Day 5
I have to admit, if it wasn't for the "guests and fish are similar in that
they both begin to stink in 3 days" ruling, I'd probably still be with Rich.
Many thanks to Jill, Rich, and Cindy for putting me up these last 3 nights.
You folks personify southern hospitality.
Myrtle beach was fun, even though I got a bit too much sun yesterday. Rich was kind enough to lend me his pickup truck so I could spend the afternoon on the beach. Small beach chair, good (Dale Brown "wings of fire") aviation related book to read, strong breeze and ocean water warm enough (for my New England blood) to swim in. I thought it couldn't get much better until a young lady came by selling frozen lemonade. Delicious!
Rich and I discovered we have similar tastes in music and both enjoy the Allman Brothers. My son trades tapes and I must have 20 or so live recordings on my laptop which I transferred to Rich so he can catch up on what the band has been doing for the last 6 years. We ate Mexican food last night, and apart from a so-so margarita, it was an excellent meal.
I launched this morning happy to see no hail damage to my plane from last night's nasty T-storm that came right over the house and sent the golfers scurrying for safety (warning signal and all!). I could have done a non-stop to Huntsville, but I got a call from Steve Ulrich who invited me to stop into GYH to meet for lunch. Twist my arm. Steve took me for an excellent Italian meal. Talk about coincidences... Steve works for a company which has an office in Nashua NH, just 4 miles from my home. Not only that, but it is in a building I worked in for 5 years from 88-93 with Digital Equip Corp. Small world I guess. I think Steve and Rich should talk. Both are having trouble with breaking in new overhauled cylinders.
Since Steve travels on business to my home town, and I am looking forward to getting to know him better and returning the kind treatment. I'll try and arrange a NE piper meet the next time he is in town and has some free time. Steve and I have similar backgrounds in software engineering so we found lots to talk about outside of "flying talk" (but it wasn't as much fun ;) After cruising around a bit in Steve's MR2/Spider we were back to the airport and I was off for Huntsville. Steve - thanks! It was good to meet you and I appreciate the lunch.
I arrived at Huntsville after slogging through the tops of small build-ups at 10K. Headwinds and bumps for the first half that improved to just headwinds once I passed Chattanooga (CHOO CHOO is the VOR (lol)). I decided on Signature and wow, for the first time, I found a place where I felt welcome. I find Signature generally (small) GA hostile. These folks were great! $4.05 gas on the weekend, no tie down fee as I bought more then 7 gallons of gas, and they brought me over to the rental car facility. With all the hospitality shown to me from list members, this the first time I've been in a hotel all trip. I figured I would have little to do tonight, and would probably just catch up on email, until... I found out there is a blues festival right around the corner. Sweet. I'll be leaving for the festival as soon as I finish this email. Tomorrow I visit the space center. They have a "space camp" for both kids and a separate one for adults! You can play any of 3 roles; mission specialist, shuttle pilot, or ground controller. There is also a program that allows you to get into a full motion F15 simulator and fly a realistic sortie (after a few days of training). I think Rich mentioned that he got a ticket to space camp as a birthday present. Cool!!!
Ok, time to shower and get out for some night life.
My sincere thanks to Ron, Jill, Rich, Cindy, and Steve for going out of their way to help me on this trip. I'm enjoying the flying and scenery, but its the people that are making this trip extraordinary.
Myrtle beach was fun, even though I got a bit too much sun yesterday. Rich was kind enough to lend me his pickup truck so I could spend the afternoon on the beach. Small beach chair, good (Dale Brown "wings of fire") aviation related book to read, strong breeze and ocean water warm enough (for my New England blood) to swim in. I thought it couldn't get much better until a young lady came by selling frozen lemonade. Delicious!
Rich and I discovered we have similar tastes in music and both enjoy the Allman Brothers. My son trades tapes and I must have 20 or so live recordings on my laptop which I transferred to Rich so he can catch up on what the band has been doing for the last 6 years. We ate Mexican food last night, and apart from a so-so margarita, it was an excellent meal.
I launched this morning happy to see no hail damage to my plane from last night's nasty T-storm that came right over the house and sent the golfers scurrying for safety (warning signal and all!). I could have done a non-stop to Huntsville, but I got a call from Steve Ulrich who invited me to stop into GYH to meet for lunch. Twist my arm. Steve took me for an excellent Italian meal. Talk about coincidences... Steve works for a company which has an office in Nashua NH, just 4 miles from my home. Not only that, but it is in a building I worked in for 5 years from 88-93 with Digital Equip Corp. Small world I guess. I think Steve and Rich should talk. Both are having trouble with breaking in new overhauled cylinders.
Since Steve travels on business to my home town, and I am looking forward to getting to know him better and returning the kind treatment. I'll try and arrange a NE piper meet the next time he is in town and has some free time. Steve and I have similar backgrounds in software engineering so we found lots to talk about outside of "flying talk" (but it wasn't as much fun ;) After cruising around a bit in Steve's MR2/Spider we were back to the airport and I was off for Huntsville. Steve - thanks! It was good to meet you and I appreciate the lunch.
I arrived at Huntsville after slogging through the tops of small build-ups at 10K. Headwinds and bumps for the first half that improved to just headwinds once I passed Chattanooga (CHOO CHOO is the VOR (lol)). I decided on Signature and wow, for the first time, I found a place where I felt welcome. I find Signature generally (small) GA hostile. These folks were great! $4.05 gas on the weekend, no tie down fee as I bought more then 7 gallons of gas, and they brought me over to the rental car facility. With all the hospitality shown to me from list members, this the first time I've been in a hotel all trip. I figured I would have little to do tonight, and would probably just catch up on email, until... I found out there is a blues festival right around the corner. Sweet. I'll be leaving for the festival as soon as I finish this email. Tomorrow I visit the space center. They have a "space camp" for both kids and a separate one for adults! You can play any of 3 roles; mission specialist, shuttle pilot, or ground controller. There is also a program that allows you to get into a full motion F15 simulator and fly a realistic sortie (after a few days of training). I think Rich mentioned that he got a ticket to space camp as a birthday present. Cool!!!
Ok, time to shower and get out for some night life.
My sincere thanks to Ron, Jill, Rich, Cindy, and Steve for going out of their way to help me on this trip. I'm enjoying the flying and scenery, but its the people that are making this trip extraordinary.