John & Anne Wiley

2010/07/28

Soo x 2

Filed under: by Anne,Flying,NxNW Adventure,Random — Anne @ 16:19

Hi – this is Anne and I thought I’d make a little entry,  to add another voice to our experiences.  So many things occur to me, so maybe this will be a start for me.

Currently we’re in Sault (pronounced Soo) Ste. Marie in MI. It stands for the Rapids of St. Mary. John had heard of this place while living in Canada, so he was curious to check it out.  We discovered there are two towns, two sides of the border.  – a city name and border shared by the U.S. and Canada.  When we set our destination mid-air with ATC they asked if we were going to “American Soo” or “Canadian Soo” 🙂

We’ve been camping for 4 nights, so last night we checked in to the “Soo Locks” hotel,  a lovely place – took a long-awaited shower, and then a soak in the jacuzzi which is in the bedroom! Hair washed, ahhh, and clean all over, we’re sitting in the room catching up.  We decided to stay here another night, not camp, and rest up before taking off.  The weather was a factor in that decision.

We hear there are Locks – I always enjoyed seeing the ones in Seattle when I lived there, and the charming one in Paris we saw last April with Molly – so we’ll go see them.  A cool thing about these is that they shift water levels between 3 of the Great Lakes (Michigan, Huron and Superior), in one meeting place here in Soo.

I’d love to see a comment from you on the Blog if you’re so inclined.  A little down on the right hand side is also a place you can put your email address that will let you know when a new entry is posted.

We’re off to the Locks, and prior to that heading over to the lunch that is evidently every Wednesday at the small airport where we landed.  That’ll be  a great way to find out more about this lil’ place from locals (who also fly)…

~Anne

Airshow Ecstacy

Filed under: Aviation,Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,NxNW Adventure,Random,Tripp — John @ 15:32

We’re about to go exploring Sault Ste Marie but I wanted to take a few minutes to share some of the photos I finally got time to download. First is my expression just after a flight of P-51s had arrived at Oshkosh on Monday. 🙂

1307 P-51 Mustangs at Oshkosh

1307 P-51 Mustangs at Oshkosh

A kid was staring at this next one asking aloud to nobody in particular, “Where does the pilot sit?” “On the ground,” I replied. After our brief ensuing conversation I paused to stare at it myself, imagining the ability of this machine to watch without being seen and strike without warning. How the world has changed since the P-51, eh? Back in 1945 that plane was scary because you could see and hear it, yet now it is music and art for aviation enthusiasts.

1319 Drone

1319 Drone

What will our world be like in 65 years? Will people painstakingly restore, maintain and fly these for adoring fans when the military has long since moved on to something vastly more scary?

One of the big events for this year’s Oshkosh was to be a mass C-47 flyover. This was another great WWII plane, starting with flying relief supplies over the mountains to China before the U.S. entered the war and culminating in providing the foundation for Allied logistics at Normandy where they again carried supplies and also pulled troop-laden gliders. After the war it was known and loved by many as the DC-3, owned by celebrities like John Wayne (who also flew his), and is still in service around the world. Again my imagination turned to pausing on the beach at Normandy for a moment of reassurance at the sight of reinforcements going to parachute behind German lines.

1320 C-47 Flyover

1320 C-47 Flyover

Here’s the one I mentioned before was using a smoke generator that alarmed some non-aviation observers. I imagined some having been dragged to the show by fanatic loved ones, and others like Anne who had caught the fly bug to become fascinated themselves.

1322 C-47 Smoke Trail

1322 C-47 Smoke Trail

There’s a treat at Oshkosh many people miss: the seaplane base. Just 15 minutes from all the crowds, concrete and stimulation is a quiet wooded lake where people mix air and water.

1336 Seaplane OSH

1336 Seaplane OSH

Click to enlarge and you might make out the mass of planes floating in the distance. This view shows perhaps 1/5 of the planes there, with more arriving regularly. Back at the land OSH base there had been team after team of aerobatic jets arriving, so the weekend show that we’ll miss is sure to be spectacular.

Here are some snaps of the glorious P-51 that was buzzing the runway back at FDL as we were packing up Tripp.

8574 Here Comes Fun!

8574 Here Comes Fun!

8578 Speed & Grace

8578 Speed & Grace

This one was further away than some passes, and even panning with the plane at 1/800th of a second there’s motion blur. With the thrilling speed and distinctive music of the engine, there’s a special grace in the way this plane dances in the air. Can you tell this is one of my fav planes? Sigh…

Here’s a snap Anne took as we climbed up near FDL to have a look at the cloud situation before deciding whether (and in which direction) to circumvent the storm toward our upcoming Canada leg.

1348 FDL Departure

1348 FDL Departure

I’ve added a yellow oval just below the white hangar just right of lower-center in the pic, to show where Tripp had been parked with our tent beneath her wing. You can just make out the other planes still parked on the grass along the taxiway and stuffed into the area around the terminal building at the left edge, but you can’t see the hordes of planes parked along the intersecting runway out of frame to the left.

