John & Anne Wiley

2009/10/13

NE to ME

Filed under: Aviation,Big Adventure,Flying,Has Photos,Nature — John @ 03:25
Taking off from Bennington, VT we passed over the famous spire. Those tiny dots near the yellow trees are people walking. This thing is tall!

After making the short hop to Keene, NH we stopped to touch another state, to top off our fuel for the flight to Maine, and to have a great lunch at a place near the bottom of this photo.

I liked how the timeless glacier-carved stone contrasted with the fleeting fall colors as we detoured near Mt. Washington before heading due east to Bar Harbor for the night.

Maine has a zillion lakes, and about halfway along our leg east I spotted an airport with a road that connects to this seaplane landing. Those are floats lined up at the top and down the right side. My current theory is that planes land on the lake and moor at this hangar, the floats are removed for winter storage, the planes taxi or are towed to the airport, and they fly home after a summer of lake hopping. Spring would then see a reverse of this migration.

Like all the photos in this blog post, these are pretty lame compared with what we experienced. This one of Bar Harbor, ME tops that list. You’ll find different, larger and better pix by clicking the Photos link at the top-right of our main blog page. Meanwhile, our hotel tonight is just beyond the ferry terminal at the top. There are some stunning mansions along the shore, Acadia National Park with hilltop lakes, and more attractions here than I have time to write or you to read.


Weather is predicted to be marginal for flying tomorrow and better Wednesday, so our location tomorrow is uncertain. It is clear though, that we are at or very near the furthest northeast point of our journey. This leg rightly began in San Diego very near the southwestern most point in the contiguous United States, so until we fly from Blaine to the tip of FL this may be our longest transcontinental flight. Soon we start hopping down the east coast, lingering and zigging around new england until we head for FL. Seems all too soon that we’ll cross the south and our Big Adventure will end back in Santa Barbara!

Meanwhile, good night from ME to you.

2009/10/12

Bah!

Filed under: Aviation,Big Adventure — John @ 20:46

We’re sitting in the airport waiting for the free shuttle in Bah Hahbah. People seem to look at us strangely when we say it that way though. Though it’s beautiful right now, looks like weather will close in tomorrow so we’ll either stay two nights or join the migrating birds low along the coast in light rain in the afternoon, determined by the balance between weather conditions and island fever. We flew over it before landing, and it’s glorious as you’ll see when I have time to process some pix. Nearly everyone on the air traffic frequency was saying Barr Harrborr just like me, except for one guy who elicited silence by saying it correctly. Half an hour before we got here a wiseguy controller in Boston pushed it mockingly, telling the hapless pilot he was clear to dial in the Baaaa HaaaaBuhh frequency. We’ve been saying it with the accent long enough that we might slip up in town and get blacklisted or something. Of course, my current attire has probably already assured that – I haven’t seen anyone else wearing Keen closed-toe sandals (much to Anne’s annoyance). Hey, how else can I shout California tourist?!

Speaking of Keens, we had the most glorious stop in Keene, NH where Beth sweetly loaned us a car. We drove the beautiful mile or two into town with two uber-qualified jet pilots in the back seat, and got great food to go. So many memorable stops along this adventure, we’d do it all again in a heartbeat. Any sponsors? 😉

Well, I’m going to get ready for the bus…

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.

2009/10/11

Over the Top

Filed under: Big Adventure,Flying,Has Photos — John @ 03:17
Today’s flight started just north of Chicago where we saw some remarkable mansions, then turned south along the lakeshore to look down and wave at the people who live in the manses. Before small planes, we used to always go to the tops of such buildings to look around. Now even the Sears tower near this one, seems quaint somehow.


Even from our sanctimonious cheap seats, this skyline is breathtaking. 😉

We decided to skip going into Chicago so we could avoid a cold snap and ride fresh tailwinds taking us toward what we hope will be good weather in Maine by the time we get there. It’s delightful to watch the fall colors getting brighter on each day of our trip, and today some brilliant reds appeared occasionally. To feed our state hopping obsession we had to land in Indiana, but Gary didn’t look appealing even though we still have that song from Music Man stuck in our heads. Instead we chose tiny Hobart airport, and it had enough character to merit a few minutes’ stroll around the grounds. Then onward for a detour into Michigan (obsession) for a quick stop at Benton Harbor for fuel and a stroll through an informal gallery of aviation photos adorning the terminal walls. Hopping back in the plane we passed over Toledo and got distant glimpses of Detroit and Cleveland. Just east of Toledo there were several suburban tracts with ponds much bigger than the big houses, and we wondered what the story is. Nearly all seemed to have some indication of swimming facilities, but they’re much bigger than Santa Barbarian swimming pools even next to mansions. Maybe they’re also for irrigation?

Approaching Akron for the night, we were intrigued by this shape. Looking at the original photo my hunch was confirmed: these are baseball diamonds. Little League perhaps?

Tonight we are in an inexpensive room that’s larger than many SB homes, at a new Akron hotel. It has two large flat screen TVs, and amenities better than many luxury hotels. We had planned to camp, and brought an old bike to ride, but so far all we’ve done is fly and stay in hotels! Time was, tenting at 35F was fun. Now our limits seem to have shifted a bit. Maybe if the warm weather materializes in Maine we’ll finally get to live rough. Right now we’re not complaining, unless we think about how our budget is affected.


Tomorrow we hope to visit my ancestral lands in Clarion County just north of Pittsburgh and then carry on east until sunset approaches over our shoulders as our heads are brimming with another day of spectacular sights.

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.
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