FBO about 9:00 and find that they have not yet retrieved the Mouse from remote parking. Wait for that, then load the bags and preflight. When we are ready to go, Betty and Michael go to join the coffee gang and we saddle up. While we are still waiting for clearance watching the parade of planes taking off, here comes Fifi. Not having any warning, there was no chance to get a camera. Oh, well, at least we got to see it.
Taxi literally a mile and a half to 08 where we are number 3 for takeoff with a landing in the middle. We takeoff and are vectored to clear the approaches to Pompano Beach and Boca Raton airports. There is an airport just about every 100 yards up the coast here.
We cruise along around 4500', but after a while, we are dodging some scattered to broken clouds and are slowly being forced up to stay above them eventually, with ATC approval, we climb to 5500 which allows a little more cruise and a lot less slaloming. We boogie on past Patrick AFB, Cape Canaveral and the shuttle facilities. Past Daytona and we begin our descent into Saint Augustine.
We get into some confusion over traffic and who we are looking for. We spot the traffic, but it is not the one we are supposed to follow in. We find him and turn base as he passes us on final, but he stops on the runway. I am doing slow esses on final waiting on him to get off the runway when the engine stutters. In the confusion of vectors and traffic on approach, we forgot to switch tanks. I turn back to the runway while switching tanks and pushing the throttle in. The engine catches immediately, but now we are committed to land whether the Warrior gets off the runway or not. When I get a chance to look for him, he is finally crossing the hold short lines. Whew!
Land and taxi in to the FBO. They already have the rental car on the ramp waiting for us. We unload bags and I check fuel. No sense checking the right tank, I know how much is in there. Go into the FBO and place the fuel order while Sandra is doing the car paperwork and we are ready to go to town.
Historic downtown Saint Augustine is a perpetual traffic jam. We have seen this situation before, and we find a parking spot on the south edge of town. After feeding the meter, we start walking back towards town stopping to eat lunch at Whites. Very good food under the arbor patio. then continue up the street to Castillo San Marcos.
We get onto the parapet in time to witness the cannon firing. I am poised with the camera focused and ready, but am not prepared for how loud it is. I bash my face with the camera so hard that I was afraid that my eyebrow was going to split, but I got the picture. Nicely framed and only slightly tilted.
We continue our tour of the fort and then back across town to the car, stopping at several places along the way for looking and shopping. We go to the motel and check in, explore it and then head out for some more exploring. We go south and out onto the island, all around it and over to the lighthouse. There is something else going on, and it is after 5:00, so we don't stop. We started towards the draw bridge, but the traffic jam extends nearly a mile from it, so we go back around to the south and into town. This time, we go to the north island and coming back are beginning to look for dinner. We spot a sign for Kingfish Grill and stop.
Realize that this is Saint Patrick's Day and we are in a party town. Every place is packed, but we only have to wait 15 minutes for a table. Our waiter is very efficient and just a little on the wiseass side, just the way we like them. The chef is Irish, and in addition to the normal fare for this place, the specials for the day are Irish themed. I order the leg of lamb and it was outstanding. As the waiter is clearing the table, he asks if I "want a to go box for the carrots you so carefully saved?". They were the only thing left on the plate. Nice atmosphere, good food and excellent service. Well stuffed, we hiked back to the car and headed for the motel. After a soak in the hot tub, we retired for the night.
Sunday morning, we are up early and headed out after breakfast. The first stop is the Fountain of Youth. After exploring that site, we head into town. We park in almost exactly the same spot as yesterday and only have enough coins for about 45 minutes on the meter. The first stop is the harbor tour to get tickets for the noon tour. We asked the man for quarters in the change for the parking meter, and he tells us that the parking is free on Sunday. Sigh, shoulda read the signs on the meter.
We have over an hour before the tour starts, so we head for the old Spanish section. The museum among all the shops is closed for remodeling, so we goof around some and leisurely make our way back to the pier. The tour boat has a good sized group, but is not crowded. The tour runs 1 1/2 hours and covers the entire harbor. Very nice. Back on shore, we explore more of downtown and have a late lunch at a nice sandwich shop.
