Rosie & Tuppergal's (2nd) Cayman Islands Trip 2009

Tuppergal and I start our 3-week flying vacation to the Cayman Islands with a 6am takeoff on Saturday, April 18th. You can check on our progress here.

This trip has been 2 years in the planning, and with much help from Jim "Jimmyb" Baker, we were able to pull together enough people to fill all 12 rooms at the Paradise Villas on Little Cayman. We have 7 RV fliers and 5 commercial fliers making the trip;

RV Fliers:
Jim & Vicki Baker (KS: RV-6)
Mercedes Eulitt & Lesli Monforton (CA: RV-6A)
Chris & Indira Kleen (WA: RV-6)
Gene & Janet Larsen (IA: RV-9A)
Paul & Victoria Rosales (CA: RV-6A)
Bill & Sharon Souza (CA: RV-10)

Commercial Fliers
Annmarie & Carol Strachan (CA)
Dean & Irene Van Ousterhout (CA)
Sid & Shelly Baldwin (KS)
Jim & Cathy Pappas (IL)
Laird Owens and Christine Johnston (CA: Was going to fly their RV-6 but work got in the way!)
Barbara Summey (CA: arriving on Wed 29 April)
Dave Huhman (CA: arriving on Wed 29 April)

We'll be able to receive e-mail via [email protected] if you'd like to check in.

Keep poundin' them rivets as it's ALL worth it!!!! Rosie

PS: Here's a link to our first trip to the Caymans.

Good luck guys. Someday my RV will be flying and hope to participate in these great trips.

Scott & Deb's EXcellent Florida/Cayman RV Adventure '09

Due to the low pressure system that was headed toward Denver, we decided to "get outta Denver, baby" before we got stuck behind it. We picked up a Spot tracker unit for this trip--click here for our flight from Neosho, MO to Brooksville, FL. The reason the first part of our trip is missing is because you have to set up your Spot tracker shared page BEFORE you begin your trip. Lesson learned...

Some pics from the trip thus far...


Packed up and ready to go


Lots of control burning going on across the country


Base to final at Neosho, MO--KEOS


On final at Dewitt Spain in Memphis, TN--M01 (the Mighty Miss on our left)


Uh oh ... what'd I do? The Blackhawks are after me inside Alert Area A-211


On final at Enterprise, AL--KEDN

To be cont ...

Scott & Deb's EXcellent Florida/Cayman RV Adventure '09

Continued ...



Surrounded by three T6s at Dunnellon, FL--X35. Apparently the Blackhawk called for reinforcements. ;-)


Base to Final at Brooksville, FL--BKV, our stopping point til Cayman go time on Friday the 24th.


Anyone with teenagers will quickly recognize my impersonation of the I-don't-want-my-picture-taken scowl.


Busch Gardens' newest coaster, SheiKra, kicked out butts!


The wonderful thing about Tiggers ... is they're behind the fence!

Hey, we stopped at Neosho for fuel just the other day!

Any of you trekkers that find you need/want to come by Houston, let us know if you need a place to stop - we've got ramp space for a couple RV's outside our hanger, and at least one spare bed - just PM me.

Paul

darn! wish i was going to the caymans...

Hey,

I stopped at Dewitt Spain two weeks ago!

Well, now that the "WindDancer" has her first 100 hrs plus...... Hmmmmm, maybe next time...

Great pics everybody, keep'em coming! And stay safe!

What'tya think Paul, should we start planning our trip?

Arrived Safely to Addison, TX

With an 0600 PDT departure (3-ship) with Bill & Sharon Souza (RV-10) and Mercedes Eulitt & Lesli Monforton (RV-6A), we had groundspeeds of 175 kts into St. Johns (AZ) for fuel then more of the same speeds into Plainview (TX).

We had to delay (have lunch a couple of hours for the weather to clear in the DFW area. We 'dropped' Mercedes & Lesli off at Decatur (LUD) and Bill/I continued into Addison for the straight-in, 2-ship approach, to runway 15, landing at 1830 local time.

