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Rosie & Tuppergal's Bahamas Trip 2011

Day 5: A day at the Biltmore in Asheville, NC

Wednesday May 25th had us spending the day at the Biltmore. First, we had breakfast at one of my favorite places that we don't have in California...don't laugh...Waffle House. Yes, my favorite! After breakfast, it was about a 15 minute drive to the visitor center to buy tickets ($49/each today).

I can tell you now that this is a MUST SEE if you are ever nearby!!!!! What a GREAT day at the Biltmore!

The Biltmore is still family owned and now run by the Great Grandson of George Vanderbuilt. It is America's largest private residence and was completed in 1895....it has 250 rooms! We could have easily made this a 2-day visit as do many visitors.

While no pictures were allowed inside, I can say that I was awestruck during the entire self-guided tour. We rented the audio-players that described each of the rooms we visited which only enhanced our visit.

After the self-guided tour (about 3 hours), we then spent about 2 hours walking the gardens. Just absolutely amazingly beautiful! We had some lunch then 'splurged' ($17/ea) for the private 'Butlers Tour'. There were about 10 of us on the one-hour special tour, and we really enjoyed seeing how the hired-help lived and worked. An added bonus was seeing the basement where the power (the biggest switches I've ever seen) and heat rooms (coal stoked furnaces) were located.

We finished up our tour of the residence (mansion) then drove over to Antler Hill Village to see the farm. There is a Blacksmith there demonstrating real-life work, and he had his entire group listening to his every slam-of-the-hammer (he could get a nice acoustical sound going with the hammer hitting the anvil :) He narrated every step as he beat/heated/beat (over and over) on the hot metal as he made a leaf key ring.

We ended our day with a great steak at a nearby Texas Roadhouse (we'd never been to one and it was good!).

Here are some pics of the Biltmore and the Gardens;

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We'll be heading out in the morning to visit/have lunch with an RVer you all know well...no...not Kahuna...we'll see him later in the day!

Keep poundin' them rivets because it's ALL worth it! Rosie & Tuppergal
 
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Glad you enjoyed the touristy bits. They are good.

Y'all come back and I'll be happy to show you the places that the locals like.

FYI
2011 Asheville wins best Art City and Best Beer City
 
Interesting.

I happened to be looking at Paul and Vicky's trip on the Spot tracker page and saw their Spot sending signals from the end of the runup area in Asheville, a few minutes ago. I just kept zooming and eventually had the airport layout.

Best,
 
Rosie and Victoria in KAVL

I meet Victoria and Rosie at the airport about 9:45 to see them off. They were on their way to a secret spot south of here--maybe somewhere in Georgia. Rosie said he would disclose on his next posting.
Ed Horgan aka Liberator
N25EH--RV-6A--680 hrs.
 
Tracking Rosie and Tuppergal

Spot Tracker says they landed at Louisville, Ga 23 minutes ago. Hmmm...Louisville, Ga sounds familiar. Now I wonder who lives in Louisville, Ga. Could it be...yes...it must be... Pierre!

I hope I didn't spoil the surprise, but tracking Paul and Victoria is a lot of fun.

And oh-me-oh-my, those photos of the Biltmore! It's been about 20 years since I was there and I surely would like to go back.

Thanks, Rosie and Tuppergal. Your trip write-ups and photos are most enjoyable! :D

From Rosie: Thanks so much Don and I'll keep 'em coming!
 
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I meet Victoria and Rosie at the airport about 9:45 to see them off. They were on their way to a secret spot south of here--maybe somewhere in Georgia. Rosie said he would disclose on his next posting.
Ed Horgan aka Liberator
N25EH--RV-6A--680 hrs.

Shoulda' known.
I'll give a ring to see if you are amenable to flying this weekend.
 
Perfect Timing

Rosie, your timing is impeccable.. I was noticing how you seemed to have the Biltmore all to yourselves. No people milling around to spoil your view..

Enjoy your trip and I look forward to seeing you and Tuppergal real soon..
 
Day 6: We are in Team RV Country!

