John & Anne Wiley

2014/06/29

4C to A1

Filed under: 4C Adventure,Aviation,Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,People,Random,SB Region — John @ 01:58

Here’s (probably) my last post about our Four Corners (4C) Adventure. Our last day began in Flagstaff, and flying essentially West we encountered the haze that typically blows in from Phoenix and SoCA. There’s an austere beauty here much like the terrain spreading beneath most of our trip.

1908 Dry Vista

1908 Dry Vista

After crossing the ribbon of green where the Colorado River divides deserts and states we paused in the heat at Victorville. We took advantage of the FBO cheap fast food and drinks, then waited as military helicopters departed ahead of us presumably for desert warfare practice.

1971 Desert Training

1971 Desert Training

Soon the air around us got more moist and cool, and then our beloved California Coast came into view luring us past Ventura homeward.

2052 Cool Moist

2052 Cool Moist

Descending toward SBA past Carp the blues and greens washed the arid desert from our eyes, and filled our hearts to overflowing with a colorful welcome.

2108 Rating: A1

2108 Rating: A1

Of all the places we’ve been, this gets our top rating. We love the people, places and things here so much that coming Home is always powerfully thrilling.

For anyone curious about our route on this 4C Adventure, here’s a map you can click or download to examine in more detail. Often when we return from an amazing exploration like this, people immediately ask what we’re planning next. Right now we’re planning to enjoy Being here in paradise for a while. 🙂

4C Route Map

4C Route Map

2014/06/24

To Sur With Love

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,People,Random,Relationships,SB Region — John @ 05:37

We flew home from a loving family birthday celebration gathering in San Jose today, via our beloved Big Sur. So we’re overflowing with Love. ♥♥

4226 Big Sur Coast

4226 Big Sur Coast

Starting near Carmel a few of the coastal hills along Highway 1 were garnished with fluffy white like these near Point Sur. In places there were also dustings of yellow and other colors.

4200 Coastal Colors

4200 Coastal Colors

If you know us, you’re aware that we have a vast many more pix we like from the flight. But here’s another view of Hearst Castle after we’d savored all of Big Sur, with the legendary swimming pool drained.

4345 Dry Pool

4345 Dry Pool

Morro Rock was wearing a diaphanous cloud topping too, and the sunlight was making a rainbow halo in it as we passed.

4431 Morro Halo

4431 Morro Halo

2014/06/09

Contrast

Filed under: 4C Adventure,Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,Random,SB Region — John @ 07:19

There was a “yarn bomb” in the SB mountains this weekend, and it was quite a contrast with our 4C trip.

3707 Yarn Bomb, Lizard's Mouth

3707 Yarn Bomb, Lizard’s Mouth (click to enlarge)

Most of our rocks have mild colors, compared with the bright yarns woven into patterns and then carefully wrapped around selected rocks in the area named Lizard’s Mouth. The temporary art was removed after the weekend, but it drew crowds while there. But back during our 4C Adventure, the strong wind had kicked up dust so there wasn’t much contrast as we spotted Monument Valley in the distance.

8740 Dusty Monument Valley

8740 Dusty Monument Valley

That same wind also made for strong turbulence, especially on the far side of the rocks. But we passed close approaching on the upwind side for this shot of my fav among these formations.

9031 Statue Family

9031 Statue Family

For me it’s a family standing in a solemn line. A collection of individual columns, with the first two in the smaller left section pressing their “heads” together for comfort. As we passed, the sunny side came into view in context along with a lone column next to the distant butte.

9087 Sunny Side

9087 Sunny Side

But we pressed on toward Cortez, arriving in time to rent a car and drive out for a hike around Mesa Verde. Another major contrast to the flight we’d just made from Page across the fantasy terrain and through Monument Valley.

9310 Mesa Verde

9310 Mesa Verde

It never ceases to amaze me how much contrast flying can put into a single day!

2014/06/01

Alternates

Filed under: 4C Adventure,Aviation,Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Nature,People,Random,Relationships,SB Region — John @ 22:36

Pilots think about Alternates, and visually I also enjoy alternates. Like taking a break from the intriguing formations of reddish rock on our 4C Adventure, to look at pix like this from our recent overnite trip to “shower” love on our recently-engaged niece in San Diego.