We hope to see some of you Sunday, 1130 at SEP for lunch at the Hard 8 BBQ Rosie & Tuppergal



WOW!!!! Thanks to all the RVers who braved the winds today to join Bill Souza, Victoria and I for lunch on Sunday!!!! Rosie

Rosie said:

With an 0600 PDT departure (3-ship) with Bill & Sharon Souza (RV-10) and Mercedes Eulitt & Lesli Monforton (RV-6A), we had groundspeeds of 175 kts into St. Johns (AZ) for fuel then more of the same speeds into Plainview (TX).

We had to delay (have lunch a couple of hours for the weather to clear in the DFW area. We 'dropped' Mercedes & Lesli off at Decatur (LUD) and Bill/I continued into Addison for the straight-in, 2-ship approach, to runway 15, landing at 1830 local time.

We hope to see some of you Sunday, 1130 at SEP for lunch at the Hard 8 BBQ Rosie & Tuppergal

Click to expand...

Rosie,
Fair winds and blue skies, buddy! Have a great trip! Looking forward to the trip write-up (as always).

the long trips are what it is all about

paul, nice to see the wx has improved for your xc to fla. see you at snf on thursday.

Have a wonderful time Rosie!!! Due to a new baby on the way we missed out this time but for sure next time.
Have a safe and wonderful time!!!

Keep the reports coming.

Hoping to see you and the gang at Sun 'n Fun.

Great to hear from you all ;-)

Tuppergal and I thank you all for the e-mails we've received, and we are especially happy that it provides much motivation for both the builders and the fliers! We departed Addison Monday AM (4/20) for a 13 minute flight with Class B clearance directly over Love Field (2K MSL) into Arlington Municipal to visit Tupperware friends of Victoria (transplanted from CA). We are off to Lake of the Ozarks in the morning to visit with our friend (and contractor) who built our Skypark Home.

Keep poundin' them rivets Rosie

Update: We had a nice 3 hour flight from Arlington to Lake of the Ozarks, complete with a Class B clearance that took us near downtown Dallas;

Update from the stragglers

Hi all,
JimmyB and Vicki left Goodland last night and made it to Kennett, MO. They reported some pretty good tailwinds (210mph at 20mp & 1900rpm) Wow. They will be headed for Homestead today.
Gene and Janet will launch in "Moody Blue" from Atlantic, IA (AIO), fuel in Kennett (TKX) and Perry, FL (40J) and on to Homestead. We expect some good winds also (60 knots on the tail at 11000 ft) All right!!, save some gas and make some time. We are looking forward to some warm weather. Criminee, it's 37 degrees as I write this at 5 AM here in Walnut, IA. And I didn't plug the plane in last night. If we leave AIO by 8 AM, we should be in Homestead, FL by 5 PM. Beat that on an airliner. We will wave to all you SnFer's as we fly over. Got to do the tourist thing in the Everglades tomorrow.
For you lurkers out there, I plan to update our website with pics during the whole trip. Enjoy.
Gene

Be safe and enjoy

You folks can't imagine how much it sucks to read about this trip instead of watching the miles click off under our wings. The "Nagivator" is sitting here next to me and wishing you all a safe trip.

Later in the week while your all sitting around with a cold drink and the subject of the next trip comes up please pencil us in. Sitting here this morning is the first time I haven't liked my new job.

Sincerely, enjoy your wonderful vacation. We really wish we didn't have to cancel.

Had I been outside at point 35...

Had I been outside at point 35 in your progress track it seems I would have seen you going over. You are just a little too early for the full beauty of the area as the trees are just starting to produce leaves - many are still completely bare. Have a safe and enjoyable trip.

Bob Axsom

Bob Axsom said:

Had I been outside at point 35 in your progress track it seems I would have seen you going over. You are just a little too early for the full beauty of the area as the trees are just starting to produce leaves - many are still completely bare. Have a safe and enjoyable trip. Bob Axsom

Click to expand...

Hey Bob, I have to tell you that all you would have seen was a BLUR!!!! We departed Lee C. Fine (AIZ, near Lake of the Ozarks, MO) at 0800 CDT and landed Cross City (CTY), FL at 1212 CDT... 195-205+ knots groundspeed as we got higher!!!!

