John & Anne Wiley

2013/03/07

Why?

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Islander Adventure,People,Random,SB Region — John @ 02:26

Sometimes when we go on Big Adventures we wonder aloud, “Why did we ever leave Santa Barbara?” It’s not that we’re snobs, nor that there aren’t other parts of the continent that are spectacularly beautiful. It’s not even all the excellent arts, culture and fun entertainments here. It’s not reason at all. Just a gut reaction when we fly over local scenes like this.

4731 Why Leave This?

4731 Why Leave This?

We live in a modest low-rent place so we can afford to be here, and we scrimp on everything else so we can fly. But maybe we still enjoy it more than some of the people living high on the hillsides in mansion estates like these.

4729 High Life

4729 High Life

I guess the secret to happiness is being happy with where you are and what you have.

2013/03/06

Islander Adventure

Filed under: Aviation,Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Islander Adventure,Random — John @ 09:44

Well, we’re seriously talking about another Big Adventure. This one we’re calling our Islander Adventure because our biggest new destination is the Bahamas. Getting there would involve flying about 55 miles across the water from West Palm Beach, Florida.  About five minutes of that flight would be beyond gliding distance to land, but the water’s warm and there are lots of boats that could give aid. We have lots of planning and packing to do, both before we go and along the way. Here’s our initial idea for a route.

Islander Adventure Route

Islander Adventure Route

As you can see (a little more clearly if you click to view the largest version) we also hope to fly the Florida Keys, and go beyond Bahama possibly all the way to the Virgin Islands. The southern route across the country would of course be our likely path East, coming home on a more northerly route. In case you’re wondering about the little jag on the border at Texas, that’s Big Bend that looked fascinating from a distance when we landed at Marfa, TX.

Weather will pretty much decide our timing and route. Like when an overnight stop on Prince Edward Island turned into a week. Or when we went to lovely Dubuque, IA because we couldn’t get any further from Iowa City where we’d taken off half an hour earlier.  So I smile looking at this map.

Whim will be the second largest factor. “Oh, that looks interesting,” has led to many diversions on our prior Adventures. What sorts of whims will we encounter in this Islander Adventure?

Islander Whim

Islander Whim

We’re bringing “Sev” our new Nexus 7 tablet with the great free Avare aviation app that’s going to pay for Sev with savings on FAA charts and documents, while making them much easier to use in flight. Maybe Anne will post some notes here on Sev along the way, and I’ll hopefully do some here on my MacBook named “Art.” Even if our words and pix aren’t interesting for anyone else, they’re fun for us to read because they bring back a flood of wonderful memories. Hope you’ll enjoy flying along with us! 🙂

2013/02/28

Green & Blue

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,People,Random,SB Region — John @ 01:37

Green is an earth color, and a shade like this nurtures the eye.

4713 Nourishing Green

4713 Nourishing Green

It’s also nourishing those happy cattle down there. It’s also quenched by that sparkling blue sea, with a dash of warm sand. This expanse is so close to town, yet worlds away in a distant simpler era.

4711~14 Color & Shape

4711~14 Color & Shape

The shapes eating down into the green from the beach are painterly to me, so maybe some day when I’m too old for flying I’ll attack this memory with a brush. This next one, not so much. It’s about people and our collection of Things, huddled in service of a humble quest for another $ort of green.

4715 Tidy Tools

4715 Tidy Tools

2013/02/26

New Views

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,People,Random,SB Region — John @ 09:25

“My eyes more and more, like a sea without shore, continue expanding, the heavens commanding.” Blake

Every time we fly I see new things, and familiar things look new. Like how the control tower at SBA that I’ve flown past many hundreds of times, looks against the sinews of our furry green hills.

4692 Tower Anew

4692 Tower Anew

We took a tour and met some of the controllers so now Anne sometimes waves as we pass, though I doubt they ever notice. They’re a great bunch of people, and we very much appreciate the many ways they and their colleagues across the country have contributed to our enjoyment and safety in flight. Thank you!

Out past the Bacara hotel I noticed for the first time some features along the coast we’ve flown so many times. Like this beautiful grove sandwiched between freeway and beach. We need to walk there!

4698 New Grove

4698 New Grove

How did I never notice the cool shapes made by this bike track being traversed by two surfers returning from the beach?

4709 New Shape

4709 New Shape

Extra-terrestrial visitors might hover over that shape trying to decode the meaning. To me it is a pattern in the sands of time, left by humans enjoying motion to be enjoyed by me moving across the horizon.

2013/02/22

I ♥ 2 Fly!

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,People,Random,SB Region — John @ 21:48

One Minute Or Less: The time it takes for me to be in Bliss after takeoff.

I’m that guy. The one in a commercial airliner with his face mashed against that foggy little window for the entire flight. The one walking down the street who looks up at the sound of a passing plane. The one who built model airplanes as a child. The one who looks at this pic from yesterday’s brief flight and takes a deep breath.

4677 Deep Breath

4677 Deep Breath

No matter that there was a light haze in the air. While it made this less a postcard photo, the Heiligenschein was accentuated and a certain softness of the light added to my bliss.

I also enjoyed looking at the surfers who themselves were enjoying the surf around Coal Oil Point in this same light.

4682 Surfing the Point

4682 Surfing the Point

Though far away, this crop and zoom came out well enough that someone might recognize the surfboard. From my days as an avid body surfer, the right hand stroking the wave shoulder is really dreamy.

4681 Touching Bliss

4681 Touching Bliss

Sometimes I can “feel” the gentle waves of air around Tripp, and it’s like surfing. Or watching a hawk effortlessly ride the sky.

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