Yes, we are here safe in Georgia, northeast of Atlanta, having landed Gwinnett County (LZU) airport around 1500 local. The plane is tucked away in the EAA hangar along side Mike 'Kahuna' Stewart's Super 8 (thank you very much!).

The day after the tornado in Joplin (Monday May 23rd), we were ground-bound in Grove (OK) with pouring rains and wind watching the weather... and we could see that continuing northeast to see friends in Missouri and Indiana was probably not such a good idea. As much as we wanted to see them, we decided we needed to fly where the weather was going to be good!

We did some planning on Monday and decided to fly directly to Asheville (AVL), NC on Tuesday morning when the weather cleared. We moved our trip to the Biltmore up two days so that had us visiting the Biltmore on Wednesday (yesterday) instead of Friday.

What to do the next day...hmmm...could fly to Clearwater on Thursday (today) and find things to do in Florida over the weekend....could try to have lunch (today) with Michael "Moose" White on the way but he'll probably be working...hey...we've never been to the Atlanta area...ever...I'd heard there was lots to do in Atlanta...hmmm...we know somebody else who lives outside of Atlanta...KAHUNA!!!!!

There I was, 10pm on Monday sending Kahuna a text message (didn't want to wake him up) asking if there was 'room at the inn'. Minutes later was my reply, "Love to have you both!" Done Deal! I called him the next day to firm things up then called Moose who offered up a full-day tour of Atlanta on Friday, SUPER!!!!

We departed Grove on Tuesday morning for a 3.6 hour flight to Asheville and visited the Biltmore all-day on Wednesday.

After breakfast at the Waffle House today (Thursday), we headed back to the airport and were greeted by Asheville-based RVer Ed Horgan. We had a nice visit on the ramp and then we were on our way departing Asheville at ~10:15am. We flew about 15 minutes to Pickens County (LQK) in South Carolina for cheap(er) fuel.

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At the fuel pump, we were greeted by RVer Tyler Bryant and had the chance to see his beautiful RV-7A (no, Tuppergal is not sleeping :)

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After departing Pickens, we had typical "east coast" visibilities flying towards Louisville (2J3) to visit Pierre who I'd met a couple years before at Sun 'n Fun on another 'islands' vacation trip. He's 'good' people, and a few miles there and backtrack to Atlanta is nothing in an RV...when you fly your RV, your not looking at the hobbs meter as you do when you rent :)

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The flight from Pickens to Louisville was about an hour. I didn't know this but Louisville was the first Capitol of Georgia :)
I've outlined Pierre Smith's 2.5 acre plot that gives him airport access;

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Here we are just after landing;

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Pierra drove us to town to have the BEST fried chicken I've ever had at a place called Foster's. Right across the street was Jefferson County Courthouse.

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After lunch, Pierre drove us around and gave us a great tour of Louisville which included a stop at a Revolutionary War Cemetary.

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As much as we were enjoying our visit, Pierre had work to do on his Ag plane and we had to be on our way. We departed runway 31 on course. Here's a picture of the GPS heading towards Gwinnett:

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We soon found ourselves cleared in to Gwinnett County for a left-base-to-final on runway 25, landing #2 behind a Cessna. Kahuna was there to greet us along with, as he put it, a couple of 'EAA bums'. It didn't look like we'd fit the plane next to his but Kahuna got us in the hangar, no problem.

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It was about a 30 minute drive to his house, and I saw that he had Miata in the garage. Hey, I drive a 2003 Miata. He opens the hood, and I all I could think was WOWEE: An LS6 Corvette engine somehow shoe-horned into his Miata. I asked him, "How do you work on it?" since there is absolutely NO room to get a fist in otherwise...he says, "You don't work on this, you drive it!"

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We just finished an excellent enchilada dinner, cooked by Kahuna, and we are now sitting here visiting with him and his wife (oopps, girlfriend) Jen....eating sherbert and watching Team RV videos that Tuppergal and I have never seen :) Can it get any better!?! Friday will have us touring downtown Atlanta with Moose, and a special treat for me on Saturday: Flying with Team RV!

Life is good...no...Life is GREAT flying an RV!