We started out at 7500' with 35kts tailwind, then 40kts @ 9500' then 50kts @ 11.5K' We burned just shy of 8 gallons/hour, and I'm glad that we had little to eat and drink before departing. We had planned a stop in Alabama for fuel but we just kept on goi

We departed Cross City for the 'short' flight to Clearwater landing about an hour later.

We plan to arrive Sun n' Fun around 1000 EDT on Thursday. We'll be leaving before just before the start of the airshow so be sure to stop and say hi (if you see the white/green/yellow/purple/gray RV with 12" N numbers Rosie

PS: This 691nm flight from AIZ to CTY in 4hrs 12min, was our farthest and longest flight ever flown in our RV. Normally, we are comfortable with 3.0hr flight legs, but with 50 knot tailwinds....we GO!

We arrived safely to the Cayman Islands

It's been a great week having left California on Saturday April 18th, and we are now on Little Cayman Tuppergal & I spent a few hours at SnF on Thursday before heading out a 2-ship with Mercedes & Leslie to Homestead. We were that last of the planes to arrive (6-ships total).

We departed Homestead this (Friday April 24th) morning, starting at 0800 EDT, in the following order;
#1 Rosie & Tuppergal (RV-6A)
#2 Bill & Sharon Souza (RV-10)
#3 Jim "Jimmyb" & Vicki Baker (RV-6)
#4 Mercedes Eullit & Leslie Monforton (RV-6A)
#5 Chris & Indira Kleen (RV-6)
#6 Gene & Janet Larsen (RV-9A)

We arrived Cayman Brac starting at 1025 with the Larsens arriving at 1200. We all cleared customs, paid our fees, got some fuel then took a short flight around "The Brac". It's about a 5 minute flight from Cayman Brac to Little Cayman. Laird "Lucky" Owens and Christine Johnston were there to park/greet us with 4 other "commercial"-flying couples arriving shortly thereafter (includes Jim & Cathy Pappas).

The Paradise Villas had a fun Rum-punch party for us at 1700, and some are still there enjoying the evening We start the diving tomorrow with 7 divers in the group.

Thanks so much for the e-mails, and we hope you can possibly consider a trip like this! Rosie

PS: My SPOT tracker is new and is having push-button issues thus the incomplete tracks. I need to have it replaced when we return...

Awesome Rosie!!!!! Have a blast

Google Earth

Here is where "Google Earth" places Rosie's last SPOT location.



Too bad WORK keeps getting in the way for me. 36-months left.

I did not see the Mills in your list of people departing for the Caymans? I will need to pick your brains for details on the IFR filing since I may be there soon.

From Rosie: I regret to say that the Mills had to cancel their trip early this week

More story and pics on our website

This thread is really great. So many friends and relatives can track our progress and fun. I have been updating our website right along and just now uploaded anothe bunch of pics and story. Hope you get a chance to enjoy these and motivate those who are still dreaming of travelling by RV.
Gene and Janet

On Island Time 'Mon'....

Ron Lee said:

I did not see the Mills in your list of people departing for the Caymans? I will need to pick your brains for details on the IFR filing since I may be there soon.

From Rosie: I regret to say that the Mills had to cancel their trip early this week

Click to expand...

Sorry to hear Scott had to cancel out.
We had an opportunity to chat in Brooksville the Saturday before SNF.

Be sure to include me your plans next year.
I heard some chatter about a possible Alaska trip.

Half way through our 10 days on the Island

Say Hello to the Kleens for me!

Rosie,

I have been enjoying your journal thus far, and want to wish the Kleens safe journey tomorrow as they depart. Tell Chris that I am the one who would show up at Torrence every so often on the worn out lookin' bike from the Best Western Redondo usually to see what Bill Marvel was up to but to check on him as well.

Again, one of these days, hopefully I can join you all on your oddessy to the Caribbean.

Be safe and have fun down there!

Seven Days gone by...

More pictures from the Cayman Islands

No need for a windsock on that approach! Very cool.

More pics and story.

