Home From Gaston's Thread

We have our days too. My favorite day of the year is the one where we don't have to swing the gear during the annual. Pop two inspection panels in the floor, 2 minutes in each one with light and mirror and good to go. Depending on how hard the bounce was today.

It was actually just a little bounce, but the runway was wet and I was playing it safe. ;) Didn't want to end up in the swamp...:frown2:
 
Great to see y'all again!
Thanks to everyone for the things you did to make it fun, safe.

Steve See - Airboss supreme for life! (and designated emergency checklist reader/copilot)
Spike and Jesse the movie guys
Jesse for online efforts
Troy the Poker Run guy, also the liveATC work - also got us all a fuel discount at bpk.

add the ones I've forgotten below please! I am three steps beyond 'way too tired' right now!

there are some driving, need to include them in this thread - Troys family; about a 10hr drive? et al...
 
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there are some driving, need to include them in this thread - Troys family; about a 10hr drive? et al...

YES, wonderful time and great to see you all again this year, and new faces too.

We're home safe after a long drive... ran into strong thunderstorms west of Fayetteville, drove up INTO one of the clouds--that was cool. I logged 0.75 IMC on the way home. ;)

We left 3M0 at 10:30A and pulled into the driveway at home just before 8:00P, including stops for gas and lunch.
 
Leslie and I are home safe and sound. We decided to do KUNO for fuel instead of Flippin, because that allowed us to move away from the oncoming storm rather than towards it. We took on almost 76 gallons of fuel, so we were at the limits of my comfort zone. They couldn't give us the poker run discount, because it had ended the day before. Troy, next time tell them that the poker run ends on Sunday! The attendant said that similar things have happened in the past, and that they got in trouble for honoring the discount after the event officially ended.

Anyway, we filed from there at 9000' home via airways.

The gear came up properly, both on the way for fuel and on the way home. Leslie calculated a TAS of 170Kts. :)

Gave a shout out to Ted over Peoria, as we were briefly being worked by the same controller. Only posting now because we went to dinner with one of the airport folk.

Felix, we got the tiedowns. Glad they were helpful!
Sharon/Greg, we found the camera case. It had migrated to the plane!

There were a few camp chairs left behind; I think that Pete and Kent took them with. perhaps the owners can claim them at Oshkosh?

We left insect repellent, sun screen, corn on the cob and bratwurst. Hopefully someone was able to make use of them.
 
...still have not heard from Missa, Brian, and Ted....

Ted called me around 830pm-ish ET, said they landed in Williamsport, but he still had more flying yet to do today/tonight. Getting Adam back to PHL, getting dogs to Maryland/Delaware, and then flying his friend back to Connecticut.
 
Made it back to Nashville with one detour to KDYR for a wx check. Landed about 1:00, fueled up and put the bird in the hanger. Got to the house a little before 2 unpacked, repacked and left for BNA for a 3:50 flight. I'm now in D.C. for the week. Whew, what a day!

Thanks to all who attended, gave rides, chatted, set up the "theater", participated in the poker run, cooked food, etc. and help make this weekend one of the best weekends of the year!! :yes:
 
I think I might get run out of town on a rail if I don't bring the RV next time. :rolleyes:

Think??? Try "know." ;)

There were a few camp chairs left behind; I think that Pete and Kent took them with. perhaps the owners can claim them at Oshkosh.

We didn't take any chairs - Though I didn't notice any when we left. Maybe Greg and Sharon collected them? I dunno. :dunno:
 
Gotta love GA. I woke up in Oklahoma this morning, am about to go to sleep in Pennsylvania, and traveled about 1500 nm. Total straight line distance for the extended weekend was about 3400 nm, but with the detours we had I'm sure it was significantly more.

I finally landed about 1:15 AM back at Williamsport. After picking up Missa and Adam in Peoria, we flew to Williamsport (a convenient fuel stop) and dropped off Missa. I figured that way at least she would get a good night's sleep. The storms in Oklahoma delayed us a good sum, so we got a significantly later start than initially intended, but at least Adam and Missa (I think) got to go to brunch.

Continued on to Wilmington, DE to drop off Adam with Gary Mascelli and one of the dogs, then up to Bridgeport, CT to drop off my friend and the other two dogs. Last hot start of the day (I think I may finally be figuring out how to do this) and I dodged a small, but heavy, thunderstorm cell back to Williamsport. FlightAware was not doing so hot today, and not tracking my progress very well.

Many thanks to Bruce for flying Adam and Missa up when the weather made getting from Oklahoma to Gaston's difficult. Being able to go north to Peoria made the trip easy all around, with no other significant weather to speak of. I know there's much more, but I'm pretty tired right now, so I'll post more tomorrow.

New states on the map: Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Illinois, Deleware. How's that for a weekend? :)
 
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Glad you got home okay Ted, I've got first dibs on a ride if you come next year!
 
...still have not heard from Missa, Brian, and Ted....

Sorry, I was so tired that when I got home I took a shower, cleaned up and went to bed. I know, I should have checked in.

I didn't expect to get dropped off first, but the diversion to Peoria made Willamsport an acceptable fuel stop.

I just talked to Ted, He beat me into work. He has to be running on straight caffeene because he couldn't have gotten much sleep.

Missa
 
Yes, they did! I can't believe how much flying you did this weekend. Wow!

Neither can I. I need an oil change.