Keep poundin' them rivets because it's ALL worth it! Rosie & Tuppergal
 
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Well you just never know who is gonna stop in for the weekend. Rosie and I met a few years back and we have taken a few trips together. One was the record 15 RV's, out to the Turks and Caicos in 2004. Quite a trip that was. Since then we have remaind good friends and we catch each other out and about the country at various events. All part of being in the RV family. He will have some more stories and pictures to post this weekend im sure. The team has a special day planned for him Saturday.

I may never get the Miata back. Its ok. Its in good hands and I have an Osh winning RV held ransom in my hanger just in case. Course its a sissy wheel and not worth much round these parts:p May start taking bids in a few days.
More later.
 
Day 7: Downtown Atlanta

We just spent today, Friday May 27th, playing 'tourist' all day in downtown Atlanta. Our tour guide for the day was Michael "Moose" White, and we just had a fantastic time hanging out all day.

We'd never been to Atlanta, and before we arrived to the state, we'd only been to Georgia two other times to Donalsonville and Bainbridge. Along with the visit to Pierre Smith in Louisville, we've now doubled the number of places we've been to in Georgia!

We spent the day visiting the George Aquarium, World of Coca-Cola and CNN Headquarters. As a SCUBA diver, the aquarium only made me want to head to the Bahamas to go diving tomorrow. I've always been a Coca-Cola drinker (Tuppergal prefers Pepsi) and have Coca-Cola barstools and memorabilia in the hangar at home. I watch CNN and balance it with Fox News ;-)

Here are some of the highlights of the day (flying with Team RV comes tomorrow):

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After getting back to Kahuna's place, he treated us to an excellent BBQ dinner at Slopes BBQ (he knows I like BBQ!). Chopped pork, collard greens, Cheese-jalapeno-grits, oh yea! And for the grand finale of the night, we played a PS3 game called Rockstar (I think that's what it was called but I can tell you this game is a HOOT!)

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It's been such a great day, and I'd better get to bed (it's after midnight and gotta get up early to fly with Kahuna and Team RV).

Keep poundin' them rivets because it's ALL worth it! REALLY! Rosie & Tuppergal

ed. Ahh. Rosie thats Rockband where you GET to be a rockstar
 
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Beautiful Paul. My wife is not a aviation buff but when I showed her your Biltmore pictures she wants to stay there. Little trip from Oregon to a Fine land over younder. Say what camera did you use? How many Pixel camera? I went to full screen and they are better than the Biltmore website pictures. We really enjoyed your pictures. Have a great trip you two!!

Say hi to Pierre. He answered some of my questions on the forum pages. Great guy!!

Ron in Oregon
 
Say what camera did you use? How many Pixel camera? I went to full screen and they are better than the Biltmore website pictures.

Ron in Oregon

Last I knew, Paul was still using (on our recomendation) a Canon PowerShot SX200IS 12.1 MegaPixel.

From Rosie: Yup, that's it Ron. Let me know if you'd like the full-size for a screen saver or whatever. I have reduced all the pics here just to keep them manageable. By the way, you'd have to stay at the Inn at Biltmore Estate!
 
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Day 8: Hanging out with Team RV

Here's the good news for Saturday, May 28th: I got to spend the entire day with Team RV (Kahuna and all)! The bad news is that Tuppergal had the camera with the girls who went out to the lake :-(

We departed Gwinnett County around 0930 and landed Anderson (AND) about 30 minutes later. There was some Team RV business they had to take care of. That took awhile then we went to lunch at Zaxby's (never been to one before and ate the Cajun Club, very good!).

We returned to the airport, and the flying show began. I just had a blast getting to watch them 'live' since the most I've got to see is a Youtube video. Just 'plane' fun all day long!!!!!!

The girls returned about the time Team RV was landing. Here are a couple of pics of the boat dock and the dog;

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TheTeam had a good debrief then called it a day. Most all departed except for Dubes who invited us all back to the lake to have a BBQ. On the way, he stopped at the market, and here's a picture of something I've never seen, let alone in California:

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Dubes came out of the market with bags in-hand then we were at the lake house a short time later....

