In spite of a good night's sleep in my own bed, I am dragging on Monday. Too much hibernation this winter, I am out of shape. But I force myself to get out and walk, do laundry and prepare for the next leg of our journey. Gene calls and reports that Peggy wants me to come early so she has someone to hang out with and I agree to come Wednesday instead of Thursday. On Tuesday, I am feeling rested. Go to the "Y" early and do 1.5 miles on the elliptical before yoga. I am fretting about what time to leave the next day to miss the worst of Atlanta traffic and still do all those things that I have to do at the last minute when suddenly a light bulb goes off in my head. Hey, I am feeling rested, I bet I can do all the things I need to do in three hours, I can just leave today. And so, I am on the road a little after 1PM for Shelbyville, TN. Beautiful day for a drive, but windy and I fight the Suburban all the way. I do not like driving it anyway, but Gene is donating a large water tank to the Flagsh
ip foundation.
I arrive at the Shelbyville airport about 4:30 central time. George Dennis is sitting on a bench out front, computer in lap, phone to ear. George is the founder of the foundation and originally found and bought the plane himself. He lives here in Shelbyville, a really lovely place as you see in the photos. Gene is teaching a class of 11 in the conference room and I let him know I have arrived, then sit in the lobby with my computer. George comes in and drops the bombshell that the Seattle leg of our trip is canceled! Oh, pooh!! This was going to be my favorite part. The current plan is that we will go to Ft. Worth and wait there until time to go to San Francisco. Well, a million thoughts are going through my head, most of which involve clothes and lodging.
Gene finishes teaching around 6 PM, he has been at it for 10 hours!! And yet, the guys do not bolt when it is over, but stick aro
und chatting. As you can imagine, making plans for the evening with all these people is daunting, but we eventually we head to the bar at Legends restaurant where we hear that Steve and Peggy are having a drink. Peggy does a double take as I had not told her of my new arrival time. Eleven of us move to the dining room for dinner. The food is always good here, but for some reason, we seem to turn them into a tizzy and the service is really rough tonight, but a good time is had by all anyway.
Finally around 10PM we arrive at George's "cabin," sometimes referred to as the "double-wide," which is really his second home on a grass strip about ten miles out of Shelbyville. See photo. Some folks live locally and some are in a motel. Next morning I keep the car and arrive at the airport about 9 (the guys got there at 7:30). The airport currently is home to 4 cats, up from two last year. Luckily I have taken my meds. The guys are in for a briefing but shortly they take off and shortly land again with a broken cowl flap bracket. ( See next photo of diagnostic inspection.) George has a mechanic on site in what seems like minutes and they are soon in the air again. This is the day that many of them will do the required three take offs and landing
s to stay current. Gene will also school them in preparation for those who do not yet have their type ratings to qualify.
Peggy arrives in her rental car and we take off for Bell Buckle, a nearby historic town. We have a long conversation with the 40 year old owner of one of the antique shops. His parents bought what was the town's dry goods store complete with contents 40 years ago for $750. The original contents are displayed high on the walls and consist of clothing and accessories from the century before last. Wow! Now he is running this shop and his parents are running the ice cream parlor around the corner. We lunch at the town restaurant, renowned for its good ole country fare and we are not disappointed.
Then it is back to work. Our mission is to drive to Murphreesboro, 23 miles north, to Publix for vittles, as we are grilling steaks at George's very lovely in town house tonight. We get back to George's late afternoon just as the fly boys are finishing up. Peggy does a marvelous job of preparing a meal in an unfamiliar kitchen while I go to retrieve people and run errands. George's wife is off visiting a new grandchild. We return to a nice spread of appetizers and I help with final meal prep. We have a great evening and a good dinner with strawberry shortcake for dessert. We think there are around 14 of us, some how a final count is not accomplished. Pilots never run out of stories to tell and there is a lot of laughter. Many times today the phrase "herding cats" has come up and is a valid observation.
Again, back to the cabin late and tired. This morning the boys are off again to give the other half some flying time. They will make a training run to Nashville and in the process drop two guys off to catch flights home. I am taking time to catch up on email and write the two blogs. Peggy reports a power outage at the motel and so she has gone to the airport unwashed to try to use their computer to do some banking prior to her shower. So we will hang locally today and find some adventures tomorrow. Word is we do not leave for Ft. Worth until Saturday. Peggy's boyfriend, Steve, has offered us a room at his condo on the square there which is within walking distance of lots of good things.
ip foundation.I arrive at the Shelbyville airport about 4:30 central time. George Dennis is sitting on a bench out front, computer in lap, phone to ear. George is the founder of the foundation and originally found and bought the plane himself. He lives here in Shelbyville, a really lovely place as you see in the photos. Gene is teaching a class of 11 in the conference room and I let him know I have arrived, then sit in the lobby with my computer. George comes in and drops the bombshell that the Seattle leg of our trip is canceled! Oh, pooh!! This was going to be my favorite part. The current plan is that we will go to Ft. Worth and wait there until time to go to San Francisco. Well, a million thoughts are going through my head, most of which involve clothes and lodging.
Gene finishes teaching around 6 PM, he has been at it for 10 hours!! And yet, the guys do not bolt when it is over, but stick aro
und chatting. As you can imagine, making plans for the evening with all these people is daunting, but we eventually we head to the bar at Legends restaurant where we hear that Steve and Peggy are having a drink. Peggy does a double take as I had not told her of my new arrival time. Eleven of us move to the dining room for dinner. The food is always good here, but for some reason, we seem to turn them into a tizzy and the service is really rough tonight, but a good time is had by all anyway.Finally around 10PM we arrive at George's "cabin," sometimes referred to as the "double-wide," which is really his second home on a grass strip about ten miles out of Shelbyville. See photo. Some folks live locally and some are in a motel. Next morning I keep the car and arrive at the airport about 9 (the guys got there at 7:30). The airport currently is home to 4 cats, up from two last year. Luckily I have taken my meds. The guys are in for a briefing but shortly they take off and shortly land again with a broken cowl flap bracket. ( See next photo of diagnostic inspection.) George has a mechanic on site in what seems like minutes and they are soon in the air again. This is the day that many of them will do the required three take offs and landing
s to stay current. Gene will also school them in preparation for those who do not yet have their type ratings to qualify.Peggy arrives in her rental car and we take off for Bell Buckle, a nearby historic town. We have a long conversation with the 40 year old owner of one of the antique shops. His parents bought what was the town's dry goods store complete with contents 40 years ago for $750. The original contents are displayed high on the walls and consist of clothing and accessories from the century before last. Wow! Now he is running this shop and his parents are running the ice cream parlor around the corner. We lunch at the town restaurant, renowned for its good ole country fare and we are not disappointed.
Then it is back to work. Our mission is to drive to Murphreesboro, 23 miles north, to Publix for vittles, as we are grilling steaks at George's very lovely in town house tonight. We get back to George's late afternoon just as the fly boys are finishing up. Peggy does a marvelous job of preparing a meal in an unfamiliar kitchen while I go to retrieve people and run errands. George's wife is off visiting a new grandchild. We return to a nice spread of appetizers and I help with final meal prep. We have a great evening and a good dinner with strawberry shortcake for dessert. We think there are around 14 of us, some how a final count is not accomplished. Pilots never run out of stories to tell and there is a lot of laughter. Many times today the phrase "herding cats" has come up and is a valid observation.
Again, back to the cabin late and tired. This morning the boys are off again to give the other half some flying time. They will make a training run to Nashville and in the process drop two guys off to catch flights home. I am taking time to catch up on email and write the two blogs. Peggy reports a power outage at the motel and so she has gone to the airport unwashed to try to use their computer to do some banking prior to her shower. So we will hang locally today and find some adventures tomorrow. Word is we do not leave for Ft. Worth until Saturday. Peggy's boyfriend, Steve, has offered us a room at his condo on the square there which is within walking distance of lots of good things.
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