Next, we head for the lighthouse. Sandra climbs to the top of it while I sit in the shade at the base. She says the view was magnificent. The displays in the light keepers cottage are also very interesting.
This pretty much concludes our sightseeing. Now we have to do laundry. Back to the motel and gather it up and off to the place the desk says is a Laundromat. They are now only a laundry/cleaners, but he tells us of a Laundromat on the island. We find it and get our clothes clean again. It now being suppertime, we go over to the Dunes Cracker House for dinner. The place is a lot nicer on the inside than the outside architecture indicates. Nice decor and fancy dinnerware. Did you ever try to eat soup (actually crab bisque) from a square bowl? Another fine dinner and we are ready for the hot tub.
Back to the motel, get the clothes sorted out and ready to re-pack tomorrow then head for the spa. The thermostat is broken and the water is now at pool temperature. It didn't take long to enjoy as much of that as we could stand, so back to the room.
Monday morning, the weather is nice and we are packed up, fed and on the way to the airport early. The FBO has the Mouse parked a long way from the office, and give us a golf cart ride out to it where we load the baggage and I do preflight. Then back to the FBO for bill paying, briefing and final potty stop. Then back out to the bird for departure.
We are in the air shortly after 10:00, up to 4500 and up the coast we go. Past Jacksonville, Brunswick and between Savannah and Tybee Island. Here, we drop to 3500 for the rest of the flight, and soon we are approaching Charleston. We cross the harbor, descending to 1000' and begin an approach to Mt Pleasant.
Somewhere on base, I realize that the runway is in a swamp. There is a short overrun on the approach to 17 and then there is water and weeds. Don't want to land short here. Consequently, I am high over the numbers and use nearly all of the 3700' getting down and slowed down. It was a long way from pretty.
We taxied into the FBO and shut down. Sandra goes in to get the car while I get the airplane in the slot and tied down. I made the picture just as she came back with the car. After one wrong turn, we finally get on the road into Mt Pleasant. We see the sign for Boone Hall while we are looking for the recommended motel. We find the motel, and a Target so Sandra can get a different pair of beach shoes. Then out to Boone Hall.
Fascinating place. Originally a brick manufacturer, it provided most of the brick for downtown ante-Bellum Charleston and Fort Sumpter. Through several ownership changes, it grew rice, indigo and cotton. It is still a working farm, with numerous crops and a fine stable of show horses. The original cabins for the house slaves are still standing (They were made of brick) and contain many interesting exhibits.
Leaving there, we explore some, winding up on Sullivan's Island at Fort Moultrie. It is closed for the day by this time, but we saw some of the outside exhibits before driving on. We stopped at the pass between Sullivan's Island and Isle of Palms to walk on the beach. After relaxing there for a while, we continue on, winding up at the Morgan Creek Marina. Being exceedingly hungry by now, we go to the Morgan Creek Grill for dinner.
This is a nice place overlooking the marina and the intracoastal waterway. We eat a really fine dinner watching the boats come and go while the sun gets lower in the sky. After dinner, we walk out on the pier for a while and then head back to the motel. Sandra hits the exercise room while I take advantage of good internet access for the first time since we left Pompano. We have been watching the slow moving front that moved into Dallas the day after we left. By now, it is over MS, but is taking a more pronounced eastward tilt. It may cut off our plan to go from here to Washington. So we discuss alternatives. Chattanooga and Atlanta come up, but we will have to wait until Wednesday night to choose.
Tuesday morning, after breakfast, we head for Patriot's Point. First item is Fort Sumpter and we arrive just in time for the 11:00 departure. The ferry stays close to the east shore and then crosses the channel to the fort. We will have an hour to explore before the return trip.
This is where the first shots of the Civil War were fired. The site now provides a good contrast between the Civil War destruction, the restorations and the WWII coastal defense installations. We completely fill the hour before going back to the boat. The trip back goes up the west side for some good views of Downtown Charleston before crossing the channel near the Ravenel bridge back to Patriot's Point.
We ate a nice lunch in the outdoor snack bar and relaxed a bit before tackling the museum there. The destroyer Laffey first where I forgot to duck before going up a ladder to the Bridge deck. That'll un-cage your eyeballs! We continued on anyway. A destroyer is interesting, but too small for any on board exhibits. You can read the history of this one on the Patriot's point website.
Finished there, we boarded the Yorktown. The displays here are similar to those on the Lexington at Corpus Christi. We went through them anyway, including visiting the flight deck. The submarine Clagamore is also part of the permanent displays here, but it is currently closed for refurbishing.
It is still only late afternoon, and we are finished with everything on today's to-do list, so we go exploring some more. There is an area on the map designated Old Village, so we go looking for it. When we find it, it is only an old residential area. The one place of note is the Alhambra, an old manor house that is now the local community center.
From here, we head back to the motel using some less than major thoroughfares. Scenic, but sometimes confusing. We rest up and freshen up then head for dinner. We chose a place called Gilligan's. They were currently serving a "party of 160", so we ate on the deck overlooking a lagoon as the sun set and darkness fell. Good food in a very pleasant setting.
Well stuffed, it is back to the motel where Sandra hits the treadmill and I hit the computer. The weather forecasts now indicate that Chattanooga is probably a no-go and Atlanta is beginning to look iffy. We know that however far west we can get on Thursday, we will be stuck there at least for Friday while the front finishes moving through. It looks like nearly straight west will be our only chance. So, Augusta may be the alternate.
Wednesday morning is pretty even though the forecast says clouds and slight chance of rain during the day. We head for downtown Charleston, parking just off Market Street. We walk back to the west end of Market to the Confederate Museum, but find that it doesn't open until 11:00. So off we go on the rest of the sites we might like to see. First stop is the Powder Magazine. Then on to St Phillips Church to look at the graveyard which has 2 signers of the Constitution. Then to the Slave Mart Museum for a tour and on to the Exchange Building and Provost Dungeon for another tour.
From there, we walked on down Bay street onto East Battery to Battery Park We stroll through the Park and then back up King street. It is now time for a late lunch, and we find a typical hole in the wall diner at King and Market where we eat a good, very good lunch. After lunch, we arrive back in a light rain, at the Confederate Museum where we spend well over an hour looking at the many artifacts collected there.
When we come back out, it is clearing and we walk through the entire market area, looking over the many stalls and the eclectic merchandise. We head back to the car along North Market street, stopping in a couple of the shops there. It is now after four and we head back out of town to avoid the rush hour traffic on the Ravenel Bridge. Back to the motel to freshen up, sort out the stuff we are now carrying and rest up for dinner.
We decide to eat at a place Sandra had seen on the main highway, and since it was on the way, we think we better see if we can find the turnoff to the airport in the construction. This turns out to have been a good idea as we drove nearly to North Carolina before concluding we had missed it. We almost missed it again on the way back, and had to do a U-turn to go back and verify it. Then back to the eatery, which we find is closed because the construction had cut off access to it.
After driving through many retail centers, we finally find a sports bar for dinner. Not memorable, but it will hold us until breakfast. Then back to the motel to finalize plans for tomorrow. The front that had reached Dallas 8 days ago is now in eastern Alabama. We are going to have to wait it out somewhere, but where? The clouds in front of it extend well into Georgia, but Atlanta may still be doable tomorrow morning. We will just have to wait and see.
Thursday morning, after checking radar, satellite, METARs and TAFs, the situation is this: There is a band of coastal clouds over central SC, but we should be able to get over them. There is another band of clouds along the Savannah River, but we should be able to get under them. there is more broken clouds over central GA, that may be a real problem. But there3 will be clearing in Atlanta in the afternoon. All we can do is try to get as far west as we can and hope there is an opportunity to get on to Atlanta this afternoon.