There we were, on the dock, telling flying stories, Jen floating in the water, the rest of us relaxing in the shade of the boat-house-overhead-shade. Another great time spent with friends. Unfortunately, it was time to call it a day and head to the airport, quick departure brief, takeoff Runway 23 and landing Gwinnett just before dark. I was able to get a pic of Kahuna and Jen heading home;

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It's been very enjoyable being here with Kahuna and Jen, and we'll be heading out after the morning breakfast to Cedar Key (CDK) for lunch then into Clearwater (CLW) later in the afternoon.

We departed California a week ago today and have just had the best time, and we still have a full 2-more weeks of vacation to go! No worries 'mon ;-)
Look for our SPOT track sometime Sunday morning.

Keep poundin' them rivets because it's ALL worth it! Rosie & Tuppergal
 
Support in South Florida

Hey Paul, if you get near F45, West Palm, and need anything give me a call or a note. I'd be glad to help and return the friendship you've shown me. :D
 
Delta Update

Delta 1 is in Cartersville, Gerogia after an evening of beer with Delta 2
Delta 2 is in Pensacola (lost a race with a regional jet, hence the track)
Delta 3 is in ? (who-knows-where-land with alternator issues) From Rosie: He's in East Texas
The adventure is fully underway.
 
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Days 9 & 10: We are in Clearwater, Fl

Hi to VAF,

Day 9: It's Sunday, May 29th, and after a home-cooked breakfast with Kahuna and Jen, we were off to the airport for a 2-ship departure off runway 23 at Gwinnett with us heading south and Kahuna/Jen heading north. It was a typical east-coast day with crappy visibilities and not much to see through the haze (we were at 7.5K above the haze but still mucky looking down into it).

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On the advice of James "CB" Clark, we put CDK (Cedar Key) into the GPS landing about 2 hours later. The airport is on the west side of the Florida Coast with a 2K' runway (it just looks short but plenty of room for an RV).

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We had a great lunch and walked around a short while but then back to the airport for a 30 minute flight into Cleawater (CLW).

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Here's the approach final into Clearwater (CLW), about a 30 minute flight:

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Our friends were there to greet us, and I was able to give a ride to the oldest son (flying over to Zephyrhills for fuel). The plane is tied up on the ramp, and we'll just be hanging around the house enjoying the company of our friends :)

Day 10: Gave a ride to RV-7A builder Dave Hollingsworth and his girlfriend Stephanie :) We wish you all a safe Memorial Day as we honor our fallen soldiers, Rosie & Tuppergal
 
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Delta Two,

You were at Key West couple hours ago please clarify the maneuver :D


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It is typical for Key West (Navy) Approach to advise you to "remain South of the shoreline, report south of Boca Chica tower" before handing you off to Key West tower.....but not THAT far South! :) OR sometimes they advise you to remain South of the Boca Chica Class D airspace altogether, which I'm guessing happened here.

The upside to being diverted South of the Boca Chica airspace is the scenery. This photo was taken somewhere very near the APRS track shown above - you can just barely see the Keys towards the top of the picture.
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rosie, thanks for the call to meet up in key west. too much going on getting ready to head up to CT for the summer. have a great time.

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From Rosie: We sure missed seeing you today Turbo!!! And I have to tell you that everytime I see this picture of me, Linky and Craig Woolston, I want to go back to the British Virgin Islands, Virgin Gorda to be exact, to re-live that moment :)
 
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Day 11: Key West then into Homestead

Hi to VAF! We are finally here in Homestead, briefed for the overwater flight, filed (flight plans), shopped (final shopping at the market)...we are ready for the big day on Wednesday :)

We departed Clearwater airport around 0830 for the short flight south to Venice (VNC). Here's the coastline looking south from over Clearwater Beach (there were a few clouds that soon went away);

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Not 10 minutes later, we approached and were cleared through Sarasota Class C airspace at 3.5K southbound;

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After cancelling with Sarasota, I switched over to Venice (VNC) and heard Tanya (and Scott) Card in the pattern. We landed about 15 minutes later;

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There to greet us were Mercedes Eulitt and Jeff Brooks, Mike and (soon to be) Denice Brewton, Dave & Alina Buono and Scott & Tanya Card (pictured below):