Last is this shot of Escanaba as we began to approach the Great Lakes intersection town of Sault Ste. Marie.

8607 Escanaba

8607 Escanaba

Well, this quick post turned into quite a photoessay, eh? We’re off to explore…

2010/07/27

Happy Tired

Filed under: Aviation,Flying,Happiness,Inner World,NxNW Adventure,People,Random,Relationships,Tripp — John @ 01:49

There are at least as many kinds of tired for me as there are types of snow for Eskimos. You have hard work tired, stifling heat tired, boredom tired, lack of sleep tired, and on. Today I’m happy tired. I just saw a P-51 flying fast and low, and doing stunts. We had started walking toward the gate to get an early lead on the mobs still watching the stunning stunt plane routines, when that sound snapped my head around. The sound of the P-51 engine is both riveting and enchanting for me. Even when they’re idling, the crackling rumble is distinctive. Mid-stride, I was walking back toward the field to watch. Anne asked if an airplane was in trouble or something, not having my romantic attachment to that sound.

Alas, after a few steps it had already dwindled into the distance so I thought maybe it was leaving the area. Then I remembered the hand-held nav/comm radio I’d just bought.  Finding a seat in the shade I unpacked it and scanned for the “Air Boss” channel (133.85 as I recall). I heard the P-51 pilot report ready for his routine, so we found a better vantage point in the shade and waited. Watching the bone-crushing maneuvers of the stunt pilots was more fun, as we listened to their calm radio calls. How can someone snapping plus and minus 5-10 times the force of gravity sound as if they’ve been sipping beer watching football?

So even after walking several thousand miles today in the muggy sun, I’m happy tired. Again though, I didn’t bring along the stuff needed for sharing photos! 😦

We talked with several experts about valve failure potential in 0360 engines, and got some new ideas for what to look for in assuring our engine will be solid for another thousand hours of flying. Most notably pulling the exhaust manifold open and inspecting the exhaust valve shaft near the head for signs of rust or pitting. Another suggestion was to get the much more expensive “valve wobble” test, though experts are quite divided on whether it’s definitive or even better than much cheaper tests like the “bore scope” exam Tripp had just before our departure. We’ll think about it all, and then talk to our mechanic when we get back home.

Even with all the things to see and do though, the most fun part of AirVenture (I still think of it as Oshkosh), is people. The people you hear talking about all things aviation as they stroll past gives me the feeling of being in my flock. If I say bore scope to my psychologist friends, they wonder if it’s a new objective boredom quantification tool. (Actually, it’s just a little tv camera and light on the end of a flex shaft that mechanics stick into the guts of an engine to have a look inside without all the work of taking it apart)

People we talk with are always fun and interesting. Aviators and the people who love them are just birds of a feather I guess. We know what it’s like to skim between white fluffy clouds, or avoid scary thunderstorm cells. We’ve tasted the joy of watching the world unfold in dream time. We share the pride and affection toward a complex anti-gravity machine. Each of us has felt the tug to take flight when a plane passes overhead.

Speaking of which, I’m getting really twitchy to fly! Watching all these planes coming and going, the display and stunt flights, and all the planes and flying gear, well … I’m ready for some air in my hair!

Tomorrow our tentative plan is to go for a couple of hours and then fly out in the afternoon or early Wednesday depending on weather. Kinda adds to the happy in our tired, knowing we’re still pretty early in this big North by Northwest adventure. 🙂

2010/07/25

Pierre & Dry Oshkosh

Filed under: Aviation,Flying,Has Photos,Inner World,NxNW Adventure,Random,Tripp — John @ 02:00

We’re tied down and the tent is set up at Oshkosh. Sort of, as I’ll describe. But first let me tell you about Pierre. The capital of South Dakota seemed like a good choice when weather indicated that the prudent pilot would let go of flying to Minnesota last evening. This was after an absolutely magnificent flight along the Grand Tetons and over some of Yellowstone. I didn’t bring my camera chip to this wifi hotspot, nor did Anne bring her camera, so the photos will have to wait. Too bad, because we really like some of them and would love to share. What I can do is show you our route from Jackson Hole.

07/23-24 map

07/23-24 map

Gasping our way along the breathtaking Tetons we toured part of Yellowstone on our way to the lake. After leaving Yellowstone Lake, we crossed the high plaindotted with RVs and tents, for a stretch and some fuel in Sheridan. We decided to head up into MT, but realizing how far we hoped to go in the day we made a jaunt up to the closest airport (Red Lodge) to have a look. It was of course the doorway to entirely new vistas, so we decided to go back on another trip. We headed direct to Mt. Rushmore not knowing exact location, so it was fascinating to see detailed human faces appear on the rock face above a large parking area with tourist facilities. I’ve wanted to see it for years, and am glad we finally did – without the driving. 🙂

We hoped to reach or at least get close to Oshkosh, so we headed direct. When we realized I’d forgotten about crossing a time zone and figured out the local time and sunset, it became clear we’d stop at the Eastern border of SD. The weather had other ideas, as thunderstorms had recently moved across our path. Again we decided to err on the side of caution and diverted to the state capital of SD: Pierre. After finding out how quickly we could get the tent set up (3 hours), we slept. At the crack of dawn we were up, and decided to accept the kind offer of a loaner car to tour the lovely little city. Back at the airport we got the gear all sorted back into Tripp (whom Anne said in the morning looked “confused”), checked weather and got an early start on the long flight to Oshkosh. Well, early in that we took off at 10am! We started encountering other pilots going to Oshkosh, and that did a lot to enhance our excitement.