I just updated my website with more pics and story. Can't beleive this is almost over. Such a great time.

Spending the day in Grand Cayman Sunday

We have a 3-ship (Rosales-Souza/Pappas-Larsen) departing Little Cayman at 0930 EDT on Sunday, and you can track us here. I'll be sure to send an "OK" message on Grand Cayman as I've found sometimes the SPOT tracker misses a beat every now and then Rosie

I heard the hurricane tore the islands up pretty good last year. On Cayman Brac some of the resorts are still closed. How were the conditions of the resort hotels/lodging?

I'm thinking about taking my wife there in June for a 10th anniversary. We're not certified and my wife hasn't had any dive training. Does it make sense to try and get certified there?

From Rosie: Yes, Cayman Brac still has much damage and took a much harder hit than Little Cayman. I have no knowledge of resorts/lodging on Cayman Brac. Our resort at Paradise Villas on Little Cayman had all damage repaired.

As for diving, you could go about it 3 ways:
1) Get certified where you live.
2) Get all the pool work completed where you live and complete your Open Water (referral) on the island.
3) Complete all your training on the island.

Reef Divers at the Little Cayman Beach Resort is where you could complete all your training in 4 days. Good luck!

Our last day in the Cayman Islands

All good things must come to an end as does our 10-day trip to the Cayman Islands but the good news is that we had a GREAT day flying to and spending Sunday on Grand Cayman

After seeing the commercial fliers off on the morning twin otter flight, we got the planes untied and readied for the ~75nm flight to Grand Cayman. The fliers included Bill & Sharon Souza who took on passengers Jim & Cathy Pappas in their RV-10, Gene & Janet Larsen and Tuppergal & I. Jimmyb and Vicki Baker enjoyed their last day on Little Cayman.

We filed our international flight plan and departed a 3-ship around 0830, landing Grand Cayman about 0915. It was a quick, smooth flight over at 4.5K MSL, and we landed runway 8.

I was quite suprised that approach and the tower let me do all the talking (from our Little Cayman departure) until the downwind where each called abeam the tower about a quarter mile in trail. Normally, we all have to call in with distance and such along the route but they 'caught-on' real quick that we were flying in the vicinity of each other.

After taxing around some veeerrrryyyyyy expensive biz jets, we tied parked on the grass, secured the planes and walked right through the FBO with our little, white 'tickies' from when we cleared into the Cayman Islands on our first day.

We were able to rent a 9-passenger van for $52 USD for the day (I recommend Marshall's auto rental), and we picked up my friend Barbara Summey who had flown over on the twin otter.

The nine of us had a great day driving around the island (with me at the wheel driving on the LEFT side of the road.... round-abouts are a killer!!!). The best advice I was given by the rental agent was to 'follow a yellow Cayman license plate'. I think Gene had to correct me only once, very calmly: "Rosie, your driving the on the wrong side of the road".

We had breakfast at a very nice caribbean cafe (my first full breakfast since we arrived 9 days ago) then drove along the beautiful 7-mile beach. We then drove over to the town that is named the opposite of Heaven where we took some pictures to show we've been there and back.

Afterwards, we drove over to the Turtle Farm which has now taken up an entirely new look.... almost like visiting Universal Studios! From there, it was time for lunch on the water just across the street. After lunch, we walked back to the turtle farm (very cool) to spend a little more time enjoying the turtles in their pools.

By this time, it was 1600 and time to head back to the airport. We had a few scattered showers pass over which is typical over land in the afternoons.

We turned in the car, filed another international flight plan, paid the $18.75 USD landing fee then briefed our departure. We departed single ship, and Tuppergal got a picture on the takeoff and one of the Grand Cayman coastline.

We met up on the west side of the island then cruised northbound along the beach until reaching the north end of the island. We then turned direct Little Cayman (another 35 minute flight). Tuppergal then took a nice overhead picture of the villas (6 villas, 2 rooms each), and Jim Pappas took a nice shot of Bill's RV-10 final approach into Little Cayman.

We all had dinner together for the last time on the island then got back to the rooms and started packing for the trip back across the water to Key West.

