Around the USA in a Mooney

10 September thru 10 October 2013; Various daily locations--

As part of this flight around the United States, Grumpy diverted to Turkey with Uncle Bob and his lovely wife, Adelaide. But that story will have to wait; tonight I want to tell you about Bob's and my adventure in the Mooney [his airplane, but with my newly earned "Complex Aircraft Certification", I got to fly it!]. We left the Mooney's home base here in the Northwest early on a foggy morning September 10th. We refueled in Billings MT and stopped for an overnight at Clyde Ice Airfield in Spearfish SD. While in Spearfish, we had dinner out with our cousin Bitsy. "My bad" is that there are no photos from that meeting.

The next morning, we took off for a relatively leisurely flight to Ankeny IA [near Des Moines]. Sister Hazel met us at the airport and we stayed a day or so at her house before catching the "midnight bus" to Chicago for our flight to Istanbul Turkey. The bus ride turned out to be almost an all night affair, as traffic and a blow-out tire on the bus conspired to delay our arrival at O'Hare airport until almost six o'clock the next morning, 12 September. We joined Adelaide at O'Hare where the three of us were to board our plane for Istanbul scheduled to depart about noon that day.

Seven days later, we arrived back at O'Hare after an exciting and eventful six days seeing the sights and experiencing the sounds, foods and smells of Turkey. Again we [Bob and I] took the express bus back to Des Moines where we spent a few days visiting with Sister Hazel. We wanted to convince Hazel to accompany us in the flight around the Eastern parts of the USA. She finally agreed when enticed by the promise of a visit with her daughter-in-law, Siv, and her Grandchildren in Champaign IL; also her younger daughter Kay in Blacksburg VA, as well as getting to visit her Niece Jane in MD, her Nephews David in NC and Ward in VA, and a "Mystery" cousin, Willa, whom none of us had ever met, in Savannah GA.

Uncle Bob visiting with Kari;
Aunt Hazel listening in background

We flew the Mooney on 27 September from Ankeny to the Champaign airport, where we rented a car for the drive into Champaign to meet Siv. [All flights for the remainder of this Post will be in the Mooney, with Grumpy as "Captain" and Bob as "Navigator".] We enjoyed a very pleasant evening dining and visiting with Siv, Kari, Sofie and Olaf. Bob and Kari seemed to have a particularly good interchange. Grumpy's hearing handicap prevented him from overhearing enough to comprehend the context of their discussions. We stayed this night in a motel about 50 miles West of Champaign; some kind of event at the U of Illinois had all of the nearby motels booked solid.

On the 28th of September we flew to Blacksburg (Western Virginia Tech Airport). Kay picked us up and we had dinner together. We also visited Kay's horse ranch where she has a large [larger than she would like, if you ask her!] number of horses. Most are "Pony of Americas" [a registered breed developed from Appaloosa and Welsh pony -- with a little Quarter horse stock thrown in], but several are Norwegian "Fjord" horses.If Grumpy had a larger acreage -- or had a fence around what he has! -- he would sure like to have a pair of the Fjord's! [I could sell the lawn mower, and not have to hire a kid to mow my lawn next Summer!]

The next day, the 29th of September, we flew to Fayetteville SC, where we rented a car for use for the next two or three days. First, we were to meet Bob's friend and sometime boss, Dr Daryush Ila. While waiting for Dr Ila, we toured some of the historic sites in the town of Fayetteville. 

After breakfast the next morning, 30 September, we drove North to Raleigh NC to have dinner with Bob's son David and wife Julie. After dinner, we drove back to our hotel in Fayetteville.

The 1st of October found us flying from Fayetteville to Savannah GA. We rented a Prius this time; Grumpy [the designated driver] was befuddled for several minutes before he figured out how to start this car without a key and how to shift gears with the seemingly unresponsive shift knob. With that confusion settled and after reserving motel rooms for the night, we phoned for directions from our Cousin Willa and ventured forth into the suburban wilderness to find where Willa and her husband Chuck live. 

Grumpy, Cousin Willa, Uncle Bob, Aunt Hazel
 Chuck Baisden

This visit with our "long-lost" Cousin Willa had the most surprises for us of any that we experienced on this entire trip! Her husband, Chuck, is a veteran (one of the last four living!) of the famous Flying Tigers group that flew out of Burma, over "the Hump", prior to our entry into World War II. Willa is a couple of years older than Grumpy, but she is a lot nicer than Grumpy ever was. 

Chuck is a few more years older, but is still able to navigate on his own. He authored a book* about his experiences as a Master Chief Sergeant in the "Flying Tigers" [the American Volunteer Group (AVG)] and its subsequent organizational names and assignments of duty. The artifacts from his affiliation with that group as well as other items he has collected as a hobby since retiring, fill an entire room in their house. It was a great honor and privilege to meet this man and a pleasure to finally meet our cousin, with whom Grumpy has been corresponding via e-mail for the past year or two.

Willa called a local eatery from which we enjoyed some of the foods for which Savannah is famous, including crab cakes. 

After a good visit and receiving an autographed copy of the book that Chuck authored, we drove the Prius back to the motel for our night's rest. The next morning, Grumpy recorded over 60 miles of driving and had to "click off" the gas pump four times in order to get it to take more than one gallon of gasoline.

Aunt Hazel, Neil, Ward, Jane, Uncle Bob

On 2 October, we flew northwesterly from Savannah to Fredericksburg VA where Ward met us and drove around most of the D.C. "going-home" traffic to get us to Frederick MD where we met Bob's daughter Jane, and husband Neil. We enjoyed dinner and a visit with them, and then stopped by their home and Jane's downtown studio for a look at some of her stained-glass artwork. She markets her glass art work under the name of Trilobite Glassworks. [Jane is a Paleontologist and a student of microbiology.] Some of her art features enlarged realistic images  of such things as microbes and malaria germs. [How would you like to eat your dinner on a plate in which were embedded images of typhoid larvae?]

