The Rear-view Mirror is in the Back Seat Getting a Rear-view

The Rear-view Mirror is in the Back Seat Getting a Rear-view

Roy and I floated. We floated for days. We floated off the grass strip at Oliver Springs International Airport, just outside of Oak Ridge, TN, but closer to Oliver Springs. We floated up, up and way up over strato-cumulus clouds that were ambitious enough to grow in to cumuli and nimbus. I had no idea that you could file an IFR flight plan to leave a grass strip, but you can. 

The clouds mostly cleared over Arkansas, and in particular over Lake Ouachita, (pronounced WASH-It-Aww) where I was surprised to see a lake below that looked like a smaller, broken up, scattered version of the San Juan Islands. The lake is a huge body of water, where some thousand year old native american spirits tossed shale and quartz across a small inland sea, and the rocks became islands covered with trees and shrubs. Roy has for many years told me that this place is one of the most beautiful he has been to and I can see why. 

The lake is where Roy's family gathered every other year or so for family vacations since about the 1960's. The first generation to gather their children on houseboats for a week of swimming, skiing, family dinners, card playing, rock skipping, and story swapping has left the world, and the second generation gathers with the third, who are young adults and the forth, who are young children and early teens. 

We floated in, on, and around the lake for two days. We shared meals, drank beer, bloody Marys, and vodka infused sweet tea. We floated on blow-up floaty things with drink holders drinking beer. We read books, took naps and got too much sun. It was BLISSFUL. I tried "tubing" which is being pulled behind a power boat way too fast on a large floaty-thing. The youngest member of the clan, 8 year old Gabriel was my tubing buddy. She taught me all the hand signs – thumbs up for go faster, thumbs down for go slower, OK = OK and, waving the hand in front of the throat for I'm done, Stop Please. Gabriel and I were towed slowly. This allowed us time to play mermaid. We were mermaids being pulled by Sea Horses, on a beautiful sea shell. Gabriel looked like a mermaid with her golden blond hair and blue, blue eyes.

On the day it was time to go home, I could not, so we stayed and floated another day. Roy floated on pool noodles. He held my feet while I floated on my back, arms out-stretched under the sky, dotted with clouds, dragonflys, and vultures. In the evening we held hands and watched the sunset from the deck of the boat, while bats flitted by. We fell in love some more again 

Last bit of Sunset

Then we had to leave. My little buddy Gabriel came to see us off. I hugged her tight, and told her I would for sure call her on her birthday, which was the next day.

Gabriel and I

Then we floated off, up and away, across more lakes, and trees, and in to Oaklahoma where grass gathers up and rolls in to hills and trees roll away to ponds and rivers. We floated under dark clouds broken up with shafts of evening sunlight that bent down to wide, square cut, cultivated fields, across Kansas, and in to Nebraska. We floated down, down in to warm evening air, to Nebraska.

We had dinner at Farrs Family restaurant, where the owner has over 2500 cookie jars, and that does not include the christmas cookie jars. It was the most amazing collection of cookie jars I have ever seen. You just never know WHAT you find find exploring this country!

While we were getting fuel, a small private jet pulled up right next to us. I pulled out my camera to take a picture, thinking the scene illustrated our "Rock Star" lifestyle. The passengers in the plane got out and started taking my picture. I waved. They waved back. Then came over to see our little plane. They thought it was the _Coolest_Plane_Ever (rightly so). They told me they left New York a couple hours ago, and would be in San Jose, Ca. that night. I told them that's great, but they travel way too far up to actually _see_ the country. I could tell they had not really thought of it like that. 

Fellow Rock Star Adventurers

The next morning we will hopped back in to our airport courtesy car, back to the plane, and back across country, back home.The car's rear-view mirror is in the floor in the back seat, facing backwards. This trip has been amazing, wonderful, exploring, playing, laughing... floating. We will keep many, many fond memories. But I think we'll leave the looking back to the rear-view mirror, and we will keep looking forward... to Life's Big Adventure!