We pack up, check out and head for the airport. The weather briefer is very helpful and wishes us luck and we are off about 9:45. We are vectored around Charleston International while we climb to 4500. This gets us over the coastal clouds, but that doesn't last long. Over I95, we come back down to get under clouds that have tops at 9000 plus. We bump and dodge along between 27 and 2200 for 70 miles and finally, over the Savannah River we can begin climbing again.
Level at 4500 again, Sandra takes over so I can relax a bit before we penetrate the Atlanta Bravo space. We have a thick broken blanket below us and broken clouds at about 10,000 above us. But the air here is extremely clear and smooth. The Mouse drones on while I study the sight way out in front of us. There are many holes large enough to get down through, but the tops seem to be slowly rising in front of us. It also appears that the clouds under us merge with the clouds above us way in the distance. I grab the sectional and start dialing up every AWOS, ASOS and ATIS we can get along our route. Every one reports very low VFR, but the only rain is well to the south of our route.
Athens is reporting 2000 overcast, so it is an alternative. But soon we are past Athens and handed over to Atlanta Approach. The situation in front of is looking grimmer, so I tell Approach that I will take the next hole to descend. They simply say "altitude at your discretion, maintain VFR. Approaching a very large hole, I begin a descent. I am in the middle of a 360 at the end of the hole when Atlanta calls: "Four Lima Bravo, PDK is now IFR in a rain shower. What are your Intentions?"
We are still 30+ miles out, But the shower will be moving this way. PDK is out for the time being. I don't like the idea of going back to Athens unless there is no other way. As the forecasts are for a clear period this afternoon, stopping now will only be to wait it out.
"Atlanta, what is near us that is still VFR?"
"Four Lima Bravo, Winder is reporting 1500 broken. About 7 miles north of your present position."
"Very well, as soon as we get under these clouds, we'll go to Winder."
"Understood, should be about 350 from your position."
We got level about 2200 and turned north and there it was. Maneuver and descend for a crosswind entry for 13 and announce. Someone announces a 5 mile final for 13, so we will have to find him. I announce downwind and he announces 2 mile final. Visibility is excellent, but we can't see him. I am about where I should turn base when I catch a movement on short final. He is a military helicopter in full camouflage, no wonder he was invisible among the trees.
We land and taxi onto the ramp, find a parking spot and shut down. Inside is a nice FBO which is apparently unattended. We hit the computer to see the radar and check the METARs. Yes, the rain is moving this way, but there is a nice cafe here for lunch, so we sit down to wait. A fairly heavy shower moves through while we eat a good leisurely lunch. The next check of weather shows doable VFR from here to PDK and better conditions north and west of it, so we saddle up and depart about 1:45.
Saying this is doable VFR is being very complimentary. But it is only 35 miles. We get a lot of help from Atlanta Approach as we dodge among the low clouds and patches of mist from the recent rain. We never get above 2800 feet which is about 2000AGL, but we make it with no major problems. I even get a quick glimpse of Stone Mountain, about 6 miles to my left as we turn final to 20R.
Taxi into the FBO and shut down. They have the rental ready for us and we make short work of transferring bags and hitting the road. The skies are still very gray as we follow the instructions to get to the motel and check in. After a quick unpack and freshen up, we consult the good map we picked up and plot a route to Stone Mountain. It turns out to be just a 20 minute drive and by the time we get there, it is sunny. Being Thursday afternoon, the parking lot is nearly empty. As is our luck though, we get to the cable car just behind a tour busload of high school kids. After three tram loads of them, it is finally our turn and up we go past the carving to the top. Really impressive from this vantage point.
If you don't look down on the local countryside, the top of Stone Mountain looks like the most desolate place on earth. It is after all, a bald granite dome. Geologic time has weathered it some forming slight depressions which collect water and sand and occasionally seeds that will grow in this environment. In spite of the smooth appearance of it, it is very rough and uneven to walk on. but the views in all directions are magnificent.