After some discussion we decided to go take a peek at ND, having already diverted a bit North due to the storms. We found it looked quite a bit like SD, so after a stretch in the small Ellendale airport plunk in the middle of glorious wildflowers we at last headed direct for Oshkosh. This route took us directly over Minneapolis, which had been a factor in our choice of glimpsing ND. We’d both been there by car years ago, so we already knew that more vistas await our return on another trip. The tops of the broken clouds kept inching up until we were at 11,500 for half an hour keeping clear of them (thank you Tripp!), and even then it involved some detours among the tallest towers of fluff. At least it was a welcome change from bouncing along in the turbulence lower, and we booked along at 150mph or so getting about 20mpg. So after a beautiful view of Minneapolis we stayed high until about 40 miles from Oshkosh.

Now, approaching the mother of all fly-in aviation events involves a 30-something page set of procedures, and the controllers are (to put it mildly) stressed so you want to have a clue. At the 30 mile mark you check the ATIS (weather and info), and that’s when we found out Oshkosh is closed. What?! Well, you may have seen the news about airport flooding in WI, and the grass areas of Oshkosh are especially muddy today. So before we got there, they’d closed the airport to all off-pavement activity (parking airplanes and camping). We heard stories of people sinking up to their ankles, so the thought of parking Tripp in that has zero appeal anyway. So we again diverted – this time to a friendly airport named Fond du Lac. One of the airport volunteers said they’re calling this the “Dry Oshkosh.” Tripp is tied down, the tent is filled up with stuff we probably don’t need, and we’re off to sleep. Tomorrow we’re sharing a cab with some other aviators, for a fun drive over to look at the Fly Market (flea market for aviators). The actual show starts Monday, and our current plan is to leave Tuesday or Wednesday before the next set of storms approaches. Busy times ahead, and some say it’s as much fun as pilots can have without flying 🙂

2010/07/23

Jackson to Jackson

Filed under: Aviation,Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,NxNW Adventure,Random,Tripp — John @ 05:09

First some catch-up: Tripp’s cover didn’t last. I tore it this evening trying to pull it tightly closed. The faulty instrument turned out to be the auxiliary fuel pump (working fine, but noisy and seldom used so I didn’t think to check if the switch was on!). The fog didn’t lift until 10am, and we heard on the radio it was clearing at SBA then too (oh well). We didn’t actually take off until 11am.

Because we had full fuel, Tripp flew more like Flash used to with a lighter load. Well, not that sluggish. But we did need to divert North a bit to climb over the Sierra Madre before turning direct to Kernville. On that detour we passed close to the Jackson estate so I snapped this.

8034 Michael Jackson's Neverland

8034 Michael Jackson's Neverland

So just after takeoff, our trip began with a Jackson moment.

Since things were going well,  just past Bakersfield we turned slightly more North heading toward Tonopah and crossed the Sierras not far South of Mt. Whitney. Tripp faithfully hauled us up to 10,000′ or so, and Flash couldn’t have done that even without the baggage and 64 gallons of fuel aboard. Go Tripp!

8047 High Sierras

8047 High Sierras

I think one of the peaks is Mt. Whitney, but I haven’t figured it out and of course it looks different on every flight due to the different angles we see.

The valley presented the unusual as usual. This time the colors, textures and shapes were different not just due to our different route further North and flying higher, but also the rainy spring. I like this snap on its side, because my eye is less trapped by knowing what it is so I can more fully enjoy the Art of it.

8056 Geo Art

8056 Geo Art

I love so many of the photos from today, but I’ll skip ahead so this doesn’t get too long. Wish you could fly along with us and see how much more magnificent our planet is, than words or photos can begin to describe.

8074 Tonopah

8074 Tonopah

We stopped at Tonopah to check weather and stretch our legs. There are some fascinating decrepit old WWII hangars there, and this new building at the other end. Turned out it was too hot for a real walk and their internet wasn’t working. So back aboard our magic for more enchanted memories.

After a full day of glorious flying and geographic art, we arrived at today’s other Jackson: Jackson Hole, WY. We’d only been here once, as part of a long driving trip decades ago. So fun to see it from the air coming in, and tomorrow we’ll probably go for a closer look before continuing on toward WI. For now, we sleep, and dream about this unbelievable day.

8163 Jackson Hole WY

8163 Jackson Hole WY

Smoke clinging to the peaks appears to be from a wildfire. Hope it’s clear tomorrow.

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