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We briefed our flight to Marathon (I had to have them all land at the only other public airport in the Keys) then departed Venice. The clouds came back as we continued south, and I saw this as an excellent opportunity for a group photo. Closest to furthest: Card, Eulitt/Brooks, Buono, Brewton:

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We flew from Venice to Everglades (X01) airport then to Marathon (MTH). Total flight time from Venice was about 1:10

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We briefed our arrival into Key West (EYW) then departed westbound along the Keys. We had to swing south a bit to go around Key West NAS. We were cleared to land as a flight on runway 9. No sooner had we landed and parked when a torrential downpour dumped on us (and soaked us thoroughly ;-) You can see that it had dumped rain on the airport right before we arrived:

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Look at the picture above, and you can see down one of the runways at Key West NAS (upper right corner). We had a great lunch in the new-to-me terminal building that was built since our last trip in 2009:

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After lunch, we briefed our departure then departed and continued east along the Keys then into Homestead (X51):

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Here's a picture of our host (and owners) of Robert's Air South: John & Gloria Roberts with Jimmby and me:

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These two people are the nicest folks you could ever meet, and if you are EVER in the Homestead area, you stop in and visit them: Walk over to the fridge, grab a Coke or Water, pull up and chair and just hang-out!

We have all the planes fueled and ready to go for an 0730 departure (of Alpha flight). Knowing what I know, it will be more like 0800 or later :)

Thanks so much for following along, and keep poundin' them rivets because it's ALL worth it! Rosie & Tuppergal
 
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An engraved invitation

Rosie,
Had I known you were to be at X51, Myra and I would have loved to hook up with you. If you still would like to spend a day or so in S. Fl, we are located at HWO which is only a 20 minute flight from X51. We have a beautiful free B&B and would love to have you. If you can swing it, call 954-829-2959 and we'll set it up.
Roger (woodman)
 
Scott & Deb's Excellent RV Adventures: Great Exuma, Bahamas

With five days behind us in Scott & Deb's latest RV Adventure, we figured it was about time to chime in on Rosie's post.

We have been zig-zagging our way across the country en route to Homestead, Florida since Saturday morning. Day one found us in Stephenville, Texas (at KSEP) for de-LICIOUS BBQ at The Hard Eight and an overnight stay with hosts Scott & Tanya Card in Austin, Texas. We and the Cards went our separate ways on Sunday morning with us heading for the home of relatives in Cartersville, Georgia. Monday it was a quick flight down to Brooksville, Florida for a visit with friends and to spend the night. We arrived in Homestead at about 9:45 on Tuesday morning; but enough about that and onto what you reeeeeally want to see and hear about...

First photos are of our pre-flight briefing, led by Jim “JimmyB” Baker and none other than Paul “Rosie” Rosales, Tuesday night at the Homestead Hampton Inn.

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As Delta Flight Lead, we figured it appropriate to include all of those in our gaggle. We were originally to have had three in our flight but last-minute changes brought us up to five—four 9As and one Thorpe T18. In order below are Scott (& Deb not pictured) Mills of Littleton, Colorado in N339A; Scott & Tanya Card of Austin, Texas in N4822C; Gene and Janet Larsen of Walnut Grove, Iowa in 194GL; Andrew Brandt of northern California in N522AB; and Mark & Deb Bantam of Goodland, Kansas in N102JT. This was the first over-water trek for Andrew, the Cards, and the Bantams.

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Scott and Deb Cont...

Here are a few of the more scenic over-water in-flight shots. The first is coming over Andros Island.

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Three 9As in flight.

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A real nice shot of Scott & Tanya.

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Scott Squared reliving the day's journey.

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Room with a view.

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As our friend Rosie likes to say, “Keep pounding those rivets, because its ALL worth it!” And he’s right…it is SO worth it!!!

And now on to more important matters... I need to return to my Rum and Coke, Mon ;)
 
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Sure enjoy following your trip!

Looks like you guys are having fun and taking some beautiful pictures.
Thanks for posting and sharing.

Can't wait to see the next pictures and posts!
 