Stratford House; birthplace of Robert E. Lee

After our visit with Jane and Neil, Ward drove us back around D.C. to his and Peggie's home near Colonial Beach VA where we were warmly welcomed, fed and watered. We stayed two nights in Ward and Peggie's home. Ward drove us to some historic sites which were not open due to the government shutdown. One memorable site that was open (owned and operated by a private foundation) was Robert E. Lee's birthplace. Ward also drove us to the site where John Wilkes Booth was captured (and killed); he and Peggie took us to an excellent restaurant in the village of Colonial Beach where we enjoyed crab cakes and other special seafood dishes.

The Mooney at Fredericksburg

On 4 October, Ward drove us back up to the airport at Fredericksburg where we departed for the 300-mile flight down to Huntsville AL, landing on the turf strip at Moontown. Bob had some things he wanted to drop off there, as well as some things that he wanted to pick up from there. Hazel stayed in the home of Bob's friends in Huntsville [which he "house sits" when he is in the U.S. and they are at their home in Brazil]; Bob and Grumpy checked into a motel nearby.

The Mooney at Moontown;
Time for an oil change

After breakfast on 5 October, Grumpy ferried the Mooney over to a paved runway about ten miles from Moontown. This was because Grumpy was uneasy about attempting to take off from the turf strip with the near-limit gross weight we would be carrying in the Mooney for the long flight to Ankeny IA. On the way from Huntsville to Ankeny, we had to dodge through a frontal system that was sweeping across the Mid-continent. With Bob navigating, including monitoring the lightning detector instrument, and directing Grumpy's flight path, we were able to negotiate the front without incident.

Bob and Grumpy spent a couple nights at Hazel's home visiting and helping collect fruit and vegetables for canning before setting out on our flight West to home base. We took advantage of this opportunity for viewing and photographing Hazel's cacti that were blooming in an outside cactus garden.

Grumpy called our Cousin Bitsy, who lives in Spearfish, to check on the local conditions there, as this would be our first stop for an overnight before embarking on the long flight leg over the Rocky Mountains and Cascades.  Bitsy informed me that the Northern Black Hills had suffered a four-foot snowfall with winds which piled up drifts such that I-90 was closed from Chamberlain to Gillette WY! Clyde Ice field in Spearfish would likely not be open and, even if it was, there would be no ground transportation to enable us to get to a motel, and obviously we would not be able to visit our Black Hills cousins. 

Dahl Lungren, Uncle Bob, Cousin Barbara Lungren;
Mooney at Broken Bow

A "southern route", through Nebraska and southern Wyoming, was deemed more appropriate. Hazel informed us of some cousins who live in Broken Bow NE; Grumpy thought of his Granddaughter, Amy and family who live in Oregon! So it was that Bob and I took off on 7 October for the two-hour flight to Broken Bow. We met our heretofore unmet Cousin Barbara and her husband, Dahl Lungren. Cousins Darry and Marvin Weber, with their wives, Dolores and Gaylene, drove up from Arnold to visit with us also.

After our overnight stay in the Arrow Hotel in Broken Bow, Barbara and Dahl met us for breakfast the next morning and then came out to the airport with us. Dahl showed us his crop-spraying aircraft and a beautifully-restored Cessna that belonged to their son. He also used his on-field ATV to tow the Mooney over to the fuel station, thereby taking a strain off of Grumpy's still-healing back if we had had to push the aircraft over to the station.

"Great Grumpy" and newest
Great Grandson Samuel

We flew from Broken Bow to Boise ID for an overnight in a nearby motel. The next day, 9 October, we flew from Boise to Valley View Airfield near Estacada OR. An airfield resident spotted us after we landed and kindly gave us a ride to the Fox Motel in Estacada where we booked our room for the night. Amy's husband, John, picked us up on his way home that afternoon and we had the pleasure of a home-cooked meal in Amy's house, as well as a good, long visit with Grumpy's Great Granddaughter, Elianna and her four brothers, Malachi, Amos, Ezekiel and Daniel -- Grumpy's newest Great Grandson, Samuel, who Grumpy saw for the first time since his birth in early September, was sleeping and didn't have much to say even when he woke up later.

Daniel, Elianna, Ezekiel, Amy, Uncle Bob;
Mooney at Valley View Airport

On 10 October, we left Valley View with our intended destination being the West coast Mooney base. However, as we neared our destination, we could see that low-lying clouds made our approach and landing prohibitive [we are both VFR-rated pilots and in any case the visibility on the ground would have prevented an instrument landing given the equipment in the Mooney].  We turned back to land at the Troutdale airport where we remained overnight,  booking a motel on the other side of the field from where the Mooney was tied down.

On the 11th, after watching the satellite weather picture, hoping for a break in the cloud cover to the North, we finally decided to take off with sufficient reserve fuel to fly all the way to Arlington airport and then return if necessary to Troutdale. As we flew over the Seattle area we saw that the low cloud cover persisted. However, as we approached the areas further north, the cloud cover had been pushed south by the prevailing air currents and we were able to make a clear landing at Arlington. A quick call to daughter Susan got us a ride to her home where we enjoyed her usual hospitality of dinner and a place to sleep overnight.

The 12th of October dawned with the promise of good flying all over, so Bob and I took off for the last leg of our long and divergent flight home from "Around the USA in the Mooney".

*"Flying Tiger to Air Commando", by Chuck Baisden [Schiffer Publishing, Ltd]