It looked like a nice fall weekend was descending upon Texas, and here I was watching the Shuttle mission from home, on call, with no plans to fly anywhere except up and around. With the Solar Array repair EVA finished up (with wild success I might ad!) by mid-morning, I called the console and asked if anything else was brewing that might need my attention, and got a comforting "all's well" report from the Flight Director on duty. I told him that I'd have my Blackberry and Cell phone, and that I'd be no more than two hours away.....
I quickly grabbed my tent, sleeping bag, ground pad, and a little food, headed for the airport, and was soon airborne for Lake Whitney. I had sent out an email to some of the usual Texas suspects, asking if anyone wanted to meet for breakfast up there on Sunday, since I might be in the neighborhood - and just before I was ready to take off, I got a call from Scorch who already had his gear packed, and said he'd meet me for the night - I guess when you retire, you've got nothing but time on your hands....(it must be lonely, hanging around airports with a tin cup, looking for fuel donations....).
The hour and twenty flight up to Whitney was hazy, but smooth, and I was soon settled into my folding chair, the tent set up took three different placings to avoid a plethora of sticker bushes!), and Ross was landing before I knew it. We decided a hike was in order, walked the length of the runway, then tried the one and only "nature trail" - a path through the woods a little less than a mile, marked with spray painted red and blue arrows on the forest floor - and headed back to camp for a sandwich and crackers - hey, neither of us does this for the cuisine! From then on, it was sitting there talking airplanes and flying and seeing the stars and satellites come out.
We arranged to meet up with Doug for breakfast at Spinks in the morning, and decided it was easier to just stay on DST and get up with th sun. Interestingly enough, we both started stirring when we noticed it getting light - but is was the moon that had come up about an hour before the sun. We walked the length of the runway, and frankly, I think we could have used the crescent moon for take-off and landing lighting if we'd needed to. Even though the park was booked solid with campers for the weekend, we really felt out there by ourselves, since we were camped but the runway, away from eh regular camping areas. A great retreat.
I guess this trip should have been expected - a retired airline pilot and a NASA Ops guy, both planning to go to Petit Jean in two weeks...we needed the simulation to makes sure we were current and checked out! Leaving nothing to chance, we wanted to make sure that we still knew how to relax and shoot the bull....I hope the rest of you folks coming to Arkansas are up on the procedures - we don't want to have to work to hard to drag you along...
RV's - I've said it many times before - can't beat them for instant and readily available transportation - even when your destination is just "outta here!"
Paul
I quickly grabbed my tent, sleeping bag, ground pad, and a little food, headed for the airport, and was soon airborne for Lake Whitney. I had sent out an email to some of the usual Texas suspects, asking if anyone wanted to meet for breakfast up there on Sunday, since I might be in the neighborhood - and just before I was ready to take off, I got a call from Scorch who already had his gear packed, and said he'd meet me for the night - I guess when you retire, you've got nothing but time on your hands....(it must be lonely, hanging around airports with a tin cup, looking for fuel donations....).
The hour and twenty flight up to Whitney was hazy, but smooth, and I was soon settled into my folding chair, the tent set up took three different placings to avoid a plethora of sticker bushes!), and Ross was landing before I knew it. We decided a hike was in order, walked the length of the runway, then tried the one and only "nature trail" - a path through the woods a little less than a mile, marked with spray painted red and blue arrows on the forest floor - and headed back to camp for a sandwich and crackers - hey, neither of us does this for the cuisine! From then on, it was sitting there talking airplanes and flying and seeing the stars and satellites come out.
We arranged to meet up with Doug for breakfast at Spinks in the morning, and decided it was easier to just stay on DST and get up with th sun. Interestingly enough, we both started stirring when we noticed it getting light - but is was the moon that had come up about an hour before the sun. We walked the length of the runway, and frankly, I think we could have used the crescent moon for take-off and landing lighting if we'd needed to. Even though the park was booked solid with campers for the weekend, we really felt out there by ourselves, since we were camped but the runway, away from eh regular camping areas. A great retreat.
I guess this trip should have been expected - a retired airline pilot and a NASA Ops guy, both planning to go to Petit Jean in two weeks...we needed the simulation to makes sure we were current and checked out! Leaving nothing to chance, we wanted to make sure that we still knew how to relax and shoot the bull....I hope the rest of you folks coming to Arkansas are up on the procedures - we don't want to have to work to hard to drag you along...
RV's - I've said it many times before - can't beat them for instant and readily available transportation - even when your destination is just "outta here!"
Paul
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