The plan is to depart here ~0930 EDT to Cayman Brac to clear customs, pay our $18.75 landing fee, and file our flight plans. I hope to be the first one airborne at 12K MSL (with oxygen) arriving into Key West ~1300 EDT.

You can again track our flight using the SPOT tracker here.

From Key West, Tuppergal & I had hoped to meet up with Gary & Carolyn Zilik in Asheville (NC) but weather is going to prevent that from happening Check the tracker in the evening to see where we end up as we always fly to where the weather is GOOD!!!! Right now, it's looking like we'll be seeing the Texas folks again on Saturday at the Texas RV fly-in 2009 at Pecan Plantation on Saturday!

Here are the last of the island pics and will be followed in the next few days with pics from my last week of vacation flying around this beautiful US of A with the Ziliks

More pics from our last day in the Cayman Islands

We're back in the U-S-A !!!!!

Hi All, I can honestly tell you that 10 days in the Cayman Islands was perfect time for Tuppergal & I to enjoy ourselves without feeling that we just got there when it was time to leave!!!

Jim & Cathy Pappas were off on the twin otter for the flight back to Grand Cayman, continuing onto Chicago. Annmarie Strachan and her Mom Carol also departed with connections to LAX.

Our day started about 0730 (all times EDT) waking up, and getting the planes all packed up. We couldn't file our flight plans for the 5 minute flight from Little Cayman to Cayman Brac until 0900 when the tower opened (and then they told us to call back in 20 minutes :-(

We finally got it all together and were checked out of the villas and airborne, 4 ships in trail, around 0930. We flew one circuit around our dive company's boat, the "Sea-esta" and the Villas then flew over to Cayman Brac, cleared straight in, 1 mile in sequence, no problems with the tower (this tower is used to 1 plane in, 1 plane out so you can imagine their surprise when they get more than 1 plane in!) We kept it simple on the radio with plenty of separation as they will tell you to go around in a heartbeat "to avoid landing traffic."

Customs opened at 1000, and they too were not expecting FOUR private pilots at once. They told us the "Flying Physicians" used to come in with several planes but haven't in a long while. We got through Customs fairly quickly but then it was up to the tower to file the FOUR international flights planes....

Turns out their was a trainee working alone today, and he was a hunt-n-peck typist... It took him 1.5 hours to file FOUR flight plans :-( Oh well 'mon', we were island time! Thankfully the fuel guys were able to top off all four planes while we sat waiting for flight plans.

We each paid our $18.75 USD departure tax, headed out to the planes and loaded up. I was the first airborne at 1215. It was a nice flight to and across Cuba, and I had to dog-leg into Key West (which you can see here) since there was some military dogfighting going out over the ocean between me and Key West

Bill & Sharon Souza departed behind me (~10 minutes) from Cayman Brac but landed right behind me at Key West. We both went into customs together, this after the agents ran the geiger-counter (no kidding) around our planes.

Key West customs was the BEST, and they got us cleared in/out in less than 10 minutes, WOWWEE!!! Customs Agent Rahaim was very professional yet courteous, something we've not see on any of our trips arriving back into the USA. If you've read any of my other trip reports, you know what I'm talking about.... We were actually welcomed back to the USA!!!

After clearing customs, Jim & Vicki arrived to the 'penalty box' as Bill & I started our engines. We were already in our planes before Jim & Vicki got out of their plane so we 'yelled' at them that we'd meet them in Homestead. We were told by the customs agent that we were not allowed to be near them since we were 'clean'/cleared by customs ;-)

I requested a 2-ship departure from Key West, and we flew a tight 2-ship departure southbound around the Naval Air Station then east/northeast/north to Homestead. We were held at 2K' for a short time for separation from Gene & Janet Larsen who were inbound as we were outbound.

It was about a 40 minute flight to Homestead, and Jim & Gene's RVs showed up about an hour later. I even had time to take FBO owner John Roberts around-the-patch which he thoroughly enjoyed ;-)

We all fueled and decided to make one more flight (leg) to Perry Foley (40J), Fl, about a 2 hour flight. We intended to get 'around the horn' of Florida but thunderstorms prevented that from happening.

We all landed around 1830, fueled, tied down the planes for the night, and the folks at the Hampton Inn picked us up. The hotel is less than 5 minutes from the airport, and I highly recommend them for anybody heading this way looking to overnight as they are TRULY 5-STAR!!! Their number is 850.223.3000, and you can contact them via e-mail. Goodman's BBQ is right next door, and we left there 'stuffed' with excellent BBQ!!!

Victoria & I are going to try to meet up with Gary & Carolyn Zilik somewhere in a state to yet to be determined so we can spend the last week
of our vacation with them. Thunderstorms stopped the Ziliks near Lake of the Ozarks (MO).

Keep an eye on our SPOT track to see where we end up as our proposed trip towards Niagra Falls is now TBD Rosie

More pics from the Cayman Brac - Key West - Perry (FL) leg

















.....to build and fly your very own RV...across the ocean...~800nm in one day... PRICELESS!!!!

Keep poundin' them rivets Rosie

Thanks for keeping us up to speed on your trip....AWESOME!

I'll bet it's nice to have Bill and Sharon with you....aside from being great friends they have the 'heavy hauler' RV10 for your scuba gear .

Don't pass through Ohio without saying 'hello'!

I just got a call from Rosie. They are headed to our place due to weather for the night.

Spot is cool.

I have been watching their tracks today while I am working at my computer. Makes me wish I was out there right now.

Kent

From Rosie: Thanks for checking on us Kent.... our next over-water trip is planned to Puerto Rico in 2011 with Axel Alvarez and you're invited

New RV Hotel: Scott & Tanya Card's House

It's 10:20pm on Tuesday night here in Georgetown, Texas and Tuppergal & I are here at the home of Scott & Tanya Card When we got up this morning in Perry, Florida, we saw on Weathermeister that flying north was not going to be possible

So looking at the weather across the rest of the country, we saw that we needed to fly westbound, and that's exactly what we did (we picked Texas as our target).

Jimmyb & Vicki were able to file IFR to get to Goodland, KS and Gene & Janet Larsen stayed a bit later at the hotel than us.

Bill & I departed a 2-ship westbound, stayed along the coast out of the big stuff, and arrived into False River (HZR), LA around 1300 CDT. So not really having a destination in Texas, Gary Zilik had mentioned Austin...... Austin..... we know somebody near Austin.... who was that... OH YEA... Scott & Tanya Card!!!!

And I just happened to have their number in my phone, so after a quick call to Scott (who didn't answer but googled my number first), he invited us over to their house. Then he sent Tanya an IM to let her know we were coming (that's how easy it was to find a free place to stay tonight

It was great to see Scott walking up to the planes as we finished getting them tied down. Scott then helped gather our things and drove us to their house near Round Rock.

The Cards took us out to eat dinner, and while we were waiting to be seated, my cell phone rang. It was the Ziliks calling to tell us they just arrived to Georgetown airport!!!! COOL! So Scott & I drove back to pick them up, and we all had a great dinner (then crammed 6 people into a 5-seat Camry ;-)

And they even let the Ziliks stay over also (limit of 2 couples, please ;-)

So here we all be, enjoying each other's company.... gotta love them Texans!

Ok, I will post pictures sometime this week. We plan to see you all Saturday at the Texas RV fly-in at Pecan Plantation Rosie

PS: Anybody know where the Dye RV Hotel is..... ?

PSS: I've now heard back from both Jimmyb/Vicki and Gene/Janet Larsen and both couples made it home safely to Kansas and Iowa respectively on Tuesday. Bill/Sharon Souza departed Georgetown Wednesday morning for their trip home to California and arrived around 1730 local time

**************
Update for Wednesday night: It looks like we made a very good decision in flying west instead of north. Here's the radar picture of the east coast;

Rosie said:

PS: Anybody know where the Dye RV Hotel is..... ?

Click to expand...

We're right here south of Houston if you're planning on hanging around Texas Rosie - Polly Ranch Airpark (7XS0)- and we have a newly redecorated apartment in our hangar, tiedown space on our ramp (even hangar space Thursday night, as Louise will be in College Station)....! I'll be in town all week - headed to Pecan Plantation on Saturday.

PM - or check your PM's for an email.

Paul

Cayman diving

I heard the hurricane tore the islands up pretty good last year. On Cayman Brac some of the resorts are still closed. How were the conditions of the resort hotels/lodging?

I'm thinking about taking my wife there in June for a 10th anniversary. We're not certified and my wife hasn't had any dive training. Does it make sense to try and get certified there?

Click to expand...

I've been following this thread with much interest.

I learned how to dive in Grand Cayman in 1994 - 3 day "crash" course at
Eden Rock.

Until I started my RV project a couple of years ago, we' go back for
diving just about every year.

This RV project is taking all my time & money

I've been showing all these pictures to the wife convince her that, someday, we
will return to the Caymans - maybe even in our own plane!

Dave
just ordered -9A finish kit (due in 1st week of June)

Two couple maximum

The Dye (I think of it as the Dye-Hose) Hotel also has a two couple maximum, if you want more than a couch. Plenty of room for tie-downs.

Love to have you join us! There's a pilots' BBQ tonight already scheduled!

First things first. After Rosie jumps into his PJs, gotta' get a VAF post out.


Really, I do have normal places to sit! Watson stole the show and everybody decided to sit on the floor with him.


Rosie isn't without his party tricks. If you've ever looked closely at your pilot's license, Rosie can read the micro print that makes up the struts on the back.

That was really a fun 12hrs. for us. Come back anytime guys.

RVers (that include the Cards) are the best folks in the world!

First off, I have to say "Thank You VERY Much" to Scott & Tanya Card for inviting Tuppergal & I AND Carolyn & Gary "Seismo" Zilik into their home with about 2 hours notice from an unexpected phone call that originated in Louisiana!!!!!! When we departed Florida on Tuesday morning, I was aiming for a yet-to-be determined location in the Great State of Texas, and the Card's were there for us ;-)

Here's our SPOT TRACK for the Tuesday flight from Perry to Georgetown (and to San Antonio on Wednesday). I'll double-check but I think total flight time was about 5 hours Perry to Georgetown with one fuel stop at False River (LA).

We arrived into Georgetown (GTU) Tuesday about 4pm and were at the house by 5pm. Bill & Sharon stayed in a nearby hotel as they were going to depart for CA in the morning bright and early (and they arrived safely to Fox Field in Lancaster, CA around 5:30pm PDT. Mercedes Eulitt and Chris & Indira Kleen are also home safe to California and Washington respectively: All the Cayman flyers are home now except for us

After a nice tour of the house, including the air-conditioned garage where they are building an RV-8, we got ready for dinner. We had a super-fun-filled-evening eating at Tanya's favorite Tex-Mex restaurant, on Cinco de Mayo with Mariachi music no less! Afterwards, it was Baskin-Robbins for a cone.

Back at the Card's house, we spent time 'hangar-flying', telling lies relaxing and such... and thanks to the post above, Tanya has shown you all how fast I can get comfortable amongst friends ;-)

In the morning, we played with Watson-the-dog then had breakfast as we watched the morning overcast burn off. Scott dropped us off at the airport around 11am, and we departed a 2-ship for San Antonio.

Victoria caught New Braunfels coming up below the nose and remembered some TV food network show where they had some good food somewhere near there. However, after landing, the FBO had no idea what it might have been :-( So we had a bite of dessert then continued into San Antonio's Stinson Airfield (SSF) where we got the planes secured and rented a car.

We drove directly to the Alamo, and spent about 2 hours there (which I very much enjoyed reading all the history). We then drove over to the site of the 1968 Hemisfair which I attended as a young boy in 1968 (my Dad was raised in San Antonio). We then spent a couple of hours on the Riverwalk and ate Italian food outside enjoying the Riverwalk atmosphere.

We're now back to our room at the 5-star Drury Hotel which the FBO set up for us for a GREAT RATE!

