The Difference of a Day

Yesterday was a gettin down the road day and today seemed more like a vacation. Again, Gene hopped out of bed and was off the the showers before 7 AM. He REALLY wants to get to cool air. The outside temp was 70, much cooler than a corresponding time at home for the last month. As we progressed into the mountains, the car thermometer stayed in the 70's. We stopped late morning for brunch and it was about 75 with a nice breeze. The vistas of the Shenendoah mountains and valley are breathtaking.

We have planned a detour into West Virginia to see the Greenbrier Resort. Gene has flown Ted to the area several times as he owns property in the area but he has never seen the hotel either. We take a scenic drive which is delightful. A meandering path through small rural communities and farms. Many, many historic buildings. Great sights! A wrong turn takes us a few miles out of the way and I suggest we turn around in the circular drive of an inn....which was where Ted had stayed and where Gene and Alan had joined him for dinner one night. Finally we are approaching the hotel and traffic is rather dense. As we near the entrance, we realize with shock that this is the weekend of the Greenbrier Golf Classic. There are scads of cars, people, signs and so forth EVERYWHERE and here we are in this huge Suburban pulling a camper. We can barely make it down the street. Discretion being the better part of valor, we say that we most certainly have been TO the Greenbier and decide to watch a video tour on the web. We wind and crawl our way through the cute little town of White Sulphur Springs and keep on trucking. Forgot to say that earlier on the scenic drive we saw the remains of another resort from days of old at Salt Sulphur Springs.

Once while we were winding between two moutains, suddenly I heard a VERY loud noise that to me sounded like something scraping and I was just sure the camper had broken loose and the tongue was digging into the pavement behind us. I jumped a mile, grabbed the door and cringed! Gene died laughing. It was a fighter jet going over. What he was doing that low in the mountains, I don't know. Gene says training.

Around four we pull into Walnut Hills KOA, a little off the beaten path in the area of Staunton, VA. It is off the beaten path because it is on the grounds of a property that was part of an original grant of 118,000 acres from the King of England. The same family owned it until the last one died off in 1965. The campground is in its 41st year. The office is the old stables and across from it is the original house which dates from the late 1700s. The house now belongs to a separate owner and , in fact, is a wellness spa. See photos of the house and office.

This is a nice shaded campground with Christian Creek winding back and forth through it. The original owner's name was John Christian, a relative, I am sure. Lots of grass, huge pool, lots of stuff for kids. They were showing a movie tonight. The creek is dammed up into a pond where people can fish.

It was about 80 when we arrived, much cooler now, we have the windows open. Gene is ready to move to Virginia. When we were near Lexington, Gene said there was a pasture that would make a good airstrip and there could be houses alongside. And then we look and about a mile farther there was the airstrip with three planes parked there. So now Lexington is his fave for a place to live. It really is pretty country!! Tomorrow night we will be in Central Pennsylvania.

The Saga Begins

To leave home for several weeks is daunting. I have been making arrangements for weeks, to get all bill payment online, the papers stopped, the mail, plants, fish and yard cared for. And then there is always the "what did I not think of?" Nevertheless, after a nervous week, the last two days I felt calm.
Our goal was to leave home at 8. I rose and started doing things in the kitchen, planning to wake Gene later. Fifteen minutes later, he walked in and said, "Oh, heck. Let's just go." So we were out 30 minutes early. Beautiful, but of course, scorching day. We headed north at Greenville, went through Asheville, and ended up near Johnson City TN. We are actually about 3 miles from the Bristol raceway. We enjoyed the mountain vistas on the drive and the car thermometer actually got as low as 80 at one point. But this is lower altitude, so still pretty hot.
The facilites here are nice, a pool, pavillion with ceiling fans, a lake that you can almost see from where we are, nice bathhouses. The sites? Not so much. We are parked behind the office in a gravel lot with no shade, no picnic table, no fire ring. We did not unhitch nor put up the awning. The AC had a hard time with all that direct sun. But the place is quiet. Looks like most people are on extended stay, but most of their sites are neat. The folks at the office are very nice and they have a nice brochure, cable, wifi.
We did go for a swim and enjoyed it. Time to start breaking camp.

The Rest of the Story

Returning home from errands yesterday at noon, heard a roar and looked up the see the Blue and White DC3 going over the house and headed for a landing. On my way out again around 1, I looped by the airport and they were busily cleaning up their work area and packing. I didn't want to slow them down so just left. Gene said he saw them go over the house again around 3, on the way to Oshkosh, only one day late. As it turns out, a lot of people were delayed in their arrivals due to torrential rains (gosh, we need some here) and standing water on the airport. Some groups were diverted to other airports and bussed over to the show. Many enthsiasts belong to groups like our friend Jim Jones who owns a Swift belongs to the Swift Assoc. and they would arrive en masse. I think I described last April how they have colored lines on the runways and can land six or so planes at a time by telling them to land left or right and on a certain color.

Our friend, Lewis, is sad that we did not go to Oshkosh and is sending me texts and calling Gene several times a day. Our original plan was to go there, then return here and leave for the northeast a week later. It is so very hot, I am so glad we made the decision to do it this way.

So here is the plan for the next adventure: We have always said, when we get rich, we will summer in Maine. Well looks like the rich part will never happen but we are doing it anyway. With the camper, we can do it on the cheap. And therefore, we will leave here on Thursday morning headed north, our route determined by what gets us to a higher altitude the quickest, up through the Shenendoah Valley, through Pennsylvania and then two nights with my cousin in CT. From there it is a mad dash to Boothbay Harbor Maine. We will be in Maine for perhaps three weeks, then in New Hampshire and Vermont for two. We intend to start a leisurely trip home on Labor Day afternoon. UNLESS we end up in New Jersey for a rendevous with the Flagship in mid September. Stay tuned. I will keep you posted on the progress.

The British Effort

For many years now, a DC3 that flew in the Normandy invasion on D-Day in WWII, has languished on the edge of the Covington airport moulderin and wasting, the victim of a financial dispute. Lo and behold in mid June we heard that a Brit had purchased it, planned to restore it and fly it to Air Adventure in Oshkosh, WI. All the aviation folks just call is Oshkosh and it is the granddaddy of all fly-ins. This year is the 75th anniversary of the DC3 and they will be the featured airplane there. Gene has said that the Flagship Detroit, the oldest one flying and the one he flies, is featured in a place of honor near the entrance.

Sure enough a team of about three Brits from Edward Brothers Aviation in London, headed by Clive Edwards showed up and started work. The local EAA chapter (Experimental Aircraft Association which sponsors Oshkosh) gave them some assistance. They had a window of about 6 weeks and worked at least 12 hours a day in the hot sun. Clive and all the "lads" were quite personable and we stopped in about once a week to monitor the progress. This was Clive's 35th restoration. They do a lot of movie work. He is meticulous and methodical.

As the magic day neared, a Scottish pilot, a woman and perhaps one or two others joined the team. The photo above was taken last Saturday as they prepared for their first test flight. Sadly, an engine purported to have only 200 hours on it began to fail and they were only able to make one circle of the field and land. Back on the ground, they immediately began to work on a solution. When Gene went back Saturday night to check on them, a pick-up truck carrying an engine pulled up. But changing an engine is not simple. The latest from Monday is they were planning another test flight and hopefully on their way to Oshkosh this morning, just one day late. Will let you know. The lower photo is just before lift off on the test flight, note tail wheel is off the ground, but rear not level yet.

I was surprised to find about 60 people there for the test flight but listening to conversations realized they were all members of the local aviation community who had followed the adventure as we had. You can barely see a logo below the pilot's window. It says, "No sleep until Oshkosh."