John & Anne Wiley

2009/10/12

Back In Time

Filed under: Aviation,Big Adventure,Flying,Has Photos,Nature,People,Relationships — John @ 02:58

Today we flew back in time. Taking off from the old airport with history back to the early years of flight we detoured back over Akron, which we’re told has been taken over by the university. Despite our best efforts to get the short distance into town last night, everyone kept nudging us into the burbs by the new airport. Just as well, because it was easily the best hotel we’ve had yet and a great deal (the same price as the motel we’re shivering in tonight but we won’t talk about that). Even if it’s all about students, we still enjoyed it from the air.


As we turned back east toward Clarion, PA I could feel a gentle shift in time begin. I found out three years ago that my paternal ancestors were in that area back into the 1700s. It wasn’t just that this area had the most colorful foliage we’ve seen yet. There was something about flying over ground my fathers had hiked, farmed and hunted when no human had ever seen the long view we enjoyed today. We decided not to land and rent a car for the short drive up 66 to Crown where my grandfather was born. Instead we circled and took a couple of dozen photos to study in detail. I hope to be the first from our line of the family to return and stand at the pond in this century.

We went northeast a ways past Bradford, then turned east at Hamilton to pass Albany. I think NY is the first state we’ve flown over without landing. It was 25F outside the plane today at 5,500′ so we were glad to have a good heater! Since we’re headed for Maine while weather is “warm” tomorrow, we decided to save NY for several of our stops later. Instead we landed at sunset in Bennington, VT. We’ll probably make a Keen stop to touch NH before heading northeast past the White Mountains to the area around Flagstaff Lk, ME. That’s where Anne’s research tonight indicates the best foliage colors. Then we turn SE to Bah Hahbah (Bar Harbor in Maineian) for a stop recommended by our dear Maryellen where she has roots. Maybe we’ll stay there, or somewhere around Portland. Tuesday night we hope to reach our first fixed destination of Waterbury, CT to meet Dad. Hope we get to sleep earlier tonight, so we can get back in time.

2009/10/10

Sunny Houston

Filed under: Aviation,Big Adventure,Flying,Has Photos,Nature — John @ 01:33
This morning was rainy in Dubuque, so we talked the hotel shuttle driver into a quick detour to the river just so we could peek at the Mighty Miss. There stands an old shot tower next to a former brewery on the river walk. The tower has no connection with the kind of shots you might associate with beer. This was a tower they poured a stream of molten lead from. It passed through a mesh that made it into lead droplets that then fell into the water. This resulted in lead shot for muskets or some such weapon.
Since it was rainy on our intended route to Chicago and we have an airplane, we decided to visit sunny Houston. Not in Texas though, this one is in the vast forest reserve at the southeast corner of Minnesota. The airport terminal is slightly larger than the phone booth, both dwarfed by a magnificent barn in the distance.
We flew along the Mississippi a bit, and enjoyed the mazes of little islands that evoked images of boys rafting downstream.

We headed for Chicago just as sunset approached, chasing the storm that had been keeping us away earlier. A few minutes before landing there were two short vertical rainbows bracketing our path as if an invitation to the windy city. This pic out the passenger window shows the rainbow that was on our right (toward the left of the pic).
Tomorrow we’ll look at weather and decide whether to explore Chicago or fly along the lake shore for some pix and the continue on our way east.

2009/10/08

Heaven and Heartland

Filed under: Aviation,Big Adventure,Flying,Has Photos,Nature — John @ 05:21

Today feels like a week since yesterday, partly because we landed in four states. We started in Liberal, KS where I got an aerial photo of Dorothy Gale’s place complete with a new yellow brick road.

Almost on cue for the Oz story, a sudden and ferocious storm sprang up and we passed smoothly but cautiously under what looked very much like the eye of a brewing tornado that probably would have picked up the Gale place again but for high level winds that interrupted the process.

We breezed along flying slow yet going half again our maximum speed, due to a smooth and powerful tailwind. Had we climbed higher where it was faster, we might have doubled our max speed, but we wanted to stay low enough to enjoy the incredible scenery.
We stopped for a quick break and some fuel in Kingman, KS only to realize the storm was racing along right behind us.
We passed near Wichita and Topeka to enjoy the sights there and all along the way, but didn’t land.
We pressed on to Falls City, NB where we stopped for a brief taste of an intriguing place. Again the storm was looming, but now it looked more diffuse and less threatening. Still, we decided to keep going while we could hitchhike on the wind.
We stopped for fuel in Maryville, MO where there’s a beautiful university campus with a glorious white bell tower.
Just as the sun set we arrived in Iowa City, IA amid a ferocious crosswind that had us flying at a 45 degree angle to our track just to stay on course. Fortunately the wind dropped to a manageable level over the runway so I was able to land (rather than going to a nearby airport with a runway directly into the wind) after making a low pass be sure. We found a great hotel downtown where we wandered the city center and settled in a jazz cafe for dinner. What an amazing journey this is, and we still have so many Big Adventures yet to come!
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