Thursday morning's plan is to fly to Corpus Christi to visit the USS Lexington, and sometime before dark, we plan to fly to the skypark home of Paul & Louise Dye near Houston. They have graciously invited us to stay for two nights, and on Friday, Paul will be giving us a very special tour of the Johnson Space Center, WOW!!!!!!

Saturday morning we'll fly over to the Texas RV Fly-in with Paul & Louise so we hope to see many of the Texas locals then Rosie

Here are pics of the flight from Perry (FL) to Georgetown (TX).

Our weather leaving Perry...


Note the GPS shows Pensacola (PNS) as our destination with the pink line indicating the direct course from Perry to PNS, however, our ground track shows different. See the red/yellow/orange stuff off our right wing?


Victoria took his picture of the same the red/yellow/orange stuff off our right wing...always fly to where the weather is good (and it helps to have XM Weather in the cockpit!)


Here's what we had off the nose. Note compass heading approximates the GPS ground track and thus the reason we stayed flew 'off course'. This path takes us around the big clouds on what I call an "end-run". The red arrow is to match up clouds in the two pictures. We stayed mostly over the water as the clouds were forming over the land.



This is what we found around the corner (this picture taken off the right wing looking north). Staying over the water kept us in the clear.


Left base to runway 18 at False River (HZR), LA.




Weather into Austin (TX), flying at 8,500 ft MSL.


On final to Georgetown (GTU) just north of Austin.

More pics from Georgetown to San Antonio

Leaving the Card's house.

San Antonio to Corpus Christi to Polly Ranch

It's early Friday morning, and I'm just finishing up another fun-filled day here in the State of Texas! The Zilik's and us have been flying here, there and everywhere, and the only gripe I have is this thing called 'morning fog' ;-) In the desert, it's not a matter of 'if' we can fly but 'what time do I want to get up to fly'!

Knowing that it would be foggy in the morning, I slept in until about 0900 then joined the Ziliks and Victoria who were at the breakfast buffet. We killed an hour there then went back to the room to pack-up.

We arrived to the airport around 1100 and were airborne by 1200 when the field was at ~2300' overcast (with scattered clouds a few RV minutes to the south).

We cruised over to Corpus Christi (CRP) at 4500' MSL, and were on final to Runway 13 about an hour later. We landed 2-ship on the 150' wide runway, and we were both shutdown within minutes of landing on the ramp at Atlantic.

We checked in at the front desk, and I found out that, true to the motto "Everything is bigger in Texas", our ramp fee was $25 instead of the $20 I'm used to paying in California ;-)

We were able to get a VW Beetle rental car, and the drive to the USS Lexington took maybe 15 minutes.

I'd never set foot on any Naval Vessel anywhere so I was very excited to be there, and we all had a great time checking out the ship. Carriers are BIG!!!! I must have taken a jillion pictures but have only included a few here.

They bullhorns kicked us off the ship at 1700, and by 1745, we were again rolling down runway 13. After departure, we turned to heading 045 at 7500' MSL (nice cool air up there). We had flight following all the way to Polly Ranch (7XS0) and were also given a Class B clearance in Houston's airspace.

We touched down about 1900 with Ironflight and Louise waving as we rolled by them. We got the planes parked on there ramp, did some hangar flying then went out for an excellent Tex-Mex meal.

Back at the house, more hangar flying ensued then Ironflight and I stayed up visiting (and reading VAF on each of our laptops). He just went to be so I'm turning off the lights tonight in the Dye-Hose houseold ;-)

Here are pics from today's adventure, and we look forward to Ironflight's personal tour of the Johnson Space Center.

We look forward to seeing many of you at the Texas RV fly-in on Saturday at Pecan Plantation, Rosie & Tuppergal





On final to Corpus...




What are these things?!?

More pics from Corpus Christi to Polly Ranch

Rosie said:

What are these things?!?

Click to expand...

Lifeboats?

Life boats

For offshore drilling and production platforms.

Ken

Thanks for including us in your vacation and flying with us to Pecan Plantation - Avril and I had a great time!

Here's a picture of Gary and Carolyn en route to the fly in:



And here's Rosie and Tuppergal: