Cedar Key trip..

.....on a beautiful Friday. Jenny and I headed down to Bainbridge, Ga yesterday to check on my Air Tractor and visit Val, then on to Cedar Key, passing Suwannee, Florida and the Suwannee river..(remember Stephen Foster singing "way down upon the Swanneee river?) then to CDK. What a gorgeous little island! It's been inhabited by the locals until about 15-20 years ago when the money guys discovered it. Now new houses are expensive and the many seafood restaurants cater to quite a tourist crowd.

Here we pass Suwannee and the river to the right


Arriving at CDK..either approach is over water...nice!


It's only a two mile walk to downtown and the restaurants..and man-oh-man, do they have seafood! Grouper, Mahi, tuna, yellowfin tuna, oysters, lobsters..you name it... A friendly lady also monitors 122.9 and will ask if you need a ride.


The trip home was right at 300 miles for a day total of 648 miles...and still home an hour before sunset...only in an RV!!

CDK is on the west side of Florida, directly across the State from Daytona..a great day trip.

Regards...and oh yeah...why we pound those rivets guys

The taxi ride is a hoot isn't it!

Pierre, we probably just missed you yesterday! My son and I overnighted in Bainbridge, but left around 9:30 yesterday morning. There were a couple of ag planes going around the pattern as we left.

On our way to Fort Myers, we passed just east of Cedar Key.

Small world.

<<The taxi ride is a hoot isn't it! >>

Bob, you ain't kiddin'! Did you ever catch the taxi back when it was driven by the old man and his dog? You could ride up front, but only if the dog liked you. He had a Narco com installed in the dash of a rusty Checker with blobs of clear silicone.

Last time I was there, I think the old man had gone west and his daughter (?) had taken over the service. We had about 10 pilots hanging out of the cab on the way back from the pier.

Ag Flight Inc....

.....is owned and operated by Billy Howell....an old acquaintance of mine. They've taught more than 1400 pilots the ins and outs of ag flying....the reason you saw Ag aircraft coming and going.

Regards,

Bainbridge, GA

Alex, sorry I missed you also. I base my RV-4 and Cessna C140A at Bainbridge. I have a hanger on the east end of the field at Harrells aviation. But hey, I'm working 12 hour nightshifts at the salt mine this week.

Jerry Isler
RV4 N455J
49' Cessna C140A

Janie and I lived in Tampa from 1988 to 1997 and visited Cedar Key often. It was like stepping back into the 1940s then--I understand that the real estate developers have "discovered" the place now.

The standard approach procedure was to fly around the water tower twice and Edna (hope I remember her name correctly) would come out in her old taxi to pick you up--believe it or not I understand that the current driver is her son--inherited the buisiness. What I remember most is that Edna refused to drop you off at any business where she did not like the owner. Therefore, if you wanted to stay at the "Island Hotel" you had to get her to drop you off at an art studio down the street--she just did not like the middle aged "hippie type" that ran the hotel at the time.

BTW, during the 50s and 60s, the Island Hotel was Richard Boone's favorite get away--do you remember Paladin on Have Gun Will Travel??

At the time you could get no better sea food anywhere!!!

Cheers,

db

Edna

Dave,

You are correct. It was Edna. She smoked like a chimney and said she was not a "taxi" but she would say "Most folks give me $5 each for the ride." The circle around the island to get her attention ended in 1990 or so when she was gifted a radio. I was also told it was her son who took it over. I hope to return somtime soon.

Take Care,

Joe Hesano

I stopped by Cedar Key between SnF & home!

Pierre Smith thanks for that trip report! I decided that it was going on my to do list after Sun-n-Fun. Here is a link to my trip report:
http://home.newwavecomm.net/bobbyhester/2008FlyingAdventures.htm scroll down near the bottom.

Should have stopped

Hi Pierre

Should have stopped at FL10, flying little river, just sout of Live Oak
Fl. We have 5 RV8s, 2 RV6s and my lonely RV9A which made its
return to the air today after a 2 year rebuild, sn90017, N93AZ.

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