Some Stories do not have a clear beginning, middle and end

Some stories do not have a clear beginning, middle and end. Life is about not knowing...

Gilda Radner

Meadow at Buckhorn Inn

This is supposed to be a travel log and as such should have a well defined sequence of events. However time has taken on a twisting, helixical shape, like the swirls of mist brushing gently along the dense, green hills and valleys in front of me. Birds whose whippoorwill, chattering tweeter, tweeter, tweeter, high, clear sopranos are unfamiliar to me sing out from the trees.

Little Pigeon River

The draw of these Smoky Mountains is irresistible, and if you do not fall completely in love, you are at least drawn in to a sweet romance. The kind where you return year after year to meet your lover in the same hidden cabin, when summer leaves have a hint of the changing season. 

The cabin is off the highway, down a gravel road, that runs along a tumbling, clear river. The road is lined with a low, stone wall, painstakingly built by a homesteader a 100 years ago, and with rhododendrons, birch and maples whose canopies reach up to the sky, across the road, and hold hands with trees who drink from the river on the other side. Everything here drinks from the river, and the humid air. 

Cades Cove Cabin

To get to the cabin from the gravel road, you climb stairs built in the stone wall and walk past a graveyard. Most of the graves belong to babies, one or two days or one or two years old. A moss roof covers the cabin, and sweet sunlight dapples down through oak leaves. There the mountains wait for you.

Yesterday Roy and I floated down the Little Pigeon river in big, fat, yellowinner tubes. We had a BLAST! The water was clean, cool, just right for swimming. The river banks are crowded with dense foliage and stacked gray layered sandstone. We floated past summer cabins - family get-aways decorated with all manner of water toys and hammocks, clean, crisp villas of the well-to-do, and shacks with chicken wire decks and Jesus Saves, No Drinking, No Drugs signs, and the occasional camp-ground and RV park. We bounced, swirled and spun through small rapids. Wooo Hooo Fun!

The river was low, and so was my butt in the water, so I kept getting stuck on the rocks. I passed by a teenager breaking off a tree branch on shore to make himself a pushing stick. "thats a mighty fine lookin stick you have there" I called out. He replied "Thankya ma'm you may have this 'un an I'll make myself anuther" and tossed me the stick. Such is the way with all the people we have met here - incredibly gentle and kind.

Roy and I eating ice cream after our float trip

The stick made me a river navigator par excellence and I scooted through the little rapids with no more butt-hangy-uppy. I was scooting thru a little rapid and started to bounce past a little girl whose inner tube was stuck on a rock and her mama was getting away from her. mooomaaaaa, she cried, so I stuck out my stick and said "grab on" and we floated down river to where her Mom was waiting for her where the river slowed. Two kindnesses with one stick. The entire time the theme from Daniel Boone played in my head - Born on a Mountaintop in Tennessee...

Evening found us at the Buckhorn Inn, where I sit now, overlooking a meadow and mountains and misty, swirly clouds and time has another meaning, except Roy has the car packed and we must be off to other adventures.

Roy on the patio at the Buckhorn Inn

The InBetween Things

The InBetween Flying Things

After flitting across the great, wide plains states in our Magic Carpet, Roy and I landed at John C Tune airport just outside of Nashville, TN on July 4^th. This is where our Tennessee exploration and adventure began, and we have done and seen several things, in addition to spending time working on airplane repairs at rural airports. Here are some of the highlights:

We walked the dozen blocks from our hotel past Noisy, Crowded Honkey Tonks to the waterfront to watch Fourth Of July fireworks. There were about a MILLION BILLION people who also wanted to watch fireworks, and it was so crowded near the water we could hardly move. We retreated to several blocks back, thinking that we were probably not going to see fireworks this year. We were almost back to the hotel when the fireworks started, and the display was SPECTACULAR.(Denise, thanks for the photo!)

The next day Roy and I visited the Parthenon, near Vanderbilt University. It is a replica of the real Parthenon in Greece. The history of the place was interesting, and we saw a spectacular art exhibit. I would never have expected Roy to stay awake for an art exhibit, let alone enjoy it, but he did, and so did I. The display featured photographs that are modern recreations of classical works. The Artist was Juan Pont Lezica.

In the afternoon we drove out to the Riverview restaurant on the Cumberland River. This was a favorite stop for Roy and his brother Alvin when they took motorcycle rides out to the country during their Vanderbuilt days. Roy had fried catfish, and I had fried scallops. We both had fried Okra. Do you see a theme here? Lunch would not have been complete without HUSHPUPPIES and sweet tea. For dessert we shared a bowl of banana pudding, with a crust of 'Nilla wafers. This was so good, it was all could do to keep from licking the bowl clean! Here is a pic of Roy on the dock in front of the river. Several years ago, this place was flooded all the way up to the roof!

Roy at the Riverview Restaurant

Before leaving Nashville for Piney Creek airpark the next day, Roy took his high school friend, Denise for a flight in 174RT. She said she had so much fun, she had tears in her eyes. I'm very glad she could experience the joy and freedom of the Magic Carpet, and it was a reminder to me of how very lucky I am to have the privilege of being Roy's Favorite Passenger! 

Roy and Denise

Yesterday I was Patient

Part of our mission for visiting Tennessee is to explore possible places to retire. To that end, we visited Piney Creek Air-park, a short hop in the airplane outside of Nashville. Piney Creek features a beautiful paved runway cut in to the trees on a wooded Plateau. One of the impressive things about Tennessee is there are trees as far as you can see in any direction. And hills. The entire state is one continuous, rolling range of hills, lakes, ponds, rivers, and canyons that I understand are called Coves.

Joe is one of the partners at Piney Ridge Air-park. He greeted us warmly, and took us on a tour of the three houses which constitute the beginning of the small community, showed us future plans for the development, and took us on a short drive to town. It was all very pleasant, picturesque, and quite rural. We thanked him for the tour, then climbed in the plane, ready to take off for Oak Ridge, where we planned to spend the next few days.

As we rolled down the runway, the engine sputtered, coughed and backfired, and when Roy pulled back on the throttle, the propeller stopped turning. We were both Very Glad we were not yet in the air. Joe and another fellow had been watching out take off. They came over immediately to offer assistance. The fellows towed the plane to a hangar, and called Wayne, the local Guy Who Fixes EveryThing, to come over and offer assistance. 

Before long there were 5 or 6 guys in the hangar, all lending a hand. Joe handed out bottles of water, then took me to the local corner market/deli/restaurant to get sandwiches. When we returned to the hangar, he showed me where the fishing poles were, and told me about the Big Bass that lives in the pond off the rear deck of the hangar. I inquired enough about the engine to know that Roy and N174RT were in good hands, and I retreated to a deck chair with my kindle and a fishing pole. Did I mention is is HOT here? So hot you can barely move hot. Spend all day with a film of sweat on you hot. Do nothing but sit in a chair with a Supersize cup of iced sweet tea and read all day hot.

The pond behind the hangar with the Big Bass

I SERIOUSLY missed the northwest, my daughter, my boat, my garden, during this time. It did not feel like vacation. But what is one to do? All of the fellows helping with the plane were over-the-top incredibly nice, friendly, warm and welcoming, and they provided unwavering help in sorting out the issue with the plane. Its hard to be pouty in such circumstances. By the time Roy finished a test flight and was feeling good about continuing on, the sun was starting to go down. Wayne operated several small cabins nearby, all of which were full, but offered for us to stay with his Mother, whose house was on the property with the cabins. 

Marianne, our hostess, was delightful. She is 80 years old sharp as a tack. Loves to fly. And makes wonderful creamed corn. And blueberry pie. If that was not enough, the blueberry pie was served with Roy's favorite - Blue Bell Ice Cream. The three of us sat on the screened-in front porch, eating pie and ice cream, and Marianne told us about her years operating a chicken farm and raising cattle on the property. She sold the cattle and stopped raising poultry when her husband passed, then Wayne, who she readily attests CAN fix everything, built the small cabins and put in a RV park on the property. It is a wonderful place for cabins, as it has a small lake, and a spectacular view of a valley and misty mountains beyond. 

In addition to drinking sweet tea, reading, fishing, enjoying the warmth and hospitality of our hosts, I also took pictures of bugs:

Cricket on the deck

Butterfly in the hangar

And listened to the twangy rich way that people talk here, like the gentlemen we chatted with outside the local grocer, where you can buy breakfast cereal and chicken feed.

And in the morning, stretched out my yoga mat, and breathed in the salty, woodsy, marshy, moist air from the pond, and the misty ridges draped in green beyond.

Navigators Log Star Date July 4th, 2012

There is no real love without fascination

quote from Mink River by Brian Doyle

 

     We left Mustang Micky's just after dawn. The full moon was rising in the west, opposite the broad glowing orange in the east. We skirted the top of the Rockies, then dropped down in to the plains states.

Roy with N174RT at Mustang Micky's in Helena, MT.

We passed by Big Horn Canyon National Recreation Area, near the Montana\Wyoming border. The Canyon is layers of burnt orange, brown and green. It is the opposite of the mountains we left behind, Upside down, sharp, one peak or ravine folded tightly against another.

The Rockies as we leave Montana for Wyoming

     Breakfast/Lunch today was at D&B's in Ainsworth, Nebraska. The front porch was sagging more than slightly, and held up by 2x4's at a slight angle. The shelf on the inside entryway was decorated by a nativity scene, the kind you buy at Walmart that tries to make all the characters look real, even thought baby Jesus was not a white child. A wooden craft store sign behind the cash register said "Life is Short, Eat Dessert First". An ancient metal, paint peeling, Pepsi Clock decorated the opposite wall, where blinds were drawn against the sun. The daily lunch special was written in red marker on a small dry-erase board. We sat down at a table with two gentlemen, one older, one much older, who were about to dive in to the special, which was pan fried chicken, corn, mashed potatoes and gravy, and a little side dish of square cut custard pie. We skipped breakfast to get miles under us while it was still cool-ish and I was so hungry I nearly grab one of their plates away from them.

 

      While we waited to be served, the one not so old gentleman asked me if I was from the class of '74. No, I replied, '79. Oh, he nodded knowingly. The much older gentleman said class of '62. I nodded politely, thinking maybe this was the way people greeted each other on the planet of Ainsworth, NE. I did feel like an alien, with my sporty sun-glasses and iphone on the table in front of me. Roy asked if there was a class reunion happening. The not so old fella said "Yes, we're all here". I wondered who "All" might be.

     Betty stopped by on her way out to chat with older and much older. She had been well, thank you very much, since the doctor helped her with the numbing pain down the side of her leg. She was thin, lithe, stood very straight despite the many soft folded wrinkles that were once a young, energetic face. Much older said he was not so well, Those Folks had Asked Him To Leave, and now he had to find a new place. Not so old, nodded, his head down, "He's been giving them a load of grief for sure." Betty patted much older on the shoulder. The two paid their bill after Betty said goodbye, then left, with matching khaki shorts covering ample sitting area tucked firmly between their rear smiles.

D&B's in Ainsworth, NE

      Pete and Evelyn came in and took a seat behind us. Pete was Ox stout in large blue and white pin-stripped cover-all’s. His huge hands had worked on the farm every day of his life, except for the week when he and Evelyn took a vacation to a lake in Wisconsin. She had held his hand when they walked to the shore, and they kissed, and he thought that was maybe the way romance was supposed to feel, like they showed in old black and white movies. He knew she was stronger than an ox, and had held him, and the farm and the children firmly their entire lives. Now he wore hearing aids, and had to turn them up a bit when the waitress asked if he'd like his usual iced tea. He kept them turned down because the ox sometimes pulled harder on the reigns than he could keep up with at his age now. 

 

      My BTL was on white bread, with a thick slice of beef-steak tomato and lettuce that was almost green. It was delicious. So was the side of coleslaw that was snow white, fine chopped cabbage all rolled and soaked in in mayonnaise, sugar and vinegar. Roy ordered half of the lunch special. We shared the square of custard. It was grainy, baked to fast, and wonderfully creamy and sweet.

