Last Great Flying Adventure: Our Tentative Itinerary

Wednesday September 23; South King County --

Exactly one week from today Grumpy (that's me) leaves via American Airlines to fly to Atlanta GA where I will meet Uncle Bob, who will have been waiting for me since early that morning. We will drive in his car to Tuskegee airport where his 1963 Mooney sits, hopefully freshly painted and ready to fly. A photo of the pilots and the airplane will follow.

Our planned route and daily schedule follows:

• 1 Oct: 0800 take off from Tuskegee direct to Merida, Yucatan, Mexico; ~800 nm. Expected flight time, 5 hr 45 min.
• 2 Oct: All day visit with Granddaughter Olivia and her Abuelita.
• 3 Oct: 0800 take off from Merida direct to Kingston, Jamaica; ~600 nm. Expected flight time, 4 hr 30 min.
• 3-4 Oct: Take in Jamaican culture; maybe go snorkeling. Have dinner where steel drum music is being played.
• 5 Oct: 0800 take off from Kingston direct to Aruba or Bonaire; ~400 nm. Expected flight time, 2 hr 50 min.
• 5-6 Oct: Tour this Dutch island; maybe go snorkeling. Feast on seafood specialties a la Netherlands!
• ~7 Oct: 0800 Take off from Bonaire direct to Boa Vista, Brazil, via Angel Falls; ~700 nm. Expected flight time, 5 hr. 5 min. We will try to get better photos of Angel Falls (3200 feet tall) this time, cloud cover permitting.
• ~9 Oct: 0800 Fly to Alta Florista; visit Tony Rossini, the best "shade tree" aircraft mechanic in the world! Maybe go fishing with Tony.
• ~11 Oct: Fly from Alta Florista to Ribierao Preto ("Black River"); ~900 nm. Expected flight time, 6 hr. 55 min. our longest leg.
• 11-13 Oct: Visit at University of Sao Paulo with my sister in law Dr. Adelaide de Almeida, Professor of Biological Physics. Maybe take sight-seeing flight to see huge topographic crater discovered recently in north-central Brazil.

• 14 Oct: Depart Brazil from Sao Paulo International airport direct to Atlanta GA, arriving 0600 15 October; change planes in Atlanta for flight to Seattle, arriving 2230 on 15 October.

Note that all dates and destinations after the first few days are subject to change due to the whims and desires of the primary participants. E-mail updates will keep family posted on actual locations as often as INTERNET access is available. BLOG postings here will also try to be uploaded as often as possible.

A Neighborhood Block Picnic

Saturday; South King County--
A neighborhood couple invited all of us to come for a backyard potluck picnic this past Saturday. One of the purposes was to inventory our collective abilities (and disabilities) in preparedness for any kind of disaster that might befall our area.

Of course, a bountiful table of food was set and enjoyed by all as we became better acquainted with each other -- one of our neighbors was born and raised on a farm near Mobridge SD! A good German boy just like Grumpy!!

The host and hostess, Ed and Arlene, for this get-together are shown here on the right .

A Visit From Young Friends

Monday Afternoon; South King County--

The Grand Mother and Grumpy were honored this past Monday by a visit from a young couple from Bellingham. Vince is a childhood friend of our youngest daughter and has made a remarkable recovery from a very devastating childhood environment and behavior. His own recognition of his need for our Lord's help, together with our prayers and encouragment by letters over more than a decade, gave him the foundation for the new life that he has been living.

Vince and Amber were married eight years ago in a happy event in which the Grand Mother and Grumpy played an important and unforgettable role. Vince had become like a foster son to us over the intervening years.

Vince enrolled in college, studying to become a lawyer, hoping to be able to give juveniles wise counsel from his own experiences. He was offered a scholarship at a Midwest college to get his Law degree and was in his Senior year at college in Bellingham when he was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. He was able to complete his undergraduate degree with the cooperation of the college and a very supportive and understanding wife. His illness has so far prevented him from considering further studies. Amber became the primary provider and continued her studies at WWU, obtaining her Business degree just this past June.

Their visit gave us the opportunity to have dinner with them while we visited about old (and new!) times.

Dinner with Ruth at the Mongolian Grill

Wednesday Evening; Rainier Avenue --
Earlier this evening, Grumpy and the Grand Mother were honored with dinner, courtesy of our younger daughter, "Nancy Nurse". The meal was enjoyed by all of us (after all, we each chose our own melange of meats, vegetables and seasonings) and of course the company and conversation were most delightful as always. The occasion of her visit was to meet her husband, "Buffalo Bill", who was scheduled to arrive at SeaTac about 8:30 pm this evening.

After the main course, we each opted to get the complementary small dish of ice cream which comes with a "fortune" cookie poked into the top of the scoop of ice cream.

Grumpy was first to read the little paper strip that had come from his cookie:

• "You deserve to have a good Lemon Meringue Pie after a hard day's work", Grumpy solemnly intoned, glancing hopefully in the Grand Mother's direction.

Grand Mother did not take the bait and the table remained quiet for just a moment. Then Nancy Nurse removed the strip of paper from her cookie and read:

• "Your father is full of baloney."

We all erupted in uncontrollable laughter, as we all (especially Grumpy!) recognized the undeniable truth of that statement.

Grumpy is convinced that, whether it is his Philosopher-Grandson or his Nurse-Daughter, they both have it in their genes to come up with "smart" retorts!

Home-Grown Tomatoes

Wednesday; South King County --

Well, after repeated woundings of Grumpy's pride by his seeing Monya's bountiful tomato patch and Heidi showing off a photo of a big platter-full of her tomato harvest in an e-mail attachment, Grumpy finally has a picture of some tomatoes to salve his badly wounded pride. Mind you, Grumpy had been jealous all summer of the beautiful tomato plants (and their developing fruit!) located on the Bale Ranch as well as nearby in Monya' garden. By comparison, Grumpy's puny "upside-down" tomato plants had indeed been a disappointment. But today Grumpy finally gets even!!

Pictured here (above) is the latest handpicked, home-grown, vine-ripened tomatoes nestling snugly in the Grand Mother's big fruit bowl. Now if these big red beauties don't cause your taste buds to pucker, you just aren't a fresh tomato lover like Grumpy and the Grand Mother. Maybe Grumpy will even depart his low-fat diet tomorrow and have a BLT sandwich. [Yum!!]