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

All good things must come to an end...

It's Sunday morning, May 10th, and Tuppergal & myself and Gary & Carolyn Zilik are here at Pecan Plantation spending then night at the homes of Martin & Claudia Sutter and Tom & Bonnie Lewis respectively (thank you very much!).

We are here waiting for the skies to clear so we can start flying home to California (Colorado for the Ziliks). You can track the final legs of our 3-week vacation flying adventure here, and we should be airborne sometime after 1200 (I'm guessing).

We plan to fly to Brownfield (BFE) and St. Johns (SJN) for fuel, lunch (or dinner) with friends in Payson (PAN), AZ and continue the final leg to the Rosamond Skypark (L00) west of Edwards Air Force Base. I'm guessing we'll see 7-8 hours on the hobbs meter. We've put ~43 hours on the plane and have flown ~5600nm thus far.

Friday was spent with Paul Dye giving us a very special tour of the Johnson Space Center followed by a BBQ dinner in the hangar that included much hangar-flying with F1 Rocket flyers Dave & Avril Forster who had joined us.

We awoke Saturday to patchy skies at Polly Ranch, and we got the planes loaded for the flight to Pecan Plantation. Paul & Louise flew out solo to the fly-in since 'Mikey' was without 'pants' and gear leg fairings (read: they were going to be the slow-pokes

We flew a 3-ship, with Dave & Avril leading the flight, to Liberty Municipal airport for fuel, continuing into Pecan Plantation and arriving around 1030. We had an excellent day visiting with many RVers that included "Krash" Doug Reeves and "Checker" Dick Carmichael. Special Cudos for the day go to Scott & Tanya Card who flew in IFR both to AND from Georgetown (WOW!!!)

We had hoped to fly to Cleveland airport (95F), near Tulsa, late in the afternoon Saturday after the Texas RV fly-in, however, weather kept us here which was just fine with us; staying with friends is just fine

We had a wonderful evening that included dinner with RVers Gary & Jackie Bricker and Jason & Gwen Hutchinson in Bluff Dale at the Chuckwagon (EXCELLENT Chicken Fried Steak!).

I'll get pictures uploaded late tonight for the last few days we've spent here in the Great State of Texas, and we want to thank you all again for following our progress and checking-in with e-mails Rosie & Tuppergal

We are home safe after 3 weeks of flying ;-)

Tuppergal and I are home safe (Sunday evening), having traveled our last day of vacation from Pecan Plantation (TX) to SoCAL

The Ziliks and us got a late start, departing Pecan around 1330 CDT with a fuel stop in Brownfield (TX). That's were we continued west and the Ziliks continued northwest, arriving into Front Range airport a few hours before us.

We landed for fuel in St. Johns (AZ) then continued with a short flight into Payson (AZ) to have dinner with longtime friends. We departed Payson around 2200 CDT and landed Rosamond around 0030 CDT (a beautiful night flight).

I've got the plane parked in the hangar and finally 'emptied' of all our stuff. I will post pics Monday night for the last few days of fun Rosie

PS: A quick-look shows we flew ~6720 nautical miles (~7730 statute miles) and put 51 hours on the engine

Rosie said:

Tuppergal and I are home safe.

Rosie

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Glad to hear it, thanks "taking" the rest of along via the great photos, and narratives.

I was following you guys last night on and off until you got home. That tracking tool is great. Glad you made it home safely.

From Rosie: Thanks for keeping an eye on us Axel This night flight just put me over 160 hours night flight time too.

Last of the pics from our Cayman Islands Trip

Having arrived home Sunday night at 2230 (PDT), I was unable to get the last of our trip pictures posted. These pictures start with our personal tour of the Johnson Space Center by "Ironflight" Paul Dye (thank you VERY much!)

To be in the Mission Control room where much history was made (and where the Apollo missions were controlled) was quite moving for me... Gene Kranz worked at that very console for many missions including Apollo 13... "Houston, we have a problem." .......... "Failure is not an option."