So does the plane. ;)
 
Glad you got home okay Ted, I've got first dibs on a ride if you come next year!

I was sorry that we didn't get a chance to go flying this year, Tristan, but next year for sure! I just need to make sure we have a total of 4 human souls on board (the dogs don't usually contribute to AvGas) to make the fuel price tolerable.

I just talked to Ted, He beat me into work. He has to be running on straight caffeene because he couldn't have gotten much sleep.

Yeah, landed back at Williamsport at 1:15 AM, in bed by 2, up at 6. I'm actually less tired than I thought I would be.
 
Made it home fine VFR yesterday with no trouble. The flight was great - not many bumps. Fueled in Mexico, MO cheaply and used the courtesy car to go into town for lunch. We swear we saw Greg's 195 fly high overhead (around 1:30 maybe?) Made a slight detour to Dubuque (where I went to college) to borrow another car and see the river from high on the bluffs of Eagle Point Park. Home before dark and our favorite pizza for dinner.

We really lucked out on weather! VFR on top sometimes and underneath other times. Light rain. Today, wow, MO is getting drenched.

We are happy with the 172B as this is by far the furthest we've flown it, and it was a trusty little machine burning not much oil.

Jim did most of the flying from the left seat meaning he's got lots more XC now than most student pilots. For most legs we tried pure pilotage without GPS or VORs and that was fun.
 
Pulled into the driveway @ 7:40pm. Average ground speed was 58mph. :)

Kathleen pulled her stuff out of the truck and into her car and headed back to Starkville.

Next year will involve less driving and more flying.

After flying with Dave T I was afraid to jinx anyone else so I didn't get any more rides except with Spikealicious when he extracted us from BPK....hehe.

Out to the airport now to see what pieces are ready to put back on the IAR.
 
Hi all. Not home yet.

I'm in Sioux City, and it's raining. I got to Gaston's by going east and then south instead of SE. Going home, I decided to reverse that route. Worked until this AM.

If this system keeps moving N and E at its present rate, I will get out of here later this morning. Or not. So far on this trip, I've been able to stay one step ahead of the weather gods while not having to fly in anything really marginal. If my punishment for angering them is one more day on the road, I'll call that a fair trade.

It was great to meet so many of you at Gaston's. I don't spend as much time on this board, but, since most of us have at least one board in common, I recognized most of the cast of characters. It was good to put faces to the usernames.

Mark
Colt 5381Z
 
mark -

it was great to meet you too (and to fly with you!) have a safe trip home.
 
Mary and I hit our favorite breakfast spot this morning and Adam even gave Scrapple a try. He was last seen walking into the check baggage line at Terminal 'E' for SouthWest and he should be departing PHL around 1:40 for his flight home.

The Mascelli zoo fell in love with Adam, I think our Italian Mastiff would have climbed into bed with him if we let her and the cats would have been trying to find a spot too. None of which is standard operating procedure when it comes to people in the house, they are usually a bit standoffish and slowly warm up. Hmmmmm....maybe it was all those good dog smells from the rescue flight with Ted and company in the Aztruck.
 
Mary and I hit our favorite breakfast spot this morning and Adam even gave Scrapple a try. He was last seen walking into the check baggage line at Terminal 'E' for SouthWest and he should be departing PHL around 1:40 for his flight home.

The Mascelli zoo fell in love with Adam, I think our Italian Mastiff would have climbed into bed with him if we let her and the cats would have been trying to find a spot too. None of which is standard operating procedure when it comes to people in the house, they are usually a bit standoffish and slowly warm up. Hmmmmm....maybe it was all those good dog smells from the rescue flight with Ted and company in the Aztruck.

Adam's just a likeable guy, and the pit bulls we had seemed to like him, as well. :)

Some people just have a way with dogs.
 
I think he may have gotten deep sixed over the Mississippi river somewhere.
 
Well you wouldn't be the first PoA'er to break him.
 
omg, wasn't Monday sooo hard this time round?
ugh, the pain.
thankfully I had visions of the sky full of planes and smiling faces of my aviator friends to carry me through it.

now, to crawl in the belly of the airplane to yank out a basketball sized component through a hole the size of a baseball....in the 100F heat....with the wonderful knowledge that it will cost 1.8 to 2.5 (new)AMUs for them to change a few o-rings, set the pressure!
 
I was in bed by 11pm local both nights. Helped out today. Plus, 11local was my midnight.
 
Today was hard, but not getting to sleep until 2 AM last night and waking up at 6 AM probably had something to do with that. ;)
 
Today was hard, but not getting to sleep until 2 AM last night and waking up at 6 AM probably had something to do with that. ;)

I got home at 2am after my commercial flight from OKC to MSN and the almost 3-hour drive back here. It was a good weekend though!
 
I finally got home home around 7pm. Ugghh work tomorrow :(
 
It sure was a great way to spend part of a Saturday! Seeing some people I hadn't seen for a while and many old friends that I'd never met was pretty cool. Jamie and I had a great ride out and back with her getting to see what a great cross country machine the 252 really is. Who says Mooneys are allergic to grass strips?
 
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I got home at 2am after my commercial flight from OKC to MSN and the almost 3-hour drive back here. It was a good weekend though!

I feel your pain, especially since that 2 AM was 3 AM my time.

Was great seeing you again, Jamie! :)
 
You too Bill! Did we win the "most examples of a type on the field" award?
 
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