First Few Days for the Card

We took off Sunday morning with a detour to San Antonio to drop off the dog with Scott's mom. Then off along the Gulf coast and into Pensacola. Dinner at the fish house and a good chunk of the next day at the Naval museum was all we had time for this trip. We finished Day 2 with a couple hour flight to Tampa for a night's sleep. You already got the Day 3 Key West trip, and yes we were told to remain clear of the Class D Key West / Boca Chica airspace. Vlad, thanks for posting our tracks. It gives me more time to soak in this amazing adventure. The APRS had us for about 125 miles east of Miami, not too shabby.

I couldn't pare down the pictures enough for a post, so here is the picasa link for the first few days.
 
Great Photos

I couldn't pare down the pictures enough for a post, so here is the picasa link for the first few days.

I have been following the trip and love to get a peak at all the cool places the group is flying to. Some day.... my plane will be done and I can share in the adventures. Thanks for letting the rest of us join your trip. It is appreciated, and very motivating.
 
Vlad, we DEFINATELY have to organize a "Foxtrot" flight next year! Hopefully they will be doing this trip again! Awesome trip guys!
 
Now that is a postcard.

I couldn't pare down the pictures enough for a post, so here is the picasa link for the first few days.

Tanya, I really like the picture you took of Rosie banking over island with the triangle lake in it. It needs to go on a calendar or postcard.

Kent
 
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Tanya, I really like the picture you took of Rosie banking over island with the triangle lake in it. I needs to go on a calendar or postcard.

Kent

I liked it too, because I was the pilot, and was 'IN' :).
 
Day 12: Flying the Bahamas Island Chain is FUN!

Hi again to VAF! Sorry I'm behind the 'ball' on our trip post as we departed Homestead (X51) on Wednesday morning (June 1) and am just back from a great evening of hangar-flying in Jimmyb's room :) As you've already read in posts by Scott & Deb Mills and Scott & Tanya Card, we are having a GREAT time here on 'Island Time'....but back to Wednesday morning, Day 12....

I woke up around 0300 because I was excited and I wanted to check the morning weather (it was fine ;-) then back to bed...alarm went off at 0530: shower/pack/dress. The Cards and most everybody else were already eating when we arrived to the 0600 breakfast in the lobby at 0605. Eggs/bacon/yogurt/OJ...mmm..mmm...good....then it's 0630 and we are all out the door and into the mini-vans for the 15 minute drive to the airport.

FBO owner John Roberts was there to see us off as we all readied our planes. Once the planes were packed, we all checked on each other to make sure everyone knew the 'marching orders' of the morning: Alpha flight off at 0800, Bravo flight at 0810 and Delta Flight at 0820 (we combined some flights at the briefing night before). Here are some ramp pics:

Mark Bantam sporting his very special T-shirt we had made for him and wife Debbie;

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California Flier Andrew Brandt;

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California Flier Bryan Wood with an audience listening to his every word;

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The next time you see Alina Buono, MAKE SURE you ask her about landing at Bay Minette (1R8). Enough said;

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Oh yea.... Mercedes had a flat nose wheel when she showed up to the airport but Jeff Brooks and John Roberts had it fixed in a RECORD 15 minutes (which I can't even do! You can see them working in the picture above behind Alina;

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I forgot to tell Mike and Denice Brewton (with Jimmyb) at they could wait till after they got in the plane to put on their life vests ;-) Not sure why Seismo is so happy though....

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Mike Brewton & Jimmyb;

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Finally got a picture of Jimmyb's wife Vicki :)

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Seismo & Red's RV-6A;

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Day 12: Flying the Bahamas Island Chain is FUN! (continued)

Here are the group photos of the flights (leads indicated by BOLD);

Alpha Flight (L-R): Paul & Victoria Rosales, Jim Baker, Carolyn & Gary Zilik, Vicki Baker, Mercedes Eulitt & Jeff Brooks, Alina & Dave Buono, Denice & Mike Brewton:

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Bravo Flight (L-R): Sherri & Bryan Wood

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Delta Flight (L-R): Deb & Scott Mills, Janet & Gene Larsen, Andrew Brandt, Tanya & Scott Card, Mark & Debbie Bantam

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Alpha flight, load 'em up! It was time to go and we wasted no time! We completed our runups and were ready for takeoff;

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Many thanks again to John & Gloria Roberts of Roberts Air South FBO!!!!

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Here are a few pics right after departure and shows the skies ahead and either side of the nose;

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Now this is what I call a gaggle ;-)

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Day 12: Flying the Bahamas Island Chain is FUN! (continued)

Here is Alpha flight 'in-flight': Baker, Zilik, Eulitt/Brooks, Buono, Brewton;

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Here are some pics taken along the way and on final approach to Great Exuma International (MYEF):

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Our route of flight took us from Homestead to Nassau to Exuma (X51-MYNN-MYEF)
 
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Day 12: Flying the Bahamas Island Chain is FUN! (continued)

Here's the sign we've never seen before since it was our first trip to this island:

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We were all able to park next to each other so I QUICKLY shutdown, jumped out, and was able to get pictures of most everyone as soon as they opened the canopy;

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Day 12: Flying the Bahamas Island Chain is FUN! (continued)

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Can't forget these two ;-)

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Almost forgot..... Chris & Indira Kleen were delayed due to weather (they left Washington State on Sunday, 3 days earlier) and arrived late afternoon;

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The fuel truck was there to fuel Jimmyb's plane as soon as his prop stopped spinning (and all of us were fueled in succession). We removed all of our bags out from the planes, and the FBO team gathered them all up and placed them inside the Customs building. The FBO was truly ready for our arrival...

About 2 weeks before our arrival, Jermaine at Strachan Aviation (the FBO we used) asked us to provide info on each passenger including full name, date of birth and passport number. This was a 'first', and we all sent him the information. I tell you, he took all that information and had ALL of our forms pre-filled out prior to our arrival. He passed them out to each Pilot.

After the last of the flights arrived, I buttoned up our plane and walked into the Customs office. I can tell you that all we had to do was show our passports and sign our names on the Custom's form. That took no more than 1 (yes, one) minute from the time I entered the building.

After passing through the Customs booth, we saw our bags, picked them up then placed them on the table at the next station where the officer asked us if we brought in any fruits or vegetables. "No, we did not" followed by "Welcome to the Bahamas". I swear we were in/out in less that 5 minutes, truly, a WORLD RECORD compared to any of our previous trips! Thank you Jermaine!!!!!

Several taxi's were there to transport our group (25 people) to the resort (and you have seen pictures of the resort). Jimmyb, Dave Buono and myself were able to get a 2-tank, afternoon dive in with Dive Exuma and were in the water about 3 hours after landing. All I can say is that I am now on Island Time 'Mon ;-)

No kidding: Keep poundin' them rivets because it is ABSOLUTELY ALL WORTH IT! Rosie & Tuppergal
 
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Awesome!

Awesome is about all I can say! :D

Truly a great way to keep us motivated to keep building.

Cheers,
 
Typical RV'ers!

Rosie has the beautiful Pacific in his back yard but what does he do? He flies across the country, to another country, to scuba dive!

Reminds me of what we did about ten years ago...just the reverse...flew to Polynesia to dive in the Pacific...:D

Anything to build time, eh Rosie??:)

Enjoy,
 
Registation size Rule

What are the rules with registration size. I thought you needed 12" to fly to the Bahamas. I notice some people added 12" vinyl and some didn't.
 
12' reg numbers

You just need the big numbers coming back in. I brought a roll of electrical tape and plan on putting the numbers on before leaving Exuma.
 
I think we are builders again

Yesterday by the pool the wave overtook me and as a recovering RV junkie I decided to build again. I told Sherri that I thought I'd build a 10, but keep the Bonanza somehow when the 10 is finished. Her response surprised me. "We'll have the Bonanza for a four place so build an 8 and make it a fast one.". Hmm. We are already talking engine selection and paint. The first step is to get the cart back behind the horse.
 
I'm really, REALLY enjoying all the pictures, and the trip reports. Thank you, Scott & Deb, Scott & Tanya, and Rosie & Tuppergal for these wonderful posts!! It's truly inspiring and motivational (as if I needed anymore anyway). Jamie and I are really looking forward to our first time on one of these trips.
 
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