Back down after more than half an hour on top, we walk over to the main pavilion and make a lot of pictures of the carving from two different vantage points. Back to the car and drive completely around the base of the mountain. The road goes between the base of the dome and the lakes which lie around 3/4 of it. It is a beautiful drive, with a stop at the covered bridge and several vistas.
Then back to the motel to debate over dinner. We had seen a place that looked interesting, just across the interstate, but when we got to it, it was closed. So we wing it. Don't try this in Atlanta without a good map and we had left ours in the room. There is no such thing as a four sided block in this town. We try to find a shopping center with "Restaurant Row" mentioned by the desk clerk, but after getting away from the main drag, we cannot proceed in a specific compass direction. It is now nearly dark and very cloudy and shortly, in the winding roads, the sense of north-south is very muddled. We finally find a shopping center that goes on for miles but eating places do not seem to exist within it.
There is only one place in the center, a standalone building named "Aqua Blue". We can't tell from outside whether it is four star or a dive, but by this time we need to eat and find out where we are. Inside, we discover that it is closer to four star than we usually patronize, and we are nearly underdressed, but the staff made us feel like their favorite old customers. The food was excellent, the presentation was beautiful and the service was outstanding. It was the second most expensive meal of the trip, but by far the most memorable.
Pleasantly stuffed and with clear directions, we found out way back to the motel. Sandra hit the fitness center and I hit the business center. As expected, tomorrow will be dreary and rainy, but Saturday is looking possible. So off to bed.
Friday, as forecast is gray and cool. We plan to do downtown Atlanta, and will be inside most of it anyway, so no problem. Get ready and drive over to the MARTA station. Ride the train downtown, getting off at the Peachtree station. We walk over to Atlanta Underground and browse the shops there for a while and then locate the best walking route to Coca Cola World. We walked through the Olympic Park in a light rain to get there. Then stood in line for tickets with several kid groups. Must be spring break for most high schools in Georgia.
Inside, you go with a group through the first several items on the tour agenda. The entire tour is built around "the secret recipe" with memories of Coca Cola advertising thrown in along the way. We did get a good picture of The Redhead getting a hug from the Polar Bear. The last stop on the tour is the tasting room where you can get a sample of every product they have ever had as well as some combinations they don't sell. Then exit through the gift shop.
Back outside, the weather is still gray, but no longer raining. We head back towards Peachtree Station past America's Mart. We find the sandwich shop we had seen on our way to Atlanta Underground and have a fabulous lunch. Relax some and then catch the train north. The station is on the edge of the commercial area the motel desk clerk had told us of yesterday when we asked about places to eat, so we drove all through it, cataloguing likely places for dinner before heading back to the motel to rest and freshen up.
For dinner, we went back to the mall to try out a place named Alexander's which turned out to be pretty good. After dinner, Sandra hits the treadmill while I make plans for tomorrow. We could make it home in one long day if we could leave in the morning, but it is not expected to clear until late morning. This will mean an overnight stop somewhere, probably in Mississippi. The weather pattern indicates that due west to northwest from Atlanta will clear even later, so southwest is the best option. We have been over Meridian, MS several times, so this time, we will stop there.
Saturday morning is cloudy and still spits a little rain. After breakfast, I check weather and the forecasts say that we can probably get out around noon. And the southwest course will be the best one. We leisurely pack up and check out, heading for the airport about 10:00. The plane is parked a couple hundred yards from the FBO, and the line guy gives us and our bags a ride on the ubiquitous golf cart to it. We load the bags and preflight and return to the FBO.
The weather computer in the flight planning room shows some cloudiness west of here, moving rapidly northeast, so I call Flight Service for the briefing. The good news is that VFR is no problem. The bad news is mild to moderate turbulence below 12,000, and winds aloft screaming from 300 to 320. Our course is about 250, so the winds are against us. This will be a long rough flight.
