Saturday, November 15, 2008
Posted at 12:00:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Nooner: FLT 38 minutes. 50 knot headwinds (the most we've ever seen). Departed in moderate-heavy precip (a.k.a. rain), and the windshield was so foggy we could barely see through it. Not too bumpy so far, although Dean had to adjust quite a bit while climbing out. After about 20 minutes we broke out of the rain, and now we're between two cloud layers. Started with The Calm Guy on Bradley Approach! :)
1:00 PM: This week in 1973, American Top 40! Great show! It's nice groovin' along between the layers, bluish muted light and Tango's smooth steady murrrrrrrrrrr.
!!! Bob! Bob's in the Top 40! #19 = "Knockin' On Heaven's Door."
We don't even need heat today. Outside Air Temperature = 50°; Ground Temp = 63°.
1:30 PM: Victor 1 all the way, now! JFK to Florida. It's like Highway 61. "Top of the World" = #7! Grinny grin!
3:00 PM: ASOS in Georgetown/Sussex County Delaware says 22°C (= 71.6°F) and clear!
3:50 PM: Turkey & Cheese sandwich = good! [Here's Dean and Tango in Georgetown!]
4:45 PM: There's a big line of thunderstorms running all along the coast from Canada to Florida, just to the west of our flightpath! It looks big and stretchy and flat and bluegray. But we're in clear skies now.
Haha! We have such a huge headwind (60 mph), Dean was able to get the groundspeed down to 25 knots without stalling. That's like 30 mph!! Of course, it may be midnight before we reach Charleston...
[Unknown Time] Diverted from our planned flightpath to New Bern & Wilmington instead of Kinston to avoid the heavy weather. Light to moderate turbulence. (That means tighten seatbelt and hold on tight to arm rest!) Exciting! Hard rain.
We're right on the edge of a big line.
Out now--can see the lights below!
The sky is like the ocean.
[9:00 PM-ish:] Hangin' out in Wilmington waiting for the weather to pass. Their vending machine has corn dogs and a "steak biscuit." We shared a Coke (strangely, we were both craving one!) and ate two of the weird Whole Foods bars I brought. (Had to call FIG to cancel our 9:00 dinner reservation.) One had about 10 different vegetables in it! I feel incredibly alert and relaxed, despite all the turbulence and headwinds that are making the flight a zillion hours longer. So far, I love this trip! It's much less draining to travel by Tango than by commercial plane or car. I'm a Turbulence Tiger.
12:00 AM: Landed at midnight! (Took off this morning at about 11:30 AM.) Flights = 4 hours + 4 hours + 2 hours. Ran into a little freezing rain after Wilmington, but it was gusty, but clear, by the time we reached Charleston.
Here we are at Charleston Place--it's 1:15 AM! I still feel all alert and perky. I hope I can fall asleep.
[Edit: These are the two postcards I sent my Gingers about today!]
Friday, November 14, 2008
Posted at 10:37:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Okay, so here's our big Sky Trip Tango Adventure flight plan! (Click for the full-sized, readable version.) We're leaving tomorrow morning.
First Flight Day: Hartford to Georgetown, Delaware (lunch/fuel) to Kinston, North Carolina (optional leg stretch) to Charleston, South Carolina. Stay two nights in Charleston for some fine southern hospitality, then continue on to...
Second Flight Day: Charleston to New Smyrna Beach, Florida (lunch/fuel) to Key West, Florida. Overnight in Key West, pick up emergency raft, then...
Third Flight Day: Key West to Grand Cayman, which is completely over water except the part that's over Cuba! (Dean thinks it's really cool that we get to fly over Cuba. We needed to apply for a special Cuban Overflight Permit to do this, and we'll talk to Cuban air traffic controllers when we're in their airspace. Our route will take us almost right over the Bay of Pigs!) Grand Cayman doesn't really show on the map because it's so small that it's covered by the flightpath line, but it's the final destination point. The flight on the last day is only about three hours, but the other days are going to be long!
We should arrive in Grand on the 18th, and we stay for a week (using our new scuba gear!), then do the whole thing in reverse, only the stops will be a little different because we're visiting my parents in North Carolina for Thanksgiving instead of staying in South Carolina.