The flag we are standing under was (I believe) the backup flag that went to the moon on Apollo 11 mission. Ironflight then took us over to the Rocket park.

Last of the pics from our Cayman Islands Trip

After the Johnson Space Center personal tour, Ironflight left us at Space Center Houston where we enjoyed the rest of the day.

It was then back to the Dye-Hose houseold for brisket that Ironflight had on the BBQ all day. That meal took us into the evening with much hangar flying.

In the morning, we flew over to Liberty Municipal for fuel with Dave & Avril Forster who then led us into Pecan Plantation for a nice 3-ship overhead approach. We visited my many RVers including, of course, Scott & Tanya Card who hosted us in their home a few nights before (thank you both VERY much!)

Martin & Claudia Sutter and Tom & Bonnie Lewis took us in for the night since we were unable to fly north due to weather (I was going to the Tulsa area for the night and the Zilik's were heading to Colorado).

We took a group picture before departing Sunday morning for Terry County airport (BFE) in Brownfield for fuel then we said our goodbyes and went our separate ways.

The Ziliks flew towards Front Range near Denver, and we continued on to St. Johns (AZ) for fuel then Payson (AZ) for dinner. We departed Payson just after sunset ~2000 (PDT) for a smooth 2.5 hour flight home at 10.5K (with flight following and oxygen ;-) There was no moon for most of the flight so TruTrak was my friend!











Tanya & Scott Card, Gary Zilik and Tuppergal.


Tom Lewis, the Ziliks, Martin Sutter, Bonnie Lewis, Tuppergal, Claudia Sutter and me ;-)




Looking north up the mighty Rio Grande with Albuquerque at the base of the mountains.


Ran out of pics since it was dark when we left Payson!


As I write this, I see that we just passed 13,000 view on this thread, and that makes me feel that I was 'taking' many of you along with us!

This trip had us flying ~6720nm, and we put exactly 51.0 hours on the hobbs meter. The engine used 4 quarts of oil, and our fuel burn averaged 7.2 gallons/hour. The lowest we paid for fuel (per gallon) was $2.90 at Pecan and the highest was $5.26 on Cayman Brac.

Many have asked if I'm concerned about "flying over the water". I always share this because it's very relevant: In my lifetime, I've been very fortunate to have survived being hit by two drunk drivers and also survive a freeway shooting (remember those in the new in the early 1990s?)

I'm just fine with flying (over water, at night, cross-country), and I believe the most dangerous part of the trip is the drive to the airport ;-) And with proper maintenance, plenty of fuel, and staying away from the bad weather, we are probably going to get to where we are going.

This all said as I approach my 30th year as a pilot come this July 16th. Of course, each pilot has to determine their own 'comfort level'. Gary Sobek's mantra always rings in my head on every cross-country flight: "I'd rather be a live chicken than a dead duck". You can find this and other musings here.

Now if you've enjoyed reading this entire thread, and I've got your attention since you are still reading this, you can be one of the first to know that I'm planning another RV flying adventure in 2011 to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Axel Alvarez and Mike "Kahuna" Stewart have family in PR and St. John respectively, and "Turbo" Ed Darcy has a place on Virgin Gorda. Please e-mail me directly (don't post to this thread please), and I will add your name to this "list" of potential fliers ;-) The list always starts out big then shrinks as we approach our TBD departure date ;-)

Thank you again for following our trip across the USA to the Cayman Islands and back! And if you ever find yourself in Southern California, please stop in (and/or stay) at our home on the Rosamond Skypark (L00 Rosie & Tuppergal

Rosie said:

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I enjoyed the trip vicariously Paul. Let's change the caption on this one to "Looking north up the mighty Rio Grande River with Albuquerque at the base of the mountains."

The Rio Grande has declined greatly, but the Pecos (in Eastern New Mexico) is hardly a river at all in most places.

Edit: Well nuts. Rio Grande River is, of course, redundant. Maybe just Rio Grande.

From Rosie: Honest Larry, I had you in mind when I wrote "Pecos River"!!! Here's the real Pecos River looking southwest...