We finally saddle up around 12:30 and Atlanta Departure vectors us around the numerous airports while we climb to 4500. This altitude seems to be the best compromise between the "turbulence" and the headwind. It is bumpy, I won't have my hands in my lap much, but it is bearable and our ground speed is a little over 90 knots. Just past Talladega, Sandra Takes control so I can relax a little. There is not much to do but ride the bumps and look at the scenery passing slowly beneath us. I take over at handoff to Meridian Approach and begin descent. They vector us onto a downwind for spacing but we are on downwind about 5 miles from the runway. He is also handling a regional jet inbound. I make a comment about landing into the wake of a jet and he immediately turns us towards the runway and clears us to land. The RJ comes in as we are taxing towards the FBO.
We gained an hour coming back to CDT, and it is now just past 2:00. The FBO at PDK had given us a sampler from an Atlanta Greek bakery as we were leaving, so the plan is to use it for and some other munchies we had with us for a light lunch to supplement the large late breakfast. Now, we discover the best furnished FBO break room we have ever seen. Coffee, iced tea, popcorn, nachos, cookies and more. Oh, Well, eat our goodies, drink their tea and hit the road.
After a long wrong turn, we find the motel and check in. Sandra walks across the street to the mall for some items and I walk next door to McAllister's for more iced tea. I sit in the rocker on the veranda with the tea until she returns and we start talking about a place for dinner. Checking all the literature and asking the desk clerk finally yields Weidman's as the choice and about 6:30, we head out.
This is the oldest restaurant in Meridian if not the oldest in Mississippi. It definitely has a four star appearance and ambiance, but the prices on the menu are really pretty good. It turned out that the food was a match for the appearance, very good! Pleasantly stuffed, we Walked around downtown a little bit and then went looking for the Wal Mart. Back to the motel, hit the hot tub and then to bed.
Sunday morning is clear and not very windy. We will be heading nearly due west from here and the wind is still out of the northwest, so another day of slow flight. Out at the airport, loaded and preflighted, Flight Service opines that we will get a break from the headwind by the time we get to Texas sometime this afternoon. So we saddle up right at 10:00. It is still early enough to be relatively smooth at first, but slowly gets rougher at 4500 as we near the Mississippi. We stop at Monroe for lunch and launch for home about 1:30.
We bump along at 4500 until we are between Ruston and Minden where we go up to 6500. It smoothes out nicely and our ground speed goes up also. Dallas brings us down over Farmersville, and by 3:30, we are entering the pattern at Aero Country. I turn final very high and go around. The next try works and we are home.
It has been a 2500 mile trip with changes in plan made on a nearly daily basis. We have seen some places that we really wanted to see and some unusual sights. The Mouse has again gotten us where we wanted to go without a hiccup.
Gone West.
On Monday afternoon, I get the email that I have been expecting but dreading for several weeks. After a long period of declining health, Dave Steffey has died.
What can I say about this good man? To me, he was CFI, A&P, IA, mentor, critic, cheerleader and friend. From the time I met him for my introductory flight in 1999, he could always say something to pick me up when I was discouraged or deflate me when I got full of myself. He understood early on what I wanted to do with my license to learn and taught me what I needed to know for that goal. Many of the mantras I use when things go wrong may not be what he said, but he led me to them.
His health had been slipping for several years, but he remained alert and aware to the end. We nearly always stopped by his place on our return from trips to fill him on our experiences. I think he got as much enjoyment as we did at our tales of trips made and things seen.
A memorial service was held for him on Saturday and after the service at a country church, we all adjourned to Aero Country for a flyby and refreshments. A fitting sendoff to a good man.
This is the reposted flight journal, originally created by Bo and Sandra, to document their aircraft ownership and travels. Bo was a mentor and friend, he is greatly missed. Their journal provided me with so much cross country information that I wanted to keep Bo's dream alive and share his thoughts and experiences. In Bo's words.... It is a record (ongoing) of our flying (and other) experiences. It is our hope that the readers will enjoy reading it as much as we did living it. Enjoy!