On the map, the letters along the flight path are various intersections we'll probably use (it depends where air traffic control tells us to go, but this is the likely path and it will be pretty close), and the ones with a K in front of them are the airports we plan to stop at (except for the Grand Cayman airport, which isn't in the US and begins with an M instead).
The forecast for Saturday looks like rain all the way down to South Carolina, but we'll fly IFR and that should be pretty cool (most of the first day is similar to a trip to my Gingers' anyway, so if we can't see anything, that's okay). The rest of the days on the trip down are forecast to be totally clear! I'll try to post along the way... BCNU soon. :-)
Posted at 11:11:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.
Almost forgot! Last night at Dara's, Dean was looking at the new issue of The Berlin Citizen and all the sudden he started gleefully reading the article out loud to me (then underlined it with red pen for good measure!). Three Libertarians in town! (Or at least, three who voted in the referendum.) I wonder who the other guy is???
Thursday, November 13, 2008
We're so good! We're all packed, and we don't even leave until Saturday! This was the easiest packing ever: nice and drawn out and relaxed.
Posted at 10:55:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
We must be officially regulars at Dara's. The waitress knew we wanted mango sticky rice!
Posted at 7:40:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Wow. Stew's warm pumpkin donuts are just as good as their warm apple cider donuts. They're not that different... just a little more Thanksgiving spice-ish.
Posted at 4:13:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
I'm being traditional and listening to XM on my computer while I Thurdayishly pack. But Tom Petty's not on! It's still good though.
Aaagh, I LOVE these new tags. They're like nothing.
Posted at 1:40:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Thanks to our Past Selves, Dean secured unit 318 at Compass Point! Past Selves left a note on my Palma reminding us that 318 & 316 are the two best (top floor end units, I think). I didn't remember it at all, but I ran across it when I was looking at my Grand memos a couple days ago. Thanks, Past Selves!
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Posted at 7:43:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
I have been a total slacko about posting. Nothing really exciting's going on, though; just packing/trip preparation and stuff. Finally listened to the first two episodes (money pts.1&2) of Themetime Radio Hour's season three today. I've been a slacko about Themetime, too. Oh yes, I wanted to say that listening to Tell Tale Signs nonstop in the car has made me realize how much I love "Born In Time" (which always makes me think of Jan's wedding). "Born In Time" belongs on my Absolute Favorite Bob Dylan Songs list. I think the SIIWTEEBA version is still my favorite, but the two new ones are amazing too.
Um. What else. I got a haircut today, and showed Michelle my great new hair concoction that I got a couple of weeks ago at Whole Foods. I've been using it ever since then and I really like it, but the reviews of it online (I love reading reviews of products online) crack me up. Example quotes (these are real quotes, not made up):Oh good god, this is the most horrible smelling product EVER. I think I'm actually traumatized! It's a cross between wet golden retriever and something rotten in the veggie drawer. Ugh. It really makes me sick, and I'm not being dramatic. Both times I tried to use it, my son cried when I came near him.
andThis reminds me of early morning fishing trips with my dad (reminiscent, fine) but I don't want to smell like that!! It smells very masculine, like the lake and fishing. Honestly thats all I can describe it as.
I don't know what's up with those people, because I think it smells good, and so do Dean and Michelle. It smells a little bit soapy, but mostly like lavender, and the scent (which isn't that strong in the first place, and I have a very sensitive nose) goes away after a few hours, anyway. Or maybe I just like smelling like a fish. Haha.
P.S. Next two Themetimes: Night and Blood!
Sunday, November 09, 2008
Tango's all ready for our trip, and the new scuba gear bag even fits perfectly in the baggage compartment!
Posted at 6:59:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
When we came back from Nancy's this afternoon, runway 2/20 was closed and we had to use 29 instead (really weird, because 11/29 is only about half as long, and it's almost never active). When we landed, we saw why: a Seneca pilot had failed to put his landing gear down and had made a wheels-up landing on 20. The plane was surrounded by about five flashing-lights vehicles including a firetruck, big tow truck, etc. Poor Seneca!!! (We don't have to worry about that with Tango, since he doesn't have retractable landing gear.)
Note to future self: clams aren't a good substitution if (former)Luna's is all out of anchovies. Their flavor is pretty much overwhelmed by the tomato sauce, so you might as well just be eating rubber bands. (I read that clams have lots of iron, though!) A pizza without anchovies is a sad thing.