3608 Alternate

3608 Alternate

The lush blues and greens of coastal California near Laguna Niguel offer a welcome alternate scene. Aviation alternates include planning for extra airports along the route in case the need should arise, and even alternatives to airports in rare and extreme situations. “In a car you can just pull over,” people say. But pilots know that aircraft are designed and maintained to much higher standards making that a very rare need. Also that most planes glide quite well and most areas offer plenty of safe places to land other than airports. Most areas.

8599 No Airport

8599 No Airport

Beautiful as this area near Lake Powell is, it’s no airport. The day we took off from Page headed to Cortez, CO the idea was to fly past Monument Valley. Since we’d flown that basic route along the lake shore before, my hope was to find a different route farther South. Lest I worry the majority who harbor an unreasoned terror of flight, I hasten to add Fact #1: We detoured along the edge of this unwelcoming terrain.

8593 On Edge

8593 On Edge

As you can see, the inhospitable view toward the lake didn’t match what we were actually flying over. Fact #2: We adapted to the terrain, and climbed higher once we chose a safe route across it at a narrower point with plains on both sides. But along the way we quite enjoyed the variety of slot canyons, sandstone amphitheaters, shallow caves, open spaces, vegetation variations, and majestic buttes.

8630 Butte Beauty

8630 Butte Beauty

I’m learning to understand the unreasoned fear of flying, yet it’s still surprising to me that people will skydive out of a perfectly good airplane yet be afraid to even think about flying in it. 🙂

“Fear is the little-death”     –Frank Herbert

2014/05/13

Air Day

Filed under: Aviation,Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,People,Random,Relationships,SB Region — John @ 07:36

Today was very special for us in so many ways. The most exciting part began when we saw this almost ominous shape appear coming in off the Pacific over SBCC evoking the Doolittle Raid over Tokyo in WWII.

2977 B-25 Mitchell Inbound

2977 B-25 Mitchell Inbound

We’d volunteered to help people tour a group of extremely rare aircraft visiting SBA for a few days. When we heard from the ground crew that they’d be arriving late, we took Tripp for a relaxing flight in the clear air. When I heard this guy contact ATC inbound, it was exciting enough to see it in the distance like this. But then it flew almost beneath us at double our speed, bringing no attack on the homes below but the bygone and all but forgotten distinctive song of two big radial engines once so common here.

2999 Forgotten Tune

2999 Forgotten Tune

We hurried back to the airport, landing just after this beauty so we could help on the ground. Before long a B-24 Liberator taxied in with the flight engineer perched on top like the cowboy in that old nuclear bomb movie.

3089 B-24 Liberator Business End

3089 B-24 Liberator Business End

This was not a welcome sight in the air around a Japanese held island when my dear late friend and father-in-law John F. Humphrey and his ace gunner Claude W. Hawkins sank one of their ships, and shot down some of their fighters and light bombers. Soon my favorite airplane of all time arrived with the siren song of a V-12 Merlin engine: the P-51 Mustang fighter.

3197 P-51 Mustang

3197 P-51 Mustang

This one is especially rare, being the only one built with two seats and dual controls plus the distinction of having flown Eisenhower over Normandy during the landing. It was a long and tiring day out on the hot pavement for us but very rewarding seeing awe in the eyes of children, bliss on faces of aviation enthusiasts, and tears in the eyes of the few remaining men who flew these planes. Then the real excitement began!

3146 Flying In Memories

3146 Flying In Memories

Because the ground crew had one empty seat in the day’s last B-24 flight, they offered it to Anne and me in appreciation. My Perfect Wife watched in delight as I got aboard, and I was awash in memories riding along our familiar coast in this icon of American air power. I climbed up front into the bow turret where Claude spent hours surveying the open sea, and protecting our dear Dad. I surveyed the gauges and controls where he sat for hours using all his exceptional flying skill and youthful wisdom protecting dear Claude and the rest of his crew.

3161 New Mission

3161 New Mission

Now instead of flying young men doing their best to destroy the enemy that had attacked Pearl Harbor, this Liberator faithfully carries a middle-aged pilot and his female co-pilot touring the country so that we can all remember the sights, sounds and smells that were once so familiar to that dwindling generation of quiet heroes. We owe them so much, and miss them so dearly.

« Previous Page — Next Page »

Blog at WordPress.com.