      The waitress with her faded pink tee-shirt, and pony-tail long and straight down her back, noticed me eying Roy's chicken thigh. "Would you like a piece of chicken, darl'in? I have extra, ya know." Yes, yes, I would. Can I have a wing? She smiled broadly, "a wing it is". Oh my goodness, yummy, crunchy, greasy goodness!

      This country is endlessly varied, and fascinating, from ocean to ocean, mountains, canyons, valleys and all the absolutely wonderful people. What a pleasure and privilege it was to see the country in our airplane on this Forth of July. I love this country!

 

Navigators Log Star Date July 3, 2012

Day 0.25 of our trip to Tennessee. We were a bit slow getting going this afternoon. Finished up work, filled the cat feeder, let cat out, let cat in, clean up after cat, empty dishwasher (that was Roy's idea....I mean really, who does that stuff right before leaving for vaca). Roy did last minute route planning, I stuffed all our gear in the car, then off to the airport, stuffed everything in the plane, then off we went! Whew.... all kinds of songs come to mind, On the Road again... Life is a Highway... or my favorite plane song Magic Carpet Ride (click the link to hear the song)
The first leg of the trip was blissfully uneventful. We soared past the Dalles, marvelling again at how fast the RV-7A is compared to the Zodiac, then whooshed over Lewiston, Idaho, and on to Helena, Montana.
We decended to the valley in 18-30knt winds. wooo hooo in a sailboat - not so much in a small plane.
We are staying the night at Mustang Mickeys, an FBO on the field, right under the tower. We get to sleep in bunk beds tonight :-))))
Here are a couple pics I took enroute:

Wind Farms just past the Dalles

The Rockies

May you have beautiful sunsets

Navigators Log, Star Date June 21st, 2012

The week of June 20^th was stressful week at work. Its a good job, not wonderful.It keeps me intellectually challenged, pays for the sailboat, and hopefully will send my youngest daughter to college. My oldest daughter has opted out of college for now, in favor of a husband.Said daughter lives in Delaware and was visiting her in-laws in Puyallup that week. Puyallup is only two hours away from where Roy and I live in Hillsboro. This is where I try not to sound like a nagging parent, but it did hurt more than a little that they went to visit the in-laws and not us. Roy and I flew up to Puyallup to have dinner with them in the middle of the week.

On the flight up I focused intently on enjoying the evening. Forget the work stuff, just enjoy the scenery and the chance to see my little-girl-now-grown-up-woman. Dinner was pleasant. SO VERY wonderful to Hug My Daughter. I had a tear in my eye on the flight home.

Eons ago when I was at Girl Scout camp, each of us campers were given a little scroll scribed with a saying meant just for us over our last-night-at-camp campfire gathering. Mine read "May there be enough clouds in your life to make a beautiful sunset". I must have had enough clouds that week:

The Summer Solstice was also that week. And it was June-uary. We had plans to spend the weekend on our sailboat on Orcas Island, in the San Juans. I had visions of sailing out of Deer Harbor under a blue sky with crisp breeze filling the sails. Instead the sky was gray and drippy. Flying up to Orcas was a no-go unless we were willing to be in the soup the entire way. I tried not to be whiny. I missed my boat. I wanted to go sailing. Rain and more Rain. Blech.

Saturday evening the layer of gloom broke up enough for us to fly down to Albany for dinner. On the recommendation of some friends, we decided to try the Cascade Grill at the north end of the runway. The restaurant is set between the Comfort Inn and Holiday Inn. I expected Hotel food. We were pleasantly surprised. The food was GOOD. Not 4-star gourmet, but GOOD.The service was GREAT.

I think the scroll should also haves aid "May some of your sailing trips be rained out so that you can enjoy lovely flights to good food."

Grilled Chicken

Catfish and Sweet Potatoes

And Sunsets... lets not forget the sunsets: