petehowell
Well Known Member
We welcomed great weather to the upper midwest just in time for Andi and I to celebrate 24 years of wedded bliss....maybe 12 years of bliss, but the rest was pretty good with 3 kids along the way.
We had an ambitious plan: Tailgate at Iowa State early Saturday, then hop over to Dubuque to go caving at Maquoketa State Park. Dinner and an evening at a B&B would round out the weekend before a flight home.
Clear and a million as we left early with Glenn at the ANE tower setting us up with flight following to Ames - I had to laugh when high over Iowa Minne center asked me to deviate right to avoid moderate to heavy precip - I told them to reboot the radar as there were no clouds for 50 miles - he laughed and said he thought so, but needed me to confirm..... Andi napped in the plane
We landed at Ames International and the 16" folding bike did a great job of getting us from the airport to the alcohol.....err tailgates. I pedal, Andi rides on the book rack and high fives people as we ride by - seems to work for her. She enjoyed a bloody mary, I got a water, and we both caught up with old friends. About 10:30 the people moved to the stadium and I had the privilege of powering Andi back to the airport - this is why the marriage works people!
Talked to DSM on the ground at Ames - got TFR clearance and Flight Following over to DBQ - easy peasy. It was a beautiful short hop across eastern Iowa. Andi napped in the plane.
Landed DBQ, picked up our $13 Hertz rental - really pays to find discount codes on the web, and we were off to Maquoketa State Park - famous for its caves!
Some are big enough to walk through....
Others require getting dirty.....
Here Andi drops into a cave called "Wye". We said "why not" (sorry) and shimmied thru this thing all the way to the end - what a cool experience!
We got a little dirty, but all worth it!
Dinner was great as was our stay at the B&B. They had candlelight dessert for us and a great breakfast in the morning! We made a last minute addition to the agenda and stopped off to see the Field of Dreams movie site over by Dyersville. I liked it more than I thought I would and even joined in a little pickup game!
All too soon, back to DBQ to grab the RV-9A and head home under sunny skies. It was great having ADSB traffic everywhere thanks to the new transponder. Neil in the Tower at ANE greeted us as we called in making us feel welcome. Andi napped in the plane.......
What a great weekend!!
We had an ambitious plan: Tailgate at Iowa State early Saturday, then hop over to Dubuque to go caving at Maquoketa State Park. Dinner and an evening at a B&B would round out the weekend before a flight home.
Clear and a million as we left early with Glenn at the ANE tower setting us up with flight following to Ames - I had to laugh when high over Iowa Minne center asked me to deviate right to avoid moderate to heavy precip - I told them to reboot the radar as there were no clouds for 50 miles - he laughed and said he thought so, but needed me to confirm..... Andi napped in the plane
We landed at Ames International and the 16" folding bike did a great job of getting us from the airport to the alcohol.....err tailgates. I pedal, Andi rides on the book rack and high fives people as we ride by - seems to work for her. She enjoyed a bloody mary, I got a water, and we both caught up with old friends. About 10:30 the people moved to the stadium and I had the privilege of powering Andi back to the airport - this is why the marriage works people!
Talked to DSM on the ground at Ames - got TFR clearance and Flight Following over to DBQ - easy peasy. It was a beautiful short hop across eastern Iowa. Andi napped in the plane.
Landed DBQ, picked up our $13 Hertz rental - really pays to find discount codes on the web, and we were off to Maquoketa State Park - famous for its caves!
Some are big enough to walk through....
Others require getting dirty.....
Here Andi drops into a cave called "Wye". We said "why not" (sorry) and shimmied thru this thing all the way to the end - what a cool experience!
We got a little dirty, but all worth it!
Dinner was great as was our stay at the B&B. They had candlelight dessert for us and a great breakfast in the morning! We made a last minute addition to the agenda and stopped off to see the Field of Dreams movie site over by Dyersville. I liked it more than I thought I would and even joined in a little pickup game!
All too soon, back to DBQ to grab the RV-9A and head home under sunny skies. It was great having ADSB traffic everywhere thanks to the new transponder. Neil in the Tower at ANE greeted us as we called in making us feel welcome. Andi napped in the plane.......
What a great weekend!!
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